Hi again, everyone! Millions of thanks to my reviewers, I love you guys!!! I really appreciate feedback from my readers; it inspires and motivates me to write more! Lol! Now I finally understand what one of my best friends was trying to tell me the other day, about how great it is when you get reviews! Thank you to the following people for your reviews: Lauren, daniel-radcliffes-girl, Emma Watson Rules, Meg, Draco Malfoy's Babe, and Zuvalupa. And here's the second chapter that you have all been waiting so patiently for. Well, after the annoying disclaimer lol. Oh, and yes, daniel-radcliffes-girl, I can tell how much you love it! Haha
Oh, and by the way, "indicates speech" and 'indicates thought'.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except 60 cents!!! Please don't sue me, I happen to like my precious 60 cents!…Yes, well, I wish I owned the Harry Potter series but I don't, so no reason to sue, I just like using J.K. Rowling's characters for my own creative writing. =)
Aaaand here we are! The next part of my story! Read on, and enjoy! Oh, and review, of course! Otherwise I'll be all lonely and sad cuz no-one reviewed to tell me how my story's going! By the way, if you have any suggestions as to how I can improve my story, or add another character like Lupin into the story, please tell me. Thanks.
Hermione absently toyed with her fork, her chin propped on her hand. She gazed around the Great Hall, watching her fellow students enjoying the start-of-term feast. Glancing up at the Head table where the teachers sat, she saw Snape avidly glaring at the new DADA teacher. Hermione looked away; she didn't recognise the new teacher. She was, however, thankful that the teacher didn't look like a second Umbridge in the making. She unconsciously shuddered at the thought of another woman like Umbridge coming to teach them.
Harry gave her a curious look, then leant over and muttered, "Something wrong, Maya?"
She gave him a weak smile, and shook her head. "It's nothing, really. I was just thinking about Umbridge…"
Harry looked gravely at her for a moment, then put his arm around her and gave her a reassuring hug. "Don't worry, Dumbledore won't ever let Umbridge find a way back into this school, and no new teacher could ever be as horrible as Umbridge…they can only get better." He tilted his head in the direction of the new teacher and smiled gently, squeezing her shoulders briefly, before letting her go. Hermione smiled at him, a real smile, glad that her best friends were so understanding. She looked over at Ron busily shoving a whole jam tart into his mouth, prompted by a dare from Dean, and smiled ruefully. Well, maybe at least one of her best friends was understanding and noticed when she was feeling down.
A prickling feeling at the back of her neck caused her to whip around, feeling as though she was being watched. After surveying the Great Hall and seeing no one acting suspiciously or else too busy to have been staring at her, she shrugged and looked back down at her golden plate. She started to doze off, feeling warm and content after eating her fill of scrumptious food. Vaguely, she could hear Harry enthusiastically telling Ron about the new tactics he had devised for this year's Quidditch matches, since he was now Gryffindor's Quidditch captain for his last year at Hogwarts.
Hermione jerked awake as she yet again felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and this time she was certain someone was looking at her. Twisting around in her seat, she looked around before glancing up at the Head table. With a jolt, Hermione realized that the new teacher had been the one looking at her. The professor seemed to notice that Hermione had caught her staring and suddenly became very interested in the star-bedecked ceiling of the Great Hall. The teacher glanced at Hermione, saw Hermione's suspicious look, and promptly decided to duck underneath the table, her black hair the only thing now visible. Hermione stared at her weirdly for moment, concluded that their new DADA teacher was now officially insane, and went back to poking at the remains of her dinner.
Hermione closed her eyes, chin once more upon her hand, and attempted to drift off, not even bothering to listen to Ron's explanation to them about the new Firebolt that was expected to be in Quidditch stores next year. Opening one eye, she lazily perused the great hall, and then skimmed over the head table, pleased to see that the strange teacher was now looking at Snape, not her. Hermione frowned and sat up; was that a glare she saw the DADA teacher give to their potions professor? Incredulous, she opened her other eye and watched, highly amused, as the two teachers, apparently engrossed in a glaring contest, both looked aggravated and annoyed. The new teacher's bright pink hair, cut in a radical style, kept falling in her face, causing the glare to lose some of its effect. 'Well,' Hermione thought to herself wryly, 'At least she seems to hate Professor Snape… that's one thing she's managed to do right so far. But the pink hair? That's just totally wrong, and I don't even have a good sense of fashion!'
Smiling, she turned to Ron and opened her mouth to ask him to pass the water, then froze. 'Wait a minute,' she thought, 'Pink hair?! She had black hair two minutes ago!' She didn't notice Ron's bemused look as a suspicious feeling caused her to turn in her seat. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at none other than Tonks, Auror for the Ministry of Magic, and now, apparently, their new professor. Hermione groaned inwardly, knowing how erratic Tonk's behaviour and looks could be at times. Tonks grinned at her expression, and winked. Hermione continued to stare, for once in her life at a loss for words.
Ron, meanwhile, was staring at Hermione strangely. "Harry," Ron absently elbowed the black-haired boy in the side, causing him to choke on his treacle tart. "What's the matter with Hermione?" Ron suddenly noticed that Harry had rapidly turned red and was too busy spluttering to answer, and cheerfully thumped him on the back.
Harry drew in a ragged breath as Ron muttered, "Sorry, mate." Harry glared. "I did say sorry, Harry."
Harry relaxed slightly, and picked up his precious treacle tart, nibbling on it. Ron stared. "What?" Harry demanded, offended.
"You nibble your food? Are – Are you – "
"Hell no!" Another green flamed glare. "I just like my treacle tarts, okay? They're special!"
"Ri-ght…anyway, look at Hermione, she's just gaping at something, looking like a fish."
Both boys stared at Hermione for a second, before following her gaze to the new DADA teacher, who was merrily waving at them. Harry and Ron's jaws dropped open soundlessly as they gazed at Tonks. "Damn," Ron muttered, "but that woman is too happy all day long." Harry and Hermione laughed.
All three turned away from Tonks when they heard Seamus asking them if they knew who the Head Boy and Girl were. Hermione suddenly beamed, and pulled out her brand-new Head Girl badge, polished to perfection. Lavender, Parvati, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus all enveloped her in a huge group hug, ecstatic.
After they pulled back, Ginny exclaimed, "Wow, Maya, we should have known you'd be Head Girl; you're the best student in Hogwarts, after all!"
Hermione drew herself up, flipped her hair back and grinned at them. "Naturally."
The group laughed, then Ron added, "Yeah, even the Ferret-boy can't top Hermione's marks for anything, no matter how much that slimy old git marks him up. Snape really needs to wake up, clean his hair" the Gryffindors sniggered at this, "and realize that his house just isn't up to scratch, not even his prized Malfoy."
Dean and Seamus raised their glasses to Ron in a silent salute. "Good on you, mate!" they chorused, identical evil grins on their faces. All the Gryffindors nearby cheered, except for the first years, who looked at them like they were insane, which, of course, was entirely true in some cases. The first years kept glancing up nervously at the scowling Severus Snape.
Hermione felt someone's gaze burning into her and looked up, right into a pair of intense, silver-grey eyes. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat under his gaze, then suddenly remembered her pride and sat up tall, giving Malfoy an icy glare. He looked taken aback for a moment, then almost amused at Hermione's indignation at being stared at. Quite as abruptly, he reverted back to his trademark smirk, casually flipped her off, and returned to his dessert.
Hermione slammed her fist onto the table, sending her plate rattling up into the air and off the table, seething. "That ugly, selfish, spoilt little brat is really pushing it today!" Ron and Harry glanced at her, startled.
"Geez, Hermione, next thing we know, you'll be swearing in public at the top of your lungs! What's gotten into you lately?" Ron asked.
"One word: Malfoy." Hermione hissed angrily. Harry glanced at the arrogant blonde, who for once didn't seem to be doing anything nastier than eating, and turned to Ron with a shrug. Both boys glanced at the red-faced girl, before looking at each other and nodding in unison as they muttered, "PMS…"
"I heard that!"
"Shit!" Both boys dived under the table for cover. Hermione pretended to growl in anger, and watched as the boys shrank even further under the table. She covered her hand with her mouth to stifle her sniggering, then finally took pity on her best friends and burst out laughing. "You two are so gullible!"
Ron emerged from under the table, followed by a very embarrassed Harry, and said, "Hermione, you can't use the word 'gullible' anymore."
"Oh?" Hermione arched an inquisitive eyebrow. "And may I ask why not?"
"Dean said that they decided 'gullible' wasn't a proper word and so they stopped putting it in dictionaries." Dean, sitting across from Hermione, snorted into his banana sundae, a half-disguised grin on his face.
Harry rolled his eyes and smacked Ron on the head. "Ron, you idiot, Dean was just joking around, and you actually believed him."
"Which proves, " Hermione continued smugly, "that you really are gullible." Ron glared, and opened his mouth to protest, but Dumbledore stood up and spoke, effectively cutting Ron off.
"Students," Dumbledore's voice rolled through the Great Hall, "Just before your house prefects show you to your dorms and give you this year's passwords, I would like to announce this year's Head Girl and Head Boy." Murmurs sounded throughout the hall as students looked around, trying to guess whom the new Heads were.
Hermione looked extremely pleased with herself, then she suddenly turned to Ron and Harry and muttered, "Hang on, you two didn't tell me which one of you got the Head Boy placement."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, before Harry whispered, "Neither of us got it, Maya."
Hermione's eyes widened in despair. "Oh no, then that means – "
She was interrupted by Dumbledore's voice proclaiming, "Our new Head Girl is Hermione Granger, of Gryffindor." A loud roar resounded throughout the Great Hall, and even the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students cheered alongside the Gryffindors. The Slytherin table, however, either hissed at her or merely looked unimpressed. Dumbledore waited patiently for the din to recede, before continuing. "And our new Head Boy for this year is Draco Malfoy, of Slytherin." Hermione groaned loudly and buried her head in her arms glumly. Harry and Ron looked shocked for a moment, and then joined the rest of the Gryffindors in glaring at the smug faces of the cheering Slytherins.
Dumbledore added, "Hermione and Draco, kindly stand up so the students can see who you are. Oh, and congratulations to both of you." Hermione raised her head and slowly stood up, forcing herself to look into Malfoy's eyes. They glittered smugly at her, and yet for moment she thought she saw a wisp of molten silver in his eyes, before he smirked at her and his eyes became cold as ice once more. She stared at him, and with a sigh, concluded that her last year at Hogwarts was not going to be her best year.