DOUBLE TROUBLE

~ Michelle Jones ~

CHAPTER I

On the morning of the first day in September, Hermione awoke, feeling a warm weight on her stomach. Attempting to turn over, she forced Crookshanks to leave her perch and find another resting pace on the floor. The young girl, however, could not return to the dream she had been having, and listened to the sound of her pet's purrs instead.

Hermione must have dropped off to sleep again, because the next thing she remembered, she was being shaken awake by her mother. Looking sideways at her clock, Hermione saw that it was already nine o'clock, leaving her with a couple of hours before she needed to get the Hogwarts Express.

Today was the first day of her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Hermione was particularly looking forward to this year; during the holidays she had received a letter announcing her as the new Head Girl. She had immediately informed her two best friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, who had both been overjoyed with the decision. She had not, however, been told who was to be Head Boy yet, as she would find this out upon her arrival at the school. She had half-expected Harry to have taken on the role; after all, in the past seven years Harry had helped the school immensely. Perhaps, she thought, it was too obvious; he was, she reasoned, the Boy Who Lived.

As she pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved top, Hermione double-checked that she had packed all her school equipment, and that her shiny Head Girl badge was neatly pinned on her robe, just above where the Hogwarts crest lay.

Hermione gazed at the four creatures that surrounded the letter 'H' on the crest; an eagle, a badger, a lion and a serpent. Each of these creatures were the emblems for the four Houses that divided the school; Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and finally Slytherin. Hermione, along with her friends, belonged to Gryffindor, and she had rarely befriended those from the other Houses. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, although intelligent and loyal respectively, seldom shared classes with Gryffindor and, whilst she knew many of her fellow schoolmates, she had never become anything more than acquaintances with them.

Slytherin, however, was a different matter. Gryffindor shared many of their lessons with this House, Potions included. In this particular lesson, Professor Snape, Potions teacher and head of the Slytherin House; had singled out Hermione, Ron and Harry as trouble-makers, whilst appointing Malfoy as his favourite student. Since their first day at school, Draco Malfoy; a rather pale, blond haired boy; had continually voiced his opinion that Hogwarts should accept only those of pure wizarding blood. As a result, he and Hermione had always been enemies, she being of Muggle origins and he being the heir of one of the more respectable wizarding families.

Looking at the time once again, Hermione drew her eyes from the Hogwarts crest and, without any difficulty, forced the image of Draco out of her head. After making her way downstairs and eating her full English breakfast, Hermione helped her father load the car with all her cases, and sat waiting in one of the back seats. As they made their way through the busy streets of London towards King's Cross Station, Hermione stared out of the window and reflected on the time she had previously spent at Hogwarts.

She remembered their very first year; the arguments she and Ron had had, Hagrid and his pet dragon Norbert and Harry's second meeting with Lord Voldemort. As she continued to think of the time that they had all spent at Hogwarts, all the comments that Malfoy had thrown at her came flowing back. He never seemed to miss an opportunity to wind her up, and the majority of the time, he and Ron had ended up in a fight.

Hermione looked away from the window with a sharp jolt. She had been thinking about Malfoy again. This was turning into a nasty habit; she hated the guy more than anything and was glad that this was the last year she would ever have to see his nasty smirk again. She smiled at that prospect. Yes, she decided, the less she saw of Malfoy, the better.

In hardly any time, the family car drew up at King's Cross Station, and both Hermione and her mother jumped out to unload her cases. Pulling a trolley and with Crookshanks prowling beside her, Hermione and her mother made their way onto the platform where she could get onto platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express would be waiting.

After saying goodbye to her mother with a quick hug, Hermione discretely leaned against the wall between platforms nine and ten, and disappeared from view. Almost instantly, she reappeared on another platform where a gleaming red train was standing, stationary. After handing her luggage to a porter who promptly placed it in a compartment, Hermione glanced towards both ends of the platform looking for either of her best friends.

She spotted them in the distance and waved to them, hoping they would see her above the rest of the pupils making their way onto the train.

"Hermione!" Harry greeted her, "how are you? We were worried when you didn't come to meet us in Diagon Alley."

"Oh, I was busy," Hermione replied, briskly.

"No doubt polishing your new Head Girl badge, if you're anything like Percy." Hermione began to say something, but a grin spread across Ron's face, "I was only joking, Hermione!" Making a face at him, she allowed Ron to pull her up onto the train, where they walked, single-file, until they found a compartment that was empty.

Hermione took the seat next to the window, leaving Harry and Ron to take the two seats nearest to their compartment door. The two boys proceeded to have a conversation about their favourite sport, Quidditch, and Hermione, having no interest in the subject, turned and looked out of the window at the remaining students who were not yet on the train.

A little to the right of where they had chosen to sit, Hermione could see a tall man that she instantly recognised as Lucius Malfoy; Draco's father. Intrigued, she twisted her head so as to get a better view. In front of Lucius was Draco, standing at almost the same height. Draco's silver-blond hair shone in the sunlight as he bent his head slightly to embrace his mother. Shaking his father's hand, Draco turned away and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

Hermione shook her head slightly and turned back towards her two friends. They were still discussing Quidditch tactics. Since she had first met them, both boys had been obsessed with the sport but now they were almost unbearable. Both Harry and Ron were now on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; Harry as Seeker and Ron as keeper. Preferring to remain out of the conversation, Hermione closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Where's your stinking Mudblood girlfriend, Potter?" a voice in the distance smirked, "or are we fortunate enough to hear that she is no longer with us?" Hermione turned her head in her sleep; that voice sounded familiar.

"You'd better take that back right now, Malfoy." That was definitely Ron's voice. Hermione blinked, now fully awake. What was going on, she wondered. Following the voices, Hermione left the now empty compartment and made her way down the train.

She came to a halt a few compartments down, and looked through the glass window at the top of the door. Inside were the figures of Draco, Ron and Harry although, surprisingly, Malfoy's usual entourage of Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen.

Ron and Malfoy were standing only a couple of inches away from each other, their noses almost touching. Both were glaring evilly into the other's eyes. Hermione instinctively knew what both were thinking. Whilst Ron would be imagining all the possible insults he would like to throw at Malfoy and his family, Draco was probably thinking of all the spells and potions he would conjure up as an act of revenge.

Hermione continued to watch as Harry stepped between the two boys who reluctantly withdrew their stares. Harry and Ron left Malfoy in silence and, with Hermione, retreated to their own compartment.

"What was that all about?" inquired Hermione as soon as they had closed the door. Neither boy could offer a good explanation; it seemed that Malfoy had said something to wind up Ron and he, being unable to help himself, had risen to the bait and had challenged Malfoy to a fight.

Having not received much of a reply, Hermione sighed, "well, we'd better put our robes on, we should be coming up to the castle in about twenty minutes." Ron rolled his eyes in Harry's direction.

"Typical of you to know exactly when we'll arrive even though you've been asleep half the journey," he muttered to Hermione, who jokingly poked out her tongue before returning to her case and pulling out her new long black robes. As she slipped it over her shoulders and did up the buttons, she turned to face the two boys. They both had mock envy expressions on their face and were pointing at her Head Girl badge making 'ooooh' and 'ahhhh' noises.

"Shut up guys," she laughed, just as Malfoy poked his head into their compartment.

"I see that git of a headmaster has accidentally allowed a common Mudblood like you to become a Head Girl; don't worry Granger, I'm sure it won't be long before somebody realises his mistake," Malfoy sneered in her direction and moved his head just as Ron flew in his direction.

"Maybe you'd prefer to get that mutt that you call a sister to fight for you." Malfoy smirked as Ron clenched his fists. "At least she might be able to aim correctly," continued Malfoy.

This was too much for Ron. Before he had even realised what was happening, he had thrown himself on top of Malfoy and was punching him. Hermione attempted to call to Ron, but he was past listening. Giving up, Hermione stood, next to Harry, watching in terror as the fight continued. The two boys were tumbling around on the floor; most of the time it was Malfoy who was throwing the punches whilst Ron set to work kicking his enemy in the shins. Malfoy was looking rather strong, Hermione thought, inwardly, he must have been working out during the summer. It was true; Malfoy's usual weedy appearance had changed over the two and a half month break. His robes that last year had hung off his shoulders now clung to his 6 foot frame, showing a set of well-developed biceps.

Having found herself once again thinking of Malfoy, Hermione shook her head and her attention returned to the fight that was still taking place just outside their compartment. By this time a small crowd had gathered to watch the fight, a mixture of Slytherins and Gryffindors, who were cheering Malfoy and Ron respectively.

With one final kick, Ron managed to wriggle free from Malfoy and stood above him, declaring victory. The group of Gryffindors who had gathered around the two boys cheered and clapped Ron on the back, before returning to their seats. Hermione looked from one boy to the other; whilst Ron had a bloody nose, Malfoy could hardly stand. Ron had kicked him so many times that even in Malfoy's conceited expression, it was clear that it was causing him pain to get up from the floor.

Cursing under his breath and gripping one of his knees, Malfoy turned to the now grinning Ron. "I'm going to get you, Weasley, when you least expect it. You just wait!" Having offered his threat, Malfoy turned towards his own compartment, not wanting to hear Ron's comeback. In the distance he heard a laugh, and felt his face flush red with anger. He had just been humiliated by a Weasley! There was no way he was going to let this pass. This year at Hogwarts, he paused, Ron was going to pay.