THE EIGHTH YEAR
CHAPTER 1
All Aboard The Hogwarts Express!
By: hermioneeeeeee
It was the start of the eighth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and mostly everybody was returning from the previous year. To be honest, though, it was hard to blame the parents who weren't happy with the idea of their children being in a school that had been a battlefield, a home for monsters, an untrustworthy building, and an overall dangerous place. The Golden Trio were actually daring to believe that this year might be a 'normal' year after all.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were sitting in the first cabin. All six of them were very loud and lively and anyone could hear the bubbly chatter erupting from the small space. However, they were surprisingly interrupted by none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Is there any room?" he asked bluntly.
"Not rea-" began Ron who was also being interrupted.
"Absolutely. Of course." started Hermione, "There's always room for change." she added after seeing her friends' discombobulated looks. Draco sat down by the window without a word of gratitude or, in fact, a word at all.
"So, going to be a quieter year." Ginny said.
"I suppose so. It's a shame that we won't have anything fun to look forward to." Luna stated.
"Well, I've heard that there will be quite a few balls this year." Ginny said, winking at a blushing Harry. Since they were the only ones who were actually in a relationship, everyone else was left in an uncomfortable silence.
"Hermione, you should really try dating. Besides Krum, you really have not had much of a love life." Ginny added out of the blue.
"No way. I'm not like you, Ginny. I'm not exactly easy to date because I'm actually rather solitary and a little too boring." Hermione responded.
"Stop it. Stop talking bad about yourself. You'll find someone who you'll love for the rest of your life." Ginny finished. Hermione slightly rolled her eyes and sat back in the seat.
Draco remained silent for the remainder of the trip, looking at the foggy hills and dark trees. That didn't mean that he wasn't listening, though. Of course, there had to be balls. Plenty of romantic opportunities that he was sure that he would not participate in. Ginny Weasley was like that. Too overconfident and bossy. Draco had never liked the girl. She and Harry Potter, of course. Two of his least favorite people combined into one couple. Okay, it wasn't like he hated Harry now but he had not made his life easy in the past. Draco didn't even know why he was coming back to Hogwarts, anyway. Barely any Slytherins were even coming anyway, it was only going to be Astoria and Blaise. That was it, though. He and Pansy had been in a relationship for a while but it had never gotten close and he didn't want to start now. He was mad that his father had sent him to King's Cross Station late and that the only cabin with just a little room contained his old enemies. He was good at ignoring them and their silly conversations, though. It was easy to be silent now. His mother was in a bad state and it didn't seem as if she was going to get any better any time soon.
The Hogwarts Express came to a stop. SCREECH! Nervous first years gathered around the half-giant Hagrid while second years and above were in queues for the Thestral carriages. Pretty much everyone in Year Eight could see the creatures. A lot of deaths had been seen during the Battle of Hogwarts and, especially for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, extra casualties had been seen during extra events. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna climbed into the seventh carriage and began to talk about becoming prefects or Heads.
"Here are my predictions," Ron began, "Hermione is Head Girl, Harry is Head Boy, Neville and Ginny are the Gryffindor Prefects, Luna and I dunno maybe Terry for Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff would be Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, and Slytherin's are Astoria and Blaise." Ron finished.
"Good guesses. Let's see how many of them are actually right." Harry said. The carriage pulled up to the front of the castle and let the riders out.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Headmaster and Professor McGonagall announced. Loud cheers and whoops drowned out the sound of her last words.
"The Sorting Hat Ceremony will commence now. When I call your name, sit upon this chair. The rules are quite simple, sit until the Sorting Hat calls your house. You may ask for a specific house but, let the Sorting Hat decide. It knows best." she said to the first years. Everyone else only half-listened from then on.
"Time to announce the Heads and Prefects. Our Head Boy is Draco Malfoy and our Head Girl is Hermione Granger! Prefects for Gryffindor are Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley! Ravenclaw Prefects are Luna Lovegood and Anthony Goldstein! Hufflepuff's Prefects are Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott! Finally, the Slytherin Prefects are Blaise Zabini and Astoria Greengrass!" Professor McGonagall said happily. Ron shook his head in disbelief, how had Harry not been chosen as Head Boy? All of the Heads and Prefects followed Professor McGonagall while the other years were guided to their dormitories and commons by the Heads of Houses.
"There is something that I must add. You will all be in the same living quarters and not your House Commons or Dormitories. Of course, you are welcome to visit them anytime and can sleep in them if there is room. Girls sleep to the right and the boys sleep to the left. This common room is all of yours. Get unpacked and dinner will be served in half an hour." Professor McGonagall stepped out of the room and left them to it. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Hannah, and Astoria walked to their dormitory. Draco, Neville, Anthony, Ernie, and Blaise walked to theirs.
"I knew Ron was going to be wrong about one thing!" Ginny shouted. Hermione laughed and sat down on the bed with her trunk beneath it.
"I'm going to say one thing. I know we Slytherins are always looked at as 'the bad guys' but I want to change that. I'm going to try and be less spiteful." Astoria said honestly. The other girls nodded in acceptance. Then they headed down to dinner.
Draco and Blaise immediately sat on two beds next to each other and started talking. Neville struck up a conversation with Anthony and Ernie and talked about school.
"I can't believe that you got Head Boy. With Hermione Granger, of course her! So now we're stuck with these losers. Great." Blaise said.
"Blaise, Hermione's not that bad." Draco said quietly.
"Guess not. Hey, say that again." Blaise said.
"Hermione's not that bad."
"Aha! You like her. You like Hermione Granger."
"Don't. She's not horrible. She gave me a seat on the train. It's better than what you guys did." Draco said, not wanting to admit that Hermione had been on his mind quite a bit over the summer.
"Hey, the cabin was full. Don't blame it on me. Besides, it not bad that you like someone other than Pansy Parkinson."
"Alright! I don't like her though. No way."
"You say that now." Blaise added under his breath, to quiet for Draco to hear.
The Great Feast had finished at the Great Hall and it still smelled amazing. Everyone was walking out of the room and up into their dormitories. Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Hannah, and Astoria all walked together and were happy to find that they had all become friends quickly. The boys remained in their groups of two and walked up separately. Blaise was still nagging Draco and Draco was still denying it.
"I saw the way you looked at her when you were eating! I can tell! Admit it!" Blaise said.
"Drop it! C'mon, you can't possibly think that!" Draco laughed.
"Who wants to play Truth or Dare?" Blaise yelled loudly to the other prefects and Head. They all shouted back a 'yes'. They gathered in the common room and started the game. Blaise was first, then Astoria, Ernie, Hannah, Neville, Ginny, Draco, Hermione, Anthony, and Luna last.
"Me first! Astoria, truth or dare?" Blaise started.
"Truth." she answered.
"Out of anyone in this room, who would you most likely save if we were all in a fire?"
"Oh, I don't know! Um, maybe you? I have known you for the longest." Astoria replied, blushing.
"Yes! Your turn, now."
"Okay. Ernie, truth or dare?" Astoria inquired.
"Dare!" he replied confidently.
"Hex or jinx your least favorite person in the room."
"Easy, Zabini."
"What? Why me?" Blaise asked, dramatically offended.
"Melofors!" Ernie shouted. With that, Blaise's head promptly turned into a pumpkin.
"What in the name of Salazar did you do to me, Macmillan?" roared Blaise.
"Pumpkin-head jinx! You don't look much different than before, considering that you were already such a pumpkin head." Ernie said smugly. Everybody laughed, including Blaise.
"Alright! Get it off now."
"Okay, if I have to. Finite Incantatem!" Ernie yelled.
"Hannah, truth or dare?" he asked.
"Truth." she replied.
"If I asked you to go to the first ball of this year with me, what would you say?" he asked.
"Oh, um. Yes? Yes. Yes! I would go with you!" Hannah answered, blushing.
"Great! Your turn."
"Neville, truth or dare?" Hannah asked.
"Truth." he answered.
"Would you rather spend a weekend in the Forbidden Forest or in the Shrieking Shack?" she asked.
"Forbidden Forest. At least it's not haunted or anything." he said.
"Ginny, truth or dare?" Neville asked.
"Dare! I like taking risks." Ginny replied.
"Okay, then. Do a hex on yourself and you have to stay like that for 30 seconds."
"Easy. Ducklifors!" she shouted, pointing her wand at herself. Ginny Weasley was now a duck. She tried to talk but all that came out were quacks. Everyone laughed, especially when she tried to fly but landed on her face. The 30 seconds was over and Ginny was now human again.
"That was fun!" Ginny said happily.
"Draco," Ginny started, "truth or dare?"
"Dare. Go ahead, do your best." Draco answered.
"Kiss your crush on the lips."
"Oh. Wow." Draco said shocked.
"I won't get offended! Just go for it!" Astoria added encouragingly after seeing Draco's uneasy look. Draco relaxed. He stood up and walked around even though he knew already who he was going to go for.
"To make it easier, we'll close our eyes." Ginny offered.
"Please do." Draco said. Ginny told everyone to close their eyes and everybody obeyed. Draco stopped and knelt down and cast a sound blocking charm so nobody except the person he was kissing could hear. He paused and then kissed Hermione on the lips. He could tell that she was surprised but, to his surprise, she embraced it and kissed him back. They smiled at each other and then stopped. Draco lifted the spell after returning to his spot next to Hermione and waited for the others to come back to their senses.
"Who'd you kiss, Draco?" Blaise asked.
"Later." Draco answered, looking slightly happier than before.
"Hermione, truth or dare?" he asked, trying to make it look as if he hadn't just kissed her.
"Dare! I'll try." she said.
"I've got some Amortentia with me. You have to tell everybody what exactly you smell."
"Okay. I'm ready." Hermione said. Draco pulled out the bottle and gave it to her.
"Parchment, freshly mown grass, mint, and something else. It smells like rain water, but it's sweet. Can something smell cold? It smells sort of 'cold'." Hermione said, handing the bottle back to Draco, thinking that she knew what she smelled.
"Anthony, truth or dare?" Hermione asked.
"Truth please!" Anthony replied.
"Did you want to come back to Hogwarts after the battle?"
"Yes. It might've been dangerous but, that's what makes it so much fun. You never know what you'll experience."
"Luna, truth or dare?" Anthony asked.
"Dare." Luna answered.
"I've got this Sorting Hat and you need to put it on and see what other house you could be in. It's not the same sorting hat, though." Anthony said. Luna put it on and waited for her result.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed loudly. Luna looked happy and not surprised.
"Blaise, truth or dare?" Luna asked.
"Dare. Just, don't make me do anything weird." Blaise said.
"Well, that's the whole point of a dare! To look funny and be weird. Your dare is to put these Spectrespecs on and say 'I believe in wrackspurts!'" Luna said, handing him her pair of Spectrespecs. Blaise raised an eyebrow but took them anyway. His vision was different but, he could see a little wrackspurt in the corner of the room.
"I BELIEVE IN WRACKSPURTS!" Blaise shouted. The others laughed and he handed them back to Luna.
"Well, that was fun." Neville said. Everybody else nodded.
"It's really late, guys. I'm going to bed." Astoria said. The boys dragged themselves up the stairs. All of them except Blaise and Draco. The girls followed Astoria but Hermione lingered behind. Blaise looked surprised but then realized what exactly was going on.
"I knew it." Blaise said triumphantly to Draco.
"Yes. You get all the credit for this." Draco said. Hermione moved closer to the two boys and stood next to Draco.
"This is unexpected." Blaise said.
"I am glad, though. I'm going to bed, see you later Draco." Blaise called, leaving the two alone.
"So." he said.
"So." she said.
"Are we going to be a-"
"A couple? I'd love to be."
"Yes! This is perfect! I was almost thinking that you would say no."
"Turns out that Ginny was right. She normally is. I'm glad she was this time, though. Good night!"
"Wait a minute! Come back here!"
"Alright." Hermione walked back to Draco and the two kissed again before returning to their respective dormitories, neither of them being able to wait to see each other the next day.