Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, at least not the copyright.
Hermione Granger sat, impatiently waiting for the Head boy to show up. For the fifteenth time in ten minutes, she glanced at her watch. He was going to be late if he did not arrive very soon.
"I wish I hadn't decided to leave that book at home, it would have come in handy." Hermione muttered to herself as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.
"Talking to yourself, Granger?" Hermione tensed instinctively. She knew that voice very well, and loathed it just as much.
She decided to ignore the comment. "You're late," she stated matter-of-factly.
"You're wrong." Draco Malfoy replied in the same tone. "I've been on the train for nearly an hour. I simply didn't want to spend that time with you."
"I'm glad you decided to spare me the displeasure; though you're probably regretting that now." Hermione smirked.
The train lurched forward to begin its journey, causing Draco to fall on top of Hermione.
"Get off of me Malfoy!" Hermione screeched.
"Did I not just finish explaining that I had no desire to be any where near you, Mudblood? Do you think I tried to land on you?" Malfoy seated himself close to the door as an example of how far away he wished to be. Hermione sat near the window on the opposite side.
Hours passed in unnerving quiet, Hermione wishing she hadn't become Head girl so she could be talking to Harry and Ron. At one o'clock the woman with the sweets cart passed; Draco crossed the compartment to buy a few Cauldron Cakes. Hermione lack of interest caught Draco's eye and he smirked.
"Taking after Weasel are we, Granger? Can't afford any treats?" Hermione smiled at the comment.
"My parents are dentists, Malfoy. I purposefully avoid sweets because when I go home for the Christmas holidays, I don't want to have cavities. My parents over-reacted enough when I got home from our fourth year, and my teeth had been fixed without braces." A look of utter confusion flickered quickly across Draco's face, but it did not go unnoticed by Hermione. "I won't bother explaining Muggle dentistry to you, Malfoy, you're too much a pure-blooded git; you wouldn't understand." Quiet enveloped their compartment once again, as Draco's eyes filled with malice and Hermione's smile broadened.
As the sky outside of the train darkened, Hermione got up, gathered her robes from her trunk, and changed. She was unsurprised to find Professor McGonagall walking into the chamber a few moments later.
"Congratulations on attaining your positions as Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall began explaining the details of their positions with wariness evident in her voice. "As you know this means that you will share a dormitory, but with separate rooms. Don't get any idea's Mr. Malfoy. You will be—" She was cut off as the train came to an abrupt halt signifying the end of their voyage. "Well, I shall explain the rest after the sorting of the first years. I must attend to them now." With that she hurriedly exited the small booth.
As Hermione stepped off the train and made her way to the horseless carriages, familiar arms embraced her.
"Hey, Ginny, did you miss me?" She had only left the Weasley's home a few days before so that she could pack.
"Yes. I could have used the extra sanity." The girls began laughing as they got into the nearest carriage.
Ron watched as Hermione made her way toward the school's steps. She was his world, but he couldn't seem to express that feeling without making a complete arse out of himself. Ron came out of his day-dream to see Harry waving a hand in front his face.
"You know you're going to have to tell her how you feel eventually. You should probably speak plain English when you do, because she doesn't like the ways you've already tried." Harry thought back to the Yule Ball; it had been a total disaster.
Ron had apparently been reliving the same memory because he responded with, "Ugh. Don't remind me. I'm still trying to block the memory of those dress robes." With that the two began walking up the stairs themselves, towards the Great Hall. "What'd you reckon they'll have for dinner?" Ron's stomach growled at the mention of food.
"Dunno. But we'll have to wait through the house sorting before we find out."
Harry and Ron opened the doors to the Great Hall, and took seats near Neville, Seamus, and Dean, who were in a heated discussion about the Gryffindor Quidditch team; neither wasted time before joining in. Though, their conversation came to an abrupt halt when Professor McGonagall brought a wooden stool to the front of the Great Hall and placed the Sorting Hat upon it. Both boys were too hungry to pay much attention to the Hat's song, although they occasionally caught words like "overcome," "unite" and "conquer."
Dazedly, Harry's eyes scanned the students joining the Gryffindor table, but he wasn't interested in them. Finally his gaze found Ginny's face. He wondered to himself, Why did I ever say we should give it up? He had decided during his last weeks at the Dursleys' that it would be smarter to finish school and become an Auror that to drop out of school and be completely unprepared to fight Lord Voldemort. And now Ginny and I aren't together because I was an idiot who didn't think things through, Harry thought.
Draco's face shown stoic through the Great Hall; Hermione apparently the only one of her group who had noticed he was there. Crabbe and Goyle ignored him completely, but Hermione noted that Pansy Parkinson was still fawning over him. Hermione did not realize that she had been staring until Draco made eye-contact with her, wearing a bemused expression. Many questions were running through her head, but she dismissed them for later revision, for when she was alone.
Professor McGonagall stood to give the start-of-term speech and a hush fell over the Great Hall for the second time that night.
"I would like to welcome everyone and thank you all for coming under such circumstances. As many of you may have guessed, Professor Snape has made his allegiance known, and so will no longer be teaching at Hogwarts. Now that that has been made clear, I would like to introduce Professor Pruellys as your new Potions teacher as well as the new Head of the House of Slytherin."
A woman wearing robes of Slytherin colors, with long black hair and striking green eyes stood and smiled before returning to her seat beside Professor Flitwick. "I would also like you to welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Norlamin." As she said his name a wizard in worn out black robes stood, nodded, and retook his seat. Not many noticed his tattered robes because they were mostly staring at the scar trailing from his eyebrow to his chin. Whispers arose at every table, many in wondered excitement, but were drowned out by the ending of Professor McGonagall's speech. "I expect you to grant them the same respect that you have given to us. Now let us enjoy the start-of-term feast." At her words, turkeys and roasts and gravies appeared in the dishes on each House's table.
Harry wondered aloud as he shoveled food onto his plate, "I wonder what Professor Norlamin is going to be like. What do you reckon he did to get that scar?"
"Well, I'm thinking he must have been an Auror before they hired him to teach here. Maybe he had a run-in with Fenrir Greyback like Bill did, but he got off a bit better?" Ron replied after swallowing a mouthful of food.
"Dunno. But I think he'll be a lot like Mad-eye. The real one, I mean." Harry said.
Farther down the table, Hermione and Ginny were almost completely ignoring their food.
"So you have to share a dormitory with that traitorous ferret? That should be lovely. Blimey, Ron might have a heart attack when you tell him!" Ginny remarked as Hermione relayed what little Professor McGonagall had told them on the train.
"Yes. I hope that I won't have to interact with him too much. Hopefully, I can just slip into the Gryffindor common room or the library when he's around." She would prefer the combination of books, solitude, and quiet that could be had in the Head common room, but would deal with the noise and disorder of the Gryffindor common room if need be.
It was an hour or two later when the last desert dishes had disappeared and the students were dismissed to their respective Houses. It was much later though, when Hermione finally plopped into her familiar four-post bed, in her new Head Girl bedroom, decorated in the traditional Gryffindor colors of red and gold, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Hello my faithful readers. I am proud to announce that I have officially begun recreating my original fanfic into a much better one. I hope you all enjoy it. Please leave me tons of reviews, I do not care what they contain. I would just like to hear what you have to say. I would like to thank Jade the Inujin for convincing me that I could do this and giving me tips when I asked. I would also like to thank my beta, Silvernail.
-Seiko no Neko