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Five Times Harry Potter Was Suspicious of Hermione Granger
I.
It was another sleepless night for Harry. He tossed, and he turned, and he could never get comfortable quite right. His mind was racing in every direction and he had no control of it, he had been a constant victim of insomnia for the last year. First he worried about the Charms exam his class has tomorrow, and then he wondered why Cho hasn’t been around as much (Is she ignoring him? Did he do something wrong?), and even thought a bit about how Hermione had been quite irritable lately and life has kind of felt like walking on eggshells around her.
Harry rolled his eyes - he’s never going to fall asleep.
Instead, he turned to his side and reached towards his bed side table and dug into the drawer where he kept the map. He had a slight suspicion that Cho had been avoiding him and he’d seen her a few times around Cedric Diggory. Harry had been under the impression that he and Cho were flirting and somewhat seeing each other, but suddenly she had been swiped away as if a mat under his feet. Likely spying to see if they were spending late night hours together wasn’t the greatest of plans, but Harry didn’t really care. He couldn’t sleep and there honestly wasn’t much better to do.
He opened the Marauder's map and watched the secrets of the night be revealed to him. He watched as the ink spread, and he saw names of fellow classmates pacing about in their dorms, perhaps studying (which would probably have been a better idea than this). He scanned the hallways, and classrooms, and common spaces, but ran into nothing peculiar. He even breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Cho’s name tucked safely into the Ravenclaw tower - she was innocently sleeping and he suddenly felt like a slightly creepy git for spying on the girl he liked. It was for research, Harry told himself.
He was seconds away from folding the map up and replacing it under random objects in his drawer but something caught his eye. He noticed that Hermione’s name was moving in the hallway near their potions class. Her footprints come and go in a quick matter as it seems she is nearly sprinting her way towards her destination. Harry’s eyebrows shoot up - his curly haired friend wasn’t usually the type to bend the rules, yet she was trailing about the castle, hours past curfew.
Harry realized very quickly that she was approaching Snape’s closet of potions - which was already preoccupied. By Draco Malfoy. Which was insanely strange, it was nearly one in the morning. Even if Harry had been aware that they had unfortunately gotten stuck as partners in their Potions class, he didn’t think they’d be studying this late into the night. Especially with how much Hermione lived for following the rules.
He watched in shock as she entered the closet and her and Malfoy stood face to face, surely speaking now. Harry didn’t know if he should simply disregard this whole matter and forget he even noticed, or if he should watch further and confront Hermione about her midnight journeys into locked closets with Draco Malfoy.
Before he could begin to feel creepy for spying on his friend as well as his crush, he shut the map and returned it to its rightful place, hiding away in his nightstand. He fell back into his pillows with a set of new questions on his mind, despite the reason for the map in the first place was to calm his brain. He groaned and closed his eyes, begging himself to just go to sleep, it could be tomorrow’s problem.
And tomorrow’s problem it was.
Harry found himself staring at Hermione all day, perhaps he was trying to read her face. Trying to decipher if she was going insane, or if she had been charmed by Malfoy to follow him into dark rooms in late hours of the night - either way, Hermione showed no signs of any type of late night shenanigans, and Harry was simply flabbergasted.
Hermione finally caught him staring at the lunch table and shrugged her shoulders at him, “You have something you want to say, Harry? I’ve felt your eyes on me all day.”
Harry shook his head, and faked a smile at her. “Oh, no. Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night and I keep spacing out.”
His friend reads his eyes for a second before nodding. “Same here - stayed up too late studying.” she admits. “Paid off, though, totally aced that charms exam. “ Harry actively chose to ignore the thought about how much he definitely did not ace the exam, but instead wondered if she had been studying charms with her potions partner in the potion closet?
He held back saying anything that could potentially hint to her that he had seen where she was - but his curiosity got the best of him. “How’s being partnered with Malfoy treating you? Surely, awful, I suspect.”
Hermione laughed and Harry found it no different than how she would have laughed if she hadn’t been hanging around the bloke at one in the morning. “It has been quite awful. He never listens to what I have to say and doesn't go by what the book says, either. He’s caused three potions to blow up in our faces.”
“Sounds like me and Ron’s projects in the past.” Harry snickered along. “Where do you usually meet up? At the library? Dean and I can’t seem to find any place to work on ours.”
Hermione nodded, and took another bite of her potatoes, completely oblivious to the fact that Harry knew she was meeting up with him in unconventional spots of the castle. “The library, yes, and sometimes Snape lets us meet in the classroom. It’s handy because we can be alone and focused on the task at hand without the distractions of Lavender Brown weeping about how she had gotten a flat out F on her Herbology homework. I once told her that all she had to do was study for once in her life, and she’s been glaring at me ever since.”
Harry nodded, laughing along to Hermione’s story but he wondered why she didn’t mention that Snape must also let them borrow his ingredient closet - which seems eerily unlike a thing Snape would do. He dropped it, then, and decided to instead ask if she would be going to the quidditch match that night.
ii.
He was running late for class. It wasn’t his fault, no, it had actually been Ron’s (as per usual). Harry’s ginger best friend was potentially a bad luck charm, and every time Harry gave in to Ron’s persistent begging, he found himself at a loss. It will only take a few minutes, Harry, Ron had pleaded, c’mon, I would do the same for you. And if Harry had known that Ron had needed his help searching for Crookshanks in the halls of the east tower because Ron slipped up and forgot to keep his eyes on the cat while cat sitting for Hermione, he might’ve just walked away and left Ron to his own devices. Ron had taken his eyes off of the cat he was watching. Therefore, he kind of deserved to search for the feline by himself. Harry was always there to help Ron clean his messes, even if it meant that Harry would be later sprinting down the hallway to arrive on time to his class - but he knew that McGonagall most likely had already begun.
That’s why he wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of him, he wasn’t thinking about how turning corners at the speed he was currently inhabiting could knock someone completely to the ground if they’d run into each other - but that’s precisely what happened.
Harry and Hermione came to a painful clash and both fell onto the ground. It seemed that they had both been going as fast as possible before their wreck. “Ouch,” Harry groaned while he lifted himself onto his elbows, squinting his glassless vision to see a blurry Hermione doing the same. Harry looked around for a quick second to find his eyewear, and he scurried to grab them and stand up - this was not a great time to be falling onto the ground..
“Sorry, ‘Mione, didn’t see you coming.”
She was standing now, too, readjusting her skirt and her hair seemed a lot more disheveled than he expected from just a fall. “No worries, I wasn’t looking either. Running late to meet Ron to get my cat back, if he's still even alive.”
Harry nodded, “Crookshanks was well taken care of, I assure you.” He covered Ron’s tracks, as he always did. “What kept you so late?” Harry didn’t quite mind being somewhat even later to his class if he could dig deeper into Hermione’s mysterious whereabouts, Ron had mentioned that Hermione didn’t reveal where she had been off to, or why she had needed a cat sitter for a few hours.
“Studying,” Hermione answered, and she seemed eager to answer him. “I lost track of time and next thing I knew, it was fifteen past. I don’t want to have to owe Ronald more than I already do just because of my lack of time management.”
Harry nodded. Sure, studying was a good answer. “Right, got that Charms exam coming up.” which Hermione nodded along with. Then, Harry looked past her and noticed that Malfoy was walking their way - coming from the same direction that Hermione had. Interesting.
He had a cool walk as he walked past the friend duo. He didn’t look at either of them and only mumbled a quick, “Potter, Granger.” as he passed with a nod and then he was behind Harry. Harry, who had no idea what to say now.
“Looks like Malfoy’s late to class as well, eh?” Harry settled on saying to Hermione who avoided Harry’s eyes, a quick uptick of his lips in a small smirk. “I’ve really gotta get to class, McGonagall is going to avada me if I’m even later than the last time.”
Hermione met his eyes now, and laughed. “Better be off then. See ya, Harry.”
Then Hermione was gone, behind him just as Malfoy had been a few seconds prior. Harry raised both of his eyebrows and wondered just what was going on with Malfoy and Hermione?
iii.
Harry hated studying. He hated it with every bone in his body. But when Hermione offered for the trio to study together, he usually took it. She would always let him copy her homework if his was incomplete (which it usually was) and she would talk enough about the chapter during their session that Harry would get at least a passing grade in his classes. Ron, however, was a brick wall every time during their study sessions.
“Ron, honestly, we went over the composition of gillyweed at least four times already. Just when is the information going to stick to your thick skull?” Hermione huffed out of her nose and sat back, frustrated, in her seat. This was not unlike Hermione recently, she had been lashing out at Ron for just about everything the ginger boy did. Whether it be the time he accidentally caught her sandwich on fire, or the time that he had ‘'Looked at her in an upsetting way”, Hermione would get all flustered and snap a smart lipped line towards Ron, who took it without self defense.
Ron sat silently, and Harry watched Hermione scoff before standing up. She mentioned that she had to go to the washroom, slipping away in a hasty fashion. Both boys made eye contact and Harry gave him a look of support.,“She’s been quite on edge. I’d just stop talking at all, if I were you.”
That caused the other Gryffindor to laugh, nodding. “You’re probably right.”
After a few more minutes, Harry decided he needed to find another reference for his essay and stood from his chair. “I’ve got to find another book, you need anything while I’m going around?” And after Ron shook his head, Harry started his way towards the bookshelves.
He went down one aisle, scanning amongst the books to find anything particularly about gillyweed, but he was quite shit at navigating a library. To be fair, he had never been to a muggle library in his life - and a magical library was ten times more difficult than that. Once Harry noticed a few too many books based around astrology, he realized he was in the definite wrong space.
Harry began his way to the next aisle, and immediately saw that the first few rows of books mentioned beasts, so he saved himself the time and avoided it all together. He turned down the next aisle he came across, and stopped in his tracks. Hermione and Malfoy both stood at the end of the aisle, whispering to each other in a feisty, angry-Hermione/unbothered-Malfoy type of way. Harry backed up quickly, before they had a chance to notice him. He poked his head around the shelf he hid behind, sneakily, to try and catch what they were bickering about.
He watched as Malfoy rubbed his hand down his face, then shook his head. He denied something and Hermione scoffed, crossing her arms. Harry wished so badly that he had paid attention during charms the week before, when they had gone over hearing enhancing spells. He cursed his own studious habits, and debated on how long he could safely stand there without being noticed. The unlikely duo seemed engrossed enough in their whisper-argument that Harry felt he could probably sit behind this shelf for days without being seen by them.
Harry suddenly furrowed his eyebrows when he watched Hermione’s entire demeanor change, and she slumped her shoulders, falling forward into hugging Malfoy. Malfoy, who should’ve pushed her off in the same bully-like fashion he would usually portray. But instead, the Slytherin wrapped his arms and her and Harry immediately jumped backwards with a shocked mouth-drop.
He turned on his feet and rushed back to Ron, murmuring that he couldn’t find the book he wanted and didn’t speak another word for the rest of the study session. Even when Hermione had come back for her books, she didn’t have anything to say either, seemingly still frazzled from her earlier outburst, and Harry couldn’t even bring himself to look her in the eye.
iv.
Harry started to pay more attention. He spent the entire hour of Potions looking their way instead of helping Dean figure out their assignment. Surely, he had it handled on his own.
There were more important matters at hand, such as the fact that Harry had noticed three times that Hermione would set her quill down as her and Malfoy exchanged words, seemingly in their own little world - like they had a bubble around the two of them - as if the rest of the world didn’t even exist. It was strange.
Dean asked him a question and he tore his eyes back to the task. But he didn’t know how much fairy dust goes in the cauldron, and it’s not very important right now. Dean seemed frustrated at Harry’s answer and mumbled "You can stop staring at Hermione any minute now."
Harry blushed because that’s just not what he was doing. She was staring at Malfoy, and Harry was staring at them. It was totally different, so Harry said nothing in return. He instead decidedly grabbed the container of pixie dust and sprinkled a pinch into the cauldron - recklessly estimating an amount it could’ve called for.
Dean went along with it, for he was just as bad as Harry at this class, and it was a misfortune that they had been placed together in the first place. Hermione and Malfoy, however, were flourishing, they were the only group that had consistently aced each assignment for the quarter - which seemed strange to every other student in the class. That Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had made a flawless pair that couldn’t fail a potion even if they tried. Harry didn’t even understand how they could possibly be doing so well when it looks to him that all they do is bicker between how much of what goes in for an entire hour.
Harry just found the whole situation odd. And suspicious. And he decided he was to get to the bottom of it. He took one more glance towards the potion partners and if Harry was insane he’d probably say that Malfoy nudged Hermione with his elbow, and she smiled as she slapped his arm back. They then shared a look that Harry half preferred he hadn't seen, it being much more intimate than Hermione should ever share with the likes of Malfoy. But Harry was surely out of his mind, right?
v.
Ron was yelling something about the snitch, instructing Harry that it went left, and then right, and then did a complete 90 degree angle and Harry made an intense turn on his broom. Him and Ron were using their Tuesday afternoon to do their weekly personal practice before their game that night.
The other Gryffindor boy was watching from his post near the goals, and Harry was chasing around a practice snitch. He had invested in one earlier that year, and it was strictly enchanted to make seeking a bit harder so that when Harry would encounter a normal game snitch, he’d be used to a more intense ball and would easily be able to snatch the school’s slower one up. It was challenging, and Harry had fallen off of his broom a multitude of times since beginning his practices with the new snitch.
This time it shot straight up and Harry groaned as he pulled the front of his broom towards himself and shot up after the golden flying object. It took him high into the sky, flying further and further towards the clouds before taking a sharp turn downwards. Harry followed, and his speed picked up, getting closer…and closer… and closer… and caught. He let out an excited laugh as he held the ball tightly in his gloved fist and eased his way back towards the castle.
His eyes were scanning the beautiful landscape that he went to school at, and felt the appreciation he always feels when he can view the area from this high up - but then he sees it. He sees a pair that look eerily similar to Hermione and Malfoy near the whomping willow. They were standing next face to face, shielded from the castle behind the massive trunk of the tree. Harry slowed his pace, keeping his eyes trained on the two as he lowered his way back to the quidditch grounds. They didn’t seem to be bickering this time, and Harry found himself wondering what they were talking about once more.
He’s so bewildered about how often he’s found that Hermione winds up in the same space as Malfoy, and he wonders at what point he should ask her about her budding friendship with the blond. And if he should mention it to Ron?
Harry landed safely on the ground where Ron was already waiting, putting away the quaffle and locking it into place. “Good one, Harry, the bloody thing didn’t stand a chance.”
He thanked him as he approached his friend. “Ron, have you noticed anything strange going on with Hermione?”
Ron looked up from the chest as Harry kneeled next to him to put the snitch in its rightful place. “Other than her breaking out into beast mode every time I open my mouth?”
Harry nodded. “Right, other than that.” But Ron shrugged, shutting the trunk as Harry pulled his hands out. He locked it and Harry continued talking. “I keep finding her in weird spaces with Malfoy.”
“Well, they’re partners in-”
“Potions. I know that, Ron,” Harry interrupted. “But it’s as if it's more than just school circumstances. And - well, er,” Ron watched Harry as he spoke, interested and curious - and Harry wasn’t sure how much he should say. He had been aware of the slight crush on Hermione that Ron had - only because the ginger had a habit of talking in his sleep and Harry often suffered many nights of no sleep. “I saw them hug. The other day in the library.”
“Hermione and Malfoy hugged?” Ron asked in disbelief and Harry was afraid that Ron might not believe him. Because of the fact that if roles were switched, Harry wouldn’t believe it if Ron had dropped that onto him. “In the library?”
“Yes,” Harry confirmed and both of the boys stood up. “It’s just been weird, I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Ron shook his head, “I haven’t been paying much attention to her recently. I’ve been too scared to.”
Harry laughed and they both picked up the trunk, ready to end their practice session. “Maybe she’s been spending too much time with Malfoy and he turned her into a bitter vampire like him.”
“Blimey, hope he didn’t have to bite her neck to achieve that one.”
One Time That He Didn't Have to Be
i.
Harry decided to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday. He rather not see Dudley get an insane amount of presents the bloke would soon forget about after opening, and decided that he’d rather stay and keep Hermione company - as she had decided at last minute to not go home this year either.
He also perhaps schemed that this was the perfect time to investigate Hermione and Malfoy’s strange closeness recently. He had quickly realized that Malfoy had stayed at the castle as well, and Harry watched him walk out of the Great Hall, with his cronies swaggering behind him.
Facing forward, he noticed that Hermione had been looking that way too, and she quickly looked at Harry, instead. “Strange that Malfoy isn’t going home for the holiday.”
Harry agreed. “Sure is,” he tried to read her face, as if maybe the answer to this entire mystery would show, but he could read nothing from her demeanor. “Why was it that you decided to stay?”
She shrugged, and ate another spoonful of her cereal. “Didn’t feel like taking the train ride, honestly. I also plan on reading a bit - I've been behind on my nightly reading.”
Interesting. “Been too busy?”
“Busy as a buzzingbee,” Hermione insisted. “I can never find time for myself it seems.”
Harry sympathized while also wondering just who exactly was taking so much of her time then - he and Ron had barely been around Hermione for the past few weeks, half because of the sheer terror they’ve felt being in her presence, and half because she was often nowhere to be found.
“Where are you always off to, anyways?”
“What do you mean?”
Harry shrugged and half debated on not saying anything more. “Just seems like you haven’t been around much.” He wondered how much of the time that she wasn’t with them, she was with Malfoy? It seemed completely impossible to think about and so Harry chose not to.
“I’m sorry, I don’t quite know what you mean.” She denied the claim. “I’m around plenty. And I don’t like your accusatory tone.” With that, the witch stood up and gathered her things, promptly leaving Harry’s vicinity.
He didn’t see Hermione for a whole day after that. She had once again hidden away after any small irritation she had faced. With Ron gone, Harry had been at the butt end of it. Now he could understand why Ron was quite terrified of Hermione. He had constantly been on the receiving side of her outbursts recently - sometimes multiple times a day - and increasingly more often as the days passed.
Harry wasn’t necessarily looking for Cho, he was just wandering the castle on the off chance he came across her. His eyes were peeled and he was checking down every hallway in a cool, calm, and collected way. He was walking down the hallway that he knew ended with just one more dead end hallway if he were to turn left. But - he wanted to peer down the hall just in case he happened to find Cho tucked away with Cedric in an upsetting worry that was manifesting in Harry’s head as he got closer to turning for the last hallway.
Taking a small peek around the corner he didn’t see much, but the hall was full of pillars and crevices, and Harry had once heard Cormac bragging about this being the best snog spot, so he decided he was going to investigate further. Just to be extra sure.
He was careful and quiet with his steps, and he found himself feeling like a creep once more. What was he even doing?
He realized very quickly that there were people in this corridor - and they were definitely snogging. Harry heard it before he saw it - and that was almost traumatizing as it was. They were sloppy noises that made Harry cringe as he came to a full stop. His hand shot up to cover his mouth as he heard a female moan and Harry thought he was about to faint - he had to get out of there. His feet, however, wouldn't move. Surely, it was not his Cho and the worst Hufflepuff quidditch player the school had taking up the dark space behind the pillar.
His feet were basically glued to the ground with curiosity glue. He couldn’t see any more of them than just the tips of toes. He would have to get closer if he wanted to know - and he debated on whether or not that would finally surpass the thin line and he’d officially become a creep. He took a step that was so slow that it was almost painful to take.
And he suddenly realized what the blonde hair that was revealed meant. He had stumbled into a snog fest that Malfoy was involved in. Harry needed to leave immediately. And he was a millisecond away from turning on his heels and scurrying away when he saw Malfoy bend his knees and then his waist was engulfed in a pair of women’s legs that were wrapped in tights.
Harry’s mind flashed to a picture of Hermione wearing those exact tights. Now, he was aware that half of Hogwarts witches wore them, sure, but then Malfoy spoke, not even bothering to whisper this time ... he assumed that the pair were completely alone, unaware of Harry Potter’s presence just five risky feet away. ”Merlin, Granger, this is not what I meant when I said we should work on the Dogbreath potion.”
“Shut up, Malfoy.” Came Hermione’s snarky remark and Harry’s ears recoiled at the sounds of gross snogging and he immediately turned around, quietly departing and getting as far away as possible.
And Harry never questioned Hermione on her suspicious disappearances ever again.