Chapter Two
It was a lovely autumn morning, the start of the second day of school. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was a pleasant shade of blue, hummingbirds were melodiously chirping in tune, and everything was at calm…
Until the shrieks of the newly appointed Head Girl destroyed the beautiful solitude of it all.
Dripping wet from head to toe as she had just come out of the shower, Hermione wore nothing but a fluffy scarlet towel around her body and a very flushed and outraged look when she turned around just in time to see the bathroom door wide open.
"MALFOY!" she yelped, jumping at his sudden appearance by the doorway of their private bathroom. "YOU PRAT, YOU PERVERT, YOU –"
Draco did not even attempt to look apologetic and embarrassed. He casually leaned on the frame of the door, wearing an enthused sneer as his partner rambled on in a loud voice. He was about to throw her a morning tease to cut her off (one thought in particular was how amazingly seductive she looked just now, wearing nothing but that towel of hers) but before he could open his mouth, a various number of toiletries were tossed violently at his direction.
First came the toothbrush, then a hand towel, then an even bigger bath towel, and then when he saw her evidently trying to pick up a flower vase from the sink area, he jumped back with his hands in defense.
"Never knew you were a morning person, Granger," he said hurriedly, still with that smug grin plastered on his face, closing the door behind him.
From inside Hermione could still hear him snickering and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. She grabbed the towel at hand and screamed into it, as it was popular belief that it would relieve stress and frustration. If this was what every single morning would hold for her whole nine months, she would not be surprised if she'd look more stressed this year. Imagine – seeing the face of that ferret first every day!
She groaned helplessly. The day could not have started worse… How she fervently wished that it would get better.
But sure enough, it hadn't.
As expected, the odds were against her. It was a relief not to see Malfoy after the bathroom incident that morning – the last time she took sight of the Slytherin had involved him still being in his white shirt and plaid green boxers and rushing into the bathroom with his uniform in his arms – and she thought that that would be the end of it until after dinner.
However, she had found out that he was already in five of her classes – five! – and in each one, they were appointed to sit beside each other and were cast as partners for the whole semester. "House unity, my arse," she grumbled, angrily tugging at her bag, "This is a conspiracy against me!"
No one ever said that the job description for Head Girl meant having to be around her male counterpart every single moment. Honestly, they should have had a brochure about this saying something about living together in the same quarters, having to share the same bathroom, having to be in almost every damn class, being partners in everything… If this was what it would have been, then she at all would have turned the position down.
She entered the Great Hall in an immensely bad mood and sulked towards the Gryffindor table. No sooner had she set her bag down beside her, her least favorite person tapped her on the shoulder.
"What now?" she gritted between her teeth, resisting the urge to 'accidentally' on purpose smack her bag (which, notably, was filled with her thick Transfiguration book) against his face.
Malfoy smirked, and his Head Boy badge gleamed as if in agreement. "Meeting with the Prefects after classes."
"I know that – you don't have to tell me."
"I knew that," he replied, crossing his arms together. "I was just curious about your classes later after lunch?" He gave her a meaningful look, his eyes shining rather playfully.
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what that look could have meant… was he planning on something?
And then she figured it out.
"Ohhhhhhhh no." Hermione brought her hands to her face in sheer disbelief. "Do not tell me you're having Ancient Runes and Advanced Arithmancy later too! That would make it seven classes!"
He retorted with a mock gasp. "What a coincidence, Granger! It seems we'll be stuck with each other the rest of the year!" He laughed rather nastily, and ran a hand through his hair. "You should really consider yourself quite fortunate, having to be in the company of… well, me."
She shot daggers at him. "I would rather be in the company of a Blast-Ended Skrewt, Malfoy."
"Don't get angry at me. It's not like I purposely arranged our classes –"
"I have enough of you in the morning and in the night – must I endure you the rest of the time too?"
"Go blame McGonagall – you'll be doing me a favor too –"
"It's a conspiracy, this is! Gah, I hate it –"
"I hate you –"
"Oh, shut up! You're just making things worse –"
Their bickers were cut off by the arrival of Harry and Ron. Malfoy looked at them in contempt and turned back to Hermione. "It seems that Potty and Weasel have come, so I'll be off now, Granger," he said, "Remember, Prefects' Meeting –"
"I got that!"
Malfoy smirked, tossed her a smug glance over his shoulder and went back to his own table. Hermione snarled in utter exasperation and sat down.
"You alright, Hermione?" Harry asked, sitting across from her and Ron by his side. "You look… moody."
"Don't stress yourself out right away," Ron uttered, "It's only the second day back."
"Even if it did involve Malfoy."
She simply stared at the two boys. They simply did not understand. Hermione sighed, and began to chomp down the usually delectable meat pie of Hogwarts. Strangely enough, it tasted horrible at that moment.
"Never knew you could switch to a more serious mode, Malfoy," Hermione muttered as the two Heads made their way towards their dorms. "You were pretty impressive back at the meeting."
Malfoy merely glanced at her. "Of course I can. How did you think I became Head Boy?"
She chose to ignore his comment. "You know, Malfoy," she said, "You're more tolerable that way. I'd like it if you'd stay like that all the time."
He snorted. "That's not happening anytime, Granger. I'm more fitting as an annoying prick on your side, don't you think?"
"I suppose you are." She rolled her eyes. "Prolifickus." They had reached the portrait of the old man, who, in reply to the password, smiled courteously and tipped his hat in approval.
The portrait swung open and one by one they climbed in. Upon reaching the end of the hole, Draco flopped down on his usual couch, took off his shoes and lay down. Hermione, on the other hand, took to one of the nearby study desks, sat down and laid her books on the desk. Opening the book to a page, she egged closer to the desk, crossed her legs, and, of course, began her study ritual.
Draco watched her from his position and raised his eyebrow. So the renowned Know-it-All Granger really did spend most of her time studying. To think that it was only one of the first days of school! "Really, now, Granger," he called to her, "Wouldn't you just like to sit back and relax for a second? You've got yourself buried in that book! And you've only been reading it for five minutes!"
Hermione lazily looked at him over her shoulder. "Well, get used to it."
"Don't Potter and Weasley find it at all strange?"
"It's not strange at all; it's just that I find reading entirely fun."
"Well, I think you're obsessed with it. There's a certain extent to fun reading, you know."
Hermione frowned. "Leave me alone, why don't you?" she snapped. "Go get yourself busy and bug off. We have that Ancient Runes homework, don't we?"
Draco crossed his arms and smirked. "Ah, yes," he replied rather thoughtfully, "But have you forgotten that it's an assignment we're supposed to do as a pair?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but came out with nothing to say. Pursing her lips, she roughly slammed her book shut, grabbed her Runes map, parchment, ink and quill, and made her way to the coffee table near him. She set these things down and glared at him. "Well?" she asked tartly. "Get yourself down here and let's finish it."
Draco raised his eyebrows in amusement. Oh, how he relished at making her fume like that. It was entirely too cute. Hermione Granger may have possessed patience at everything else, but she was a completely different girl when it came to academics.
As much as he wanted to lie down a few minutes more, Draco dragged himself down on the carpeted floor and sat across her. Grabbing his materials from his bag which had lain forgotten under the table, Draco looked at her in anticipation.
"We'll divide this map so that we can work more quickly," Hermione explained a-matter-of-factly, drawing out the divisions with her finger. "You do this half and I'll do this half. Hopefully we can finish it by tonight."
With a nod, Draco dipped his quill into the ink. Hermione gave him a small smile, and began with her work.
The fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace, casting flickering shadows in the farther ends of the Common Room. It was a quarter 'til midnight, and both students, having worked on the rune translations without pause for more than three hours, leaned back, defeated, sighing in resignation. Hermione looked over her translations and with triumph dancing brightly in her brown eyes, she exclaimed, "Finally! Done!"
Like a composer finished with his composition, she brought it to her lips and kissed it proudly.
Draco watched her, amused at her funny outburst. "Well, I'm done too." He replied coolly and nonchalantly, despite the fact that inwardly, he was rather feeling proud that he too was done with his share of the work. The runes which their professor gave, he had to remember, were challenging, and it was just right that he felt proud that he was able to translate it in a matter of hours. He peered at her parchment. "Want to switch?"
Hermione blinked in curiosity. "Why?"
"To make sure no mistakes were made in the translations, of course," he replied, holding out his parchment to her. "I'd like to perfect this, seeing as we worked on it rather determinedly through the course of the night."
She considered for a second; a second later, she took his and he took hers and both were once again poring over their chart of runes. After what seemed to be twenty minutes, Hermione handed his back to him. She coughed. "Well, Malfoy – I have to admit – yours was flawless. It was well done, I'd say," she muttered awkwardly. "I mean – well, you know what I mean."
Draco smirked. Obviously, this girl was not used to having an intellectual equal who could carry out an assignment perfectly. Then again, Draco mused, Potty and Weasel aren't exactly smart. Handing hers back to Hermione, he retorted, "I'd say the same to you, Granger. You'd better be flattered that I complimented you. I don't usually do so, so don't get used to it."
Hermione rolled her eyes and shrugged. Yawning, she pulled herself up and stretched. "It's strange that I don't feel sleepy yet." She checked the small clock on top of their mantelpiece (which read exactly 12:03 am) and glanced down at him. "Are you hungry?" She placed a hand on her stomach.
Draco looked up at her, surprised. Was it normal for a Gryffindor to ask such a simple question to a Slytherin? She stated hers as if she had asked him that for years. Strangely, to him it felt rather… normal? He shrugged in reply, not knowing what to answer.
"Hold on." Hermione scampered to her room, closing the door behind her. From where he sat, Draco could hear her rummaging through her trunk, obviously trying to look for something buried deep underneath. He drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for whatever it was she was going to bring, and finally, she emerged from her room, holding a small white cardboard box in her hands.
Hermione sat once again in her place, setting the box down in between them. She opened it to reveal a dozen chocolate chip cookies. "My mum packs me these cookies every time I leave for Hogwarts," she explained, "I usually share it with Ron and Harry, but I figured that we deserve it right now. Midnight snack, you know." She smiled sweetly, and for a split moment, Draco almost felt something warm spread throughout his body. Was he touched at her generous notion? It was an awfully strange feeling which was completely alien to him. Admittedly, though, it was…nice.
She handed him a cookie as she took one herself. "They're sugarfree, though," she mumbled sheepishly, biting into the cookie, "You see, my parents are dentists."
"They're what?" Draco took it and nibbled. It was delicious. He'd bet around five galleons that these were homemade.
"Muggles who take care of teeth," she replied. She finished a cookie and grinned. "So, how are they?"
"Who?"
"The cookies, you dolt." She took another one.
He thought for a moment. "Although I've had better," he pondered, "These are exceptionally good, coming from Muggles."
She beamed. "Of course, my mum made them."
"Your mother?"
"Yes. Why?"
He looked down and took another cookie to examine it. His mother had never cooked or baked anything in her life. After all, she was of pure wizarding heritage, deserving the best and only the best – which meant that she probably had three house elves serving her alone throughout her life. Thus, she had no need to cook for herself. What would their household be like if Narcissa Malfoy took matters to her own hands?
"My mother never cooks," he mumbled, and he realized that his voice had gone low and miserable. Becoming aware that this was not at all Draco Malfoy-like, he coughed and took on his usual proud smirk. "But we do get the best meals there are; we have a world-class wizarding chef in our very own kitchen."
Hermione snorted. "Right, Malfoy. No need to gloat about your food; you gloat enough about yourself already." She offered him another cookie. "Another one?"
"It's strange – how could something free of sugar still be sweet?"
She laughed as he took a bite of the cookie.
As the night wore on and as the fire crackled in the fireplace of the Common Room, the two heads chattered on into the wee hours of early morning, forgetting that they hated each other; on they blabbered, as if they had done so every night.
Author's Note: Alright, I hope it was long enough. Hahaha! 2,537+ words – that's a record for me! Hope you enjoyed it… And on I go to continue my other fics. Hope you review! Thanks to all those who reviewed!
