(Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this chapter. They belong to J.K. Rowling.)
The Great Hall was abuzz with lively chatter and and activity as the rays of the setting sun shone through the windows, casting a glow upon the many Hogwarts students present in the room. The dinner feast had just begun, and students were excitedly mulling about, conversing with one another about any number of interesting topics and eating the delicious food that had magically appeared before them.
Hermione Granger sat down next to Harry Potter, who was talking with fellow sixth-year Gryffindor Ron Weasley about the events of Potions class earlier that day. Professor Snape had been in an odd mood, snapping at people more than he normally did. He'd taken five points from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff when Susan Bones and Dean Thomas didn't successfully cut up a Roarkle bean properly, and it had gone flying toward Vincent Crabbe's desk, spraying him in the face with an unidentifiable, but particularly pungent, orange liquid. Snape had also snapped at Hermione when she'd offered to help Crabbe clean it up, and he eventually called class early and shooed everyone out because the chubby Slytherin was beginning to sprout tulips all over his body. The Gryffindors raced back to their tower, laughing until their sides hurt.
"Stupid bloke deserved it!" Ron was saying.
"It wasn't like Dean and Susan meant to launch the bean straight at him," Harry countered. "It was an accident. Did you see the look on Professor Snape's face?"
"Yeah, I did. His face was turning red, like a tomato. That never happens to Snape. Ever."
Hermione crossed her arms. "It wasn't funny, Ron. Stupid blighter though he is, Crabbe could have been seriously hurt. Thank goodness Snape had an antidote handy."
"Oi!" Ron exclaimed. "Since when are you one to defend a Slytherin?"
"I'm not expressly defending him as a Gryffindor," Hermione protested. "He's a fellow student. I would have done the same for anyone else in the class."
Harry shot her a knowing look. "Except Malfoy."
The three fell silent. Draco Malfoy had been their enemy for as long as they had attended Hogwarts together. He looked down on many people for a variety of reasons, not just because their blood status, but because he simply believed that he was better than everyone in every possible way. His family was indeed quite rich, and he always got whatever he wanted; this was a privilege that not one member of the trio could even begin to imagine.
"Yes, Harry. Except Malfoy," Hermione replied, taking a strawberry from a golden plate in the middle of the table. "I'd hex him in a second, given the chance."
Ron looked off in the distance. "Speak of the Slytherin devil," he grumbled.
Hermione and Harry turned to see none other than Draco Malfoy himself, with a group of his goons flocking around him. In the midst of them was Crabbe, who looked rather strange with the odd purple welts where the tulips had grown on his body. He actually looked a bit sick, in fact. Draco had a nasty grin on his face, but it morphed into a scowl as soon as he laid eyes on the three Gryffindors. "Alright there, Weasel? And you, Scarhead? Ate some bad pudding, have you?" He got a laugh from his friends at his comment.
Ron stood up. "Shove off, the lot of you," he growled, waving his hand at them.
Draco just rolled his eyes. "Who pissed in your porridge this morning, Weasel-bee?" he joked.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry warned. "You and your pathetic horde of idiots. Now."
Draco walked straight up to Harry. "You think you can tell me what to do, can you, Potter?" he snarled. "Well? Do you?"
Harry stood up to look Draco directly in the eye. "I swear I'll hex you into oblivion."
"Is that a threat?" Draco said angrily. "Look, you lot! Potter's threatening me. I'm quivering with fear." He mockingly whimpered, making Harry clench his fists.
Unable to stop himself, Harry pulled out his wand, preparing to curse the ever-loving hell out of Draco, and the blonde Slytherin began to reach for his own wand when Hermione inserted herself in between the two boys, pushing them apart from each other. "Stop it! Stop it, both of you!" she groaned. "You're behaving like childish brats. Malfoy, leave us alone, and stop trying to start up trouble."
Draco narrowed his eyes at her and wrenched her hand away. "Anything for you, Mudblood," he uttered, his ice cold eyes looking into her deep brown ones. She twitched under his penetrating gaze, willing herself not to lose her composure, before Draco finally huffed and skulked off to his own table, with his group of Slytherins following closely behind him.
The three Gryffindors sat down again, all managing to breathe a sigh of relief. "We're lucky you were there, Hermione," Ron commented as he reached for a piece of chicken. "Otherwise, Harry and Malfoy would have thrown hands, no doubt!"
"I don't believe Dumbledore would have appreciated an all-out duel in the midst of such a wonderful dinner," she murmured.
Harry and Ron both nodded in response, decidedly going back to their food and the lighthearted Potions class conversation. However, Hermione was no longer interested. Her eyes were still on the Slytherin Prince himself, who was sitting across the room with his friends without a care in the world.
Later on that evening, Hermione exhaustedly wandered into Gryffindor Tower, ready for a good night's sleep. She came upon several of her fellow housemates, including Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Seamus Finnigan, and Romilda Vane, along with Romilda's Ravenclaw boyfriend, Michael Corner. As Hermione collapsed into a velvet chair, Ginny stood up. "Hermione? Is it true that you told off Draco Malfoy at dinner?"
"I saw it with me own eyes!" Seamus exclaimed. "It was bloody brilliant! I reckon she's the first Gryffindor that sod has ever listened to."
Hermione shrugged. "All I did was stop Malfoy from getting into a fight with Harry," she replied. "Saved everyone a lot of trouble, I suppose."
"You must be something special, Granger," Neville said softly, with a dreamy look on his face.
The door to the common room opened, and Harry, Ron, and Dean wandered inside. "Alright, listen up, you lot!" Ron exclaimed. "Harry and I decided we're done putting up with rubbish from those foul gits in Slytherin, so we enlisted Fred and George to help us get them back."
Hermione's eyes widened. "Ron? What did you do?"
"Actually, it was Harry's idea," Ron explained. "And Dean wanted to help. So we went through a care package from the twins and found these!" He held up a handful of small, circular candies. Each one had a purple half and an orange half, and they looked fanatically delicious.
Romilda let out a laugh. "Puking Pastilles? Genius!"
Dean smiled proudly. "We left the box outside the Slytherin common room. Convinced them that it was taffy. And I have to say, for Slytherins, they were a bunch of thick bastards," he said. "But I'm sure they're having a swell time now." He made a gagging sound at the back of his throat, which got a few laughs.
Hermione smiled, but inside she felt a bit guilty. Malfoy could be a stupid blighter sometimes, but there were also times when he wasn't so bad. She knew, in the back of her mind, that Harry and Ron would never be able to see it like she did. They'd never understand. "I'm going to retire."
As she stood up, Lavender let out an indignant squeak. "What's the matter, Granger? Don't you want to know more?"
"I think I've heard enough," Hermione replied coldly. She regarded her friends and deftly ascended up the stairs to the girls' dormitory without another word. The tired Gryffindor collapsed into her bed, not bothering to remove her uniform, and only kicking her shoes off instead. She couldn't help but worry about Draco and how he was faring, and fell into an extremely restless sleep.
(A/N-Sorry it was so short! This was supposed to be more of an introductory chapter, before everything goes down. I'm planning on six lengthy chapters after this one-a chapter per day in the story-so this will certainly be continued. Thanks for reading! -BlackthornUnicorn98)