Amore Rivalita
Chapter 3
"We are pleased to welcome such gifted students of Hogwarts School. I do hope you enjoy your stay here in Rougette. I trust that you know a little on the Italian language?" The Headmaster of Rougette, Professore Antonio Martelli asked, guiding Hermione and Draco to their living quarters, after the introductory feast.
"Yes, sir." Hermione nodded proudly.
"Bene, it won't be a problem then. Here we are…" He sighed, motioning them to come closer to their door.
Hermione was in awe of the door's
size, and the marvelous carvings on the doors. The carvings were like
vines creeping up the doors, with tiny red rubies adorned the doors
as flowers on the vines. The doorknobs were gold with red rubies in
the middle.
The Deputy Headmistress turned the doorknobs and
pushed both doors to reveal a spectacular room. It was a high
ceiling, two-floor room. On their right, was a cozy living room,
complete with a fireplace, two armchairs, and a love seat. On their
left were two shelves of books ('with Hermione squealed in
delight'), two overstuffed arm chair and two wall lamps above the
armchairs. In front of them was a kitchen.
'Looks like my kitchen back home…' Hermione thought.
The kitchen was complete with white marble surface tabletop in the middle, a sink, refrigerator, oven, stove, and a dishwasher lining the walls. The sink was under a long window showing the west courtyard of the school grounds. There was a staircase on the left wall opposite of the little reading area, leading up to their rooms.
"This is where you will be lounging, or doing your homework," The Deputy Headmistress indicated to the right side of the room. "Here, is your reading corner, and that is the kitchen. The food is ever fresh, and always full. You can cook the food yourself anytime you want, but you must attend breakfast, lunch and dinner at the ballroom. Your bed chambers are upstairs; choose which room you like best and lastly the bathroom is conjoined." She explained.
"Have a pleasant night. Tomorrow is a Saturday, so enjoy the day tomorrow. Goodnight." Antonio said, and bowed his head slightly.
"Goodnight." Hermione bowed her head as well.
Hermione and Lidia exchange goodnights; Draco did as well.
Hermione climbed the stairs to choose which room she wanted. She was about to open the door on her right when Draco said,
"I want that room, Granger." She glared at him.
"Fine." Hermione said. "I don't want it anyway. I would rather have a room that is closer to the stairs." With that she stomped to the room on the left.
She slammed the door shut behind her, and sighed. She looked around the room, and fell in love with it straight away. The room was bright with a small chandelier in the middle of the ceiling with four wall lamps and two table lamps on either side of her king sized bed. The walls were a beige colour contrasting with the highly polished wooden floor. She has a four poster bed, and gold silky bed covers, fluffy feathered pillows, and a silky gold comforter. There were five pillows on her bed and a bolster. Hermione had never seen so many pillows on one bed. (She only had two.) There was also a small sitting area in the north west corner of her room; a fireplace with a love seat facing it, with a coffee table in the middle. There was a fluffy white shaggy carpet at the foot of her bed, and opposite her bed was a cupboard and next to it was a dresser.
She could see that her trunk was neatly tucked under her bed, indicating that her clothes were nicely arranged in the wardrobe. She noticed that her pyjamas – pink hot pants with a white spaghetti strap tank top; and toiletries are already set on her bed. She kicked off her shoes, placed it next to her door neatly, and skipped to her dresser, took off her socks and pull the drawer open, putting her now rolled socks inside with her other socks.
She hummed merrily to her bed, picking up her pyjamas and toiletries and made her way to another door, which was white: the bathroom.
She pushed the door open merrily, happy that finally she can take a nice hot shower to freshen up. But the sight that she saw had scarred her for life; she saw Draco Malfoy naked, who was about to step into the shower. And what is more… the walls of the shower were made out of clear glass. You can practically see through it.
She stood there stunned, not knowing that she was staring at Draco's … . She finally snapped her attention back to reality and looked at Draco's amused face.
"Liking what you see, Granger? You can see more, if you would like to join me." He smirked.
Hermione turned a bright shade of red, and quickly shut the door.
"Next time lock the door, you prick!" Hermione shouted at the door.
There wasn't any answer; there was only the sound of the shower being turned on.
Hermione sighed and sat on her bed, waiting for Draco to finish up. She rested her head on the cool silky pillow and pulled her hair up so that her neck would feel the comforting coldness of the pillow and sighed. Draco seems like taking forever to finish and without warning, Hermione drifted slowly off to sleep, dropping her things on the floor. Sub-consciously pulling off her robes, house sweater and necktie; she was left with her white blouse and the gray pleated skirt. She snuggled herself into the comforter and slept.
Hermione woke up and stretched. She groaned unhappily because she didn't take a shower before bed, and she smelled ten times worst than before. She jumped out of bed, picking her toiletries up, and putting her pyjamas on her bed, and rushed to the bathroom. This time, she knocked. There was no answer coming from the other side, and she took it as empty. She pushed the door open and looked around her surroundings.
She didn't notice how beautiful the bathroom was. It was all tiled in white marble and smells fresh. There was a his and hers sinks – Draco has already put his facial wash, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, shaver, shaving cream, hair gel, and comb at his side of the sink – there was the glass shower, next to it was a large bathtub – 'as big as the prefect's bathroom back at Hogwarts' Hermione thought. – And next to the bathtub was a rack for fresh clean towels – face towels and body towels.
Hermione took one of the towels, went to Draco's side of the door, and locked it; then, headed for the shower. She hung the towel on the outside of the door, which had a handle on it, and stripped down, putting her attire neatly on the floor next to the bathtub. She got into the shower and turned on the faucets, letting the warm water hit her face and body. After a while she changed the water from warm to cold, to refresh.
Then, there was a knock.
"Granger!" Draco shouted banging on his door. "Hurry up, you bloody mudblood! I need my shower!"
"Shove off, git! I just got in!" Hermione shouted back, while washing her hair. She took out her vanilla scented shampoo and massaged her temples with it. The smelled soothes her. She loves the smell of vanilla. She even got a vanilla shower gel, so basically the whole bathroom smelled of vanilla by the time Hermione had done her shower. She stepped out, wrapped her towel around her, and grabbed another towel from the rack and wrapped her hair in it. She took out her toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed her teeth. Then took out her facial wash, and washed her face. After she had done all that, she neatly arranged her toiletries beside her sink, and picked up her uniform on the floor.
She went to Draco's door and unlocked it.
"It's all yours!" Hermione shouted, and hurried back to her room.
She dumped her uniform in a laundry basket and opened her wardrobe, by that time; she can hear the water on in the bathroom. Draco was already in the showers.
She looked in her wardrobe and gasped.
What she saw in her wardrobe was shocking to her. She didn't remember bringing 'these' type of clothing here. What happened to her cardigan? Where was her long pencil skirt? When did she bring a miniskirt? She didn't own one… Did she even own this halter top? Why were all her clothes all gone, there were only a few familiar ones, but those were only long cloaks, winter jackets and scarves. It was still hot here, why would you want to wear clocks and winter jackets?
There was one name that popped into her head…
Ginny.
'She switched my clothes when she came into the great hall late, the night of my departure to the Leaky Cauldron! Why, that no good little red head girl…!' Hermione thought angrily. 'I'll send her a howler instead of a letter… Yeah, I'll do that.'
* * *
"Malfoy?! Hurry up! We have to go down to breakfast!" Hermione said, shouting from downstairs, putting on her sneakers.
Since it's a Saturday, she thought of touring around the school, so she wore, blue faded jeans, black tank top, a white sweater over it (since that was the only appropriate clothing that Ginny left her with), and white sneakers. She had her hair in a ponytail, wore a little mascara and eyeliner, and wore silver hoop earrings.
"Don't you dare rush me, Granger. Perfection takes time." Draco said smugly.
"With you, perfection would take forever." Hermione snorted; Draco fumed.
Hermione stood up, and walked out of the door, leaving Draco behind.
Yesterday during the feast, it was very interesting and exciting. Unlike Hogwarts who has only 4 houses, they sit wherever they please. Just like Hermione's grade school, they have homerooms, and that is where they have their interclass rivalry, similar to Hogwarts's inter-house competition, they have trophies to give away to the class with the most merit points. The last winner was Strugiano. The classes were all named after famous Italian witches and wizards. Paolo Strugiano was the founder of the school in the 15th century.
Hermione sat with the students who were in classes Monalir, Toroto, Jinora, Strugiano, Rippontra, and Frintalisco. From what Hermione had heard: Franco Monalir was the first headmaster of Rougette, Monica Toroto was the first witch to work in the Italian Ministry of Magic, and became the first woman Minister. Jean Jinora was the famous women to live over 150 years old, without any means of magic, and had done a lot of charity work before she died. Sono Rippontra was a man, who was curse with good looks, then a girl pulled him into a room and tried to make as if he was raping her, and was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. Lastly, Fran Frintalisco, the one who worked side by side with Paolo Strugiano and helped built the castle, but died before the building finished, cause of a ton of brick came crashing down on him. It was such a tragic death.
During the feast, the Italians were really talkative and friendly. But then Hermione can't help but stare at a boy three tables in front of her. He had black hair with blond highlights, his hair was spiked up everywhere, and not everyone can pull it off, but his was perfect. He was lean and pale. To Hermione, he was beautiful.
She can still remember one of her new friend, Beatrice Malini said to her.
"That is Lucas Theodore Moralis. But we call him Luke. He's dreamy isn't he? He is the hottest boy in school and the richest. Beside him is Edward Hayden Chrisellan. He is Luke's cousin. Both of them are Quidditch players, Luke is the captain of Quidditch. We have competition among other normal Italian magic school."
Hermione tore her eyes from the gorgeous boy and looked at the boy beside him. The boy was just as beautiful as him; with dark blonde hair or was it light brown, it changes colour depends on how the light shines on him. His hair was curly, 'sort of like the surfer dude kind of hairstyle'; he was also as lean as his cousin and as pale.
They were laughing at some girl who just told a joke. Hermione can't help but blushed, seeing how beautiful the girl was. She has a long wavy blonde hair, very slender – the type of body that would make girls envious -, and she was a little tan.
"That is Trishanteanne Rosalie Dawn. She is Luke's girlfriend. Lucky girl... She is basically the school's whore. She can get any boy in bed with a snap of her finger. The girl beside Edward is Isabella Vallerie Walsh. She is Edward's longest girlfriend in his dating history. Seems like they're pretty serious…"
Isabella Vallerie Walsh has long dark brown hair (darker than Hermione's) with curls at the bottom. She was slender as well, but very curvaceous and a little tan as well.
There was also a purpose for Hermione to hurry herself to the hall. She wanted to get another glimpse of Luke.
Hermione arrived at the hall and find her seat next to a girl who she knew from last night, but forgotten her name.
"Hey. Good morning!" Hermione greeted her happily. "Where is Beatrice?"
"Boungiorno, Hermione." The girl yawned. "She's on her way. She's not a morning person."
Hermione laughed and nodded. She picked up a piece of toast, and scramble eggs. She spread the butter on the toast and nibbled on it, waiting for Beatrice to arrive and looking around for Luke. But, he wasn't here. Suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder. Hermione turned around expecting Beatrice but was face to face with a boy with thick glasses and freckles everywhere on his face. He was tan with brown black hair.
"Ciao!" the boy said, and snorted.
"Uhh, Hello." Hermione said uncertainly.
"Mi chiamo Moses Kyle Hansen." He said and took Hermione's toast free hand and shaking it frantically.
"He-hell-hello, Mos-es K-Kyle Han-ss-sen." Hermione said, shaking along. "My n-name is-s Her-mi-on-nee Gra-Granger." Hermione said, pulling her hand back quickly.
"You are so beautiful." He said suddenly. It took Hermione off guard and resulted into choking her toast.
There was someone laughing in the background; Hermione turned to see Draco laughing, clutching his stomach and leaning on a wall for support. Hermione glared at him and turn to face Kyle, who didn't even moved an inch and stood there staring at her, admiringly.
"Th-thank you, Kyle..." Hermione said nervously.
"Leave her alone, Kyle" A voice said behind Kyle. Everybody in the hall quieted down, even Draco, and looked at the person who owns the voice. Hermione can't help be curious herself. She looked around Kyle who had stood frozen in place and saw that it was Luke who has said it.
It immediately made Hermione's heart flutter. Draco looked utterly horrified by the gesture Luke showed for Hermione.
"Go away, Kyle." Luke said simply, and with that Kyle rushed out of the hall. Everyone stare after him, until he was out of sight and turn their attention back towards Luke; who was already making his way towards Hermione. He was smiling and it made Hermione flushed and weak at in the knees. He was simply gorgeous. Whispers broke the silence and people started pointing at Hermione, at Luke, then at Hermione again.
"Boungiorno." Luke greeted Hermione, extending his hand to her.
"Good Morning…" Hermione whispered, shaking his hand. His hand was cold but very comforting.
"May I join you?" He asked suddenly. Hermione just blinked.
Suddenly the girl next to Hermione nudged her and telling her to say yes with her eyes.
"Yeah…sure…sì…" Hermione nodded slowly, she still couldn't believe this gorgeous boy wanted to sit with her.
Where were the others? Where is his girlfriend? Wouldn't she be angry and upset? Questions were building in her mind, while staring at Luke who sat opposite her. Everyone became quiet again, staring at Luke, picking up a toast casually and spread butter and jam, casually.
Luke turned around to see people were still staring…
"Can't I eat in peace?" With that everyone started talking and doing their own business.
"Hermione, I'll see you later, okay?" The girl said to her, and wink.
"We'll see you later, Teresa." Luke said, without looking at her.
That's right…Her name was Teresa… She merely blinked at Luke's answer. She quickly got up and hurried out of the hall.
"So… you are from England, aren't you?" Luke asked biting his toast and pierced Hermione with his eyes. He has beautiful clear blue eyes.
"Yes." It was all that Hermione managed to say.
"You want to tour the school with me, after breakfast?" He asked, biting his toast again.
"Sure." 'What is bloody wrong with you, Hermione?! Say something intelligent, dammit!' Hermione thought. "I'd love too." 'Nice going, idiot'
"Shall we go now? These people's stares are so disturbing." He said, eyeing everyone who was staring at them.
"Yeah…Okay." Hermione said, and put her unfinished toast down.
"Oh! How selfish of me. Please, finish your breakfast first." He said, and gestured at her toast.
"Okay…" Hermione did as she was told.
Truth be told, she felt like a whole different person being in this position. She felt helpless, dependent, and girly. She shudders at the thought. She hated being girly too much, especially like this. She could hold a grip. Besides, Luke is just a guy…right?
But what a gorgeous guy he was…Hermione sighed.
