Chapter 4
Hermione got out of bed the next morning and realized she hadn't checked out her new bathroom yet. She took her shampoo and conditioner, and went through the door to the bathroom.
She was amazed yet again. This bathroom made the prefect's bathroom look like a broom closet with a ditch in it. There was a bath the sized of an Olympic swimming pool, and the tile on the floors was gold. There was a large sauna in one corner and a four-person jacuzzi in the other, both with gold tile. There was a long counter with two gold sinks in it and a long mirror above it. Malfoy had apparently already set his stuff up, as there were some hair products and a toothbrush on his side of the sink.
Hermione put her shampoo and conditioner on the side of the bathtub, and took her clothes off, hanging them on the wall next to the towels. She slid into the pool and did a few laps before diving down to the bottom of the pool. As soon as she hit the bottom, she heard a splash from the surface and looked up. Twelve feet above her was a blurry, naked man.
Hermione held her breath as long as she could, but after about ten seconds, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She slowly rose to the surface, making a mental note to lock the doors leading to the bathroom from then on. Her head popped slowly out of the water, and she turned her head to face Malfoy, who did the same to her.
A smirk spread across his face as he raised his eyebrow. "Well, Granger," he said, his muscular torso bobbing above the water, "I'm speechless, for once."
"Good. Now turn around so I can get out," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I will do no such thing," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest mockingly.
"Why, do you want to see me in all of my nasty mudblood glory?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
"Indeed I do," he replied, swimming to the opposite edge of the pool and resting his arms on the side. Hermione bit her lip as she checked out his arms and chest. Oh he's so hot. Wait, no! That's Malfoy, you're talking about, Hermione! Knock some sense into yourself!
Hermione swam slowly over to the side where she had left her clothes and wand. She grabbed her wand, pointed it at a towel, and said, "Accio towel!" The towel zoomed into her arm that was stretched high above the water. She pulled it under and wrapped the fluffy towel around her body and climbed out of the pool. She dried the towel off with a flick of her wand.
"You know, I really don't get your problem at all, Malfoy," she said as she pulled her pajamas off the hook. "We're living together, so why don't we just try to get along?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes at her. "Well, if it means that much to you, I guess I can try."
"Thanks," she replied sarcastically as she walked through the door back to her room. She changed into her robes, fixed her hair, grabbed her bookbag, and headed off towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
Halfway there, she ran into Dean and Seamus. "Woah, hey Hermione, how'd your summer go?" asked Seamus.
"I went to Mexico, it was a blast," she said. "How about you guys?"
"I did absolutely nothing, it was boring," said Seamus.
"Same here," said Dean. "I'm glad one of us had some fun." Hermione laughed.
They walked through the doors of the Great Hall to see Harry and Ron seated across from each other at the table. Hermione sat next to Harry, and Seamus and Dean sat across from her.
"Hey 'Mione, how's life?" asked Ron.
"And the dick that you have to live with?" added Harry.
Hermione laughed. "He's Malfoy, as usual. Not any different than ever before."
"And how's your room?" asked Harry.
"Oh my god, it's so beautiful. I'll bring you guys in some time," she promised.
Ron wiggled his eyebrows at Harry. "Sure you'll love that, mate," he said. Harry blushed. Hermione, however, didn't notice this, as she was busy buttering some toast.
Their schedules were passed out, and Hermione found that the Gryffindors had the pleasure of beginning the day with Hagrid in his Care of Magical Creatures class. After that was Charms, then lunch, and double Potions with the Slytherins. As usual. Hermione sighed.
"Every year, it's always the same. Our worst class with those stupid Slytherins," said Harry. "Oh why, Professor Dumbledore? Why do you torture us so?" He threw his arms in the air, and the group cracked up.
They finished breakfast, and picked up their bags. They walked out to Hagrid's hut in the warm leftover summer air. Before they could reach it, Hagrid walked out holding a large crate.
"Hey, Hagrid," said Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Mornin', you three," said Hagrid as he put down the crate. "Ready for the firs' lesson o' the year?"
"Of course," said Ron, eyeing the crate rather nervously. It had begun to shake a bit. "Er...that's not another skrewt, is it?" he asked.
"O' course not," Hagrid said. "Yeh'll have to wait for yer lesson to fin' out what it is, though."
"D'you think it's something really dangerous?" Harry whispered in Hermione's ear.
Hermione turned to him. "Of course it is, this is Hagrid we're talking about here."
Over Harry's shoulder, she saw the rest of their class coming over the hill towards them. When they got closer, Harry moaned. "I forgot we had this class with them."
He was, of course, referring to Draco Malfoy and his followers. When they approached the cabin, Malfoy whispered something into Pansy Parkinson's ear, and she laughed a high-pitched, annoying laugh. Crabbe and Goyle joined her in the laughing before Draco smacked them. "Idiots, you didn't even hear the joke," he told them.
"Alright, now that yer all here," Hagrid began, "I thought I'd begin the year wit' a nice easy creature." He removed the top of the crate effortlessly, revealing what seemed to be a piece of dead wood.
"Are you kidding?" said Malfoy.
"Does anyone know what it is?" asked Hagrid, ignoring Malfoy's comment.
Hermione rose her hand. She had instantly recognized it. "It's a Dugbog," she said. It was uncanny even to her how she always got things right.
"Good job, 'Ermione, ten points to Gryffindor," said Hagrid.
They spent the lesson without much happening, unless you counted the Dugbog lunging for Malfoy's ankles. They reviewed all they had learned from last year and were finally let go for their break.
"We'll see you later, Hagrid," Harry called.
"Bye!"
They decided to spend their break in the courtyard of the castle. Dean and Seamus found a bench and sat down. Harry and Ron squeezed on next to them.
"Oh, sorry, Hermione," said Harry, getting up.
"Don't worry. Sit back down," she said. He sat and she laid across the four boys, her feet in Dean's lap, and her head in Harry's.
"Dude, you guys should totally make out right now," said Seamus to Harry and Hermione.
Hermione and Harry shot each other looks. It didn't seem completely out of the question, but Hermione's better judgement told her not to.
"No, you really should," Dean piped up. "Unless Harry wants to have to deal with a certain crooked-nosed Hufflepuff, coming this way."
Hermione looked at Harry. "What?"
Harry looked desperate. "She asked me out three times this summer. Three times! And once on the train, and once since we got back. She thinks that I'm going to change my mind, but I don't want to go out with her." Seeing the look on Hermione's face, he added, "Not that she isn't nice, but it is a bit creepy."
"Well you should deal with it! It's not my job to help you avoid her," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Fine," Harry said just as Eloise came up to him.
"Hey, Harry," she said.
"Hi," Harry replied, looking at the ground.
"Well, I know I've asked you this before, but I thought you might have changed your mind...so do you want to go to Hogsmeade when the next date comes?"
Hermione took pity on him. And she was staring at his muscular chest. And bright green eyes. And perfectly messy hair. She shook her head. She couldn't allow this man go to waste. "Sorry, Eloise, Harry's going with me," she said, lifting her head up off his lap. Harry pretended to look sorry.
"Oh, it's ok," Eloise began. "Have fun, then." And with that, she ran off.
"Thanks much, 'Mione," he said.
"Yeah, whatever," replied Hermione, grinning. She checked her watch. "Ahh we have to go, we can't be late for Charms!" She rolled gracefully off of the guys and picked her bag up off the ground. They walked to Charms.
They had practiced their banishing spells from last year and begun to work on conjuring spells. Hermione conjured a pincushion and worked her way up to a mouse during that one class. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had rushed off to lunch, eaten, and sadly crossed the Entrance Hall to the dungeons. Ron caught sight of Lavender and excused himself to go to the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, Harry moved closer to Hermione.
"You know," said Harry, "Ron is completely obsessed with that girl. He promised me that he'd ask her out as soon as we got back from break because I was so tired of listening to him blabber on about her. 'Lavender this, Lavender that'. It's enough to drive me completely insane."
Hermione grinned. "So who have you talked about all summer with Ron?" she asked him as they went down the stairs to the dungeons.
Harry blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Nobody in particular," he replied.
"Come on," she said, tugging on his sleeve.
"Well, you already know, you heard me talking in the Leaky Cauldron."
"But I probably heard wrong," she said, still tugging. She most likely couldn't have heard him right anyways. Anyone like her? Not likely. Harry like her? Even less likely.
"Don't fake that, you know very well that I was talking about you," he said, suddenly interested in the floor.
Hermione's mouth hung open in surprise. Her lips slowly turned upward into a giant grin. "Hey, Harry, do you want to go to Hogsmeade for real?" she asked him.
Harry looked up from the floor. They were almost in the potions dungeon. "Hell yeah!" he said, laughing with relief.
They entered the room, and saw Snape at his desk. They started to sit down together, but Snape stopped them. "Miss Granger, Mister Potter, I have assigned you your partners for the year. Professor Dumbledore has decided that we should mix the houses together to promote unity more. Mister Potter, you will be working with Mister Goyle." Harry sighed. "And Miss Granger, you will be working with Mister Malfoy."
It took all of Hermione's willpower not to scream in frustration. She was so tired of Malfoy already, and they hadn't even finished their first day at Hogwarts. She reluctantly sat down in the back of the room with her new partner as the bell rang. Harry and Goyle were on the other side of Draco, and Ron came in to find that he was sitting with Crabbe, in front of Harry.
Snape cleared his throat. "Now that everybody is here, you can begin on your potions." Hermione sighed; it was just like Snape to start them off with something complicated. "The instructions are on the board, and the ingredients are in the cabinet." He flicked his wand, causing the instructions to appear and the cabinet to open.
"I'll go get the ingredients," Hermione told Malfoy as she got up. She got the items out of the cabinet, came back to the table, and dumped everything between her and Malfoy.
"Ok, so to make this sleeping draught...we put the powdered bicorn horn in the cauldron with a pinch of beetle pincers," Hermione said as she added the ingredients to the cauldron.
"I know what it says on the board," Malfoy snapped.
"Yes, well you can work on the rest of the potion then," Hermione said, turning her back to him.
"No way," Malfoy said, sneering. "I'm not your bitch."
Hermione contained a laugh as she imagined him actually being her bitch. "Anyways, if we're going to be potions partners for the entire year, then we might as well try to work together," she said. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Or we could flunk out of this class."
"Fine." He said this as he flipped his blond hair out of his face. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Well, pass me the dragon scales," she said. Draco obliged bitterly and watched Hermione shake them out of their container into the cauldron.
They worked together without having a conversation at all. By the end of the class, only their potion was the cloudy red color it was supposed to be.
Snape stopped at the cauldron. He seemed to have realized his fault in putting Draco and Hermione together. "Place a sample of your potion on my desk," he told them. He could say nothing bad to his prize student, but couldn't imagine being nice to the perfect Gryffindor.
Draco took care of the sample and walked it up to Snape's desk as the bell rang. Hermione disposed of the remainder, swung her bag over her shoulder, and headed out the door. Harry and Ron met her there.
"So how'd your first day go?" asked Harry. "Not that I wasn't with you all day."
"Awful. I'm so glad it's over," Hermione responded. "I'm so pissed that Malfoy's my freaking potions partner. He's such an ass!"
"Yeah, well, it's better than Crabbe," said Ron. "He's so thick that I'll never pass this class this year."
"Same for Goyle," said Harry. "Not that I care too much about that class. But you're lucky compared to us, Ron's right. At least you'll get good marks."
"If I don't kill Malfoy first," Hermione said, laughing. She saw the tapestry to her room up ahead. "Hold up, I have to drop off my bag first. Phoenix tears," she said to the tapestry. "Whoops, don't tell anyone I said that in front of you. The nobody except for teachers and the Heads are supposed to know the password."
"No worries, you can trust us," said Harry, grinning.
They stepped into the common room. Harry and Ron's mouths dropped as they took in everything. "Bloody hell, 'Mione," said Ron.
"Yeah, hold on," Hermione said as she ran up the gold stairs to her room. She opened the door and threw her stuff in. She closed the door and slid down the banister, meeting up with Harry and Ron at the bottom. They walked back towards the entrance, but Malfoy came through the tapestry and slammed into Harry. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm in order to stop him from punching the Slytherin.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Malfoy demanded.
"He was just waiting for me to drop off my bag," Hermione said, trying to hold Ron back as well.
"Yeah, well, this is my common room, and I don't want that slimeball in here." Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Harry.
"Oh, you have no say in who I bring in here, ferret," she said, pulling her friends out the tapestry.
Ron grinned as they walked towards Gryffindor tower. "I still remember that like it was yesterday," he said, closing his eyes, remembering the time in their fourth year that Professor Moody transfigured Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him around the hallway. Harry and Hermione laughed.
The group was halfway to the portrait of the Fat Lady when they saw Neville. "Hey, Neville!" Hermione called. He stopped and turned.
"Hey, guys," Neville said.
"What class were you just coming from?" asked Ron.
"Muggle studies," he replied, holding up a book with The Common Muggle and His Habits written on the front.
"You're so lucky you dropped Potions this year," said Harry.
"Why?" Neville asked. "How could it be worse now than before?"
"Well for one," said Ron, "the potions are way complicated."
"And he's given us a seating chart," Hermione added. "Harry's with Goyle, Ron's with Crabbe, and I'm with Malfoy. Not that I don't already live with the prick."
Neville winced. "I pity you."
"Thanks, it means a lot," said Hermione.
They reached the portrait. "Password?" asked the Fat Lady.
"Horklump," said Ron. The portrait swung open, and Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville crawled through. The common room was abuzz with activity after the first day of classes. Many of the fifth years were doing homework, the beginning of the O.W.L. year workload.
"Hermione!" two voices screamed before knocking her over in a bear hug. Lavender and Parvati got off of her and surveyed her. "Oh my god," said Parvati, "I almost didn't recognize you at all! You look so fabulous!"
"Thanks, you guys. All that summer sun did me good," said Hermione.
"We can tell," said Lavender. "And I love your hair!" she said, feeling Hermione's soft curls.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Girls."
"Hey, mate, you know you noticed, too," said Ron.
Harry ignored this comment. "Let's go put our bags upstairs. It's almost dinner time, anyways," he said. He and Ron went up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, leaving the squealing pair of girls with Hermione.
"Ohmigod," Lavender said quietly. "Maybe Harry will finally ask you out!"
Hermione grinned. "He already did!" She joined in the squealing this time, and they drew angry looks from the rest of the common room. "Oh wait, before I forget, Lav, what did Ron talk to you about today after lunch?"
"Well..." she said, looking around the room and grinning.
"Oh for goodness sake, Lavender," Parvati said, shooting a sardonic look at her friend. She turned to Hermione. "He asked her to Hogsmeade."
"Ohh, maybe we can double-date!" said Hermione. "Sorry, Par."
"Don't worry about it," said Parvati. "I've got me a guy in Ravenclaw."
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Nice."
Harry and Ron came back downstairs, grinning about something.
"What are you two so happy about?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, nothing," they said in unison.
"Right."