#insuffercble

“What are you doing out this late?”

Hermione could have stayed in her chambers, stewed in her memory or perhaps attempted to bury herself in one her latest acquisitions, but neither appealed to her. It had been risky she knew, to wander the halls so late without Harry’s cloak - against the rules. Yet, given all that they had endured last year, this simple rule had seemed so..small.

“I was only -” she began, but the words seem to die in her throat. She didn’t have a good reason. There was no dangerous plot to foil, no secret held within the restricted section that she needed to uncover. “I just - couldn’t sleep Madam.”

That was the truth of it. She knew she wasn’t the only one that struggled after the war, that she wasn’t the only one plagued by nightmares or thoughts of what they could have done differently. She knew it didn’t give the right to break school rules, and yet here she was.

It seemed more and common to find students walking the corridors after hours, especially the older students. Those who had either been at the school under the Death Eaters, or been forced into hiding. Beni herself often took to some late night wanderings, though she was of course staff and not bound by their curfew.

“Woah! I didn’t see you there!”

“Dennis!” said Hermione in minor shock. It had been close, but they had managed to avoid smashing into one another, the pile of books held in Hermione’s arms making the event particularly noteworthy. “Sorry, I must have missed you.” There was something strange about seeing him face-to-face, since the start of the year she’d only seen him across the table.

“How are you?” she asked, genuinely curious. Hermione hadn’t had much of a chance to speak to him at any length since Dumbledore’s Army.  

After the near collision, Dennis had withdrawn to the nearest wall, arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. He was an easy person to miss under normal circumstances, and even more so when the other person was half-hidden behind a wall of books.

Then came the same question everyone had been asking, for months now. “I’m fine,” he insisted, dully. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.” He was about to turn and leave, but something he’d been wondering nagged at him, prompted him to stay in place for a few moments longer.

   “Hagrid,” Ron answers with a soft grumble, “and his dumb dragon. I have to come up with a better excuse for Madam Pomfrey though.”

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HERMIONE

“I don’t think I need an lesson on honesty from you Malfoy.” she sneered, ripping her arm from Goyle’s pinching grasp, free hand coming to rub at the tender flesh. “As a prefect, I have as much right to be in these halls as you do. Not wanting to talk to you is hardly the same as sneaking round in the dark is it?”

EYES   NARROW   TO   SUSPICIOUS   SLITS   ,   lips   pursed   as   he   considers   her   words   .   he   can’t   find   a   way   to   discredit   her   as   a  fellow   prefect   ,   which   does   give   her   the   freedom   to   roam   the   halls   .   but   he   knows   just   the   thing   to   bump   himself   one   rung   above   her   once   again   .

𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 ， those words echoed in his mind with familiar tang of regret and shame. Severus had spoken those exact same words to Albus all those years ago. How easy it would be to spew more vitriol in her direction yet he didn’t, instead opting to silently observe her soft spoken words. 

Even when the realization played across her flush face did he continue to calculate how to make the most out of this disastrous situation. He should have known that this meager little witch would find out his plan, or at least a significant portion of it. Begrudgingly admitting that Granger was far more than any other witch he had encountered during his tenure of teaching. 

The metal tucked against his robes brought him back from his musings as he subtly hid the object of his mission within his voluminous cloak. Dark eyes glittering when he spoke once more. 

“No,” acknowledging, “ ― no one can know.” The wizard said unwillingly, his tone matching the low volumes as her own. “Return to your dormitory Granger.” Shifting slightly, he was about to swivel on his heel before he paused, eyes turning to the witch. An expression of indifference returned to him then. “I will call upon you to my office when I am finished.”