Summary: What if Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had ended up in Slytherin? And the Golden Trio was Potter, Weasley and Draco Malfoy? And Hermione is their favourite victim of name-calling and other horrible thing. A totally different kind of story. Pairing: DM/HG, HP, RW?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. I only own the plot!
A/N: I need to tell you that, I think that there will only be one or two chapters left... Depending on how long the ending will be and if I can find more to add to the plot winks
And I also need to tell you that, next chapter won't be up until summer break starts (in Denmark... which is June 21st). I have a few exams, so I won't have the time until then. But I promise you, that chapter 10 and perhaps chapter 11 (?) will be great, or at least I think so myself smiles
Thanks to my reviewers: DarkAngelFallen, keddababy, SailorSun1, Syaoronsangel, beautybunnymouse, Savage-Lilly, Isis, Kate (the charmed witch), electra, Riley26, Alexsara660, Eve Granger, Deziree, Amanda (Carolina), Elaine McLaire, Linoa2112, Katkit, hotaru420, chris-black, Lena, sunnysweetie, Eryn Elizabeth, spacegirl, draco's sex bitch, MS98HDRG220, THE BOOT OF MANY MOODS, dracolegolaslvr87, ResurectNicholasdeLenfent, DuffythePanther, light and darkness and Ihateprepsandthe7
Special note to:
dracolegolaslvr87: I know that there isn't that many dramatic scenes, but don't worry. I'm working on it! Enjoy!
ResurectNicholasdeLenfent: Foursome, eh? Well...
Keddababy: I was waiting for my betas to reply. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 9 - Friends?
She sat in her room, looking in the mirror. Once in a while she glanced down at the envelope on the table. She pursed her lips, making a kiss face to the mirror.
'I wonder what's written in the letter,' she thought, and peeked down on the envelope once more. She felt spellbound by the envelope, even though she had no clue on its contents.
"Why don't you just open the envelope, and see what it says? You've been looking at it ever since we came back from Hogsmeade, and that's nearly five hours ago!" said Lavender.
She swallowed and looked up with wide nervous eyes at the dark-haired witch.
"Well? It is of course up to you, but I would open it before Parvati comes back, if I were you. She has a habit with interfering with somebody else's business. So, I case you don't want the whole school to know what's going on you should open it now. Besides, I'm dying to know what he has to say," said Lavender and she chuckled at her own remark.
Hermione glared at the girl. Who was she to give her advice? Hermione wanted nothing more than to tell her not to meddle, when she realized that Lavender did have a point. Parvati would babble to the whole school, if she ever found out what the letter said.
She picked up the envelope, and turned it in her hands, feeling its jagged pattern. She slowly opened it, breaking the edge of its right side. She folded out the paper and took a deep breath before reading it.
Mudblood!
Meet me on Friday at 12 o'clock p.m.,
outside your common room.
Wear decent clothes;
ask Lavender if you don't have any,
I know she will be willing to help.
You will show up!
Do not be late!
D.M.
She gritted her teeth. That bastard. Implying that she doesn't own decent clothes. That jerk! If only he was here, then she would...
Lavender giggled, causing Hermione to come back to reality, away from her dream world, were she was about to kill Draco Malfoy. She looked at the girl and noticed that she had read the letter over her shoulder.
"Damn, Lavender! Ever heard of privacy?" said Hermione, with a stern look at the other witch.
Lavender just laughed even harder, throwing herself down on the nearest bed, Hermione's bed, and rolled around, laughing so hard that tears were rolling down her cheeks. Hermione joined the laughter. Then, suddenly Lavender's laughter turned into sobs.
"Lavender? What's wrong?" said Hermione, but no response came from the Lavender. She was about to take a step closer to the bed, when the sobs became louder. She quickly stepped back, unsure of what to do.
'Why the hell is she crying?' thought Hermione, and tried to think of what to say. 'Damn, why me? I have never been in a situation like this. Couldn't she have waited until Parvati had returned?'
When she heard the sobs becoming softer, she dared to take a step forward. Nothing happened, so she took another step. Soon she found herself sitting on the bed, a hand resting soothingly on Lavender's back.
She looked at the girl, wondered what was wrong.
Lavender sat up, and Hermione quickly pulled her hand back. Tearstains were visible on Lavender's cheeks and Hermione removed them with her sleeve.
"Sorry Lavender. I didn't know it would upset you, I didn't mean to..." said Hermione, having a bad feeling that it was something she had said.
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault. I believe it's me that should say 'sorry'," said Lavender and laughed nervously.
"Why should you?" questioned Hermione, but was quickly interrupted by Lavender.
"Because, all the things, eh? All the things I've said. I know I've never been nice to you; I never stood up for you if somebody said anything, I've seen how the Slytherins treats you, and for all that and much more, I'm so sorry, Hermione. I know it's a bit late to ask, but would you consider to be my friend?" Lavender looked down at the bed.
Hermione was about to say no, when she remembered the moment for about five minutes ago, where they laughed together, had fun and joked. She wanted a friendship, someone she could talk with.
"I shouldn't have asked you. I know it's impossible for you to forgive me. I deserve it," mumbled Lavender.
"No," answered Hermione, thinking about how she should continue. "I'm willing to give it a try. But just because I'll forgive, it doesn't mean that I won't forget. But yeah, if you are sure, then I would like to be your friend," said Hermione and smiled shyly at Lavender.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Hermione! I'm so glad you said that. It really means a lot to me. Oh no," said Lavender and looked, in Hermione's opinion, rather nervous.
"What's wrong? Thinking about Parvati and the Slytherins?" asked Hermione, confused at the sudden outburst Lavender had made. Lavender cleared her throat, and began again.
"No! Well, yes, sort of. There is something you need to know, and if you change your mind about our new friendship, then I'll understand."
Hermione crooked her eyebrow, waiting for the witch to continue.
"It was me!" cried Lavender and tears started to form in her eyes again. "I was the one who told Harry, about... About the meeting between you and Finnigan... I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"
"Why did you do that?" asked Hermione with a coarse voice. "Why?"
"I wanted to impress Harry, and I didn't think he would do something about it. That he would actually go and tell Draco." Tears rolled slowly down Lavenders cheeks, and it was obvious that she was truly sorry.
Hermione gently stroked her arm, feeling a bit uncomfortable about this whole situation, but shrugged it away. Lavender was sorry, and Hermione knew that she hadn't been thinking about what would happen if Malfoy had found out, she was just being a thoughtless, silly girl.
"Lavender... I forgive you. You didn't know what would happen. Besides, Finnigan was a jerk!" she smiled while she said the last part. True, Finnigan had been an ass, and she hated him for the way he had treated her.
"So, Mione, want to grab some dinner?" asked Lavender, sounding cheerful again.
"Yeah, I'd love to, Lavender," said Hermione, and smiled at the nickname the other witch, her new friend, had chosen. The same nickname her mother always used, the same nickname she always used herself.
"I wonder what's for dinner. Do you know what it is?" asked Hermione.
"Nah, but it's usually good, don't you think so?" asked Lavender.
Hermione nodded. Hogwarts food was always great. She felt her new friend grab her arm, and together they walked out of their dorm room, giggling about nothing special.
The common room was empty, and they realized that they were nearly fifteen minutes late for dinner. Hermione stopped walking. She hated to walk in when everybody would see it. She liked it when she could just go slowly inside, and sit without anyone noticed it. She had grown used to it.
As if Lavender had read her mind, she smiled and tried to drag her along. Hermione stood firm. One time when she had been much later than everybody else, comments had been added, people had glared and some had even snickered while pointing fingers at her.
"Nothing to worry about Mione. Remember, I'm here now. You won't have to walk inside alone anymore. That's what friends are for," smiled Lavender and nudged Hermione in the side.
'Oh god! Do I really want to do this?' thought Hermione, and gave the other girl a fake smile.
She felt her arm being pulled and the rest of her body followed. She felt like the air got hotter the closer she got to the Great Hall. The Great Hall, were a lot of people would be sitting, eating, noticing when she would walk in. Oh god... What could she do? What should she do?
There was only ten meters to the door, ten meters until all the attention would be on her. While she walked closer, she hoped, no, she wished that nobody would notice her. Only five meters now, four, three, two, one, now they stood right in front of the door. She saw Lavender's arm going up to the doorknob and felt like everything was displayed in slow-motion when the door slowly and silent opened.
"They look like they have seen some kind of ghost, don't you think so?" whispered Lavender.
"Uh-huh," said Hermione and nodded, not sure if Lavender had heard her genius answer. She felt so stupid. She glanced quickly over the crowd and landed her eyes on the staff table. Hagrid winked cheerful, and she gave him a small smile in respond.
The Gryffindor table were looking at her, or actually, them as if they were weird animals in a cage. She saw Lavender smiling and winking at some of their fellow Gryffindor students.
She moved her gaze to the Hufflepuff table and saw that they all looked away, looking at the table as if they weren't interested in what was happening. The Ravenclaws, however, were a bit different. They looked from Hermione and Lavender, to the Gryffindor table and then to the Slytherin table.
Hermione followed their gaze to the last table and saw that the Slytherins were looking at Malfoy, Weasley and Potter, waiting for their reaction.
Hermione was sure, that if a fork fell to the ground, everybody would be able to hear it. She too, looked at the trio, waiting for some kind of allowance. She didn't know why she did it, she just did.
"Oi Harry! Pass on the potatoes, will yah!" said Weasley. Hermione gaped at him. He just sat there, continue eating, not looking just once towards her. Potter gave Weasley the potatoes and he too, continued with his dinner, although he glanced up a few times.
She looked at Malfoy and noticed a small twinkle in his eye. Her eyes widened in surprise. He seemed to enjoy this, and he approved? She blinked a few times, as if that helped to get rid of the image before her. But with no luck, he was still looking rather smug.
Everybody seemed to realize that Malfoy didn't mind 'the mudblood' having a friend, and when Lavender waved at both him and Potter, and they both waved back, everybody continued with the eating and talking they had done before Hermione and Lavender had walked in.
"Oh no! Parvati must have forgotten to save a seat," said Lavender and pointed in the direction of were Parvati was sitting, surrounded by some Gryffindor boys. "Well, then we'll just have to settle with your regular seat."
Lavender quickly took a seat, actually Hermione's regular seat, and pointed on the chair on the other site of the table, just in front of her.
Hermione groaned, but walked around the table nevertheless and sat down, facing Lavender and with a good sight to the Slytherin table. Right now Malfoy was engrossed in a conversation with both Potter and Weasley. She wished she were closer, because it looked like they were up to something.
"I can't believe that you have been sitting in this end for years, it must have been pretty dull, huh? I mean, you can't hear one single thing of what the others are talking about," said Lavender and looked thoughtfully.
"Well! It's not like I had a choice. Nobody wanted me in the other end or in the middle of the table," said Hermione, and shrugged her shoulders. This was not the time to start crying over something like that again. She was strong and she would never allow herself to crying in front of a lot people, or truth be told, a whole school full of a bunch of kids. Because that was how she saw everybody else who were mean or younger than herself, as a bunch of intolerable kids.
She ate her dinner and tried to keep up with everything Lavender said, but it seemed like, when first Lavender had started talking, she wouldn't stop anytime soon. She stopped listen to the babbling girl and looked around the hall.
She didn't know why, but she couldn't keep her eyes of Malfoy. He was attractively handsome. She followed his movements, noticed how graceful he was sitting. She quickly changed her position and sat as graceful as she could.
Pansy was nearly sitting on his lap, trying to get his attention, but she saw that he swiped her away, like she meant nothing to him. Even though she would never admit it out loud, she felt rather pleased with it. He had chosen her, and not that Slytherin slut.
"Are you coming Mione?" asked Lavender, and Hermione turned her attention back to her new friend.
"Yeah, sure. I'm coming," said Hermione, and smiled.
A/N: So, did you like it? Hate it? Review and let me know! I know that the chapter was not that long, but I promise that the next one(s) will. Oh yeah... Only leave your email address (if you don't have a profile on if you want to receive an update-mail, every time I update. I think that is all. Review!
And thanks to Lizzy for giving me some feedback and Savannah for helping me with my grammar and spelling!