AN: I finished reading the fifth book last night. Tsk! Three years of waiting and it took me one and a half days to read it! (Yes, I DO read that fast, test me on it.) Anyway, exams over and books read, I have time to really get down to some serious writing. My attention span on writing can get very short; I have no fewer than five completely different Draco/Hermione stories started that I haven't posted yet! I'll poet them when I'm satisfied with the two (or three???? No, two.) That is already there.
Disclaimer: Don't own it, don't want to (SO STOP WITH THE TELEPHONE CALLS JK ROWLING!!)
Chapter four- No Place for Hermione
Hermione awoke early the next day, and went into the common room to find that four stacks had been placed on the table in the night. She went over to look at them and found that they were the timetables for the school, sorted into house, and then the years had been separated by elastic bands.
Malfoy came out of his bedroom, on the way to the bathroom, topless. Hermione smirked and said "Malfoy, if you insist on being in my eyesight, please wear appropriate clothing." He scowled at her and slammed the door to the bathroom behind him. "Okay, not a morning person." She said to herself, packing the timetables into her bag.
In the great hall that day, she and Ginny distributed the timetables for Gryffindor. As she gave Harry, Ron, Lavender and Parvati's theirs, Ron grabbed her arm. "Did you get my letters?"
Hermione thought of the unopened letters at the bottom of her trunk. She had received one every day since she had gone to Diagon alley. "Yeah."
"And?" He looked at her seriously.
She smiled at him sarcastically. "I'm sorry; I've been too busy to care about reading them." She dumped their timetables on the table and stalked off.
Because she had had to go and talk to Professor Dumbledore about her duties as Head Girl this year, she had been late to their first class, which was Defence against the Dark Arts. As she entered, she found that her usual table at the front next to Ron and Harry's has now occupied by Parvati and Lavender. They shrugged and smiled at her apologetically, as she stalked off to sit on her own at the back.
They were doing group work, and for the first time in her school life, she didn't work with Ron and Harry. Instead she worked with Dean, Seamus and Neville. She liked the boys, but they just didn't have the history of adventures that Harry and Ron had seemed to have forgotten with her.
After that lesson was Arithmancy. All the other Gryffindors had Divination, so she said goodbye to Seamus, Dean and Neville and Harry, Ron walked off without a second glance at her.
She wasn't hungry at lunch, and she didn't much fancy going into her common room, with the increased chances of meeting Malfoy, so she went for a walk in the grounds. The wind was strong but not cold, and the sun was shining brightly. She suddenly felt very lonely, and went to see Hagrid, who was delighted to see her.
"Head girl, eh?" he said, eyes shining with pride. She smiled and accepted the rock bun he offered her. She took a bite out of it gingerly; having almost broken her teeth on many dishes Hagrid had made, but found her teeth sank nicely into the warm, delicious cake. She complimented him on it and he blushed with pride, and started telling her about the cookery course he had been on in the summer.
Just as he was telling her the recipe for his new improved rock buns, Ron burst in through the door. "Hagrid have you seen…" he stopped as he saw Hermione, "it's alright, I've found her."
"What do you want?" Hermione stood and crossed her arms.
"To see you, I've hardly spoken to for months."
"Why now? Is Parvati at cheerleading practice or something?" She went to push past him, and saw Parvati, Lavender and Harry outside. Parvati's ears were red.
"FYI, I'm not a cheerleader." She glared at Hermione, who just scowled and stomped off.
Harry darted after her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hermione, we really miss you, please talk to us."
She looked at his mournful expression and sighed. "Fine, I'll hang with you for a while, but I have to go and do something before lunch ends, you know Head Girl stuff."
"Why didn't you tell us about that?" Said Ron, as the others walked over, Ron had his arm around Parvati and Harry wrapped his around Lavender as soon as she arrived at his side.
She flicked her newly straightened hair out of her eyes. "You weren't exactly around to tell. I didn't hear from either of you all summer."
Ron's ears went pink. "I'm sorry, we were just so busy, with, you know stuff." Parvati and Lavender giggled.
"Yeah, I get the picture." Hermione managed to suppress her urge to rip the giggly voice boxes out of the girls' throats.
"Err…So, what did you do over the summer?" Harry looked at her, as Lavender giggled into his shoulder.
"Nothing much…my homework, got my hair done, went shopping."
"I noticed, you look great!" Ron exclaimed, getting a hit from Parvati, who looked indignant. He smiled and kissed her neck, "nobodies as great-looking as me Perfect Parvati." She giggled and Hermione was almost sick.
Harry saw her annoyance and went on, "What else?"
"Nothing, I don't have any muggle friends so I sat alone in my house and read for two months." All the giggling stopped and everyone looked sympathetically at Hermione and guiltily at each other. "Look, this isn't working, nice of you to try, but there obviously isn't room for me in your lives. So I'm just going to go and leave you guys alone." She walked as fast as she could back to the castle.
"Hermione!" Ron called. "Later," she replied, and broke into full speed.
