It was raining.
Cold, pellet-like droplets beat on the windows of the Hogwarts Express. The train snaked over the slick tracks, just miles before a monstrous castle looming in the distance. The passengers inside paid little attention to the inclement weather beyond their shelter. But there was one who couldn't ignore it. In the third cabin from the front, curtained by thick maroon velvet, sat a young chestnut haired girl, staring morosely at the falling rain. She sighed, causing a cloud of fog on the glass in front of her.
She hated the rain.
It made everything unnecessarily difficult. And it ruined whatever look she had going for her.
She sighed once more and turned her sights onto the thick book she held in her hand. She didn't think she could read one more page of the mating habits of Mandarin Tree Elves, else she would voluntarily beat herself over the head with it. Her mother had gotten it for her as a gift for her eighteenth birthday. Where young women normally got makeup or clothes, she got a book. A second hand, tattered book at that.
They sure went out of their way this year.
She though bitterly of her distant parents.
She didn't mind most of the time. She enjoyed the silence of her rural home, shrouded in gardens and lawn ornaments. But birthdays, particularly this one, were important. A book was all she got for becoming a legal adult.
She scoffed at the thought, closed the book, and tossed it to the side.
Most of her summer was consistent with her lack-luster birthday. Her parents were gone mostly, leaving her to simmer in the house with nothing but a television and her extensive library to occupy her. Her two best friends had written hollow letters once or twice…nothing special.
She closed her eyes.
She had been wishing for this year, her last at Hogwarts, to be different. She wanted nothing more than to turn a new leaf... do something new. She laughed sardonically at herself.
You? The studious little bookworm? Not likely.
She plucked at the hem of her black school robes.
The one good thing that had happened to her was her letter from Dumbledore. She had been named Head Girl for her graduating year. She'd have her own room and the duties of the righteous- with little if any rules over her head. She dreamed of catching fourth years snogging in broom closets and embarrassing them to all hell. She thought of the points she'd take off Slytherin…for no particular reason except that she didn't care for them all that much.
She smirked.
She thought of giving Malfoy a year's worth of detention. What sweet revenge that would be!
But she relaxed into her dismay, knowing that no such thing would ever be permitted.
But she would definitely try.
She looked to the door. The Head Boy was supposed to arrive by six o' clock for their duty briefing. He was late.
She was anxious to meet him.
Her eyes darted to her person. She began to straighten her hair and robes out when the lock of the Head's Compartment squealed in protest as some attempted to enter. She rushed through the last of her rituals before he stepped in. His back was turned as he shut the door. She stood, prepared to introduce herself and declare that this year would be the best yet.
But as he turned, she realized just who was standing before her.
"Hermione Granger." She kept her composure, though she wanted jump out of the window and drown in the lake. The blood boiled in her gut, and a million thoughts raced through her head… some she didn't expect. She clenched her fists as she spat out a greeting.
"Malfoy."