When Harry and Ron escaped exhausted from Professor Snape's day-long Potions classroom detention, dusk had already fallen over the spires of Hogwarts.
They spread themselves out on the armchairs in the common room like pancakes, and soon Hermione returned from Hogsmeade... she showered them with sweets like raindrops.
"Draco bought these for you; he brought a little of everything," she said with a smile, her cheeks flushed from the cold wind.
"Merlin's stinky socks! Is this even a little bit?" Ron exclaimed, his mouth agape. He was covered in sweets, looking just like the display in Honeydukes' shop window.
"Thank him for me," Harry said from the side, his mouth stuffed with several Pepper Imps; he looked half-starved.
"I already spoke for you," Hermione said with a smile. "How was your day?"
"It could not have been worse. That greasy old bat, Snape!" Ron said angrily, gritting his teeth as he grabbed an Ice Mice and crunched it loudly. "We have been doing manual labour all day! Washing dozens of cauldrons, cleaning all sorts of sticky slugs and animal entrails, and Harry even got a scolding and lost five points for daydreaming."
Harry did not seem keen on discussing this sombre topic. He held a piece of fudge and asked Hermione, "Did you go shopping with Draco? How was it?"
"It was great," Hermione said cheerfully. "I had a wonderful time."
Draco had been the most considerate guide in the entire village of Hogsmeade.
He had noticed her unease and subtly eased her nervousness about her first visit; he patiently introduced her to the fascinating shops that she had no idea about before, which were dazzling to the eye; he took meticulous care of her, keeping her far away from Dementors, so she was never frightened again; eventually, she completely let go of her awkwardness and fully enjoyed the lively atmosphere of Hogsmeade.
At this moment, Ron picked up a Licorice Wand and examined it closely, then asked Hermione, "How is Hogsmeade?"
"Oh, apart from those patrolling Dementors being a real nuisance, everything else is quite good. Honeydukes has a spectacular amount of sweets, you should definitely check it out... Zonko's Joke Shop is packed with people buying Stink Pellets, Hiccup Sweets, and Dungbombs... The Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks is especially good... And of course, the most worthwhile place to visit is Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." Hermione said enthusiastically, counting on her fingers.
"What did you say?" Ron gasped, stopping his sword-fight with Harry in which they were wielding Licorice Wands. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes? George and Fred actually opened it?"
"You know about this?" Hermione asked, looking surprised.
"During the summer holidays, they were always whispering about this, about applying for a patent and all that... I would occasionally overhear a word or two... but I did not expect it to happen so quickly..."
Ron asked, puzzled, as he popped a Jelly Slug stuck to his collar into his mouth. "The problem is, where did they get so many Galleons to set up a shop? Mum and Dad definitely do not know... they would never agree to it."
"I do not know either. But they have certainly made quite a show of it; you should really go and check it out." Hermione shrugged, indicating that she had no clue.
She turned around, looked around for a moment, and stopped the red-haired girl who was rushing down from the girls' dormitory. "Oh, Ginny, you have come at the right time. This is a miniature fluffy creature Fred asked me to bring you... called a Pygmy Puff..."
"Thank you!" Ginny said with delight, taking the two little creatures from Hermione's hands.
Then, she glanced quickly at the two boys happily rolling around in the sweet pile by the fireplace and asked Hermione, "Are you not going to the party? It starts in five minutes."
Harry and Ron immediately realised what was happening, stood up, dropped all the sweets on the ground, and hurriedly squatted down to pick them up.
"Are you really wizards?" Hermione shook her head and gave the sweets on the ground a wave. "Pack!"
The sweets immediately jumped back into the packaging bag and were neatly stacked.
"Hermione, that was a beautiful spell!" Ginny exclaimed admiringly, stepping out through the portrait of the Fat Lady after Hermione.
"The last time I saw such a beautiful tidying spell was when my mother cast it... Oh, you can never expect boys to cast a neat tidying spell..."
"Can you not..." Hermione repeated softly, recalling how Draco had used this spell to neatly arrange the wizard chess pieces back in first year.
She was so adept at the spell thanks to the tips he had given her and the practice sessions he had shared with her.
However, they had no time to discuss these things anymore. All the Hogwarts students had come from all directions of the castle, excitedly and noisily lining up at the entrance and filing into the Great Hall, which was decorated with hundreds of pumpkins with lit candles.
One of Hermione Granger's weaknesses was that when there were two or three lines at the Great Hall entrance, she could never get ahead of them. There was always someone who squeezed in before her, and her manners would not allow her to rudely push others aside.
Complaints came from behind her in the queue...
"What are the people in front doing? Why are they not moving?"... but she was powerless to do anything about it.
She was so anxious that her face turned red, until the boy coming towards her stretched out his arm to block the line beside her, raised his pointed chin at her, and said briefly, "Go in."
"What are you doing?" Zacharias Smith, who had been stopped next door, said angrily, glaring at Draco.
"Smith, if I were you, I would consider whether my upbringing has been sucked away by Dementors," Draco said coldly. "Did you never learn the saying 'ladies first'?"
Zacharias watched as the brown-haired girl smiled at the meddlesome Slytherin boy and led a red-haired girl through the doorway.
He muttered angrily about "bad manners" as he tried to follow, but Malfoy beat him to it and elbowed him, making him stumble.
"You just wait!" Zacharias threatened. "Until Quidditch..."
"Yes, I am waiting," Draco said lazily, giving him a mischievous smile.
Hermione Granger had a good appetite that night. She ate a little of everything on the table, even though Draco had already fed her quite a bit in Hogsmeade.
Sipping her warm pumpkin juice, she happily looked up and saw a flock of live bats hovering above her, seemingly brewing a storm, whilst a bright orange banner, ablaze with flames, writhed and twisted like a colourful water snake.
"Hermione, I really did not expect this," Ginny said to her. "Are you close to that Malfoy? He actually let you go first."
"Oh," Hermione said, "he is my study partner."
"You are going to study with a Slytherin?" Ginny exclaimed in surprise, nearly knocking over the pumpkin pasty in front of her.
Hermione shrugged, took another sip of the sweet pumpkin juice, and glanced at the opposite table, staring blankly at the boy with a somewhat indifferent expression.
"Oh, Ginny, relax." Ron grabbed a pumpkin pasty and said to his sister in a casual tone. "You have to be realistic. No Gryffindor with any self-respect wants to partner with her. She will relentlessly correct all your mistakes... from the tone of your spells to the way you swing your wand, and she will nitpick the length of your essays and your handwriting until you are ashamed or furious."
"Oh, so you sent her there to cause trouble for the Slytherins?" Ginny exclaimed, feigning sudden realisation.
Imagining Hermione bossing the arrogant Malfoy around, she could not help but laugh. "Will not Malfoy go mad? Will he not want to cast some kind of curse on her every day?"
"Oh, no. They do not seem to have had any disagreements," Ron said suspiciously, turning to Harry beside him. "Draco has quite a temper, does he not? He has been quite patient with her, actually putting up with her..."
"That is because he is flawless! Everything he does is perfect!" Hermione said haughtily, snapping out of her reverie. "I have not found a chance to find any fault with him yet!"
"Is this why you have not been enjoying being his study partner lately?" Harry asked with interest. "Because you cannot find fault with him? Because you cannot showcase your strengths?"
"No!" Hermione said, her face slightly flushed. "I just wanted to help Neville..."
She simply had to change her study partner because of some concern for her own health.
Even so, her favourite study partner was still him, it would always be him, it had always been him.
She met his gaze across the table and subconsciously gave him a slight smile.