~~~Harry's POV~~~
"So," said Mcgonagall from the podium that Dumbledore used to speak at, "all of you are probably wondering why you have been called back here again. I am here to clear that up. Since the education you receive over the last few years was quite... Unusual, you will all be repeating the last year, and continuing your education from there. Meaning, there will e twice as many first years, and seventh years last year will be seventh years again this year. Basically, whatever year you were supposed to have been in last year will be the one you are in this year."
She motioned for them to begin eating, as food had just appeared on the tables. Harry chuckled as he heard the collective excited gasp of the first years.
After everyone had finishe delicious deserts of treacle tarts and couldron cakes, Mcgonagall once again motioned for silence. Hermione nudged Ron, and he turned towards the head table and put an arm around her shoulders. Amazingly, she didnt shrug it off.
"Now," announced Mcgonagall once everyone had settled down, "this year, we will be stressing house unity. We have decided that 10 Select seventh year students will be spending the next month living together. The students will be: Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger, Vincent Crabbe, Dean Thomas, Gregory Goyle, Seamus Finnegan, Blaise Zabini, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter." All of the selected students cried out in protest. "Settle down, Settle down," said Mcgonagall. "Our decision is final. Now, you ten, come with me. I bid the rest of you a good first night."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, and Dean all walked back to where Mcgonagall was waiting for them. They reached her at almost exactly the same time as the Slytherin students. As soon as they were within earshot of her, they started protesting loudly.
"I can't spend a month with him!"
"How do you expect me to live with that... That... Beast!"
"Why are you doing this to us!"
Mcgonagall raised her hands, instantly silencing them. "You will get along fine. You might find you have some things in common."
She led them, thinking about what she had said, to the seventh floor of Hogwarts. She stopped them all in front of a door. "Wands," she commanded, holding out her hand. They all grumbled and pulled out their wands, and put them in her outstretched hand. "Now be nice to each other," she snapped, pushing them through the open door. They heard a click behind them, and then silence.
They saw in front of them what looked like a combination of the two houses' common rooms. it was large and circular, with couches surrounding a fire. But, instead of being either house's colors, it was completely colored gold and silver. It was really quite beautiful.
They made their way through it, though, to where they could see 3 black, wooden doors leading to their rooms. They each had a small copper plaque engraved with names next to it.
One had Harry, Ron, Draco, and Blaise's names on it, another had Dean, Seamus, Crabbe, and Goyle's names on it, and the third had Pansy and Hermione's names on it.
Draco and Harry huffed and muttered curses at their bad luck, Ron and Blaise looked slightly annoyed (not at each other, but Ron at Draco and Blaise at Harry), Crabbe and Goyle looked confused as ever, Dean and Seamus smiled at each other and intertwined their fingers, and Pansy and Hermione looked slightly uneasy. But, as ever, exhaustion won out, and they all made their way to their allotted beds.
The next day, Harry tumbled out of bed groggily. It took a minute for his mind to get oriented as to where he was. Then he blinked against the bright light filtering in through the window. He realized that in his frustration and drowsiness last night he hadn't paid that much attention to the room he would be sleeping in for a month. His bed was made in golden sheets and a maroon comforter. He looked at Ron's and realized that his was pretty much identical. Malfoy and Blaise's beds were made in silver sheets and green comforters. They looked surprisingly similar apart from the bedding colors.
Actually, they were exactly the same apart from the bedding colors. Ron was snoring in his bed, Blaise was apparently sleeping, back faced to Harry, and Draco... No, Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.
Harry made his bed sloppily and trudged sleepily out of the room. He found Malfoy, Seamus, and Dean in the common room. Dean was sitting on the couch, reading (well, trying to, anyway), with Seamus laying with his head in Dean's lap. Draco, no, Malfoy, was sitting at a table situated in the middle of the room, reading a newspaper and eating some toast. On the table in front of him was a large platter of toast and eggs, with plates off to the side. Harry hungrily made his way towards it.
"Can't stay away from me, can you, Potter?" Scoffed Malfoy.
Harry snorted. He fought off a blush, and played it off as being irritated. "You wish."
"That a challenge, Potter?" Malfoy said, standing up.
Harry pushed Draco, no, Malfoy, aside, and grabbed a piece of toast. He dodged Malfoy again and walked over to sit by the fire, munching moodily on his toast.
~~~Hermione's POV~~~
Hermione woke up fairly early. Pansy, weirdly enough, woke up about half a minute later. They both glared at each other. Then Pansy sighed, and decided to break the silence. "Okay," she announced. "We are the only two girls in here for a month. A month. We could get some serious gossip time in here! So.. Truce?" She offered her hand to Hermione. Hermione hesitated for a moment, then took Pansy's hand. They both smiled at each other.
"Wow," Hermione said. "I never took you for the gossiping type."
"Well, my two best friends are boys. I've been deprived for years!" Both girls started giggling wildly.
"Yeah," Hermione said. "Me too. Though, I've never thought about it, what with studying and making sure Ron and Harry didn't kill themselves."
"You gotta live a little! So... you must know who Harry has a crush on! It's been bugging me for ages!"
Hermione shook her head. "He never told me. There is someone, though. He definitely has a crush on someone. You can see it in his eyes!" She giggled.
"Urgh! Who is she! I need to know!" Pansy huffed. She kicked a chair.
"I mean, he was going out with Ginny for a while, but they decided it wasn't working out. Who do you have a crush on?"
"Me, um, wow, is that the time? Well, I gotta go..." Pansy stuttered, making to get up.
Hermione grabbed her shoulder and forced her back down. "Wai-wai-wait. You have to tell me! You can't just leave me hanging like this!"
Pansy blushed deeply. "Well.. I kinda sorta like Draco."
"Malfoy!" Hermione giggled loudly. Pansy shot her a glare. "Well, weren't you two dating two years ago?"
"No. Hmph. I'm going to get breakfast." She walked out the door, Hermione following close behind.
~~~Ron's POV~~~
That day was a very quiet one. Ron woke up around one in the afternoon to see everybody doing their own things. Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle were playing Gobstones in a corner (Pansy obviously having been forced into it), Malfoy was reading the paper at a table, Blaise was reading a textbook next to him, Harry was sitting in another corner, looking kinda lost, and Dean and Seamus were cuddling on the couch and kissing. Ron had always sorta wondered about them, but not paid it much attention. Apparently they really were a couple.
Hermione was sitting on a couch, reading something that looked boring. Ron wandered up behind her, and put his arms around her. She turned his head and he kissed her. They pulled apart and smiled at each other, then Ron sat next to Hermione, and she snuggled close to him, not taking her eyes off her book.
~~~Harry's POV~~~
The day progressed much the same as that. Harry was surprised when the food literally appeared on the table in front of Draco (who didn't so much as raise his eyes). They all forgot their bitterness in turn for their hunger.
Soon they had finished eating, and everyone was just awkwardly sitting there again. Malfoy finally ended the silence.
"Everyone sit in a circle," Draco (Malfoy) ordered. "Reckon we gotta have some way of passing the time. Truth or Dare anyone?"
They all enthusiastically sat in a circle, eager for something to do.
Blaise claimed the role of the first person to pick a dare. "Finnegan. Snog Thomas."
Seamus threw him a wicked grin. "Gladly," he said with his thick Irish accent. He leaned over and kissed Dean, and Dean returned the kiss with the ease of having done it a thousand times. He actually probably had.
After a few minutes of catcalls and snogging, the two boys finally broke apart, grinning at each other.
A few meaningless truths and a couple of funny dares passed by, before Harry was finally asked by Dean.
"Truth," said Harry smugly. All truths were to be yes or no questions, so they couldn't ask him anything too bad.
Dean answered instantly. "Do you have a crush on someone in this circle?"
Harry opened his mouth to lie, but was forced to close it again by the enchantments they had set earlier. He cursed loudly, and, combined with his deep blush, everyone knew his answer. "Dare," he murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Fine," said Dean. "Everyone, close your eyes. Now, Harry, I dare you to kiss whoever you have a crush on." Everyone obligingly closed their eyes.
"You're an idiot Dean." Dean just smiled. Ron and Hermione had their hands clamped. Ron must have thought Harry had a crush on Hermione.
Harry got up, and silently stood in front of Draco. He leaned down and kissed him.
And to his surprise Draco kissed back. Draco even surprised himself. Everyone opened their eyes, shocked, but the boys were past caring. Ron made a little choked sound, Pansy looked furious, and Seamus and Dean gave each other I-knew-it looks. Draco suddenly pulled back, and the boys looked at each other, and Harry looked scared. Very scared. Then Draco leaned in again to capture Harry's lips in another breathtaking kiss.
Pansy stomped off. Ron looked at Hermione, spluttering, but Hermione gave him a reassuring look and squeezed his hand. This time Harry pulled back from the kiss, and smiled at Draco.
The game was forgotten. Harry, Dean, and Hermione snuggled with their significant others by the fire. For that moment, at least, all their troubles were forgotten. All was well.
~~Author's Note~~
I know. Super cheesy. Hope you liked it though! Please please Please Review!