Unexpected Love
Summary: A fic that takes place after Hogwarts. Hermione left the magical world behind after a messy breakup with Krum and became a muggle teacher. Years later she discovers that one of her new students is a Malfoy. What will happen when Draco enters her life?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. The ones you don't recognize belong to me.
Chapter 14- Professor Granger, Charms Professor
Draco's smile slowly slid from his face as he heard Dumbledore utter Hermione's name. In his excitement to return to Hogwarts he had nearly forgotten all about Hermione teaching at Hogwarts this year.
He slowly spun to face her, plastering a quick scowl onto his face. When he saw her standing in the doorway a brief look of surprise passed over his face; she looked stunning. Her hair was free and cascading down her back in ringlets. Although they hung neatly, there was a certain wildness and freeness to them. Her dark honey eyes stared determinedly at him standing out from her fair skin and defined with soft, natural makeup. His eyes then traveled downwards to her curvaceous body. Under her Hogwarts robes her chic knee length black skirt hugged her curves perfectly and her form fitted, crisp white shirt was unbuttoned to just above her breasts.
He quickly realized that he was staring at her, mouth hanging open, and swiftly smirked at her.
"Well well well, Ms. Granger. You and I, colleagues, working together now. Who would have expected it?" She just continued to stare unwaveringly at him so he continued, "I hear you and Finnigan didn't last too long. Dropped you, did he? Guess he finally came to his senses."
Hermione had been trying extremely hard to show Draco that he didn't bother her and that she was still angry with him but that last comment had hit her hard. She hadn't realized it at the time, although Seamus had. She had ended things with Seamus because of Draco, because it was Draco she wanted, not him. But Draco didn't know this.
A look of pain passed briefly across her eyes. She blinked quickly and the next minute it was gone, but Draco had seen it. He wondered, curious, why that comment had had an impact on her. 'She probably is just upset that it didn't last between them,' he concluded and swiftly dismissed the thought.
"Excuse me," Dumbledore said from beside them. Both adults jumped slightly. They had forgotten that Dumbledore was there, quietly observing the exchange between Hermione and Draco. "Sorry to interrupt this little discussion but I believe it is time for lunch and I, for one, am starving. If you'll both follow me we'll make our way to the head table."
Draco gave Hermione one last glare and followed the Headmaster. They arrived at the table and spent a few moments greeting their former teachers. Hermione then sat down on the left end of the table, beside Professor Sprout, and Draco sat on the right end, next to Professor Sinistra. Dumbledore watched them sit, his blue eyes twinkling and an amused smile playing on his lips. He walked over to his place in the middle and stood there to make an announcement.
"I would just like to welcome back all of our previous professors back to another joyous year here at Hogwarts. I would also like to welcome two new professors to our wonderful teaching staff. I'm thrilled to present Miss Hermione Granger as our new Charms professor and Mister Draco Malfoy as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." He paused to allow a small round of applause from the other teachers and then continued, "I know you must all be utterly famished so please, tuck in."
The plates in front of them were suddenly heaped with loads of rich, steaming food. Hermione's mouth watered at the smell of the beloved Hogwarts food and began to eat almost immediately. The rest of the meal was filled with cheerful chatter with the professors seated near her. She soon forgot about the confrontation with Draco earlier but was reminded of it almost immediately after lunch.
Hermione had excused herself from the table and made her way upstairs to the portrait of Professor Merl. Professor Sprout had given Hermione directions to her office so Hermione had gone to retrieve her things.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Charms professor. Think you're so great don't you? Think you're so high and mighty being offered this job. Well missy—" she was cut short by a loud booming voice from behind Hermione.
"Just let us through will you? She doesn't think she's better than you at all, she just wants into her dormitory." Draco stood behind Hermione and at his words the portrait squinted at him as though not quite believing the mans words. Draco sensed her disbelief and quickly said, "If you don't believe me, I can just go get Professor Dumbledore and he can tell you himself." Merl's eyes opened wide when he said this and the portrait slid open quickly. Apparently, she was somewhat afraid of the Headmaster.
Once safely inside the common room, Hermione turned to Draco hesitantly. "Um.... thanks for that Draco." He shrugged at this and said, "I didn't do it for you. She wouldn't of let me in either as long as you were there. Now, I need to go find my room. I must make the décor to my liking."
Hermione watched him search the doors until he found the one with his name on it. Right next to hers. He quickly disappeared into it and Hermione stood for several moments staring at the closed door and the curvy letters of Draco's name before turning and walking into her room next door. She gathered up the things for her office and proceeded back past Merl and, following the directions she had received from Professor Sprout, arrived outside the door to her office.
Once again there was a plaque on the door. However this one, unlike the golden one of her dormitory, was silver and read 'Professor H. Granger, Charms Professor' in large, bold letters. Hermione opened the heavy door and emerged into the spacious room. The walls were a dark forest green colour and sheer, pale yellow curtains blew softly in a light breeze which wafted through the open window. A large, mahogany desk stood against one wall and mahogany shelves lined the opposite one.
'This is gorgeous,' Hermione thought to herself. She automatically set about placing volume after volume of books about charms onto the shelves, filling them rapidly. Onto the desk she placed her parchment, quills, and inkbottle, candles (as muggle electrical devices such as lamps did not work at Hogwarts) and a few pictures of her friends from their Hogwarts days, the past year, and a picture of everyone that had come to her party the night before. Right in the front and centre of the picture was Justin Malfoy, waving at her with a grin plastered across his face and looking so much like Draco. She quickly continued putting stuff away, filling the drawers with equipment including feathers, pillows and other objects to charm. When she was done she took a last look and smiled before closing the door and walking back to her room.
The rest of the day Hermione spent putting up pictures all around her dormitory room, pictures of Harry, Ginny, Ron, Lavender, the twins and the three Potter children, and many of her other Hogwarts classmates and their families. Hermione particularly liked one picture of her entire Hogwarts class, all four houses together in one photo. Draco stood in one corner with the two lumps of flesh he had called friends and Hermione's eyes lingered on him for a moment before looking away. This photo, she decided, would go right above her bed.
At dinner she and Draco avoided each other. She didn't dare even look at him for it pained her to see his angry scowl directed towards her if he happened to catch her eye. She ate little dinner and excused herself early to make her way up to bed. She went straight to her bedroom and fell asleep, exhausted from the days events.
She woke up on the morning of September 1st, the day the students would arrive. She didn't have anything she had to do today as she had prepared everything yesterday so she decided to just wander around the castle and the grounds to pass the time.
She had slept in pretty late so by the time she had made herself presentable it was nearly lunchtime. She made her way down to the Great Hall and ate a delicious lunch, once again avoiding Draco. She went straight outside afterwards and spent the afternoon walking around the lake and then, back inside the castle, just wandering around, reminiscing about her years at Hogwarts.
Walking past a window she caught a glimpse of the carriages journeying up the path towards the entrance. She hurriedly rushed down to the Great Hall just in time to see McGonagall bringing in the Sorting Hat and the three legged stool.
Draco found himself watching Hermione as she hurried up to the head table. Her curly hair was streaming behind her and her Hogwarts robes billowed behind her, revealing her perfect, curvy body.
'Stop it!' Draco scolded himself, 'Don't think about that! You're mad at her and she's mad at you, remember?' But when Draco thought about it, he wasn't sure if she was still angry with him. He had been scowling, sneering, and smirking at her, but she had been doing nothing. She had had a faint, wobbly smile on her face when he had arrived and she had even thanked him yesterday. 'But she hasn't apologized,' he thought logically. 'If she wasn't mad anymore she would have said something to me, not avoided me.'
He tried to shake these thoughts from his head--they were far too confusing. Looking up he noticed that he had missed the entire sorting ceremony and Dumbledore was standing up to welcome the students. He vaguely heard the old wizard announce him and Hermione and he heard brief applause before food appeared on his plate. He ate his dinner quickly without conversing with the other professors and escaped up to his dormitory immediately following the feast.
He had decorated his dormitory to his liking the day earlier and, contrary to what many people would think, he had not done his room in the Slytherin colours. The walls were a dark lime green colour and covered in pictures of his mother and his son, the two people he loved the most, smiling and waving at him. The hangings, bed coverings, pillows and curtains were all a denim blue colour that went with the green perfectly. The final product was light and airy, nothing like the dark, dingy, coldness of the Slytherin dormitories.
Earlier that day he had also unpacked his DADA things into his office. Like Hermione's, there was a silver plaque on the heavy wooden door with the bold words 'Professor D. Malfoy, Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor' carved into it. The room inside, the shape an exact replica of Hermione's office, was a dark blue, much like the denim blue of the fabrics in his room and the curtains on the window were a light golden colour. The desk and shelves were both pine and Draco had quickly filled the shelves and drawers and covered the desk with supplies he would need for his class.
In both rooms Draco had placed a certain picture, one that he wasn't sure why he loved so much. It was the picture that Hermione cherished so, a picture of the Hogwarts class of 1998 at the beginning of their seventh and final year. Dumbledore had insisted that they all gather by the lake to take a photo that they could have to remember their classmates and years at Hogwarts.
Right in the front of that photo was a laughing Hermione with her arms slung around Harry and Ron. The trio was grinning ear to ear with not a care in the world, just content to be together. Near the side of the picture Draco stood, arms crossed and with a smirk on his face, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, the oafs he couldn't believe he had called friends.
Draco sat on his bed late into the night, looking at the copy of the photo which he had placed in his dormitory, until he felt his eyelids getting heavy. He placed the photo onto his bedside table and changed into his boxers before climbing under the covers and falling fast asleep, slightly nervous for his first lesson tomorrow.
*****
Monday morning arrived swiftly and with it came Hermione's first ever Charms class. The first year students of Gryffindor were first on the Monday schedule. They filed into the room, some looking scared, others excited, and sat down at the rows of wooden desks facing Hermione at the head of the class. She waited until everyone was seated and, clearing her throat, began, "My name is Professor Granger and, as you all know from the welcoming feast, I am a new professor. I hope you will all come to love and respect the power and ability of charms as I have. I also hope that you will all be so eager, conscientious, well-behaved students that I will feel no need to deduct house points from any of you. Now, I know many of you are eager to begin your magical studies in the art of Charms so please pick up your wands and we will begin."
The 10 and 11 year old children all stared up at Hermione surprised. They obviously hadn't expected her to say all that. Something about her radiated power, so the students quickly picked up their wands, quick to obey their new professor.
The class went by rather quickly with everyone focusing hard on learning the levitation charm. Five minutes into class, a small girl African girl by the name of Chalondra had managed to levitate her feather. Hermione was quite surprised at how little time she took to learn it, but even more surprised when, by the end of the class, every single feather was in the air, each student grinning proudly underneath theirs. Hermione, astonished at this achievement, quickly rewarded Gryffindor thirty points. The first years left that class with smiles across every face.
Hermione's morning flew by. After the Gryffindor first years she had taught a class of fourth year Ravenclaws and then a class of third year Hufflepuffs. Each class astonished Hermione with their skills. She did not know this, but to each and every student, Hermione radiated a sense of power and each and every student felt a need to show their young professor their best magical talents.
Lunch time approached and Hermione briefly stopped at the Great Hall to grab a bite to eat before retreating to her office to plan the lessons for her afternoon with the Slytherins and more Ravenclaws.
Draco's morning had gone relatively smoothly. His second class had been Gryffindor first years and they had all entered the room looking extremely joyous. When asked why, a raven-haired boy had told him that Professor Granger, their Charms professor, had just awarded them thirty house points for all being capable of performing the Wingardium Leviosa charm perfectly.
'Quite a feat,' thought Draco, 'first years perfecting their first charm in their first lesson. She must really be an excellent teacher.' He felt a sense of pride for Hermione, although he wasn't quite sure why. He brushed the feeling away and proceeded to teach his lesson.
Draco barely saw Hermione come into the Great Hall for lunch before she had left again, practically floating out of the hall, like she was on cloud nine. Draco found himself smiling widely at her happiness, then quickly turned it into a scowl and bent once again over his food.
The afternoon passed just as quickly as the morning for both new professors. Neither one had a doubt in their mind about taking these jobs here at Hogwarts. Draco had enjoyed being a school governor and had actually taken a very long time to decide to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And Hermione, well, she had had to decide whether she wanted to see Draco's angry scowl everyday. But both of them felt that they had made the right choice; this was where they belonged.
The next couple months went by almost exactly like the first day. Hermione's students continued to get top marks, Draco continued to scowl at Hermione (although he had begun to do it out of routine, as different thoughts kept planting themselves in his mind), and Hermione continued to avoid looking at or talking to Draco.
Late November cold bore down on the school and early winter snow blanketed the castle and grounds in a sparkling white coat. December was drawing closer and Hermione realized that in a few short weeks she would be going back to stay with the Weasley's and the Potter's.
Christmas spirit was evidently building up among the staff and students within the castle walls. Hermione had always loved the holidays and this year was no exception. But, just like last year, she felt there was something missing. That something, she discovered, was Draco. Christmas was a time for being together, and Hermione longed to be with Draco and Justin as well for the joyous holiday.
Hermione was slowly losing hope of Draco ever letting go of the grudge that he held against her. Nothing had changed in the way he looked at her. He still held that angry scowl plastered on his face when he caught her eye. It seemed that they would never be anything more than enemies again; they would never speak more than a couple forced words.
But one late November night, all that changed.
Outside the warm and cozy common room a storm was roaring. The wind howled and snow swirled beyond the windows. Hermione was sprawled across a couch, drowsily staring into the fire. Suddenly, a door burst open noisily and Hermione, startled, shot up quickly as a figure rushed towards her.
It was Draco. Hermione noticed that he looked like hell. He was pale and clammy and trembling from head to toe. His eyes, which, Hermione noticed, were filled with shock, were red as if he had been crying. In his hand he grasped a single piece of parchment. The parchment shook as his quivering hand held it out to Hermione. She took it and read it over quickly, the blood draining from her face as she did so. She looked with scared eyes up at the trembling young man standing before her.
"Does this mean---?" she began, but couldn't seem to finish her sentence.
"Yes," Draco whispered, even his voice quaking. "Justin's gone."
***** *** *****
AN- dun duh dun dun duuuun.... so what's happened to Justin? Killed? Kidnapped? Run away? You'll just have to review to find out! Please! This chapter took me a little longer to write than I thought it would but I reread it after I finished writing it and it was utter crap so I went through and made it sound a little better. But it's still not a great chapter; I needed to get through some boring things before I got to the interesting things. But it's gonna pick up, I promise! Ok, so while you're waiting for my next chapter, after you have reviewed of course, please go become a member of my Harry Potter message board! The url is http://scribblingquill.proboards19.com. Tell your friends about it, tell you siblings about it, tell anyone, I'm trying to recruit new members! :) Anyways, read, review, and visit my message board! Please and thankyous!
~*~FieryPhoenix~*~
Summary: A fic that takes place after Hogwarts. Hermione left the magical world behind after a messy breakup with Krum and became a muggle teacher. Years later she discovers that one of her new students is a Malfoy. What will happen when Draco enters her life?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. The ones you don't recognize belong to me.
Chapter 14- Professor Granger, Charms Professor
Draco's smile slowly slid from his face as he heard Dumbledore utter Hermione's name. In his excitement to return to Hogwarts he had nearly forgotten all about Hermione teaching at Hogwarts this year.
He slowly spun to face her, plastering a quick scowl onto his face. When he saw her standing in the doorway a brief look of surprise passed over his face; she looked stunning. Her hair was free and cascading down her back in ringlets. Although they hung neatly, there was a certain wildness and freeness to them. Her dark honey eyes stared determinedly at him standing out from her fair skin and defined with soft, natural makeup. His eyes then traveled downwards to her curvaceous body. Under her Hogwarts robes her chic knee length black skirt hugged her curves perfectly and her form fitted, crisp white shirt was unbuttoned to just above her breasts.
He quickly realized that he was staring at her, mouth hanging open, and swiftly smirked at her.
"Well well well, Ms. Granger. You and I, colleagues, working together now. Who would have expected it?" She just continued to stare unwaveringly at him so he continued, "I hear you and Finnigan didn't last too long. Dropped you, did he? Guess he finally came to his senses."
Hermione had been trying extremely hard to show Draco that he didn't bother her and that she was still angry with him but that last comment had hit her hard. She hadn't realized it at the time, although Seamus had. She had ended things with Seamus because of Draco, because it was Draco she wanted, not him. But Draco didn't know this.
A look of pain passed briefly across her eyes. She blinked quickly and the next minute it was gone, but Draco had seen it. He wondered, curious, why that comment had had an impact on her. 'She probably is just upset that it didn't last between them,' he concluded and swiftly dismissed the thought.
"Excuse me," Dumbledore said from beside them. Both adults jumped slightly. They had forgotten that Dumbledore was there, quietly observing the exchange between Hermione and Draco. "Sorry to interrupt this little discussion but I believe it is time for lunch and I, for one, am starving. If you'll both follow me we'll make our way to the head table."
Draco gave Hermione one last glare and followed the Headmaster. They arrived at the table and spent a few moments greeting their former teachers. Hermione then sat down on the left end of the table, beside Professor Sprout, and Draco sat on the right end, next to Professor Sinistra. Dumbledore watched them sit, his blue eyes twinkling and an amused smile playing on his lips. He walked over to his place in the middle and stood there to make an announcement.
"I would just like to welcome back all of our previous professors back to another joyous year here at Hogwarts. I would also like to welcome two new professors to our wonderful teaching staff. I'm thrilled to present Miss Hermione Granger as our new Charms professor and Mister Draco Malfoy as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." He paused to allow a small round of applause from the other teachers and then continued, "I know you must all be utterly famished so please, tuck in."
The plates in front of them were suddenly heaped with loads of rich, steaming food. Hermione's mouth watered at the smell of the beloved Hogwarts food and began to eat almost immediately. The rest of the meal was filled with cheerful chatter with the professors seated near her. She soon forgot about the confrontation with Draco earlier but was reminded of it almost immediately after lunch.
Hermione had excused herself from the table and made her way upstairs to the portrait of Professor Merl. Professor Sprout had given Hermione directions to her office so Hermione had gone to retrieve her things.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Charms professor. Think you're so great don't you? Think you're so high and mighty being offered this job. Well missy—" she was cut short by a loud booming voice from behind Hermione.
"Just let us through will you? She doesn't think she's better than you at all, she just wants into her dormitory." Draco stood behind Hermione and at his words the portrait squinted at him as though not quite believing the mans words. Draco sensed her disbelief and quickly said, "If you don't believe me, I can just go get Professor Dumbledore and he can tell you himself." Merl's eyes opened wide when he said this and the portrait slid open quickly. Apparently, she was somewhat afraid of the Headmaster.
Once safely inside the common room, Hermione turned to Draco hesitantly. "Um.... thanks for that Draco." He shrugged at this and said, "I didn't do it for you. She wouldn't of let me in either as long as you were there. Now, I need to go find my room. I must make the décor to my liking."
Hermione watched him search the doors until he found the one with his name on it. Right next to hers. He quickly disappeared into it and Hermione stood for several moments staring at the closed door and the curvy letters of Draco's name before turning and walking into her room next door. She gathered up the things for her office and proceeded back past Merl and, following the directions she had received from Professor Sprout, arrived outside the door to her office.
Once again there was a plaque on the door. However this one, unlike the golden one of her dormitory, was silver and read 'Professor H. Granger, Charms Professor' in large, bold letters. Hermione opened the heavy door and emerged into the spacious room. The walls were a dark forest green colour and sheer, pale yellow curtains blew softly in a light breeze which wafted through the open window. A large, mahogany desk stood against one wall and mahogany shelves lined the opposite one.
'This is gorgeous,' Hermione thought to herself. She automatically set about placing volume after volume of books about charms onto the shelves, filling them rapidly. Onto the desk she placed her parchment, quills, and inkbottle, candles (as muggle electrical devices such as lamps did not work at Hogwarts) and a few pictures of her friends from their Hogwarts days, the past year, and a picture of everyone that had come to her party the night before. Right in the front and centre of the picture was Justin Malfoy, waving at her with a grin plastered across his face and looking so much like Draco. She quickly continued putting stuff away, filling the drawers with equipment including feathers, pillows and other objects to charm. When she was done she took a last look and smiled before closing the door and walking back to her room.
The rest of the day Hermione spent putting up pictures all around her dormitory room, pictures of Harry, Ginny, Ron, Lavender, the twins and the three Potter children, and many of her other Hogwarts classmates and their families. Hermione particularly liked one picture of her entire Hogwarts class, all four houses together in one photo. Draco stood in one corner with the two lumps of flesh he had called friends and Hermione's eyes lingered on him for a moment before looking away. This photo, she decided, would go right above her bed.
At dinner she and Draco avoided each other. She didn't dare even look at him for it pained her to see his angry scowl directed towards her if he happened to catch her eye. She ate little dinner and excused herself early to make her way up to bed. She went straight to her bedroom and fell asleep, exhausted from the days events.
She woke up on the morning of September 1st, the day the students would arrive. She didn't have anything she had to do today as she had prepared everything yesterday so she decided to just wander around the castle and the grounds to pass the time.
She had slept in pretty late so by the time she had made herself presentable it was nearly lunchtime. She made her way down to the Great Hall and ate a delicious lunch, once again avoiding Draco. She went straight outside afterwards and spent the afternoon walking around the lake and then, back inside the castle, just wandering around, reminiscing about her years at Hogwarts.
Walking past a window she caught a glimpse of the carriages journeying up the path towards the entrance. She hurriedly rushed down to the Great Hall just in time to see McGonagall bringing in the Sorting Hat and the three legged stool.
Draco found himself watching Hermione as she hurried up to the head table. Her curly hair was streaming behind her and her Hogwarts robes billowed behind her, revealing her perfect, curvy body.
'Stop it!' Draco scolded himself, 'Don't think about that! You're mad at her and she's mad at you, remember?' But when Draco thought about it, he wasn't sure if she was still angry with him. He had been scowling, sneering, and smirking at her, but she had been doing nothing. She had had a faint, wobbly smile on her face when he had arrived and she had even thanked him yesterday. 'But she hasn't apologized,' he thought logically. 'If she wasn't mad anymore she would have said something to me, not avoided me.'
He tried to shake these thoughts from his head--they were far too confusing. Looking up he noticed that he had missed the entire sorting ceremony and Dumbledore was standing up to welcome the students. He vaguely heard the old wizard announce him and Hermione and he heard brief applause before food appeared on his plate. He ate his dinner quickly without conversing with the other professors and escaped up to his dormitory immediately following the feast.
He had decorated his dormitory to his liking the day earlier and, contrary to what many people would think, he had not done his room in the Slytherin colours. The walls were a dark lime green colour and covered in pictures of his mother and his son, the two people he loved the most, smiling and waving at him. The hangings, bed coverings, pillows and curtains were all a denim blue colour that went with the green perfectly. The final product was light and airy, nothing like the dark, dingy, coldness of the Slytherin dormitories.
Earlier that day he had also unpacked his DADA things into his office. Like Hermione's, there was a silver plaque on the heavy wooden door with the bold words 'Professor D. Malfoy, Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor' carved into it. The room inside, the shape an exact replica of Hermione's office, was a dark blue, much like the denim blue of the fabrics in his room and the curtains on the window were a light golden colour. The desk and shelves were both pine and Draco had quickly filled the shelves and drawers and covered the desk with supplies he would need for his class.
In both rooms Draco had placed a certain picture, one that he wasn't sure why he loved so much. It was the picture that Hermione cherished so, a picture of the Hogwarts class of 1998 at the beginning of their seventh and final year. Dumbledore had insisted that they all gather by the lake to take a photo that they could have to remember their classmates and years at Hogwarts.
Right in the front of that photo was a laughing Hermione with her arms slung around Harry and Ron. The trio was grinning ear to ear with not a care in the world, just content to be together. Near the side of the picture Draco stood, arms crossed and with a smirk on his face, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, the oafs he couldn't believe he had called friends.
Draco sat on his bed late into the night, looking at the copy of the photo which he had placed in his dormitory, until he felt his eyelids getting heavy. He placed the photo onto his bedside table and changed into his boxers before climbing under the covers and falling fast asleep, slightly nervous for his first lesson tomorrow.
*****
Monday morning arrived swiftly and with it came Hermione's first ever Charms class. The first year students of Gryffindor were first on the Monday schedule. They filed into the room, some looking scared, others excited, and sat down at the rows of wooden desks facing Hermione at the head of the class. She waited until everyone was seated and, clearing her throat, began, "My name is Professor Granger and, as you all know from the welcoming feast, I am a new professor. I hope you will all come to love and respect the power and ability of charms as I have. I also hope that you will all be so eager, conscientious, well-behaved students that I will feel no need to deduct house points from any of you. Now, I know many of you are eager to begin your magical studies in the art of Charms so please pick up your wands and we will begin."
The 10 and 11 year old children all stared up at Hermione surprised. They obviously hadn't expected her to say all that. Something about her radiated power, so the students quickly picked up their wands, quick to obey their new professor.
The class went by rather quickly with everyone focusing hard on learning the levitation charm. Five minutes into class, a small girl African girl by the name of Chalondra had managed to levitate her feather. Hermione was quite surprised at how little time she took to learn it, but even more surprised when, by the end of the class, every single feather was in the air, each student grinning proudly underneath theirs. Hermione, astonished at this achievement, quickly rewarded Gryffindor thirty points. The first years left that class with smiles across every face.
Hermione's morning flew by. After the Gryffindor first years she had taught a class of fourth year Ravenclaws and then a class of third year Hufflepuffs. Each class astonished Hermione with their skills. She did not know this, but to each and every student, Hermione radiated a sense of power and each and every student felt a need to show their young professor their best magical talents.
Lunch time approached and Hermione briefly stopped at the Great Hall to grab a bite to eat before retreating to her office to plan the lessons for her afternoon with the Slytherins and more Ravenclaws.
Draco's morning had gone relatively smoothly. His second class had been Gryffindor first years and they had all entered the room looking extremely joyous. When asked why, a raven-haired boy had told him that Professor Granger, their Charms professor, had just awarded them thirty house points for all being capable of performing the Wingardium Leviosa charm perfectly.
'Quite a feat,' thought Draco, 'first years perfecting their first charm in their first lesson. She must really be an excellent teacher.' He felt a sense of pride for Hermione, although he wasn't quite sure why. He brushed the feeling away and proceeded to teach his lesson.
Draco barely saw Hermione come into the Great Hall for lunch before she had left again, practically floating out of the hall, like she was on cloud nine. Draco found himself smiling widely at her happiness, then quickly turned it into a scowl and bent once again over his food.
The afternoon passed just as quickly as the morning for both new professors. Neither one had a doubt in their mind about taking these jobs here at Hogwarts. Draco had enjoyed being a school governor and had actually taken a very long time to decide to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And Hermione, well, she had had to decide whether she wanted to see Draco's angry scowl everyday. But both of them felt that they had made the right choice; this was where they belonged.
The next couple months went by almost exactly like the first day. Hermione's students continued to get top marks, Draco continued to scowl at Hermione (although he had begun to do it out of routine, as different thoughts kept planting themselves in his mind), and Hermione continued to avoid looking at or talking to Draco.
Late November cold bore down on the school and early winter snow blanketed the castle and grounds in a sparkling white coat. December was drawing closer and Hermione realized that in a few short weeks she would be going back to stay with the Weasley's and the Potter's.
Christmas spirit was evidently building up among the staff and students within the castle walls. Hermione had always loved the holidays and this year was no exception. But, just like last year, she felt there was something missing. That something, she discovered, was Draco. Christmas was a time for being together, and Hermione longed to be with Draco and Justin as well for the joyous holiday.
Hermione was slowly losing hope of Draco ever letting go of the grudge that he held against her. Nothing had changed in the way he looked at her. He still held that angry scowl plastered on his face when he caught her eye. It seemed that they would never be anything more than enemies again; they would never speak more than a couple forced words.
But one late November night, all that changed.
Outside the warm and cozy common room a storm was roaring. The wind howled and snow swirled beyond the windows. Hermione was sprawled across a couch, drowsily staring into the fire. Suddenly, a door burst open noisily and Hermione, startled, shot up quickly as a figure rushed towards her.
It was Draco. Hermione noticed that he looked like hell. He was pale and clammy and trembling from head to toe. His eyes, which, Hermione noticed, were filled with shock, were red as if he had been crying. In his hand he grasped a single piece of parchment. The parchment shook as his quivering hand held it out to Hermione. She took it and read it over quickly, the blood draining from her face as she did so. She looked with scared eyes up at the trembling young man standing before her.
"Does this mean---?" she began, but couldn't seem to finish her sentence.
"Yes," Draco whispered, even his voice quaking. "Justin's gone."
***** *** *****
AN- dun duh dun dun duuuun.... so what's happened to Justin? Killed? Kidnapped? Run away? You'll just have to review to find out! Please! This chapter took me a little longer to write than I thought it would but I reread it after I finished writing it and it was utter crap so I went through and made it sound a little better. But it's still not a great chapter; I needed to get through some boring things before I got to the interesting things. But it's gonna pick up, I promise! Ok, so while you're waiting for my next chapter, after you have reviewed of course, please go become a member of my Harry Potter message board! The url is http://scribblingquill.proboards19.com. Tell your friends about it, tell you siblings about it, tell anyone, I'm trying to recruit new members! :) Anyways, read, review, and visit my message board! Please and thankyous!
~*~FieryPhoenix~*~