C Chapter 2 - It starts with a whisper

A/N: Ok people, I know the knew book came out on Saturday, but I'm going
to continue like it never happened.ok? I might kill somebody, but it
won't be too upsetting and you won't know the person.very well at
least.Anyway, Read, Relax and Review! Oh and Before I Forget, Anna
Cameron was on of the two people that helped me with this fic. Bev is
the other one! Sorry it took so long to update. Exams and all that.
Anyway! On with the show!

The horseless carriage drew up to the vast castle before them. Hermione,
being one of the 8 prefects, had to ride in the special carriage waiting
for them. Due to circumstances beyond her control, she was forced to sit
with the Slytherin fifth year prefect. She had been curious as to who it
was going to be but not long after she was seated, the door opened an a
curiously familiar hand griped the seat beside her to hoist itself up
and she discovered that she'd rather not know any more.
Draco Malfoy. This was the second time in five hours that she had to be
within a ten metre radius of him and it was already turning into a freak
occurrence for her. She turned back to the rain streaked window and
tried to ignore what she knew was coming next. But from experience, she
was ready for his oh so original greeting.

"What are you doing here mudblood?" he sneered.

"Same thing you are, ferret boy," she retorted, never missing a beat.

"Well la-de-da Granger, glad to see you've come up with some new insults
to throw at me. Because, you know it would just get boring if you called
me the same thing over and over again" To Hermione's amusement, he had a
miniscule note of hurt and mortification in his voice. It seemed the
memory of last years thrashing was still raw and picked at.

"Well, Malfoy, I could say the same about you. Mudblood's not exactly
hot and fresh outta the kitchen, so I could say the same about you," she
threw back at him, still not turning from the window.

"Yeah, well my accusations are valid. You are a filthy mudblood and a
filthy mudblood is all you'll ever be. You will be nothing in this world
even if the Dark Lord does demise. God forbid that happen." Draco
internally bit his tongue. He'd said too much and he knew it.
Thankfully, Hermione hadn't noticed his slip up.

"Malfoy, seeing as you lack human decency, seemingly because you are
devil spawn, please refrain from talking to me. I'm tired of wasting my
breath on people like you. I have better things to do with my time."

"Oh Granger, please, stop!" cried an indignant Draco putting on a very
fake high pitched voice, "I think I'm going to cry!"

Hermione turned round for the first time since he got into the carriage
and gave him a long penetrating stare. She swiftly leaned over so she
was but a hair's breadth away from his face and whispered furiously, "If
you only knew what kind of things people like you do to our world, you
would stop and think. Open your eyes Malfoy, the world does not revolve
around you. Being the person your going to turn out to be, is nothing to
be proud of and there is absolutely nothing to be gained from it. I hope
when your old and wizened and your looking back on your pitiful life,
you feel the pain that others dealt with, because then, and only then
will you know what it's like to cry."

And with that she snapped her head round and clambered out of the
stationary cart.
*
"All I'm saying Harry, is that she didn't have to get so upset," said
Ron as they sat in the middle of the Gryffindor Table waiting for the
Sorting to begin. "It's not like I haven't tuned out on one of her
ramblings before. She knows that, right?"

"Er.right.." mumbled a vague Harry as his eyes unwillingly wandered over
to the head's table where the new sixth year Ravenclaw was sitting.
Ron raised a slightly accusing flame orange eyebrow at him once he
followed his gaze and saw what he was staring at.

"Harry, man.you're a dog."

"What? Why?"

"Because after that whole episode on the train, Lavender's practically
expecting you to ask her out." Ron grinned slightly at the look on
Harry's suddenly panicky face.

"What! Why!

Ron smirked and pointed down the table towards the end. "Take a look for
yourself, mate."
Harry paled visibly at what he saw next. Lavender and Parvati where
looking right at him. As soon as they realised that they had been
caught, they giggled in an extremely girlish manner and pretended to be
eating their dinner when in reality, they were watching him like a hawk
out of the corner of their eyes.

"I think.I'm going to be sick."

Ron chortled as he watched his face pale further until he was left
looking rather pallid.

"Having Lavender fancy the pants off you isn't that bad, mate. She is
one of the best looking girls in the school right? You want to let it
down to her gently, right? Well.it's not hard at all, done it plenty of
times myself. See what you have to do, is catch her while she's still in
a good mood. Don't want any suicides on your hands, see. Then-" Ron was
cut off by an increasingly impatient Harry. Boy, these red heads could
really ramble.

"No, you idiot! Look whose sitting down next to Mione at the Head's
table?" Taken aback by Harry's sudden outburst of rudeness, it took a
moment longer for Ron to focus on what Harry was starting slack jawed
at. When the realisation sunk in, he gasped almost inaudibly.then
paled.then turned a slight shade of green..then pale grey.then
finally.purple with yellow dots (AN Joking! I'm joking.just a bit of
humour.) Finally, he turned a nice tomato colour and started to shake
subconsciously as his hands balled and unballed under the mahogany
table.

"Him.." He hissed through his nose. "Why I oughta." Before he could
lunge the some forty meters or so across to the other side of the hall -

"Have you heard about the New Girl?" interrupted an over enthusiastic
Dean.

"No, who is it?" asked Ron, who although had been momentarily side
tracked from his earlier task of flying across the hall, still had his
eyes glued on the now bickering prefects.

"I don't know, some girl from Ireland. She's in fifth year."

"Really? Is she good looking? What's her name, I might know her." asked
a now interested Seamus.

"Hey Seamus," called a seriously infuriated Parvati, "don't let your
tongue start hanging, or people will start finding out your little
secret. Wait a minute!" She gasped and brought a dainty coffee coloured
hand to her mouth. "Is that a tail I see wagging at your backside?!
Glory be.well.Looks like its too late for secrets!" She raised a
perfectly plucked eyebrow at them and Dean had to cough to hide a
snigger.

"Ok.I'm totally pushing your ignore button right about now." said Seamus
and help his hand up to Parvati's face. She proceded to slap it away and
told Seamus where he could go stuff his head.

"What's wrong with all these girls today?" asked the deeply confused red
head. Harry and Seamus smirked deviously and both said -

"PMS"

"PMS? What in Merlin's beard is that? "

"Ah.fickle Ronnikins.,, what ever shall we do with you? We'll tell you
when you're older." Fred and George laughed as they sat down on beside
Ron, who had previously been sitting at the end of their little group.
Harry snorted loudly and then tried to disguise it as a horribly
disfigured cough. Ron was not fazed.

"What do you mean you'll tell me when I'm older? I want to know now! Why
are you all smiling at me like that! I-want-to-know-NOW!"

"Ah Ron..just shut yer trap," said Seamus, who was starting to get
impatient.

"Yeah, Ron. I want to finish here. Have I got your attention yet? Yes?
Good. Ok. Well, as I told you, she's coming from Ireland, and she is
supposed to have a Pen Pal in this school. I've been trying to find out
who it is since I found all this out."

"Well who did you find this out from, then?" asked Harry who had
momentarily forgotten to Hermione, which would later be much to his
shame.

"Ah..Harry Potter." said Dean putting on an imitation of Professor
Trelawney, "the inner eye sees what ye may miss in the haste of
hindrance.."

"Dean, mate.that makes absolutely no sense at all." said Harry, whose
brow was still furrowed from trying to figure out what on earth that
meant.

"Yep, I know. But pretty much all I wanted to say was: mind your own, I
have my sources."
They continued with this mindless babbly about the New Girl until
Harry thought of something. .

"Hey, do you know when she's coming? The sorting ceremony's finished. So
it couldn't have been then. We would have noticed. Right?

"That's a very good question. I have no idea," said Seamus.

"Maybe she flood in.but can you do that from so far away?" asked Ron.

"You'd need to ask Hermione about that one. She's the one that knows
Hogwarts: A History better than the back of her hand.

"Well, if she was talking to me, I would. Just can't win with her." His
gaze drifted back over to Hermione and he saw with some satisfaction
that she was bickering animatedly with Malfoy and he was being out
numbered 9 to one.

".Erm.So.Harry.how's the Firebolt doing?" said subject changer: Dean.

"Oh! Yes, it's great. I took it out when I was at Ron's, and it's
running just as smoothly as I hoped it would. Still flies like brand
new. We are going to cream Slytherin this year in the House Cup. I can
just feel it." said Harry, who had noticed Dean's subject changing and
had taken full advantage of it.

"But Harry, we always beat those slimy gits, what's making it different
this year?"

"See this year, my friend, it's going to be a sweeter victory, because
guess who's the captain?" Harry asked, a huge grin creeping upon his
face.

"Who?" asked Ron, who was as per usual confused.

"Good God, Ron," said Dean, "Have a bit of wit about you. Why would
Harry look so excited if the captain wasn't going to be anybody else
but." He tailed off, waiting for Ron to finish his statement.
Ron furrowed his brow in deep concentration, and his eye began to
twitch. You could almost see the rusty cogs creaking to a painfully slow
start after the long summer break. It was almost paining him. Two months
was just too long.

"Does it hurt very much, mate?" Ron let out a compressed breath and
collapsed his head onto his folded arms.

"Man, you have no idea." They chuckled understandably and turned towards
the teachers table where Dumbledore had stood, and was waiting for
everybody's complete and undivided attention.

"Welcome, welcome all, to another school year. I have a few
announcements to make before I let you go on with your feast. The first
being rather morbid, but alas, that indeed is life." There was an almost
audible tensing in the whole hall as they prepared themselves for what
they knew was coming next.

"As you all undoubtedly know, there was a horrific death at the end of
the last school term; Cedric Diggory." He paused and looked sadly about
the vast room as frenzied whispering started and a few people from other
houses looked over at Harry and then quickly turned back towards
Dumbledore as he continued,

"In light of this, we have places a memorial out in the meadow by the
lake. There shall also be a service held to commemorate his death on
October 3rd. All those wishing to pay last respects are most welcome to
attend." There was a pregnant but somewhat comprehending pause before
the great wizard took another deep breath and started to speak once
more.

"On a lighter note, Mr Filch has asked me to inform you that screeching
fire Frisbees have been banned. I do believe this brings the list of
forbidden items to a total of 793." He beamed as there was slight
laughter especially the group surrounding and including the Weasly
Twins.

"My next announcement of the evening is to announce to you the new
prefects and heads." He took out an old battered scroll and began to
read from it.

"Fifth year prefects - Hermione Granger from Gryffindor, Justin Fitch
Fletchley from Hufflepuff, Celia-Rose Blackwater from Ravenclaw and
Draco Malfoy from Slytherin. Sixth year Prefects - Orla McFarland from
Gryffindor, Thomas Bluehearth from Hufflepuff, Cho Chang from Ravenclaw
and Marcus Flint from Slytherin. The Head Boy and Head Girl this year
are Sarah Hastings from Slytherin and George Weasly from Gryffindor.
There was a shocked gasp in the audience as they swivelled round in
their seats to get a better view of the 2 cool calm and collected
Gryffindor boys. Dumbledore smiled at this foreseen reaction.

"Although Mr Weasly has been awarded this role, I must say, his twin
brother and himself have passed their end of year exams with identically
outstanding results and seeing as one always seems to be where the other
is, it would be rather unfair to leave on brother out of this once in a
life time experience. Therefore, I have decided to let both young men
share this roll." Dumbledore beamed.

There was a stunned silence and likewise smiles all around the hall with
the exception of the inhabitants of the Slytherin table, who once wore
smirks of conceit were now whispering deviously to one another, throwing
dark looks over their shoulders towards the Gryffindor table.

"My final announcement of the evening is to tell you that we have a new
addition to our merry group of education. As some of you may have heard
through the er.Grapevine, so to speak, there shall be a fifth year
student transferring from Enniskillen Witches Academy. Her name is Su-
Lang Chang and she will arrive tomorrow morning. She shall be sorted
during breakfast. I look to the fifth year prefects to see to it that
she becomes acquainted with her new surroundings.

"Before I let you eat, may I ask the prefects and the heads to come see
me back here in the hall after taking the first years to the houses.
Now! Tuck in!!" And he sat, and did exactly that. Harry froze in shock
as did quite a few of the male population as they saw the reaction at
the Ravenclaw table. Cho had decided to say hello to her friends and
most of them were now talking to her quite animatedly to her after the
last announcement...Su-Lang Chang...Chang. it finnaly clicked and Harry
could have kicked himself.

She was a relative of Cho's!
*

"Hey you guys, I'm sorry about what happened on the train, I
overreacted. I guess I should have known by now hey?" said Hermione to
the boys as she sat down in the space they had made for her. She had had
enough of constantly bickering with Malfoy and had begun to feel the
beginnings of a migraine. Merlin's nose.how was she going to survive a
whole year sharing a common room with him?!

Harry smiled good naturedly. "It's fine, Mio, we're the ones that should
be apologising." Hermione cringed at the New Nickname.

"Ha! Well, if anybody other than me should be sorry, it definitely isn't
you," she said, looking vaguely in the direction of her dear red-headed
friend. Ron merely rolled his eyes and looked like he was going to come
out with a smart ass comment, but at the last second, seemed to think
better of it. Instead, he smiled silently, and turned himself towards
Hermione. He began to grin inwardly when she flinched slightly as he
picked up her pale hand with elegent long fingers and started to stroke
it rhythmically with his free hand.

"Hermione, Hermione, of fair Hermione.Could thee ever forgive an
undeserving disgraceful warthog such as I? For I wronged greatly against
you and I deserve nothing more, than to be hurled into the dark dingy
dungeons below, sweet lady. But I pray thee to ponder hard as loosing
thou's best friend would be a great emotional devastation and I cannot
help but admire your best friends. Both of them. But the flame haired
one especially. So I come here, today, milady, seeking forgiveness and
understanding.maybe a peck on the cheek but I am worth nothing more than
a mouldy carcass, waiting to be dumped into the river." He looked up
suddenly, his eyes dancing with mischief, "but only at your command.fair
sweet princess." There was a loud thud, as Harry fell of his chair,
gasping for breath as he laughed at Ron's speech. Hermione stared wide
eyed at him and then at the rest of Gryffindor table who had all fallen
silent.

"Uh.right.you're forgiven.get up. Please.now."she mumbled as she
snatched Harry's bowl from him and started eating his banoffee pie very
self-consciously.

"Ah.Ron.that's one of your best yet.man.Phew!" gasped Harry as he
climbed back onto his chair. "I don't think Hermione liked it very much
though.Look at her face. It's gone a nice tomatoey colour! Where's
Colin? Can he take a picture for us? Ah.this is a Kodak moment..

"A Ko-Who moment?" asked a furthermore confused Ron.

"Shut up, both of you." Said fire truck red Hermione. She started
stabbing the innocent pie, when suddenly Harry realised he'd been
nicked.

"Hermione! That's my pie!! And furthermore, you're sabotaging it! There
is a big plate of that, right there!" he explained, rather
exasperatedly. Hermione smiled slyly to the plate.

"Yes but Harry, this piece looks so much better! Or rather, looked." she
chewed the side of her lip and looked down at the pie as if accusing it
for becoming mush. "Besides," she continued, " You said it yourself,
there is a big plate of the stuff right there! So get another plate."
She grinned, something that wasn't seen too often.

"So, how is staying with Malfoy then?" asked Harry, as he picked up a
clean bowl and reached for the massive platter of pie.

"He's being an insufferable git as usual. Why, oh WHY do we have to
share a tower.?"

"WHAT? Since when?" bellowed Ron, earning a few raised eyebrows from
neighbouring Gryffindors.

"Oh, Dumbledore said something in the letter about it being more
appropriate. It's where the Prefect meetings and stuff are going to be
held. Much handier. But anyway. He's being even more annoying that I
thought he could ever be. He picks out any little thing that I do and
ridicules it till there's nothing left to poke.it's terrible. She sighed
and pushed Harry's now empty bowl away, and snatched Ron's out of his
waiting arms.
"What the-!"

"Well, Herms...all I can tell you is not to dwell on it. After years of
fighting with him, I can justly say that I have strength no more.
Hermione, if you let him get to you, then he'll have achieved his goal.
I should really know.I mean.with all the detentions he's caused me when
I lost my cool. But anyway. Just ignore him. It's what you've been
telling me to do all these past years." he trailed off with a shrug and
turned back to his lemon cheese cake. Hermione gave him a shrewd look
and then dipped back into Ron's blueberry cheesecake. Ron raised an
eyebrow.

"Bit peckish today are we, Hermione?" Hermione laughed and dropped the
fork into the now empty bowl.

"Ron, Harry, I have to dash. The feast is almost over. I have to take
the first years up." She licked her lips and stood up from the table.

"D'ya want me and Harry to come with you and beat Malfoy to a bloody
pulp once the teachers have their backs turned?" Ron asked sweetly.
Hermione laughed.

"You two are like over-protective big brothers." one of which I've
fallen hard for. "I'm a big girl now. I'll slap him if he tries anything
funny ok?" Hermione compromised. The boys laughed as they remembered the
incident in third year where she had done just that. Hermione walked to
the table slowly, looking at the four house tables around her. Three of
the four of them seemed to be chatting care free to the world and all
its troubles. They lived for the day, and were ready for tomorrow. Then
she glanced over to the Slytherin table, where everybody seemed to be
talking about something serious, brooding and morbid. It pained her to
see that house unity existed only in the other three houses.

"So, Granger, does it pain you to have to leave your two boyfriends all
the way over there at the other side of the hall?" sneered the all-too-
familiar-all-too-soon Slytherin boy.

"What's it to you, Albino boy? Jealous?" She wasn't taking any crap from
him this year. But he had different ideas in mind. He caught her wrist
as it moved to brush a stray tendril of unruly mahogany hair.

"Don't ever call me that again, do you understand?" He narrowed his eyes
so they were nothing more than slits. Hermione raised an eyebrow and
wrenched her arm free. She then proceeded to brush off her robes
casually. She made sure not to look anywhere near him.

"Don't you ever touch me again Malfoy, do you hear?" she said, never
once glancing up from her needless spot check of her robes. Draco looked
stunned for a moment at her out of character behaviour. But he was quick
to recover.

"Like I'd ever want to touch you anyway, you ugly, disgustingly filthy
little mudblood." He turned back to the table. Hermione froze, mid sweep
and raised her head to gaze at Malfoy with a thoughtful look about her.

"You know Malfoy, if having a soul was vital to live, you'd be long gone
and six foot under. And don't even kid yourself because it certainly
wouldn't be daisies you push up." And without another word, she got up
and went to sit at the far end of the table.

The respect demanding Slytherin sighed. Why did it suddenly feel so cold
one she had left?
*
Back in the room Hermione shared with Pricilla, Hermione was happy. She
sighed lightly-almost inaudibly to those who would be listening-and
turned on her side as she lay in her queen size four poster bed.

"I'm finally back where I belong. I'm home." She thought dreamily as
sleep threatened to sacrifice her to the night.

Unawares, in a room several feet away from Hermione, Draco Malfoy was
thinking exactly the same thing.

"A place for everything and everything in its place." they whispered to
themselves in unison.

"Or everyone.." Spoke their minds in perfect harmony.

Almost twice as long as the last chapter. Don't expect them all to be
like this! I'd like to thank:
Hufflepuff_Student8
Carmen and
Mene_Malfoy
You guys have been very kind in your reviews. I hope you stuck around.Oh
and before I forget again, does anybody know how to do the HTML tags and
stuff? I just cannot get my head around it. Email me or review with your
tips and stuff.Thanks!