Hermione woke up early the next morning and opened her hangings to see that the large curtain had been opened. She climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. The shower was running on Draco's side, and she brushed her teeth quickly, while at the same time trying to tame the mess of hair that had escaped from her ponytail overnight. She spat out her toothpaste foam and heard the slither of his shower curtain opening. She turned around quickly and faced away from his side. "Sorry!" she said "I'm just brushing my teeth." She heard the slap of wet feet on tile and the slide of towels coming off the rack.
"Get used to it now." Draco said. Hermione turned at his remark and quickly looked down, blushing, as he walked past, wrapped from the waist down in towel, his upper half naked and dripping in water, carrying his pajamas under his arm. Steam followed him as he exited the bathroom and closed the separator curtain lazily. She sighed quietly and walked over to her shower. Stepping in fully clothed she changed behind the curtain and placed her clothing outside the bath carefully while still hidden behind the curtains. Just because Draco didn't mind letting her see him half naked didn't mean she wanted to return the favor.
As soon as she was ready she went downstairs, still just on time for breakfast, although Draco had been ahead of her by about ten minutes. She walked down the main stair, studying her course schedule carefully as she wandered into the great hall. She sat down at a table and nibbled on some toast and a few moments later Harry and Ron were on either side of her.
"So?" Harry said, scooping scrambled eggs onto his plate.
"Yeah!" Ron added, piling sausage onto his. "How's rooming with the devil himself?"
Hermione rolled her eyes looking at them. "Honestly you two? Do you think it's anything I can't handle?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other with raised eyebrows from either side of her. "Err…Well, not to say you can't control your temper Hermione…It's just that Malfoy has the tendency to push your buttons." Harry said cautiously. "So to speak." He added quickly.
"Well, if you must pry." Hermione said at last, "He hardly said a word. And I hope it stays that way as far as this year is concerned. A silent Draco is the best Draco."
"Do you hear this?" Ron said incredulously to Harry "Already on a first name basis they are. Next thing you know they'll be having late night chats and painting each others toenails."
Harry and Ron snickered, and Hermione smiled, even she found it hard not to laugh at the ludicrous thought of her and Draco becoming friends in any sense of the word.
"So how's the dorm?" Harry asked, once Ron's chuckles had subsided.
"It's actually quite nice." Hermione said. "Nothing too fancy, but a far cry from the old girls' dormitory, I can assure you." She popped the last bit of toast crust into her mouth and swallowed the rest of her orange juice. "Looks like we've got double charms with the Ravenclaws first." She said, checking her schedule, "And then Potions with Slytherin, as usual." She sighed, wondering how that would go. "After that you guys must have divination or something, because I have advanced arithmancy."
They chatted slightly about the lunacy that continued to spout from Trelawny. "You know I'd thought that scare with Umbridge in 5th year would've polished her off, but she just keeps going."
"Ugh." Harry said, grimacing "Don't even mention the U-word…Dunno about you, Ron, but I miss pretty boy Firenze compared to having Trelawny back and predicting my demise… again."
The bell rang and they were released a few moments later and they walked to Professor Flitwick's class, chatting idly. That day Hermione was pleased to see that her Protean charm still worked splendidly, although Professor Flitwick seemed even happier to see it. "If you keep this up," he said squeakily, "You'll pass all of your N.E.W.T.s with no trouble at all!"
Ron made a face when he walked away and sighed. "I'll probably pass one: care of magical creatures…And only because Hagrid owes me for a dragon bite, a good number of beatings from Grawp, and not to mention too many skrewt-burns to count. The least he can do is give me a N.E.W.T. to bring home to Mum."
Their assignment was place a Protean charm on a pile of clothespins and then charm one of them to do a jig, and the others were supposed to follow. Ron charmed his clothes pin to dance, and the others, instead of mimicking it, rolled over lazily. "Oh come on!" he said, prodding it with his wand, and with that the pin burst into flame. He sighed as Harry poured water from the end of his wand to extinguish the small fire before Flitwick could notice.
"I'm sure you'll be fine." Hermione said, as her clothespins waltzed across her desk in a perfect line.
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