September 1, 1997
She looked around her room for the last time. Everything was arranged to be found exactly at the same place when she would come back. Like the previous five summers. Only if she would be able to return. She was awfully organized, a trait from her mother, her peers often scoffed at her irresistibility to pick something up from the floor and to put it in its rightful place. With another last look, she picked up her trunk, pocketed her Head-Girl badge so that she could show it to the rather unruly hormonal adolescent passengers of Hogwarts Express in case they get their adrenaline high, and climbed down the stairs.
Her parents were having breakfast. She checked her watch, fifteen minutes past ten. A toast wouldn't hurt, she made her way to the dining table and sat down on a chair.
"Good Morning," Hermione greeted her parents brightly as she poured a glass of orange juice and buttered a toast. They greeted her back and went back to eating. Something was different today.
"Your cousin Candice came home yesterday," Her mother said and she at once knew where this conversation was going."She came with her boyfriend, what was his name, dear?" She gestured toward the other Dr. Granger in the room. Hermione just nibbled her toast. Her father was engrossed in his newspaper at that moment, "Edward, I asked you something," Dr. Granger said sternly, eyeing her husband,
"What-Oh yes, Candice visited yesterday, she was with her boyfriend, yes, what was his name dear?" the father asked the mother, who glared at him. "Ben, yes that was his name."
"I think he was a good boy, works in a law firm, has-" Hermione's mother was stopped by the sound of a vase crashing in the background. It was a rare occurrence, but when it occurred, it always acted as a warning for her parents to stop whatever they were talking about. It always worked.
"Your daughter is going to a boarding school for the next ten months, and all you want to talk about is her relationships. That is rather pathetic if you ask me," Hermione said as she stood up, "I am getting late, this was certainly not how I thought you would send me away," Hermione slung on her satchel, picked up her trunk, and walked on to the door with her chin held high. On her way out, she waved her wand over the broken vase for the ninth time that week.
"Goodbye, I will think about coming back at Christmas." With that, she opened the door and walked out of the house.
As she did, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh September wind. She was then greeted by something wet on her cheek and opened her eyes to see that it had started raining again. She muttered some obscenities as she pulled out her trusty old yellow umbrella and pulled it open. Walked down the gravel path to her father's Land Rover. Her seventeenth birthday was eighteen days away, she still couldn't disapparate, and nor could she use defensive spells even with a maniac wizard looming over her head. She groaned in frustration as she tried to open the door and somehow squeezed into the driver's seat while simultaneously trying to close down her umbrella. She yanked it onto the ground and with even more obscenities, slammed the door shut and started driving towards King's Cross.
As she reached the station, she rushed out of the car and almost forgot her trunk but scooped it up at the last moment and rushed into the station and then into the pillar not at all caring about the muggles. She stepped into the third quartered station and sighed in relief. She looked at her watch, Tenth hour and Forty Fifth minute.
"Hermione!" Hermione was barely able to close down her umbrella when she heard Ginny's shriek,
"Hello Gin," Her voice was muffled when she was engulfed into a bear hug by the younger girl,
"I thought you were not going to make it, you know, the storm and all," Ginny said as she picked up Hermione's trunk since she was still struggling with her umbrella. Ginny sighed, pulled out her wand, and waved it over Hermione's umbrella and it slammed shut.
"Sometimes I just forget I am a witch," Hermione said as she took her trunk from Ginny, "Thanks,"
"It's alright, how was your summer?" Ginny asked brightly as they made their way through the station,
"It was good, considering that it might be my last summer at my parents' house," Hermione huffed,
"And why is that?"
"My parents seem to be more interested in my relationships than my career ever since I told them as a witch I would be an adult by seventeen. Whatever." Hermione said and then turned to Ginny,"You are the Prefect this year, aren't you?"
"Yes," Ginny grinned, "I was just wondering when someone would notice, till now it's only you and Drake,"
"Wait, who?" Hermione asked but Ginny dragged her up to where Weasleys were standing. And suddenly Hermione felt as if she should not have followed Ginny.
Ron was introducing Mrs. Weasley to Lavender. She suddenly had a strong urge to run away. Hermione somehow hated that girl. Lavender had been acting rather hostile towards Hermione ever since she had become Ron's girlfriend. She apparently had a wild assumption that Hermione was attracted to Ron. While in reality, Hermione had always thought about him as her cheeky little cousin. In no parallel universe could she think about being attracted to him.
As soon as they reached them, Mrs. Weasley turned away from Lavender, much to her dismay, and greeted Hermione brightly with another bear hug,
"Hermione, you look thin, dear, haven't you been eating anything?"
"Oh no, Mrs. Weasley, I am fine, Hello, Ron, Lavender," Hermione replied, looking at them,
"Hello Hermione," Ron replied, and Harry and Romilda walked in,
"Hello Harry, Romilda," She greeted them,
"I thought you were not coming, London rains actually suck," Romilda said as Hermione got her third bear hug for the day from Romilda. Unlike Lavender, Hermione liked Romilda, she was the only other Gryffindor in Arithmancy along with her and was quite smart.
"I just got some inspiration over the breakfast," Hermione replied,
"You got the head girl, I knew it!" Harry bellowed as he gave Hermione her fourth bear hug,
"Do you know who is the head boy?" Romilda asked,
"No, I don't know yet, Do you know him Gin?" Hermione asked Ginny, who was searching for someone in the crowd,
"What-No, I don't know," Ginny replied as she looked back at her, she was looking a bit, lost.
Just then the Hogwarts express blew its whistle and signaled them to board it. After some struggle, Hermione made it into the compartment and sighed in relief as she finally let go of her trunk. She looked around and saw Ginny disappear into a compartment, she made behind her until something caught her eye.
On the far end of the compartment, she saw Tonks was talking to professor Lupin, then she did something completely unexpected, she grabbed Remus by his collar and kissed him quickly, leaving the professor aghast and herself grinning stupidly. Then Draco walked out of the cabin next to the one Tonks was leaning on. He looked at the professor once and then at Tonks with a confused expression. Tonks ruffled his hair once, and turned away to leave and then saw Hermione standing there,
"Wotcher, Mione!" Tonks said as she gave Hermione the fifth bear hug of her day. Just then the whistle rang again, signaling their departure.
"Congratulations on the Headgirl, mum will write, and I gotta go or Royale will fire me, bye!"
"Bye, Tonks," Hermione muttered but Tonks was already gone. Hermione sighed and looked back at where Lupin and Draco were standing, they were gone now. She made her way up to her friends' compartment and sat down between Neville and Ginny,
"Hello Hermione," Neville said,
"Hey Nev," She replied. As she looked at the plant he was holding, it had drooping black flowers with sharp crimson-red styles,
"It is a Blood-Quencher, its scent helps in neutralizing the blood-thirsts in parasitic creatures," Neville explained,
"Oh, that's, brilliant," Hermione replied.
After some more talking, the door of the cabin opened again and the brown head of Colin Creevey peeked in,
"Hello, people," He said, "Hermione and Ginny, you are called in the heads cabin for the meeting,"
"Well then let's go," Ginny said brightly as she pulled up Hermione and they finally left the cabin and Lavender's prying eyes. They followed Colin through the compartment and into another one where they found Draco leaning against the door, a piece of parchment in his hand as he scanned it. He looked up and his razor-sharp grey eyes almost made her flinch from the radial alignment of their pupils, but he looked away as soon as their eyes met.
She had last seen him during Order meetings at Grimmauld place when she had visited them during her summer, whenever he brought back some information from his house or his father or from the Wizengamot since Dumbledore had been removed from the court during their fifth year.
"Hello Drake," Ginny said in a sweet tone,
"For the last time that is not my name," Draco said, "Is that everyone, Creevey?" He asked,
"Yes, Malfoy, all from the list," Colin said as he handed Draco another piece of parchment,
"Good," Draco said as he opened the door of the cabin behind him and entered, The compartment was filled with the new prefects, Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, Susan Bones and Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff and Astoria Greengrass, and a boy whose name she couldn't remember from Slytherin. Ginny and Colin went down and sat down at the seat beside Luna and Terry.
"You all have been made prefects, it's not a really big achievement so stop doing that, Frith," Hermione followed his gaze and looked at Smith who was till now rubbing his badge rather too much,
"Its Sm-"
"I don't care," Draco said, cutting him through, "moving on, in course of the year, you would have to patrol corridors, you would have the right over the students to discipline them in case they ever get out of hand, and in any case, you encounter something strange lurking in the corridors, you would have to contact me or the head girl on the deputy headmistress, its Professor McGonagall, al-"
"Why not Dumbledore?" Luna asked,
"He is out of England, Order business, now-"
"What sort of business?" Astoria asked,
"I am afraid I would have to kill you after I tell that to you, and-"
"That means you know about it, which means its true, you actually are the youngest member of the Order!" Colin said excitedly,
Draco looked actually irritated now, Hermione could tell that by the fact that the ends of his eyebrows contorted into the middle of his forehead,
"Listen, all of you, at once, the only things you will talk to me about are patroling schedules and dealing with hormone-driven teenagers much like yourself, ask anything about what I do outside the school, and I would take your badge along with a variable lengthed detention period and Dumbledore wouldn't mind," Draco seethed and Hermione looked as Zacharias positively gulped and Astoria looked near tears, "The first council meeting is tomorrow at five in the student staff room on third floor, ask Aphrodite's statue and she will take your password. Anything else?"
"Anything else?" he asked again with his voice a little higher and Hermione realized that he was referring to her too,
"Yeah, well, I am Hermione Granger, the head-girl for this year and if you have any problem, come to me or Malfoy, and we will try to help you," Hermione said, smiling brightly at them,"And have a fun school year," She added in a desperate order to cheer them up. She saw as Luna, Terry, Colin, Susan, and even Astoria smiled at her attentiveness while Zacharias and Ginny grimaced at Draco. She heard the new Slytherin prefect scoff at her words along with a comment with a noun that sounded suspiciously like 'Mudblood'. Even Astoria flinched at the word and almost whacked the boy when she heard Draco drawl,
"Fifty points from Slytherin, make your parents even more proud and it will be a demotion, Pucey," Hermione flinched at his tone and was even more overwhelmed by the fact that he took points from his own house when a kid had said 'the word'.
"Since there are no more queries, you all are dismissed," Draco said as he eyed all of them. Slowly they filled out of and Astoria was last of them. Suddenly Draco lightly grabbed Astoria's arm and pulled her back and said,
"I-I am really sorry I said that to you, I-I have a lot going on my mind and well, it just slipped my tongue, I didn't really me-" he was stopped as Astoria placed a hand on his mouth,
"I know Drake, with Dumbledore gone, along with your little toothy thing, you have a lot going on with you, it's alright," Astoria said as she said that and removed her hand from his mouth,
"Uhh, thankyou, Tori, and that is not my name," He reprimanded her playfully and then asked, "But you can do something about the house points, though," Draco smirked at her and Astoria gave him a confused look and then her face lit up in recognition. She rummaged into her skirt pocket with her little hands and sought out a single small paper bag and handed it to Draco. Draco took it and engulfed Astoria into a hug.
"You are the best, Tori, and eighty points to Slytherin," Draco said and Astoria grinned at him,
"I think I should go, Blaise must be looking for me," Astoria said as she squeezed herself out of Draco's grasp,
"Bye, Hermione," She said and it took Hermione slightly off-guard,
"Bye, Astoria," Hermione said back as Astoria made her way down the hallway.
"Do you want something?" she heard Draco say, and looked back at him, his posture was back into the cooler one instead of the one she had seen some moments ago, then she realized something else, this was the first conversation they had had since their third year.
"I haven't got all the time," He said in a bored voice as he checked the contents of his box,
"You just gave her thirty points for a kiss! that is unfair and low even for you!" Hermione shrieked at him, she was answered with a glare at her with his piercing cold grey eyes,
"You don't know anything about what is unfair, Granger," He said in a deadly calm voice, "My mad aunt is the reason why that girl has lost her parents and her sister is fighting for her life in St. Mungos for the last thirteen months, I am just trying to make her life a little less miserable," He seethed at her,
"Why am I even telling you this?" He said and turned around and walked back into the Heads Cabin leaving a very shocked Hermione behind him.
After some time of contemplation, Hermione walked into the cabin and found Draco leaning on the seat, reading a book, his long legs propped onto the windowsill,
"What do you want now?" Draco asked, without looking at her,
"This is the Heads Cabin, what I do here doesn't really concern you," Hermione said firmly, although the three open buttons on his white shirt were taking a lot of her attention. Draco just shrugged in response, without looking at her.
Hermione took this time to think about things. Of all the people in Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had to be the Head Boy, it was not because he was the only other student who could compete with her in grades, or that he was actually the youngest member of the Order, or that he had turned in his father for being a Death-Eater in their fifth year, or that he had taken Bellatrix Lestrange's Avada Kedavara for Dumbledore just two months ago when Theodore Nott had allowed Death Eaters into the castle,
It was his eyes, those goddamn eyes, Hermione could get lost in them, she wanted to know everything that was hidden in them. And then his face, his angular features, his coarse lips, snarky mouth. She had developed an infatuation on Draco Malfoy from the moment he had stepped into Grimmauld place with Snape in the summer before their fifth year, and she hated her self for it, knowing that he would never return her feelings,
"Would you keep staring at me or say something?" He said, now looking at her with an inquisitor-like gaze, making Hermione flinch,
"Don't you have your cronies to go to? instead of sitting here," Hermione asked,
"No, I don't, at least not anymore," Draco answered, "I could ask the same for you,"
"It's good to have a break from my friends, some times," Hermione said, looking out of the window,
"Considering who you have for your company, it's always good to have yourself that to have an idiot with you," Draco said as he went back to his reading,
"They are not idiots" Hermione snapped,
"I have never got any evidence to the contrary," he answered, and then looked up at her, "You write their essays don't you?" he asked, and to the flush on her cheeks, he smirked, "Snape made me check the essays last year, in a detention, of course, all the facts were same," and Hermione flinched,
"It is none of your concern!" she snapped again and Draco gave her a ghost of a smile,
"But it should be of yours," He said and stood up,
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked as he started walking out of the cabin,
"They are using you, Granger, you don't even know it," He said and disappeared down the corridor along with his satchel and book, leaving a very aghast Hermione behind, she began thinking again when her eyes fell on the paper package Astoria had given to Draco. It was open and a black Flower was peeping out of it.