T R A I N E D T O S I N | dramione

Seven

The next day tortured Hermione, mocked her. Her inevitable fate waited for her at precisely 7 o clock and all she wanted to do was crawl up into a ball, never to be seen again. Instead, she sat in muggle studies, avoiding any chance of interactions and staring hard into space.

What had she done? What had they done?

The guilt consumed her and she buried her head into the fabric of her jumpers sleeves.
"Miss Granger?" Hermione's head shot up immediately at the mention of her name. Although her mind was preoccupied, she was still immensely alert. Mcgonnagal stood shyly in the doorframe and when she asked to 'have a word', the witch's  heart rate rocketed.

The door closed behind Hermione and the professor signalled her to walk.
"I regret to interrupt your learning miss Granger, I have been meaning to speak with you for a while." They walked side by side as Hermione stared at her worriedly, a slight look of horror across her face. Hermione saw no other reasoning for the encounter other than that she knew. Told by the very girls who had saved Draco and herself from doing anything they would severely regret she assumed. Mcgonnagal's judgement was admittedly the last thing she needed. The regret and guilt she already felt consumed her and she was in no way needing her closest professor's verdict on the whole situation.

"How are the tutoring sessions going? Nether you nor Mr Malfoy have approached me on the subject and I assume you both do attend." Mcgonnagal spoke the last part as more of a question, unbelieving that the two students had managed to go 2 weeks with not one complaint or problem. Hermione swallowed, her legs began to tremble and face visibly paled whether mcgonnagal noticed or not.

"Everything is on track. I have him take back books to read and study and then we discuss when we see each other again." The lie rolled off her tongue too easily.
"And you two get along well enough?" The professor sounded shocked. She wasn't the only one. Hermione bit her bottom lip, a habit of hers, before speaking.
"We get along just fine." She said as she offered a half-hearted smile at her professor.

"I'm glad." Mcgonnagal returned the smile more sincerely. "I will try check up more regularly but for now, continue as you are." She stopped walking and Hermione did the same as she sighed and stared at her feet. "Professor, when can I stop tutoring Malfoy?" Mcgonnagal frowned at her students sudden change in tone, unaware her previous one was a mask. "When we see an improvement in his test scores." Hermione nodded, keeping her gaze at the ground. "Now if that's all I must be off, I have some first year girls to educate on the seriousness of being out of bed past curfew." Mcgonnagal left with a parting smile and Hermione felt her cheeks heat up furiously, her eyes wide. She assumed they would've been the same girls that interrupted Malfoy and hers rendezvou.

She physically shook her head, attempting to push away the idea that they could have possibly seen anything. She was overanalysing considering Malfoy most likely wouldn't think twice. What had he had to lose? Apart from damaging his reputation, the stakes were not high for him. But Hermione had been unfaithful. And the guilt ate at her from the inside, rotting her slowly. She had decided seconds after the disloyalty that she wouldn't tell Ron. She told herself it was for his own sake and that she was sparing his feelings. But , in all honesty, she couldn't confidently say that was the case.

The next few hours passed quickly and usually Hermione would be delighted but in this instance, she yearned for time to move slower, save her from her inevitable death. Of course she was thinking metaphorically, but as far as she was concerned, seeing Malfoys face again was enough to inflict so much guilt, that dying would have been a much easier option.

She pushed the ridiculous idea from her head, huffing and slinging her bag over her shoulders as she watched herself disappointedly in the mirror. Maybe if she pretended to forget the whole thing happened, it would be like it hadn't. She stared at her reflection before leaving her dorm and heading to the potions classroom.