Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters in this story.
The Two
Chapter 5
The New 7th Year
The next morning Ginny woke up excited. She had a wonderful boyfriend and she was now in her final year of school. She woke up and put on some Muggle clothes, her robes, and then went downstairs. She instantly saw Harry coming down the Boy's Dormitory steps. She ran to him and gave him a huge bear hug. He hugged her back and after a long kiss they went and got breakfast. Ginny kept getting asked if she was nervous or excited for her first day in 7th year. She was both. She was nervous about the work but excited about this being her last year at Hogwarts. After breakfast Professor McGonagall came over and gave Ginny her schedule and said, "It's the same as Mr. Potter and Miss Granger here." She walked off and the three got up and walked to their first class, which happened to be Herbology.
Professor Sprout welcomed them into the greenhouse and introduced Ginny to the class. That day they were working with some odd, blue plant with lime green spots. They had to repot them. It was a nasty job. Ginny was working between Harry and Hermione and yelled, "This thing's attacking me! Ahh!" Harry yanked the plant out of her hands and dropped it in a new pot. Professor Sprout came over when she heard Ginny yell and said, "Good job, Mr. Potter! This particular plant can strangle and suffocate anybody who doesn't hold the bottom. 10 points to Gryffindor! Be careful Miss Weasly." Ginny was embarrassed and turned a dark scarlet color. She was a little less embarrassed when Harry told her, "Don't worry about it, Ginny. We were working with these last class and she didn't mention the holding the bottom part today." They kept working and luckily, nobody was strangled.
Next they had Divination. Ginny had decided to take it because Ron and Harry took it and she decided she might need help in it and it seemed like fun. Hermione had Arithmancy so Harry and Ginny headed to the tower and Hermione headed the other way. Professor Trelawney greeted them the same way Professor Sprout did, invite them in and introduce Ginny. Ginny and Harry sat down at the little round table closest to the open window. Ginny whispered, "It is so hot up here." Harry answered, "There's a fire in the fireplace and it's so high up, like an attic is always hot. Or at least warm, in the winter." Ginny giggled and nodded and they were all handed crystal balls and the bug-eyed professor said, "We will take a break from mind reading and review, starting with the crystal ball." They all gazed into the crystal balls and Ginny said, "I just see fog. I always do." Harry was about to agree when he saw a dark shape coming towards him in the crystal ball. He couldn't tell what it was at first but it came clear in a few seconds. In this crystal ball was a dog. It was a big black dog. A dog that looked just like Sirius. Harry widened his eyes and muttered, "Ginny. I see Snuffles in my crystal ball." Ginny at first didn't know what he was talking about and then widened her eyes as well and whispered, "What do you think it means?" Harry looked back at the crystal ball. It seemed to be running from something. Harry finally whispered, "I can't be sure, but I think Snuffles is going to be chased by something!" Ginny gasped and Professor Trelawney rushed over and said, "What did you see, dear? Do tell!" Ginny just said, "I saw a…a…" she looked over to Harry who winked at her. Ginny knew that this professor had always talked about bad omens so she said, "I saw a bad omen, Professor." the Professor widened her eyes and looked excited, "Well, which omen did you see?" Ginny remembered something from her textbook about a Grim. She whispered, "I saw a grim." Professor Trelawney walked to her armchair and sank into it. She was whispering to herself, "Who does the Grim belong to, I wonder?" The class besides Harry and Ginny walked over to the Professor and one girl said, "Who do you think the Grim is going after?" The Professor shrugged and said, "Class dismissed." Harry and Ginny walked out of the class and started laughing once they were down the staircase.
They met up with Hermione in the Great Hall and told her what they did to Professor Trelawney. She thought it was hilarious, though she said, "That was clever and quite amusing, but she still is a teacher. Not a very good one but none the less, she is a teacher." Harry and Ginny shook their heads at Hermione with laughter and ate lunch.
Monday afternoon had 2 classes, Care of Magical Creature and Muggle Studies. Harry had decided to take it because Hermione convinced him that, "It'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view." Ginny got to pick some classes the day before, and she picked Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures so Harry and Hermione would have all the same classes.
They headed for Hagrid's hut and Harry said, "Hey Hagrid! What's in store for today's class?" He said, "We'll just be working with unicorns again. I've seen something new about some of them." He showed them to a fenced in area with unicorns in it. All of them were amazed with what they saw. There were different colors of unicorns. There were blue, purple, yellow, and red. They were all different colors, and all a pale, light shade Hagrid started the lesson with differences he found in the different colors. They took notes and helped groom them all. Harry was glad that he only had Potions with the Slytherins. They would've found some way to mess up Hagrid's classes.
Muggle Studies was boring because Harry and Ginny both grew up surrounded by Muggle objects. Ginny's dad worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office in the Ministry of Magic, so she had heard about Muggle things all her life. Their assignment was to pick a Muggle object, study it, and write a report. It seemed pretty boring to Harry and Ginny, but Hermione was fascinated, even though she drew up around Muggle things, too.
After class they headed to the dormitory and they all did their homework, even Harry. Hermione finished before the others so she decided to go to the Library to check out some books for light reading. Harry and Ginny rushed to the couch for a break as soon as the portrait hole closed. Since nobody else was in the common room they had it all to themselves. Ginny felt right in Harry's arms. She felt like this was her place. Her body fit perfectly next to his. It was like they were soul mates, destined to find each other and always be together. Harry felt wonderful. Ginny was warm and comforting. She was still upset about Percy and Ron but Harry made her feel good. Harry looked at Ginny and slowly lowered his mouth onto hers. The kiss got more passionate as Ginny responded. Their books lay forgotten on the table in the corner.
Hermione left the common room and walked towards the library. Tons of people were walking around and it was really crowded so Hermione took a shortcut she had found. Just as she thought, the corridor was empty and it was easy to walk down. There were empty classrooms filled with extra desks and chairs along this hallway so nobody came down here except teachers for extra supplies, and the occasional student, aimlessly wandering. She kept walking and saw an open door up ahead. When she got to it she paused, wondering whether she should close the door or not. In the middle of her wondering someone grabbed her. She was yanked inside and heard a cold dark voice say, "What are you doing down this way, Granger?" Hermione said, "You called me Granger."
"So?"
"You normally call me that disgusting, awful name."
"Just because I have some decency you have to jump down my throat?"
"Well, no. But you never have been nice before. Why start now? And why me? You're mean to lots of other people."
"Do you want me to keep calling you 'Mudblood'?"
"Well, no."
"Then there's no problem."
"No, still a problem."
"And that would be?"
"Why'd you pull me in here?"
Malfoy laughed and said, "I asked you a question."
"What and when?"
"When I pulled you in here, I asked, 'What are you doing down this way, Granger?' and then we started talking about names."
"Oh. Well I was heading to the Library. There's a shortcut down here. What are you doing down here, Draco?"
"You called me Draco."
"Oh please, let's not get into that again. Yes I called you Draco now answer the question!"
"Well, I come here when I want to get away from the hustle of the hallway and just…relax a bit."
Hermione raised her eyebrow and said, "You come here to relax? On a bunch of old desks and chairs?"
"Yep."
"Interesting. Well, I'll be going."
"Not so fast." Draco walked over to Hermione and grabbed her shoulders. Hermione asked him, "What do you think you're doing?" Draco bent down, because he was a good 3 inches taller than Hermione, and kissed her softly on the lips. He said, "I think I'm kissing you." Hermione really enjoyed this kiss. It was so strange how much she loved it. She whispered to Draco, "Feel free to do it again." Draco smiled and kissed her again, and Hermione kissed him back. The kiss got more and more passionate as it went on. Hermione suddenly pulled away and said, "We can't do this, Draco." Draco's smile vanished as he said, "Yeah, I know. But, I just had to, just this once." Hermione smiled and said, "Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed it." Draco was now smiling and said, "Yeah, me too. Which is surprising. Imagine, me, enjoying a kiss from someone who isn't a pureblood. I never thought I'd say this, but, Hermione, I think I'm in love with you." Hermione didn't know how to answer that. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Hermione didn't know how she felt about Draco Malfoy. She had hated him for 6 long years, and now he was telling her he loved her. It was a mess. Hermione rushed out of the room and kept going along her shortcut at a jog until she came around the corner. She stopped, sank to the floor and stared at the wall opposite her. She just couldn't figure this thing out. What am I going to do?
Harry and Ginny stopped kissing one another and got started on their homework again. It was just in time, too, because 2 minutes later, a group of 4th year girls walked into the common room, giggling. They walked up the girl's dormitory steps and as soon as they were gone, Harry asked, "Wonder what was so funny?" Ginny giggled and said, "I bet it's nothing. We have homework, let's get going." 20 minutes later Hermione walked in with a book in her face. She walked up the girl's dormitory steps with her face still in her book. Harry could tell she wasn't reading. For one, she didn't look interested as she always does when reading a book. Another dead give-away was that the book was upside down. Harry thought to himself, "Something strange is going on around here."
Night fell and all was silent throughout the castle. Nobody saw the dark creature sneak in through the front doors that were magically unlocked with a new spell. Nobody saw it, except one blonde Slytherin sneaking around out of bed. He wasn't frightened, more interested and wondering. Still, he hid behind a statue of Marqwa the Blessed and watched as the slithering creature glided up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.
A/N- I know I said I wouldn't update until I got 5 reviews but I couldn't keep you faithful readers waiting so I had to update. Don't ya love this chapter? I left you with this ending so you would be interested to find out more! Ok, and for reference, that Marqwa is pronounced Mar kwah. And I chose this name because I'm not in a creative mood, and like all the statues have odd names so I thought, "Give the statue a weird name!" Just thought you'd want to know. Please review!