Only Once- Chapter 2
~*~
After about an hour of talking with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Cho, and occasionally Hannah, Hermione got up and headed back to the compartment where she met Draco earlier. She had to tell Harry and Ron she was tired and wanted to sleep though, since her friendship with Draco is a secret.
She skidded to a stop in front of the compartment where Draco was. There were two voices talking inside. One was male (obviously Draco) and then a female voice. Hermione didn't recognize the girl's voice at all.
"But, Dray-keee. Please! I'm bored."
"Go find someone else to entertain you, Pansy. I don't want you here."
"Pleeease."
"I said. No. Now Leave. Now!" Hermione looked around quickly and jumped into the compartment across the hall, not wanting to be seen by Pansy. A group of scared first years gave her confused looks. Hermione just glared at them and told them to be quiet.
Once she was sure Pansy had left and there was no one in the hallway, she left the first years' compartment and quietly slipped out and in to Draco's. He was sitting fairly close to the window just staring out with a disgusted look on his face. He did not even hear Hermione come in.
"Hello, again." She startled him but once he saw whom it was he smiled and patted the seat next to him, signaling for her to sit down next to him. She calmly took the seat though her heart was thumping like wild because of what just happened and of being so close to Draco.
"Hey," was all he said. "What's up?"
"I got bored. Ron and Harry only talk about Quidditch. Quite annoying, really. Especially when you have Cho and Hannah giggling every time either of them describe one of their stunts."
"Oh, really? Maybe you could. tell me what they were strategizing about?" Draco gave Hermione a sly look with an evil look in his eyes. She knew he was now the Slytherin Quidditch Captain (as Harry was the Gryffindor Quidditich Captain) and if he knew his game play, his team just might beat Gryffindor this year.
Hermione playfully slapped Draco on the shoulder. "You know I can't do that. That would be un-loyal to Gryffindor!"
"Now, now. You've already befriended the enemy in secrecy. You call that loyal?" Draco grinned when he saw her contemplating this and then shaking her head feverishly.
"No. I can't do that to Harry and Ron! They wouldn't talk to me ever again."
"I know, I know. Jeez, 'Mione. You know I was joking."
Hermione stuck out her tongue and took her shoulder bag off to start rummaging through it.
"I see you have your chain on." She smiled brightly as she once again looked at Draco's chain. He was almost never without it.
Draco smiled and touched Hermione's neck. "And I see you're not wearing your necklace. Tsk, tsk. I thought that was a promise?"
"Hey, I couldn't let Harry and Ron see it. They'd question me about it. What would I say? 'Oh, Draco gave it to me on my birthday as a promise that we'd always be friends no matter what.'? I don't think so. A-ha! Knew that little bugger was in here somewhere." He just laughed at her sarcasm.
She smiled as she unhooked the clasp on the necklace and tried to put the necklace on. However, her hair was getting in the way. Draco took the necklace and told her to hold her hair back so it wouldn't get in the way. He delicately clipped the hooks together and let the necklace fall loosely around her neck. It was a beautiful lioness with shining red jewel eyes. The small chain that held the pendant was a brilliant silver that shown with a bright light reflecting the sun entering the compartment.
"Thanks." She smiled at Draco and he muttered a small thanks. She then thought about if she should ask what had been bugging her ever since she became friends with Draco. She decided that she should do it now because there was no one around and she just wanted to get it over with. She knew that she would need to ask this sometime and there was no way around it.
"Draco. Our friendship. how are we going to keep this a secret?" Draco seemed suddenly interested in the carpet of the compartment floor.
"I really don't know Hermione. I really don't know." he sounded far off to Hermione as if dreading something. This sparked her curiosity but decided it was best left alone for now.
They talked until they reached Hogsmeade where they got into a horseless- carriage together, avoiding Harry and Ron at all costs.
~*~
After a while, they reached Hogwarts.
"I'll talk to you later, Draco. Please do owl me tonight. G'night." With that she stepped out of the carriage not giving Draco a chance to say goodbye. She always seemed to do that to him.
When Hermione walked in to the Great Hall, it was as magnificent as ever. The sky was a dark blue that seemed to hold many secrets to it. The stars glowed brightly in the evening sky. A moon, with several planets surrounding it, were far off in the distance and the ceiling was charmed even further to have the occasional shooting star cross over it. Over each table floated candles that were the respective house's colors. At the Head table sat Dumbledore, all of the professors, and a new face.
Hermione suspected this to be the new Transfiguration teacher to be taking place of Professor McGonagall. She (yes, it was a female) had short black hair and bright blue, almost gray, eyes. She wore emo glasses and looked to be quite young. No more than 26. She wore many pieces of jewelry including a simple black velvet choker, many earrings, quite a few bracelets and a necklace that looked to be a simple silver chain.
Hermione stared at awe at this witch. She looked so young yet so powerful. Finally, Hermione took her seat at the Gryffindor table preparing to be bombarded with "Where were you?!"s. And that she did get. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all questioned her on this but before she could have time to answer, Professor Dumbledore spoke up.
"May the Sorting Begin!" The new face then stepped up bringing the Sorting Hat and stool with her. She unrolled a piece of parchment and called out the first name. The girl, named Amanda, was sorted into Ravenclaw who cheered wildly for their new Housemate. This went on for about 30-45 minutes before the last person, a boy named Alex Crouse, was sorted into Slytherin. Dumbledore stood up and the excited chatter died down to a few tiny whispers.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts. For many of you, this is yet another year here with us at Hogwarts. But, for others, it is just the beginning." He cast a glance to all the nervous first years settling in to their Houses. "I have a few start of term notices. Many of you know of the downfall of Voldemort." A few people in the crowd cringed at the mention of his name, even though he was gone. "We lost our Transfiguration professor in the war against him. That is why we have a new professor here. It is my pleasure to introduce to you, Professor Sherman."
At this, the tall black-haired lady Hermione saw when entering the Great Hall stood up and took a bow. Most of the male population was oogling at her and paying no attention to anything else. This included Harry and Ron, which earned them glares from Cho and Hannah, across the room. Hermione was pleased to see that when she looked over at Draco, he was not oogling. She didn't know why but she felt a bit possessive of him. Actually, she did know why, she just didn't want to admit it to herself.
When the teacher sat down, the applause that had burst out through the hall died down. Professor Dumbledore stood back up.
"Professor Sherman will be the new Transfiguration teacher, taking place of Professor McGonagall and also taking place as the Head of Gryffindor House. Lastly, the Forbidden Forest is, obviously, forbidden. Now: Dig in!" And with that, food appeared on all of the golden plates as students all through the hall began to eat.
Ron, being Ron, loaded his pile up with anything he could eat. This included chicken wings, steak, mashed potatoes, lima beans, green beans, corn on the cob, turkey, chicken, ham, ANYTHING! By the time the feast was over, Ron could barely stand up by himself. Hermione stood when the announcement was made for "Prefects to take the First Years to the dorms and then come back to the Great Hall," and went to the head of the Gryffindor table. Being as she was a Prefect and all.
"First years this way! Come on this way! Follow me please." She screamed over the excited chatter of all four houses and led all of the 1st years down the halls and up to the Gryffindor tower. Now, she stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. To enter, you must speak the password. It is "Espon Boise." Please remember the password and if you do forget, ask an older Gryffindor please. Do not write it down, also. Thank you."
She walked into the Common Room and smiled as all of the First Years jaws dropped as they viewed it for the first time.
"This is your Common Room. Up the stair and to the left are the boys' dormitories. The same but to the right is where you will find the girls' dormitories. You will find all of your belongings already up there. Good Night."
With that said, Hermione exited the Common Room and went into a jog on the way to the Great Hall.
~*~
When she entered the Great Hall, she was a bit out of breath from running/jogging all the way from the Gryffindor tower. There stood Professor Sherman, Draco, Hannah, Cho, Alec, and Fredrick. Cho was the Head Girl, Alec was the 6th year Ravenclaw Prefect, and Fredrick was a Hufflepuff who was HeadBoy.
"Sorry I'm late." Hermione was quite out of breath and looked a bit flushed.
Professor Snape was about to make a rude remark but Professor Sherman stopped him and told everyone to follow her up to the new quarters for Prefects and Heads.
~*~
When they arrived at the portrait, Hermione was still dazed trying to remember her way up to the portrait in one of the highest towers close to the Astronomy tower..
The portrait in front of them was bright and had a green meadow with flowers all around. A silver unicorn with black hair was prancing around followed by a path of sparkles. It had a single red star on its backside, almost like a birthmark. The sun was shining brightly through the blue clouds. There were six elves that seemed to be chasing the unicorn. Each elf seemed to be in a pair and all very happy. The first two were a couple with a bright silver-blonde-haired, gray-eyed boy and a brown-haired, green- eyed girl. She assumed this was Draco and herself because of the juge resemblance. The next was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, and a black- haired, black-eyed boy. These two had a resemblence to Hannah and Alec. The Head Boy and Girl were the last elves and they were a brownish-black- haired girl with brown eyes and a sandy blonde-haired ocean blue-eyed man.
And, of course, these two were Cho and Fredrick.
Finally snapping out of her stare, she noticed all the other Prefects/Heads staring at the picture with Professor Sherman unsuccessfully trying to snap them out of it.
"The PASSWORD is 'Cascading Winds.' On the right hand side is the Slytherin and Gryffindor rooms and on the left is Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Straight ahead, there is a staircase that leads you up to a hallway. Down to the left is the bathroom and to the right is the Heads Rooms. Straight ahead from the stairs is a Private Library. Good Night and Enjoy." Professor Sherman walked away, leaving the Heads and Prefects there.
"Cascading Winds." The portrait of the elves opened to reveal a very large common room. To the right, there were decorations of Slytherin and Gryffindor. And, just as McGonagall said, there were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to the left. Hermione went to the right and found two sets of doors. One said "Draco Malfoy- Slytherin Prefect" and the other said "Hermione Granger- Gryffindor Prefect." She pushed open the one to her room and walked in.
It was magnificent. There was a large canopy bed in the middle of the room that lay on top of a rug decorated in scarlet and gold, the Gryffindor colors. The bedding was a white with scarlet and gold ascents on it. Across the room, there was a window bench, which was black velvet. A large desk was next to the window. All her stuff had already been put away so there was parchment, quills, and ink on the desk.
She opened the closet to find it a large walk-in one. All of her school robes and muggle clothing was already in there as well. Her trunk also lay at the foot of her bed. She jumped on top of her bed and was delighted to find that it was soft. She could never sleep unless it was a soft mattress. When she was on her back, she looked up at the ceiling to see it charmed to be the sky, just like the Great Hall. This also made her very happy because she always did love the look of that ceiling.
She fell asleep, thinking about the day to come and the year ahead of her.
~*~
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All I own is the plot, Alec, and Fredrick.
Special Thanks To:
Narisunell: Thanks!! I fixed what you were talking about. Harry is dating Cho and Ron is with Hannah Abbott. Thanks so much for your review. Though I don't think of myself as a good writer :p I hope you don't get bored, too XD
That's Chapter 2 ^__^ Please do review. =D You get a cookie if you do XD -teases you by waving cookie in front of your faces- I'll update soon. hopefully.
//*laughs at her own daftness* I'm sorry guys. I'mn still getting used to the fact that there is no longer a Professor McGonagall :p Sorry, I fixed that up. thanks to "hehehe" for making me see that!//
-Brittany
~*~
After about an hour of talking with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Cho, and occasionally Hannah, Hermione got up and headed back to the compartment where she met Draco earlier. She had to tell Harry and Ron she was tired and wanted to sleep though, since her friendship with Draco is a secret.
She skidded to a stop in front of the compartment where Draco was. There were two voices talking inside. One was male (obviously Draco) and then a female voice. Hermione didn't recognize the girl's voice at all.
"But, Dray-keee. Please! I'm bored."
"Go find someone else to entertain you, Pansy. I don't want you here."
"Pleeease."
"I said. No. Now Leave. Now!" Hermione looked around quickly and jumped into the compartment across the hall, not wanting to be seen by Pansy. A group of scared first years gave her confused looks. Hermione just glared at them and told them to be quiet.
Once she was sure Pansy had left and there was no one in the hallway, she left the first years' compartment and quietly slipped out and in to Draco's. He was sitting fairly close to the window just staring out with a disgusted look on his face. He did not even hear Hermione come in.
"Hello, again." She startled him but once he saw whom it was he smiled and patted the seat next to him, signaling for her to sit down next to him. She calmly took the seat though her heart was thumping like wild because of what just happened and of being so close to Draco.
"Hey," was all he said. "What's up?"
"I got bored. Ron and Harry only talk about Quidditch. Quite annoying, really. Especially when you have Cho and Hannah giggling every time either of them describe one of their stunts."
"Oh, really? Maybe you could. tell me what they were strategizing about?" Draco gave Hermione a sly look with an evil look in his eyes. She knew he was now the Slytherin Quidditch Captain (as Harry was the Gryffindor Quidditich Captain) and if he knew his game play, his team just might beat Gryffindor this year.
Hermione playfully slapped Draco on the shoulder. "You know I can't do that. That would be un-loyal to Gryffindor!"
"Now, now. You've already befriended the enemy in secrecy. You call that loyal?" Draco grinned when he saw her contemplating this and then shaking her head feverishly.
"No. I can't do that to Harry and Ron! They wouldn't talk to me ever again."
"I know, I know. Jeez, 'Mione. You know I was joking."
Hermione stuck out her tongue and took her shoulder bag off to start rummaging through it.
"I see you have your chain on." She smiled brightly as she once again looked at Draco's chain. He was almost never without it.
Draco smiled and touched Hermione's neck. "And I see you're not wearing your necklace. Tsk, tsk. I thought that was a promise?"
"Hey, I couldn't let Harry and Ron see it. They'd question me about it. What would I say? 'Oh, Draco gave it to me on my birthday as a promise that we'd always be friends no matter what.'? I don't think so. A-ha! Knew that little bugger was in here somewhere." He just laughed at her sarcasm.
She smiled as she unhooked the clasp on the necklace and tried to put the necklace on. However, her hair was getting in the way. Draco took the necklace and told her to hold her hair back so it wouldn't get in the way. He delicately clipped the hooks together and let the necklace fall loosely around her neck. It was a beautiful lioness with shining red jewel eyes. The small chain that held the pendant was a brilliant silver that shown with a bright light reflecting the sun entering the compartment.
"Thanks." She smiled at Draco and he muttered a small thanks. She then thought about if she should ask what had been bugging her ever since she became friends with Draco. She decided that she should do it now because there was no one around and she just wanted to get it over with. She knew that she would need to ask this sometime and there was no way around it.
"Draco. Our friendship. how are we going to keep this a secret?" Draco seemed suddenly interested in the carpet of the compartment floor.
"I really don't know Hermione. I really don't know." he sounded far off to Hermione as if dreading something. This sparked her curiosity but decided it was best left alone for now.
They talked until they reached Hogsmeade where they got into a horseless- carriage together, avoiding Harry and Ron at all costs.
~*~
After a while, they reached Hogwarts.
"I'll talk to you later, Draco. Please do owl me tonight. G'night." With that she stepped out of the carriage not giving Draco a chance to say goodbye. She always seemed to do that to him.
When Hermione walked in to the Great Hall, it was as magnificent as ever. The sky was a dark blue that seemed to hold many secrets to it. The stars glowed brightly in the evening sky. A moon, with several planets surrounding it, were far off in the distance and the ceiling was charmed even further to have the occasional shooting star cross over it. Over each table floated candles that were the respective house's colors. At the Head table sat Dumbledore, all of the professors, and a new face.
Hermione suspected this to be the new Transfiguration teacher to be taking place of Professor McGonagall. She (yes, it was a female) had short black hair and bright blue, almost gray, eyes. She wore emo glasses and looked to be quite young. No more than 26. She wore many pieces of jewelry including a simple black velvet choker, many earrings, quite a few bracelets and a necklace that looked to be a simple silver chain.
Hermione stared at awe at this witch. She looked so young yet so powerful. Finally, Hermione took her seat at the Gryffindor table preparing to be bombarded with "Where were you?!"s. And that she did get. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all questioned her on this but before she could have time to answer, Professor Dumbledore spoke up.
"May the Sorting Begin!" The new face then stepped up bringing the Sorting Hat and stool with her. She unrolled a piece of parchment and called out the first name. The girl, named Amanda, was sorted into Ravenclaw who cheered wildly for their new Housemate. This went on for about 30-45 minutes before the last person, a boy named Alex Crouse, was sorted into Slytherin. Dumbledore stood up and the excited chatter died down to a few tiny whispers.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts. For many of you, this is yet another year here with us at Hogwarts. But, for others, it is just the beginning." He cast a glance to all the nervous first years settling in to their Houses. "I have a few start of term notices. Many of you know of the downfall of Voldemort." A few people in the crowd cringed at the mention of his name, even though he was gone. "We lost our Transfiguration professor in the war against him. That is why we have a new professor here. It is my pleasure to introduce to you, Professor Sherman."
At this, the tall black-haired lady Hermione saw when entering the Great Hall stood up and took a bow. Most of the male population was oogling at her and paying no attention to anything else. This included Harry and Ron, which earned them glares from Cho and Hannah, across the room. Hermione was pleased to see that when she looked over at Draco, he was not oogling. She didn't know why but she felt a bit possessive of him. Actually, she did know why, she just didn't want to admit it to herself.
When the teacher sat down, the applause that had burst out through the hall died down. Professor Dumbledore stood back up.
"Professor Sherman will be the new Transfiguration teacher, taking place of Professor McGonagall and also taking place as the Head of Gryffindor House. Lastly, the Forbidden Forest is, obviously, forbidden. Now: Dig in!" And with that, food appeared on all of the golden plates as students all through the hall began to eat.
Ron, being Ron, loaded his pile up with anything he could eat. This included chicken wings, steak, mashed potatoes, lima beans, green beans, corn on the cob, turkey, chicken, ham, ANYTHING! By the time the feast was over, Ron could barely stand up by himself. Hermione stood when the announcement was made for "Prefects to take the First Years to the dorms and then come back to the Great Hall," and went to the head of the Gryffindor table. Being as she was a Prefect and all.
"First years this way! Come on this way! Follow me please." She screamed over the excited chatter of all four houses and led all of the 1st years down the halls and up to the Gryffindor tower. Now, she stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. To enter, you must speak the password. It is "Espon Boise." Please remember the password and if you do forget, ask an older Gryffindor please. Do not write it down, also. Thank you."
She walked into the Common Room and smiled as all of the First Years jaws dropped as they viewed it for the first time.
"This is your Common Room. Up the stair and to the left are the boys' dormitories. The same but to the right is where you will find the girls' dormitories. You will find all of your belongings already up there. Good Night."
With that said, Hermione exited the Common Room and went into a jog on the way to the Great Hall.
~*~
When she entered the Great Hall, she was a bit out of breath from running/jogging all the way from the Gryffindor tower. There stood Professor Sherman, Draco, Hannah, Cho, Alec, and Fredrick. Cho was the Head Girl, Alec was the 6th year Ravenclaw Prefect, and Fredrick was a Hufflepuff who was HeadBoy.
"Sorry I'm late." Hermione was quite out of breath and looked a bit flushed.
Professor Snape was about to make a rude remark but Professor Sherman stopped him and told everyone to follow her up to the new quarters for Prefects and Heads.
~*~
When they arrived at the portrait, Hermione was still dazed trying to remember her way up to the portrait in one of the highest towers close to the Astronomy tower..
The portrait in front of them was bright and had a green meadow with flowers all around. A silver unicorn with black hair was prancing around followed by a path of sparkles. It had a single red star on its backside, almost like a birthmark. The sun was shining brightly through the blue clouds. There were six elves that seemed to be chasing the unicorn. Each elf seemed to be in a pair and all very happy. The first two were a couple with a bright silver-blonde-haired, gray-eyed boy and a brown-haired, green- eyed girl. She assumed this was Draco and herself because of the juge resemblance. The next was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, and a black- haired, black-eyed boy. These two had a resemblence to Hannah and Alec. The Head Boy and Girl were the last elves and they were a brownish-black- haired girl with brown eyes and a sandy blonde-haired ocean blue-eyed man.
And, of course, these two were Cho and Fredrick.
Finally snapping out of her stare, she noticed all the other Prefects/Heads staring at the picture with Professor Sherman unsuccessfully trying to snap them out of it.
"The PASSWORD is 'Cascading Winds.' On the right hand side is the Slytherin and Gryffindor rooms and on the left is Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Straight ahead, there is a staircase that leads you up to a hallway. Down to the left is the bathroom and to the right is the Heads Rooms. Straight ahead from the stairs is a Private Library. Good Night and Enjoy." Professor Sherman walked away, leaving the Heads and Prefects there.
"Cascading Winds." The portrait of the elves opened to reveal a very large common room. To the right, there were decorations of Slytherin and Gryffindor. And, just as McGonagall said, there were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to the left. Hermione went to the right and found two sets of doors. One said "Draco Malfoy- Slytherin Prefect" and the other said "Hermione Granger- Gryffindor Prefect." She pushed open the one to her room and walked in.
It was magnificent. There was a large canopy bed in the middle of the room that lay on top of a rug decorated in scarlet and gold, the Gryffindor colors. The bedding was a white with scarlet and gold ascents on it. Across the room, there was a window bench, which was black velvet. A large desk was next to the window. All her stuff had already been put away so there was parchment, quills, and ink on the desk.
She opened the closet to find it a large walk-in one. All of her school robes and muggle clothing was already in there as well. Her trunk also lay at the foot of her bed. She jumped on top of her bed and was delighted to find that it was soft. She could never sleep unless it was a soft mattress. When she was on her back, she looked up at the ceiling to see it charmed to be the sky, just like the Great Hall. This also made her very happy because she always did love the look of that ceiling.
She fell asleep, thinking about the day to come and the year ahead of her.
~*~
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All I own is the plot, Alec, and Fredrick.
Special Thanks To:
Narisunell: Thanks!! I fixed what you were talking about. Harry is dating Cho and Ron is with Hannah Abbott. Thanks so much for your review. Though I don't think of myself as a good writer :p I hope you don't get bored, too XD
That's Chapter 2 ^__^ Please do review. =D You get a cookie if you do XD -teases you by waving cookie in front of your faces- I'll update soon. hopefully.
//*laughs at her own daftness* I'm sorry guys. I'mn still getting used to the fact that there is no longer a Professor McGonagall :p Sorry, I fixed that up. thanks to "hehehe" for making me see that!//
-Brittany