A/N: hey you guys! I'm aeonsoul, and I welcome you to the first chapter of my very first Harry Potter fanfic! I hope I entertain you guys through the chapters ahead. Just here are some things to keep in mind while you read, though:
1. I really hope you've read Half-blood Prince and Deathly Hallows already 'cuz this next note will spoil it for you!
2. This story takes place 7th year, but does not follow Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. So in this story, Dumbledore's not dead and Voldemort is still on the down-low. Events that happened in the books because of Dumbledore's death and Voldemort's rise obviously don't exist in my story, either. (i.e. The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, The Muggleborn Registration Committee, etc.)
3. This is a Draco-Hermione-Ron love triangle story. So if you hate Draco's guts, please don't read, take offense, and go after my skin.
4. I don't own anything, just the plot of this story.
5. This story is rated M for mature themes and language. This is my one and only warning of either! So please, younglings, go to the rated T section!
Well, anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 1- Third Time's a Charm
Draco POV
"I knew she would shave it off one day and put a wig on, stupid and ugly that she is," Parkinson drawled from beside me. "Didn't the mudblood think of using magic?"
"I think that is her real hair," Blaise commented as we observed Granger.
I, with Crabbe and Goyle, had a brief encounter with Granger, Pothead, and Weasel in the Hogwarts Express earlier this morning, but I didn't see her face-to-face clearly since she had whipped around suddenly, yanked the two morons by the collar, and hauled them into the nearest compartment, snapping the door shut as soon as their bodies where out of its way. Talk about a clean getaway; I had planned to set a pretty wicked jinx on Pothead that I had been practicing over the summer, but I was so shocked since I had noticed Granger's hair had been straight as she whipped about to get away quickly. With only a glimpse of that new look, I had anticipated the welcoming feast with unexplained fervor, wanting to get a longer look at Granger.
I blinked. I didn't realize I was staring at the mudblood. She had thrown her head back, laughing, her long cinnamon hair cascading away from her face. She had done something to her hair to make it straight, which made it look extra sleek and glossy, reflecting the candlelight every time she moved. And as I noticed how her cheeks flushed pink with laughter, I felt my blood accelerate, my fingers twitch, and the front of my pants tighten. What the hell?!
"Well, whatever," Parkinson was saying, nose in the air, as she dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand. "She still looks ugly anyway."
But she continued staring at Granger.
And so did I.
Hermione POV
I was sitting down between Harry and Parvati at the Gryffindor table, excitedly waiting for the start of the feast; And I was actually siding with Ron when he openly damned the first years and a hippogriff.
"Where the hell are those damned first years?" Ron was saying loudly, craning his neck to check the entrance to the Great Hall. "I could eat a damn hippogriff."
"So could I," Harry agreed. "I hope they hurry with the Sorting… Hermione!"
"What?!" I gasped, startled at being addressed so harshly.
"I just noticed: your hair…"
"Just noticed?" I said, laughing savagely. "We were together for hours on the train and you just noticed my hair?"
"Oh, give me a break 'Mione; I had a lousy summer. Stupid Daily Prophet," he said tiredly, running a hand through his hair, making it messier than thought possible.
"Yeah," Ron agreed, a glint in his eye. "Since when was Harry more than a midget with a scar on his forehead? I mean, what's with all this 'Chosen One' crap again?"
I laughed.
"If I hadn't seen Malfoy on the train, I would have thought he was impersonating you," Harry told Ron icily.
Ron gave Harry a what-the-hell?! look and pretended to vomit all over the table.
"Ron, what in Merlin's saggy trousers are you doing?" Ginny asked loudly as she and a couple of her sixth-year friends appeared and sat in front of us.
"Recalling you and your stupid interest with stupid Michael Corner last year," Ron said steely. I felt Harry shift next to me.
"Glad he's out of your hair, huh?" Ginny said scathingly.
"Yep."
Ginny stood up angrily and stalked away to sit somewhere else down the Gryffindor table.
"Love you too, sis!" Ron called after her. Ginny's friends turned to each other, rolled their eyes exasperatedly as they shook their heads, and stood to follow Ginny. Then, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan came out of nowhere and took their vacated seats.
"Hey," they said, smiling as they sat down. Seamus looked at me, then at my hair, then at me again, grinning. I felt my cheeks burn when he winked.
After the feast, Ron and I settled down in the Gryffindor common room with Harry, catching the warmth coming from the blazing fire in the fireplace. Ron and I had just finished helping the new first years settle down for the night, and wanting to hang out some more before retreating to bed, we stayed up a bit, talking, sitting in the squashiest of the armchairs in front of the fireplace. Some other sixth and seventh years were thinking along the same lines and were sitting around in other chairs in the common room, but they were too into their own conversations to bother us.
After we exchanged some wild and grueling ideas about what Snape might have in store for us in Double Potions tomorrow morning, Harry and Ron started talking about Quidditch. Then my mind sort of wandered away as it usually did when they discussed the stupid sport…
I wonder what exactly Seamus was thinking when he winked at me at dinner. Does he fancy me…? Nah, it was my hair; Just because it took Harry ages to notice doesn't mean no one else caught a difference from the usual, bookish Hermione… Too bad I can't just plug in my flat iron here at school to straighten my hair again... Haha, that's funny to imagine: electricity at Hogwarts…
"Oi! Wake up!"
"…Huh…?"
I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly and sitting up. Then I looked around as I gathered my bearings. The common room was empty, apart from us, its previous occupants having gone upstairs to fall asleep in their warm, comfortable beds rather than in armchairs, like me.
"What was so funny?" Ron asked me curiously, leaning forward. I guess I had laughed in my sleep. Weird.
"Yeah," Harry pitched in. "Don't tell me it was about that 'Chosen One' stuff; I don't want to throw up my treacle tart."
"Well, actually it was," I said matter-of-factly, grinning. "I was wondering if I can score you another interview with Rita Skeeter. I bet she'll love to hear from the Chosen One."
"Ha ha," Harry said sarcastically as Ron laughed. "You know what, 'Mione? It's late and you should go to bed. Kiss Malfoy goodnight for me!"
I scowled.
10:56 A.M. earlier today:
Yeah, so I'm Head Girl. You should have seen Mrs. Weasley when she spotted my badge pinned in front of my Muggle clothes when we met up at Platform 9 ¾ earlier. Hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. Harry was smiling in my peripheral vision and Ron was shaking his head good-naturedly.
"Thank Merlin I hadn't gotten Head Boy," Ron had whispered as we waved goodbye at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley from a window inside the Hogwarts Express.
"Yeah, me too," Harry seconded, still grinning. "Not good for my lungs."
"Yeah right," I said, rolling my eyes. "You lot would sooo want Head Boy privileges." We started to move since we were blocking the aisle.
"Like what?" Ron asked, eyebrows raised. "The privilege to poke your nose into another's business?"
I gave him a look that made him backtrack.
"Not that we wouldn't want you to poke through another's business," Ron stammered, ears pink. "Since, of course, you're Head Gi—"
"What I meant, Ronald, was the privilege to patrol the corridors at night," I said scathingly as we trudged through train to look for a compartment.
"Why would I want patrol duty? At night?" Ron asked skeptically. "When I could be—"
"Sleeping or copying my homework?" I asked steely.
"Well, pff, yeah!" Ron snorted, nodding once, as if I had pointed out the obvious.
"Oh…" Harry breathed, and I turned to him just in time to see the lightbulb flick on and a sly, knowing look cross his face.
"Exactly," I said, smug.
"What, what?!" Ron said, looking from Harry to me.
"What she meant," Harry began, leaning in to whisper, "was that we can get out of bed afterhours, to— I don't know— sneak over to Hagrid's or the kitchens. And if we should get caught, we would simply say that we were—"
"Patrolling the corridors. Oh I get it!" Ron exclaimed, nodding, a look of wonder in his face. "The possibilities would be endless…"
"Exactly," I said again. "Who wants to be Head Boy now?
"Well, Mudblood," said a cold, arrogant voice from behind us. "I hate to be the one to break it to you, but since I'm alreadyHead Boy, that position isn't up for grabs."
Harry and Ron had whipped around, their hands flashing to their back pockets for their wands, and I felt them step in together to shield me. But as for me, I had closed my eyes, my back still turned to Malfoy, and Crabbe and Goyle undoubtedly.
Oh NO…
"I would put those away if I were you," Malfoy's voice drawled, sounding bored.
"Funny. We could say the same thing," Harry responded steely, his wand poised and steady in my mind's eye.
"No you can't," Malfoy contradicted, the glee apparent in his tone. "But I can. Since I've got the power to put you losers in detention… How fun that would be for you! Detention on your first day back at Hogwarts!"
I heard all this happening behind my back, but I couldn't bring myself to turn around and face my fate.
Draco freaken Malfoy is Head Boy.
Present:
I snapped out of my flashback, shaking my head as if to clear its contents. I couldn't believe it; how could one of the best things that could happen to me also come along with the worst? Head Girl… sharing private quarters with the Head Boy, A.K.A Malfoy. Talk about bitter-sweet…
After I bade goodnight to Harry and Ron, I left Gryffindor common room, every step filling me with dread; I am willing to bet Draco will be twice as mean now that Harry and Ron won't be around… Well! No use brooding over it! I think I can manage avoiding the stupid ferret face while I'm at the Heads' Quarters. I'll learn how to Disillusion myself if I have to. I'll make it so I never have to come face-to-face with him at all.
And with new confidence, I walked faster, my steps coming brisker. The entrance to the Heads' Quarters is four long corridors and two sets of stairs below the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. However, night-trooping with Harry and Ron in the past has taught me the location of a secret staircase connecting directly to the corridor of the Heads' Quarters, and I took it. When I came to, I spoke the password ("tipsy beetle") to the portrait of a young witch and wizard, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, the very first Head Boy and Girl. They looked up from the books they were reading on their couch and waved me in, the portrait swinging open.
Sighing, I stepped in through the portrait hole and came into a spacious yet cozy common room, exactly like the one in the portrait; by the colors of the drapery, walls, etc, the theme of the room was undoubtedly Gryffindor and Slytherin. Inter-House unity, I expect. I snorted; as if that was gonna happen between me and Malfoy.
I quickly and quietly crossed the common room and stepped in front of another portrait, this one smaller and of a lion, and spoke another password (Courage) to get into my room. The lion let out a low growl of acceptance, and the portrait door swung open slowly. As I was stepping in, I resolved to change the default password in the morning, since "courage" isn't exactly mind-twisting and since Malfoy might decide to try and figure out the password once he realizes that it is default like his was. (Lying and Evil are my best guesses of his at the moment.)
But… Malfoy had already taken a whack at my portrait door.
"I got it on my third guess," a voice drawled to my left.
I turned. Malfoy was sprawled on my bed, arms crossed lazily behind his head, one leg propped up, clearly comfortable. The devil had even popped the first couple buttons of his shirt and loosened his pants! He grinned as I stared open-mouthed.
"Third time's a charm, right?" he commented, his grin getting wider as I continued staring, shocked. "Well what are you waiting for? Come to bed."
A/N: Remember to review you guys! I'd love to hear your opinion of my fanfic story, even if you think it's corny! C'mon, I can take it! ;)
-aeonsoul