Chapter 1: Rivalry
Draco Malfoy:
The bitter cold stung Malfoy's bare arms. He hastily cast a warming spell upon himself and grimaced. It was only September, yet the grounds were covered in a week old shroud of snow. He quickened his steps trying to catch up to the Slytherin crowd. He was always late to Care of Magical Creatures because he had to run there from potions class which was in the dungeons. It was unbelievable how fast the Gryffindors went from Potions to Care of Magical Creatures. The Slytherins and the Gryffindors had double Potions together and the Gryffindors seemed tosprint right out of the dungeons onto the grounds. They were always early, standing near the warmth of the cabin, examining whatever disgusting creature Hagrid decided to present to the class.
"Where's your cloak?" an annoying and familiar voice called. Malfoy glanced up, not surprised to catch the eyes of Pansy Parkinson.
"Left it in the dorm," he mumbled.
"Ohh, you can be soo careless," she swooned, and she proceeded to shrug off one of her coats. Malfoy sighed. Sometimes, Pansy's idiocy astonished him, did she really think he was going to put on her bright pink cloak?
"I'm quite warm actually, er, I cast a warming spell on myself," he said quickly before she could do anything embarrassing.
"Oh, I see," was her disappointed reply.
Malfoy scanned the class when he walked in, he was to make sure that the Slytherins stood as far away as possible from the contaminated air of the Gryffindors.
"Glad to see yer lot made it," said a throaty voice. Malfoy looked up, the hairy mutt was looking right at him. He smirked in his general direction before zoning out.
The giant teacher started giving directions to the few people who were actually listening. Draco had a vague notion that today's assignment had something to do with unicorns judging from the unicorn that was sleeping on the ground. He was devising Quidditch plays in his head when a waving hand distracted him.
"Hagrid, what do we do when we're done?" asked Hermione Granger. Done? Malfoy couldn't believe it, he didn't even know they had started, doing whatever the hell it was that they were supposed to do. Of course, the bushy-headed insufferable know-it-all probably knew about the assignment beforehand. For all he knew, she had probably finished it the week before. He laughed out loud, struck by the thought. Crabbe and Goyle who were sitting on the ground in front of him, looked up.
Malfoy ignored their stares, he wouldn't attempt to explain what was so funny to these dimwits.
An hour later, the Slytherins had barely moved an inch from their original positions while the Gryffindor crew had successfully completed the assignment. Malfoy doubted the teacher even cared if they passed or failed. He was practically failing the course, this class was his worse one, by far. He was sixth in his year, the Mudblood being first of course.
Malfoy's father had been stricken when 'The Care of Magical Creatures' had become compulsory last year. His father had launched a petition and everything, he had done everything possible to make the class an elective for sixth and seventh years but he had failed. Lucius Malfoy hated failure and had succeeded a short while in making Hagrid miserable by spreading some rumors, but he was still bitterly disappointed. Draco was the one to face his wrath.
Dumbledore could be a very stubborn old fool. Malfoy looked down at Crabbe and Goyle, they were pretty much frozen to the ground. Pansy was talking to the few other Slytherin girls that were in the class. The three lone Ravenclaws in the class were pointing and laughing at theWeasel. Malfoy amused himself a while watching a terrified Ron Weasley try to extract Unicorn hair. He got bored, though.
Milicent Bulstrode seemed to be trying to get his attention. He almost puked in his mouth. He turned the other way so she couldn't catch his eye. Zabini was standing idly like him, staring at the ground, unaware that he had fallen prey to Milicent's attentions.
When class was over, Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he was going to die. Suddenly, excitement overwhelmed his senses, it had almost slipped his mind.
"Hey Potter!" he called as everyone was heading back to the castle. It was time for a change of scenery, a little fun time for the bored Slytherins. Potter, along with his sidekicks, turned around with wary looks.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" he asked. "Nothing, just wanted your autograph," I said, whipping today's Daily Prophet in his bespectacled face. I laughed, followed by the laughs of my entourage. I enthusiastically ran up the steps of the Great Hall, pushing open the heavy mahogany doors, greeted by a gust of warm air.
He had almost forgotten about it, but some gossiping girls in the corridors had reminded me when I had been running towards Care of Magical Creatures. They had been talking about if what the Skeeter woman said about Potter was true. His owl had brought me the paper first thing this morning with a rather humiliating picture of Potter and the Mudblood spewed over the cover and the headlines, "The Chosen one has a crush?"
Draco hurried over to the Slytherin table, filling everyone with the details and instructions. A few minutes later, the doors of the Great Hall opened and the dream team along with a handful of Gryffindors walked in. The entire Slytherin table, on cue, burst into fits of laughter and started stomping their feet, pointing at Potter and Granger's direction. The Weasley girl gave me a rather pointed look from her table, Draco proceeded to make a rude hand gesture. He watched the Gryffindors shuffle to their table, Harry Potter, the boy who lived looked utterly humiliated and was very red.
He had missed Granger's face but I hoped it was a direct reflection of Potter's.
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Hermione Granger:
"And you know it too! It's completely, utterly and absolutely false! I hate her! I really do! This is not the first time she spread rumours! That interview never even took place!" Hermione Granger screamed.
"Sorry to have asked," mumbled a disgruntled Lavender Brown.
Hermione sighed. How could Lavender even think that the story was true? Surely, everyone knew that she and Harry Potter weren't having a secret relationship?
"Just wait till it blows over, it won't be long. Stuff about Harry flies around all the time," Ginny said.
"I sure hope it blows over soon, it's driving me mad." Hermione fluffed her pillows for the third time, trying to sleep. "Thanks for coming over, Gin, but you should go sleep now," Hermione said, gratefully.
"Yeah, sure, goodnight." And she left.
Parvati and Lavender continued their secret discussion while Hermione feigned sleep, trying to catch scraps of their conversation. She didn't like eavesdropping, but it was kind of hard when the conversation revolved around her.
The Next Day:
Hermione was thankful that it wasn't awkward around Harry. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Ron.
Hermione walked to breakfast with Ginny, and was glad to hear nothing but silence from the Slytherin table. The same couldn't be said for last night's dinner, it had been just as horrible as lunch. Ginny had shot a well-aimed bat bogey hex at a particularly bothersome fifth-year Slytherin, the attack on the Slytherin had given Hermione some consolation but they had lost house points. She had to admit that the Grffindor-Slytherin relationship was especially bad this year. Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied for last place in the race for the House Cup but it was only September, Gryffindor had plenty of time to catch up
"Where the bloody hell is the food," said Ron, obviously disgruntled. Hermione gave him a dirty look.
"The house-elves work hard enough, be patient." Ron laughed. "Please no spew this early in the morning." "It's S-P-E-W!" Hermione shot back, annoyed. Unfortunately, her campaign was going nowhere.
"Students of Hogwarts," said a loud, booming voice.
Hermione looked up from her empty goblet, surprised to see that Dumbledore was standing on the raised platform. He was going to make a speech.
"Students of Hogwarts, it has come to my attention that several conflicts have emerged between different houses so early in the year." Hermione frowned as students began whispering amongst themselves. "Even in Hogwart's earliest days, there were conflicts between the founders, especially between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. Now I am sure that you all have been taught a little bit about the history of our school. History is meant to repeat itself, and it pains to me say that the dislike and prejudice between Slytherin and Gryffindor has not yet ceased." Dumbledore peered over his half-moon spectacles and seemed to catch the eye of everyone in the hall. "The teachers and I have discussed this issue and have decided that it is necessary to take some measures and make some adjustments. Although inter-house unity is a great achievement, I would like to see some school unity; therefore, in the following weeks I will be implanting new rules that will benefit every student and the school on the whole." Dumbledore smiled, and stepped down.
"With that said, tuck in," he said, and food magically appeared on every plate in the hall. Everyone in the hall burst into frantic whispers, wondering what the staff was planning to do. Hermione laughed out loud at some of the theories some people were coming up with, surely Dumbledore wouldn`t go as far as making Gryffindor and Slytherin share dorms. Surely, Dumbledore wouldn`t do anything too drastic or uncomfortable.
Boy, was she wrong!
AN: What did you think? Leave a Review! Much appreciated. I need a Beta-Reader. If you would like to help me, please message. Reminder: This is the rewrite! More updates coming your way! Attn: Ron and Hermione shippers: Read Heartbreak: A Oneshot By ME! It`s very short and has good reviews!