Chapter 8

Heads Common Room

Hermione arrived at Dumbledore's office and Draco and Dumbledore stood there silently waiting for her.

"Ah, now that you are both here and everything else is in order, follow me and I shall show you to your personal Head's common room. It is the greatest honor that you two shall share your own common room, with separate sleeping quarters of course. There is only one bathroom. Be sure to be considerate of one another when it comes time to sharing and taking turns," Dumbledore explained as they walked until they reached the portrait of a man and a woman. They seemed to be working on something. Before Dumbledore said the password he turned to them and continued, "Now I must say that the two of you are representing two houses that are split. However I trust that there will be no problems between the two of you and that you will work together most harmoniously." He looked at them with a very serious expression.

"Yes Professor." They both said in unison.

Dumbledore's face quickly went back to his usual smile and turned around towards the portrait. "Peace," he said. The portrait swung open letting them inside.

"The room up the stairs to the left with the portrait of a lion is yours Miss Granger, and the room up the stairs to the right with the portrait of a serpent is yours Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione started to walk up the stairs closest to her room when he had pointed out her room. She walked up the five stairs and noticed that there was a table between their rooms. She then walked up to her portrait "to get a closer look," or at least that is the way she made it seem. Her plan was to wait for Dumbledore to be done and then duck quickly into her room.

"The room to your right on this floor is the bathroom and you should find it, along with your rooms, quite accommodating. There is a table up there between your rooms you can use for Prefect meetings, Head meetings, or just for your studies. The first Head meeting with me will be in a few days. I will alert you as to when they will be held. Before you head off to bed you will need to go on your rounds to make sure everything and everyone is where they need to be. I'll be off now and all you need to do to get into your rooms is to give them a password and you'll be all set. Goodnight and once again congratulations." With that he turned and left.

As soon as Dumbledore told them how to get into their rooms she whispered her new password "Secrets", and slipped into her room quickly and shut the door. She sat there waiting to see if she could hear Draco walk to his room. For a few seconds she heard silence, and then she could hear him walking… towards her room. He walked up the stairs and stopped right outside her door. She held her breath as her heart rate quickened. He stood there for a few seconds but it seemed so much longer to her. Finally he turned towards his room and walked away. She released her breath as she started to look around her room and she thought it was beautiful. Two windows flanked her bed. The bed was a queen sized canopy bed with thick posts at all the corners; much like the one in her old room but larger. The bed had a garnet satin comforter with gold satin sheets, and instead of the usual thick curtains, theses were gold and made of a sheer material. There was a huge rug under the bed with her house colors and the outlines of lions on it. There was the door to the closet, a dresser, a desk, a full-length mirror, an over sized stuffed chair, a bookcase that was filled with her books and a fireplace. She noticed that her stuff was already there and had been put away. Her pictures were in frames and sitting on the fireplace mantle, and her alarm clock was sitting on her nightstand. This bothered her because she new exactly who did it. She then noticed that there was a hat that she had made in her S.P.E.W. days next to a basket of goodies. She recognized it as a hat that she had seen on Dobby. He must have put it there to make her feel better and to let her know that it was he who had put her things away. Maybe he was the only one who wanted to work for her since she used to be on the "free the house elves" kick, and kept trying to sneak clothing to them. However Dobby would end up with all of it, which didn't matter since he was already free, and on the payroll of Hogwarts. She felt better knowing it was Dobby who had put her things away.

Hermione noticed that her huge makeup bag, which was filled with some makeup but just mostly her personal hygiene stuff, was left unopened. She walked over to it opened it and pulled out her tooth paste and her tooth brush in its holder and stuck it into her robes with her wand. She then tried to sneak out of the Head's common room so Draco wouldn't hear her leave although the portrait closed louder than anticipated. She knew he had heard it so she took of running towards the Gryffindor common room area in hope to see Ron and Ginny doing their rounds.

Hermione was just about to reach the Gryffindor common room when she ran into them.

"Hey, are you almost finished with your rounds?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we are heading back to the common room now." Ginny answered.

"Hermione, are you alright? You look like you were running." Ron asked concerned.

"Did that git Malfoy do something to you?" Harry asked inquisitively peering out from behind Ron and Ginny.

"No he didn't do anything. I just wanted to catch you guys before you went back to the common room," Hermione replied "Can I use your bathroom Ginny?"

"Sure, but why not use yours?" Ginny asked.

"Is that git hogging the bathroom!" Ron asked quickly.

"No I just don't want to deal with him tonight, that's all." Hermione said.

"I don't blame you, but you are going to have to deal with him sooner or later." Harry added.

"I know, but tonight has been perfect and I don't want it to be ruined, I'll deal with him tomorrow," Hermione said with a smile as they reached the Portrait belonging to Gryffindor's. "Oh and Harry, you do know that you can't be seen by the Heads or any of the Prefects out of your common room past hours?"

"Oh right, I'll be sure to remember that." Harry said with a smile and wink.

After Hermione had brushed her teeth, used the restroom, and visited for a few minutes she headed out of the portrait. She could hear footsteps heading the other direction down the hall around the corner. She climbed out and turned towards her friends that stood on the other side of the portrait opening.

"Well I am off to finish my rounds so I'll see you guys at breakfast." Hermione said to her friends.

"Bye, and good luck," they said smiling as the portrait of the Fat Lady shut who was drifting in and out of sleep. The sounds of the storm could be heard as it played outside and the rain danced against the nearby window.

Then she heard the footsteps stop and turn around heading in her direction at a quickened pace. She had a feeling of who it was, so she ran to a suit of armor and ducked into the corner right behind it. It was dark and she hoped nothing else was back there, but she quickly slid out of sight. "I'll be brave tomorrow," she thought to herself. She pushed herself all the way back into the dark corner and covered her badge just in case light would some how reflect off of it. There was no way she could have been seen and she started to breathe shallow short breaths so she would not be heard. The person approached in a matter of seconds, and just as she thought, it was Draco. He stood there confusedly looking down the only other hallway she could have gone, and noticed that she wasn't down it. He looked around the hall and then turned to the portrait. This scene swept through her mind as the noise of the storm along with the sight of Draco gave her flashes of memories from that night tree months ago. Hermione couldn't help but shiver.

"Excuse me miss, but is Hermione Granger in there?" Draco asked very politely.

"Hmm," The fat lady stirred awake, "Miss, oh my, no dear. She was but she left, a minute ago." she said smiling at him, and with that, yawned and fell back to sleep. Hermione was happy that the Fat Lady hadn't seen her go to her hiding place.

He stood there looking around very confused. He ran his hand through his hair that had pretty much been the same since third year. Hermione couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. She thought he looked really cute, as he stood there all confused. She remembered his touch and the way his lips felt on her neck, as her heart started to flutter and she felt lightheaded, "No, bad Hermione, he's bad, he's Draco Malfoy a Death Eater." she thought, scolding herself. After a few seconds he decided to take off in the only other way he thought she could have gone. She waited until she heard that his footsteps had faded farther away. She removed her shoes, holding one in each hand and made a mad dash to her common room. She said the password and ran inside. She ran straight up to her room and said that password. She slipped inside shutting the door behind her. She tried to breath slowly so her heart would stop beating so fast.

She sat her shoes down by her desk and made her way to the closet, which turned out to be a walk in, to change for bed. She had dressed into her nightclothes and made her way to her bed to have a look at the gift basket left for her. As she walked over to it she looked at her room once again. It was so warm and inviting, with the candle light coming from the candelabra in the corner by the window closest to her desk, the sconces on the walls, and the chandelier that hung above her bed. The candles were all enchanted to light by themselves when someone came into the room and go out when they would leave. They would also go out or light again with the use of a simple spell. Hermione sat on her bed to read the note that was in the basket.

Dear Miss Granger,

Congratulations on making Head Girl! Here is a little something for your appointment. The basket will be filled daily, so if there are any requests just let us know and we will try and get it for you. All the things that have your house colors on them are now yours; you will be taking them home with you at the end of the year. Once again congratulations!

Sincerely,

The Hogwarts staff

Hermione finished reading the letter and set it down when she heard someone come in through the portrait door of the common room. She assumed he had seen the light under the crack of the door because she heard him stomp off to the bathroom and slam the door. She jumped at the sound. It was amazing how you could hear so much more at night. She put the basket and the hat on her desk, grabbed her wand, and said the spell to turn out the candles. She lied in bed and put her wand next to it on her nightstand and pulled up the covers and slid in. The satin felt good against her bare legs. It did pose an interesting situation however, as her pajamas were satin as well and she felt as if she was afloat in a sea of satin. The slightest motion caused her to drift around under the covers. In fact she wasn't completely certain that she ever remained in one spot. She lay there waiting for some sort of sound from the bathroom. Then she had heard the door open and heard him stomp up the stairs and close his door. There was no slam this time however.

She thought to herself, "It had been over 3 months since I saw his dark mark, and three months since I discovered his secret. He obviously wants to talk about it and that's why he is following me. Why then has he not said anything yet and why is it that the only real chance he had to talk about, it he did something else? I tried not to think about the Dark Mark, this summer. In fact he had given me something else to think about, maybe that was his plan. Maybe he knew I wasn't going to say anything or else I would have said something by now and that's why he hasn't said anything about it. He's messing with me isn't he? But, why would he? I can understand him trying to scare me and at first I think that is what he was trying to do. And why had Dumbledore made him Head Boy? He does have the grades and all but everyone knows his father was a death eater. Dumbledore forgives and doesn't judge others for their parent's actions, but he must have known about the mark. He had to of known, Snape can be a pain but he is loyal to the Order. Dumbledore must know and maybe his intention was to keep Draco close so he could keep a better eye on him. He has his reasons I am sure of it." After that final thought and the sounds of the passing storm had faded off into the distance she drifted off to sleep…

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to put this out been really busy, you know how it is! Thanks to the reviewers for reviewing! It means so much! Those of you who want things to heat up they will things have to build, but when it gets there I'm sure you'll like it! Stay tuned the next chapter should be out soon! Keep reading and reviewing!

Disclaimer: Once again I do not own Harry Potter.