This chapter is a quiet, character-driven listen that sits with Hermione after her first heat. She wakes to find Draco gone, the scent that clings will not wash away, and a difficult conversation with Professor McGonagall follows about consent, possible consequences for Draco, daily suppressants from Slughorn, and how rare an unbound Omega at Hogwarts truly is, with Molly Weasley, Druella Rosier, and Cassandra Ollivander as historical touchpoints. Hermione weighs autonomy, pregnancy, and marriage against the pull of instinct, accepts staff support, and agrees to a supervised apology with Neville. A book titled Soulbound hints at the choices ahead.

This chapter is a rich, character-driven listen that keeps the mic close on Hermione Granger’s point of view. Fevered and vulnerable, Hermione rides the storm of her first heat while Draco Malfoy stays by her side, offering care, grounding touch, and patient reassurance. Clarity returns in waves, trust is tested against their history, and a fragile bond begins to take shape inside post-war Hogwarts.

From Draco Malfoy’s point of view, we step into an abandoned Hogwarts corridor, a wary Slytherin on probation, and Alpha senses turned up too high. Daphne and Astoria are circling, Hermione Granger is mysteriously absent from Arithmancy, and a thread of grief-tinged memory pulls Draco toward faint sobs behind heavy wards. What he finds is Hermione in the depths of her first heat, hiding under a freezing shower, and a choice that forces Draco to confront instinct, history, and consent in a moment that will define everything that follows.

Hermione wakes in the Hospital Wing to a revelation that shatters her post-war plans. After the explosive scene in Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall explains a hidden layer of wizarding biology, naming Alphas among Hermione’s year and confirming Hermione as a rare Omega with her nineteenth birthday looming. Consent, tradition, and autonomy collide as Hermione refuses an arranged solution and prepares to face what comes next on her own.

In this episode

• Fallout from the Neville incident, Ginny’s intervention, and quarantine in the Hospital Wing
• McGonagall’s difficult talk about Alpha, Beta, and Omega dynamics in wizarding society
• Why wizarding birth rates are low, and why some families, like the Weasleys, are outliers
• The ethics of choice, protection, and secrecy at Hogwarts after the war
• Hermione’s decision as her nineteenth birthday and first heat approach

Start our Harry Potter fanfiction podcast with an Eighth Year return to Hogwarts from Hermione Granger’s point of view. Voldemort is gone, Harry and Ron begin Auror training, and Hermione plans a true academic year. Gossip about the Golden Trio swirls, leadership roles shift to Ginny Weasley, and an unexpected encounter with Draco Malfoy hints at slow-burn tension. Neville Longbottom, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, and Theodore Nott round out a post-war cast as Hermione faces curious “growth spurts,” strange instincts, and a mystery that pushes her straight to the library.

In this episode

• Post-war Hogwarts and Eighth Year dynamics
• Hermione’s choice to study instead of becoming an Auror
• Tabloid rumors about the Golden Trio
• Head Girl duties for Ginny and shifting house politics
• Hermione and Draco’s first charged conversation on the Hogwarts Express
• A puzzling change among the Eighth Year boys that Hermione is determined to research