Everything had changed. Voldemort was exposed as being back, there had been so much more death than Hermione had expected and she just knew that she needed to be strong and help to defeat Voldemort. There would no longer be any calling him You-Know-Who, or He Who Shall Not Be Named. His name was Voldemort and she was going to do everything in her power to help Harry Potter to defeat him.
The summer had been surprisingly uneventful. There were missing people, presumed dead, and there were plans being made by the Order but other than receiving their O.W.L's and Hogwarts letters, Hermione, Ron, and Harry hadn't done much. It was infuriating but also slightly peaceful. It had given her a chance to spend some time with her parents, research as much as she could about what may come up during the start of their N.E.W.T. level classes, and she'd also had a chance to spend some time with Harry and Ron. Although, being around Fleur the entire summer had also been infuriating for it's own reasons.
Getting to the Gryffindor table, Hermione's eyes continued scanning for Harry. He'd inexplicably left the compartment and she was worried about him. He'd always had an issue with Malfoy and now that he thought Malfoy was a Death Eater it was just worse. There wasn't a way though, they were only sixteen. Even Voldemort couldn't be that insane.
Biting her lip, the brunette tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Her chocolate brown eyes continued scanning even as Ron shoved food in his mouth and Ginny helped her to look while only keeping her conversation partially on Dean, her boyfriend.
"There he is!" Ginny exclaimed as she nodded her head towards the entrance to the Great Hall. Then her face fell. "Why is he always covered in blood?" She asked in a murmur that Hermione thought she was the only one who'd heard.
Hermione just shook her head as Harry came up to them. "What happened?" Hermione demanded as she took a napkin and started cleaning off his face.
"Later," Harry said as he glared at Malfoy who was sneering from the Slytherin table.
Hermione glared. "Fine, but you will be explaining." She told him in a stern voice, rolling her eyes when Ron and Harry exchanged meaningful glances at one another. She knew that she really shouldn't talk that way to them, it made her come off as snobby a bit and commanding but she also knew that Ron and Harry would enjoy breaking the rules or not telling her way too much just so that they wouldn't get a lecture. It was obvious from his nose that he'd done something that he shouldn't after all.
Just then Dumbledore rose to speak and the Great Hall was silent within a few moments as they looked at the man with white hair and half moon spectacles.
"Now that we are all fed and warm I do have a few start of term notices." Dumbledore said in his kind voice. "First, I would like to welcome back Professor Slughorn, who has agreed to resume his old position as Potions teacher."
"Potions?!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed at the same time as they swiveled their heads and stared at their black-haired friend.
"I just assumed…" Harry trailed off.
"Meanwhile, Professor Snape has agreed to take the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore then paused as there was suddenly quite a bit of chatter. Raising a hand it only took a few minutes for the Great Hall to again go silent and Dumbledore looked a bit more serious.
"As you all know, Voldemort has risen to power. As such, it is more important now than ever that we make lasting friendships and remain safe while here at Hogwarts. This is why this year we are implementing a new program. Each of you are going to be paired with someone from your own year, but in a different house. You will work together on classwork, have bonding activities you need to do outside of class, and you will be spending time with one another every other weekend. The goal of this is to promote inter house unity." He continued speaking as his voice rose over the loud chatter.
"This project is run by Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Any questions can be brought to them, however, there is no switching of partners." Waving his wand, parchment appeared before each of them.
Hermione looked at Harry nervously before unrolling the parchment in front of her.
Partner: Draco Malfoy, Slytherin
Partner: Hermione Granger, Gryffindor
Rules of this Program:
1. All classes together you will be partners.
2. Every day at least one meal has to be shared with one another
3. Every other weekend a special dorm has been set aside to let you get to know one another better and focus on partner building activities.
4. No fighting, or violence of any kind, will be tolerated.
"This has got to be a bloody joke!" Draco insisted when he read it and then continued to read the parchment which continued on to detail his new class schedule.
There was no bloody way in hell he was going to work with the filthy Gryffindor mudblood! How could they even think that would be a good idea? The bloody menace of a woman had punched him just three years ago! She was mental and an insufferable know-it-all. Not to mention a MUDBLOOD! He couldn't—no, he wouldn't be partnered with her and share a room with her every other weekend or eat a bloody meal with her.
"Who did you get Draco?" Came Pansy's simpering voice. Hell, he really needed to find a way to get that woman to understand he wasn't interested. But Draco didn't even answer as he just looked up at the staff table and caught Snape's eye, only to be rewarded by Snape shaking his head.
"Now, will the person who's name comes first in the alphabet please stay where they are seated. The one who's name comes last please go find your partner. The curfew has been extended thirty minutes for the two of you to acquaint yourselves slightly with one another before bed." Dumbledore clapped then as the plates all disappeared and people started standing and moving around.
Draco's eyes watched as Granger seemed to be arguing with her friends and just shook her head as she then got up and walked towards the Slytherin table.
"Tell me you weren't partnered with her!" Pansy shrieked.
"Bug off, Pansy." Draco replied as he started rubbing his temples.
How was he supposed to take care of the Dark Lord's orders if he was going to have to play partner with Granger?! The woman was never going to stand for him skipping classes, she'd probably come find him because she's an insufferable woman and a Gryffindor to boot. Which meant he was going to have to go to classes and try to find ways to sneak off on the weekends when they were supposed to be doing these ridiculous 'bonding exercises.' He couldn't fail the Dark Lord! He was not going to fail the Dark Lord. He was going to succeed and make sure his mother was fine and that the Malfoy name was restored!
"Malfoy." Granger said in her clipped voice as she sat down at the table beside Draco, making sure to leave almost a body's worth of space between them.
"Granger." Malfoy responded curtly. "Let me tell you right now. I will not be doing anything with you on those stupid weekends. We will not be sharing meals together, you'll just have to skip a few meals which I'm sure will be fine for your figure, and I'm sure as hell not meeting you outside of class for anything."
He watched as Granger's eyes narrowed. "You will if you want to pass your classes, Malfoy. This is school and you need to grow up and put your personal feelings aside." She snapped.
Oh bloody hell, here we go.
"You don't get to call the shots and be a bloody prat just because your daddy has money and you think you're some sort of wizard royalty. You'll go to class, do the assignments like we're told and we'll do the bare minimum to get through this year." Granger continued.
How do I get her to shut up?
"I doubt your Weasel prince is going to enjoy the thought of you spending time with me. I suppose that'll make this worthwhile at least a little bit. Annoying Weasel and Potter is a special privelage." Draco replied lazily as he stuffed the parchment in his pocket. "Now. Meet me here for breakfast at 7 a.m. sharp tomorrow. We will not be sitting at Gryffindor."
With that comment, Draco refused to speak or look at Granger the rest of the thirty minutes and when they finally separated he made his way down to the Slytehrin Common Rooms. He heard Pansy chattering, well, complaining to the left of him but he ignored it as he caught eyes with Blaise and just rolled them. Pansy was a nuisance, one he shouldn't have gotten involved with but he'd just fallen into place so that he didn't have to deal with all the other women in Slytherin. Pansy at least made sure he was mostly left alone by the simpering fools. One simpering fool over loads sounded like a decent enough trade.
"Purity." Draco said lazily as he stood in front of the entrance and walked inside. Going straight to the boys' dorms he changed into pajamas and flung himself down on his bed. "This is going to be the bloody death of me." He groaned.
"Maybe it won't be so bad. I'm sure Granger will end up doing most of the work, so you can always just relax." Blaise offered by way of cheering up his friend.
"Sure. I just don't want to be near the mudblood." Draco sighed. "Night."
Closing the curtains around his four poster bed, the blonde laid back and closed his eyes. It took a long time for sleep to come to him that night, but finally he drifted off with thoughts of maybe being able to get information from Granger about how to fix a stupid vanishing cabinet. Some use could potentially come out of this…right?