I Want Hermione Granger!
Chapter One
The air was brisk on an autumn evening as a large scarlet steam engine train pulled into the station. Before it had stopped completely, doors all along the side were already being pulled open and students in full black robes started piling out. In a few seconds, the once peaceful platform was filled with the sounds of the students laughing, shouting, trying to find their friends before they missed the carriages. The hissing of the train was almost reduced to nothing in the noise.
"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" shouted a large man with a large beard and small black eyes that twinkled in the light of his lantern. The smallest students started to timidly walk towards the looming figure, whispering to each other. "Come on, then. This way," the man said once all the first years surrounded him. "I'm Hagrid, by the way.
Several feet away from the group a blonde boy with a permanent sneer stood with two other broad boys. The blonde one snorted.
"First years." His cronies laughed.
Just then, one of the first years tripped and landed flat on his face, bringing on more laughing from the cronies. The blonde boy just sneered more.
"Should be fun. Come on, then." He led his cronies up the platform to the area where the carriages waited. In the time they'd taken to watch the first years, all but one carriage had left. And in it was-
"Harry Potter," the blonde boy almost growled. Harry heard him and turned. This boy was almost the opposite of the blonde. His hair was jet black, his eyes were warm and green, and he was smiling right up until he noticed who had called him.
"Malfoy," he said disdainfully, then turned back around. As Malfoy and his cronies approached the carriage, they saw two other students sitting with Harry. Both were in their year, and one was a boy with bright red hair and freckles dotting his face. The other was a girl with bushy brown hair and an air of importance. Malfoy paused briefly when he saw the girl, but got into the carriage anyway. His cronies followed.
Harry and his two friends moved as far away from Malfoy as they could, and Malfoy snorted.
"I don't want to be in this carriage just as much as you," he said. "Weasley. Granger." When he said "Granger" his voice almost skipped slightly.
"Malfoy," Hermione said. Ron just nodded.
"Crabbe. Goyle," Harry said, his voice clipped.
And then the carriage was silent. It jolted forward, and for a while, nobody spoke. Malfoy stared straight ahead, but something about his composure said how much he wanted to turn towards the three other people in the carriage.
When the carriage rolled out of the trees, Hogwarts Castle appeared across a small lake. Lights twinkled all over the building and reflected in the water, making the whole scene seem like something out of a fairy tale.
Hermione gasped. "Oh, I never get tired of that view."
Malfoy grunted. Apparently, it was often a gesture of agreement for him, because Harry turned and looked at him strangely. Malfoy just shrugged.
After a few more minutes of rumbling along the dirt road, the carriage reached the castle and stopped behind all the ones that had arrived already.
As soon as it stopped moving, Malfoy swung over the side and walked away, not waiting for Crabbe and Goyle. His shoulders were tensed as he walked, and he didn't look back to sneer once.
"What's with him?" Ron asked as he climbed out of the carriage.
"Probably just wanted to get away from us as soon as possible. He hates us, remember?" Hermione said.
"Yeah, but still."
They made sure to take a different path through the empty carriages than Malfoy and the jogging Crabbe and Goyle.
"I can't wait to learn all the new spells," Hermione sighed. "I've tried all of them already, of course, but it'd be nice to learn how to do them properly."
"Sixth years do get to learn a load of useful spells," Ron amended. "Fred and George told me about this hex-"
"Why do you still listen to them, Ron?" Harry asked, laughing. "Remember that spell they gave you to turn Scabbers yellow in first year?"
Ron laughed. "Yeah."
"I made you show it to me," Hermione added.
"God, you were insufferable first year, Hermione!" Ron chuckled.
"You're better now, though," Harry said.
"Eh," Ron said. Harry nudged him and all three burst into laughter.
Later that night, Malfoy was sulking on his bed in his dormitory when Crabbe and Goyle walked in with arms filled with leftovers from the feast.
"Where were ya at the feast, Malfoy?" Goyle asked.
"Yeah, you missed the best food since second year!"
"Not hungry," Malfoy said. Crabbe and Goyle could tell from his voice he shouldn't be bothered, so they sat on their beds and ate the food they'd brought.
Eventually, Malfoy got up, grabbed his cloak and his wand and walked out of the room. He didn't stop to listen to Crabbe's question.
He walked around the castle, not really knowing where he was going. He just let his feet lead him. When he finally decided to look up, he realized he was in the corridor that he'd figured out led to Gryffindor house. He gasped and backpedaled as fast as he could, tripping over the edge of his cloak. He landed with a thump, but he was back up almost instantly. He turned and ran, too afraid to look over his shoulder. This time he knew where he was going.
Malfoy finally stopped running once he reached the highest room in a turret on the opposite side of the castle from Gryffindor house.
He sighed and half-fell to the floor, his face in his hands.
"What the bloody hell's wrong with you, Malfoy?" he muttered. "Get over it." He pushed himself off the floor and looked around. The room was bare except for a moth-eaten couch and a fireplace. He took out his wand and waved it.
"Accio blanket." He hoped it would come from his bed, but at this point he didn't care much.
When a thick comforter that definitely wasn't his flew through the door, he caught it and lay down on he couch, ignoring the moth holes. He waved his wand two more times. Once to close and lock the door, the second to start a fire in the fireplace.
Malfoy fell asleep trying not to think about the carriage ride and the look Hermione had given him when he climbed in across from her.