Chapter Three

Hermione scurried into the dormitory that she would call home for the next ten months or so. When she entered the Common Room she gasped. It was beautiful. The room had a marble entrance, that transformed into a gorgeous, open room of orange and gold. The couches looked even more comfortable than the ones in Hermione's old Common Room and she couldn't wait to sit in front of the fire, curled up with a book, late at night.

She glanced around a bit more and noticed there was a very large kitchen, which Malfoy was standing in, examining the contents of the fridge. She walked up the large staircase and saw there were two doors, across the hall from one another. One door had a lovely gold plate, with the initials H.J.G. carved in, and the other D.L.M. (A/N- I have no idea what Draco's middle name is, so I just put in a random initial. If you do happen to know, please inform me so that I can change it) She quickly walked over to the door with her initials on it and turned the delicate knob. She stepped inside the threshold and her mouth dropped open at what she saw.

The room was decorated entirely of red and gold, the obvious Gryffindor colors. There was a king-sized bed sitting off to one side, a large vanity, bookshelf, desk, and fireplace. It was then that she noticed the two doors, both on oposite sides of the room. She chose to enter the one on the left first, and was delighted to find a large, walk-in closet. She then padded over to the right side of the large room and stepped inside. It was a bathroom nicer than the Prefects one. There was a huge, pool-sized bathtub, and a shower that looked like it could fit ten comfortably. Everything was made out of marble and Hermione knew she would be spending a lot of time in this room, relaxing.

She then walked back into her bedroom and out her door, hoping to find Malfoy, to be polite and ask him if his room was to his liking as well. This was her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, and she did not want to be completely miserable the whole time. She spotted him sitting on one of the large couches of the Common Room and plopped down next to him.

"Did you like your room?" she asked sweetly.

Draco shot her a glare, "It was fine."

"Well, that's good..." Hermione trailed off, not knowing where exactly to take this conversation.

"Look Granger," The blonde boy said, "Just because we are being forced to live together, doesn't make us friends. You are still a bushy-haired, insufferable, know-it-all Mudblood, and nothing will change that."

"Malfoy, I don't want to be your friend, believe me. I just don't want our last year to be horrid, just because we are living together," she exclaimed. "I would never want to be your friend. You are a stuck up, arrogant, prat, and honestly, I am not too sure how I am going to put up with you for the remainder of this year!"

"Glad we settled that," He snarled.

"As am I."

With that Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, and walked swiftly towards the portrait hole. After climbing out, she let her feet take her where they would. Being Head Girl, did have one advantage, she was allowed out at any time of night. She continued to walk, surprised when she discovered she was in the Astronomy Tower. She walked over to the ledge, and leaned on her elbows, looking up at the moon in the sky. It felt like she had only been there for a few minutes when she was snapped out of her trance by a loud growl from her stomach, but looking down at her watch, she discovered it had been nearly two hours, and it was almost one o'clock in the morning.

She practically ran back to the portrait of the old smiling witch, and quickly spoke the password.

"Love Conquers!"

The witch gave her a knowing wink, and opened up, Hermione climbing right through the hole and into her Common Room. She expected to find the room dark and empty, or lit by the fire, but never did she expect what she saw. Draco Malfoy was sitting on a couch in front of the fire, staring off into space, and jumped up when he noticed Hermione standing there.

"Where were you?" He shouted.

"I went for a walk...to clear my head," Hermione replied nervously. "Why is it any of your business?"

"It just is, all right?" Malfoy exclaimed before turning on his heel, and walking up the staircase and into his room, the door slamming loudly shut behind him.

The next morning Hermione woke up at seven o'clock, which was perfect timing. She had one hour to get ready, and then a half hour for "breakfast", which would really just be sitting and watching others eat, and then she was off to class at eight thirty.

She stood up, and walked through the door on the right side of her room, the bathroom, and took a twenty minute bath, trying to relax, so that she could enjoy the first day of classes. She then got out and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her small frame. Hermione walked back into her bedroom, reached for her Hogwarts uniform from her closet, and pulled it on.

Then she had to deal with her hair. The day before she had left it curly and unmanageable, the way her classmates were used to seeing it, not wanting to surprise them. Today, she decided, she would wear it straight, since she liked it better that way.

"To hell what they think," she muttered to herself.

She ran her hair straightening balm through her hair and put on a touch of make-up to complete her look. She then got up from her vanity and after casting one last look in her full-length mirror, walked out of her bedroom door, heading down the staircase.

She reached the bottom and took a look at her watch. It was seven forty-five, so she still had fifteen minutes until she should head to breakfast. Hermione glanced around, wondering what she should do to fill the time, when she heard a loud bang from the kitchen, and a muffled yell. She headed towards the source of the noise, where she found Malfoy, who it appeared had just dropped a pan full of hot water. He took out his wand and cleared the mess, and placed two plates on the small table in the middle of the room.

"Breakfast," he mumbled to Hermione, looking her over and examining her hair.

"Oh, well, I think I'm going to just eat in the Great Hall with my friends," Hermione muttered awkwardly.

"Suit yourself."

The boy then took out the wand he had stashed inside his cloak only moments before and cleared the second plate, sitting down and picking up his fork to eat his own.

Hermione stood there, in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing what to do with herself. She walked slowly over to the table and perched herself on the chair opposite the cold Slytherin.

"So..." she said slowly.

"I was thinking last night Granger," Malfoy started. "And I think we should be civil to each other. It is our last year in this place."

"Yeah, I agree," Hermione said slowly.

"But it still doesn't mean we're friends. Or even that I like you, because I don't."

"Same here," she said defensively.

Hermione got up and walked out of the room, and through the portrait hole. It was now eight o'clock, and she would be expected downstairs for breakfast. She walked through the Great Hall, and over to the Gryffindor table, which was already close to full. After a moments search she spotted Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Lavender and walked over to them.

"Hello," she said brightly.

"Hey 'Mione," Ron replied with his mouth full.

Hermione sat down on Ron's other side, earning her a very dirty look from Lavender.

"Wan' anythin' to eat?" Ron asked, still chewing.

"Oh, no thanks," she said. "My dormitory has a kitchen, so I already ate."

Everyone nodded their heads, none really paying attention to what she was saying, but pretended they were. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, but were interrupted by Ginny squealing when Harry tickled her leg. Hermione glanced around, and was surprised to see Malfoy enter the room, his eyes fixed on her. He walked by the Gryffindor table, and sat down at the Slytherin one, still not breaking his gaze. Hermione looked away, and stared down at her full plate, that she hadn't even noticed she had filled. She pushed it away quickly, and began to talk about classes with her friends.

"Ugh, potions first with the Slytherins," Harry grumbled.

"I swear if that greasy git says one thing the wrong way to me, I will break his big bloody nose," Ron said darkly, but everyone knew it was an empty threat.

"Yes, well, I'm rather excited for Divination," Lavender, who hadn't made it to the N.E.W.T. potions class, said happily.

Hermione muttered under her breath, "You would be," but went unheard.

"Well, at least that is one subject we won't have to suffer through anymore Harry," Ron said brightly.

Harry nodded and Hermione looked down at her watch.

"Well, It's eight twenty-five now boys," she said. "We should probably head toward the dungeons, I for one don't want a detention on the first day back."

The two boys nodded and stood, each giving a kiss to their girlfriends, and the three friends walked through the giant doors.They walked in silence, though it wasn't the kind of silence Hermione enjoyed, it was the awkward, no one has any idea what to say silence, and she couldn't stand it.

"So, what do you think we will have to do today?" she asked nervously, not being able to remember the last time she was nervous around Harry and Ron.

"Probably something hard," Ron said. "He'll take every chance to make asses out of us."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Especially us three."

The conversation stopped there, but Hermione didn't have to come up with a new topic because they had reached the potions room. They walked inside and saw about ten other people already there.

"Thank you, for finally gracing us with your presence, Mr. Potter," Snape drawled. "Five points each, from Gryffindor should teach you not to be late to my class."

"But we were right on time!" Harry exclaimed.

"You were the last one's here, Mr. Potter, therefore making you late, now take a seat before you have a detention."

The trio took their seats at a table near the back of the room and glared ahead at their Professor.

"Today you will be making a truth potion. It is not as strong as Vetereserum, and can easily be overcome by powerful wizards. Your directions," Snape tapped the board with his wand, "Are on the board. You have one hour, get going."

The class hurried to get started, seeing that the potion looked very difficult and would probably take the entire class to make.

About thirty minutes had passed when Snape called out, "Your potions should now be a pink color," before falling silent again.

Harry shook his head angrily, as his potion was a vibrant green, and Ron's a delicate blue. Hermione, however, was being very successful, and her potion was the suggested color. She smiled a bit at this and kept going, push a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and glancing over at Malfoy, who was also looking pleased with himself.

Snape was now beginning to walk around the room, examining everyone's potions. He walked from table to table, finally reaching the trio's.

"Well well, Mr. Potter, I see you will be starting this term off with a zero," he said, glancing at Harry's now brown muck, and vanishing it.

Harry was fuming, but surprisingly didn't say anything, after Hermione whispered "It's not worth it."

The Professor completely skipped over Ron, and looked down at Hermione's, and finding nothing bad to say about it, continued on.

Five minutes before class was over, Snape ordered them to put a sample of their potion in a vile, and clearly write their names on it, to receive marks. After doing this the class headed out, desperate to get away from the hook-nosed teacher.

"Well, at least we don't have any homework," Ron said happily.

"Yeah, I thought he was going to load it on," Harry added.

Hermione wasn't really paying attention to the two, but was watching Draco Malfoy as he walked in front of them, alone.

"I wonder where all his friends are," she thought. "He probably gave them the slip, he didn't seem to like them much anyway. It's a good thing too, they were such horrid people. He should spend his time being with people who will actually get somewhere in life." Hermione found herself surprised she was thinking about Malfoy like this, but knew that he couldn't possibly be all bad. She sighed and continued on to Transfiguration with her two friends, just wanting this day to be over so she could go back to her dormitory and take a nap, as she hadn't gotten much sleep last night. They finally reached the door and Hermione stepped inside, thinking "Soon enough," and took her seat.

A/N-Okay, well there it is. I know this chapter was rather boring, just details that I had to fill in really, but it will get better, I swear. This one also wasn't as long as chapter 2, but it was longer than chapter 1. I'm sorry for taking a little bit to update, but schools been bearing down harder than usual. I will try to update sooner this time, but the one thing that always speeds me up is reviews. So do it.