Okie dokie----here is the second chapter. I worked hard on it, and yes I leave stuff open ended and make you want to ask questions, but all of them will be answered in the story, I promise!!!

Let me know what you think! I really would like to know what you like/dislike about this story so far. It will make me want to write more =)

Alright, go on and read already.

They were led up to the seventh floor to a picture of a rather handsome couple.

Professor McGonagall, who had led them to their new home, smiled up at the couple.

"Adriana, Michael. How are you two doing today?"

Adriana looked down at the older lady and smiled, "We are doing quite well, Minerva. How lovely to see you again. Are these our new tenants?"

Hermione stepped forwards and waved slightly, not being able to shake a portraits hand, "Hello. I am Head Girl Hermione Granger."

Behind her, Draco snorted, earning a glare from Hermione over her shoulder. They stood there for a second, all eyes on him before he rolled his eyes.

"I'm Draco Malfoy. Head Boy."

Michael narrowed his eyes, "Malfoy, huh? Son of Lucius I suppose. I knew Lucius back in the day, when he had a bit of fling with the Head Girl of his year."

Draco nodded, not really caring about anything having to do with his father. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Alright then, lets set a password and let these two get settled. Since I don't believe that at this point you two will be able to agree on a password I will choose it. For now the password will be 'disaster'." She ended with a wink to the two in the painting and a chuckle as they portrait swung open revealing their common room.

Draco and Hermione walked in to the spacious room that was just slightly smaller than the common room in both the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses. It was decorated in a chocolate brown and dark blood red. The walls were covered in bookcases that were filled to the top. There was a huge fire place that held a very healthy fire. In front of the hearth were two identical, overstuffed chairs and a very large couch, all clad in dark brown leather.

On either side of the room, at the bottom of two identical staircases, set two desks. One of them was a dark brown wood with elegent pewter accents. Sitting on the top was a stationary set that read at the top with Hermione's name written in a deep red writing. The other desk was black with silver accents and on top of it was a stationary with Draco's name written in a dark green.

They each walked over to their desks and then made their way up the staircase next to it, neither of them uttering a word to the other as they explored their new living space.

Hermione walked up her stair case and came face to face with a huge door with a plague on it that read simply, "Head Girl".

She opened the door and gasped and then started giggling at the sight of her room. The room was decorated in the same style as her desk, with a huge four poster bed that sat in the middle of the room. She also had a large beautiful wardrobe and a floor length mirror. To her left was a door and she decided to explore and see what was inside.

When she opened the door she realized that it led to the bathroom. A bathroom that any girl would die for. There was a huge tub that easily fit four people, as well as a shower stall.

She was confused at the double sinks and the huge vainity when she heard a door open, followed immediately by a , "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Hermione turned and came face to face with Draco, at a black door on the opposite side of the bathroom.

"We have to share a bathroom. Oh bloody hell."

***

"So how much do you love your dorm? Percy told me it was fabulous when he lived there. I am so excited! Can I come see it? Maybe spend a night there with you. We could have a slumber party for just us girls! Oh it will be so fun!"

Hermione laughed at Ginny's excitement.

"Gin, of course you will be able to come visit me, and I'll have to ask McGonagall about the sleeping over, but I'm sure it will be ok."

Next to Hermione, on her right, Harry was glancing through their course schedules.

"Why is it that they put us with the Slytherins in every double class? Look--Defense, Potions, Transfiguration, and Care for Magical Creatures." He dropped his schedule and sat his head down on the table in front of him a bit harder than necessary. "I swear, they are trying to kill us."

Hermione shook her head and took a look down at her own schedule. Sure enough she had defense, Transfiguration and Potions with the Slytherins. Luckily some of her other advanced classes were a bit smaller and made of students from all four houses. The best part was very few Slytherins took those classes.

Hermione groaned and put her schedule in her bag as she realized she knew of at least one Slytherin that would be in all those classes. Her eyes flickered up to the Slytherin table and there he was, seated in the very middle of the side of the table that looks out at the entire Great Hall. He was surrounded by his so called friends. Blaise Zabini sat on his right, and Vincent Crabbe on his left. Directly in front of him sat Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Gregory Goyle. The small group of friends were laughing about some thing that had been said when Hermione saw Draco pick up his schedule.

His eyes scanned the page quickly and his eyebrows furrowed. It would seem his reaction was similar to hers by the way his head shot up and his eyes locked on hers.

Hermione ducked her head and was blushing furiously. The look in his eyes was pure hate and it made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Then she started to become angry. She picked up her fork and stabbed at the eggs on her plate as she thought about it.

'Why does he have any right to hate me so much. What have I really done that is so wrong? My parents are muggles, so what? I am still the smartest witch that has ever graced these halls, including Lily Potter. I can do any spell that you ask me to. If I don't already know it I can look it up and learn it in a matter of minutes. I don't have an entire fortune of money. Big deal. I'm not poor. I have enough money to do what I need to, just because I don't blow it on really expensive stuff doesn't mean anything. Grrrrr…..I hate how he makes me think about this. I should just blow it off and leave it alone, but I have to know what makes him think that he is that much better than me. Why he thinks he can talk to me like I am below him! I am not below him and he will soon find that out, damnit!'

Hermione broke out of her silent rant when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Harry smiling down at her.

"Hey woman, you coming to class? Or do you feel like being a rebel and skiving on your first day?"

Hermione laughed and got up and took her bag that Harry had tried to carry for her.

"Let's go and get this day of hell over with."

Ron came up behind them and threw an arm over Hermione's shoulder, "That is where you are wrong, my dear friend. The day of hell will be Monday when we have three essays due, two projects and a bunch of other homework. Today we just have to deal with the Slytherins."

Hermione nodded and shrugged out of Ron's arm to rifle through her bag. "That reminds me. I got both of you planners so you could keep up with your homework." The boys groaned but took the gift. "I know, I know, but I won't be in the common room every night reminding you to study. I charmed these to signal to you when an assignment is due twelve hours before the deadline. That should give you time to do it."

The boys both agreed to use the planners and thanked their ever bossy friend as they walked in to the classroom. They started to go to a desk towards the middle when they found they couldn't walk to the chairs. It was as if there was a wall between the middle isle and the desks.

On the black board was written in a loopy hand writing were instructions.

You are all assigned seats. Only you can see your name on the sign on your chair, so you don't know who you are sitting next to. Find your seats and you will be able to sit down. Once you are in your chair and comfortable take out some parchment and a quill and be prepared to take notes.

Thank you, Prof. Hardman

As each student read the message they all let out an identical groan. They knew that they would not be sat with a house mate, seeing as all the Professors were hell bent on making them get along.

Hermione walked to the desk in the very front row to the right of the teachers desk. She had a bad feeling when she saw her name on the chair on the left. The desk her name was at was the only desk with just two seats. All the other desks around the room had three.

She sat down and pulled out her supplies like the instructions had stated. She then put her head in her hands and waited for what was inevitably going to happen. The three had gotten there a bit early so they had to wait ten good minutes before the majority of the class got there. When they did, they all cursed this new Professor and his/her sick sense of humor.

She waited for the sound of his shoes on the stone. When she heard them, she listened to them slowly make their way to the front. She heard the silence when he stopped a few steps behind his chair. She heard him cuss under his breath and then he quickly made his way to his seat and plopped down, clearly unhappy with the situation.

Hermione sighed and lifted her head. She turned in her chair and started to look around the rest of the room to see if any of her friends were suffering as much as her (though she desperately hoped not). Unfortunatley, both were almost as bad off as she was. This professor did have quite the sense of humor.

Harry was two rows behind her sat in the middle of Blaise and Pansy . She smiled at him weakly and he gave her a small wave as he watched the two Slytherins out of the corner of his eye. Ron was in the third row back, directly behind her. He was the luckier of the three. He sat with Seamus and Millicent. Apparently she had a funky odor of some sort from the faces that Ron and Seamus both were making.

Her eyes surveyed the rest of the room when they landed on a sight that made her laugh just a bit, but also feel so incredibly sorry for Neville. He was seated in the very back of the room sitting directly between Crabbe and Goyle.

Next to her, Hermione heard a laugh that caught her off guard and made her turn her attention away.

Draco sat with his arm flung over the back of his chair as he watched the same sight that she had been laughing at. For a split second the sneer was gone from his face and he looked almost like a normal human being. But as soon as she thought about it, it returned as he realized that she had looked up.

He coughed and turned back to the front, and he became very interested in the blank parchment in front of him. It took her just a minute but it soon occurred to her that he was embarrassed.

Yep. There it was, and Hermione watched it bloom with a silly little smile on her face and her eyes slowly widened. The faint pink blush spread over Draco's cheeks slowly. It appeared on his pale ears and ran a slim line down his neck. Hermione glanced around and then leaned forward, excited at this new sight.

"Well, well. Draco Malfoy embarrassed. I never thought I would see the day that you of all people would show an emotion so beautifully." She laughed a bit as the pink tinged a bit darker. "How fortunate for you. And here I thought that you were just a cold creature with a stone heart and no soul. But how could anyone with no soul turn such a lovely shade of pink?" And with another laugh she turned in her chair and started to doodle on her parchment.

Next to her, Draco was clenching his fists, trying his hardest to not punch the woman next to him. Damn his pale skin! The sight had been truly funny, so there was no reason he should be embarrassed to be laughing about it, but when Hermione had turned on him with those wide eyes, he couldn't stop the blood rushing to his face. He took a deep breath and turned his head slowly towards her, with every intention of putting her in her place. When he lifted his eyes, his voice caught and the blood rushed to his ears.

She sat there with her head cocked to the side as she twirled one perfect curl around her finger. She was doodling some senseless pattern on her parchment and humming lightly to herself. On her face was a lazy smile that made her look beautiful. She didn't deserve to look this beautiful. Especially not since it was result in making fun of him.

He wanted nothing more to bring her down. And he had every intention of doing that.

As he opened his mouth to tell her what he thought, the door slammed shut, making all the students jump slightly. Up the middle isle, striding with a sense of authority and confidence (unlike most new professors), was one of the most handsome men you had ever seen.

Professor Paris Hardman was hardly a young man. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1957, and attended Hogwarts for his magical education. He was a very skilled wizard and owned a private computer business in the muggle world. He also worked freelance with the ministry when they really needed his help. Dumbledore had contacted him about a job, and after some very careful consideration he decided to take it. Dumbledore needed help getting the students to accept each other, and he knew the challenge before him. And from the looks of his classroom his first experiment was off to a rocky start.

It would seem, that while some students just ignored each other, others were about ready to kill. His eyes scanned the room before he got their attention and his eyes landed on his most difficult pair. His two top students. It seemed like the girl was perfectly at ease, almost happy for herself. The boy however had a look of murder on his face. He saw him clench the muscles in his jaw over and over and decided to intervene when he saw his face relax, ready to yell. The door slam was a bit over dramatic, yes, but it was effective. All eyes immediately turned to him and he held them until he made it to his desk and hopped right on top of it.

He swung his legs and clapped his hands.

"Good to see you all found your seats. Now! You have probably noticed that you are partnered with a member, or multiple members of the opposite house. Get used to it. Not only will you remain in these groups for the rest of the year, you are also in these groups in your other main courses. I.E. Potions and Transfiguration." The entire classes groaned, making the older man laugh again. "Now, now, it won't be that bad. You are partnered with people who have similar grades and skills as you, so no one has to be the smart one in a group. All you have to do is learn to get along, and your year will be fine."

He jumped off of his desk and started twirling his wand in his long fingers.

"Some of you may have noticed, that there is one group that has only two students. Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, please stand up." They did as they asked, shooting questioning looks at each other. "These two students are the brightest students that Hogwarts has to offer. I have heard nothing but good things in regards to their grades and performance in the classroom." He then turned to Hermione and Draco and dropped his voice an octave to talk quietly to the duo. "However, I have also heard that you two fight like a cat and dog. As Head students, you must set an example for the rest of the students. You will learn to get along or your life will be a lot more difficult for you. And yes, that is a threat." He then winked at them and motioned for them to sit back down.

Hermione had a look of shock and confusion, while Draco was just pissed off. What could they really do to them? Make them work together, no big deal. He knew that he could definitely have a worse partner. At least Granger was smart and determined not to let anything ruin her scholastic record.

Professor Hardman waved his wand and a bigger blackboard appeared behind him and a piece of chalk started writing out notes in the same script as the first note.

"Ok, so lets get started, take down the notes off the blackboard. I will give you ten minutes and then I will begin my lecture and fun part of the class. Everyday, there will be notes written up here. You are to come in and start jotting them down. The quicker you get done with the notes the quicker we can do the fun stuff." He clapped, again, and sat down behind his desk. He picked up a book and started thumbing though it as the students began taking down their notes.

***

At lunch , all that was being talked about was the seating arrangements that had been forced upon them and the new Defense professor.

Two unanimous thought filtered through the mass of babbling students: 1) The seating arrangements sucked and they didn't know how they would be able to work with their partners and 2) Prof. Hardman was definitely what the girls called a silver fox.

How was it? Let me know my angels…hehe

Love you all! --Nikki