Shifts

Synopsis: After a particularly nasty fight with Ron, Hermione ends up shacking up with the three returning eighth year Slytherins where she finds herself inexplicably tangled up in the affections of two wizards. "Theo grasped Draco's hand as the two of them watched her closely before Draco spoke to her in a calm, gentle voice. "You live with us now, Granger. Do you understand?"

A/N: I've debated with myself on posting this because I swore I wasn't going to post any more stories that weren't finished, but I can't help myself. Unlike most of my other works who tend to get posted as I write each chapter, I do have about 40K words written of this one. I plan to post a chapter at least once per week until I either run out of completed chapters or finish the story.

Warning: There's about two seconds of non-con in this chapter if you're the type who needs warnings for those types of things.

Standard disclaimers apply.

….

"Whoa, little lioness, what's wrong?"

It didn't even register to Hermione that she had passed anyone as she stormed down the darkened corridor towards anywhere but the Gryffindor common room. She was desperately fighting the tears that were threatening to cloud her vision as she ran away from her problems. It seemed like all she did lately was run no matter how much she tried to talk herself into not running. So much for that Gryffindor courage.

"Granger, wait!"

Though she heard him call out to her again as she started sprinting down the hallway, the absolute last thing Hermione needed on today of all days was a blonde Slytherin to make her life a living hell. Her housemates seemed to be doing that just fine on their own. Well, that wasn't entirely true. The source of the majority of her problems was one ridiculous redhead with a superiority complex and the need to fuck anything that moved following the end of the war. Hermione thought they were in love. She was wrong, obviously.

She was the only one of the famed Golden Trio (gag) as the Prophet had taken to calling them following the end of the warn who had returned to Hogwarts to finish out their eighth and final year. Harry and Ron entered Auror Training and now she desperately wished she had nagged them harder about the importance of their education given the circumstances which led her into this darkened corridor, after curfew, sprinting away from a seemingly concerned Slytherin. What alternate universe had she fallen into?

"Fuck, Granger. Where are you going?" He exclaimed, his voice laced with concern as he caught Hermione by her arm, stopping her so suddenly that her back slammed against the wall. The back of her head made contact with the wall almost as soon as her back did, the sickening crack echoing throughout the deserted corridor. Blinding pain blurred Hermione's vision, sending her world spinning as she wobbled on unsteady feet.

"Shit." He cursed, moving in close to her and cupping her cheeks in his hands.

"Look at me, love." He said calmly. Hermione tried to comply, her amber orbs meeting a pair that were sapphire blue.

"There's a good girl." He praised with a slight purr to his voice. Or perhaps Hermione had merely imagined the purr given the reverberations of her blood pounding in her skull, distorting the sound.

She tried to remain standing but slowly started to sink, her legs giving out. She felt a pair of strong arms grasp her desperately to keep her falling to the ground. "Stay with me, little lioness." He whispered as the world continued to spin around her. The last thing she saw before the darkness completely clouded her vision were the sapphire blue eyes of Theodore Nott.

….

Three voices were speaking in hushed tones as Hermione slowly drifted back into the realm of consciousness, the world still spinning and her temples pounding. Her hair was matted with something sticky and her entire body felt weak. She was disoriented and confused. Hermione could see Theodore Nott as he occasionally paced into her field of vision, as blurry as it was, but the other two had yet to make their appearances known.

"…the fuck is she doing here?" growled a low voice that was familiar to Hermione, but one that should couldn't quite place.

"Where else was I supposed to take her?" Theo hissed as he carded his fingers roughly through his short light brown hair, pacing in front of the dying fire.

"The hospital wing would have been the obvious choice, Theodore," chided a female voice that was also vaguely familiar to Hermione's ears.

"You know just as many healing spells as Pomfrey does and you know it, Pansy." Theo said, gesturing at the raved-haired witch who sat behind the couch Hermione was currently laying on. "You can fix her."

When Pansy spoke her tone short and snippy. "Obviously, Theo. But if you had taken her to the hospital wing, we wouldn't be running the risk of getting hexed after she wakes up."

Theo scoffed. "And how would it look if I'm the one who carried her there, huh little sparrow? The fucking Prophet would have a field day if they got wind of the fact that a former Death Eater's son was found clutching a wounded war heroine just months after the war ended."

"I don't give a shit, Nott! You're risking all of our skins by bringing her in here."

"Just shut the fuck up and heal her, Pansy. Seeing her bloody and screaming on the floor of my drawing room once was more that I could bear. I couldn't help her then, so you better get your ass over there and fix her." The low drawling voice commanded, cracking with a raw emotion that Hermione wasn't expecting, and it registered who exactly that voice belonged to.

Hermione was instantly certain her day couldn't get any worse. She had fled from the common room and ended up passed out, on a couch, in what she assumed was the middle of the Slytherin Common Room with at least one known Death Eater and two others who were children of Death Eaters who were arguing over whether or not to heal the wounds one of them had accidentally caused. She felt certifiably fucked and started trying to figure out a way to escape through the haze and delirium.

"Hey." Hermione heard Theo say in a soft, soothing voice. "She'll be fine, love. Granger will be fine." He crossed back out of Hermione's vision, but based on the tone of his voice and his apparent position within the room, she could only draw the conclusion that for some reason Theodore Nott was comforting Draco Malfoy. Was it possible Malfoy was actually worried about her? It must be some illusion one's mind conjures when one is on one's deathbed. Well played, Death, well played.

"Not if Pansy doesn't do her job." Draco hissed through clenched teeth. She heard Theo shush him in yet again in hushed tones, though there was an unexpected gentleness that piqued Hermione's curiosity, even in her dazed state.

"I'll fix her pretty little head, but I'm not going to be held responsible if she hexes both of your bollocks off when she comes to." Pansy huffed and moved around to the front of the couch on which Hermione was laying.

One of the boys let out a snort, but Hermione couldn't tell which one. It would serve them right if she were to hex them – especially Theodore Nott. It was his fault that she was in this predicament in the first place.

Pansy crouched down in front of the bushy-haired girl and passed her wand over the crown of Hermione's head muttering a string of healing spells. Hermione groaned as she felt the throbbing in her temples begin to subside as her world began to slow, the spinning temporarily subsiding.

"Theo?" Pansy beckoned, calling her house mate over as Pansy's nearly black eyes met Hermione's brown ones. "She's awake."

Theo moved quickly from where he had been standing the near the fire to front of the couch where Hermione lay, kneeling down in front of her. He brushed his thumb over her knuckles as he took her hand in his. "Hey there, little lioness." He cooed in those soothing, dulcet tones. "How's your head?"

Hermione struggled to focus her gaze on the three Slytherins who had crowded around her.

Pansy Parkinson sat perched on the armrest of the couch, her arms crossed over an expensive indigo dressing robe as she held her wand in her hand. She looked tired and agitated, likely from having been woken up. Theodore Nott knelt by Hermione's side, holding her hand in his own. His sandy brown hair was wavy and cropped close at the sides as he looked down on her with a pair of stunning sapphire eyes and a tentative smile. Draco Malfoy, who was wearing a casual t-shirt and a pair of thin rimmed wire black framed glasses to Hermione's surprise, was leaning over the back of the couch, his unflinching silver eyes gazing down on her in an unreadable expression.

"Where am I?" Hermione managed to ask in a hoarse whisper wondering if escape was still possible given the close proximity of the three Slytherins. They hadn't done her any harm yet but she was still wary.

"You're in our dorm, princess." Theo said, the corner of his mouth lifting as he winked.

Hermione felt confusion wash over her. How could she be in their dorm? There were strict rules and wards in place to prevent members of other houses from sneaking into other common rooms as well as a lack of co-ed dormitories within the houses.

"Your dorm?"

"McGonagall made an exception and gave us a private dorm..." Pansy said quietly, turning her wand over in her hands, "...given the circumstances."

With Pansy's admission, it suddenly became clear in Hermione's hazy mind. The reason the three of them were sequestered into one dorm was because they were the only three eighth year Slytherins to return to Hogwarts. All other returning eighth years were confined to their own houses, though not many of them had returned. McGonagall either didn't trust them or didn't trust the other members of their house not to hex them at every turn. Hermione felt a surge of pity for the three Slytherins. They had returned to Hogwarts just as she had, despite the war and knowing the parts they had played in it. Pity turned to a small amount of pride in the trio for seemingly wanting to face the odds. It was a bit endearing – a true underdog story.

Hermione's eyelashes fluttered and she tried to push up from where she was laying down, but the world immediately turned topsy-turvy again and she unceremoniously collapsed back onto the couched.

Pansy frowned and placed the back of her hand on the brunette's forehead as she held her wand against Hermione's temple. The raven-haired beauty narrowed her eyes at Theo and let out a string of curses. "She has a concussion, Theo. I can't do anything about that without the proper potions which is why you should've taken her to Pomfrey."

"Pansy, we've been – "

"Which ones do you need?" Draco asked quietly, interrupting his two bickering house mates, his quicksilver eyes shifting from where he had been carefully watching Hermione over to Pansy.

Pansy tapped her wand against her chin, running over the treatments for a concussion in her mind. "Vacuoserum." She decided on. "She could also probably a dose of Draught of Peace to calm her nerves and a bit of a generic pain potion."

"It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to brew the Vacuoserum and I think I have everything in my room. If not, Slughorn doesn't keep a great watch on his stores. There's some Draught of Peace and a healing potion or two in the cupboard." Draco said. He pushed off of the couch and tucked his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants, sauntering back towards his room at a leisurely pace as though he wasn't about to brew exactly the potion she needed.

Hermione attempted to shift again, but Pansy's hand touched her forehead with two fingers, effectively keeping her head pinned to the cushions of the couch. "Don't sit up, Granger. It'll only make things worse."

Hermione nodded as best she could and remained still on the couch. Theo gave her hand a squeeze. "Why were you running, princess?" He asked, his voice full of concern beyond her immediate injuries.

Pansy rolled her eyes and rose from her perch on the armrest of the couch, padding over to the small kitchenette to find the potions Draco mentioned.

Hermione felt a heat rise to her cheeks but she wasn't certain if it was due to embarrassment or the effects of the concussion Pansy said she was suffering from. "I, um… Ron and I had a fight." She said, recalling the verbal sparring match that had taken place via the floo in the Gryffindor common room earlier that night.

"Don't tell me you're still with that prat?" Pansy asked indignantly as she made her way back to the couch, rolling a small vial between her fingertips with a second one tucked into the pocket of her dressing gown. "Granger, Weasley's been fucking every witch six ways to Sunday since the Prophet made him out to be some kind of hero."

The tears that had welled in Hermione's eyes, threatened to spill down her cheeks. "I know… but." She and Ron had been through so much together that even given his indiscretion, it was difficult for her to let him go. He kept saying that they didn't mean anything and that he only loved her and she wanted to believe him. She had taken off running because she couldn't stand to look at him as he stared back at her through the floo, the thoughts of all of the women he had bedded running through her mind.

"No buts, Granger." Pansy admonished as Theo stroked Hermione's cheek with his thumb. "He's not worth your time and you know it."

Why on earth were the Slytherins being so nice to her?

She couldn't contain her emotions and the tears spilled over, cascading down her cheeks in sheets like rain. "I feel so stupid…"

"Shh, little lioness. If there's anything you are, it's not that," Theo soothed, taking the small vial of Draught of Peace from Pansy's hand and popping the cork. "Drink up, love. This will help."

Hermione lifted her head to drink from the vial containing the Draught of Peace as Pansy dabbed at her cheeks with a handkerchief. Pansy and Theo shared a knowing glance and both returned to watching the witch with concerned looks crossing their faces.

Hermione felt lighter as the potion began to make it's way through her body and she felt the anxiety and thoughts of Ron subsiding. The pain potion she was given next helped dull the ache in her head a bit.

"You're staying with us, Granger." Pansy said, with a resigned sigh. "Tomorrow is Saturday anyway so you don't even have to worry about missing class and I need to monitor you for any side effects of the potion Draco is brewing."

"But…" Hermione started. She hadn't wanted to return to Gryffindor Tower. There were simply too many memories there for her liking. Staying in the den of snakes was one of the last things Hermione wanted to do, but it was looking like the three Slytherins were intent on keeping her under their watchful eye. The sudden generosity and thoughtfulness from the three Slytherins was confusing at best, though she could find no reason to fault their intentions.

"Daphne was supposed to come back this year, but she went and got engaged to some French piece of shite two weeks ago and decided she no longer needed to get her N.E.W.T.s." Pansy said through clenched teeth, clearly bitter about something relating to the eldest Greengrass daughter. "We have a spare room and everything."

"It's really no trouble." Theo beamed, his sapphire eyes twinkling with unanticipated delight. "It's the least we can do after I caused this mess to begin with."

Draco walked back into the room a few moments later carrying a small cylinder containing a shimmering blue liquid. Upon seeing him, Pansy hopped up from her perch and took the cylinder from him, measuring out the dosage over the sink in the small kitchenette. Satisfied with her measurement, she handed a small espresso cup filled with the potion to Hermione.

"Drink up, love." Theo urged, though he continued to watch Draco, noting the blonde had stayed across the room and was currently leaning against the kitchen counter. Still, the concern for the witch on the couch shining in his eyes was not lost on Theo.

Hermione did as she was told, scrunching up her nose at the vile taste of the potion. Her mind felt clearer after only a few minutes.

"There's a good girl." Theo praised, taking the small cup from her and handing it back to Pansy. He gently pulled Hermione into a sitting position, resting her gently against the plush cushions of their couch.

"Thank you." Hermione replied quietly.

Now that she was sitting up, Pansy trailed her eyes over the brunette. Hermione had been wearing her uniform when Theo had brought her into the common room. The collar of her white shirt and the back of her jumper were dotted with blood and the back of her head was sticky with the same substance. "Let's get you in the bath, Granger. I have some pajamas you can borrow."

"Surely it can – "

"I'm not letting you sleep with blood in your hair. It's part of the girl code or some shite." Pansy affirmed with a roll of her eye, a dismissive wave of her hand, and mild scowl crossing her features.

….

Hermione slipped quietly out of the bedroom tucked in the eighth year Slytherin dormitory the next morning, closing the door gingerly behind her in an effort not to wake any of the snakes who might still be sleeping. She had made the plan to slip out once they had all gone to sleep, but sleep had overcome her faster than she had expected it to. She still felt a bit on edge from last night but was determined to speak to Ron today and let him know that they were through. She wasn't going to play second best to any one anymore and clearly that's exactly how he thought of her.

Her uniform had disappeared in the middle of the night – probably thanks to a well-meaning house elf, so she was still dressed in the blue silk pajamas that Pansy had lent her. Despite the Slytherin girl's initial reservations in treating her head wound after Theo had brought her to their dormitory, she had been quite caring in her own rather brusque way. She never treated Hermione very gingerly, always speaking plainly and acting seemingly annoyed, but she made certain Hermione bathed and helped her wash the blood from her hair, lent her a pair of pajamas to sleep in, and checked in on her no less than two times in the middle of the night.

Hermione froze in front of the bedroom door as she saw the platinum blonde head of Draco Malfoy sitting in an armchair by the smoldering fire reading a book.

"Going somewhere, Granger?" He asked without looking up from his book.

Hermione drew a deep breath and crossed the room, determined to at least attempt to be civil with the man who had bullied her so relentlessly for the past several years. After all, he had gone to the trouble to brew the potion that had ultimately caused her head to completely stop spinning. "I was going to go back to my dorm."

Draco turned a page in his book, never taking his eyes off of the text as he spoke to her. "Stay." He said softly, but firmly. "Theo and Pansy will be back soon and Pansy will want to check your head one more time."

Hermione stood in stunned silence at his seemingly out of character behavior. First, there was the fact that Draco Malfoy had not said one angry or prejudiced word against her since she had been brought into his dormitory last night. Second, he just asked her to stay so she wouldn't run the risk of having more effects of the concussion Theo had accidentally caused, and third, the tone in which he spoke to here was completely sincere. It was as though he cared about her and that thought alone made her head threaten to start spinning again.

Had she woken up in some kind of alternate universe or had the Slytherins always been like this?

Hermione started to protest, but changed her mind as the curiosity of the pair's location got the best of her. "I… uh… where did they go? Nott and Parkinson."

Draco marked the page carefully and closed his book, turning to look at her with tired eyes. "Theo and Pansy go running around the lake in the mornings when the weather is decent."

As if on cue, Theo and Pansy burst through the door and into the living area of the dormitory, their cheeks reddened from exertion and laughing about something. Theo's brow creased and one half of the laughing pair fell silent once he spotted Draco across the room. Theo shared a knowing look with Pansy and crossed the room, whispering something in the blonde's ear and firmly squeezing his shoulder. Draco nodded and stood up from the chair, crossing the living area and disappearing into his room without so much as a backward glance at Hermione.

Hermione stood in uncomfortable silence, unsure of what to make of the interaction that looked almost intimate between the two men. Theo did call him 'love' last night, though she may have imagined it. She bit her bottom lip and nervously twisted her fingers.

Pansy shrugged off her cloak and draped it over her arm revealing a set of form fitting muggle running clothes and trainers that Hermione was not expecting. "Give me a minute to change and I'll check your head again, Granger." Pansy said, breezing past her and disappearing into her own room, leaving Hermione alone with Theo.

Wandering into the small kitchen area and retrieving a glass from the cupboard, he turned on the tap and poured himself a glass of water. "How are you feeling, princess?" He asked.

"Better, thank you." Hermione replied. "What was all that about?"

"Hm?" He drained the glass of water quickly.

"With Malfoy."

Theo's brow creased again and he looked over to where Draco had been sitting moments before. Leaving the glass on the counter, Theo crossed the room and sat down on the sofa. "Draco has nightmares and at times, he can be heard throughout the dormitory because of them." His tone was cautious and serious, much different from the playful, kind man he seemed to portray most often. Most often. Hah. She'd been in his presence for less than a day.

"Oh. I didn't hear anything last night." Hermione frowned, knowing just how awful nightmares could be considering she often suffered from them herself. They all did after the war. Hers mostly centered around that night at Malfoy Manor when Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her for information, but sometime she relieved the final battle, and others she found herself on the losing side of a war in which Voldemort ruled. She couldn't even imagine what Malfoy might experience in his nightmares. She shuddered at the thought. Even still, she couldn't connect the dots between what Theo had whispered to Draco and why whatever it was happened to be connected to his nightmares.

"No, you wouldn't have, princess." Theo said with a shake of his head. "and that's only because he didn't sleep last night."

"Why?" She asked, now even more confused. "Why didn't he sleep?"

"He probably didn't want to wake you." Theo shrugged. "Pansy and I are pretty used to it – we don't let him use silencing charms. We all get them but his are the worst." Theo's admission made Draco somehow seem more human to her and it sowed another seed of curiosity into her soul about the blonde who had tormented her for years.

"I get them too." Hermione said quietly, crossing the room. She settled herself on the opposite end of the couch from Theo and tucked her legs up under her. "He still could've tried to sleep…"

"I don't think he would've been able to."

"Why?"

"Because you would've heard him screaming your name." Theo sighed, leaning his head against the cushions on the back of the couch, staring up towards the ceiling. "And I can guarantee you that is the absolute last thing he would've wanted."

The heat that rose in her body as her heart started to pound furiously in her chest, nearly suffocating her and all of the air rushed out of her lungs. Not only did Draco Malfoy purposefully do something that wasn't related to his own (assumed) selfish desires, he selflessly decided not to sleep for her comfort. So she wouldn't hear him screaming out her name. Hermione instantly knew that at least one of the nightmares they shared was of the night she was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Draco's plea to Pansy the previous night suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Seeing her bloody and screaming on the floor of my drawing room once was more that I could

bear. I couldn't help her then, so you better get your arse over there and fix her."

Looking back, Hermione could see how it had been an impossible situation for him. The most protection he could offer them was his lack of identification. Aunt or no, Bellatrix Lestrange's mind danced with insanity and she would've struck him down without thought had he so much as twitched a finger towards his wand to aid them – to aid her. Her heart softened towards him knowing now that they were both caught in an impossible situation, an impasse. Her world shifted and she released any and all of the anger she had been holding over that night and Draco's involvement in it at that moment.

Pansy came out of her room, freshly showered and dressed in a simple black skirt and silk blouse. She must have dried her hair magically because it showed no signs of dampness, despite the freshly showered glow to her skin, and hung neatly stopping just above her shoulders. "Granger, you look ill."

"I… I'm fine."

"What did you do?" accused the raven-haired with, casting a suspicious look directly at Theo.

Theo avoided her eye contact, keeping his focus on cracks in the ceiling. "I may or may not have told her about Draco's nightmares."

Pansy further crossed the room with a touch of fury marring her features and smacked Theo across the top of his head, causing him to sit back up. "He'll kill you when he finds out, you blithering idiot."

"Ow." Theo whined, rubbing the back of his head. "Draco loves me, sparrow. I highly doubt he'll attempt murder on my person if he finds out."

"Just because he worships your cock does not mean he loves you." Pansy warned, sinking down into the spot between Theo and Hermione on the couch. Were all Slytherins so nonchalant about sex? This was certainly new for Hermione.

"Ten galleons says he'll hex you when he finds out." Pansy wagered with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"I… he… you… um… well…" Hermione stammered trying to process what Pansy's comment about Theo's …manhood… and the subsequent bet with little success. Her typically highly logical brain simply ceased functioning at the casual mention of Theo's genitalia and Draco's apparent preference for it. Yep. Definitely an alternate universe.

Arching a perfectly shaped brow, Pansy pursed her lips in delight at Hermione's apparent innocence. "Yes, Granger." She said, conforming the other witch's suspicions. "And they're absolutely disgusting about it." Pansy meant it in the best way possible, of course. Draco and Theo had a tendency to show their affections in private but generally kept it hidden outside of the confines of their shared common room.

Theo managed to look offended, though his smirk gave him away. "We are not disgusting. I can't exactly help it if Draco is a cuddly little shit," he said with a laugh.

Stunned into silence, Hermione clapped a hand over her gaping mouth and simply sat trying very, very hard not to imagine Draco and Theo being intimate on the very couch she was sitting on.

"Granger's going to have an epileptic fit if you're not careful." Pansy said, with a playful smack to Theo's arm, though she was getting as much pleasure out of seeing Granger flustered as Theo was.

Theo released a low laugh, rubbing his arm in an effort to make at least one of the witches think the slap had been harder than it had. "But she's so adorable wearing that shade of pink, sparrow," Theo teased. Hermione felt as though she might collapse from all of the blood rushing into her head once more.

Huffing a laugh, Pansy narrowed her eyes at the laughing brunette before nonchalantly raising a finger towards his room. "Go get yourself cleaned up and check on Draco," she practically ordered. "I need to check Granger's head and it won't do to have you complicating matters."

Theo acquiesced with a roll of his eyes and a muttered "yes, mother" before giving Hermione a wink. He pushed up from the couch and dropped a kiss on the top of Pansy's head. "Catch you later, princess" he said and he started sauntering towards his room with a lazy, swaying stride.

"Insufferable git." Pansy muttered as she watched Theo saunter away. She turned towards Hermione and pulled her wand from her skirts and began to pass it over and around the other witch's head. Muttering the incantation, Pansy watched the diagnostic markers carefully.

Hermione found that the interactions between the three Slytherins were perplexing. Rather than seeing them as brainless automatons who had blindly followed the Dark Lord during the war, she was slowly realizing that they were just as human as she and her friends were. They had similar banter, word play, and complex relationships that nearly mirrored the ones she had with her own group of friends, though this group seemed much more closely knit. There seemed to be a deep level of care between the three of them and she itched to find out more about what made them tick. It was disconcerting that she had never really thought of them as complex beings like her own friends, but now that she had spent quite some time in their presence, she couldn't help but see them just as human, and likely as broken by the war, as the rest of them were.

Hermione twisted her head to glance back towards the door Theo had entered a moment earlier. "Is he always like that?" She asked.

Pansy shrugged and ended the diagnostic spell. "More or less. Despite his cunning, Theo is rather transparent at times."

"He's somewhat fascinating." Hermione admitted with a bit of a blush.

Pansy offered her a genuine smile, though Hermione couldn't possibly know why. "Everything looks good, Granger," she said, changing the subject. "Just try and take it easy for the rest of the day. If anything starts to go fuzzy or feel off, please let me know."

It was clear that Pansy was either naturally talented at Healing or that she had studied the subject extensively. "How did you learn so much about Healing?"

Turning her wand over in her hands, Pansy released a sign and sank back into the plush cushions of the couch. "It was necessary that someone know how to heal others. The Carrows doled out curses like Every Flavor Beans and Madam Pomfrey wasn't always able or available to keep up with the injured."

"I had some knowledge of healing before but once we realized how bad it was getting, I started apprenticing under Madam Pomfrey in an unofficial way and she lent me several of her healing texts during our sixth year."

"By the time seventh year rolled around, I was seeing patients almost as much as she was. They locked the hospital wing after dinner and kids were often brought to me at all hours of the night. I did what I could for them. If they were too badly injured, I simply tried to stabilize them and help with the pain until the hospital wing was re-opened at dawn."

Hermione laid a reassuring hand atop Pansy's and gave the other witch's hand a gentle squeeze. "That was so incredibly brave of you, Pansy." Hermione said sincerely, giving the girl a small, but genuine smile.

"It was necessary and nothing more. I'm no hero." Pansy replied quietly and Hermione knew she had never seen the witch so subdued. Pansy was at least as complex as Draco and Theo. Theo hid behind pretty names and little jokes but Pansy appeared to minimize whatever possible. Hermione suspected she was likely a skilled occlumens.

Giving Pansy's hand one last squeeze before withdrawing the contact, Hermione caught her bottom lip between her teeth. "I should go," she said with a degree of hesitancy she herself wasn't expecting. She wasn't entirely certain she wanted to leave at this point. "Thank you again for what you did for me."

A tentative smile tugged at the corners of Pansy's mouth but she remained silent until Hermione added "…even if it was Theo's fault" to which the raven-haired witch released a laugh.

"He gets a bit excitable sometimes, but he does mean well," she affirmed. Hermione felt lighter at hearing the note of kindness in Pansy's voice.

"I'll see you around, Pansy," Hermione said, rising from the couch and making her way towards the door.

"See you around, Granger."

….

After stepping out of the Slytherin's dormitory, it took Hermione a moment to get her bearings. She made a mental note of the dorms location before setting off towards Gryffindor tower. Even though she didn't know the password which would grant her entry into their dorm, she hoped that if she came back at any point they would let her in. Though she'd barely spent a night there, it felt a bit more like home than the tower did. There was something warm and inviting about their dormitory that she hadn't felt in the tower since before the final battle.

As Hermione made her way down the few curving corridors and up a flight of stairs, Hermione thought back to what she would need to do once she got back. She knew that she needed to set things right with Ronald after their fight, but he wouldn't be awake at this time of the morning. A change of clothes and a spot of breakfast were in order before she could even think about facing him. She hoped that the house elves would be kind enough to return Pansy's pajamas to her after they had been cleaned, though Hermione felt she should send a letter of gratitude via owl post to thank Pansy for her help and hospitality. Theo and Draco honestly deserved notes as well, or perhaps she could bring them some sort of treat to say thank you. Everyone loved a bit of cake, right?

Hermione slipped around the corner and came face to face with the Fat Lady who appeared to at least be somewhat cognizant of her surroundings despite a few bottles of elf-wine in the corner of the portrait. She whispered the password and watched the door swing open allowing her to pass into the familiar warmth of the Gryffindor common room. The air felt thick and heavy, but it didn't seem to be due to the roaring fire in the hearth but more years of built up tensions. It suddenly felt oppressive and strange.

The room was lit only by the light of the hearth, but Hermione made her way around the familiar room with ease until a voice coming from somewhere in the darkened room stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Where have you been?"

Hermione's eyes flickered to the floo but the flames were orange and there was no head of Ronald Weasley poking out. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and shrunk back against one of the walls.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered in the quiet of the morning. "And honestly, I don't think it's any concern of yours any longer."

"Of course it is," he hissed from what sounded like the other side of the room. "You're my fucking girlfriend for Merlin's sake." His voice grew in loudness and echoed slightly off of the dark wood surfaces of the common room.

"Keep your voice down," Hermione warned. "Answer my question, what are you doing here?" Hermione started inching her way back towards the door to the common room, trying to find her own bearings but also his. She found him soon enough as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Ginny has her first game today and Harry and I came to surprise her. You would've known that if you hadn't run off."

"Quidditch. Of course," she said with an exasperated wave of her hands. "I ran off because we were fighting, Ronald, and you weren't listening to anything I was saying. You never listen anymore, you just make excuses, promise to do better, and nothing ever changes."

"What are you saying, Hermione?" he said. Hermione could make out that his hands had balled into fists and she assumed his face was starting to turn purple in anger as it did so often recently.

Hermione gathered up her Gryffindor bravery, knowing that it was unhealthy to continue in this relationship. She wouldn't let him scare her, she had too many other shadows who sought her out during her dreams to let Ronald Weasley make her feel less than normal.

She motioned between them. "This is over, Ronald." She could see his lips pursing into a thin line as she continued. "I'm not going to sit idly by while you sink your dick into every willing orifice with a pretty face that passes you on the street." The thought crossed her mind that Pansy might just be a little proud of her for that.

"You're making this sound like my fault, Hermione." He spat, crossing the room and gripping her arms tightly in his hands. His fingers dug painfully into the flesh of her arms and she felt his nails breaking the skin.

"Let go of me, Ron." She hissed, attempting to pull away from him. "That hurts."

He shoved her against the wall as his grip tightened. "Not until you come to your senses." He was so close to her now that Hermione could smell the alcohol on his breath as he tried to capture her lips in a rough, dominating kiss. She turned her head and felt his teeth instead sink into her neck. She bit down on her lip, fighting the urge to whimper, unwilling to give him the satisfaction.

"We. Are. Not. Over." He punctuated each word with a kiss to her neck, one hand leaving her arm to palm her breast through her pajamas.

White hot anger coursed through her body and if she had a wand, she was certain she would be able to cast the cruciatus curse and mean it. Placing the palm of her free arm against his chest in what he would've viewed as an accepting gesture, Hermione channeled her magic down through her palm and sent him flying across the room with a non-verbal and wandless Stupefy.

She scampered up the stairs to her room, knowing he wouldn't be able to get past the enchantment and she thought she heard him call out to her as she nearly slammed the door to her room shut. She hadn't dared to look back at home, but she hoped that he was bloody, bruised, and had broken something. While they had fought often over the past month or two, Ron had never put his hands on her with the intent to harm her before and she was thoroughly shaken and furious.

Hermione crossed the room and looked herself over in the mirror, drawing back with a wince as she caught her reflection. Furious purple bruises in the shape of his fingerprints were forming on her arms where his fingers had roughly crushed his fresh while her neck was smeared with blood. She could just make out the imprint of his teeth within the pool of red. Her normally cool, whiskey colored eyes were blazing with something unrecognizable and her hair was anything but calm, gentle curls – it was almost sparking with magic she was so furious.

For the second time that day, Hermione's world shifted. She tenderly touched her fingertips to the mark on her neck and felt her blood start to boil. His idiotic attempt to mark her only served to fuel her anger. She rubbed the slippery red liquid between her fingers and took several deep breaths, admiring her own strength as she stared at herself in the mirror.

Hermione grabbed her wand and the small beaded bag from her bedside table which contained nearly all of her possessions and stormed out of the door. She made her way quickly down the stairs with the full intention of marching right back into the den of snakes.