A/N: Thank you for the lovely response on the first chapter :)
I'm going to try and update twice a week, but since these chapters are longer by average than the ones for Two Weeks, at the very least there will be one update a week (I hope)!
Enjoy!
2
:. The Password .:
It would have been impossible to access the common room if the current occupants had been the Slytherins. Upon learning it was Harry, Ron and Hermione on the other side of the door, Susan Bones had taken pity on them as they resorted to shouting random combinations of words at the door in the vain hope it would open.
"You took your bloody time," Ron said as she finally opened the door.
"Sorry," Susan replied. "I was going to let you in as soon as I knew who you were but Ernie decided he was going to repeatedly use a body-bind curse on me," she turned and glared into the room, presumably at Ernie.
"How did you manage to get out of them?" Hermione asked as Susan stepped to the side and allowed them to cross the threshold.
"I lifted the spells," Padma Patil's voice came from the right side of the circular room, where she was sat beside Ernie on a squashy sofa that reminded Hermione of the ones in Gryffindor Tower. Ernie shot a cheesy grin in their direction, laughing at the trio's unimpressed expressions.
"Aw come on, lighten up," he said.
"Do you realise how bloody annoying it is trying to guess a password?" Ron said.
"Well no, because I came up with this one. Honestly at first I wouldn't have objected to Susan letting you guys in but then you started spewing jibberish and well, it was quite entertaining. I must say, Hermione, 'Mandrake toothpaste' was one of my favourites," Ernie laughed.
Everyone in the room except Hermione laughed with him. She just blushed and muttered something about her parents being dentists before not so subtly changing the subject.
"The common room is nicer than I expected it to be," she said, making a point to look intently around the room so as to not make eye contact with anyone. "When Dumbledore said it was from a past Triwizard Tournament I envisioned some dark rickety chamber."
Now that she was looking properly she realised that it actually was a nice area. The sofa where Ernie and Padma sat was part of a living area, which was made up of two more sofas, a large table and three generously sized armchairs; all of which surrounded the fire, giving a cosy atmosphere. A large window was fixed into the curved wall that was directly opposite to the entrance, and tall bookshelves bordered either side of it. Hermione's fingers were itching to go and investigate, but she resisted.
An array of small tables and chairs sat in front of the bookshelves, presumably for quiet reading or games of Gobstones and Wizard's Chess, and there was a small kitchenette to the right in-between the living area and bookshelf. The left side of the room had a row of doors built into the wall – the dormitories – and the walls were decorated with torches and tapestries depicting each house's symbol and colours.
"Yeah it is pretty nice," Ernie said. "When Dumbledore told us about this place I was kind of hoping to stumble upon Filch's torture chamber or something," he laughed.
"Ernie don't be so stupid… everyone knows his torture chamber is in the dungeons," Padma smiled at him.
Hermione watched the two of them curiously. She grinned widely when Padma blushed after catching her eye.
"Oh my gosh, are you two-?"
Ernie and Padma looked at each other. He took her hand in his and nodded at Hermione.
"I'm so happy for you!" she said.
"Er yeah, brilliant," Ron mumbled before sloping off to investigate the dormitories with Harry. Hermione winced when the door banged shut. Maybe she had underestimated how easy this trial split was going to be, especially now that they were going to be living with a couple for the next month.
She shook the thoughts away and turned back to Ernie, "So you finally realised that she liked you, then?" the question sounded much more accusatory than she had anticipated – she felt a bit ruffled by Ron's reaction - but Ernie didn't push her on it.
"Hermione!" Padma blushed again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said before settling herself into one of the armchairs. "Oh my," she commented as she settled into the plump cushions, "and I thought the chairs in Gryffindor Tower were comfortable."
Ernie laughed. "I know; they're amazing. Why do you think I haven't bothered to get up the whole time since you arrived?"
Hermione shrugged, "I figured you were just lazy, but I'll let you off for that now that I know you had a valid reason. Anyway, sorry again. I just meant because Parvati used to inform us all about how Padma had a crush that you were apparently oblivious to."
"I was," Ernie admitted. "Apparently it was really obvious to everyone as well. Made me feel like a bit of an idiot."
"Aw I think it's sweet," Padma said. "It was bloody annoying at the time, mind, but it's sweet looking back at it."
"Oi Mack!" Ron called, appearing in the doorway of the far-left dormitory. His nose was bright red. "Why is there a row of spring-loaded nose-biting teacups in the cupboard?"
"Oops," Ernie said. "I forgot to warn you. They were meant to be a surprise for the Slytherins. I figured they'd pick that room because it seemed the gloomiest when we looked around. And why'd you call me Mack?"
"'Macmillan' is too much of a mouthful," Ron replied tensely.
"I do have a first name, you know," Ernie said, though he decided not to push it further when he saw that Ron clearly wasn't in the mood for banter. He sighed. "I'm just going to take the spells off the teacups," he said to Padma, kissing her on the cheek and dragging himself reluctantly from the sofa.
An awkward silence fell over the room when the door closed again. Susan seemed like she wanted to say something but was too polite to do so. Padma, on the other hand, wasn't so coy.
"Is everything okay, Hermione?"
"Yes," she replied, playing dumb. "Although I don't think it was very wise of Ernie to booby-trap the dormitory. The least we can do is try and be civil with the Slytherins since we're all going to be pretty much living in here without deliberately asking for trouble."
"I tried to warn him but that boy is reckless," Padma said affectionately. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Padma sighed and leaned a little closer to Hermione. "My sister told me things about last year, too," she said, gesturing to the closed door. She was obviously talking about Ron and Lavender.
"Oh," Hermione said, biting her lip. "Things with Ron and me are a bit complicated right now, but we're fine."
"Okay," Padma smiled. "Just come and talk to me if you need, yeah?"
Hermione nodded. She was keen to change the subject again, so she started to look randomly about the room, trying to find a glimmer of inspiration from somewhere.
"What are the sleeping arrangements exactly?" she finally asked.
"Dunno, we haven't figured that out yet," Susan said, walking over and taking Ernie's spot on the sofa. "There was that initial urge to rush in and get dibs on the best beds but we agreed that it wouldn't be fair to decide before everyone else arrives."
"At first we thought it would be easy to figure out," Padma added. "You know, keep boys and girls separate like they are normally, for the modesty of having to get changed and stuff if not for any other reason. But then I found this hidden passage behind that left-hand bookshelf," she pointed. "There's a girls bathroom behind it, kind of like the prefect's one, so I'm assuming there's one for the boys behind the other one. So because of that it seems perfectly acceptable to have boys and girls in the same room."
"How would that work?" Hermione asked. "Houses?"
Padma shrugged. "We'll work it out later. I get the feeling this room is kind of like the Room of Requirement anyway, or at least the dormitories are charmed. The amount of doors over there keeps changing. I think it's waiting for us to make a decision."
Hermione pursed her lips; could this be another test?
It was then that Ernie, Harry and Ron emerged from the dormitory. All three of them were covered with tiny bruises.
"Remind me again which pillock decided this would be a good idea," Ernie laughed as he extracted a teacup from his pinky finger.
An hour later the common room area was livelier, as almost everyone had arrived. The other candidates for the Head Boy and Girl were Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchly from Hufflepuff, and Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot and Mandy Broklehurst from Ravenclaw.
It didn't come as a surprise to anyone that the Slytherins were late, but Hermione found her concern of priority to be the mystery fourth Gryffindor. It hadn't escaped her notice that the four nominees from each house were made up of two boys and two girls. She ruled out the notion that the other girl from her house was Parvati Patil, since her sister was already here and there was no reason for Padma to neglect to mention it.
For the love of Merlin, please let it be Eloise Midgen, Hermione thought to herself. Her already non-existent friendship with Lavender Brown had only deteriorated even more after last year, so she couldn't begin to imagine how awkward it would be to share a dorm with her and Ron, especially given her current arrangement with the latter. Thank Merlin Harry had decided to come along.
Finally, a set of disgruntled voices could be heard on the other side of the common room door.
"Everyone be quiet," Ernie said loudly. "It's the Slytherins."
The room went silent so everyone could listen to the Slytherins try to guess the password.
"Who said that?" Blaise Zabini's voice came.
"We're probably the last ones here, Zabini, it could be anyone," Daphne Greengrass said.
"Some wise guy in there is having us on. They know it's us and yet they aren't letting us in."
"It sounded like that Hufflepuff: Mack something."
"Aw come on!" Ernie complained. "Is that going to become a thing now?"
Anthony's eyebrows had shot up at the voice. "I think the more appropriate question is who the heck in their right minds would nominate Parkinson for Head Girl?"
"Snape," Harry, Ron and Hermione answered simultaneously in the same dry tone.
"Come on!" Daphne said. "We can hear you so you can obviously hear us. You know who we are so just let us in."
"Ah, we have a password," Ernie smirked at the door, clearly enjoying getting his own back on all the times the Slytherins had made fun of him in the past.
"Tell me something, Mack," Daphne went on. "How many other people had to use the password to get in?"
Ernie hesitated before making to responding.
"That's what I thought," Daphne said. "So just let us in."
"You're right, you're right," Ernie said, throwing his arms up into the air. He walked over to the door, but didn't move to open it. "I'll let you in-."
"It's about bloody time," Blaise muttered.
"If-," Ernie smiled. "You can tell me what my name is."
Padma sighed. "Just let them in! It isn't going to help anyone if you piss them off before anything has even happened in this system. For all we know you could be paired up with one of them."
"See, Patil's got the right idea," Pansy said.
"Oh sure you remember her name," Ernie rolled his eyes. "Password please!"
There was a chorus of groans on the other side of the door. Despite her reservations about her boyfriend's way of handling this, Padma couldn't help but crack an amused smile like everyone else.
"Just you wait until we get in there, Mack," Blaise hissed. "I'm going to hex your arse."
"Zabini, focus. If you hex him you won't be chosen to be Head Boy," Pansy said.
"Why would he care about being Head Boy?" Ron asked to nobody in particular.
"Probably so he'd have the authority to boss everyone around," Hannah answered.
The Slytherins started whispering amongst themselves so it was hard to tell what they were saying, but occasionally Hermione could pick up on odd words or phrases.
"It's not like we can blast the door down with magic…"
"…. What if…"
"I've got an idea but I can't… you have to do it…"
"It might not even work because…"
"Worth a try…"
"Isn't there supposed to be four of them?" Ron asked again, having noticed that only three voices could be heard.
"It amazes me how none of you can…" came a rich, drawling voice right on cue. All eyes turned to Ron, who looked down at the floor.
"Why did I say anything?" he groaned. "Bloody ferret as Head Boy? That's a laugh."
"He's been awfully quiet until now," Harry said.
"Probably to lure us into a false sense of security," Hermione commented. She was surprised that she wasn't filled with dread at the prospect of Draco Malfoy being here like her friends were. Then again, she wasn't a part of the Quidditch rivalry that had been becoming increasingly heated between them year-by-year.
"Aha!" Daphne said. "It's clear now. Go on Malfoy."
There was the sound of shuffling feet. Ernie seemed about as confused as everyone else, but he didn't move from his spot.
"Weasley's here?" Draco scoffed on the other side of the door. "Oh wait, all three of the Gryffindor do-gooders are there. How predictable," he drawled.
"Has he got X-Ray vision or something?" Susan asked, surreptitiously moving her arms to cover her body.
"Oh so this is Mack," Draco's voice said. "I haven't had a bloody clue who you were all on about until now."
"Ouch," Ernie said with a roll of his eyes.
"I saw that," Hermione could visualise the signature smirk in his voice. She rolled her eyes too.
"Rolling your eyes is a very bad habit," Malfoy's voice continued to scold Ernie in that condescending manner that infuriated Hermione to no end. "Did you pick that up from Granger? I saw her do it just now."
Everyone in the common room exchanged confused glances and the Slytherins snickered on the other side.
"Will you stop arsing around and just do it?" Pansy snapped.
"Excuse me Parkinson but I'm the only one of us with the ability to get us in, so I don't think you're in a position to get touchy with me."
"Godric help us if he's made Head Boy," Ron whispered to Harry.
"You can't deny he's authoritative though," Hannah said with a wistful gaze.
"Yeah because he's a complete pri-." Ron was cut off by a sudden shout from Draco.
"Legilimens!"
Ernie yelped in shock and grasped his head. The spell was lifted after a few seconds so there wasn't enough time for anyone to catch up with what just happened.
"Got it," Draco said. "That bloody cretin."
"How the hell did you do that Malfoy?" Ernie demanded.
"Greengrass made the door transparent on our side."
"You can do that?" Terry asked with a frown.
Draco snorted on the other side of the door. "Obviously. I've got the password so let us in."
"Say it," Ernie smirked.
"You bloody know I know it, Mack," Draco said, losing his patience. "So let us in."
"Not until you say it."
From where Hermione was sitting it was impossible to hear what Draco said next because he spoke so quietly.
Ernie glanced over to everyone in the room and winked.
"Could you speak up Malfoy, I couldn't hear you," he said.
"For the love of… Slytherins stink."
Everyone in the room laughed and Ernie finally let them in.
"That was so bloody witty," Blaise said sarcastically.
"It's what makes it brilliant," Ernie replied.
"Just wait until one of us picks the password, Mack," Pansy said. "What is your name anyway?"
"Ernie Macmillan."
Only a vague sense of recognition crossed the Slytherins' faces.
"I think I speak for all of us when I say that Mack suits you better," Draco smirked. He looked around the room. "Are we the last ones here?"
"Not exactly," Padma said. "We're still waiting for one-."
The sound of footsteps was approaching in the corridor, and it wasn't long before Lavender Brown poked her head around the door. Hermione tried not to react; she was very aware of Padma's eyes on her. Had she known Lavender was the fourth Gryffindor? Is that why she had been asking if everything was okay?
"Oh am I the last one here?" Lavender giggled. Hermione fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Was it just her imagination or had this girl become even more insufferable than she remembered?
"Yeah you are," Ernie said.
"Oops," Lavender giggled again. Amusement tugged at Hermione's lips when she saw Draco, who was standing next to Lavender, wince and tilt his head away from her whilst giving her a cold scowl. Maybe it wasn't her imagination after all.
She must have smirked more obviously than she thought she'd let on, because Lavender caught her eye and immediately the smile fell from both witches' faces.
"Well since everyone's here now, shall we go downstairs and see what we've all let ourselves in for?" Susan smiled, pretending to be oblivious to the tense atmosphere that was now tangible in the room.
Everyone mumbled in agreement and started shuffling towards the exit, some taking longer than others from reluctance to leave the comfort of the chairs. As the small crowd shuffled around, Lavender let out an ear-splitting squeal.
"WON-WON!" she gasped, running through the room and practically pouncing on Ron. It all happened so fast that he didn't have time to process what was happening. Lavender's arms were wrapped around his neck but he made a point of showing Hermione that he wasn't hugging her back…but he didn't push her away either.
"Err hi?" he said when Lavender released him.
"I'm so happy that you're here. You should have owled me," Lavender said. "This last month has been so long and lonely," she pouted,
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked. His ears had turned red from the embarrassment that everybody was watching.
"Our break is over silly," Lavender smiled. "Remember, you said that you wanted some time to think over summer?"
Ron's face flushed to match his ears and he met Hermione's gaze across the room. Her eyebrows were raised and her fists were clenched. She couldn't believe this. Lavender may be a drip but she wasn't stupid enough to misconstrue a temporary break for an official one…was she?
Hermione couldn't believe Ron would ask her out while he was still technically dating Lavender, and not tell her about it! The air in the room suddenly felt thin, and the blood pounding in her ears drowned sound out.
Trying to save the pride and dignity she had left, Hermione lifted her chin and flounced out of the room without a word. Three out of the four Slytherins were making snarky comments about her and laughing, but she was most aware of the pair of cool, calculating grey eyes following her as she walked out.
She would peruse the possibilities of why he was not laughing later.
As the sixteen candidates trooped into the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall greeted them. Ron had attempted to catch up with Hermione on several occasions on the way down there, but Lavender always pulled him back saying that Hermione 'wasn't worth the effort'. How dare she!
Hermione had half a mind to wipe that sickening smile off Lavender's face and tell her exactly what had happened whilst she and her precious 'Won-Won' were on a break, but that would be counter-productive, and make her look as much of a fool if not more of one, than Lavender.
She made a point to stand on the other side of the Hall to him. He tried to make a break for it when Lavender's back was turned but she grabbed him again. Ron scowled but he made no attempt to shake her off.
"Greetings," McGonagall said. "I trust you all settled in comfortably."
She wasn't met with a unanimous response. Some people in the group nodded politely, whilst others muttered about the bedrooms not being sorted yet, and others (namely the Slytherins) leapt at the opportunity to complain about the password fiasco.
"Dear Merlin are you all forgetting why you are here?" The older witch sighed. "If you are expecting your problems to be solved by a member of staff, then that alone tells me that you are not suitable to take on the roles of Head Boy and Girl."
McGonagall's face remained stern but there was a twinkle of humour within her eyes. Hermione smiled; she always liked her Head of House. Silence suddenly befell the Hall, and the Professor continued to speak.
"Which brings me nicely into my explanation of how this system will work. Over the course of the summer, you will all be tested on the strength of desired personal qualities to fit the roles. Some of these include communication, teamwork, initiative, and trust, amongst others. You would do well to assume that anything that is not explained in full is a test in itself," she said with a pointed look at Ernie and Draco, who had been asking about the rooms and passwords, respectively.
"As explained in your letters, these tests will take place at different intervals, leaving you all with occasional free days to visit Hogsmeade or your families. Are there any questions so far?"
Ron raised his hand.
"Yes Mr Weasley?" McGonagall asked: doing her best to blank out the fact that Lavender was clinging to Ron's other arm like a permanent sticking charm had been cast on her.
"Er Professor Dumbledore was saying a lot of stuff about this system mainly being used this year to promote inter-house unity, and that just picking two students from different houses wouldn't be as effective. What exactly did he mean?"
A few of the other students perked up at his question. Apparently Dumbledore had been passing on his cryptic messages to everyone he could.
"Well, two out of three times in the past, the Head Boy and Girl partnerships have been anything but harmonious, and for the most part the circumstances where the pairing did work was due to them being from the same house," at this McGonagall gave Harry a small smile, acknowledging that his parents had been the Heads during their time at Hogwarts.
"So how is this system going to make sure there is a harmonious partnership?" asked Daphne.
"I trust you all understand that the partnership between the Heads must be the strongest it can be in order to give the rest of the school the best chance of blurring the divides between certain groups and houses that the impact of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named left behind."
Hermione was vaguely aware of the way Justin moved a little closer towards her – further away from Draco – as McGonagall said this.
"So what is this going to be like survival of the fittest or something?" Terry asked, his eyes lighting up.
"If you are suggesting that you will all be having a fight to the death for the positions then you, Mr Boot have got the wrong end of the stick. However, the premise of your point remains the same. This is, indeed, going to be something of a competition to determine which students are most suited. In the light of this being about finding a strong unit, you will be paired off before the tests begin, and compete against one another as eight teams of two."
A chorus of excited murmurs rang around the room.
"Returning to my earlier point, it is imperative that the dynamics between the Heads are as strong as possible, so I must warn you in advance that some of the devised tests may seem pointless or utterly bonkers at first, but the over-the-top nature of some of them will only allow the staff to make the correct choice. I am sure I am not alone when I say that the atmosphere in the school last year was fragile to say the least."
Hermione nodded at McGonagall's words. However strange it seemed, it was true. When Voldemort was destroyed, the already rocky relationship between Slytherin house and the rest of the school seemed to tear into nothing. Only half of the house returned last year, so they were inherently outnumbered to begin with, but some of the students were targeted purely because their family had associations with some of the Death Eaters who were present at the Ministry.
True to their nature, the ostracising of the Slytherins had led to them fighting back, which only seemed to sever the bonds even further. It was completely mad; Hermione would have thought that Voldemort's downfall would make everyone let bygones be bygones, but she supposed that those who hadn't really had a voice when he was in power – namely the Muggleborns – felt confident in finally speaking out, perhaps in wanting someone to blame for the deaths their families had suffered by Voldemort's wand.
"Now, I believe that is all of the introductions over with," the deputy headmistress said. "Moving right along, the first stage of this process is to, naturally, determine the pairs -."
McGonagall explained that because this was the 'guinea pig year' for the system, it had been agreed to settle on two house pairings that would make up the Heads before narrowing them down, just to make the system a whole, flow easier and more quickly.
She waved her wand and conjured a row of eight adjoining booths, all separated by opaque and soundproof walls. They were told that this exercise would be rotational, so the same thing would be done with all of the possible combinations of pairings. Professors Snape and Dumbledore entered the Hall then. Their role would be to oversee (or hear) all conversations, and determine from that the best way to pair off the houses based on how the students communicated with one another.
There was a brief bustle as everyone moved to take a seat in a booth with some of the opposite sex and who was in a different house to them. Hermione immediately regretted her sensible decision to stand at the sidelines until everyone else was seated, for the only remaining seat was in the far-left booth opposite Draco Malfoy.
Typical, she sighed to herself before sitting down. Even Blaise seemed like a better option than Malfoy, but alas, Lavender had swiped the seat opposite Blaise after making a meal out of a long-winded and mushy goodbye with Ron.
McGonagall shot up a puff of smoke from her wand next, which swirled around until it formed a countdown clock. Five minutes with Draco Malfoy… would they even survive that long without hexing each other? She sincerely doubted it. Then again, he hadn't joined in the jeering and laughing earlier when the unfortunate Lavender incident unfurled… unless he was just saving his jibes for a time like this where she couldn't escape.
"You will have five minutes to communicate with the other about a task the Heads will have to complete. This same topic of discussion will be the same throughout this test. Off you go."
The smoke in the air started morphing into different numbers as the time began to count down. Hermione was aware of the skulking shapes of Snape and Dumbledore – who weren't affected by the sound-proofing charms - at either side of the line of booths, but she couldn't hear anything. She felt like she was trapped in some kind of interrogation room with Malfoy.
"Granger," he greeted, with a curl of his lip.
"Malfoy," she responded.
A piece of parchment popped up in the middle of the table that separated them. Draco made a show of clearing his throat before reading from it.
"If you two were chosen to become the Head Boy and Girl, how would you go about organising the rotas for both the prefect's duties and your own?"
"Simple," he said straight away. "We wouldn't need to, because there is no way in hell I'd work with you."
Hermione sighed and gritted her teeth; she could very well regret what she was about to say but it was worth a shot. "Come on Malfoy, you could at least try and be civil. However much you're praying to the founders that you won't be stuck with me for the next month doesn't matter. There's a chance it could happen so I'd appreciate it if you'd co-operate."
"The thought did cross my mind, Granger, but after that stunt with the password I think being civil to any of you is out of the question," he replied stubbornly.
"Grow up, will you? That wasn't some personal vendetta against you; it was just Ernie being … Ernie."
Draco regarded her for a long moment with hard and steely eyes. "Can you honestly blame me for assuming it wasn't just some stupid prank? My father was at the Department of Mysteries that night."
Hermione winced. Part of her wanted to call him out on being melodramatic, but then again, she had never even considered what it could have been like. More to the point, she hadn't cared.
Gritting her teeth again, she said, "I suppose I can't. But for the next four minutes can we just call a truce and get this task over with?"
Draco frowned at her. It wasn't a hateful, snarling one, but more, one of confusion.
"Fine," he sighed.
"Okay," Hermione said. "So with this rota question, I'd say that I'd be able to take charge of that."
Draco cocked an eyebrow, his grey eyes locking onto her through his white-blond fringe. "Funny, that was going to be my answer, too," he drawled.
"No offense, but I think I'm more organised than you," Hermione argued.
"Oh and what makes you think that?" the Slytherin asked.
Hermione looked off to the side as she considered her answer. Not once did Draco's gaze leave her. It was quite off-putting, actually. "Maybe that came out wrong," she said. "We could be equally organised but the fact is that I have the stronger work ethic."
"Meaning?" Draco prompted arrogantly.
"Meaning that I wouldn't abuse my position of authority. Don't think that I've forgotten about your little fifth year stint as one of Umbridge's lackeys!"
Draco calculated her for a moment before a smirk adorned his pale face.
Here we go, thought Hermione.
"Actually Granger, if you really opened up that narrow-minded brain of yours and thought about that objectively, I believe that was me simply following the wishes of the headmistress. Therefore, I was not abusing my position."
Hermione growled under her breath. "Well what about your position as a prefect? I seem to recall you'd dock points and put students in detention for the most trivial things."
"That was almost two years ago, Granger. It's out of my system. Sort of. Anyway I think you'll find that my work ethic has been proven to be just as strong as yours judging by my O.W.L grades."
"Mine are higher though."
"Bloody hell Granger, must you always insist on point-scoring? It's highly unlikely we'd be paired up anyway since we're always arguing, thank Merlin," he snapped. "Just let me take care of sorting the hypothetic rotas and you can patter around being a brown-noser and running errands for the teachers."
"I am not a brown-noser!" Hermione bristled.
Draco snorted derisively, "Right."
"I'm not!"
"Okay, you're not a brown-noser… you're a bookworm brown-noser-."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"All right fine, you're not," he sighed. But a moment later he locked eyes with Hermione and winked at her, indicating that he still didn't believe her.
She sighed and looked up at the clock; they still had three minutes left. Even when they had called a truce he could be annoying as hell.
"Tell me something Granger," Draco said, crossing his hands on the table in front of him. "How do you propose I'd abuse my position of authority in this circumstance?"
"Oh I don't know," Hermione said sarcastically. "Maybe make sure the Gryffindor prefects have twice as much work to do as the Slytherins?"
He smirked. "You know me so well, Granger."
"And there-in lies my point," she said. "So I'd be better off taking charge of the rotas."
Draco scoffed. "As if I'd trust you not to rig it in the favour of the Gryffindorks. You may come off as a goody two-shoes but I get the feeling there's a scheming, biased part of you waiting for an opportunity like this to present itself, which brings me back around to my brown-nosing point-."
"Mature," Hermione rolled her eyes. "And I wouldn't do that, I'm not as shallow as you."
"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow again in amusement.
"Really," Hermione said, feeling her patience wearing thin.
"What is your basis for that argument?"
"The word 'Mudblood' does spring to mind," she said without thinking.
Draco's cocky smirk was wiped from his face in an instant. "I haven't called you that in years, Granger. And I find little point in starting again, especially after last year," he said steadily. "What the hell do I have to gain anymore?"
Hermione's shoulders slumped and she stared ashamedly at the table.
"Granted, I may still be a bigot, but it isn't exactly easy to cast aside so many years of prejudice just like that. At least I've stopped using that word and openly saying-."
"You're right, that was uncalled for."
"What was that?" Draco said. "I didn't hear you."
Hermione lifted her head. "I said that you were right. What I said was uncalled for."
"What?" Draco said again, leaning across the table with his ear directed towards her.
Hermione shook her head when she saw the amused smirk pulling at his lips. "You're an arse," she said. "You so blatantly heard me that time."
He laughed and pulled away from her. "Fine, you got me. I don't think I'd ever get tired of hearing you tell me I'm right."
Hermione half-heartedly rolled her eyes and stared at the table again, chewing her lip.
She was surprised by what the blond opposite her said next. "Trouble in paradise, or rather, Weasel World?"
"What?" she half expected his signature, mocking smirk to be present when she looked at him, but there wasn't one.
"You seem snippier than usual today, Granger," he commented. "Let's face it, there are only two options. Either it's your time of the month-."
"Malfoy!" she cringed and flushed at his blunt wording.
"-Or this has something to do with Weasley-."
"It's none of your-."
"- It couldn't possibly be anything to do with me," he went on. "I know that deep down you enjoy our… challenging conversations."
"Honestly, don't you have a modest bone in your body?"
Hermione immediately regretted her choice of words when she saw the smirk re-appear.
"Maybe not but I can tell you about another kind of-."
"ROTAS!" She yelled in her haste to not hear the end of that sentence, and to get back on track.
Draco grinned. "Merlin, I'm joking, Granger. You make it too easy for me; you're so innocent."
"Being innocent's not a bad thing, you know?" Hermione said indignantly.
"I know but it's amusing watching you get all uncomfortable when there's the slightest reference to-."
"La la la la la la!" Hermione threw her hands over her ears. She was blushing furiously when it registered that Snape and Dumbledore would be listening in to every word. Was it just her or was it really hot in this Hall all of a sudden?
Draco was laughing when she deemed it safe to remove her hands. He glanced at the countdown clock. "Oh, shit," he said. "One and a half minutes, Granger."
"Err, right," Hermione said, still a little flustered. "So, where were we on the rotas topic?"
"I believe we were unanimous in the fact that neither of us would trust the other to take charge of it," Draco drawled, as composed as ever. He half-smiled when he saw Hermione's red cheeks, but he didn't comment.
"Right," she said. "What if I do the prefect's ones and you do our duties, and then we read what the other has put to make sure there's no favouritism?"
"That doesn't exactly solve our problem," Draco replied, running a hand through his hair. "We can still cross stuff out and screw the other over," he smirked when Hermione blushed again. "And that could lead to us just going around in circles."
"Point taken," Hermione sighed. One minute was left. "How about we just do it together?"
Draco grinned at her and she buried her face in her hands. "You're bloody impossible," she said into them.
"I believe it was you who made the innuendo that time, Granger," he drawled.
"It wasn't intentional, though."
"They're the best ones," he shrugged. "Anyway, yes, I agree that that would be the best solution."
Silence fell over their booth and Draco and Hermione locked eyes once more before waiting out the rest of the time doing everything they could not to look at each other.
Finally the time ended, and McGonagall told the boys to move to someone else so the process could be repeated. Hermione let out a long breath as Draco departed without so much of a backwards glance at her, and waited patiently for someone to take his place.
Was it just her imagination or had he actually been flirting with her? She scoffed to herself, and quickly dismissed the idea. That would never happen; for one thing they greatly disliked each other, and for another, he admitted that he found amusement in making her feel uncomfortable. That had just been the same old Malfoy who just so happened to have picked up on another tactic to annoy her with. Nothing more.
It hadn't escaped Hermione's attention that he seemed to have made it his goal in life to piss her off as much as he could; with each passing school year he had become even more insufferable than the last. His insults and jibes hadn't been cruel like in their early years at Hogwarts, but much more frequent, which in some ways was worse.
Still, Hermione couldn't deny the fact that their usual banter had made her momentarily forget about the Ron and Lavender issue, which had been playing on her mind the whole time. He actually seemed more… pleasant than usual today too. Hermione frowned; maybe in some twisted way the rebellion against the Slytherins last year had made him grow up.
"Alright, Mione?" Ernie said with a cheeky sideways grin as he sat down.
"Oh, hi Ernie," she smiled in return.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "You seem a bit… pink."
A bit? Hermione thought. By the way her face felt she thought she'd seem more like a beetroot than 'a bit pink'.
"Fine," she said as nonchalantly as she could. "But I've just had the displeasure of being in Malfoy's company for the last five minutes."
"Ah," Ernie said. "Figures."
"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "Figures…"
The rest of the process was considerably easier than the beginning, mainly because the other five boys Hermione could potentially be paired with were much easier to reach a conclusion with. This was possibly with the exception of Blaise, who took a leaf out of Draco's book and decided to be a complete arse the whole time.
Godric help the poor sods who are stuck with the Slytherins, Hermione thought wearily.
To be continued…