don't close your eyes to deceive

[cleverness]

When Hermione first noticed her name once more on the bulletin board as a nominee for Council, she stopped to ask herself a few questions. Wondering, first, if she was prepared to once more give up a good portion of every day to the work that being on such a committee required. Asking, second, if she had ideas that made her the right person for the job, ideas that she would push in the following term, no longer sitting in the background. With both of those being an immediate and resounding yes, she asked herself the last question as she turned away from the sign, a small and nervous smile on her lips, that of who she wanted to talk the matter over with. Who she would run her ideas by, making sure that she didn't miss any glaring flaws before taking them to the podium. Assuming that she'd find enough signatures to make it on.

Harry and Ron might have been the first thought that came to her mind, but it was one that she quickly discarded; the boys had lost themselves in recent weeks to the formation of Quidditch teams, to the excitement over each new hoverbroom that Hermione turned out after class. While she had no doubt that either of them certainly cared for the welfare of the island, knowing how best to protect its interests was another matter entirely. She, too, considered running to Ginny, or Bill, or even Luna, but found herself wondering if it wouldn't be best to first run her thoughts against someone who would be inclined to criticize, to poke holes in her logic, to find reasons to set her back.

With a small smirk, she shook her head, thinking the answer pretty clear.

Not half an hour later, she stood outside Draco Malfoy's hut, breathing a soft sigh as she raised her hand to rap smartly on the door.

Comments

[of-badfaith.livejournal.com]

Humming in agreement, Draco was quiet for a moment, then conceded, "While we're here, we might as well ensure our captivity is as pleasant as possible."

He had to admit, he'd learned a lot over the last four years. His life had changed in ways he could no longer ignore.

[cleverness]

"What has the world come to," Hermione asked quietly, not without some shade of wry amusement, "when the two of us seem to be more firmly agreed on this place than anyone else from home?" On some level, she was fairly certainly that Harry could have been convinced to head home, given his sense of duty— all the same, however, she also knew that having Sirius on the island would always make him reticent about the thought of returning home. And, in its own way, even having Severus Snape on the island probably brought a similar reluctance.

Ron, though, Hermione could admit to probably wanting to head home more than anything else, with so much of his family gone.

(But, she thought with a slight chill, were Fred to ever show...)

"This was helpful," she added quietly, with a nod. "Brief though it was."

[of-badfaith.livejournal.com]

"Well, good to hear it wasn't a complete waste," he muttered dryly, a slight quirk to his lips.

"Regardless, I suppose you'll have my vote again." He admitted it as if reluctant, but they both already knew it to be true.

[cleverness]

She could have thanked him, Hermione supposed, but somehow she found herself rather disinclined to. It was, in fact, a bit of a struggle not to let her grin stretch too far, instead maintaining the civility that the two of them shared as of late on the island. (Which was, she reminded herself, still some distance away from trust. To believe someone capable, and to then be able to offer them respect in turn, it was a far cry from actually trusting them with decisions when the pressure grew to be great.)

"I was operating under that assumption," she said instead, playing on his field. Using his tone— or perhaps it was her own after all, the confidence that she'd had in herself since the very first day.

[of-badfaith.livejournal.com]

"Don't get too full of yourself just yet, Granger. I could change my mind," he said, though he wasn't so vindictive anymore as to withhold his vote just to prove a point.

Besides, her campaign hardly hinged on his vote alone.