Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of its' characters, names, or settings
Chapter 9- Home Again
Thanks for the reviews…
w.m. spearmints fabric: Lol, thankz again for all the help.
gazy: Thanks again for your review. I am working my butt off trying to make you peeps happy, I swear. I am like updating 3 times a day or something.
GEmory: OMG! You are so cool! You give me like the best reviews! And they are so long, which by the way, makes me feel really grateful. LOL! YAH! Thanks a lot, and I'm seriously getting a lot of my ideas for my plot from all of your reviews.
LOL: I agree. . . Poodle is a weird name. . . but I have a weird sense of humor.
fdsghhrate: Thanks for your review, but don't worry about the whole Pansy/Draco thingy, cuz this IS a DM/HG fic… just wait and see. ;)
Jai: Thanks for the suggestions. Now I need to know what I can improve on.
confused: Well, I'm sorry if I might've offended you with the name Poodle, but I think you are overreacting over a smallest thing. What's wrong with the name Poodle? I mean, it was just something random that I thought of… didn't know that you would "care".
Already changed into her Hogwarts robes, Hermione got out of the carriage with Luna and Neville. The train ride earlier had been very long and Hermione thought that it was quite eventful for her to find out that the unrecognizable guy she had earlier been searching for was none other than Draco Malfoy. At the very thought of it, Hermione felt herself blushing.
'I wonder why he's so different now,' she thought, still pink in the face. 'Usually, he would've made some kind of snide remark, but this time he didn't… he didn't even smirk at me. His personality change is making him even look different.'
As Hermione thought about this, she was suddenly pushed forwards.
"What the-!" Neville exclaimed in surprise.
Turning left to see what had happened, it was suddenly very apparent to Hermione that Ron and Padma, who were now walking past them arm in arm, had clearly pushed themselves right by her, They were closely followed by Harry and Ginny as they marched into the school.
"Watch where you're going!" Luna called after them.
Turning to Hermione, Neville asked, "You okay, 'Mione?"
Nodding and looking calm, she replied, "Yah. Don't worry about it, Nev'… I'll be fine. They don't even exist to me anymore."
And with that said, they entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Entrance Hall was brightly lit, warm, and the voices and footsteps of everyone echoed against the marble floors and stone walls.
Hermione sighed deeply as she looked around her. The sheer size of Hogwarts astounded her. She always had a feeling of welcoming every time she walked through these doors.
As she, Neville and Luna made their way towards the Great Hall, they stopped shortly at the sound of Peeves' voice. After listening more closely, they realized that he was singing an inappropriate song loudly overhead as he floated around near the high ceiling.
The Entrance Hall rang with laughter, and everyone continued making their way through the large doors that opened into the Great Hall. Neville, Luna and Hermione were still chuckling at Peeves's behavior as they plopped themselves down at the Gryffindor table, with Hermione and Luna on either side of Neville. On Hermione's left sat Dean Thomas, across from her sat Lavender Brown, and across from Neville, sat Parvati Patil. They were all fellow Gryffindors.
'Finally,' Hermione thought as she looked around. 'I thought this day would never come.'
She looked up at the Enchanted Ceiling, feeling overwhelmed by the number of stars that were spread out above her. Then, she slowly rotated her head around the dim candle-lit hall taking everything in. Her eyes wandered around, when they took in the last group of students that sat down in their house tables. Although a lot of the Hogwarts students were talking about their summers, many sat facing the Head Table looking hungry and impatient as they stared at Dumbledore, waiting.
Hermione's eyes also rested upon the teachers that sat behind the Head's Table, facing all of the students. Dumbledore of course was seated at the center, and he was having a quiet conversation with a stern looking professor by the name of Minerva McGonagall. When Hermione looked at Hagrid, he caught her eye before giving her a wink. Beside him sat Professor Snape, and he had a thoughtful expression on his face as if he was deep in thought, which was highly unusual. But what surprised her the most was the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher that sat beside Snape.
It was Tonks.
"Oh my gosh!" gasped Hermione as she stared at her in surprise.
Dean, who had heard Hermione's little outburst, asked, "What is it, 'Mione?"
"Look at who our new DADA teacher is!" exclaimed Hermione, as she jerked her head towards the direction of where Tonks sat.
"Hey," Luna said happily as she turned towards where Hermione was pointing. "Is that really Tonks? Oh my gosh! I can't believe it's actually her."
"Who is she?" asked Lavender.
Neville replied excitedly, "Her name is Tonks. You'll like her right away, because she's really cool."
"Well, we can all see that," said Parvati, who had now joined into the conversation. "I love her purple hair. She looks so cool!"
Parvati was Padma's sister, and Lavender's best friend. She also belonged to the Gryffindor house, and although Hermione really disliked Padma, Parvati was completely different. She got along with her fairly well, considering the fact that she, Parvati, and Lavender used to share the same room with Ginny for about 5 years now.
For a moment again, Hermione dazed off into her own thoughts. But this time, she was reminiscing over all of the fun nights that she had spent with Lavender, Ginny and Parvati while they stayed up late at night chatting about everything. Now, she had to stay with all the other prefects in the Heads Quarter, away from Parvati and Lavender. Hermione found herself feeling more and more anxious about her new living quarter.
Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that a certain gray-eyed Slytherin was once again watching her every move.
As Draco sat down at the Slytherin table, he couldn't help feeling a rush of warm relief to be back at his one true home.
'Finally,' he thought to himself, as he looked down the long house table to see all of his friends sitting and chatting together. 'I am finally away from that horrible woman and that horrible house I used to call home.'
Thoughts about what his father would be doing this minute in an Azkaban cell invaded his mind as he felt Pansy plop herself down on the seat right beside him. He didn't really care much about Lucius, since he began neglecting him after turning 13. But, Draco could still feel the fear chill his bones at the thought of his father; fear of him finding out that he had no intention in following his footsteps to the dark side.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, he let out a deep sigh of which Pansy heard.
"Draco, what's wrong?" she asked turning to him.
"Nothing," he replied. "I'm just feeling really hungry."
"Oh, okay then," Pansy replied, giving him a warm smile before turning around to talk to Blaise.
'I can't let her know what I'm thinking. She'll hate me as soon as she finds out. What's she going to say once she knows that I'm turning my back on every single thing that all of us Slytherins have believed in?' Draco asked himself. He watched her smile as she spoke to Blaise. She looked so happy that moment that Draco didn't feel like contemplating over his future anymore.
'Why am I worrying so much?' he thought. 'I'll try to forget about it. . . at least just for tonight.'
He looked around him, and noticed with satisfaction that there were a lot more people in Slytherin than there were in the other houses. Draco then glanced over at the Gryffindor table, when a feeling of unease settled inside him.
'Why is something really different in this picture?' he asked himself, as he watched all of the Gryffindors laughing and talking as they exchanged stories with each other.
Suddenly, it hit him. He had just realized that in the past, every time he turned his head to look at the Gryffindors, he would subconsciously first glance at his archenemies, the Golden Trio. But now he couldn't find them anywhere, and he was searching for them without even realizing it.
'But where are they?' he asked himself, as he looked down their table. He finally spotted Harry and Ron, but Hermione wasn't sitting with them. Instead, they were only sitting with Ron's younger sister.
'Maybe that's why I couldn't find them; they're not even sitting together.'
All three of them looked like they were deep in conversation and as Draco observed them a little longer, he watched them all glance down the table at the same time. Following their gaze, his gray eyes landed on a dark haired girl sitting on the left of whom Draco knew to be the clumsy Longbottom. Just like the first time, it took him a moment to realize that he, as well as Harry, Ron, and Ginny, were all staring at Hermione.
'She's changed so much,' Draco thought again. 'But why isn't she sitting with her little friends?'
Suddenly remembering the harsh exchangement that had occurred in the train, Draco thought in amazement, 'It looks like the Golden Trio is no more. But I must admit. . . Granger does look a lot better and well off without those two goons with her. And, it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks so.'
He thought this as soon as he saw everybody around her laugh at a joke she said. Then, everyone at her end of the Gryffindor table leaned forward towards Hermione to listen to more of what she was saying.
'It looks like the muggle-born is a lot more popular now,' Draco observed. 'But I wonder why she's getting so much attention. Maybe it's because she's changed, and she's not with Potter and Weasley anymore. She never did look so good when she was them anyone.'
He then watched everyone laugh out loud again as Hermione finished speaking. She smiled mischievously, as she flipped her straight hair over her shoulders. He felt his stomach give a lurch when she laughed again at a comment that Longbottom had just told her. Draco watched her eyes in wonder, shifting to gaze up at the Enchanted Ceiling with a peaceful look on her face that told him she was deep in thought.
Finally breaking his gaze from the Gryffindor table, Draco shook his head before turning back to Pansy.
The last thing he saw before granting all of his attention to his girlfriend was of Harry, Ron and Ginny turning back to their food, away from Hermione. But Ginny was the last one to stop staring, and when Ron and Harry weren't looking, she exchanged an angry and jealous look with Padma, who was sitting not too far away at the Ravenclaw table.
