Harry's still missing." Neville said anxiously as we climbed off the Hogwarts express. I glared at Ron who seemed not to care.
"He'll turn up." He said nonchalantly. "What could happen?" I bristled with indignation.
"Loads!" I exclaimed. "He could be hurt, he could have been jinxed, he-."
"Why don't we find a carriage?" Neville said quickly, trying to prevent further argument. I continued to glare. The most vacant carriage contained my old boyfriend Terry Boot, Ginny and Cho Chang. Some how or other we all managed to squeeze in. This was not the most comfortable arrangement.
We met Dean and Ginny at the entrance hall and Ron visibly stiffened at the sight.
"Where's Harry?" Dean asked, glancing behind us. Ron and Hermione started to explain just as Malfoy's gang passed by.
"What's this?" Malfoy said screeching to a stop. "Has "the chosen one" gone missing?"
"If you had anything to do with this Malfoy…" I said, moving threateningly towards him. Unfortunately he was too tall for me to glare at with out craning my neck.
"You'll do what exactly?" he inquired sarcastically.
"She might touch you Draco." Pansy suggested, grin on her pug face. I called her the worst name I could think of. She drew back, slightly shocked.
"Is that any way to treat your superiors?" Zabini said, looking down at me from his great height.
"That was a complement." I said sweetly. "And for the record…" I ran me hand along his forearm. He leapt back as though he'd been burned. Wiping my hand on my robe I strode into the great hall.
"Now really," Ron said. "You shouldn't-."
"Let them get to me." I finished for her. "I know."
"Malfoy's a git Hermione." Seamus said. "Forget it." Taking his advice I sat down at the Gryffindor table. I had always been especially sensitive to any reference to my blood status. I was not ashamed of being muggle born now that I knew that it didn't matter but back when I was eleven I really believed that I was second-class. My parents, who obviously knew nothing, had never brought it up so I had every reason to believe that I was as dirty and traitorous as Malfoy made me believe.
The feast was superb as usual and Seamus was eager to tell me all about Ireland. Only Harry's absence disturbed what would have been an otherwise pleasant evening. It didn't help that Malfoy was putting on an extremely conspicuous show which involved his clutching his nose and falling dramatically on the table.
Near the end of the feast he entered with blood caked to his face.
"He's covered in blood again." Ginny sighed. "Why is it when ever I see him he's covered in blood?"
"Harry, what happened to you?" I exclaimed. "We were so worried! Well, at least I was." I glared at Ron.
"He turned up didn't he?" He said dumbly. I shook my head. I loved Ron but sometimes he drove me up the wall!
"Later." Said Harry, wiping the blood from his face. "How does my nose look?"
"Um, normal?" I said. I started thinking maybe he had been brain damaged.
"Harry what's going-?" Something clicked in my brain.
"It was Malfoy wasn't it?" I asked. God, I should have known!
"LATER!" said Harry firmly. No one wanted to argue and the subject shifted to the sorting.
"Same as last year really." Said Seamus, his mouth full of pudding. "Stick together, houses unite, all that crap." I glared over at the Slytherin table where Malfoy was imitating who I'm sure was Harry, clutching his nose.
"Yeah good luck with that." Ron snorted, reaching for a tray of ice cream.
"What did Slughorn want?" I asked, hoping to hear something that would distract me from wanting to tear Malfoy's throat out. Harry sighed.
"Same as everyone." He said. "To know what happened at the Ministry."
"Come to think of it," Seamus began. "What DID happen at the-ow!" I kicked him under the table and thankfully he took the hint. A few minuets later, Dumbledore began his speech, mentioning that all products from Weasly's Wizard Wheezes were strictly banned by order of Mr. Filch.
"Who cares what Filch says?" Ron said, yanking a handful of pukeing pastels out of his pocket. I grinned quickly, not wanting to miss the rest of the speech.
"And Professor Horace Slughorn will be retuning to his old post as Potions master." Dumbledore said, gesturing to an enormously fat, bald man.
"Slughorn." Harry muttered.
"Wait," said Ron. "If he's teaching Potions, whose-?"
"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore said, answering the unfinished question. The Slytherin table cheered. No one else did. I could swear I saw a victorious smile cross Snipe's sallow face.
"Well at least he'll be gone at the end of the year." Seamus muttered.
"Yeah, and good riddance to him." Added Dean. When everyone had finally quieted down Dumbledore continued to talk, now about Voldemort. I listened but didn't hear anything new.
"And be warned." Dumbledore said, gazing at us over his half-moon spectacles. "No matter how powerful Voldemort is, his greatest weapon is you. Now off you go, pip pip!" It could have been my imagination, but I could have sworn Malfoy remained at his table longer than everyone else, gazing somewhat sadly into space, his chin resting on his hand.
As we left the great hall I heard Ron yell.
"You what? Bloody hell mate, no wonder he broke your nose!" I spun around.
"It was Malfoy, wasn't it!" I asked. You went to find out if he really was a death eater, which by the way, he's obviously NOT, you got caught and…" I made as if to slap myself in the face.
"He's no deatheater." Ron agreed. "All that high talk about Voldemort…he was just showing off for Parkinson. You know he would."
"Cow." I muttered again at the mention of Pansy.