Note: any comments are more than welcome! this is my first fic, so don't be too harsh.
Chapter One
As Hermione entered her room, decorated with red and gold for Gryffindor, she sighed, and collapsed onto her leather armchair. She looked around herself, still in slight awe that she had made it to the position of Head Girl. She was pleased with herself, of course, but was shocked at the privileges and responsibilities she had. For example, her room was far grander than she ever would have imagined. It was large and spacious, with a four-poster bed covered in silk sheets. The carpet was wine-red, lush, and inviting.
One drawback to living in the Heads quarters was that her room was joined onto a small common room, which she had to share with the Head Boy. Who was, unfortunately, Draco Malfoy. His room was opposite hers.
"Hermione!"
Looking up, Hermione Granger saw her best friend, Ginny Weasley, running towards her through a passageway.
"Hermione!" Ginny said again. "Dumbledore wants you to get Malfoy. He wants to see both of you in his office as soon as possible! He didn't tell me what was going on, but you will tell me right?"
'What on earth?' Hermione thought. "Of course I will, Ginny. Don't worry, I'll tell you once I get back, okay?"
She got up from her chair, and thanking Ginny, exited her room. She strode across the common room, and prepared herself for talking to Malfoy. After rapping sharply on his solid mahogany door, she stood back and waited, arms crossed. He opened the door, and stood there in all his arrogant glory. Looking bored, he began to question Hermione.
"What, Bucktooth?"
"Dumbledore wants to see us in his office immediately." She curtly replied, her eyes narrowing.
"And why should I go, may I ask?"
"Well, if you prefer to remain ignorant about what the Headmaster wants to say, then you can stay here. It really doesn't matter to me."
He gave her a scalding look, and with that, he stalked off into the hallway, with Hermione not far behind him. As they approached the gargoyle that marked the offices' entrance, Malfoy turned abruptly, and looked at her expectantly. Hermione racked her brains for the Headmasters' password, coming up with it just in time to prevent herself from looking like an absolute idiot.
"Butter-toffee cookies" she said.
The gargoyle sank down into the marble floor, to reveal a well-lit stairway.
"After you, Mudblood."
Hermione sighed, and started up the stairs. Approaching the Headmasters' door, she self-consciously smoothed a hand over her hair, and with a deep breath, she pushed open the door.
Dumbledore was seated behind his elegant redwood desk. He looked so at home, surrounded by little silver trinkets and magical instruments.
"Ahhh… Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, glad you could get here so soon, on such short notice. We have just been owled by the San Diego Magical Academy, and they seem to be in a bit of trouble. One of their professors' has been cursed by a Voldemort supporter, even thought he has already been banished. She was hit by the Mortem Alle Zeit curse, which means she will die a 'never-ending' death, and she will try to bring as many people down along with her as possible. She has already seriously maimed several of their students. Fortunately, she is bound to the extent of the school campus, so there is no harm going to anyone else in the immediate area.
"They have asked us whether it would be possible for their upper years to stay with us. They are arriving tonight in Hogsmeade, and we need to go bring them back here."
"Whey can't they just go stay at one of the other American schools?" Malfoy drawled, with obvious distaste. Hermione heard him mutter "Bloody Americans."
"Well, they have already sent all of their younger students to other schools for the moment. For some reason, Americans seem to be more aware of magical goings-on, so it was unadvisable for them to expand their schools, especially because the schools all seem to be situated fairly close to large muggle communities. Nevertheless… They are also coming here, as we are in a way in debt to the SDMA, as they took us in when we were in peril several centuries back.
"The house-elves are setting up the storage tower for the students, and they should be done by the time we get back. Their Head students will be sharing a common room with you, and there will be two more rooms installed into your quarters. There will be roughly thirty of them. I will announce their arrival tomorrow morning, and I will need you to tell the prefects that no one is to leave the Great Hall until after the announcement. Shall we go?"
Draco and Hermione both continued to sit in their chairs, with slightly bemused expressions on their faces. Dumbledore smiled, and they both snapped out of their reveries, both a bit pink in the face. Abruptly, they both stood up at the same time, and began to mutter apologies.
'Interesting. The two of them are so similar, yet so different.' Dumbledore thought, with a small twinkle in his eye.