"Malfoy, just LISTEN to me for Christssake

"Malfoy, just LISTEN to me for Christssake!"

"Shut the fuck up, Mudblood! I don't need your fucking help!"

Hermione Granger rolled her eyes, and went back to her reading. It had been like this for the past five days, ever since Professor McGonagall had assigned her to tutor Malfoy. Apparently, the reason behind this was because he had been cutting classes and skiving homework, and had fallen behind. But Hermione suspected an ulterior motive. Like, perhaps McGonagall wanted to torture and kill her.

"It's working," she said miserably to herself. Everyday they met for half an hour. And everyday, Draco Malfoy, with his stubborn Malfoy ego, refused her help. Whenever she tried to speak, he would cut her off with a string of foul words, and because of this, they were still on the first assignment in the notebook McGonagall had given them.

Hermione was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of the door slamming.

"Thank goodness, half an hour up," she thought to herself, and walked quickly out the door, and straight into Professor McGonagall, who looked down at her sternly. Hermione gulped.

"Professor McGonagall. What a surprise," she said nervously.

"Ms. Granger, I presume that you find none of the spells on the assignment sheet difficult. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Well then, may I ask why you still remain on the first one in the book? I'm quite disappointed in this. I was hoping you would get through at least one spell a day."

"Well, you see professor," Hermione said, deciding that honesty was the best policy in this case. "He won't take my help. Whenever I begin to talk, he talks over me, saying foul things, and insulting myself and my friends. I don't know what to do."

Professor McGonagall gave her a small, knowing smile. "You do understand, Ms. Granger, that I'm doing this to help you, not to bring you down? I believe that this experience will be a valuable one for you, and I want you to try your best not to be discouraged." Hermione nodded, hesitantly.

"Very well, fortunately for you, I know exactly how to deal with Mr. Malfoy. However, I must advise you to finish all your schoolwork before coming down tomorrow. Goodbye Ms. Granger." And she walked into the classroom, but not before Hermione noticed a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oii, Hermione!" Harry called from down the hall. "I've been waiting forever," he said as he approached her. "Don't tell me Malfoy wanted extra, extra help."

Hermione laughed, and shook her head, and then retold what McGonagall had said. When she was finished, Harry shrugged.

"I don't know what she's planning, but I think you should take her advice and finish all your work. She definitely has SOMETHING up her sleeve."

"Maybe I should bring an extra thick book," said Hermione, grinning. Harry smiled at her.

"I admire you, you know. For putting up with him. I'm sure I would have killed him by now."

"Don't give me any ideas," she warned. "He's getting worse and worse each day. He's always insulting you, and Ron, and me, and my family, and Gryffindor, and soon it's going to get to be too much, and I'm going to hex him into oblivion."

Harry put his arm around her shoulders comfortingly. "Don't worry, Mione. We'll get him back for all this eventually. Hopefully, Dumbledore will finally understand that I'm telling the truth about him being a Death eater, and we'll be able to send him to Azkaban, or at least kick him out of school."

Hermione sighed her agreement, and they walked in silence for a moment.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked suddenly, because it seemed like Ron never spent time with the two of them anymore.

"Er…" Harry's hesitance told her everything.

"Oh."

"Hermione…" Harry said bracingly.

"What?" she snapped annoyed that he was treating her like a ticking bomb all of a sudden. Like she cared who Ron was dating. He could snog Lavender Brown all he wanted, she did not care one bit.

"She's nothing compared to you. You should know that," Harry said quietly. She shook her head, and said nothing. They walked in silence once more.

The next day, when Hermione walked to the usual classroom for tutoring sessions, Malfoy and McGonagall were already there, waiting for her.

"Good afternoon Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger," she greeted them. "Today you will be trying something new for your tutoring sessions. Hopefully, it will be more…successful then the usual method. Today, there is a charm on the door. Unless the spell is performed correctly, you will not be able to leave the room. If you attempt to leave, you will be thrown backwards, with much force. Ms. Granger, if the situation arises, you do know the movement-slower spell, am I right?" Hermione nodded. "Excellent, because you WILL need it. I must warn you, the charm is not to be taken lightly. It will forcefully throw you into the opposing wall, which could very well knock you out for a couple of hours. Be careful and good luck." And she escorted them through the door and then walked out.

Hermione smiled. "McGonagall is brilliant," she thought to herself. "I wonder how long it's going to take."

She watched silently as Malfoy moved to the other end of the classroom, and stared blankly out of the lone window.

"Malfoy," she began, but as usual he cut her off.

"Look Mudblood," he snarled. "Just leave me alone, alright?"

Hermione stayed quiet. "More stubborn than I thought," she said to herself. "Oh well, it's not my problem. I have things to do." And she sat in her usual corner, reading.

They stayed that way for a little more than an hour; Malfoy attempting the spell every once in awhile, or just staring blankly into space, and Hermione reading.

Finally, Malfoy threw his arms up in frustration.

"This is fucking ridiculous!"

"Well…Maybe I can…"
"NO! SHUT UP! Malfoys don't give in!" There was silence for a second, then–

"Maybe she was lying. Maybe I can just…" He walked up to the door, and stared at it silently, as if making up his mind about something. Then, he tried to walk through. Immediately he was thrown back with an incredibly bang! Hermione reflexively slowed him down, and he landed gently on the opposing wall.

Then, on second thought, she froze him.

"Wow! Would you look at that! You can't cut me off anymore! What a surprise," she said with biting sarcasm. "Okay, pay attention. Here's how you do it. Just a light flick of the wrist okay?" She demonstrated slowly for him, and then lazily unfroze him. Even he understood that it would be stupid to resist now. He quickly said the spell, transfiguring the piece of wood into cloth, and then stormed out of the room.

Hermione smirked triumphantly. "Apparently, they do give in." She crossed out the spell in the notebook, and left the piece of cloth as proof for Professor McGonagall.

When she left the classroom, Harry was waiting for her, which surprised her because the session had taken a lot longer than usual.
"Hermione…I have to tell you something." He was fidgeting slightly with his robes, and he looked pretty nervous. Hermione smiled at him. She was pretty sure she knew what this was going to be about, but she remained silent.

"Maybe, we should go some place more private."

"Sure," she smiled reassuringly at him, then took his hand and led the way outside. It was just starting to get warmer after a bitter cold winter, but it was still cold enough that most of the population was inside, in the common rooms.
Standing outside under their favorite tree, she leaned into him, seeking his warmth, and he put his arms around her protectively. Finally, after a long moment, she pulled away, looking into his eyes.

"Tell me."

"Alright, I…Hermione, I'm gay."

She grinned at him, her eyes dancing in amusement. And he was taken aback. This was not the reaction he had expected from her. Suddenly, it dawned on him.

"You knew! You knew all this time!" She nodded, still grinning.

"How come you didn't say anything?"

"Because I wanted to see how long it would take you to tell me." He shook his head.

"You're…something else, Hermione."
"So…" she said mischievously, "Who's the lucky bloke?"

He studied her for a minute, and then looked away, hanging his head in shame.

"You already know," he mumbled.

"Hey," she said softly, lifting his chin up so he was looking into her eyes. "We can't help who we fall in love with."

"Yeah, but…it just doesn't seem fair," he said, suddenly angry. "Not only am I the Boy Who Lived, destined to a life of unwanted publicity, and to fight Voldomort, the darkest wizard of our time, but now I like blokes AND I'm in love with the one man who is the closest I have to a father? I mean, think of the press Hermione! They'll have a field day if this gets out. It would be so much easier to just fall for a pretty girl and get married and start a family."
"Harry, Sirius is an amazing man. He's smart, funny, and kind, and not to mention damn hott. You have amazing taste," she winked at him, and he gave her a half smile. "And anyway, the press be damned, you still have me."

"And for that, I'm eternally grateful." He gave her his true, heart-warming smile, and pulled her in close for a hug, leaning his head gently on hers. He pulled away when he heard a group of girls giggling and pointing as they walked by.

"You know, I'm ruining your rep like this."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"You'll never be able to get a date now. Everyone thinks you're going out with me."

She rolled her eyes at him. "As if any other relationship could be as important as mine and yours."

"Even one with Ron?"

She looked away.

"Ron…has a girl friend."

"Like that's going to last long Hermione!"

"What? Six months isn't a long time?!"

"He loves you Hermione. He just hasn't realized it yet."
"Harry you're wrong. Now let's just…"
"Won't you even give him a chance?"

"Harry, I can't! He's the one who's dating someone else right now! He's the one who broke MY heart. I need to move on. I can't wait for him forever. I need to forget about him. And anyway, he's making that awfully easy to do."

Harry pulled her close again. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know," she murmured against his chest.
After a long moment of silence, Harry spoke again. "He's never going to love me the way I want him to. He's never going to see me as a bloke and not a son."

"Oh, Harry. Just give it time. He'll see."

Harry sighed.

"Come on, Mione, you're shivering. Let's get you inside."

They walked arm in arm back towards the castle, Hermione lost in her own thoughts.

"Now that Harry's ready to admit it, it won't be long before they discover that the feeling is mutual. After all, even if Sirius doesn't love Harry in that way now, he won't be able to help himself. There's nothing NOT to love about Harry. And Sirius's love already runs deep for him anyway. It'll be impossible for them not to be happy together. All they need is a push in the right direction. Maybe…Wait, tomorrow is a Hogsmeade trip right? Maybe I could just…."

"Hermione?" Harry shook her, and she blinked up at him. He laughed a little at her. "I thought you had fallen asleep on your feet."

She grinned sheepishly at him.

"Come on, I'm starving, let's go eat."

"Boys and their stomachs," she shook her head. "You go on, I'll meet you later. There's something I have to do in the common room."

"Alright, I'll be seeing you later!" And he turned in the opposite direction.

Hermione hurried to the common room, uttering a silent prayer that it would be empty. Fortunately, Merlin was listening. She ran through the deserted common room and up the boy's dormitory stairs. After a moment's trepidation over what she might find the sixth year boys' dormitories, she opened the door. She walked quickly to Harry's trunk, ruffled through it, found what she was looking for, and then crept down the stairs.

Curled up in one of the big comfy couches before the fire, she looked at the beautiful mirror in her hand. Then taking a deep breath, she stated "Sirius Black" clearly into it.

Sirius's handsome face instantly appeared in mirror. "Harry! It's so good to…Hermione?" Hermione noticed that his face fell slightly when he realized that it was her. But he quickly covered it up. "Hermione! How may I be of service?" he asked in his most charming voice, winking at her.

"Sirius. It's wonderful to see you. I was wondering. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"Erm, not exactly. It's been ages since I've seen Remus. I was going to meet up with him, tomorrow morning."
"Perfect! Would you like to join Harry and I in Hogsmeade for lunch?"
"I'm sure it would be fine…but if you don't mind my asking, why?"

"Well, because Harry misses you Sirius. He wants to see you."
"Well, I highly doubt that…"
Hermione was surprised.
"What do you mean?"

"It's just that, Harry hasn't spoken to me properly since…I can't even remember when. It's terrible. I don't know what to do."
"Sirius, I'm sure it's some kind of misunderstanding. Come visit us tomorrow. We can double date!"

"Double...date..? Hermione, have you lost it? There are three blokes and only one girl."

"And since when has that stopped you?" she winked at him mischievously and then spoke very fast.

"Okay, tomorrow, 1 o'clock, The Three Broomsticks. Don't be late!! Okay bye!"

And she hung up, feeling very satisfied with herself, and leaving an extremely befuddled Sirius on the other end.