Hello again! JSYK, I'll be updating every few days or so, because, unlike some authors I know (ErikandChristine - who isn't actually reading this, but oh well), I try to keep ahead of the curb, so I'm already in the midst of writing chapter 5, even though I'm only just now publishing Chapter 2.
So I have a request: about 7 people have already subscribed to this fic, which is great, but I would really appreciate it if those people would review as well. If you like it and want to keep reading it, you might as well let me know what you like about it! That's what kind of annoys me about this site. That's why whenever I read a fic, I always leave a review that has some significance and recommendations and such. So, please?
Alrighty, now that I'm done ranting, here's the chapter:
Chapter 2: New Rooms
"Malfoy!?"
"Ron, really, calm yourself. It's not that bad."
Hermione was back in the compartment with her friends. The moment she had sat down, Ginny was on her, asking the identity of the new Head Boy.
Hermione had been slightly reluctant to say it, apprehensive of what their reactions would be. She should have expected this.
"Ron, you practically ruptured me eardrum!" Ginny said, annoyed.
Ron ignored her. "Hermione, are you kidding me?! This is awful! You should go to Professor McGonagall and ask for a room change right now!"
"Oh, so that's your problem, is it? Well look here, Ronald, I can take care of myself. If Malfoy wants a row, I'll give him one. If he ignores me, I'll do the same. If he talks to me I'll talk back. This is not the end of the world."
"Hermione, I know you, and I know that you're strong," Ginny said, "but this is Malfoy we're talking about. Who knows what he could do to you, sharing a dorm with you. I mean, you'll have separate bedrooms, but he could easily attack you when you're asleep!"
Harry, who had been silent thus far, sighed loudly and spoke up. "Hermione's right, you guys. She's a big girl, she can handle Malfoy."
"Thanks you, Harry," Hermione, said, still glaring daggers at the two redheads in the compartment.
"And besides," Harry added, "maybe he won't be such a stuck up jerk anymore."
"Yeah, and maybe I'll shrink and get pointy ears and become a house elf," Ron said. "Come on, Harry, be realistic. Leopards don't change their spots."
"Oh, this is pointless." Hermione rolled her eyes and sat up straighter, giving power to her voice. "Ron, Malfoy's Head Boy. I'm sharing rooms with him. You're gonna have to get used to that."
This silenced Ron and Ginny fairly well, and they moved on to other subjects.
As the tension in the room dissipated, Harry said, "It feels weird, to be back without the same people." They all nodded forlornly in agreement.
Ginny, who was sitting next to Harry with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, snuggled closer. "Yeah, I'm gonna miss having Neville and Luna around. They always made life interesting."
"And everyone else too!" Ron added. "Since we're back a year late, we're all gonna have new roommates! It won't be Seamus and Dean and Neville in our rooms anymore. It'll be strange people, like Michael Corner and...who else, Ginny?"
As Ginny filled Ron and Harry in on their new roommates, Hermione couldn't help but go off in her own thoughts, and think about hers.
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It was 8 o'clock and dinner had ended recently. Draco silently walked toward the Head Common Room. He was eager to find out how his rooms would be arranged.
Their rooms—it was a strange concept. Draco had always shared a room with other people of his own year, but this was entirely different. It wasn't even that these arrangements would be with a girl—he'd shared a bed with a lot of girls, after all. He smiled slightly as that thought crossed his mind. It was more that he would be living with someone else his age. Sharing a Common Room, a study, probably even a bathroom, with a girl was alien to Draco. Even stranger still, he would be doing so with Granger.
This thought caught his attention more fully. Draco began to dwell on that. How would she treat him? How would he treat her? He had no idea how to act around her. He had always been mean to Granger. No, worse than that—he had been horrible, spiteful, full of malice and loathing. Draco wouldn't blame her if the girl despised him.
But part of him hoped that she would let that go. The war had changed him a lot. Over the summer, he had had to rearrange his priorities. No longer were his goals surrounded by the Dark Arts, living up to his father's name, Lord Voldemort, and everything else that went along with those things. Draco still wasn't sure who exactly he was, but he would use this year to figure that out.
Of course Draco hadn't turned saint. He had his issues: a shorter temper than most, a tendency to jump to conclusions. Someone can't turn their entire personality around overnight; Draco still had traces of his former vengeful self.
But he was trying to change that, to shift his outlook on things, such as mudbloods.
Muggleborns! You idiot! Stop doing that! Draco mentally slapped himself. That was one of the problems he still had. Breaking one's habits isn't so easy to do.
Draco was completely lost in thought when he walked right into someone.
Curly brown hair flew everywhere as he realized it was Hermione, standing outside the statue that his their dormitories.
"Do you remember the password?" Her eyes were confused and worried.
Draco was surprised. Usually Granger was the most attentive witch in class. The fact that she had forgotten something so important was laughable.
So he laughed. "Are you serious, Granger? You, the brightest witch in the year, can't remember something as vital as the new password?" He laughed again. "I'm thoroughly unimpressed."
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Funnily enough, this single line, the first normal thing Malfoy said to her this year, began to set the tone, in Hermione's head, of how he would act around her. She was pleased.
"Oh, shod off, Malfoy, just tell me what it is, ok?"
Malfoy smiled. "No, I don't think I will. I'm having too much fun seeing you confused." He was teasing her of course, not actually being mean—or at least that's what she thought.
"Come on, Malfoy, tell me. Otherwise we're never going to get to see our new rooms!" Hermione said.
This seemed to sober Malfoy up, and he said, "alright, alright, it's 'tarot.'"
"Thanks," Hermione said, and repeated the word to the dragon statue before them.
Immediately it stepped aside and showed them a doorway, which they walked through.
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Draco was a little crestfallen. Being Head and all, he had hoped for something grander than this. Their common room was about half the size of the Slytherin Common Room. On the right there was a fireplace, presently, fire included, surrounded by a couch and a bunch of comfy-looking chairs. On the left side of the room were bookshelves up to the fairly high ceiling, with some more chairs and a small round table, for doing work, he supposed. In the middle of the back wall were a flight a stone steps, which Draco assumed led to their rooms.
It was small, but then again, there were only 2 of them.
Hermione spoke first. "Oh, it's so cozy!"
"Cozy, sure," said Draco dryly.
Hermione was a little perplexed as to why he wasn't impressed with the common room, but then realized that he was probably used to something much more elegant, and more importantly, something larger.
There was a slight awkward pause.
"Ummm, well, shall we go check out our rooms?" Hermione said.
Instead of answering, Draco nodded and started walking toward the stairs. He ascended them in front of Hermione and turned to the right.
"I'll go this way," he said, "and see which room I find first.
"What if it's mine?"
"If it's yours I should probably tell you." He smiled, "unless of course, you want a green and silver room."
"In fact," responded Hermione as she walked to the left, "I look rather good in green." She heard him chuckle lightly behind her.
Hermione was happy with the progress they were making. She thought of how well they were getting along as she opened a door on her right.
Wow, she said to herself as she got a look at the room in front of her. Even though she knew hers would be just as great, Malfoy's room was really spectacular. There was a large canopy bed in the middle of the room, green sheets and blanket, with sheer silver curtains. Hermione resisted the urge to fling herself onto it. It looked so silky and comfortable.
"Granger! I think we went in the wrong directions!" Hermione heard Malfoy call her from a short distance. He then began to walk in her direction as she continued to stare into his room. It was also furnished with a dresser of some dark, antique wood, a full-length mirror near the entrance, and there was a door on the right wall with an intricately carved handle that she assumed led to the bathroom. There were large windows on the opposite side of the room that gave a great view of the lake. It was dark out now, but she knew that from the way the windows were facing there would be a lot of sunlight in the morning.
"Ummm, Granger?"
Hermione realized she was still standing in his doorway looking into his room. She blushed madly and turned around.
"Er...I think this one is yours."
"Well spotted, Granger." He smiled. "Now if you wouldn't mind...?"
Hermione, humiliated, shuffled to the side and made her way to the other end of the hall.
After getting over her embarrassment, she was pleasantly surprised with how Malfoy had treated her, like she was a polite acquaintance, rather than scum on the bottom of his shoe. In fact, this side Malfoy was actually quite funny.
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Draco walked into his room and closed the door behind him—so far so good. It seemed he was making a good impression on Granger. He was trying to atone for all the pain he had caused her over the past 7 years, and decided that being civil was the first step.
Draco stared around the room for a while, hands on his hips, when he decided to go check out the bathroom. He walked to the door and opened it, only to find, for the 2nd time that day, Hermione already there. She was running her hand along the sink and looking at herself in the mirror, playing with her hair with the other hand. The fingers on her left hand sifted through her waves and, finding a tight curl, pulled it out and twisted it around and around. After a few moments she saw him in the mirror looking at her and turned around.
Now it was Draco's turn to blush. "Sorry, Granger, didn't mean to walk in on you."
She smiled at him. "It's ok, Malfoy, I was just getting to know the place."
"Are there locks on these doors?" Now that was a stupid thing to say. As if he didn't want to walk in on her again.......wait, where was the logic in that sentence?
Yeah, I checked. Both doors lock on both sides." There was another short awkward pause. "You're probably tired. I'm going to bed, but I'll let you use the bathroom first." And with that she left the room."
Draco looked around at the bathroom quickly. There was a sink of white marble mounted on a cabinet of light-colored wood. In one corner there was a large bathtub, in the other a shower cubicle. Like the sink, they and the toilet were similarly made of white marble.
As he went to get his toothbrush, he thought about living in such a beautiful space, with Granger of all things. This might not be so bad after all.
So????? Don't worry, the next chapter is much more interesting than this, which is more descriptory than anything else, just so the reader knows the environment for the rest of the story.
Review!
-Ginger