Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. They all belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Eight
Hermione woke up abruptly as her ringing alarm clock pierced into the silence. She lazily reached an arm over to it and slapped it off. The bright green letters screamed 8:00. Hermione pulled herself out of bed and trudged over to her dresser.
Hermione rummaged around her dresser and grabbed a clean outfit, a towel, and her heavy shower bag. She pulled her hair out of the messy ponytail she had put in before she went to sleep and headed towards the bathroom.
The bathroom was still empty because the other girls we still in bed. The tile floor felt freezing on her feet, and she shivered slightly. Hermione headed to the nearest shower stall. When she got there, she latched the wooden door behind her.
Hermione quickly undressed, and making sure her clothes were in a position where they wouldn't get wet, she started her water. The water was freezing cold so Hermione jumped out of the way and adjusted the nozzle. When it reached a comfortably warm temperature, she stepped back in.
It wasn't until she was shampooing her hair, that she realized something. She was meeting Draco today, and she had completely forgotten. Having remembered this, she sped her shower up considerably.
Hot steam was in the air all around her. Just before Hermione turned her water off, she could have sworn she heard someone enter the bathroom. After a few moments, the person left.
Hermione stepped out of the shower stall and into the attached changing room. She dried off quickly then put on her school things. When she was fully dressed, and her hair was wrapped neatly up in a towel she pulled open the wooden door that separated the shower from the rest of the bathroom.
Hermione soon found out why the person had entered and exited the bathroom so quickly. On the huge bathroom mirror someone had written H and D with a heart around it in the condensation that settled on the mirror.
Hermione smiled happily. She didn't mind this mysterious message from an unknown person. Hermione quickly worked the tangles out of her bushy brown hair and brushed her teeth. After she was all done with the necessities, she carried her toiletries and towel out into the bedroom.
"Finally!" came a shout when Hermione pushed open the door. It was a surprise the voice hadn't awaken all of the sleeping people in the room. "I've been waiting for you to get you ready."
Hermione realized the voice was Lavender's. Lavender was standing behind her vanity with a look of sheer excitement on her face. A huge purple make-up box was sitting, opened, on top of the vanity, almost taking up all of the counter-top space.
Hermione almost regretted that she gave Lavender permission to do her make-up the previous night. If she had known what Lavender had in her make-up kit she never would have agreed. What made Hermione even more nervous was that Lavender was holding a huge eyeliner pencil. Which Hermione definitely did not want to wear.
"Are you going to wear that?" Lavender asked in a snooty tone, before Hermione could raise suspicion about the eyeliner pencil.
Hermione nodded her head with an expression on her face that read what-else-would-I-wear?
"You shouldn't wear your uniform. After all, you won't be in class," Lavender said. "Why don't you wear something that you might look good in."
Hermione just absorbed the insult and tried to keep inside all of the things she wished to say back to Lavender. She contained herself and simply said, "Actually, I changed my mind. I want to do my own make-up."
By saying that, Hermione had given Lavender the worst insult possible. No one ever refused when Lavender offered to do their make-up. Hermione haughtily stood up from the vanity chair, grabbed her belongings, and headed back into the bathroom.
Most of the steam was now off of the mirror and the H and D inside of the heart was gone. Hermione could see her reflection clearly now. She didn't even think she needed to wear a lot of make-up, so she simply put on a little eyeshadow and left it at that. Besides, she wanted to eat something before she met Draco.
Hermione headed back into the bedroom and dropped her things onto her bed. She quickly put on her Hogwarts robe, trying to avoid talking to anyone. Soon she headed towards the door. However, she did not accomplish her not-talk-to-anyone goal.
"Where you going Hermione?" came a sleepy voice that belonged to Parvati, who was just waking up.
"Breakfast," Hermione said simply, and exited the dormitory.
Fortunately for Hermione, Ron and Harry were not waiting for her in the common room. The only person in the room was a boy Hermione's age who was frantically chasing around a hopping toad, who seemed to be going faster than any normal toad could.
Hermione stopped at the bottom of the stairs and called out to the boy. "Do you want some help?"
"No, that's ok Hermione," he answered. "But thanks for offering. I don't want to keep you from anything."
"Are you sure?" Hermione persisted. It really looked like he could use some help.
The boy nodded his headed and took a great dive at the toad. Her tripped over the leg of a chair and ended up sprawled over the floor next to a pile of broomsticks that looked like they had been recently disturbed. Hermione wondered if he had already ran into them.
The boy smiled weakly at Hermione before continuing his pursuit. When Hermione remained standing in the same spot, he motioned towards the portrait hole.
"Really Hermione, don't worry about it. I don't want to keep you from anything," he said politely.
This time Hermione listened to him. As she pushed open the portrait hole there came another deafening crash that could only mean that the boy had made another dive at his escaping toad. Hermione cringed slightly before closing the portrait hole behind her.
Hermione quickly remembered the way she and Argus had come up here last night. It was exactly the opposite. Hermione only got turned around once. When this happened, she kindly asked one of the portraits where the Great Hall was and he steered her in the right direction.
When Hermione reached the entrance way, she glanced quickly at her watch. The hands pointed out the time of 8:50. That gave Hermione plenty of time to get something to eat and then meet Draco at 9:00.
Hermione followed a group of girls who were wearing the Gryffindor crest on their robes. Hermione assumed that if she followed them, she would end up in the right place where she was supposed to eat.
The girls headed to the furthest table from the doors and sat down. Hermione noticed that everyone else there was from Gryffindor, so she took a random seat by herself.
Hermione grabbed some toast and spread a little bit of marmalade on it before looking around the Great Hall. Their were a total of five tables. One of these tables was facing all of the other ones.
Most of the seats at this table were empty, but a few of them were inhabited. The only person that Hermione recognized was the greasy looking man with black hair and black eyes that was called Snape. Snape glared unpleasantly at everyone in the room. Hermione wondered if he ever smiled.
Hermione glanced at her watch again. This time it read three minutes until nine. Hermione quickly swallowed the rest of her toast and took another swig of juice. She didn't want to be late meeting Draco.
Hermione crossed the great hall without looking at anyone. When Hermione reached the entrance hall, there were only a small collection of people in it, including a tall, blonde haired boy who was smiling kindly at Hermione.
Hermione approached Draco. As she got nearer he held out a single red rose, thorn free, to Hermione.
"For you," he said, as Hermione took the vibrant flower.
Hermione didn't know what to say except thank you. Before she could think of something else to say, Draco took her arm in his.
"Come on," he said, leading her towards the wooden doors that had become so familiar to them the day before. "I have a surprise for you."
A/N–Thanks again to all of you who have reviewed. I made this chapter longer, cause it took me more time to update. Also, thanks to all of the reviewers who pointed out that Draco's eyes were pale blue and not green. I don't even know why I put that. I guess green just sounded good in the context. lol. I'll update soon. Anyway, you know the drill (please review).