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.
