Chapter 3

A Rough Night

Hermione walked up the corridors until she got to a tall picture of a brilliant knight named Sir Allen McGregor.
"Why, hello there milady! What brings you up here so early on this beautiful night?" asked Sir Allen McGregor. "Oh, well, I'm a little tired from the… events today," Hermione explained. "And I thought that I could have a look at where I will be staying for this year." "Very well then, fair enough. Password?" the knight asked.
"Medieval Curse," Hermione stated. "Correct!" Sir Allen McGregor approved as he smiled down at her and swung open the portrait to let her in. When Hermione stepped into the common room area, she gasped. It was so beautiful! The floors were in a mosaic of precious stones, like diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and opals. The walls were a deep red, going with the medieval theme. The couches and chairs were white, blending in with its surroundings. They were so poofy and soft, Hermione almost sunk all the way into them as she sat down! The couches and chairs were in a half circle around a diamond studded glass table. In the center of the glass table, lay a single red rose in an opal vase. In front of them was a fireplace place, glowing with a soft red tint from the fire blazing within. Hermione relaxed as she enjoyed the warm heat on her skin and the soft, squishy chairs which she was lounging on.
She must have been asleep because an hour later she heard a sneering voice drawled:
"Having a nice time, are we Granger?" Hermione decided not to answer in hopes that Malfoy would believe that she was asleep and then he would leave her alone. Too late. Malfoy had heard the difference in her breathing and knew that she was awake. She opened one sleepy eye slowly just enough to see a tall figure standing in front of the fireplace.
"I was, until you showed up," Hermione snapped. "Now, now, Granger! You know better than to insult your superiors," Malfoy teased, straitening himself up to ensure his statement. "I didn't insult a superior. I insulted a two-faced git," Hermione protested as she took a white pillow and flung it at him. Malfoy easily avoided the blow, but became agitated from it. After there was no response, Hermione sat up and scanned the room. Malfoy had left. "Good," she thought as she got up and started for her bedroom door.
"Going to bed so soon?" Malfoy asked, in his famous pose. Leg behind the other, arms crossed, and shoulder leaning against the wall. "Why do you care so much about what I do? If I'm going to sleep, then I'm going to sleep. If I'm going to relax on a couch, I'm going to relax on a couch. I don't need your approval for anything!" Hermione stated firmly. "Well, since we are going to spend a year together, I thought that we could get on a friendlier basis," Malfoy explained. "Well, you're sure doing a horrible job of it! And what are you thinking! After 6 years of taunting and insulting do you really think I'm just going to crawl up to you and be your servant like Crabbe and Goyle? Umm, NO!" Hermione reprimanded as she opened and then slammed the door shut. There was no way that she was going to be even friends with that boy! He had left an eternal scare, tearing out a huge piece of her, and every time he spoke he lashed out and hit that wound again, making it more painful to withstand. Over time, Hermione grew very bitter and did not tolerate any sort of insult from him. A thin layer of ice had formed over her heart. Some things, time just can't mend.
When she saw her bedroom, she gasped. Unlike the common room, her bedroom walls were dancing with color! The colors were the blended shade of a rainbow and seemed to move about when she walked around her new room. The floor was a white, soft, squishy carpet like the couch, except it wasn't leather. Her feet sunk in slightly as she explored her new room. The bed was white, and the edges of the covers were aligned with small diamonds. There was a canopy over the bed, hanging over the bed posts. It was white, but see-through. This was obviously the Head Girl's room. The Head Boy's and Head Girl's room was connected by the bathroom. As Hermione was admiring the lace that gracefully patterned the bed and the handiwork that passionately went into it, something caught her eye. When she looked up, there on top of the canopy, something shiny was glittering up there in the light. Being that the canopy was so high and she was so short, Hermione took out her wand and whispered "Accio!"
She caught it when it flew through the air. It was a pure silver necklace with some kind of jewel around but she couldn't place it. It was white, but in the light at certain angles it looked like a spectrum of colors. It was small, about 4 inches long, and one inch thick. The object was in the shape of a cone. Then it hit her. It was a unicorn horn! But what was it doing up there and why would someone dehorn a unicorn's horn and place it on a silver link chain to wear as jewelry? Hermione decided that she would look that up in the library. When she was about to get into bed, she noticed that there was a beautiful rose, laying there with a card. The rose was completely jewels! The rose bud was made up of red rubies; the stem and single leaf with made up different shades of green emeralds; and along the rim of each ruby petal were lots of little yellow topazes. "Who would send such a beautiful rose?" wondered Hermione as she gazed at the beauty of the rose. She picked up the card and silently read the elegant cursive written on the card.

Dear Hermione,

I'm sorry for all the years I have picked on you. I didn't mean for it to hurt you so badly. I hope this rose I got for you makes up for some of it.

Respectfully yours,

Draco Malfoy

Hermione's eyes practically popped out of her head when she read the signature.
"Why of all the sudden would he want to become friends with me! There was nothing special about me!" Hermione thought, confused about what she should do.
Then, as if on cue, there was a soft knock at the door. "Can I come in?" Malfoy asked.
"Umm, sure," Hermione replied. He obviously wasn't going to hurt or insult her if he sent her this bejeweled rose.
"I see you got my rose. Do you like it?" Malfoy asked, standing in the doorway in his famous stance. "Yes, yes I do. Thank you, it's wonderful," Hermione thanked in a daze.
"Can I come in?" Malfoy asked again. "I already said you could," Hermione reminded him. "Okay, just making sure," Malfoy said, walking in slowly and stopping in a respectful distance between them. Hermione decided that it was best not to show anyone the unicorn horn until she figured out what to do with it, who made it, why they made it, and why it's here in her room. She discretely put the necklace in her pocket.
"Well, I'm going to go swimming. You should see the tub. It's like a swimming pool!" Malfoy said, taking off his shirt and retreating to the bathroom door. Hermione couldn't help but looking. "He has such a nice body," she thought. Hermione caught and surprised herself. Did she just think that Malfoy has a nice body?
"You could come too, if you like," Malfoy offered. Hermione hesitated, deciding what to do. She made up a list of pros and cons in her head. Pro: He just gave her a bejeweled rose and asked for forgiveness. Con: He has bullied her for 6 years and she didn't trust him.
It took her a minute before she said: "Okay….." slowly.
"Really?" Malfoy asked, taken aback.
"Umm… yeah. Well don't get too happy or I'll get second thoughts!" Hermione teased.
With that being said, he quickly disappeared behind the door.
Hermione slowly undressed her uniform. She took the unicorn horn necklace and placed in underneath her pillow. It seemed to pulse with power. "Hmm... That's odd," Hermione thought.
Then she slipped into her green bikini. She felt a little uncomfortable exposing herself like this and sharing a bath with MALFOY!
When she entered the bathroom, Malfoy was already there, swimming in the perfect temperature water. Malfoy looked up and watched as she slipped into the water.
He kept a respectful distance between them, but when he got a little closer, Hermione let him. "Having a nice swim?" Malfoy asked, trying to break the silence, and then silently yelled at himself for saying something so stupid.
"Umm, yeah..." Hermione said slowly.
"SO how do you like your room?" Malfoy asked, trying to start a conversation.
"It's great!" Hermione said pleasantly, trying to stay awake in the warm water.
"I'm going to do some laps so I'll try not to hit you." Malfoy warned as he pushed off the wall and started doing some swimming laps. After a while, they started playing and splashing each other. Hermione started pushing off a wall and started swimming like a jellyfish where she was on her back and would put her arms in back of her and push the water the forward, pushing her backward. It was a lot of fun until…
"HERMIONE WATCH OUT!" Malfoy shouted as Hermione hit the wall at full speed head first. Hermione could hear him warn her, but it was too late to stop. She felt pain
at the top of her head. Then everything became darker and darker and she became limp.
Then all she could hear was the muffled voice of Malfoy as she sunk to the bottom of the 5 foot deep tub.