1
Hermione tipped the parchment envelope with Dumbledore's tidy, emerald green penmanship, letting its contents spill into the palm of her hand. A large brown barn owl had delivered their letters not moments before, and had already left, but not before Harry threw him a treat. She turned the object around in her fingertips, watching the soft light of Molly's immaculate kitchen glint brilliantly off of the tiny gold badge. It was embossed with Gryffindor's scarlet crest, as well as inlaid with a capital golden 'H,' displaying her new status as Head Girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione hummed in pleasure. She hadn't expected this, but was more than happy to accept the new responsibility.
"Bloody hell, would you look at this list of books? It's going to cost a fortune!" Hermione heard Ron exclaim across from her, rubbing the back of his head. "We'll manage," said Molly from the other end of the long table they were seated at. After noticing the badge Hermione held in her hand, Molly let out a shout, "Hermione! Oh, would you look at that! Congratulations, dear. Of course, we suspected you'd be made Head Girl. We're all very proud of you," she gushed, always a mother first and foremost, no matter the circumstance. Hermione smiled back while receiving congratulations from her three closest friends.
"Congratulations 'Mione!" Harry beamed, giving his friend a warm hug.
"Yeah, congrats!" Ron chimed in. Things had been a little awkward between them after their breakup, but Hermione thought Ron was handling it quite well, seeing as she had been the one to call it quits.
"Do you know what this means?" Ginny squealed from the other side of Harry, "You get your own dorm and common room and everything! I hope you won't mind frequent visits. Gryffindor tower just won't be the same without you there."
"Don't worry Gin, I'll make sure you know the password. You can visit anytime you like," Hermione laughed.
"Besides," stated Ron with a huge grin plastered across his features, "if she isn't in her commons, you can always go looking for her in the library, she'll more than likely be there." Hermione punched him in the arm playfully, as he feigned a look of hurt. "Oh no," Ron stated suddenly, looking panic stricken, "what about our homework?" he asked, looking over to Harry for support, "who is going to look over it all? How am I going to pass potions," he and Harry groaned in unison.
"Well," Hermione stated, staring at Ron pointedly, "you can always come and find me in the library Ronald. Besides, maybe you two will even start doing your work early, instead of leaving it until the night before as is normally the case without me there to help you!" Hermione giggled good-naturedly.
"We'll pick up your things from Diagon Alley first thing tomorrow," Molly announced, shaking her head, "now off to bed with you. If I find that any of you have slept in tomorrow morning, I have no problem conjuring a bucket of water to wake you."
At this statement the four decided it best to climb the stairs to their respective rooms to turn in for the night. Ginny and Hermione lingered a little outside of their rooms, discussing what the following year had in store for them excitedly.
"I wonder who the Head Boy is!" Ginny said enthusiastically, "I bet it's Blaise, his grades are almost as high as yours 'Mione. I'll get an owl from him tomorrow I'm sure, and I'll tell you as soon as I find out." Ginny had been dating Blaise since the end of last year, and Hermione found that she rather liked the quiet Italian boy. Although he was placed in Slytherin house, he held none of the pureblood prejudice that his housemates often displayed. Personally, Hermione had no time for such rubbish, and had no problem saying so. Mulling it over, Hermione decided that sharing a common room with Blaise wouldn't be a bad thing at all. They weren't what she would call 'good friends' by any means, but she found that she enjoyed his somber company, being paired with him multiple times in advanced Arithmancy, and she respected his intelligence. Besides, not only would living with a Slytherin be an excellent step toward house unity in her seventh year, but she'd see a lot more of Ginny as well if she could visit both her and Blaise at once.
"Excellent," Hermione concluded, "tell me as soon as you know! It would be great to be able to see you that much more. I know it's going to be difficult now that we won't be sharing the same common room."
Ginny smiled, "that would definitely make things easier." With that, the two girls swiftly said their goodnights and beat a hasty retreat to bed after hearing an annoyed Mrs. Weasley call to them from downstairs.
.~-~*~-~.
The next morning Hermione woke with a smile, remembering the badge she had received the night before, and rolled over to stare at it sitting on the bedside table. This was going to be a good year, she could already tell. Dragging herself out of bed, Hermione donned her robe, grabbed her bag of toiletries and headed for the shower. Closing the bathroom door quietly behind her (she knew the boys would still be sleeping, always waiting until the very last minute to get out of bed). MaybeMollywillhavereasonforthatbucketofwaterafterall, Hermione giggled to herself, locking the door behind her. Setting her bag on the counter, she chose her favorite vanilla scented body wash and grabbed her shampoo, setting them on the ledge of the big bathtub. She slipped out of her robe and pajamas, and turned the tap on, letting the water fall for a few minutes, trailing her hand through the cascade of warm liquid, ensuring the temperature was just right. Once satisfied, she climbed into the shower, letting the water stream down her back in hot rivulets. Showers were always a relaxing way to start the day. After wetting her hair, Hermione lathered some shampoo in the palms of her hands and began massaging it into her scalp. Having rinsed the suds out of her now clean hair, Hermione reached for her body wash and began soaping herself down thoroughly. The warm water felt so good on her tired muscles that she didn't want to leave the shower, but decided it would be a nice gesture to help Molly with breakfast, thanking her for her hospitality in her own little way. Hermione sighed to herself and turned the tap off, reaching for one of the fluffy towels that hung on a rack next to the bathtub. By the time Hermione had finished brushing her teeth, dressing and pulling her hair into a messy ponytail after muttering the smoothing charm she used to tame her curls, she could already smell the beginnings of breakfast coming from downstairs. With a last glance in the mirror, Hermione exited the bathroom and went to help Mrs. Weasley with the morning meal.
Just as she had suspected, Harry and Ron came clambouring down the stairs at the last possible minute having already missed breakfast, only to meet an infuriated Mrs. Weasley standing hands on hips at the bottom of the staircase. Ginny and Hermione giggled to each other as they watched the pair get an earful.
"So have you heard anything from Blaise?" Hermione asked as she sipped at her tea. Chamomile was her favorite, and it didn't feel like a proper morning without it, much like her muggle parents with their coffee.
"Not yet," said Ginny, "I doubt he'd be awake this early anyway. He's almost as bad as those two," she tilted her head, indicating the two boys trapped at the bottom of the staircase.
.~-~*~-~.
Diagon alley was a mass of students doing their last minute shopping before classes began. Having already purchased their necessities such as new parchment and quills, and Harry a new cage and some treats for Hedwig, the large group of mostly red heads headed to Flourish and Blotts to search for their textbooks. Upon entering the little store, Hermione was overwhelmed by the crowd and opted to make a beeline for the section holding the textbooks for advanced Potions, Runes and Arithmancy, which wasn't nearly as densely populated as the rest of the store, after hurriedly alerting Ginny to where she would be. Walking into the isle Hermione felt calm flood through her as she was surrounded by the books towering above her on either side. Searching first for her Arithmancy book, Hermione leaned down to read the tiny script indicating the title of a rather large leather-bound volume. AdvancedArithmancy, Hermione read, pulling the tomb off of the shelf, and balancing its surprising weight in one arm.
"Granger?" she heard a familiar voice drawl from behind her, "what are you doing all the way over here? Shouldn't you be helping Potter and the Weaselbee find their books? They can't seem to tie their own shoelaces without you there to bark out instructions."
"I could ask you the same question Malfoy," Hermione glared, "what are you doing all the way over here? This is where they keep the advanced texts, I believe the section you are looking for is Children's Literature, I hear the TheTalesofBeadletheBard is a particularly good read, and is well suited for someone of your maturity." Boy, Hermione thought,Idon'tcareifheswitchedsidesduringthewar,forsomeonewhohasclaimedtochangehisviewssodrastically,Malfoyissurestillaninsufferablegit.
"Ha-ha Granger. Actually I'm here for my school texts as well. I'm second in our class next to you. The intolerable know-it-all that you are."
Finding her Advanced Runes text, Hermione slid it off of the shelf and into her arms with the other volume while calling over her shoulder, "Sod off Malfoy. I'd like to spend the remainder of my summer unsullied by your presence. I get enough of you're rubbish at school. Now let me find my Potions text in peace." Hermione finally spotted the volume on the shelf above her and reached up to claim it, the tips of her fingers just grazing the spine, even on her tiptoes. Not able to reach, she huffed in frustration.
"You mean this?" Malfoy stated plainly, reaching above her outstretched hand and grabbing her a copy of Advanced Potions off of the shelf above them, keeping a copy for himself as well. "Looks like I'll be seeing you in class then. See you around Granger." And with that he turned and marched out of the row of books.
Thatwasweird, thought Hermione,didheactuallydomeafavour?Malfoy?Beingnice?WhatwasMalfoyplayingat? Hermione shook off her surprise and walked back to find the rest of the group. This wasn't a hard task, as she easily saw Ron's red head towering above the crowd like a beacon. After purchasing her books and a few other last minute items, Hermione headed back to the Burrow with the Weasleys and their entourage.
.~-~*~-~.
After dinner Hermione sat in her room, examining her new texts, and decided to get ahead on a little reading before classes began. Just as she opened her copy of Advanced Runes, Ginny rushed hurriedly into her room.
"Blaise just sent me his owl!" she exclaimed excitedly, while unrolling the parchment. She scanned the contents of his letter and sighed sadly. "Sorry 'Mione, looks like he isn't Head Boy, some other prat beat him out for the spot."
A little disappointed, Hermione smiled at Ginny, "no worries Gin, we'll still be seeing lots of each other! I promise. Besides, Harry and your brother are still going to need my help with their schoolwork, I'm sure I'll be in Gryffindor tower often."
Ginny smiled back at her friend, "I'll hold you to it," she beamed, and left Hermione to her reading, closing the door behind her.