Disclaimer: The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
Author Notes: Gah, I know this is becoming a bad habit. I really did have half of this chapter written when I posted this last one. But then I started feeling really inadequate after reading my sisterz stories… ugh. I sorry, I will try to be better.
Anywhoo, today we get to see the aftermath of the rave and their first day of school.
The title is from a lecture given to me by my 11th grade English teacher who is the model for Mr. Botton. Actually there isn't much modeling going on. They are basically one and the same. In fact I didn't even change the name, it seemed as though it would be a crime to do so. Sorry Botton but you were so amazingly god-like that it had to be done. Love ya!
Also, a huge thank you and lots of love for my beta and friend brandy_01. She took my mess of a chapter and made it intelligible.
Chapter Seven: Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.
Draco Malfoy didn't do hangovers. Granted, he didn't usually drink as much as he had last night, but he hadn't taken Granger's rejection well. It wasn't his fault that he had reacted to her beauty the night before. If she didn't want that happening around her, then she should cover up her goddamn perfect cleavage. At any rate, he had gotten utterly pissed and was desperately hoping that there was a bottle of hangover potion sitting at the end of his bed.
And thank Merlin and Circe, there was! He uncorked the bottle and threw back his head, pouring down the ungodly (foul?) tasting potion, trying not to let too much of it touch his tongue before laying back down in bed to wait for it to work.
On the other side of the room, Chris was just waking up, thankfully without a hangover. He had taken Hermione's rejection much better than Draco had. Besides, he had been drinking nearly every weekend since he had turned fifteen. So instead of laying in bed moaning as Draco was doing, he was laying in bed thinking of a plan to win the heart of one Hermione Granger.
So far, however, he had nothing.
Well really he knew next to nothing about the girl, except that she had been in a war and she was attracted to her worst enemy, which, if he guessed correctly was none other than Draco Malfoy.
Before he could think any more about his plan, the alarm clock began to chime loudly to the sound of some of the worst country music that he had ever heard, and both boys got out of bed to start getting ready. Well, Chris got out of bed. Draco more or less fell out of bed. It was a very un-Malfoy like move indeed.
Meanwhile, across the hall, Hermione and Julia were throwing the worst hexes they could think of at their poor unfortunate alarm clock. That morning it had awoken them to the sounds of a particularly shrill opera singer singing an aria. Luckily for the clock, the cleverest hexes the two severely hung-over girls could come up with were bat-bogey hexes and they just didn't work on inanimate objects.
Soon enough the girls found the hangover potions and drank them down greedily. They then grabbed their toiletries and headed out to the bathroom.
The communal bathroom. 'Why, in the name of Merlin would they give us a communal bathroom when we have our own private libraries!?' Hermione grumbled to herself.
That morning, she had been unfortunate enough to find herself stuck in said bathroom with the two people she had most wanted to avoid until after the hangover potion had done its job.
Draco was back to looking at her with utter contempt while Chris just looked smug. She wasn't really sure why he looked so smug but she didn't like it one bit. She also didn't like Draco's contempt, but she wasn't sure why it was bothering her so much. After all, if he hated her again wouldn't their world be put back to rights?
Gah! She couldn't think right now. She just needed a nice hot shower. At least there were four shower stalls. She thought she would just about die if she had to wait one second more to get under the streaming hot water.
Jules on the other hand was observing the entire confrontation from the doorway.
Well this is interesting, she thought.
It seemed to her as though both boys had a thing for Hermione, and that things were going to get very interesting. It could also get very bad due to the shared living quarters. Jules decided she would just sit back and watch for now and if things got too crazy she would intervene. But for the time-being, she would just let things unfold as they were meant to.
Twenty-five minutes later, when Hermione stepped out of the shower in just a towel, she found both Chris and Draco brushing their teeth wearing only jeans. Oh, cruel fate why must you punish me so? I saved the world from a psychotic monster don't I deserve normalcy for once? she thought frantically. Wait a second, what am I thinking? There are two gorgeous half naked men in my bathroom and I'm complaining? She laughed out loud to herself and both boys turned around and saw her.
Draco thought she had never looked so pretty as she did right then. She was positively radiant. Then something happened that almost crushed his faith in the world. Chris walked up to her and sniffed her. He actually sniffed her. Draco was on the quick road to devastation when he looked at her face and realized she hadn't liked it. HAHA! Take that Sniffy McSniffsalot!
Inside he was doing the stupidest, victory dance ever, but outwardly he just smirked and then returned to brushing his teeth. Hermione excused herself and practically ran from the bathroom. She had been doing a lot of that lately, and he was going to put an end to it. Next time he and Granger met up there would be no more running.
Safely back in her room, Hermione considered her situation. She had two highly attractive men, both attracted to her. She was living every girls fantasy, wasn't she?Either way, she didn't like it- at all. She would have settled for one reasonably good-looking man being attracted to her, and that was all she needed. Instead she got drama. Drama, with a capital "D". And as far she could tell, this was not going to end well for anyone involved.
"Oh cheer up, woman!" Jules chided.
Hermione jumped, she hadn't even seen Jules there. So much for 'Constant Vigilance'.
"I'd be jumping for joy if I was in your shoes. You have the two hottest guys in the school after you. Either way you win."
Hermione chucked. Jules was obviously a 'Glass Half Full' kind of girl.
"I guess you're right," she agreed.
"Of course I am. Now let's figure out what you are going to wear today, because as good as you look in that towel, it isn't exactly up to dress code."
And so they started the never-ending search for something to wear. They finally decided on a green sundress for Hermione and a pink tee-shirt and Bermudas for Jules. Then, after doing their hair and make-up, they went down to breakfast. Good gods, Hermione thought, it is such a pain in the arse trying to look pretty.
Draco had never seen so many breakfast cereals in his life. There must have been two dozen different varieties altogether. It was slightly overwhelming and he got the terrible feeling that he was going to drown in the midst of a sea of Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Cookie Crisp.
When Hermione arrived she was looking at him with a worried expression. "Malfoy are you okay? You look like you're ready to pass out."
"Oh yes I'm fine," he told her. Much better now, he thought. He then chose the nice and safe looking box of Cheerios to his left.
Hermione also had a bowl of Cheerios, which, for some reason made him smile. Perhaps it was because they now had something in common – They had both chosen the safe and average-looking cereal. One that Draco would soon come to find, was far more delicious than any of the other colorful, sugary cereals surrounding them.' Cheerios had suddenly become his favorite breakfast item.
Hermione, however, was amidst another "freak out". She couldn't find the pumpkin juice. She had had pumpkin juice every morning for the last six years of her life. She had even special ordered some and had it delivered to her house so she could drink it on the holidays, and now there was none. For some reason, changing schools had not freaked her out as much as the lack of pumpkin juice was. It was as if she had thought that even though everything else in her life was changing, the juice would be the constant. And now, even that wasn't.
She knew she was hyperventilating, but she just couldn't stop. Jules was trying to get her to take steady breaths and to tell her what was wrong.
"No… juice… pumpkin… changing… everything… constant…" she sputtered incoherently.
Somehow Draco had managed to figure out that Hermione wanted a glass of pumpkin juice and transfigured a glass of water into one. Chris decided not to ask how he knew how to do that already. He figured Hermione and Draco both knew a lot more magic than they should.
Hermione greedily drank down the juice and finally calmed down enough to thank Draco and apologize for her behavior. He told her not to worry about it and that he had also noticed the lack of his favorite beverage. Chris and Jules were just wondering what in the world pumpkin juice was seeing as they were fairly certain you just couldn't juice a pumpkin. So Draco conjured up two more glasses of the sweet liquid and they tried it.
"Wow," Jules exclaimed. "Thatt is amazing! We have to get them to start serving this here."
Chris only grunted a reply as he was still a bit miffed at Hermione's reaction to him in the shower that morning.
"Well, we should get going! Class starts in just a few minutes," Hermione chirped, excited about starting school again.
"Granger, class doesn't start for half an hour and none of us have finished our breakfast." Draco intoned.
Hermione sighed, "Draco we don't want to be late on our first day here. It would look bad for Hogwarts. Besides all the good seats will be gone."
Draco knew that to Granger a "good seat" was one that was right under the professor's nose, so he didn't particularly mind losing it. However, for some reason he didn't feel like upsetting her so he agreed to go but only if they sat where he chose.
"Alright," Hermione agreed apprehensively. She figured Draco would want to sit in the back somewhere, but maybe Jules and Chris could convince him to compromise.
When they reached the class room, every single seat was still available, so acting like the prat he was, Draco elbowed Hermione and teased her.
"I told you so…" he murmured.
Hermione stomped off in a huff and sat in the middle of the room leaving the rest of them to sit next to her. Jules sat down on her left with a grin. She never imagined that the exchange students would be so… entertaining.
A few minutes later, after the rest of the class had filed in, their Ancient Runes teacher strode into the room. She had short, wiry, gray hair and looked to be about five foot six. Her brisk pace reminded Hermione of Professor McGonagall, but she quickly realized this woman was nothing like her beloved Head of House and mentor.
The minute the teacher opened her mouth to give her introductions, Draco could tell that he was not going to like this class. The woman was just plain rude, and not in the endearing and sarcastic way of Professor Snape. No, this woman made it clear that she was too good for her job and that she planned on quitting as soon as she found something else.
"Welcome to all of the new ingrates. We all know this year isn't going to be any better than any of the other years you have attended here at this 'lovely institution', so I won't even bother telling you that I think we will have a good time. In fact, this year is bound to be just as boringly monotonous as every other year this place has been open, so get used to it." Mrs. Wild proclaimed right off the bat.
Hermione did not like this woman one bit. What kind of teacher started the year off like that? At least Snape had been sarcastic and everyone knew he just enjoyed making students want to piss their pants. But Mrs. Wild just seemed to genuinely despise her job. What was the point of her even being here if she was just going to be unpleasant?
Ancient Runes dragged on for the rest of the hour and every student walked out in a gloomy mood. Wild was enough to make Hermione consider dropping the subject, until she remembered that that would mean dropping a class, something she had vowed never to do again after the Trelawney debacle.
Draco, for one, was used to unpleasantness. He was the son of Lucius Malfoy and the godson of Severus Snape after all. But even he was ready to drop that class as though it were a hot potato.
Chris and Jules were somewhat immune to "Woeful Wild" by this point, but sympathized with their classmates. She had been that way since she took the position during their second year. Jules used to like to romanticize that the reason she was so sour was because she had been dumped by the love of her she has since come to realize that the woman just had a tree trunk up her arse.
The next few hours passed without much ado and Hermione felt like she was settling quite nicely. The course work had been fairly close to where she had left off at Hogwarts so far and their American History class had gone smoothly.
As they made their way to American Literature, Jules excitedly expressed that it was her favorite class. "Botton is the best teacher I have ever had in my entire life!" she gushed.
Chris rolled his eyes at that. He knew that Jules harbored a not-so-secret crush on their English teacher and it was almost sickening. Why couldn't girls just be content with guys who were in their own league? Why did they always have to lust after the unattainable ones? She was just going to get hurt and he could picture it happening.
Jules continued to sing Botton's praises until they reached the classroom and she had Hermione so excited about the class that they both seemed to be vibrating with anticipation. Draco, however, was betting the guy wasn't nearly as great as Jules thought he was, but he was willing to give him a chance.
As they walked into the classroom, it seemed as though everyone in the class had tried to get there as soon as possible. The newcomers found the only group of seats left and began to prepare for the lesson.
A few minutes after they had settled in, the doors burst open and a middle aged man with dark hair, a goatee, and sunglasses rode in on a skateboard. He rode up to his desk, did a kick flip and landed front and center ready to begin his opening lecture.
Draco had to say, even he was impressed. He could not imagine any of the professors from Hogwarts riding into class on a skateboard. Well he could, but it would just never have happened. The mental image of McGonagall riding a skateboard was possibly the funniest thing he'd ever thought of in his life. He made a mental note to tell Hermione about that little brain wave later.
Chris, however, was utterly unimpressed. He'd seen it all before. Botton had done the same thing every year since he started teaching at Washington, and in his opinion, it was getting old. He had been sorely tempted to hex the skateboard when he saw the doors open, but thought better of it. He was Head Boy after all and although he didn't always take the position seriously, he knew better than to assault a teacher.
Hermione was captivated by Botton's lecture. He spoke of finding yourself, expanding your horizons, and how they, as students, needed to do as much as they could to find themselves now so that they wouldn't flounder around later in life. His lecture went all over the map and back again and she instantly knew that she would love this class. She felt that it would be exactly what she needed to get back on her feet.
The lesson passed quickly and before they knew it the bell was ringing and they had to move on. The rest of the day passed in a blur of lectures, note taking, and hand cramps.
By the time the students sat down to dinner they were all knackered and ate without as much gusto as they had in the morning. What little conversation that was had was centered on the day's lessons and expectations for the next day. As Hermione climbed into bed that night, she felt confident about the upcoming year and couldn't wait to really get started.
Author's End Notes: 'Why, in the name of Merlin would they give us a communal bathroom when we have our own private library!?' Because my dear Granger I am a cruel and twisted authoress, and also if I didn't you wouldn't have gotten two see two half naked Adonis'. Lol.
Also sorry if Hermione and Draco seem overly melodramatic but I did warn you that this was very AU/OOC.
Also, as some of you may already know, I have taken on a TON of projects recently. I write monthly fics for my writing group, I joined the Draco Big Bang as an author and a cheerleader, I have this WIP and a couple others, AND I'm a student at Uni. So needless to say, my life is a little crazy right now. I am going to apologize in advance because I know that the speed of updates is not going to be acceptable for the next few months. I'm sorry. I hope you still love me.
