Chapter 3: Denial

Overwhelmed by everything that happened, I barely noticed when the carriage stopped in front of Hogwarts. I stood up as Malfoy and Nikolas moved to leave.

"Well, Granger," Malfoy said before leaving the carriage, "I suppose I'll be seeing you in the dorm." He opened the door and stepped down. Nikolas turned to look at me and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Malfoy. "Sesso, are you coming, or should I leave you alone with this Mudblood?" Nikolas closed his mouth and stepped out, leaving me alone in the carriage.

I left the carriage and watched them head up to the School. I stood there a moment before moving to join up with Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

"Hey, 'Mione, how was the ride?" Ron slowed down to walk with me, letting Harry and Ron ahead of us. "Malfoy giving you a hard time?"

"No," Ron was a sweet guy. Things could have worked out between us is everything had been different. "In fact, Malfoy and I didn't speak at all. We had company in the carriage and he spent the whole ride chatting with him."

"Him? Him who?"

"Just some guy that he knew. New transfer student from Paris."

"That Sesso guy? Yeah, Ginny and Luna was telling us about him in the carriage." Ron gave me a weirded out look. "Ginny told us that she had mentioned him to you and that you kinda freaked out. How come? Did you know him?"

"What? No! She told me about his brother and it bothered me a little, what with all the death the past few years."

"Yeah, she mentioned that, but she said that's not the reason you freaked. She said it was kind of like you knew him, or his brother."

"Ron . . ." I hesitated, grateful that we had entered the building. "Look, she's partially right, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe later –" Ron came to a stop outside of the Great Hall.

"'Mione –"

"No, Ron," I gave him a look, letting him know that I was serious. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay . . ." he said, reluctantly dropping the subject.

"Besides, there's another conversation that we need to have." Ron glanced at me, sheepishly, knowing what I was referring to. We could hear the Sorting Hat's song through the closed doors.

"'Mione, do we have to talk about it now? The Sorting's started . . ." he opened a door to the Great Hall.

"Ron . . ." I started as he entered the Hall. "Ron!" He stopped and turned around to look at me. "I'm not feeling well, I'm going to my room, let the others know, will you?"

"Yeah, sure," Ron answered uncertainly. "Does this have to do with that topic that you don't want to talk about?" He said, letting me know that he wasn't going to forget. I glared at him before responding.

"No. I'm just not feeling well. I think having to share a carriage with Malfoy made me sick." He smiled at me before going to join Harry and Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

I watched as the crowd of small first years gathered even closer, waiting for Prof. McGonagall to call the first name.

"Aikenson, Gloria!" I heard as I turned towards the shifting staircases.

Along with my Head-Girl's notice, I had received a map, letting me know where the Heads' dorm was and how to get there. I followed the arrows on the map to the portrait that hid the entry to the dorm. I stared at it for a minute, studying it. It was a painting of a young couple in an orchard. The boy was sitting on the ground with the girl's head in his lap, feeding each other fruit. While I stared at it the couple turned their heads to look at me.

"Hello," they said simultaneously. "What's your name?"

"Hermione Granger," I answered, not used to the entry-portrait being so polite. "What's yours?"

"I'm Eiron," said the boy. "This is my mate Iara." Iara smile at me and gave me a small wave.

"Well, hello, Eiron, Iara."

"So, Hermione, are you ready to enter?" Eiron asked

"Yes, please," There was nothing more that I wanted at the moment. "The password is 'FizzWhiz.'"

"Right you are," answered Iara as the door swung open. "Don't forget to get with Draco to come up with a new password."

"Oh. Is he here already?"

"The hot blonde?" Iara asked, giggling. "You're very lucky to be sharing the tower with that one."

"Iara!" Eiron yelled at her. "Why are you looking at other men? I'm the one for you!"

"Oh, Eiron, love. I was just teasing," Iara replied as she reached up to put her hand behind his head. "I do love it when you get jealous . . ." she drew his head down to her and gave him a kiss. I entered the dorm, laughing, as the kiss turned into a make-out session. Not only was the Portrait talkative, apparently it was quite sexual as well. I shook my head, wondering how many Heads had decided to act out the scene in the Portrait.

"Well, Granger. Looks like you decided to skive off the Ceremony, too." I looked up to see Malfoy standing in the doorway to the left.

"Hello, Malfoy." The portrait had started me on a good mood, but leave it to Draco Malfoy to ruin it. I looked around the living area. There was a couch and two chairs facing the fireplace with a rug in the center. On the walls were more portraits, these of past Heads. The room was decorated in the colours of Gryffindor and Slytherin, acknowledging the Houses that we belonged to. A door to the right held a Gold plaque with my name on it, indicating that it was my room. I walked towards it, willing Malfoy to not speak.

"So, Granger," I paused, wondering why Malfoy was speaking so quietly. "What's the deal with you and Sesso?" I reached my door and opened it, unsure what to say. "I know you two know each other."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy." I denied, entering my room. I turned and started to close the door.

"Right, Invidia, right." I heard Malfoy say as the door shut. I leaned on the door, breathing hard, an assortment of emotions playing havock with my heart and mind.