A steamy bathroom scene turns into a lesson in trust when playful restraint collides with real vulnerability, and Hermione reminds Draco that consent has always been their anchor. Talk of St Mungo’s and a future beyond biology sparks the wrong kind of silence, Draco walks out to clear his head, and the Marauder’s Map shows him with the Greengrass sisters. Jealousy flares, reason wobbles, and Hermione must decide what she believes about love, choice, and the boy who keeps promising to stay.

Caught after curfew by Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, Hermione’s private St Mungo’s interviews are dragged into the light with one brutal number: an eighty percent risk she could lose her magic if she chooses surgery. She refuses to be shamed, then walks straight to Draco for warmth, wit, and a quiet confession that she has liked this more than she ever expected. Before the day is out, Harry and Ron arrive in gray trainee robes, a tense reunion becomes an unexpected show of unity at the Slytherin table, and a casual mention of robbing Gringotts leaves half the hall staring while Draco decides this is exactly why she is terrifying in the best way.

A nasty rumor sends Hermione to the library for answers, where Theo Nott’s dry honesty clears the air about Draco, Blaise, and old Slytherin gossip, and sets Hermione laughing again.

Confidence restored, she finds Draco after class, a kiss turns into a rule breaking closet scene, and talk of hate mail, NEWTs, and the future reveals one truth she will not share yet.

On joint patrol with Pansy Parkinson, barbed questions cut close as Hermione lays out the real cost of Omega bonds, and why she would rather choose surgery than chain her life to the wrong match.