Sharing is Caring

Who the hell does he think he is? Hermione thought as she closed her robe. I should have hexed him right there. Luckily for him she hadn't thought of it at the time. Clasping her badge onto her clothes, she felt the train come to a stop and exited as soon as the doors opened. She hadn't had enough time to find Harry, Ron, and Ginny, and she definitely wasn't going to be able to pick them out of the crowd. Heading towards an empty carriage, Hermione nearly screamed when a strong hand grabbed her shoulder.

"We get our own carriage, you know. All the way in the back."

She sighed. How had Draco managed to find her in spite of all these people?

He released his grip as they turned to find their carriage.

"Ladies first," Draco said and held open the door.

"Thanks, but that's unnecessary."

"Is anything for you not either irrelevant or unnecessary?" Draco asked.

"Concerning you, no," Hermione said as she climbed in. "But thanks, though."

"Wow. That stung." He grabbed his chest in a mock gesture of pain.

"I was kidding. Sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize. It's unnecessary."

Hermione looked up at Draco who surprisingly seemed to be smiling. She couldn't help but smile back, albeit confusedly. She definitely hadn't forgotten his ludicrous proposition on the train, but maybe she'd give him a chance to apologize.

"You're quite witty when you want to be. Draco."

"Well, you've always managed to entertain me, Hermione. Even if you didn't always like it."

"You know, we could have been nicer to each other a lot sooner if you hadn't spent so much time calling me 'mudblood'."

"I doubt that. I'd have still made fun of your boyfriends either way. Speaking of, where are they? I didn't see them on your trail when I found you."

"They're not my boyfriends. And I missed them on the train."

"Ah, I see, they wanted to be alone for some carriage shagging."

"Neither one of them is gay. And not everyone is shagging like you think they are."

"Au contraire, Hermione. Everyone is. You just choose not to see it."

As he said this, Hermione found that there was something warm now making its way up her thigh.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. She pulled his hand off her leg. "I mean, really," she said more to herself than him, "how did you manage to get a hand underneath my robe?"

"Practice makes perfect, love."

She simply crossed her legs and moved away from him.

"Alright, I apologize," Draco said, "it's just that I can't help myself."

"You can't stop yourself from maneuvering into my robes?"

"Well, when such a pretty little thing is sitting right beside me, I cannot be blamed."

"Yes you can."

"Look Hermione, I think a shag would do us, or at least me, some good."

"Get off it."

"No, really. I made the suggestion for a reason, if you remember. I figured that we do it now and I won't have to wonder…what's under those robes later."

"This is your reasoning?"

"But if you don't agree, then I guess we can call the shag off."

"It was never on."

"Fine, fine. I apologize, Hermione. I won't mention it again."

She looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yes."

His eyes were now a sharp silver, she noticed, like they'd been when he'd first made that ridiculous proposition. The look in his eyes was downright scary, but she shrugged it off and spoke.

"Apology accepted. Maybe you're not so bad after all."

When the carriage stopped, Draco helped her out ("Unnecessary," she said) and then stood still holding her hand.

"Umm…" Hermione looked down the warm hand that was currently holding her own, "I'm going to go find my gang now," and slipped out of his hold.

She practically ran to the Great Hall entrance, and sighed with relief when she spotted Harry waving her over from the Gryffindor table.

"What happened Hermione?" he asked.

"Yeah, we missed you. I thought you were coming back," said Ron.

"Well, I kind of had to ride in a Heads' carriage."

"With Malfoy?"

"He is a Head."

"I still don't like it…hey, the sorting's beginning," he said, and they all turned to watch.

After the hat finished sorting the first years, Dumbledore stood for his customary beginning-of-the-year speech.

"I will not be long because I know we are all anxious to eat, to rest, to do other things. So, to the second years and up: the rules are exactly the same as last year's. To the first years: Professor McGonagall (he gestured to the witch) will give you your instructions separately. And finally, to announce this year's Head Girl and Head Boy. Please stand, Hermione Granger ("Of course!" someone yelled and the Hall erupted into laughter), and Draco Malfoy. Congratulations to you both. Now, to everyone else: let's eat!"

A collective sigh ran through the Hall as food appeared on the tables. Lots of Gryffindors yelled their congratulations to Hermione as the meal went on. When Hermione was finished, she heard a soft buzzing coming from her badge.

"What the—"

"Miss Granger," Dumbledore's voice came through the badge, "please report to the Great Hall exit as soon as you are ready."

Which would be right about now. She didn't waste any time and stood as soon as the buzzing stopped.

"Hermione, where're you going?" Harry asked.

"Head business," she replied.

"Wait, how do you have work already?" Ron asked.

"It's all in the badge guys," she said and hurried off before anyone could ask any more questions.

When she reached the exit, Draco and Dumbledore were already waiting. Hermione and Draco locked eyes as she approached. "You're late," he mouthed, and she rolled her eyes.

"Come," Dumbledore said, "we're going to the Heads' dormitory."

The two Heads followed Dumbledore around a corner, and then another where they stopped in front of a suit of armor. Reaching out to grab its spear, Dumbledore motioned for them to move forward. A staircase appeared, and they followed Dumbledore up the stairs. They stopped in front of a portrait of a man and woman, who seemed to be trying their hardest to ignore them.

"Now, you will each have your own password so there'll be no confusion," Dumbledore said. "You can change them now if you want." He told them their respective passwords, and then all three entered.

Dumbledore closed the door behind him and then spoke. "This is the Heads' dorm, and you two are going to share it, so, do try to get along," he said as he swept his gaze over both of them. "You each have your own bathrooms, and you'll share this common room and the working space in it. Of course, I would encourage you to not spend all of your time here. You wouldn't want to lose touch with the members of your Houses." Dumbledore turned to go. "There won't be any funny business, I hope," he said and then was gone.

The common room was actually quite nice. It was done up in both the Gryffindor and Slytherin colors. The carpet was a pattern of red and green, effectively making the room look as if it were decorated for Christmas. Ornaments atop the fireplace were adorned in silver and gold. There were two couches, one facing the fire and the other facing the entrance. There were also two bookcases, although one was empty. The other held the books that had been in the Heads' compartment on the train.

Hermione made her way towards a red carpeted staircase, and Draco to the other. When she reached the top, she found yet another portrait guarding the entrance. She said the password and entered.

Inside was a mini-hallway which led to a bedroom that looked as if it had been enlarged—but no, it was just that big. The carpet was done in red and gold, and when Hermione looked closer she could observe little streaks of green.

"Always with the unity," she said aloud.

Her clothes had already been put into the closet, she noted with pleasure. She walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtains hoping for a good view. It was. Sticking her head outside, she took in the cold night air.

"Hermione…"

She turned to the direction her name had come from, but saw no one. Suddenly Draco's head appeared out of a window.

"I'm assuming your room looks exactly like mine," she said.

Draco looked as if he were considering it for a second, then his head disappeared inside. She could hear him mutter some words as she closed the window, and was rather surprised to see the walls of the room had disappeared. Looking around she realized she could see through the two bathrooms and into Draco's room. He was lowering his wand and surveying her room, and then her.

"Looks like it," he said, "but in better colors."

"Hmm." Hermione was pleasantly surprised. "That's a nifty spell right there. I hope you won't be using it for that purpose again, though."

The ghost of a grin slipped onto his face, but Draco said nothing and simply said the reversal spell so that she once again was looking at the red walls of her room.