Disclaimer: What I said last time.
The train ride ended just a few uneventful hours later. Draco Malfoy had just finished his book when he heard the call that they would be arriving at Hogsmeade station in 5 minutes. Gathering his things, he made his way to the prefects' compartment for his last instructions before term officially began.
This year, the head students were Ravenclaw Marcus Belby and Gryffindor Katie Bell. They gave him and the other prefects a list of passwords and a copy of the patrol rota, then left them to get ready to leave the train.
"Welcome, students to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said once everyone was seated. "I hope that the train journey was an opportunity to catch up with your friends, perhaps make some new ones, as classes start tomorrow, and I should hope that all of you, especially our older students, shall be studying hard this year. First years should note that the Dark Forest on the edge of the grounds is strictly forbidden. It may do a few of our older students well to remember that, too," he added, looking pointedly at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "You may begin the feast."
The room was suddenly filled with sounds of chatting and laughter. Hermione was glad to be back; her summer had been rather uneventful and she had missed being at school. She had missed her classes, being at the library until closing time, and most importantly, spending time with her friends.
As the feast began to end, Professor Dumbledore stood up once more.
"You may return to your dormitories at your leisure, first years, follow your house prefects. Sixth years stay behind."
His last statement sparked confusion among the students, who wished to return to their dormitories. Once the other students had left, Professor McGonagall ascended the podium at the front of the Great Hall.
"As you know, every year at Hogwarts a male and a female student are chosen to be Head Boy and Head Girl, respectively. These students are usually chosen by the teachers, and are more often than not former prefects."
The Sixth years murmured in agreement, wondering where this was going.
"This year, we have decided to have a competition to determine next year's head students. You will be paired up, one boy and one girl, from different houses, to complete a series of tasks. The winning pair will be next year's head students. You will be given a questionnaire to determine who your partner will be, as those with clashing personalities may not be the best pairs," McGonagall continued. As she spoke, pieces of parchment were being handed out to the students.
"You may begin."
Hermione looked down at her parchment. The questions were simple; name, gender, house, qualities and skills, and what sort of person your partner should be. Easy enough. She finished just a few minutes later, and proceeded to hand in her questionnaire to McGonagall. She couldn't help but notice that one other person was handing in his at the same time; Draco Malfoy.
Once everyone was finished, McGonagall spoke again;
"Your results will be posted on the notice board in the entrance hall by breakfast tomorrow. You may return to your dormitories."
Hermione was eager to find out who they had been paired with. She and Ginny, who she had told about what was going on, were the first to arrive in the entrance hall the next morning. When they got there, however, the list had not yet been posted.
"Typical! They couldn't even put the list up before breakfast and now I'm going to have to finish my breakfast really early to see it afterwards without being late for class, and-" Hermione exclaimed.
"God, Hermione, calm down," Ginny replied. "I'm sure it'll be up soon. It is only six in the morning."
Breakfast began an hour later, with Professor Dumbledore entering. Hermione, Ginny, and a few others were already there when he arrived. He stood up and spoke.
"The list of partners for sixth years has been put in the entrance hall."
Hermione was running out of the room before he even finished speaking, desperate to know who she had been paired with.
When she reached the notice board, the list was indeed there. Her eyes scanned down the list until she reached her name. As she read her partner's name, her eyes widened with both anger and confusion. She walked back to breakfast telling herself that something had gone wrong.
When she reached her first class of the day, Charms, Hermione was met with loud chatter about who everyone was partnered with. When she approached her seat, Harry and Ron were talking about who they were paired with.
"Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin. I think she's that pretty blonde that hangs around with Parkinson-" Ron said to Harry before being interrupted by Hermione.
"Hey, guys."
"Hey, Hermione," they replied simultaneously.
"We were just discussing who we were paired with. I'm with Padma Patil from Ravenclaw and Ron's with Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin," Harry explained, "Who are you with?"
Before she could answer, Professor Flitwick entered the room, causing all conversations to cease. Hermione knew she couldn't hide it for much longer; their first meeting about the assignments required was during free period in two days time.
"Today we will be practicing non-verbal levitation charms. Wands out."
Hermione was the first to lift her feather from the table, just as in first year, so she spent the rest of the class planning how she could possibly tell Harry and Ron that she was partnered with Draco Malfoy.
A/N I'm back! Thanks to PhoenixSpirit10500's story House Unity for the inspiration about having a questionnaire to pair them up.
I posted a Harry Potter/Divergent crossover oneshot earlier called A Flash of Tobias. it's very short and very bad, though you can read it if you want. There are Allegiant spoilers and it probably won't make sense if you haven't read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, you've been warned.
Thanks to Finnislife, ImmoralAnime, Miss-Granger-31, and PinkLemonade -aka- Bubblez for following this tory, ImmoralAnime again for favouriting, and Debbie and Guest for reviewing.
Reviews are always welcome!- Little Miss Potterhead