"They don't hate you. They hate themselves and take it out on you. There's a difference."-Ritu Ghatourey
"Who's that?" Hermione heard a light, gentle voice ask.
"That's Hermione, our new dorm mate." Marlene responded.
"Why do we even need one? I'm pretty sure there's enough room on the common room couch for her." Another voice spoke rudely.
"Don't be mean Dorcas." Marlene scolded. Hermione figured that the first voice was Alice, but didn't want to confirm just yet.
"Yeah you don't even know her yet." Alice (she assumed) held a disapproving tone in her voice.
"No Alice, you don't even know her yet, but you're still defending her. She doesn't even have the decency to let us know she's awake." Dorcas all but, yelled in a fit of anger. Hermione decided since the cat was out of the bag she might as well sit up.
"Sorry about that, it's not every day you get to hear what others say about you." Hermione apologized. Marlene chuckled a bit at the bookworm's attempt of a joke. Hermione noticed the two other girls that she was not able to observe earlier.
"Hi I'm Alice Prewett." The girl with short brown hair and soft brown eyes greeted. Her smile was genuine and warm which made Hermione more comfortable. "And this is Dorcas Meadows." Alice pointed to the girl with black hair that ended at her breast. Her eyes were cold, and not because they were icy blue. The young time traveler could sense a lot of hatred radiating from her.
"I'm Hermione Watson." Hermione introduced herself, though Dorcas scoffed. Hermione's brows furrowed, why does she hate her so much?
"It's nice to meet you." Alice buzzed with joy. "We should head to the Great Hall, it's about time for dinner."
"Dinner already?" Hermione questioned with shock.
"It's a good thing classes were cancelled then. You would have slept through classes." Marlene laughed.
Hermione looked horrified by the statement.
On their way to the Great Hall, Hermione noticed that Dorcas tried her hardest to make sure Hermione didn't get a word in the conversation. It really bugged her. Finally after five horrid minutes they reach the Great Hall. Hermione searched the table and finally spotted Draco at the edge. 'Of course', she rolled her eyes. She instantly bolted to the empty spot next to him.
"What the hell is with you Granger?" Draco questioned lowly. Surprisingly there was no mean or bitter tone to it; Just plain curiosity.
"One of my Dorm mates, Dorcas, already hates me." Hermione responded with dismay. She loaded a couple of rolls onto her plate.
"I think we'll be great friends." Draco commented weakly.
"What's with you Malfoy?" The bookworm whispered. She has taken notice of how he's been different. There's been less fights and he's been quiet.
He shrugged it off and started to poke a piece of meat. She observed him a bit and took notice of how much weight he lost. She decided that there's no point in commenting now. He'll just end up either yelling at her and make a scene or stomp away dramatically (which will also result in him making a scene).
"Mione, Draco." Sirius plopped in front of them.
"Hello Sirius." She smiled at him.
"Mione this is Remus and Peter." Two boys emerged from behind him. She had to keep herself from glaring at the round boy, known as Peter Pettigrew. Draco raised an eyebrow at this, while chuckling a bit. The bookworm decided to glare at him instead. Hermione looked over to Remus and a smile etched on her lips.
"Hello I'm Hermione Watson." She introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you miss Granger." Remus took her hand and kissed it, which caused her to blush bright red. Draco snorted at her.
"He's French Mione, so don't think anything of it." Sirius warned.
"I'm going to go sit with James." Peter squeaked and scurried off.
"What's with him?" Sirius asked. Remus shrugged and sat into the seat, Sirius soon followed suit.
"So what brings you to Hogwarts?" Remus questioned.
Hermione's heart nearly stopped at the question, she never expected anyone to ask, which was stupid to think.
"We were tired of being home school so we transferred." Draco answered smoothly.
"He can speak!" Sirius yelled.
"Are two related?" Remus asked. Hermione shook her head in response. "Dating?" At that Draco instantly started to choke on his water. After a few seconds his coughing died down.
"Thanks for the help Granger." Draco spat out.
"It looked like you were doing fine on your own." She shrugged. "And Remus, no we are not dating, hence the choking."
"I'm going to bed." Draco mumbles while stomping away.
"But you just woke up!" Sirius called after, but the git of a blonde ignored him. Hermione inhaled deeply and went after him after saying a quick goodbye to Remus and Sirius.
Once the two reach the common room Hermione pushed him on the couch and put up a silencing charm
. "What the fuck is with you Granger?!" Draco yelled, while standing back up.
"No Draco, what's with you?"
"What are you going on about?" He asked.
"You've been acting different lately and it's starting to bother me."
"Why the hell do you care Mudblood?" Draco asked venomously.
"Draco, did something happen to Narcissa?" Hermione asked softly. Hermione knew of Narcissa's illness. She had interned at St. Mungo and knew of a lot of cases because of Malfoy was one of the ones that stood out to her. Terminal cancer was so severe that magic couldn't fix it and Hermione felt saddened by that fact.
That one question broke Draco's dam. He froze on the spot and looked her in the eye. "Don't say anything about my mother! Your dirty Mudblood mouth doesn't deserve to say her name! Just stay the fuck out of my business!" Without out noticing, tears started to trickle down his cheeks and Hermione sat him back down. Her brown, milky eyes stared at his blue ones. Understanding was all over her face.
"Draco I know what it's like." She whispers.
"How the hell would you? Your life is perfect." He bit out at her.
"Draco Malfoy! My life is nothing near perfect! You out of all people should know that! I've been tortured, ridiculed, yelled at, and even beaten because I was born a 'Mudblood'." She spat. "These scars will never heal! Draco, I have to live with this wretched word on my arm for the rest of my life! It's a constant reminder of how much hell I've been through! "She lifted her sleeve up and lets him look at the scar.
"I was on the run for a year! I had to learn how to survive at age 17! To put the icing on the cake, after the war, I went to Australia to find my parents. They were dead Draco, dead." She spoke the last part softly as tears started to pour out.
Draco grabbed her chin and made her look him in the eyes. "She died." Was all he said before he walked off to his dorm.