Seven Years To Sin
Chapter two
Headboy and Headgirl
Ginny left them at the school entrance to wait for her classmates while the rest of them went ahead. As usual, the first day would begin in the Great Hall were all students and teachers would gather to get information about the upcoming year.
"Let's put all our things in our lockers first. Don't want to carry around my bag all day for nothing." Ron muttered and then looked at Hermione. "Why do you always tend to bring so much stuff with you every year? All that won't fit in your locker."
Hermione rolled her eyes in response. "I'm not putting all off this in my locker. Not this one at least."
One of the bags Hermione had brought with her wasn't for lessons.
In addition to the seven floors where the education was held, there was also a big cellar. Where Madam Hooch, the P.E teacher had her office. But there was also a gym and a big swimming pool located down there.
Most of the students were more interested in soccer than anything else. In the school courtyard, there was a big field where they practised and played matches. This was something Hogwarts was very proud of since their teams were really good. However, Hermione was one of the very few who enjoyed swimming instead. When she occasionally got restless, she usually walked downstairs when she knew there weren't any students there. She therefore rarely got disturbed.
Unlike her fellow schoolmates, she wasn't interested in soccer, in fact, she didn't like those kinds of sports at all. It might have been because she wasn't rather good at it. However, swimming she was good at, and it meant she could stretch her muscles without having any prying eyes around. Madam Hooch even let her use it after school or during her free period without supervision. In addition to that, she had been given her own private locker where she could keep her stuff. It made it easier for her to go down there any day and at any time without the need to remember to bring her swimwear. This was what the second bag was for.
"So you're keeping up with your hobby this year too? I thought you said you wouldn't have much time for that." Harry pointed out.
"It's not a hobby, it's called exercise and yes. I might not have as much time for it this year but I still want to continue if I can." She told him.
Their lockers were in the second-floor corridor and Hermione felt her stomach wrench as she got sight off hers.
On the locker door, someone had scribbled with a black permanent marker. The word FILTH covered the whole door and could be seen from quite a distance.
"Oh, not again." Neville sighed, glancing at her locker. "They didn't waste any time at all, did they?"
Ron and Harry stopped upright and glared at the word
"I'm going to kill that lousy git when I get my hands on him," Ron growled his eyes burning with hate. Harry was quiet but his eyes and posture said exactly the same thing. his fist was clutched and his teeth gritted so much that Hermione could almost hear it standing next to him.
However, she knew quite well that this was no work of his. He wouldn't bother doing this unless he actually got the chance to see her expression when she found out. No, this was someone else, one of his classmates no doubt. She was pretty sure she knew who it was.
"Calm down Ronald," she began, "it's no use, it could have been anyone really."
She put her things down on the floor in front of the locker and started to dig inside her school bag. She took out a clean cloth and a flask of acetone.
"You shouldn't have to bring stuff like that with you." Harry snapped. "We should tell Professor McGonagall about this."
"Leave it, Harry," Hermione argued. "I won't let these childish pranks get to my head. It's really not worth it."
Besides, she was used to it by now. After six years, this was nothing.
She successfully got the graffiti off her locker in just three minutes and opened it up. At least they hadn't found their way inside it, yet.
Over the past couple of years, she'd learned not to keep anything of importance in there, instead, she kept all her books and notes in her school bag, which she carried with her at all times. Instead, she kept a few things in there as decoys.
"Harry, could I borrow a shelf in your locker for my books today. I have to get a better lock for mine before I start putting my things in it." She said.
"Of course, I didn't bring much anyway." Harry sighed disappointedly. She guessed that it had to do with her disapproval about him and Ron trying to pick a fight with another student.
She put her swimwear bag inside as well but kept her school bag tossed over her shoulder. "Let's go, or we'll be late."
The huge old building was a perfect place for a school. It had a magnificent view over Hyde Park, and the building had stood there for what seemed like an eternity.
The school had existed for several centuries and had been founded by four individuals. Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff.
From the very beginning, these people valued different traits in their students, this later became the result of separating the students into four different so-called houses. After the founders, the houses were each named after them. In each of these houses, you could develop certain skills and experiences according to what interested you. Something that would help you in your search for further education and hopefully to a profession that would suit each individual.
With the help from an introduction letter every student had to send in with their application first year, the teachers and the headmaster could determine which house the students would most likely be best suited in.
The truth was, it did actually make a lot of sense when you got to know the people in your year that the sorting was indeed quite accurate.
Hermione got sorted into Gryffindor house her first year, together with Harry, Ron and Neville. Ginny also belonged to Gryffindor, but in the class below them, of course.
Every year, the whole school would gather in the great hall to watch as the new students were brought up to the podium in the Great hall and officially get sorted into each house. Hermione couldn't say she envied them. She had been shaking up there her first day.
The Great hall was located on the ground floor and was enormous. With big windows along the sides an the ceiling was several feet high. The seats inside were divided into four section - one for each house and in the front on the podium, all their teachers were seated together with the headmaster.
Students were still pouring in when they arrived. The rest of their classmates were sitting at the Gryffindor section and Hermione met eyes whit Ginny who was talking to a friend.
Just as they were about to head that way down the mid-path someone shoved Hermione hard in the back so that she almost fell to the floor, but was saved by Harry's arm.
"Watch it, mudblood."
His drawling voice was as familiar to her as the sound of book pages turning. She could feel her whole body intensify but at the same time, she felt a great amount of annoyance as well.
She turned around to glare at him and found him standing there with a fowl grin on his face. Behind him stood his usual gang of Slytherin classmates.
If there was anyone that hated Hermione's kind, it was Draco Malfoy. For years, he'd been making life miserable for her. He was nothing like the others.
One-quarter of the students, in particular, went to extremes to show their disapproval of people like Hermione entering Hogwarts.
In Slytherin, there was not a single student who didn't think people like Hermione was an abomination to the school. Slytherin was the house for students whose parents were either really old money, rich entrepreneurs or those with high ranking titles. They were cunning, ambitious and resourceful when it came to their own needs. No one in the other houses liked them, however, their prejudices about the middle-class still lived on in some of the other houses as well, though they never actually did or say anything that would make Hermione and her kind unwelcome. That was Slytherin students privilege altogether.
"Sod off, Malfoy." Harry hissed.
Harry and Malfoy hated each other from their very first day at Hogwarts. Though Malfoy had tried to befriend him the first day, Harry refused to play along and rejected his hand after Malfoy had made fun of Ron and his family. After that, they were basically enemies for life.
"Trying to defend this filthy little commoner are you Potter?" he sneered. "This little abomination, she's not worth more than a servant. That's where you should be Granger, In our houses, cleaning floors."
Both Harry and Ron was about to jump right at him but was stopped by Malfoys two bodyguard friends. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two enormous thickheads who's shared intelligence could be compared to that of a small brick. What they did at Hogwarts was a mystery. Hermione guest having connections in the school committee had its rewards. However, when it came to fighting and using their size as leverage they were quite effective.
Harry and Ron struggled to get loose as Malfoy closed in on Hermione.
"Your knights in shining armour can't help you now Granger, so what will you do?"
"Leave her alone." Neville stuttered nervously. Trying to sound braver than he was. Neville was like any student and had a respectable name and family. However, he had been having an even harder time than Hermione for the first couple of years. As a young boy, he had been chubby, nervous and very clumsy, and did not seem to have had much luck in life at all. This made him a perfect target for the Slytherins. In addition to that, he started to spend time with Harry, Ron and Hermione and stood up for all scholarship students.
Even if he'd been a little of a klutz and struggled somewhat with his studies, he was a very kind and brave person. And over the years, people were not as eager to make fun of him as much, probably because of how much he had changed. Both in his appearance and his self-confidence. Neville was now seventeen and a lot taller, leaner and tried not to be as clumsy as he used to, even if he still was somewhat of a klutz which in Hermione's opinion was a charming trait./p
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However, when it came to Malfoy and the rest, he much like Hermione got nervous and sometimes even scared.
He'd been the first Hogwarts student Hermione got the chance to meet.
Her first day on her way on the subway train, she met a very nervous and panicking Neville who'd lost his toad. Apparently, he was bringing it for Biology class and had a box with him. Only the box was empty, and somewhere on the train, there was a toad on the run. Fortunately, after helping him look for it, they found it sitting in a sleeping old man's lap. The rest of the way they kept each other company, and they'd been friends ever since.
"What did you say, Longbottom?" Malfoy snarled. "Don't worry, I'll get to you in just a moment, but first I need to make sure this filthy mudblood knows her place."
Behind Crabbe and Goyle a giggling noise emerged from a black haired girl standing next to two other boys. Pansy Parkinson, the person Hermione suspected was responsible for the vandalism of her locker. She was known for being obsessed with Malfoy and the previous year it seemed like they actually were a couple, however, Malfoy didn't seem all that interested funnily enough.
Next to her stood a grinning Theodore Nott. A rabbit faced boy and a class clown. He and Malfoys parents were close and he did quite well in his exams, that was pretty much what she knew about him. He mostly just followed Malfoy around. His hobby was mostly to disturb classes and harass first years. And of course, his dislike for Hermione was equal to the rest of the Slytherins.
Beside him, Blaise Zabini just looked bored and uninterested about the whole situation. She had never really understood him. The others were easy to read, Zabini however...
For as long as Hermione could remember he had never said anything bad or done anything to her. He simply seemed to pretend she did not exist. It was the same when it came to Harry and the others. He just seemed to find himself above all of them. Even Malfoy.
However, suddenly he met her gaze for a second and she could have sworn that he had raised his eyebrow and then quickly looked away at Malfoy, looking curious.
"Hermione put the thought aside as she looked at Malfoy feeling furious. Every single inch of fear left her body and she stood up as straight as she possibly could before answering.
"I'm exactly where I should be, Malfoy, My place will always be here, so that I can keep beating you in every subject and in every exam, or do you plan on relying on your daddy's money with that as well?"
She knew she been hitting a nerve but the look on his face amused her too much for her to pass the opportunity to gloat.
Disbelieve turned in to rage and before she knew it he reached for her throat. His hand closed around it and she could feel his fingers shake from anger. His cold grey eyes stared into hers and she could see that he was considering what he should do to her. He was as furious as she had been just a moment ago.
"Say that again, I dare you!" He hissed while his hand clutched even harder around her throat, now making it harder for her to breath. Even so, Hermione refused to give in.
"You - heard - me." She squeaked. His grip made it hard for her to speak and it started to hurt.
"Draco, give it a break," Zabini droned. "You will be in big trouble if a teacher sees you. Let her go."
It looked like he was debating it for a moment before he suddenly let go of her and backed away. His face was red and his jaw clicked in rage and he didn't stop glaring at her.
"Don't push your luck, mudblood..." he warned as he turned around and left. The rest of the Slytherins did the same except for Zabini. He looked around and gestured towards Neville who had rushed to her side to look at her tender throat.
"Make sure to let Madam Pomfrey take a look at her," he said and then turned around and went after the others. Harry and Ron came running after Crabbe and Goyle had let them go and tried to help when Hermione suddenly started to shake and lost the control of her legs.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Neville asked nervously while he and Harry tried to pull her up.
Ron was standing there with a grim look on his face. "What the hell was all that about?! It looked like he was about to choke you to death," He swore as he turned to look at the Slytherin section, "Who does that to another person? Has he ever done this to you before?"
She shook her head and took a glance in the same direction. No, he had never even so much as touched her the past six years, except for one time long ago. However, not like that.
"I'm alright guys, thank you," she said sounding horse and a bit shaken. She had not been prepared for that kind of reaction at all. Malfoy was an enormous git and did stop at nothing when it came to tormenting her mentally and emotionally, which sometimes did more damage. But physical violence? No, not even when Hermione had punched him in his face their third year he'd gone after her. The truth was he had made sure to stay away from her for the rest of that year.
"I wanna smack him so hard he won't be able to remember his own name..." Ron growled.
"Hermione already tried that, remember? It didn't help for very long." Harry said but gave Ron a persistent look.
"Well, he deserved it," Ron muttered. Hermione couldn't help but to smile, it was true, he always deserved it. She was just lucky, that she was the one to do it to him.
In their third year, Malfoy, together with some of his fellow classmates, caught Neville one morning before school started and stripped him of his clothes and then duct taped him to one of the flagposts on the school courtyard. When the rest of the students arrived, they surrounded the flagpost and instead of helping him, they stood there laughing. When Hermione finally got there she got a hold of one of the caretakers to help her cut him down.
Furious and hot-tempered she later found Malfoy, hanging around his friends boasting about how he'd sneered Neville into his trap. She had never been so angry all her life. It was one thing to torment her, but her friends? She was not gonna let that go, ever. It was meant to be a slap in the face. but upon seeing his smug grin, it ended up as a real punch, right to the nose, and she succeeded to break it. Hermione sprained her hand in the process but found it extremely worth it.
"Hermione you should tell Dumbledore about this," Neville argued.
"Neville it's no use, I'm fine okay? Even one of his own followers stopped him, it will be alright."
"I don't know," Harry looked concerned. "If this is what he pulls the first day. He might do something even worse the next time. maybe you should tell him, Hermione, or Professor McGonagall." She thought it was funny coming from him since he never went to teachers with his personal problems.
"Can we drop this now please?" She asked irritably.
"If you don't go we will." Ron began but Hermione who had lost her patience interrupted.
"Ronald!" she yelled angrily narrowing her eyes at him. "Just, let me handle it, alright? It will only get worse if you try to get yourselves involved. I can handle Draco Malfoy." At least she hoped so.
As they continued down the rows of seats Ginny came running like a bullet from a rifle.
"I saw the whole thing! That awful, evil, sodding git, are you alright Hermione? oh, I wanna punch his ugly grin in and break every bone in his body." She said all this in one breath.
"My sister, ladies and gentlemen. " Ron grinned.
Ginny looked at Hermione's throat for a moment. "It's not swollen, yet at least, but it's very red. If it doesn't go away during the nearest hour you should go and see Madam Pomfrey," she muttered. "Come! there's a couple of seats behind us where you can sit."
So they followed her and sat down, waiting for the rest of the students and the teachers to arrive.
Hermione was a bit sore but didn't feel all that bad. Most of the chock had disappeared and she felt somewhat proud that she hadn't given in. However, she thought it best to try and stay away from Malfoy and his cronies. She didn't feel like repeating the previous incident.
When everyone had arrived, including the new first years, the sorting took place. They all looked very nervous at first but when sorted and allowed to go down from the podium to sit with their newly appointed house they lightened up and looked excited.
After this, it was time for Albus Dumbledore's usual welcome back speech. He looked very much like Santa Claus, some people even called him Gandalf the Grey, not that he minded it. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.
"Welcome to another exciting year at Hogwarts, and of course a very welcome to our new first years, I hope that you all will enjoy your future years at our school!" He beamed down at them all and continued. "Before we can begin our first day back, I will have to require a couple of minutes of your time for some start-of-term notices." he smiled. "Once again, Mr Filch has asked me to remind you that all products of Weasley Wheezes are prohibited, and even if we had some issues regarding this rule previous year, I urge you to keep these things at home."
"Like that will ever happen." Ron chuckled. Weasleys Wheezes was the name of Fred and George's joke shop. Hermione had not been surprised when their product had been forbidden last year. There were not things you kept in school.
"I also want to remind our seventh years that you should start to consider what you want to do in the future and if it is your wish to enter university, to start preparing for it. The soccer tryouts will be held a couple of weeks from now and if anyone is interested you should contact your house captain or your P.E teacher Madam Hooch."
He turned around with an arm outstretched towards the chair Madam Hooch was sitting in. "And now, to some even more important matters. We have eight new perfect positions to hand out and also, the honours to assign one new head boy and head girl."
Ron sighed in relief, "at least I don't need to worry about being head boy, you will have a better chance of that than me, mate." He looked at Harry who grinned in response.
Hermione felt that she would be quite honoured if she were to be chosen as head girl. After all, it was a big achievement and would look very good on her university applications.
"Let's begin with our new fifth year prefects." Dumbledore continued, and as he called out each name, the student's got to walk up to the podium and receive their badges. Some looked prouder than others but they still smiled as they shook Dumbledores hand and walked down again. Dumbledore wished them all good luck before he continued.
"Being heads of the school is a very difficult task and I, as always, hope you all will treat them well. This year I have chosen two very intelligent, ambitious and hardworking students. They have proven themselves to handle both pressure and stress in an honourable fashion. and both, have kept their friends close during these past six years. So I would like to congratulate and present to you all, your new head boy and head girl, Mr Draco Malfoy from Slytherin house and Ms Hermione Granger from Gryffindor house."
People applauded, but Hermione was completely numb. She couldn't move a muscle. However, it was not because of the surprise of her name being called, but Malfoys.
"How the bloody hell did he get chosen to be the head boy?" Ron swore. Harry hit him with an elbow to the side when he thought Hermione wasn't looking.
"Contragulations Hermione!" He said but it didn't sound all that convincing, and she couldn't blame him.
Like the tradition followed, she stood up and walked past her friends where they sat, to get up to the podium. She tried to cover her throat as much as possible with the help from her shirt and cardigan before walking up the small stair to greet the headmaster. Across the podium Malfoy was walking towards Dumbledore as well, looking annoyed.
Dumbledore began my shaking Hermione's hand and ceremonially placing the head girl batch on her uniform.
"Thank you, sir," she said quietly as to not raise suspicions if her voice sounded strained.
"It's my honour, Ms Granger, I am very proud of what you have accomplished your years studying here. I wish you good luck." He gave her a gentle and kind smile that made her feel a little better. He then turned around to greet Malfoy and exchange a couple of words with him as well, something that made Malfoy even more annoyed it seemed. Then he turned towards the crowd of students and pulled both Hermione and Malfoy closer to him with one arm around each of their shoulder.
"Congratulations and I hope you will work hard together to make this school even better this year."
Everyone started once again to applaud, but Hermione, who actually been hoping for this at first, now only felt incredibly nauseous.