It All Started At a Lake

Chapter 19

Saturday, December 11th, 1998

Ginny had been suspecting things for almost three weeks. Hermione continued to drop small hints at who her secret lover is, even if she wasn't aware that she was doing so. Ginny had all the dots connected, but she was still in denial.

Malfoy.

The git who had made fun of them for years and called Hermione a Mudblood countless times was the only person that matched the vague description that Hermione gave. 

She wasn't sure if her friend had gone mental, or if she wasn't thinking of the right person. Although every time she tried to imagine somebody else, it always went back to Malfoy. With a little bit of begging, she had been able to get the Marauder's map from Harry, as long as she promised to return it once she was done with whatever she was doing.

That had been four days ago, and Hermione had not gone out since. She was afraid that her friend had found out that she had the map and what she planned on doing with it, but when her friend got out of bed at two in the morning with a smile on her face, she knew her plan was still safe.

She waited a few minutes after her friend had left before slipping out of bed and following behind her, constantly looking at her name on the map. She tried to tell herself that her best friend was not seeing Malfoy and that she had gotten out of bed for nothing, but as more and more thoughts passed through her head, she knew that possibility was becoming slimmer.

She looked out the window and made sure her friend was down the hill before pushing open the creaky door and hiding behind a tree, slowly moving closer.

As she got closer, she saw a boy with bright, blonde hair.

"He's a Slytherin."

"Never thought I'd see him with muggle currency!"

"He loves smirking and is still a prat."

"Very handsome. Always dressed to impress."

"Reunited with his aunt."

Ginny didn't continue the train of thought. The questioning was easy enough to comprehend because she hadn't seen any actual proof, but the sight in front of her was more than enough. 

Hermione was sitting in Malfoy's lap, facing the lake, while he played with her hair and whispered in her ear.

She had never known the Golden girl to be a fool. Nobody could trick her and she was never known to do something for money or because somebody didn't want her to. She was also known for doing whatever Harry and Ron needed and not doing something they wouldn't agree with.

She knew that Malfoy must be something special to her because she had done something that could ruin her relationship with Harry and Ron for this. They would not be happy to find out about this, and Ron would be devastated and blame himself for not being enough.

Ginny felt rage rise in her chest at the thought. Her brother might have been stupid, but he didn't deserve something like this. She would make her and Malfoy break up, and there was no changing that. She didn't expect her to get with Ron if she broke up with the ferret, but she expected herself to feel better about it.

She walked out from behind the tree and stormed down the hill. Her wand in her pocket hummed to life as she felt her magic rising to the surface, ready to bust at any second.

Lucius tried to kill her during her first year at Hogwarts.

He wished death upon Hermione.

He became a Death Eater at the age of sixteen and let Death Eaters into the castle.