Hermione tells herself this arrangement with Draco is temporary, a clean line between biology and choice. Then the cracks show. He will not meet her eyes, real talk dries up, and the library becomes her refuge while she and Ginny pull on the missing threads of Omega lore and learn how valuable, and how vulnerable, an unbound witch truly is. Non-disclosure vows, watched post, and old case files hint at dangers that reach far beyond Hogwarts.
Guilt follows news of Neville and Hannah, and a stolen classroom kiss reminds Hermione why surrender feels so easy and so complicated. In Defense class, tempers cool, and at the back table a careful new player takes a seat. Theodore Nott offers a hand and a name, and the slow burn widens into politics, research, and the question of what consent and privacy must look like when everyone can smell your secrets.
