This is most of the first day at Hogwarts!
A very long chapter where Draco makes friends.
Draco's point of view.
Have fun! And as ever let me know what you think!
Draco pelted it and barely made it round the corner, skidding to a stop, before the door opened and an invisible Hermione stepped into the corridor. He heard her sigh, before the distortion that was her body stealthily vanished behind another tapestry.
Letting out a chuckle, Draco disillusioned himself and stepped quickly along the hallway. He was slightly giddy and kept laughing as he practically skipped to the end of the hall. Slipping behind a portrait of a sleeping sorceress holding a snake, he descended a small, stone, spiral staircase. It was cramped and very dark, and led directly to the corridor outside of the Slytherin common room.
Where Filch was pacing angrily, muttering to himself as his hell-spawn cat followed him back and forth. Draco froze in place, holding his breath as he waited for the damnable squib to move on. Mrs Norris paused for a moment, ears twitching in his direction as her face turned to stare at where he had plastered himself against the wall that had just solidified behind him.
'Shit'
Slowly the mangy cat began to slink in his direction, her nose waving back and fourth as she searched for him. Filch, luckily, had not noticed his cat's distraction and grumpily stomped off towards the upper levels, calling behind him as he went.
"Come, my Sweet"
Draco held down a gag. Mrs Norris shot him a look before trotting off after the caretaker. Draco waited for a moment, until he could no longer hear Filch grumbling, until he moved very quickly to the nondescript section of wall that was the entrance to his common room.
"Runespoor" He whispered, bouncing from one foot to the other as the wall faded away, revealing the passageway to the common room. Quickly dashing inside, Draco released his lungful of air. That was a close call. He'll have to let Granger know that Filch was wandering round past midnight; it wouldn't do for either of them to get caught.
Tiptoeing quietly across the darkened common room, eyes automatically flicking across the dark windows that held back the lake, Draco headed down the passageway that led to his dorm. Silently pushing open the door, he slinked across the room dodging Zambini's bed and carefully climbing into his own. Charming the curtains closed, he settled down and waited for sleep to come.
Tomorrow was going to be a very weird day.
A small smile crept onto his face as he recalled Hermione's face after he had kissed her goodnight. She was honestly way too much fun to wind up, he was going to enjoy working with her this year. In fact, it would be wonderful if he could partner up with her in the classes they shared. Would certainly make his workload lighter and give him a legitimate reason for meeting up. A friendship with Potter and his fellow Gryffindors' would also add to that convenience. Plus his father had encouraged him to gain Potter's favour, so he couldn't discipline him about actually following through on that front.
Draco fell asleep feeling rather optimistic about the future. Knowing what they did, he and Hermione would change everything. And why couldn't he have some fun doing it?
Draco jerked awake, grabbing the hand that was shaking him and twisting his body, pinning them to the bed, wand under their throat.
"HOLY SHIT! Malfoy! Get off me!"
Draco blinked slowly, waiting for his surroundings coming into focus. When it did, he quickly released Blaise from under him and dropped his wand onto the bed sheepishly.
"What the hell Malfoy?" The agitated boy spoke sharply, backing away from Draco quickly. Blaise looked a little shaken, and was breathing a little quick.
"Sorry Zambini, you startled me is all." Draco checked the clock on his beside cabinet, "Cheers for waking me up though, don't want to be late for my first day. Seriously, I appreciate it." Draco tried for his most sincere face and gave Blaise a friendly smile.
This seemed to calm the boy down slightly, as he gave Draco a small smile and a laugh. "Don't know what you thought you were going to do with that anyway," Blaise said, jerking his head towards Draco's wand.
"Ha ha, Yeah…" Letting out a nervous laugh, Draco began to gather his uniform for the day. He glanced around the empty room and looked to Blaise questioningly.
"Oh yeah, everyone else is already up. You're the last one."
Draco pursed his lips at this and frowned. "You know what, this is silly, call me Draco."
Blaise looked surprised at this, before nodding slowly, "Uh sure, Blaise then."
"Awesome! I'll get ready an be down in a bit, see you at breakfast yeah?" Without waiting for a reply, Draco dashed passed the perplexed boy and headed to the showers.
Less than fifteen minutes later, and Draco was pelting it up to the Great Hall securing his tie in place as he ran. He slowed his pace just before entering the Hall and walked in at a calm stroll. He immediately spotted Granger's busy head of hair; she was single-mindedly shovelling down breakfast whilst studying what looked to be her timetable.
His eyes met Potters and he gave a jaunty wave to him as he strolled past. Harry immediately responded with a grin and a wave of his own. Weasley turned to see who Harry was waving too and gave Draco a small smile and a wave of his own. It was certainly odd to have the Gryffindor's treating him in a friendly manner. Granted he only escalated the hostility between them all when they were younger, previously younger, the first time round.
Smiling to himself he plonked down on the table next to Goyle and began piling up his plate with fried goodness. Blaise nodded to him across the table with a smile as he began shovelling the food into his mouth. Most everyone else had already finished their breakfast and they were looking through their timetables.
A shadow fell across Draco, as he was finishing up his breakfast. Turning round his eyes met those of his grumpy potions master, who raised an eyebrow at him.
"Mr Malfoy, so good of you to join us this morning… Have a little trouble getting up did we?" with quick precise movements a timetable was presented to Draco.
"Cheers Professor" He smiled happily at Snape, who seemed quite taken aback at his chipper attitude. "Guess I'll see you in class then?"
The corner of Snape's mouth twitched into an amused smirk. Some of the older years were watching the exchange warily, eyes darting between the two of them. "So it would seem. Do try to be on time Mr Malfoy." With that he swept from the hall, robes billowing behind him, such a penchant for the dramatic.
Draco quickly scanned over his timetable; he had Herbology later so at least he could talk to Hermione. In fact, it looked like he had at least one class or free period a day that he shared with her. Well that would at least save them the trouble of trying to speak everyday, and they could probably work together on assignments.
Everyone else was already making his or her way out of the great hall, and Draco raced after them to grab the stuff he'd need for the day. Surreptitiously casting a feather light charm on his bag, Draco stuffed it with his schoolbooks. Maybe later he could cast an undetectable extension on it as well, better to be prepared right?
His first two periods were about as interesting as that flobber worm class in third year. Dear gods, he was going to have to sit through years of tedious theory and practical work that he could do in his sleep. He also had the added joy of holding back his skill and acting mundanely average at everything. At least he had something to occupy his mind, removing that no-nose, snake-face from existence. Now that was going to take some serious puzzling and skill. Speaking of Granger, she was waiting for him outside the Great Hall.
He walked up to her, shooing away Crabbe and Goyle who had been following him all day. Blaise was walking past and, without thinking about it too much, Draco grabbed his shoulder and dragged him over to meet Hermione.
"Blaise! Come meet my new best friend Hermione Granger. Hermione this is Blaise, say hi Blaise."
Looking completely lost, Blaise muttered out a small "Hi" before staring at Draco with a bemused expression.
"Hermione, this is my mate Blaise. He woke me up this morning; I would have been late but for this wonderful fellow right here! Can you believe it?"
"Oh no, I'm so sorry Blaise…" Hermione sent Zambini a look of sympathy, "Now you're stuck with him."
Surprising him, Blaise snorted a laugh and shot Hermione a grin "Oh if I'd known that I would have just left him!"
"Hey!" He put on his best look of indignation and made to storm off into the great hall.
"Ah ah ah, I need to speak to you Malfoy." Hermione had grabbed his sleeve, jolting him to a stop.
"Well you obviously don't need my help now Draco, see you at lunch, 'mate'". Blaise dodged past him saluting as he went, "Nice you meet you Hermione!"
"You too Blaise." She spun on her heels as soon as the boy was out of sight and began dragging Draco down the corridor.
"Ah, easy Minister! My clothes are designer!"
"You got them from Madame Malkins the same as me you dolt"
"Huh, maybe they just look better on me?"
Draco flinched, closing his eyes and expecting a smack for that comment. When he didn't feel anything her opened them again carefully to see Hermione watching him with an amused expression. Coughing and straightening his robes to cover up the flinch, even though she definitely saw it, Draco raised his eyebrows and stared down at the witch.
"Oh don't look at me like that. I don't always hit you, people are going to think you have a complex." He snorted in response and she rolled her eyes. "Look, I made you something." Reaching into her bag, Hermione withdrew a small flat package that looked suspiciously like a book. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string.
She held it in front of his face and waved it back and fourth, "Do you want it?" He folded his arms and looked away pouting. "You know you want it Draco…" His eyes flicked back to the, certainly a book, parcel then away. She moved it closer to his face and was practically tapping his nose with it now. It was difficult to hold back the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"I can see you smiling!" she crowed triumphantly, as he gave in and grinned.
"Okay. I want it."
She handed over the present, oozing satisfaction and smirking at him. He quickly ripped off the outer layer to reveal a pretty nondescript brown notebook. He flicked his eyes to Granger, who seemed to almost vibrate with excitement, then back to his new possession. Carefully he opened the book, and then almost dropped it in shock. He flicked through the pages rapidly, almost not believing his eyes.
"Is this?"
"Yep"
"How did you even?" He stared dumbstruck at the witch before him. It was just like Potters map. Every page related to a different section of the school, he could see himself and Granger as little dots standing in the corridor Just off the Great Hall.
"I've had years to study Harry's map, so I know how it was made. Did it this morning during classes. There is a guide at the front, see?" She took the book from him and flipped the pages. "So you can search wherever you want. The first page is automatically set to your immediate surroundings for ease of use. It is voice activated too."
"This is honestly the coolest thing anyone has every given me." He met her eyes seriously; she shuffled her feet slightly, turning pink.
"Yes, well. Thought it would be a good idea. There is… um, a section at the back that is similar to what I made on our first day, for communicating with each other. I have a matching book, so um yeah…" She sent him an awkward smile, "Just need to register it to you, like how I did before."
Draco handed the book over instantly and she traced her wand over the front cover. She took his hand and placed the palm flat over the front cover, it burned for a few seconds before cooling off. She promptly passed it back to him. He clutched it to his chest protectively.
"What is it goes missing?" he asked suddenly worried, "what if someone takes it?"
"Ah no don't worry," she waved her hands at him, "put a little spell on it of my own making, 'Tenetur redire'. 'Cause it's bound to you now, it'll always return. You'll find it back in your pocket if you loose it."
She dashed away from him as a group of students passed them in the corridor, shouting that she'd see him in Herbology. In a daze Draco meandered his way into the Great Hall and, once again, plonked down at the Slytherin table for lunch. Hermione was most certainly the most brilliant witch in the history of the wizarding world and she was his friend. She was right; she was stuck with him now. He felt giddy and excited, eating one handed because the other wouldn't let go of his precious book.
Enduring a bit of light-hearted teasing from Blaise and some curious stares from his other housemates, lunch went by rather quickly. Before he knew it, they were all stumbling on mass down the grassy slopes that led to the greenhouses.
The Gryffindors were already waiting outside Greenhouse number one, fidgeting and shoving one another good-naturedly. Hermione was standing slightly to the side of the rowdy bunch frowning at them. He went straight over to her and gave her a shove with his shoulder.
"Lighten up Minister, it's only the first day." He gave her his best dazzling smile. Which got him an amused smile in response. Blaise came over to stand with them and was shortly followed by Longbottom. Who glanced at them nervously, before Draco gestured for him to join them while they waited for Professor Sprout.
After some introductions, Draco was happy to let the others talk as he watched the rest of the class. Harry and Ron kept shooting them glances, so did Pansy actually. She was frowning at him from amongst the other Slytherins, and he gave her a shrug and a 'what can I do?' face.
Sprout appeared in the doorway, covered in filth. Draco tried to back away as she began gesturing, flinging her hands in every direction, little flecks of dirt flying off. Hermione tutted at him and pushed him into the greenhouse. "Noooo" he whined softly, "Hermione, it's touching me! Oh gods there is dirt on my shoes!"
He could hear Blaise laughing next to him and he swore Neville chuckled. When he turned to look at the plump boy, he was gazing about innocently. That toad. Hermione kept pushing him into the class, and he leaned back more and more onto her as she huffed behind him.
"Alright class, welcome to your first Herbology lesson! It's lovely to meet you all, I am Professor Sprout head of Hufflepuff house and your teacher for the next seven years, hopefully anyway!" She chuckled at her own joke as the class laughed awkwardly. "Right everyone" she clapped her hands together, flinging yet more dirt. Draco cringed back again and Hermione held him in place with her elbow.
"Grab yourself an apron and pull on your gloves! We're gonna be potting bouncing bulbs!" There was a stampede, as everyone ran to grab the aprons piled on a wooden table in the corner. "FOUR TO A TABLE PLEASE", Sprout yelled over the excited chatter of the class.
Blaise leisurely followed behind Neville and Draco, the latter of whom was being dragged along by Hermione. They huddled round a table, gazing suspiciously at wooden box in the centre. They then spent the next half hour filling large trays with 'disgusting filth' and trying to shove the lively bulbs, which had been hidden in the box, into the repulsive dirt.
Hermione and Neville were having the most success. Neville, despite having been hit in the face by a bulb pretty early on, was grinning from ear to ear at having successfully planted most of them. Mainly because Draco had to be forced into even touching one, and Blaise was quite happy to let the Gryffindors take the lead.
Draco had been making a whole tirade of sarcastic comments and he could tell that Hermione was getting annoyed with him. Seeing as he had planted two bulbs and she had done at least triple that. After a particularly scathing comment about useless skills that he would never use, and stating that he'd just pay someone else to do it, Hermione looked ready to hex him.
"Will you stop acting like a child?"She hissed lowly at him. "It's only a bit of mud." Her eyes were focused on her work and any observant would not have noticed her speak to him.
He was trying, he really was. He had held back a particularly nasty comment about Neville when he got smacked in the face. "I'm trying Minister. It just keeps bubbling up and coming out!"He breathed back to her. He gave her a grimace and shrugged helplessly.
She looked thoughtful at that, nodding absently at him. "Some sort of muscle memory? Emotional memory?"she muttered to herself. "Okay, yeah. Me too. I guess I can let you off"she sent him a sheepish smile. "I'm having trouble keeping my hand down."She admitted with a red face. "Transfiguration was a nightmare, didn't even know I'd raised my hand at first."
"You think it's permanent?"He made no comment on that, which she looked grateful for.
"Could be? Might change the further we go along."She eyed him sideways, "You'll have to try and behave yourself."She was smiling cheekily at him.
He knocked his shoulder into hers playfully, "Never".
They finished up the planting, Draco putting in a bit more effort along with a reluctant Blaise. As they had finished before the rest of the class, Sprout allowed them to tidy up and chat around their table. Draco took this opportunity to pull faces at Harry and Ron, as they struggled with the last few of their bulbs. One of them bounced off the table, Draco caught it and chucked it back rapidly. Potter's hand shot out and plucked it out of the air, surprising everyone but him and Hermione.
"Nice catch Potter" He grinned.
"Nice throw Malfoy" Harry shot back, smirking cheekily back at him.
Sprout's call to stop what they were doing and begin packing up, snapped their attention back to front of the class. Sprout gave them a short lecture on the bulbs and assigned them a short essay on the basic care of the plant. They would be looking after the plants in their next classes as a side project along side other magical flora.
Hermione was frantically scribbling in a workbook diary. He was fairly certain she was making a note of every assignment they would receive for the next year. Why did it not surprise him that her memory was perfect? At least that would make this year easier.
He didn't really pay attention as Sprout gave everyone on his table 5 house points. But Blaise looked particularly smug and Neville was almost euphoric; they all got smiles and enthusiastic nods from their classmates, causing a warm feeling in Draco's stomach.
After class was dismissed, he trudged up to the castle with an odd mix of Slytherins and Gryffindors. He introduced Blaise to Harry and Ron and the boys began happily chatting about Quidditch on the way up. Neville was sticking close to Hermione and they were both talking excitedly about what they could learn in Herbology next.
He was strolling along amongst them all, the warm feeling from earlier still present, as he looked about happily. This was it, the change he was looking for. He glanced about looking for Pansy; she was walking with Daphne occasionally flipping her hair. Theo was walking next to them and looked a little bored.
He inclined his head as Theo caught his eye and the boy jogged up to him, smiling gratefully. Draco then started talking loudly about how good the Holyhead Harpies were as a team, causing Ron to whip round and start preaching about the Chudley Cannons. This drew Theo into the debate about their favourite teams. He dropped back next to Hermione and pushed Neville forward to join the conversation. Which he did, quietly stating that he liked the Appleby Arrows.
Blaise then threw his arm round the boy enthusiastically, "Thank you! Someone with taste!"
"I see what you're doing…" Hermione said smiling at him fondly.
"You agree?" He was a bit worried that she would berate him for changing things so dramatically.
"I'm actually proud."
"Stop it minister I'll blush", In fact he was pretty certain he was turning red. Her eyebrow went up amusement written all over her face. "Too late?"
"Too late." She laughed. "I'll see you later yeah? Maybe we can work on our homework in the library before dinner?"
"Is that just the ones we've received so far, or the rest of the year?" He joked.
"Saw that did you? Better to just do the assigned ones I think."
He nodded in agreement. Wouldn't do for someone, read: Teacher, to see them working on homework from the future.
They reached the entrance hall and began the climb up the stairs to the upper corridor. The Gryffindor's all split off on the first floor and began heading to Binn's class, whilst Draco and the rest of the Slytherins carried on up the next two flights.
He glanced back and caught Hermione miming writing; he gave her a 'thumbs up' before running to catch up with Blaise and Theo.
Believe it or not, Draco was quite looking forward to going to the library later. He entered the Charms classroom with a spring in his step and with a lighter heart then he had had in years.