Chapter 1 – Begin Again
Pre-Note: In this story, Voldemort was defeated by Harry/Ron/Hermione during their first encounter with him in the Philosopher's Stone. From then on, the years carried on at Hogwarts and also everyone is still alive. Yay! Also, most of the purebloods are still a bit weird about muggles but they don't hold much contempt for them.
With a rejuvenated vigour, Hermione Granger jumped onto the Hogwarts Express, leaving her friends to catch up behind her. As this was her last year and she was given the honour to be Head Girl, she had gone straight into her duties as soon as she had arrived at the station. There would be time to greet everyone later.
The past summer had been very stressful for Hermione. Even though her parents had passed away nearly 8 years ago, their possessions had only just finished being processed by the muggle lawyers to be turned over to her, as her 18th birthday was approaching. This meant that Hermione had spent long, hot days rifling through her childhood home. In and out of boxes, drawers and furniture, all covered in nearly a decade's worth of dust. It had been quite an emotional adventure; however, she had wanted to get through it alone. It was finally time to put her grief to an end and move on.
On the other hand, all the moving and sorting had somehow matured her body in ways she had never thought it would. Normally her holidays were filled with visiting bookstores, stocking up and completing her personal library. But now she suddenly had a taut stomach; strong slim legs and her awkward teenage body had seemed to finally have filled out. This change had encouraged Ginny Weasley, when she had come to visit Hermione, to drag her around a number of muggle malls and even wizarding boutiques. All these were attempts to change Hermione's fashion sense, which Ginny classed as, "frumpy" and "not acceptable for someone of your calibre". After a few torturous sessions with Ginny, Hermione eventually relented and accepted that maybe Ginny was on to something with her pestering. She certainly didn't mind what form-fitting jeans and blouses did to her body, unlike her previous wardrobe of unflattering robes and skirts that went past the knee.
Hermione scoured through all the carriages, searching for any other 7th year, who would have the counterpart Head Boy badge and would be her partner for the rest of the year. She sincerely hoped it was a Gryffindor, but as the obvious choice of Harry Potter, the Golden Boy, had not been picked, she was still in the dark.
While buried in her thoughts, she accidentally tripped over her own shoes and went flying over the carriage floor. She suddenly collided with something warm and hard, taking it down with her.
"Oof!" She exclaimed. While attempting to regain some balance and placing her palms on the strong object, she realised that she had landed on no one other than Draco Malfoy. And from the fierce shade of his grey eyes, she could tell that this was one very annoyed Draco Malfoy.
Now the deal with this Malfoy was that they had been intellectual rivals since First Year, never getting along through the past 6 years. First, there had been the blood rivalry, where Malfoy and his goons had imagined themselves to be much more superior to her as they were Purebloods. But after Harry, Hermione and Ron had defeated Voldemort at the end of First Year, that muggle – hating part of him seemed to have been silenced somewhat. Also, there was the fact that his personality just smelled like flobberworms, as he had no qualms about being a great big bully to anyone that wasn't from Slytherin, invited to the yearly, exclusive balls his filthy rich family threw, or who would drop their knickers at just one look from him. Unfortunately for Hermione, they had been on the train for all of 5 minutes and their paths were already crossing in a most distasteful way.
She disconcertedly broke their intense staring contest and realised that three other tall figures were surrounding them. Then a hand reached out to pull her up, which she took uncertainly. "Come on, Granger, we can't have you squashing the Malfoy heir in his prime," the laughing voice of Blaise Zabini reached her ears.
Hermione quickly composed herself by brushing down her skirt and curls, watching as Malfoy was also pulled up, but this time by Parkinson. "No apology for me, Granger?" Malfoy glared at her, then turned on his heel to storm off to the end carriage.
But just then she saw a glint of gold on Malfoy's chest and reached up to touch it. Malfoy turned back to her, "Granger haven't you molested my body enough to last us both a lifetime."
He watched as Hermione's eyes widened and she gasped, "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh no! Please, not you!"
Just then realisation flashed through his eyes as he caught a matching glint of gold attached to the front of Hermione's robes. They both wore the corresponding badges of Head Boy and Head Girl. The look on Malfoy's face displayed a comical display of horror.
He sighed. "Great. This is just exactly what I needed. A year attached to the hip to the most bookish bookworm in Hogwarts. Added to the package with her being annoying, a know it all and having that bloody bushy hair." And with this admonishing statement, he actually stormed off, followed by an entourage of females that Hermione had no clue where they appeared from.
Hermione's eyes flamed with anger and indignation, calling behind him. "Well, it will surely be such a joy to work with you, Malfoy!"
What a brilliant way to start her final year as Head Girl, she was already flustered and Malfoy had proved to be a large bump in her smooth road for the year. She also didn't like all the attention that had fallen on her so quickly. As she also was prepared to turn back and find her friends, Zabini caught her hand.
"Hey, Granger. Just lay off Draco a bit, he's just a bit stressed due to the pressure his parents are putting him under to take over and expand the family business. Also, to start producing little blond babies. But, don't mind too much if he takes it out on you. He doesn't really bite." And with that he left Hermione's confused face watching him, wondering why in the world he had said that, as he followed the direction Malfoy had gone.
She shook the thought from her mind and definitely knew now it was time to go catch up with her friends before the Prefect meeting that her and Malfoy, regrettably, had to hold together. She was definitely not looking forward to that.
She quickly found the carriage that contained many of her Gryffindors, mixed in with the odd Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Hermione could see that Harry had used her special undetectable extension charm on the carriage and she was quite proud that he had pulled it off. As she entered, a cheer went off around the carriage.
"There's our Head Girl!" Ron grinned and came up to hug her. She hugged him back wholeheartedly. Things had been slightly awkward between them, as at the end of the 6th year they had both shared a few floundering kisses, but nothing had really developed with Hermione's venture into the Muggle world for the summer. However, just before they arrived at the station, Hermione had explained to Ron that she was not looking for any sort of relationship at the moment as she wanted to focus more on herself. Genuinely, she just thought they were better as best friends.
After a joyful hour spent catching up with all her friends, she realised that it was time for her and Malfoy to have a meeting with all the prefects before they arrived at Hogwarts. Oh, joy.
As she entered the designated carriage for the meeting, she found that she was just on time and everybody was already seated. Even Malfoy was already there.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Granger," Malfoy smirked at her. Seemed somebody had gotten over their little strop. Hermione just rolled her eyes and went to take the seat near him.
"Right, thank you, everyone, for meeting here and I hope you're all ready for the new year at Hogwarts and to take on new responsibilities. So, I'm sure you have all realised that this year that I, Hermione Granger am the Head Girl. And Draco Malfoy here will be your Head Boy." Hermione looked to Malfoy to see if he would continue, all he did was give a non –committal shrug and indicated for her to carry on.
The meeting turned out to actually be quite successful. Malfoy kept his snarky comments to a minimum, thank Merlin, only shooting the odd remark here and there, but he generally let her lead the meeting. He seemed to be content eyeing the new female, fifth-year prefects. Gross.
During the meeting, Hermione was able to get a number of ideas she wanted to introduce into a discussion with the prefects. For example, she suggested that more balls and parties should be held, as the last significant one had been held in her 4th Year during the Triwizard Tournament and also to raise the excitement and comradery in the school. This idea was received with a lot of excitement and she was able to form a small committee immediately from within, that would take charge of the events.
As soon as the train arrived at the station, Hermione and Malfoy received a memo from the Headmaster that their first job as Heads was that they had to round up all the First Years with Hagrid and introduce them to Hogwarts. Hermione was thrilled at having the honour of being able to shape the new students' first impression of Hogwarts.
Hermione had truly missed Hogwarts, as she did every summer. She couldn't believe this was her last year here. The scene that the Great Hall produced every year always took her breath away. It truly was stunning. After the Sorting Ceremony, Dumbledore made his yearly opening speech before the feast. During this, he announced who the Head Boy and Girl were. Both the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables erupted in applause as their representatives stood up.
After the marvellous feast, where again Hermione was reminded of one of the reasons Ronald Weasley would not be a good relationship partner for her; clearly due to his ostentatious hatred for any concept of table manners. No matter how much Molly, Ginny, Fleur, Hermione and even one or two of the elder Weasleys short-term girlfriends had attempted to teach him. Dumbledore called both Malfoy and Hermione up to the High Table and instructed them to follow him so that he could show them where their shared Head dormitories would be.
They went down a number of winding corridors, even past the Gryffindor towers, which were at the far end of the castle. She knew for sure that this was also far away from Malfoy's lair as the Slytherins were located in the dungeons, under the lake. Finally, they reached a portrait of a knight, and he introduced himself in a jovial voice, "Good evening, Albus. What new Head students have we got this year? Are they obnoxious? Are they bright? Are they troubled? Well, whatever the case, students, I am your doorkeeper for the year. My name is Sir Wolowiz and I'm sure we will become very good friends."
At his speech, Malfoy merely snorted. Both Dumbledore and Hermione turned to raise their eyebrows at Malfoy.
"We don't have any kind of talking portrait door in Slytherin," Malfoy merely grumbled in response.
Turning to the portrait, Dumbledore replied, "Sir Wolowiz, this is the new Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, I'm sure you can recognise his family heritage from previous Heads. And, this is the new Head Girl, Hermione Granger. A witch that majority of the world should consider the smartest of her age." At this statement, Malfoy scowled and Hermione blushed under the praise.
Then turning to the two of them, he looked on imperiously through his half-moon glasses, eyes twinkling in the dimmed lights of the corridors. Even Malfoy seemed to straighten up under his heavy gaze.
"I know that you two have some kind of rivalry between you. But I am hoping that by living and working together, you will be able to put your differences aside. So, when you leave Hogwarts at the end of the year, you will have left a splendid example and also be prepared to face such rivalries in your future jobs." Then he clapped his hands to relieve them of the serious mood. "Now, children, I think I have taken up enough of your time this evening. I hope you enjoy having your own dormitories and I hope that you have a very successful year together. You can now set your own password, and please try to keep the bickering to a minimum. Sir Wolowiz and your reputations would very much appreciate that." And with that, the painting swung open and Dumbledore whisked away down the corridor in a cloud of his robes, leaving Draco and Hermione in the corridor.
They stood in front of the entrance for a good few minutes, before Hermione decided to break the silence, "So, erm, what password would you like?"
"Choose what you like and write it on the inside of the door," he replied stoutly and walked past her into the rooms.
"Fine then," she huffed and turned to the portrait, "I think I'd like the password to be 'amicitia', it means friendship in Latin."
"Good choice, now in you go. Have a nice night." And Hermione jumped in through the portrait hall.
As she entered, she observed the beautiful state that the whole room was in. It was clearly set up as the main, living room. There was stunning upholstery covering all the lounge chairs and couches. There was an innumerable number of bookshelves surrounding a whole wall, stacked to the brim with ancient and spectacular books, that Hermione just couldn't wait to get through.
After some exploration, she also realised that there was an adjoining kitchen, which she found stocked up with all sorts of magical and even muggle treats to her delight, and of course, there was the British necessity of having tea, in all flavours and colours.
Hermione progressed through the living room and went up to the stairs where she guessed the bedrooms were. She came across 2 doors, one had her name emblazoned on it in gold and the other had Malfoy's name in silver. Draco Lucius Malfoy, of course, his self- centeredness came directly from his father. Who else would make sure that they were an overbearing presence in their son's life? Hermione had seen enough of Lucius and Draco Malfoy in Diagon Alley, to know that they were both the same prissy peacocks. This got Hermione thinking back to her conservation with Blaise and the things he had said about Malfoy. Whatever, she thought.
She pushed through into her room and once again the furnishing was amazing and complimented her own ideas of having a perfect room. It was decorated in her favourite colours, burnt oranges and yellows. Obviously, magic had had some influence over it. She started to magically unpack her trunk, and after making sure she had prepared everything for the next day of lessons, Hermione fell into a dreamless sleep.
ARM-ARM-ARM-ARM-ARM-ARM-ARM-ARM
Draco Malfoy was sat in his sleep plants, in his new dorm room, and scoffed thinking that goody-goody Granger was asleep next door, probably passed her bedtime or something. However, when his thoughts turned to Granger, he thought of how much she seemed to have changed over the summer, specifically how her body changed. When did the little nerd grow up to have such a nice ass and tits, and when did she start to flaunt it all?
"Oh God," Draco groaned, a horny Draco Malfoy, isolated far away from everyone, with only a bookish prude next door, was not a good Draco Malfoy.
Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking on his window. He looked up and found his mother's owl, Artemis, was there and seemed to have a hefty package attached to his leg. He went over and opened the window latch, wincing slightly as a sharp gust of wind hit his bare chest. He quickly fed the owl a few luxury treats and relieved him of the heavy packages. He was a bit surprised that his owl was here, it was only the first night at school, he had been at home this morning. What was the importance of such a package?
He quickly ripped open the packaging and found 2 thick letters in there. Even more strange, why would letters be secured so protectively. He found them both addressed to him, one with his mother's distinctive flourish over it and the other, thicker one, had a completely different font. He opened the foreign one first. Inside, he found thick, rich paper, the kind of paper he knew his father only used when dealing with established leaders. It was even expensive for the Malfoys, which certainly was saying something to the heir of a fortune that contained over 53 estates across the globe.
He was getting lost in his thoughts again, he pulled out the wad of paper and found this invitation inside:
HER ROYAL MAJESTY,
QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND,
CORDIALLY REQUESTS THE PRESENCE OF
Draco Lucius Malfoy
AT THE ROYAL AUTUMN BALL
ATTENDANCE WILL BE AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON
ON THE 25TH OF SEPTEMBER
REQUIRED FROM 5 PM TILL LATE
WE KINDLY REQUEST THAT YOU RSVP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
PLEASE REPORT ANY DIETARY HABITS THAT WE REQUIRE INFORMATION ON
HER MAJESTY LOOKS FORWARD TO YOUR PRESENCE
Draco's eyes widened in shock. What the hell had his parents dragged him into now?
A/N: Hi readers! Fun fact, each chapter name for this story is a song from Taylor Swift. So, this is a new story and would love you all to give it a read. Also, I would like to say that this is the fanfiction I will be focusing on more (more updates will be here) and A Malfoy Marriage updates will be less frequent. Enjoy! Also, if you know any betas please direct one my way.