Chapter 8, Book 1, After a War

The last few days had been shaky for her, she still hadn't even gotten a chance to talk to Ginny. Malfoy walked her to and from her classes for a few days and then she asked George to do it because Malfoy was creeping her out. It was like he still hated her, but he didn't want anyone else to hate her. So he was allowed to glare at her but nobody else was. 

He still hadn't gotten in trouble for what had happened in the common room the other day. She kept waiting for him to have detention for the rest of the year but it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. 

It turned out those two empty beds in Hermione's dorm were filled the next day and she hadn't even noticed yet. Pansy was one of her roommates but Hermione kind of ignored her because all she ever did was go on and on about her and Malfoy were meant to be, it was annoying. Especially when Hermione knew that Malfoy had zero interest in her. The other girl was a girl named Makayla. She had apparently been a Gryffindor before the house switch, and she was barely ever in the dorm so Hermione hadn't talked to her really at all.  

Maya and Bella were half avoiding her since the incident in the common room, the only time she had spoken to them was earlier that morning. Bella had told her that if she wanted to get in with the Slytherins, she had to give up her Gryffindor friends and prank them or something to prove that she was loyal to Slytherin now. 

She didn't want to do that. Not to her friends. But she also couldn't take one more day of being teased and bullied whenever she did anything. She took a deep breath as she walked into the Gryffindor common room, she knew the password already as Harry and Ronald had given her a list of them. 

She held her wand so tightly in her hand that her knuckles had turned white. Se looked around to make sure nobody was there and then whispered a spell. All the colors in the room changed to Slytherin and then snakes flew from her wand, slithering around the floor until there was barely enough room to walk anymore. 

She made her way out of the common room and walked to the great hall, she sat down next to George as she always did and then waited, she had lost her appetite. George kept looking at her and asking her what was wrong but she just told him she wasn't hungry. Then a Gryffindor girl stepped into the great hall, for a moment Hermione didn't recognize her and then she realized it was Ginny. Ginny was the one who had discovered the snakes. 

How did Hermione know that? 

Well, Ginny went straight to McGonagall when she walked into the great hall so she assumed that Ginny was going to tell the headmistress what was going on. One of the professors stood up and followed Ginny out of the Great hall while McGonagall got to her feet. 

"When breakfast is over, the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws may exit quietly and go straight to their classes of the day, but all of the other students are to stay in the great hall for wand inspection. Gryffindors are not to go back to their common room until notified that it is safe to do so. One of the Slytherins has pulled the first prank of the year and has infested the Gryffindor common room with snakes." McGonagall informed everyone. Hermione glanced over her shoulder at Harry and Ronald. They were already looking at her, wondering if she knew who did it, when they saw the guilt written across her face, they realized it. 

"It was you wasn't it?" George asked her as the food disappeared. Hermione nodded slowly. She felt like her voice had left her. She had never hated herself more then she did right now. But she felt safer now, she felt like maybe this would be enough to keep the Slytherins from constantly teasing her Maybe it would at least keep them from hurting her. 

The Slytherins chatted amongst themselves, half upset about having to stay in the great hall for probably an extra hour or so, half relieved they didn't have to go to the first class they had that day. Harry and Ron approached her as the Gryffindors started to get up and leave for class. 

"I'm so sorry-"

"- Its fine 'Mione," Harry assured her before she could really get upset about it. She took a deep breath and nodded. 

Ronald hesitated. "Can I ask why you did it though?" He asked. She looked between them and George, she raised her sleeve to show them her freshly cut arm and pointed out the small bruise on her cheek. 

"I wanted them to leave me alone, someone told me I had to impress them in order to keep them away." She mumbled. Ron grabbed her arm gently and looked at it. He seemed completely outraged but couldn't bring himself to say anything, he just hugged her. 

"I'm sorry we weren't there..." Harry said quietly. She shrugged. 

"Its fine, Malfoy and Theodore helped me out." She told them as she pulled out of the hug with Ronald. They nodded and glanced at the other Gryffindors. They had to go. Harry hugged her for a moment and then the two boys left. George looked horrified. 

"I could have been there for you- I was just off doing my own thing and I wasn't even thinking about the fact that you were probably being bullied too. I'm so sorry 'Mione." George quickly said. She smiled at him. 

"It's alright George. As I said, Malfoy and Theodore were there to help me." He nodded a bit. He still looked almost ashamed that he hadn't been there. McGonagall began to call up the Slytherins one by one, checking the most recent spells they had used, Malfoy walked over to her at some point. 

"It was you wasn't it?" He asked her. 

"Yep. I just wanted the Slytherins to leave me alone." She told him honestly. He nodded, a small smirk growing on his face. 

"That was pretty cool Granger, snakes in the Gryffins common room." He admitted. She broke a small smile. 

"It was. I don't like doing things like that to the Gryffindors but it was cool to use that spell." She looked over at him and met his eyes. It was so weird when he spoke civilly to her. 

"Granger I'm s-" Malfoy was cut short when McGonagall called his name. Of course, he would get called before she would. He sighed heavily and drew his wand for her to check. What was he going to say? She wanted to know what he was going to say, but he was gone before she could ask. 

She was called up after he was, but he hadn't been dismissed, she wondered why- the spell. The spell he had used on the bullies. It was still on his wand. He was in trouble. They met eyes again, knowing that McGonagall was going to really be upset with him. 

"Miss Granger, your wand?" McGonagall asked. Hermione handed the woman her wand and waited for a moment while McGonagall searched it, pursing her lips when she saw the spells. 

"Headmistress, I can explain-" Hermione began but McGonagall waved her hand to stop her. 

"You are all dismissed. I have found the one responsible for the prank." McGonagall announced to the remaining Slytherins. They all looked completely and utterly shocked. The mudblood had pranked her own house. She looked at the floor. "Both of you, explain your piece before I decide your punishments," McGonagall told them. Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but Hermione beat him to it. 

"Headmistress, the other Slytherins have not exactly welcomed me to the house, I didn't expect them to. I wanted to do something that would prove to them that I now consider myself a Slytherin. I just wanted to make them leave me alone. And Malfoy, he's been protecting me, that's why you found what you found on his wand." Hermione explained in a rush. McGonagall looked at Malfoy for a moment and then at Hermione. 

"You should have come to me, Miss Granger. I could have moved you back into Gryffindor if you had only asked me to. Miss Granger, I would assign you a normal punishment but you would probably like it, so I'm suspending you from classes for a week." She said. Hermione's jaw dropped. 

"Headmistress! What if I miss something that's going to be on my NEWTs!? How am I going to learn anything if I don't have school for an entire week!?" Hermione shouted. McGonagall gave her a cold look. 

"That will be Mister Malfoy's punishment. He will be assigned to catch you up on all of your homework every night after classes. And if he is using sectumsempra to protect you, Miss Granger, then I would expect much more from you. I never would have thought you would belong in Slytherin, but it appears I was wrong. You are both dismissed. Get to your class Mister Malfoy." McGonagall said sternly. Hermione opened her mouth to protest once more but Malfoy grabbed her arm and pulled her down the stairs to get her to shut up. Once they were out of the Great Hall he glared at her. 

"Granger!" He yelled. 

"I was trying to help!" She yelled back at him. 

"How was that helping! If I would have gotten to explain myself I wouldn't have been punished at all!" 

"I obviously didn't know that!" 

"Clearly you don't know anything anymore! What happened to you being a know-it-all bookworm!? Now you're just a dumb girl like all of the rest of them!" 

"I'm just as smart as I used to be!" 

"That's the problem, Granger! You aren't getting any smarter! Go back to being a Gryffindor! You're so annoying! Just a filthy little mudblood!" He yelled. They both stopped suddenly. He hadn't called her that since before the war. She felt herself tear up. 

"I thought you had changed Malfoy." She whispered. "You're going to be late to class." She turned away from him to walk to the Slytherin common room. 

"Granger-"

"-No its fine. Just go back to how it used to be, you can be the jerk and stop defending me, go back to being the popular Slytherin guy. I'll go back to being a Mudblood." She said. She left him standing there alone.