"I can't believe I got screwed into another year of school," Ron grumbled, slumping in his seat. "I almost completed my seven year!"
"You didn't even attend," Hermione reminded, nose buried deep in a book. "We were out handling Horcrux's."
"That should count as my seventh year education. I mean I did more out there in the real world than I ever will in a classroom!"
"And now we get to be seventh years together," Ginny teased, grinning at her brother. "Won't that be fun?"
Ron screwed up his face, looking around at the others. "I'm an eighth year!"
"Keep telling yourself that," Ginny joke, fingers stroking Harry's back. "We're all in the same boat this time around. Just think, we get to graduate together!"
Ron cursed, causing Neville to swat him in the head. "It's not that bad mate. At least we'll have our formal education before going out into the real world."
"I'm going to be an Auror," Ron snapped, crossing his arms sternly. The trolly of sweets had already been by, and he'd devoured all his mood-sweetening goods. Now he was just bitter that he had to spend yet another year studying. "Don't get me wrong, Hogwarts is outstanding. I mean my best memories come from there. But I'm an adult now. I'd rather be out training to be an Auror like I'm supposed to than spending another year here."
"Oh Ronald it won't be that bad," Hermione sighed, looking over the top of her book at him. "You can at least participate in Quidditch again- though I'm not sure Harry would still be the captain?"
"I have no idea," the raven-haired boy replied, staring out the window. "I would imagine not after missing an entire year of school. They had to replace me."
"We can just form our own, outcast Quidditch team," Ginny retorted, grinning wider. "We'll interrupt games and win even though we aren't playing!"
"That sounds very distracting and rude," Hermione commented, sending the redhead a stern look. "If someone interrupted your Quidditch games you would have their head."
She sighed. "I suppose you're right."
"Maybe you will all get different rooms," Luna mused, speaking up for the first time. "I mean with seven years' worth of students coming the original dorms just can't hold that many people."
"Oh Ronnykins maybe we'll get rooms next to each other," Lavender squealed, bothering to look up from her magazine for the first time. "Now that would be wonderful!"
Hermione made a face. Leave it to Lavender to ruin things.
"I, well-" Ron began, though he was cut off by the door to their cart opening.
A young boy peeked his head through the door, looking around the crowded cart. "Hermione Granger is to report to the Head's compartment," he said in his biggest voice before rushing away. The brunette smiled as she shut her book, thinking the child was utterly adorable.
"I was hoping they would forget about this."
"You still can't stand that it's Malfoy who made Head Boy, aye Hermione?" Ginny teased, smirking.
"I've been trying to forget," she grumbled, not yet moving. "I mean out of every eighth and seventh year who thought it would be a bloody good idea to pick him? McGonagall must be off her rocker!"
"They look at your grades," Luna mused. "He must have been academically efficient in some way."
"I find that hard to believe," Ron interrupted. "I mean we slacked off when we were in school, but even me and Harry paid more attention than Ferret Boy."
"Nonetheless he is Head Boy," Neville said, looking at Hermione sadly. "They are going to expect you up there."
She shrugged, finally standing. "It's not as if McGonagall's going to be there. She's already at Hogwarts, so I really don't know what good the two of us meeting up is going to do if we don't know our full responsibilities yet."
"Maybe she's just making sure the two of you won't kill one another," Ginny suggested as Hermione headed to the door. "It will be a nice trial."
"Or a deadly one," she sighed, heading out the open door. "Wish me luck."
A series of "good lucks!" followed as she left the cozy compartment for the one at the end of the train that she would be sharing with Malfoy for the duration of the ride. It would probably be cold down there with his icy heart in the room.
Though the war had only been over a few months the Ministry was already insisting that students return to school. It was a big deal to get people who should have graduated last year back in, especially to Hogwarts, but eventually it became a mandated thing. Hermione was pretty sure that was the only reason Ron came back- and Malfoy for that matter.
To say she was unhappy with the new Head Boy would be an understatement. She was unhappy with sharing a compartment with him until they arrived at Hogwarts. She was unhappy that she was splitting duties with him.
She hated that he was Head Boy. She didn't think he deserved the position, not after everything he had done. He was lucky to escape Azkaban, let alone get back into Hogwarts. But to be Head Boy, the highest possible position appointed to a student in Hogwarts- aside from Head Girl- was preposterous! She couldn't put into words how much that really aggravated her.
Arriving at the cart saved just for the Head's Hermione hesitated, standing outside the door for far longer than needed. Going inside meant she had to tolerate the blond, and she knew what the very first words off his lips would be. After everything she'd been through for the past seven years the last thing she was going to accept was name calling. No, she wouldn't let him walk all over her and act like he was superior in some way.
That was part of the problem. They had two majorly conflicting personalities and they couldn't get along. It was as simple as that.
Accepting her fate her sighed and opened the heavy door, only to find the room empty. Malfoy was nowhere to be seen, though the curtains were drawn. Stepping in she smiled, knowing that if nothing else she could at least read to pass the time until they arrived. Perhaps he wouldn't show at all.
Sitting down comfortably on one side of the space she set her bag down and was about to open her book again when she noticed two manila folders tucked away by the window. Curious she leaned forward, snatching them both up.
They weren't addressed and she quickly opened the top folder. What Hermione expected to be the rules and regulations of being Head Boy and Head Girl was something else entirely.
"Why would someone care how the train is made?"
It was silly to speak aloud in an empty compartment, but Hermione didn't know what else to do. In all honesty she had never once considered how the Hogwarts Express was built because she always knew it was run off of magic. The parts in between just didn't seem necessary to learn.
A moment later the quietness of her compartment was destroyed by Draco Malfoy, who rudely opened the door. He stomped in, looking none too pleased that she was there. Slouching down on the other side of the compartment he barely acknowledged her presence.
"Granger."
Well, it was better than she expected. Hermione had fully anticipated the age-old Mudblood reference. "Malfoy."
He raised an eyebrow, looking moderately curious at what she was holding. "Instructions I presume?"
"Well, instructions to something. They aren't our Head papers if that's what you are asking."
"What is it then? You know you really shouldn't start school until you've actually been back to school."
She huffed. "It's not schoolwork you twit. They are papers on the Hogwarts Express."
"Well whatever do you need those for? Studying up on this old rust-bucket has to be even more boring than classwork."
"They aren't mine. They were just sitting in here shoved under the edge of one of the seats by the window. Someone must have left them in here."
"Well why would someone have paperwork on the train? The same conductor has operated the train since my parents attended school here. And there hasn't been any word of someone new taking over."
"Then why are the papers here?"
Malfoy huffed, glaring out the window. "Don't ask me- I don't bloody know. Someone probably left them in here from earlier."
"But why-"
"Granger, I don't bloody know. Enough questions. Can we just focus on why we are here so we can get out?"
She glared at him, shoving the train papers aside. Although she agreed with his reasoning she wasn't sure why he was so eager to get out. From what she had heard neither Crabbe nor Goyle was returning to school. Crabbe had died during the war, and Goyle was off attending another school for his final year after being unaccepted back to Hogwarts. Hermione wasn't sure why the school didn't accept him but at least took back Malfoy.
"Well I haven't seen anything around here explaining that," Hermione groaned, looking at the blond. "I don't know why we were asked to come down here in our letters if-"
She never got to finish her sentence. A loud explosion interrupted her, followed by a force throwing her into the floor. Her side of the train had exploded, resulting in a rush of flames.
"Get up Granger!" he said suddenly, jumping to his feet. Together they struggled to get her up before booking it out of their compartment. The flames were already eating up the end of the train.
"Who the hell puts explosions at the end of a fucking train!?" he asked, pulling out his wand. "Help me put this out."
Safely out of the line of fire the pair began to put out the mess, noticing that the train itself never missed a beat. It was still going along like nothing had happened, despite the fact that the last car was on fire and students were piling out of other carts in panic.
"Everyone," Hermione called as she began to water down the flames. "Get into the next cart! The smoke in here will-"
A second explosion interrupted, this one further into the center of the train where she had been about to direct the children. It took only a few seconds for the passengers to notice the difference in their ride, and feel the train begin to slow down and tip.
"Better hold on!" Draco called, watching the faces of panicked children. "Keep your wands at ready if you need them!"
Hermione sent him an odd look. Despite the chaos she hadn't expected Malfoy to be so direct with his orders, much less in a time of panic.
"Everyone get to the left side!" she called out, realizing which way the train was tipping. "We have to stop it from completely falling off the track!"
People rushed madly back into their carts, panic setting in on everyone. She followed Malfoy back into theirs, but the smoke and flame damage made it impossible for either of them to get all the way to the left side.
Couching, she covered her mouth and got low. "Get down! Smoke rises."
He crouched at her side, couching as well. "I can feel the train leveling out, but we shouldn't be standing in here. The entire floor just burned. The weight of us standing here could cause it to cave in, or for the entire burned section to just-"
A breaking sound caught their attention, and Draco silenced himself at the sound. They exchanged a glance, feeling the ground sinking underneath them. There was no way that short fire burned that far through the bottom of the train…
Hermione's eyes widened. "We have to-"
Before she finished the burned half of their compartment broke away from the saved side, and she watched herself drifting quickly away from Malfoy. Without thinking as she screamed, she reached out and grabbed ahold of him, thinking somehow he would keep her from falling. But Malfoy still seemed to be seeing things in slow motion and did not react quickly to her grip. Instead of attempting to full them both back into the cart he let het pull him over the side.
"Malfoy!"
"Damnit Granger!"
They hit the tracks hard, barely managing to stay on top of the end of the train. Each held onto one side, ducking their heads and hoping to not fall off. The sickening sound of the cart skidding across the track on its broken side hurt Hermione's ears, and she closed her eyes as they swiveled out of control. The back to wheels and the metal around the scraped painfully loud against the tracks, shooting up little sparks behind them. It shook back and forth during the skid, as though it would topple at any moment. The force threw Draco from his side, directly into Hermione.
"Oomp!"
The force of their collision tilted the haphazard little section of cart, and pushed the card off track. It could only be done if the wood and wheels had been exceptionally weakened by the fire to be so easy to push around.
The remaining cart flew off track, much to their alarm. It hit the side of the bride, sending both passengers to the edge before tumbling over. Draco was barely able to grab hold before they fell, and Hermione barely grabbed him.
They paused together, watching with heavy breath as their compartment tumbled off the side of the bridge and into the waters far below. The pair both trembled, terrified by what was happening.
"This would happen over a fucking bridge," he panted, still peering down. Hermione was doing her best to do anything but that. "We would fall off the only part of the entire ride to Hogwarts that passes over a fucking bridge!"
"Please stop talking about the bridge!" Hermione cried, refusing to open her eyes for a moment. "It's bad enough that we're dangling off the edge. Pull us up."
"Oh yes, that's a mighty fine idea. But I might need both my arms to do that Granger, and you're clinging like death to one of them. Any other bloody suggestions?"
She was panting, absolutely terrified out of her mind in that moment. It didn't matter just then that it was Malfoy who was the only thing holding her up, or that they had just been practically blasted off the Hogwarts Express. All that mattered was the fact that she was dangling off a bridge and she couldn't think under such circumstances.
"Here's an idea," Draco continued when she didn't speak. "Pull out your wand and apparate us! I can't do it if you expect me to hold on. But do be snappy. My fingers won't hold much longer."
"I can't," she whispered, thinking of how high they were. "I-I can't let go of you."
"Oh for Merlin's sake Granger apparate us! We're going to fall any minute and if I die because of you I'm going to make sure I annoy the hell out of you in the afterlife. Now apparate!"
In some part of her mind Hermione knew that he was right, even if she was terrified out of her mind to let go. All she could think about was falling, but Malfoy was right. If she didn't apparate them he would eventually lose his grip and they would die anyway.
Trembling fingers slowly let go of him with one hand, her nails digging into his arm with the other. She fought to grab her wand inside her pocket, nerves and fear making her palms sweaty. The last thing she wanted to do was drop it.
"Granger hurry up! I'm starting to slip!"
"Don't let go!" she hissed, pulling out her wand. "I've got-"
"Granger!"
He slipped, hand falling off the side of the bridge. They began to tumble together, free-falling over the abyss of water below.
She was screaming in fear. That didn't help.
"Granger! Apparate! Apparate! Apparate! We're going to die if you don't!"
He grabbed her, their bodies spinning about as they freefell towards death. She locked herself around his body, knowing he was absolutely the only solid object she could reach!
"Apparate damnit! Or I'll do it for you!"
Hermione was thankfully still holding her wand, and slammed her eyes shut once again as she cleaned to Malfoy, using all the magic she could muster to apparate somewhere- anywhere- else.
A few seconds later they hit the ground with not nearly as much force as they should. Draco groaned loudly beneath her, and she jolted up when she realized she was on top of him. Looking around wildly, she realized they were no longer at the bridge, or tumbling towards the earth. They were sitting in Platform 9 ¾.
"Granger, get off me," he groaned, and immediately she noted that her body was directly on top of his. Blushing red she rolled off of him, moving to lie beside him instead. Their breathing synchronized as their heartbeats calmed.
"This is where you decided to apparate us?" he questioned, not yet moving. "Back where he started."
"It seemed better than the river apparently," she panted, her breathing slowly evening out, just like his. "I wasn't really thinking straight."
"I know," he muttered, closing his eyes so he could rub them. "What the fuck just happened?"
"I don't know," she shrugged, slowly sitting up. "But we're alone here. There's no one else on the platform, and the Hogwarts Express won't come back until the holidays, if it manages to come back at all."
"After everything that just happened I sincerely doubt that. I don't know what's going on, but this has never happened before in the history of Hogwarts. People have attempted to attack the train before, but other than during third year when the Dementors visited no one's ever succeeded in getting on to cause trouble, much less blow up the train. There could be many casualties."
She wouldn't even let herself think about that, much too concerned with what may have happened to her friends. "Come on, this place is totally empty and-"
Hermione stopped speaking when the lights suddenly went out. The pair sat in silence for a moment, nothing but blackness in front of them.
"Lumos," she said, watching the space between them ignite. They stared at one another, Draco still lying on the floor.
"Think that the platform is shutting down?"
"Yes," she agreed. "We need to find someone before everything is locked up- if there's even anyone left here. The train left a few hours ago and people may already be gone. The light may just be timed to shut off at one point."
"Well let's hope there's still someone here," he grumbled, sitting up. A hissing noise caught Hermione's attention as he moved, and she realized his hand had moved to hold his side.
"Are you alright?" she asked, suddenly concerned. Moving closer she pushed his hand away from his side, noticing the red stain and gash there. "Merlin, you're hurt."
"So I'm noticing," he groaned, applying the faintest hint of pressure to the wound. "I didn't notice until right now."
"It must have happened earlier when you flew across the cart," she mused, remembering how he'd lost his grip and flown into her, causing the broken cart to tip off its tracks. "Here, pull out your wand and light it. I'll use mine to heal the wound."
He nodded, digging around in his pockets. When he didn't locate the item initially he checked three others before swearing.
"It's not here. I must have dropped it at some point."
"You don't have your wand at all?"
"No I bloody don't Granger. I suppose you were the only one who could apparate us out of danger then anyway. Why don't we apparate out of here and floo to St. Mungo's. They will fix it in no time and then we can figure out what happened to the other passengers on the train."
She nodded slowly, something occurring to her. "Malfoy?"
"What?"
"How did we apparate here? I just thought of the train station for a moment and this is where we ended up, but how?"
"What do you mean how?" he grimaced, obviously in a bit of pain. "Do you not yet understand how magic works or something?"
Hermione glared at him. "I understand well enough. But going through the column to get here is the only way onto this platform. You can't apparate, it's an age old fact. So how the hell did we apparate here if there are centuries old spells around the platform that keep people from doing exactly that?"
He frowned, catching her drift. "I don't know. Maybe whoever tampered with the train also did something to the wards. Nonetheless we should be able to apparate right out of here."
"I'm not sure you should," she said slowly, looking him over. "We didn't know you were injured before, but apparating with a wound, especially one that you don't know the full condition of, is extremely dangerous. We should try to heal it up first."
"With the only light source we have?" he questioned, looking towards her wand.
"I can create another," she responded, swiveling the light around. Spotting a bit of wood, she didn't even bother wondering where it had come from when that was the least of her problems. Moving away from the blond for a moment she picked it up, lit the little piece, and then used her wand to turn the wood into a never-ending candle.
"There," she said, heading back to him. "Now I can at least properly look over your wound."
"Do you have any medical training at all Granger?"
She glared at him a moment before ducking her head to look at the gash in his midsection. She gently pulled at the fabric, wondering what had impaled the blond without him noticing. "There was a war not long ago you know. I did have to learn a bit about medical training to help the wounded. I'm no expert, but I'll at least be able to get a decent idea how bad it is."
"Fine, fine. Just don't go poking me."
Hermione studied the gash in his side for a few minutes, from how deep it appeared to be to how much blood he was losing, as well as how much pain he appeared to be in. The blond may just be putting up a brave front, but he seemed to be pretty okay, at least for now.
"There's something inside you."
"What!?"
"Calm down- please. I should've worded that better. See, the explosions that went off on the train ride were more than likely magical explosions, and the gas from such an explosion I extremely hazardous to a person. Not only that, but the explosions elicited flames that burned our compartment, and then the magic would linger in the wood. If you were impaled by a piece of magically scorched wood then I can't be sure how serious the wound is or not, nor what kind of reaction it might have. I'm sure a real Healer would know, but you seem to be in very little pain for the amount of blood your losing. Not to mention it's in a sensitive area."
"So you don't even know where to begin with this is what you're saying?"
"No, and we don't have any blood-replenishing potion handy. I know some spells that will slow the bleeding some, and we can wrap it if we shred one of our robes, but it's dangerous to not have that checked out. We need to get out of here as fast as possible."
He nodded, before hissing when she attempted to touch it again. Hermione sighed, looking at the situation in front of them. One of them was injured and without a wand. She had hers, but they had no idea what they were up against and one person with a wand wouldn't do a lot of good if they ran into someone dangerous here. She just wasn't sure what to do next.
They had one another, and that was something. She just wasn't sure how well they could work together to actually get out of this alive.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed! The following chapters shouldn't take too long to post. Leave a comment!
For the full banner and other banners feel free to check out my facebook page! The link is located at the top of my profile page.