The following evening Matt finally managed to corner Hermione in the common room. No one else was around, as it was growing late. He silently took both her hands in his and led her over to one of the couches nearest the fireplace and sat down.
"You know I'm not mad, right?" Matt said.
"I was a little worried…" Hermione said.
"You can tell me stuff, you know? I'm a big boy; I can handle it." Matt looked into Hermione's eyes and studied her features. She licked her lips and took a breath.
"Okay. I haven't told you much because it's not easy to talk about. You see, Voldemort, he split his soul into pieces, making these things called Horcruxes. It's how he survived the Killing Curse rebounding off Harry the first time. Well, Harry and Dumbledore, they discovered this, and Harry had already destroyed one, the diary."
"I've heard of Horcruxes. So, the diary that possessed Ginny, that was one of them?" Matt said, remembering Hermione telling him about it previously. She nodded.
"Dumbledore found another one, a ring, he destroyed it, but it was cursed and going to kill him in the end. So, he asked Snape to kill him instead. He made sure Harry knew as much as he did, but we only knew about one other one. So, we had little to go off. We did find it, the locket, I mean. It was at the Ministry."
"So, you broke into the Ministry of Magic, a second time?" Matt asked.
"Yes. And it went better the second time round, you see." Hermione explained.
"You never did tell me about the first time, not fully." Matt said. He saw Hermione's hand self-consciously cover her stomach.
"It's not relevant to this story. I will tell you about it, I promise."
"I'm gonna hold you to it." Matt said and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
"As I was saying, we retrieved the locket, but we were nearly caught. I had to Apparate us to the woods, you see. One of Voldemort's Death Eaters grabbed us, but I was able to get rid of him." Hermione explained. "It was at this point we were in the woods and alone. It was exceedingly difficult. We had no supplies and had to fend for ourselves. We were hungry most of the time and the locket, with Voldemort's soul in it…it affected us."
Matt reached over and took Hermione's hands into his own and comfortingly stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs.
"You ok?" he asked quietly.
"This next part, is difficult, for me." Hermione admitted and Matt nodded. "But I want you to know all of it."
"Alright. When you're ready…"
"It went on for what must have been a month or more, until Ron…he left us. He abandoned us. Harry and I were without him. He was my boyfriend, and we had known each other for so long. And he just left." Tears spilled from Hermione's eyes. Matt let go of her hands and she wiped the tears away, after which he gave her a brief hug before letting her continue.
"We knew we had to find the Sword of Gryffindor. And after a near miss with Voldemort in Godric's Hollow, we did indeed find it and destroyed the locket. Ron came back. And then…we were captured. Bounty hunters who were looking for anyone using Voldemort's name, because they knew we were unafraid of it, got us. They took us to the Malfoys and Draco shockingly helped us…"
"I sense a 'but' coming." Matt said as he looked at Hermione with worry.
"I…I…was tortured." She said finally. Her heart almost broke at the expression of concern and worry on Matt's face. "It was horrible…and this was done to me…" Hermione took a deep breath before she rolled up her left sleeve to reveal the word 'Mudblood' carved into her arm.
"Oh…Hermione…" Matt said with a pained expression. He quickly pulled her into a comforting hug and cradled the back of her head with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. Hermione let a couple of sobs out and nuzzled his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Thank you." She whispered back as they finally broke the embrace.
"I kind of wish I hadn't pressed…" Matt said, obviously feeling guilty about making her relive the trauma of the war.
"It's ok. I want you to know. And in the end, I feel it was worth it. Yes, I'm a Mudblood, but I'm proud of being who I am."
"You're damn right to be proud! You're a badass. And easily the best person I know. To say nothing of how talented you are. You make it all look so easy." Matt said with a smile.
"The point is, yes it was hard. Yes, we were helped along the way by Dumbledore and his brother, Neville, Ginny, Luna, and everyone here at Hogwarts. We couldn't have won without them. And we did win."
"And I for one, am so incredibly glad you did. Imagine if I had woken up and you all had lost. Assuming I woke up at all." Matt replied darkly.
"Well, I'm glad you did, wake up, that is." Hermione said and leaned over to kiss Matt. He closed his eyes as they shared the kiss. Matt found himself leaning back, his arms wrapping around Hermione, and they fell backwards onto the couch, with Hermione laying on top of him. They shared more than one kiss this way, each of them squirming against each other to tease one another.
Once it got a little too much, Hermione paused him and requested that they just hold onto each other for a while. Matt was happy to accommodate and was content to cuddle with her. The pair fell asleep that way, not bothering to go to bed.
At breakfast the following morning, Matt and Hermione were sitting closer together than ever. When Neville joined them, he looked apologetic.
"Sorry about the other day, I didn't mean to cause trouble for you both."
"It's alright, Nev. We're all good, now." Matt replied with a smile.
"I told him everything." Hermione said. "No secrets. He knows, even about the scar." Hermione flourished her wrist a bit and Neville nodded understandingly.
The mail arrived and Hermione once again had more correspondence. Even Matt had a letter in addition to his Daily Prophet.
"I've got mail? Who would be writing to me?" Matt asked aloud.
"Well go on, open it!" Ginny said. Matt opened the very official looking letter and read over it. His eyes were wide with shock. His left hand went to Hermione's right wrist, and he gently squeezed her.
"Hermione? Is this true?" he asked and held out the letter. She looked it over and blushed.
"Well, erm, yes, it is. I mean you don't have to, of course, I just thought you might like to…"
"Of course! Yes! A thousand times yes!" Matt said and threw his arms around her shoulders, hugging her.
"What is it?" Ginny asked.
"Hermione wants me to present her with the Order of Merlin at the ceremony at the end of the month!" Matt said excitedly. "I'm so happy for you and I'm deeply honored you would pick me for this! I'll get this reply back right now." Matt said and quickly drew his quill from his bag to scribble his acceptance before rushing out of the Great Hall to the owlery.
"I never would have imagined he would be so happy at my success." Hermione looked amused as her boyfriend rushed off.
"I think it's sweet. He must really love you to want to be in that position. In front of everybody presenting an award." Ginny said as an owl landed in front of her. Hermione grinned, recognizing it as a letter identical to Matt's.
"Guess you'll be finding out too, won't you?" Hermione said with a smug grin as Ginny opened the letter and her eyes were as wide as Matt's own had been. She immediately looked to the staff table at a grinning Harry Potter who had been watching the whole thing transpire. Ginny snatched up Matt's abandoned quill and filled out her own reply before dashing off as well.
"Ms. Granger, is everything alright?" Headmistress McGonagall asked as she walked over to Gryffindor table, after Ginny too had fled.
"I believe so, Headmistress. Matthew and Ginny have gotten some happy news, it would seem."
"I see. Well, I wanted to offer my congratulations to you on the Order of Merlin. The three of you deserve it. I take it, then, Mr. Santini and Ms. Weasley are to be your presenters?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Yes, and Matt it seemed, was very excited about the prospect of it." Hermione replied with a blush.
"That would explain the outburst then. I have to say, it is refreshing to see a significant other be so supportive of their partner. Others would do well to follow that example." Professor McGonagall said loudly, so other students would hear. She smiled at Hermione as she passed by heading out of the Great Hall.
Hermione stood and moved over to the staff table.
"Har- Professor Potter." Hermione corrected herself but Harry waved her off.
"It's fine Hermione." Harry said with a grin.
"I thought you said you were leaving to go back to your investigations at the Ministry at the end of September. You're still here did something happen?" she asked.
"Well, er, not exactly no. I'm staying on just until the end of term. McGonagall says she'll have a replacement by then for sure." Harry explained. Hermione nodded and smiled.
"Well alright then. I ask for a couple of reasons. You see, I want to be sure you're of course, happy with things." Hermione said.
"Of course, I am Hermione. I do actually like teaching, you know?"
"Well, you were really good at it back in fifth year. And you've only gotten better since. We'll be well prepared for our N.E.W.T.s when it comes time." Hermione said proudly.
"What was the other reason?" Harry asked. Hermione glanced around and then leaned in conspiratorially, blushing a bit.
"Well, you see, Matt and I have a bet going. And I would rather not have to humiliate myself in front of everyone if I lose…" Harry looked surprised. Hermione was not one who typically gambled. Matt must have talked her into it. It must have been good too, for her to agree to it.
"Oh, really? And what would that entail Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I can't tell you! That could sway your decision and Matt and I, as part of the terms of the bet, have agreed not to sway your decision one way or another. Telling you anything more than that could motivate you one way or another." Hermione explained.
"I see." Harry smirked. "You know, he might be a bad influence on you Hermione, gambling and what not." Harry said smirking. "Oh, and you had better take your boyfriend to Hogsmeade." He seemed to be remembering something. "Unless you both thought to get dress robes when you were in London over the summer?"
Hermione's eyes widened. She had never thought that they would need dress robes this year and did not bother to get new ones for herself or to tell Matt he should buy some. She hoped he was not stretched too thin to get some new robes.
"I had better mention it to him..." Hermione said with a blush.
By the weekend Hermione had convinced Matt he needed to go into the village and get fitted with an appropriate set of dress robes for the ceremony. He was a little obstinate at first, at going clothes shopping. Hermione was not convinced that there might not have been some underlying trauma there. Eventually, she used herself as a point of manipulation and pointed out he knew this was coming from the start of term feast, due to the Christmas Ball, and Matt finally relented, only because it was for her.
Ginny swore up and down that he had to have some deep-seated feelings for her for her argument to have worked at all. Ginny pointed out it was the closest thing to an argument or row the couple had ever had. Hermione was less than pleased with her theory that Hermione was paying Matt off with, in Ginny's words, 'maddeningly inventive sex'. Hermione pointed out to her on several occasions, that Matt was waiting on her word, and her word alone, as to when they did the deed, and under what circumstances.
Although she was not fond of Ginny's theory, she was not entirely off base. Hermione had promised to make the whole experience worth his while. She knew this would end up translating into a quiet drink or two at either the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head, which in recent months had become a much more popular hangout for students, much to Aberforth's dismay. More than likely this would also be followed up by a trip to the Shrieking Shack, where she was sure they would share a kiss or two and a cuddle, for warmth.
Hermione had even agreed to let Matt watch her try on dress robes, but he said he wanted to be surprised, so instead chose to wait on her, holding her purse for her. Even though he did not see the different dresses, she felt a great rush of affection towards him for holding her things and being patient. Hermione appreciated the fact that Matt gave her independence to make her own decisions about what she was wearing. On more than one occasion, Ron had made comments about her clothing, especially when she was wearing Muggle outfits.
In the end, Hermione had chosen two different sets of dress robes. One for the ceremony, which was very sharp, and the other for the Christmas Ball, which she was delighted to keep a secret from her boyfriend. He wanted a surprise, he was going to get one, she would be sure of that.