Hermione hadn't meant to do be late to DADA.  She'd gotten up early just to double-check her essay and finish breakfast with time to spare.  Unfortunately, a first-year had been too frightened to walk through the dungeons to potions, telling her a third-year Slytherin had bullied her all the last week.  Hermione hadn't thought twice before walking the young girl to class and glaring at the bully the girl pointed at.  By the time she'd checked the time, she knew she was going to be late to the other Carrow's class.  She'd sprinted anyway, arriving just in time for Amycus Carrow to glare at her so fiercely she felt like withering up.

"That's detention, Granger,"  he said, grinning like the idea of spending three hours on Saturday with her was the greatest thing he'd ever heard of.  For a moment, she worried it was.  "Find your seat, Mudblood,"  he snarled.

A few of her classmates sucked in a breath, but Hermione ignored the jab and took her usual seat in the middle of the classroom and laid out her books.

After that, it only got worse.

Amycus seemed to have it out for her the whole morning and Hermione found herself narrowly dodging more detention punishments.  Thankfully, the rest of the class seemed more than ready to defend her and jumped to her aid whenever Amycus directed a particularly pointed statement at her.

When DADA was finally and she'd learned more than she ever wanted to about "Mudbloods and the history with dark magic", she was almost too exhausted for Arithmancy.  It was one of only two periods she shared with Draco and she knew she could easily get the assignment from him if she skipped, but the last thing she wanted was for him to worry about her all class.  He knew she had a Carrow class right beforehand, so to not show up would probably send him into a panic.  With a sigh, she turned to walk to the Arithmancy classroom.

The classroom was already half full when she arrived and one of the other students had stolen her usual seat.  Trying not to be too annoyed, she spotted Draco in the back corner and made her way toward him.  She knew he didn't have a table partner as no one wanted to be around him after the Dumbledore rumour so she didn't feel bad about dropping her book bag on the table and falling into the seat beside him.

"You look miserable,"  Draco muttered, pulling a parchment out for notes.  Hermione just groaned and copied him.

"I'll tell you all about it later,"  she promised.  During class was not the best time to talk about her detention with Amycus Carrow as she was sure it would not brighten either of their moods.

When Arithmancy ended and her next thing was lunch, she took the time to retreat up to her room and switch out her books.  She grabbed a granola bar from her closet and wandered to her next class, skimming over one of the books she'd grabbed from the library.  So far, she hadn't had much luck in finding a different solution to the detention problem for younger students and now she wouldn't have spare time on Saturday to keep researching.

She was almost to the end of the hallway when she ran smack into someone much taller than her.  She stumbled backward, catching herself right before she hit the ground and looked up to see Blaise Zabini looking at her curiously.

"Is Draco in his dorm?"  Blaise asked, not seeming to care if she was alright.  Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I haven't seen him since last class,"  she answered.  She stepped around Blaise but he reached out and grabbed her arm, effectively stopping her from moving forward.  She took a deep breath to keep herself from getting too angry but didn't look at him.

"I told him before being friends with you is a huge risk,"  he said quietly.  Hermione's eyes darted up to make sure no one else was in the hallway.  This was definitely not a conversation she expected to have with Zabini and it wasn't one that should occur in a hallway.

"Believe me, it's his choice,"  Hermione muttered,  "I haven't forced him into it."

"Oh, I know,"  Blaise replied.  She looked up at him and there was a tense moment of silence.  Blaise dropped her arm and looked away as he said,  "I know he cares for you and that you care for him, but some things are too dangerous."

"He should be the one to decide that, don't you think?"  Hermione scowled.  With that, she continued her trek across the school and down to the dungeons for potions that would hopefully go better than DADA.

Unfortunately for Hermione, Amycus must have told his sister about giving detention to Hermione in the morning because as soon as she walked into the classroom, Alecto's face lit up and she could tell she was in for it.

Somehow, Hermione managed to make it all the way through potions without getting more detention.  She hurried through the rest of her classes and dinner, managing to avoid most of Ginny's questions about her day and if she'd made any progress in her research.  If Ginny knew something was wrong, she didn't press for answers.

Rather than going to Gryffindor tower for the evening, she went back to her own dorm and spread out her homework on the table downstairs.  She was determined to get everything done before her detention on Saturday and in order to do that, she'd need to keep up with it as it came up.  Thankfully she didn't have much aside from yet another essay in potions and three long problems in Arithmancy.  She'd done the DADA reading and written a bland report on how she felt muggle-borns affected the evolution of dark magic.  She knew Amycus would hate it, but he would hate anything that didn't directly say muggle-borns were worthless and dark magic was a lost art all should know and be experienced in.

She was halfway through the reading for the potions essay when Draco walked into the dorm.  He paused when he saw her at the table, then redirected his route from the sitting room to the table.  As he dropped into the seat beside her, she was suddenly reminded of the fact she'd promised to tell him what was wrong in Arithmancy.

"How was your day?"  he asked, fingering the edge of her potions book.

She paused what she was doing to think for a second.  How much was she going to tell him?  It wouldn't hurt to tell him the whole thing, but she also didn't want word to spread across the entire school that she'd been the first student to get detention with one of the Carrows.  She doubted Draco would tell anyone, however, and decided to just tell him the whole thing.  Maybe it could help her recover from it all.

"Amycus Carrow gave me detention,"  she said bluntly.  His eyes flew open and she figured the way he grabbed her hand was an unconscious thing.  "It's only three hours and I'm already working on a way to keep the younger students from getting hurt, so really now I'll be able to know exactly what to expect which is good—"

"It's not and you know it,"  Draco said.  Hermione looked at him, a little shocked by how much worry she found on his face.

"Draco, it'll be okay,"  she said softly, covering his hand with her free one.  He blinked down at their hands, seeming to only just then realise he'd reached for her.  "I can handle whatever he throws at me and once it's done, I'll know what to expect for the younger kids."

"You have no clue what the Carrows are capable of,"  Draco hissed.  She squeezed his hand and he looked away, glaring at the wall behind her.  "They're horrible people and they're not going to change just because they work at a school now."

"I can handle them,"  she repeated, looking at him earnestly.  She needed him to know she wasn't worried about them and he shouldn't worry so much about her.  Knowing he was worried about her did make her feel warm inside, but she was trying to ignore that because it was clearly killing him.

"You don't know what they'll do,"  Draco repeated after her.

His voice cracked at the end and Hermione felt her heartbreak.  He finally looked back at her and she decided not to point out his eyes were glistening.  It was then she finally remembered he'd spent all summer around these Death Eaters and he was likely to know just how the Carrows acted when left to their own whims.

"You can't keep them from giving me detention all year,"  she said softly, pulling herself forward to hug him.  Her arms wrapped around his neck gently and she felt his arms curl around her much tighter.  She didn't mind, however, and found herself rather enjoying how desperately he seemed to hug her.

"I'm gonna try,"  he grumbled into her shoulder.

Hermione smiled and when she pulled away from him, she offered up her completed Arithmancy work for him to check for mistakes.  He allowed the distraction but kept one hand in hers as she returned to her essay and he checked over her answers.

When the clock chimed one time and Hermione looked up to see Draco actually sleeping on her Arithmancy paper, she decided it was time to pack up her books and go to bed.  With a feather touch spell, she slipped the parchment from under Draco's head and levitated her research books to her room.  After making sure her book bag was ready for the next morning, she poked Draco gently.  He hummed but didn't open his eyes.

"You should go to your room,"  Hermione said.  He grunted.  "It's one in the morning, Draco.  You need to sleep in your bed."

"Fine,"  he grumbled.  She helped him to his feet and he stumbled up the stairs beside her.  She walked all the way to his bedroom with him, waiting for him to safely pass out on his bed before going back to her own room and falling asleep as well.