Athanasia's back and better than ever! This is a story I put up a long time ago, but took down to make some changes and now, it's back up! I guess this could be either a GW/HP, HG/DM fic, or a HP/HG fic. Please review!
BTW, NOTHING BELONGS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the chapter titles are a bit messed up, so you'll have to excuse them...I suck at making up titles...
Hermione Granger sat aboard Hogwarts Express, staring blankly out the window. The train was still parked at platform nine and three-quarters and Harry, Ron and Ginny weren't here yet.
"We will be departing in for Hogwarts in exactly ten minutes Please be seated by then." A voice magically magnified rang down the corridor. Through the window, Hermione could see several figures burst through the barrier that separated them from the muggle world. First came Ron, pushing a large cart laden with trunks. Then, following closely, came Harry, pulling Ginny right behind him. All three were laughing and soaking wet. It had started raining, apparently. The newscaster said it wouldn't stop until later tonight.
Hermione glared jealously at Ginny and Harry. The two girls had confided in each other about their love for Harry. Later, during the summer, Ginny had asked Harry to go on a date with her. Ever since, they had been inseparable. Hermione had felt betrayed by Ginny, and had refused to talk to her since.
Suddenly the door opened wide. Standing in the doorframe was none other than Draco Malfoy.
"What's the matter, mudblood?" he sneered. "Where are your friends?"
"Go away Malfoy!" Hermione said coldly.
"Can't." his lip curled in a devilish smile. "All of the other compartments are full. Have to stay here."
Hermione glanced behind him. Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen. "What about your goons?" she glared at him.
"What? Crabbe and Goyle? Their parents pulled them out last year."
"Oh. Sorry." Hermione said without really meaning it. She turned away, back to the window, but, much to her discomfort, Draco sat next to her, resting his arm on the back of her chair. "Get your hand away from me, Malfoy." She glared at him. Draco made a perfect impression of her scowl.
"Make me." He grinned. Hermione, without thinking, shoved him into the door, right at Harry's feet.
Harry glared at Draco. "Get away from her, Malfoy." He slipped his hand away from Ginny's waist to grab Malfoy's collar and lift him up. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
Malfoy's answer was suddenly cut off by the lurch of the train. The lurch knocked everyone off their feet, sending Ron down the hall.
"I've got to stay here, Potter." Malfoy pushed himself away from Harry and rubbed his neck. "All of the other compartments are full." Harry said nothing, but glared at Malfoy even more sourly than Hermione had glared at him. The three of them filed in, and moved across the compartment, as far away from Malfoy as they could.
"Hey, Hermione." Harry grinned at her.
"Hey, guys! How was your summer?"
They continued talking, acting as if Malfoy wasn't there, until the witch pushing the trolley full of sweets came. Harry bought a couple boxes of Chocolate frogs, and Ron bought some every flavor beans. Harry handed everyone (except Malfoy) several chocolate frogs. Hermione noticed that Malfoy didn't buy anything.
After a few games of exploding snap, Neville came bursting into their compartment.
"Harry!" he gasped. "Some Slytherin seventh years have stolen Trevor!" He looked desperately at Harry.
"Ok. Hold on." Harry dug into his pocket for his wand, and he and Ron left the compartment. Ginny followed with Neville.
When the door closed, Hermione was sure she heard Malfoy snort. She turned to him and glared again. Then, she dug into one of her own bags and pulled out one of their new magic books. She flipped to a certain page, and began to read. But, she found that she couldn't concentrate on "the differences between Gillyweed and Gilstoweed." She kept looking over the top of her book at Draco.
"Gosh, he's cute." She thought to herself. "Wait! What am I thinking?" she yelled to herself. "Ok, ok. Gillyweed helps the person who eats it breathe underwater...water...swimming pools...I wonder what Draco looks like in a bathing suit...What am I thinking? Ah! Back to the book. Gilstoweed will make the person who eats it fly...flying...Quidditch...Draco's really good at Quidditch. Ah! Just don't even think about him, Hermione!" she told herself sternly. To her relief, Harry and Ron returned along with a very relieved Neville, holding a large, fat toad. The rest of the trip up was uneventful, and finally, the reached Hogwarts.
They all crowded out, wading through a sea of other Hogwarts students. The rain poured down on them, soaking them all through their robes. Finally, they reached the horseless carriages and climbed into one of them. The cart lurched and bumped along the road to Hogwarts. Hermione got a glimpse out of the window.
The castle shone like a beacon to lost souls. The misty glow of the candlelight from inside seemed brighter than it ever had in the past. Hermione glanced at her friends. She knew she was home.
The Great Hall was filled with students. After they had filed in, sat down and watched the Sorting, Dumbledore rose.
"I have a great number of announcements to make." His eyes were brighter than normal. "First of all, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is Professor Lupin again!" There was a great roar of applause coming from every table except Slytherin. Hermione noticed that Draco had a slight smirk on his face though. "Next, the lawn nearest to Hagrid's cabin is reserved for our new Magical Creatures. And, lastly, the astronomy tower is off-limits to everyone except the Prefects, so naturally, the astronomy classes will be held on the lawn from now on. Now, let us enjoy our feast!" there was another great roar as the food magically appeared on the golden plates.
Hermione grinned along with the rest as she heaped her plate with Mashed Potatoes, beef, steak, and as she chided Ron and Harry into eating a few pieces of broccoli. Afterwards, they all filed up to the Gryffindor Tower, stuffed. Hermione said goodnight to everyone, and nearly gagged when Harry kissed Ginny on the cheek. She raced up the stairs. Lavender and Parivati were already there.
"Hey, Herm! Did you have a good summer?" Lavender asked.
"Sure, whatever." She flopped down on her bed. She yanked the velvet curtains closed and tried to sleep as the two other girls chatted giggly about boys, boys, and, of course, boys. Hermione was only able to catch snippets of the conversation.
"...yeah, I saw him...he's so cute!" they giggled.
"I can't believe he's actually seeing her..." Another giggle.
"Harry is so dreamy!" At this, Hermione yanked back the curtains.
"What?" She asked. Parivati looked at Hermione startled.
"We thought you were asleep!" she looked at her in wide-eyed horror.
"Well, I guess I wasn't!" she smirked.
"You won't tell him I said that, will you?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and flopped back on her bed. "Go to sleep!" she ordered. That must have worked, because there was no more chatter that night.
Hermione woke the next morning, feeling that someone had hit her over the head with a 2x4. She stumbled out of bed and dressed quickly. Then, she looked at her watch that Harry had given her for her Birthday. She was late. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the room. The Common Room was nearly empty. She pushed open the portrait and stumbled out of it. She was nearing the Great Hall, when she was stopped by Peeves. He swooped out of nowhere, grabbing her bag, and sending quills and paper everywhere. Her inkbottle smashed against her feet, staining her sandals.
"Peeves!" she sighed exasperated. "Give me my bag!"
"Ooh!" he cackled. "Late for breakfast, are we? Well, don't want to miss that!" he held something behind his back. It turned out to be a bowl of Yorkshire pudding. He flung it at Hermione, who ducked just in time.
"Peeves!" she yelled. She lunged at her bag, but Peeves yanked it away at the last moment.
"Waddiwasi!" a voice yelled behind her. The cork of her bottle flew up in the air and shot itself at Peeves. Peeves flew away, yelling. Hermione turned around. Standing behind her was Draco Malfoy. She scowled. "What are you doing here?"
Draco shrugged. "Walking." He stared at her. Then, he bent down and scooped up some of her books. "Here." He thrusted them into her arms. She picked up her bag and placed them inside. Then, bent down to pick up all the rest of her things. Draco helped. When she had picked up everything, she looked at him coldly one more time.
"Thanks." She muttered. She stalked off towards the Great Hall. Draco followed. Halfway down some stone stairs, she stopped. "Why are you following me?" She expected him to use his usual drawl, but she was totally unprepared for the answer he gave her.
"You're cute." He shrugged. Hermione, thinking that he was just ridiculing her, rolled her eyes and stalked off.
She reached the Gryffindor Table, and Malfoy went to his own. He sat by Pansy Parkinson, but didn't look too happy about it. She looked at him again. He thought she was cute? She cringed outside, but inside, she felt the strange warmth that she only reserved for Harry well up inside her. Did she like Draco Malfoy? "Of course you don't" she told herself. But she still dwelt on it so much that she didn't realize that she had put Pumpkin Juice in her oatmeal.
"Uh, Hermione?" Hermione snapped out of her thoughts to see Ron looking at her porridge strangely. Here's the schedule..." he handed it to her. She grabbed it from him, and scanned it over.
"Hmm. Today, double Potions with Slytherin." She turned to Ron, who looked at her as if she had just told him she would die in one hour. "What?" she asked.
"You sound like that wouldn't be that bad..." Hermione shrugged. She looked at her bowl. "Can you pass me another bowl, Harry? I don't think I can eat out of this one."
Professor Snape paced up and down between the rows in his cold, dungeon classroom. "We will be discussing and creating today, invisible ink potions and the methods in which you can create them so the only people who can read you message is you and your partner. Anyone else that reads them will only see gibberish. You will be working in pairs..." there was a murmuring of small cheers. "That I will assign." Everyone groaned. "Weasley and..." Ron looked at Harry hopefully. Snape smirked. "Parkinson." Ron's face fell. Parkinson moved near him, looking at him as if he was a flesh-eating slug. Snape continued. "Potter and Zabini." Snape smirked again.
"Granger and..." Hermione buried her head in her arms, praying for the best. "Malfoy." Hermione looked up and scowled at Snape, though he didn't notice. He was busy partnering Neville with Millicent Bulstrode. Malfoy swaggered over to her cauldron, smirking slightly. He sat down next to her and she opened her book to the right page. Snape handed out ingredients and they now had to make an invisible ink potion.
"Alright. Here." She thrusted some dead bees into Malfoy's hands. "Cut the wings off of these." She began muttering to herself as she crushed kneazle teeth into a powder. Draco looked up and stared at her, quite interested. She turned to him.
"What?" she asked. This time, it had a little less edge on it.
"Nothing" he smirked. Hermione turned back to her bowl.
"You could at least be of help."
"I'm taking the wing's off of dead bees. What more do you want?"
Hermione shoved some dead caterpillars. "Chop each one of these up into ten equal pieces." She stirred in the kneazle powder.
"Now...we add a strand of our hair each..." Hermione plucked one off of her head with a slight wince. She dropped it in the potion.
They stirred in the ingredients one by one, and finally, they finished the potion. They were now supposed to write secret messages to each other, to prove that it worked.
Hermione dipped her quill in and wrote on a small piece of parchment, "Guess it works, Malfoy." The words lingered for a moment, then sowly faded. She shoved it over to him. Malfoy gave Hermione his.
She touched the tip of her wand to the paper. She muttered something under her breath, and the words sowly appeared in a circle around her wand. It had only one word on it: "Mudblood." Hermione looked over at Draco, who was grinning foolishly.
Well? You like? If you've made it this far, please review, or else I'll hunt you down and sing a Hanson song on your front lawn very badly and everyone will say "Why didn't you review? You could have saved us all some torture!" And that'll make you feel guilty, now won't it? And everyone knows you hate to feel guilty...