Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
When I woke up, all I could see as I looked outside my window was a thick fog covering the landscape. It looked so beautiful, especially since you could see the peaks of the green-robed mountains of the Scottish highlands amongst the miniscule beads of water. I check the time and see that it's just after 7 am. I head to the adjoining bathroom that I share with Draco and freeze.
It took me awhile to realize it, I guess it was the mind-muddling effects of sleep, but I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be in my room, I shouldn't have woken up in my bed covered in blankets. I should have woken up with a crick in my neck, at the top of the Astronomy tower, overlooking the lake. This means one of two things; either I managed to sleep walk all the way back to my bed, or someone found me and brought me back. Based on the fact that I was gently tucked into bed and the password had been changed just two days ago so only Draco and I knew it, I'd be willing to bet 20 galleons that Draco brought me back in the middle of the night.
I groan into my hands in the middle of my room. "Why does he have to be so sweet, and caring, and wonderful?" I mutter to myself. I keep trying to push him away so I don't hurt him, and in the meantime he keeps coming back to save me and look out for me.
I push all my confusing and emotional thoughts and feelings to the side of my mind for now, resolving to focus on getting ready for class first so I don't end up late. I walk back to my trunk to grab a clean uniform before going to the bathroom to get changed and ready for breakfast.
Splashing water onto my face, I try to wake myself up and be more alert. I put on my uniform and decide to wear my thinner more flowing robes today, not that different from my usual robes but they feel much lighter and I feel like I can breathe more easily in them. I try to pull my hair into a bun so it stays out of my face for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it refuses to stay put today. I give up and put it in a half-up/half-down hairstyle. Once I've done a once over of my appearance, I gather my belongings and take them back to the trunk in my room.
After putting everything back, I walk out of my room, then my dorm, and head to the Great Hall
"Do I have to do it with Granger?" Whines Pansy as Professor Morningfold explains that everyone else has a partner and maybe next time she should decide faster. I just ignore her and continue taking notes on the details of the assignment, making sure to jot down the various ideas I have floating around in my head. Funnily enough, I don't find her as annoying or grating as I used to, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's better, I could just be building up immunity to her. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that I know she isn't as annoying when we're working together. Perhaps Ron isn't completely crazy.
It's strange to think that Ron is actually here, back at Hogwarts now. It's even stranger to think that Ron and Pansy are now best friends. I'm not quite sure if they're actually dating or anything, but even just being friends is so weird. I mean, this is the same Ron who actually assaulted Draco for dating me. I guess this how he and everyone else felt when I started hanging out and later dating Draco, though that last part has stopped now, thanks to me.
We have to do a research project worth 10% of our final grade and the Professor wanted us to work with people outside of our house. I may be completely supportive of house unity, but the teachers this semester are taking it a little far in my opinion. This is the 12th project I've been her partner in and it's actually quite annoying. It's gotten to the point where I can recite her entire schedule from memory even though she's never once showed it to me. I just take in information when she mentions it and I've guessed the rest. So far I haven't been wrong.
I begin to map out a study/research/project guide based on the due date, her free periods, allowing time for the rest of our schoolwork, and giving extra time for the rest of her life. Once I've sorted that out, I create a duplicate of the chart using a spell I learnt from an older Ravenclaw student back in third year when I was doing more advanced courses.
When Pansy finally stops ranting enough to realize that I'm already doing stuff, she leans over my shoulder to see exactly what I've done so far.
"How do you know my schedule?" She asks when she sees what I'm duplicating. I resist the urge to smirk and instead look the other way. "Even I have trouble remembering it." She says when I don't respond. She then reaches down and takes one of the copies. After examining it she tells me that she can't make one of the sessions next week because she has a meeting with someone.
"Okay, is there another time we could meet up instead?" I ask her.
"Um, not really. Actually maybe just after our afternoon class. We can just grab some plates of food from the kitchens on our way to the library. Although, I'm reluctant to actually have to talk with the house elves. They don't really like me." I resist the urge to reply with a snarky comment, but if I had it would have been along the lines of either, 'well neither does anyone else' or 'I wouldn't either if I'd been subjected to torture from your families'. However I'm sure that those kind of comments wouldn't help at all and I'd like to get out of this project unscathed. If I'd said that I'm sure Pansy would have loved nothing more than to hex or curse me.
"Yeah that's fine. May I ask whom you're meeting?" I ask politely.
She turns away and mumbles her response so I can't hear what she's saying. I have a guess as to who she's meeting but I'd like to know for sure.
"Sorry I couldn't hear you."
"Weasel." She says in a very quiet voice. I want to tell her that she's crazy and that they'll never work. That they're both very prejudiced and that their families are so different but then I stop. I remember how it was when Draco and I started dating. People kept telling us that we were crazy. Everyone thought it was a joke and it didn't feel very nice. Instead I decide to be a little nicer.
"That's fine. So how are you and Ron doing?" I ask her. I'm actually quite curious to know exactly what's going on between them.
"I mean we're doing okay. He can be a little thick and hot-headed sometimes but not any more than me so... and he puts up with me and my antics so it feels nice. He isn't as bad as I used to think he was. I guess you aren't either now that I've spent more time with both of you. Though I do think that your fashion sense is a disaster." I'm surprised to hear her compliment me. I didn't expect that at all. I did however expect the insult.
We go the rest of the period just figuring out what we should research and how we'll split up the work for our study sessions and reading later on. I leave a little distracted, still surprised that Pansy was actually kind of nice to me for once and that I was nice to her.
I enter into Draco's and my dorm room and kick my shoes off, leaving them by the little coat hooks at the entrance. My bag is heavy with all of the notes and books I picked up at the library for my Ancient Studies assignment and I put it down on the floor next to 'my' couch. I go over to the kitchenette to make myself a cup of tea so that I can try and relax my buzzing brain. I look in the sink and see that Draco left his cup in the sink along with another plate without washing them out or even soaking them. Instead they're just sitting there becoming harder and harder to clean. I resist the urge to scream in frustration but I still hit my head against the counter so I can vent some of the annoyance I feel.
I hear footsteps behind me and I turn around to see Draco just getting to the bottom of the stairs staring at me with a slightly worried and confused expression. I just glare at him and turn on the sink as forcefully as possible. I pull out a sponge and I scrub the dishes in the sink. I angrily clean them before drying them and putting them back into the cupboard, almost breaking the mug.
"Hermione what on Earth are you doing? Did you knock a few screws loose when you banged your head against the table just now? I'd rather not have to go McGonagall and explain that you broke the dishes in our dorm because you smashed them in a fit of rage."
I stare at him incredulously and I'm almost certain that my eye is twitching a bit. "You left your dishes in the sink and you didn't even soak them." I say in a scarily calm voice.
"So that means you can throw a fit and smash dishes. Okay. Hermione you're being ridiculous. These things you keep getting annoyed at, the dishes today, the way the cushions on the couch were arranged two days ago, the fact that your essay the other day had a tiny rip in the corner so you rewrote the entire thing? You're driving me insane! And then you get mad at me for every tiny little thing. It's not even like I've done anything particularly wrong, it's just little things! It bothers me even more because I keep having to take care of you like yesterday when you fell asleep on the tower. I can understand if you don't want a relationship, but that doesn't give you an excuse to go crazy!"
Draco doesn't usually get frustrated with me for anything so I'm a little shocked at first. Then I realize the logic of what he's saying, and the lack thereof in my actions. "I'm sorry Draco, I didn't realize that I was being such an annoyance. I'll try to be less nit-picky." I say.
"No, it's alright Hermione. Just try to not be as easily angered. I know you're not having a great time at the moment, but you have to be careful to not take it out on the people around you."
"Okay, sorry again." I say. We just kind of stop talking and fall into an uncomfortable silence instead. It feels suffocating and I leave the kitchenette without making my tea in the end. I pick up my books and bag from beside the couch and take them up to my room. When I get up, I see Nat asleep on my bed and I go over to sit next to her and give her a rub. I haven't has much time recently to spend with her so I just relax and try to calm the busy thoughts in my head. Soon I can no longer keep my eyes open any longer and I fall asleep on the bed still wearing my uniform once again, just like last night. The difference being that I'm now warm and comfortable.
Author's Note: Thanks all of you for getting me to 19 reviews, special thanks to LunarCry, you've posted a total of 4 reviews, 20% of them. Can we try for 20? It's only one more review and 20 is a nice friendly number, so is 25 in case you were wondering. Please review, I love hearing from you guys! Have a good Easter weekend if you celebrate it and enjoy your weekend folks. Thanks for the support, have a great week, till next time.