Chapter Three
Hermione opened her eyes slowly the next morning. She rubbed her head slightly, pushed the hangings aside from her bed, and jumped down onto the carpet. She moved slower than usual, as she was still rather groggy. She opened her dresser and pulled out her pleated gray skirt, white blouse, gray sweater-vest, white stockings, and her black school robes. After she was finished getting dressed, she took her Gryffindor tie and Head Girl badge off the bedside table and put them on before slipping her shoes on her feet. She ran a brush through her bushy hair, rubbed the rest of the sleep from her eyes, and entered the bathroom. She could hear the shower running on Draco's "side" of the bathroom but ignored it. She walked over to her faucet and started brushing her teeth.
"Well, well," drawled Draco, "goody-goody Granger finally decides to present herself. Couldn't you wait until after I was done in the shower, or did you want to see me in all my glory?"
"Sod off, Malfoy," Hermione snapped in reply after spitting out the toothpaste into her sink. "I still have that book in my room if you want another bloody nose."
"Well, aren't we touchy lately?" Draco smirked. "That time of the month, mudblood?"
"Shut it, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled, slamming her toothbrush on the sink. "I've already had enough of you and it's only been one day so shove off and leave me the hell alone!"
Hermione walked back into her room and slammed the door, sighing irritably. She walked over to her trunk, which was sitting beside the dresser and opened it, taking her bag, books, quills, and ink out. She stuffed all of her supplies into the bag and left the dormitory, heading down to breakfast. She entered the Great Hall and found Harry, Ron and Ginny all sitting near the front. She huffily strode over to them, set her bag down roughly, and plopped into the seat beside Ginny.
"Rough night, 'Mione?" asked Ginny.
"Of nightmarish sorts," groaned Hermione. "I'm about ready to kill Malfoy and have absolutely no remorse in doing so."
"What happened?" Harry asked, with a spoon sticking out of his mouth.
"Everything…"sighed Hermione and elaborated by giving all the details of their conversation on the train, to the disgusting thing she heard when she walked into her common room, to that very morning. "He's an absolute git…correction: he's an absolutely perverted, arrogant git!" Ginny, Harry, and Ron chuckled.
"Well, I love you too, mudblood," drawled someone, sarcastically, from behind Hermione.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked.
"Once again, nothing from you," Draco replied, turning his gaze to Hermione. "Granger, Dumbledore wants to see us after breakfast."
"How do you know?" Hermione asked. Draco dropped a rolled up piece of parchment in front of her and strode off to his table where he met up with Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy. Hermione unrolled the parchment and read it quickly, nodding slightly. "He's right. I do have to meet Dumbledore after breakfast."
"Don't we have classes today?" asked Harry, also reading the parchment.
"No," Hermione replied. "All classes were cancelled because the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher never showed. I don't understand why he had to cancel all of the classes."
"I'm glad they did!" exclaimed Ron. "Do you realize we'd have had potions first today…with the Slytherins?"
"Well, that would be brilliant," grumbled Hermione. "How much Malfoy do I have to see this year!"
"Well, you're Head Girl and he's Head Boy," said Ginny, "so I'd imagine quite a bit. Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine after a little while, 'Mione. Eventually you'll just become numb to him and he'll back off."
"Sure he will," Hermione mumbled, poking at her eggs.
Soon breakfast was over and Hermione and Draco made their way up to the front of the Great Hall where Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were all waiting. Hermione gulped, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding from her three teachers. She stopped in front of them, with Draco at her side, and waited for one of them to speak up.
"I'm not sure if you're aware, but last night one of the prefects spotted Lucius Malfoy, your father Mr. Malfoy, skulking along one of the corridors of the school. As you know, he is one of the former death eaters," whispered Dumbledore. "I was wondering if, perhaps, either one of you saw him last night." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes lingered on Draco and the platinum blonde Slytherin was sure that the headmaster was speaking almost directly to him.
"No, headmaster," said Hermione and Draco together. Draco had to suppress a sneer at Dumbledore's pensive look.
"The last I heard, headmaster, was that the aurors had my father cornered somewhere in Romania but I haven't heard from him since the end of the Dark War. I don't know where he could be," he lied.
"Well, isn't that a pity," Snape said.
"Of course, of course," rasped Dumbledore. "Well, in any case, I'm asking if you'll please keep your eyes open and do two more rounds than usual to night. If you spot him, then please report to my office and tell me."
"Yes, headmaster," Draco and Hermione said in unison once more before turning to exit the Great Hall.
Hermione was just stepping out the doors when she ran into someone. With a blur of black and brown hair, both bodies tumbled to the floor. Hermione rubbed her head and looked up to see a girl with very long black hair and yellowish-green eyes blinking at her. The looked to be somewhat younger than Hermione.
"Well, Granger," drawled Draco, smirking down, "looks like you are as clumsy as you look after all. Oh, and fix your skirt." He chuckled at Hermione's reddened face as she hurriedly fixed her pleated gray skirt. Draco offered his hand to the other girl. "Let me apologize for my…adversary's cumbersomeness," he drawled. "My name is Draco Malfoy and I don't believe we've met."
"That's because we haven't," replied the other girl in an American accent. "My name is Desdemona Nightingale and my mother is a professor here."
"A professor?" asked Hermione. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
"Why, yes," Desdemona replied, eyeing Hermione snobbishly. "And…you are?"
"Oh, terribly sorry," Hermione choked out. "My name is Hermione Granger. I'm sorry for bumping into you. I was in a hurry to meet up with my friends."
"Er…no problem, I guess," said Desdemona, her nose rather upturned from Hermione. The bushy-haired brunette merely gave an irritable sigh and then continued on her way down the corridor, but not before hearing Desdemona start a conversation with Draco, which began with the words "I'm looking for the Slytherin common room."
Hermione strode up the stairs and head toward the Heads' common room, muttering the password, and striding forward into the room, toward the portrait of the lion that gave easy access to the Gryffindor common room, which she had so quickly found upon exploration of the common room. She sighed heavily and sat down in an armchair next to Ginny, who had been watching Ron and Harry playing a very heated game of Wizard's Chess.
"Oh no," breathed Ginny. "More Malfoy?"
"No, Desdemona," Hermione stated, looking rather put out.
"Who?" asked Ron, looking up just as his bishop snagged Harry's knight.
"Desdemona Nightingale," repeated Hermione, rubbing her head, "the new professor's daughter. Turns out, their Americans and Miss Desdemona is very snobby. Took one look at me and threw her nose up in the air."
"Oh yeah," said Harry, "she sounds very nice. Damn it, Ron! I wasn't even looking!" Harry craned his neck over the board to see where Ron had moved.
"I'll say," murmured Hermione, "and what's more, she was looking for the Slytherin common room. My guess is she met either Pansy or Millicent or she's staying there. Absolutely brilliant! I'm glad this is my last year. Imagine if her mother was the one to last more than one year…I wouldn't be able to stand it!"
Meanwhile…
"This is Slytherin common room," said Draco, watching Desdemona staring around the room. She picked up a few things and then settled herself in an armchair by the fire.
"Not bad, I guess," she murmured, "but nothing like my home. For a school so large, you'd think the sitting rooms were bigger. I can't even begin to imagine how small the bedrooms are."
"Well, I suppose you'll see soon but I'm not hanging out here," he said, "this isn't even where I sleep.""
"Really, where do you sleep then?"
"Heads' common room," he replied, starting for the exit of the common room. "Maybe I'll show you around some time, but right now I have…duties to fulfill. Goodbye, fair maiden." He smirked to himself, away from where everyone could see, as he left the common room.
He was coming up into the Entrance Hall when he spotted Hermione reprimanding a Ravenclaw third year, who had been setting dung bombs outside Filch's office. He strode over and the look of unsettledness on the boy's face quickly changed to nervousness. Hermione followed the third years gaze and stood up straight as she saw Draco coming toward her.
"I can handle this," Hermione avowed.
"I'm sure you can, Granger," Draco replied. "I only wanted to watch."
Draco smirked as a look of uneasiness crossed Hermione's face. The thought that he could make Hermione Granger nervous always seemed to please him. She gulped slightly and returned to scolding the boy before her.
"In a few years, you'll understand why this is so wrong," Hermione managed in a slight shaky voice. "Learn from your mistakes. 10 house points from Ravenclaw. Now get out of my sight." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and flicked it at the dung bombs. "Oblivius." Within mere seconds, the dung bombs disappeared.
"Was it everything you wanted it to be, Malfoy?" she asked, turning toward him and watching him as he stuck his finger in his ear as if cleaning it.
"Oh yes, Miss Granger," he said in false interest, "it was very enlightening."
"Your enthusiasm moves me," she said sarcastically. "I'm going to the common room."
"And I would care why?" Draco drawled, smirking at her.
"Because—oh—ah—never mind!" she snapped and stomped off up the Grand Staircase. Draco chuckled as he watched her go.
"Quite the annoyance, aren't we, mate?" came a voice from the door leading to the dungeons. Draco looked over and saw Blaise Zabini standing there, smirking. "You just love getting her knickers in a twist."
"Yes, it is a sport I hold the record for," Draco replied, grinning at Blaise. "What are you doing out and about? Knowing you, I would have thought that you would sleep a free day away."
"Does the name 'Desdemona Nightingale' mean anything to you?" Blaise asked and Draco chuckled. "Did you get a look at her! Damn! And they say America has nothing to offer." He whistled and then smirked at Draco. "Where are you of to?"
"Heads' common room, I suppose," Draco replied, "to play yet another game of mudblood infuriating, what else?"
"Well, have fun then," Blaise said, retreating back into the dungeons. "I'm going to do more Mona Gazing."
Draco rolled his eyes and started up the Grand Staircase. He shuffled his feet on the floor and smirked as he reached the tapestry leading to the common room. Older Draco and Older Hermione were in the middle of a loud row, causing several students to stop and stare. Draco rounded on his heel and glared at them.
"Well, what are you looking at? Never seen two portraits screaming at the top of their lungs at each other? Well, go on! Get or I'll deduct house points!" Draco snapped and all of the students who'd gathered around, scattered. Draco smirked and turned back to the tapestry of the two who had suddenly become silent. "Meteorum memoradius!"