BOOKS AND CLEVERNESS;

No one knew. It was safer that way. Not even the Ministry had learned the truth  — if they had, they surely wouldn’t have forced him to return to Hogwarts to finish his education. If he’d had his own way, he would’ve vanished into the night at the close of the war. Found some secluded village to live the remainder of his days in. Instead, he had to worry about exams again. Balancing studying with the new urges he felt. Urges he hardly understood. 

Of course, Granger had found out. Insufferable swot that she was, she’d probably seen him reading a tome on werewolves that he’d snatched from the Restricted Stacks. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” Draco said sharply, shooting a look over his shoulder at her as he pulled his trousers back on. He’d survived the full moon and thankfully he didn’t taste blood on his tongue. He hadn’t harmed anyone. But now Granger knew. 

“Why are you here?” He questioned, turning towards her, drawing his tattered shirt over him. “Am I your new charity case?”

   There was every reason for Hermione to take a stand for those affected by lycanthropy. There was no sense in isolation, as that bred hostility and misunderstanding, and fear turned to violence -- the path deepened and worsened, into a dark place that she wished not to tread.

   But the concept was cleaner without the ragged reality, of ruined attire and exhausted features. Malfoy tended to look tired as of late, a symptom of something worse. Call it curiosity, she called it concern. But for once, she didn’t want to be right.

   “I didn’t -- “ she opened and closed her mouth, and forced her gaze onto the cracks in a nearby wall. “I thought someone was in danger, I heard someone, in pain...” She fumbled, uncharacteristic but how else could one make peace with such a sight?

   “I sincerely doubt that the Professors want house unity to that degree, or that badly,” Hermione worried her cheek with her teeth as she raised her head. It didn’t help at all, he remained taller than her no matter how straight she stood or how far he slouched. Boys.

   Unity between houses was a wonderful concept, and one that Hemione would encourage at every opportunity. She believed that with enough compassion, patience and good will, the houses could forgo their base distaste and arrive at something greater.

   This, however, did not mean that she was in any way pleased when the news arrived that Prefects would be interchanged, with Prefect patrols a mixed event rather than house-based. In part, she understood it; there would be no playing favorites, and it would promote house unity. Sure. Wonderful, in theory.

   But in practice? She willed herself to smile at Draco, as if this were in any way pleasant for either of them. Had she insulted Professor McGonagall, or was Snape truly out to punish her? The world may never know. She was privately thankful, on some level, as it spared her the awkward silence that came with Ron’s company. 

“Yeah…how about this for a response–I don’t fucking care.”