As the Sun Rises
Imperiused
-x-
The first week went by in a flash. Well, except the period after lunch on both Thursday and Friday. In fact, Hermione's going to hate said lesson every week for the rest of the year, despite the fact that it was the only subject which had combined lessons with the other class.
No, she doesn't have a grudge against that subject. Honestly, she was quite fond of it. However, on Thursday, their first lesson… Well, she didn't really want to think about it.
She's definitely not looking forward to Muggle Literature.
-x-
"Good afternoon!"
Ms Lilith Chua, a lovable, plump little woman who liked to keep her hair in a messy bun and dressed in bright colours, strolled happily into the hall, which was cleared of the benches and tables.
Ms Chua taught Muggle Studies, which was split into 3 components, Muggle History, Muggle Lit and Understanding Muggles. Doesov's vision to nurture adaptable students who can work hand in hand with muggles made this a compulsory subject for all students.
"The theme for this year's production is 'Shakespeare', and we will be working on 'Romeo and Juliet'! The OWLs examinations for Muggle Studies will be based on this production, and all of you will have the same grade, so I expect you to do your best and help each other during the process!"
So, they would be spending four hours weekly to prepare for a year-end production. That seemed easy enough. Hermione already read 'Romeo and Juliet' thrice and was very familiar with the story. She crossed her fingers and prayed to be part of the special effects crew.
Ms Chua swished her wand. A blackboard appeared out of nowhere and a piece of chalk began scribbling names onto the blackboard furiously.
"Now, let's decide on the casting!" Ms Chua winked at the group sitting at the back of the class. Hermione's trouble-sensor went on red-alert.
A girl with light brown hair took out a piece of parchment an a quill. She dipped the quill in ink and began copying whatever was written on the blackboard.
Jaime nudged Castiel, who nudged Jason, who grinned back in return. A message seemed to be transmitted through the three of them. Something is definitely not right. Their behavior reminded Hermione of Fred and George, though theirs was always based on twin 'telepathy'. And when Fred and George were involved...
"For the role of Juliet…"
"HERMIONE!" Jaime's hand shot in the air as quickly as Hermione's had during her first lesson in Hogwarts.
Hermione glowered at her. "I object!"
The chalk wrote Hermione's name next to 'Juliet' on the blackboard.
"Anyone seconds the nomination?"
Jason took out his wand and casually flicked it. Slowly, as though they were being imperiused, the entire class raised their hands. Harry and Ron gave Jason a thumbs-up as the rest of the group sniggered away. Hermione just sat there and glared as the chalk set itself back onto the box.
Great.
"Well, who wants to be the handsome Romeo?"
"D-RA-CO!" Jason said in between coughs.
Hermione buried her face in her hands. So that's what they're up to. She crossed her fingers and wished that Harry would do something about it. Maybe Ron can, he certainly wouldn't want Draco Malfoy as the main lead...
The chalk scribbled away as the brown haired girl wrote something onto her piece of parchment. Ms Chua's eyes quickly scanned through the little note. She smiled at the girl, whispered something in response and faced the class once again.
"Who's Romeo?" Malfoy whispered to Castiel.
Apparently, a pureblood like Malfoy hasn't been exposed to one of the most famous plays in the muggle world.
"Oh, he's Juliet's sworn enemy. They quarrel all the time and Romeo ends up killing her after a heated discussion."
Malfoy shrugged and smiled. "Sure."
"All in favour?"
This time, Jaime gave her wand a quick flick and the class raised their hands once again. Hermione could feel her face burn under her hands, dying from the embarrassment. Harry patted her shoulder to show his sympathy.
"Don't worry, 'Mione, it's only a play!"
"That wasn't comforting at all, Harry." Hermione snapped.
"What's wrong, Granger? Can't stand pretending to die by my hands?"
"I'm perfectly alright with you killing me, but-"
"Malfoy, Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers. You have to commit suicide by drinking poison after crying buckets when you see Hermione lying motionless in a tomb. When Hermione wakes up from the draught of living death," Harry explained.
"WHILE SHE IS IN YOUR ARMS," Jason emphasized.
"She couldn't believe that you're dead and kills herself to join you in the afterlife."
"WHILE YOU ARE 'HUGGING' HER." Jason emphasised again. "Although a dead man can't hug, but still."
The colour drained from Malfoy's face. "OI, CAS! YOU LIED TO ME!"
However, before anyone noticed, Castiel, Jaime and Jason had already moved to a place all the way at the back of the hall, far away from Romeo and Juliet, with a protective shield around them, clutching their stomachs and laughing away.
"Well, Draco, he was right about Romeo being the cause of Juliet's death."
Malfoy directed his death glare at Zabini, who inched away from him and towards Neville.
"What are these three little pigs doing?" Ms Chua undid the shield and stood with her hands on her hips, giving them a quick wink before raising her eyebrows at the three of them.
-x-
Life is unfair. Especially when there are three people who decided to act like Jane Austen's Emma. Harry seemed highly amused when he got the role of Friar Lawrence, and kept going on about how weird he would feel to be 'uniting' his enemy and best friend.
Ron, who got the role of Tybalt, swore he'd stab Malfoy to death during one of the fights, even though it was not part of the script. "The script can go to hell! I'm being spontaneous." The redhead exclaimed the moment he got his role.
Jaime got the role of Paris, Juliet's suitor. She practically begged the class to give her the role. She would make a rather handsome man anyway, and no other guy wanted to compete with her.
She wasn't the only one who got a role of the opposite sex. Bong was casted as Juliet's Nurse, voted by the rest of the class consciously as they thought his size suited the Nurse's image.
The three 'Emma's wouldn't stop laughing and teasing Romeo and Juliet throughout the lessons, even after the class discussion and planning session.
-x-
"We didn't curse them!" Jason insisted at dinner. "We discussed it openly as a class when you guys had to meet your professor. Everyone thought the lead roles should go to you guys and well, we all agreed on you two!"
"But you flicked your wand!" Ron argued. "You used an unforgivable!"
"Oh come on, Ron. They're our age, how could they have the power to control a class? Even Voldemort can't control all his lackeys." Harry reasoned.
Malfoy choked when he heard the name.
"Nah, all we did was change the colour of the chalk! That was the signal to raise their hands." Castiel explained. "The twins thought it would be cool to look like they knew a spell to command the class."
"And the class always plays along with them." Klarissa sighed. "Like how we're not seated at our own house table right now. They almost always get things done their way."
Jaime pretended to look hurt at that accusation. "Who's Voldemort?" She asked, attempting to change the topic.
Malfoy refused to talk to anyone except Blaise, obviously still miffed at the whole incident and partially to avoid being dragged into the conversation. Hermione stared at the blonde, suddenly feeling a little sorry for him.
"We'll tell you about him another day!" Hermione said as the bell signalled the end of dinner.
-x-
There were no lessons after lunch on Saturday.
"How about a round of quidditch?" Ron suggested while piling his plate with stir fried noodles.
"I'm playing seeker!" Harry and Malfoy said at the same time. They turned and faced each other, the rivalry between them resurfacing.
"Bring it on!" They said in sync again.
"Even if you do get the snitch, I really doubt you'll win this time, Harry." Luna mused as she suddenly appeared behind them.
"Wrackspurts again?" Castiel asked. He was the only one who believed her, besides Neville, or the only one that bothered to entertain her by playing along. He probably believes her, judging from how he subscribed to the Quibbler after he chatted with Luna during the feast on the first day.
"You can't see them without a pair of Spectrespecs, but the two of them are probably attracting quite a lot." She replied, staring at the empty space between Harry and Malfoy, who were, amazingly, sitting next to each other.
-x-
In the short two hours, news of the upcoming quidditch match has spread throughout the small school. As Harry walked to the pitch with his FireBolt in his hand, he received well wishes from various students who were also heading in the same direction. As the trio reached the oval shaped arena, almost half of the seats were filled.
"Harry, our team..." Ron looked a little queasy. "We can't play with just the two of us!"
The trio reached what seemed like a gym under one of the stands. Already waiting for them was Cho in a royal purple quidditch robe, along with Neville, Bob, Klarissa and surprisingly, Blaise Zabini.
"Who ever said we didn't have a team?" Harry said, beaming at the team he managed to assemble.
"B-but we have Neville!" Ron hissed, making sure he couldn't be heard. "And a bloody Slytherin! You're barmy!"
Harry simply shrugged. Hermione threw Ron a look that made him shut up and he went off to collect the school brooms for his teammates.
Their opponents, who were dressed in black quidditch robes with gold trims, were already huddled in a corner, discussing their strategy. Hermione spotted the twins, Castiel, Benjamin (call me 'Bong'!), two other rather small looking Doesov students, and Draco Malfoy.
"Hannah's waiting for us in one of the stands in the middle, and Zacharias is commentating." Luna said dreamily.
Hermione looked at the girl that seemed to like appearing out of nowhere. She gave Harry a quick hug before walking out with Luna, who was happily whistling a weird tune.
"It's to chase the wrackspurts away. I hope Harry wins."
She's not that bad after all, Hermione thought, and she whistled along.
-x-
Two hours into the game, a larger crowd had gathered, including some of the teachers. Hermione spotted their muggle studies teacher, who was wearing an outstanding pink dress.
The game was intense. After two hours, there was no clear winner as both teams were equally strong. Neville, to Ron's surprise, mounted the broom with ease and had the strength to hit the bludgers far away, though he almost killed his members once or twice. Thankfully, Bob was around to send them towards their opponents. Klarissa, Zabini and Cho, moved swiftly and passed the quaffle to each other with perfect ease.
Bong, the oversized keeper of the opposing team, was able to block almost the entire hoop, though he did move very slowly between them due to his weight. Blaise exploited this by luring Bong to one hoop before quickly throwing the quaffle to Cho, who scored using the other hoop. The two small beaters were strong for their size and sent bludgers flying towards their opponents. However, the bludgers lacked force and were easily diverted by the much stronger Neville and Bob.
The seemingly poor defense of the opposing team was offset by their strong chaser team. It was almost impossible to steal the quaffle once it landed in the trio's hands. The three of them wove smoothly between the other players and made accurate passes without communicating. Their perfect coordination and teamwork scored goals which brought the game to a point where no winner could be determined.
Everyone gripped their seats tightly as both seekers started nosediving before making a sharp turn, nearly crashing into the field. Harry flew next to Malfoy, who was stretching his hands out to reach for the snitch. As his hand was hovering over it, Harry's hand shot out. The snitch, sensing danger, suddenly sped towards the clear blue sky. Both seekers followed almost immediately.
The quidditch game, Hermione noticed, had stopped. Everyone, including the players, were staring in anticipation at Hogwarts' best seekers.
Neville saw a bludger coming his way and hit it with all the might he could muster. The bludger shot into the sky, heading towards the direction of the stitch. Every spectator and player held their breath as they watch bludger hit Harry in the stomach.
His grip on the FireBolt loosened. The whole arena was silent and stared in horror as the boy fell from his broom. Hermione covered her eyes, not wanting to see her best friend hit the ground.
All of a sudden, Hermione heard a thunderous applause as the spectators once again erupted into cheers. Hermione opened her eyes.
Draco Malfoy was in somewhat of a sloth-grip-roll stance, his left hand gripping tightly to his broom while his legs were crossed to keep him from falling. His right hand was holding on to none other than Harry Potter, who was grinning like an idiot. Neville had a hand clutching his chest, his face drained of colour. The rest of the players simply sat on their brooms, stunned.
Hermione watched as Harry reached out to catch the snitch, which was flying under Malfoy's butt.
"And Harry Potter is going to bring the first vic-"
Several girls screamed as Malfoy let go of his broom. Hermione's heart almost leapt out of her mouth when she saw both seekers hanging in mid-air, Harry holding on to Malfoy, who was hanging upside down with only his legs crossed around his broomstick. That idiot!
Ron, waking up from his trance, extracted his wand from inside his quidditch robes and summoned the FireBolt which had crashed into the field below. He passed Harry his broom and helped Malfoy get back up.
"And the game resumes!" Zacharias announced.
Malfoy opened his fists and held something shiny between his fingers, grinning madly. Hermione heard a few girls squeal behind her, swooning over how handsome he looked holding the damned snitch. He's still an idiot, Hermione thought, ignoring the fangirls behind her.
"AAAAAAAAND DRACO MALFOY STEALS AN EXCITING WIN FOR THE BLACK TEAM!"
Hermione dragged Luna and Hannah down to the field before the players even descended from the playing field.
When Harry reached the ground, she ran over to him and gave him a tight hug.
"I'm alright, 'Mione!"
"I won, Potter!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed.
Hermione glared at the idiot that risked his (and her best friend's) life just to win a stupid match. He cocked his head in response and smiled triumphantly.
"Idiot." She muttered.
"You do realize its the first time you ever caught a snitch when I'm around, right?"
"It's still my win, Potter."
"Harry Potter three, Draco Malfoy one. Thanks to you, I don't have to visit the hospital wing."
"You will still be going, Harry Potter. You got to have that stomach checked out."
"Aw 'Mione, I'm really alright! Thanks for the save, Draco." Harry said, pushing Hermione towards Neville, who looked like he was about to faint.
Malfoy looked a little shocked at being addressed on a first name basis.
"Well, I was just trying to show off my superb quidditch skills."
Hermione laughed a little too loudly, earning a look of disapproval from Malfoy.
"Let's take a photo!" Jaime shouted, handing a camera to a classmate.
The two teams plus Hermione and Luna huddled together, Malfoy standing with an arm slung around Harry with a snitch in his hand and the other around Blaise.
SNAP.
The photograph slid out of a hole at the bottom of the camera a few seconds after the photograph was taken.
"Where did you get that?" Jason pointed, jealous that his sister had a camera.
"Uncle Jacque gave it to me the other day! He says I should take as many pictures as possible to make into a scrapbook at the end of the year…"
Jason rolled his eyes as though the answer was expected and Castiel mouthed what seemed like 'You still bothered to ask' before raising the eyebrow that was not hidden behind his fringe.
A crowd of students swamped both teams, congratulating both for the most exciting game in Doesov's history.
-x-
September and October went in a flurry as everyone struggled with the hectic workload. They spent a few weeks perfecting their Patronuses during DADA. Everyone managed to conjure one, including Neville, who was never very good in magic, except Herbology.
History of Magic was boring. The teacher talked in the same monotonous voice that put the class to sleep, just like Professor Binns, except she was alive and younger than him. At least she talked about other things, some of which was tied with muggle history. She didn't even bother waking people who fell asleep. Ron was practically snoring during the lesson, but Mrs Kwan just droned on and on and on.
During Potions, all they did was copying and planning mind maps for the first half hour. Ms Goh believed that mind maps were incredibly beneficial, hence, before every potion they brew, they must create a one which includes the properties, ingredients, side effects and process of brewing. For the next hour and a half, they would brew their potion while Ms Goh took a nap or walked around the class, commenting on their mind maps, mostly to tell them that they did not use enough colours, or that the handwriting was illegible, asking them to improvise them as homework.
Muggle Studies was fun, since Ms Chua was bright and bubbly every lesson, engaging them in conversations and planning activities for them to learn with, such as a council debate, where they tried to come up with feasible ways to end World War II. For the Muggle Lit production, the scripts were finalized and the props were being designed. For the first two weeks, Harry and Ron had to grab Hermione before she bolted to the library after her meal.
Charms and Transfiguration were average, as most lessons always were. There was a fair amount of theory and practical, though they didn't have to write foot long essays as homework. Mr Shine taught them a charm that made a note yell its contents at a person, much like a howler (and the sticky note sent by the library). Hermione's yelled at Ron, Harry's too, and even Draco Malfoy's, while Ron's seem to always yell at himself, much to his despair.
They befriended fairies, pixies and woodland elves during Care for Magical Creatures. A girl with long, black hair, seems to always find points to argue with Ms Tay, insisting that she was right, to the extent that the teacher ignores the girl completely. However, the class, with the exception of Hermione who rolled her eyes every time the girl raised her hands, didn't bother as it makes the short lectures bearable.
Neville almost got swallowed by a carnivorous plant during Herbology when he prodded it with his finger, curious at what the huge plant does. Luna had to use a broom to jab it continuously to distract the carnivorous plant while Bong and Pei Yin grabbed Neville's leg to pull him out, all of them running away before the plant decides to attack again. Ms Chen gave them a disapproving look, 'tsk-ed', and resumed her lessons, picking on Neville every time she has a difficult question which she thinks he can't answer. But he always could.
-x-
October wouldn't be complete without Halloween.
"Our annual Halloween Party will be held on the last Sunday of October." Ms Yup announced after dessert one night. The entire school cheered, forgetting about the treats on the tables before them. "We have not forgotten the enthusiasm you have showed in previous parties, and I can never forget how absolutely charming you look in your ghostly getups."
Hermione saw their Herbology teacher cringe.
"The Head Boy last year dressed as a zombie and followed her back to the teacher's cottage. He 'haunted' her outside her window. We helped him look so rotten that she never really recovered from the fright." Jason boasted.
"This year, we would like to embark on a different theme. We will be holding a Shakespearean Masquerade Ball, right here in our hall!" The Principle clapped her hands together, looking pleased at her announcement. Several students groaned.
"But I already bought my fake blood and makeup!" A student complained.
"Now now, costumes and dresses will be available for rent starting this Sunday! They will be absolutely free of charge, but please be reminded that you can only pick one. Of course, your makeup can still be put into good use..." Ms Yup gave a little wink. "That's all I'm going to reveal!" With that, she smiled and returned to her half eaten banana split.
Costumes, dresses and suits from the medieval era could be rented from a small tent in front of Uncle Jacque's house on Sundays. Every Sunday following the announcement, the tent, which eventually became two, one for each gender, was constantly filled with racks and racks of clothes which replenishes every few hours. The entire gang managed to sneak in one Saturday, with the tacit approval from Uncle Jacque. Everyone was looking forward to the ball the teachers have organized, which promised to be an unforgettable one.
-x-
On the morning of the Masquerade, Jaime pounced onto Hermione, who was just getting up from bed. Hermione pushed her away, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"This is the first time you're so bubbly. Whatever happened to the morning menace?" Hermione sat up from her bed and blinked at the oddly cheerful Jaime, who she had learned to shun before washing up.
"Hey 'Mione, do you want to change your hairstyle? How about getting straight hair for a long long time!"
Hermione thought for a moment. It would be nice to get rid of this bushy hair without spending hours using hair products like she did last year for the Yule Ball.
"How...?"
Without wasting time, Jaime dragged Hermione out of bed, heading towards the door to wash up.
"Hurry up then! If you don't like what he did to your hair, you can always use reparo to fix it, I think."
"Where are we going?" Hermione questioned as Jaime pulled Hermione out of the door.
"My favourite hair salon! Uncle Jacque is good, trust me!"