Chapter Three
The next day proved to be dark and gloomy, aptly mirroring Hermione's mood. She had woken up again with a nice morning scream, although there was no daily reprimand to follow it. Draco just shoved a pillow in her face. A better response, Hermione thought, as long as he wasn't trying to smother her with it or just didn't have the energy to bother to do it properly.
Hermione's trunk had been packed the night before by some very eager house elves. Hermione had nothing to do that morning other than prepare herself for the train ride. Because they planned on flooing to the station (something Hermione didn't even know you could do) Hermione decided that she would wear her school robes to the station. The real reason, although she decided she wouldn't admit it even under oath, was because she wanted to wear her nice new shiny badge.
When it was time to leave both Hermione and Draco were standing in the foyer to the manor, saying their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy (senior). Hermione couldn't help but notice the stiff, cool way in which the Malfoy family bade their farewells. There was no hugging as there would have been with Hermione's parents, the Grangers, and there were definitely no tears. It was if Narcissa didn't mind that she wouldn't see her son again until he returned in nine months time. Lucius, while keeping a cool outward demeanour, occasionally let a small smile form on his lips. Hermione almost felt as if he was glad to be rid of his son.
Upon arrival at the station Hermione felt much happier. At Hogwarts she would be able to avoid her husband; she could be happy living in the Gryffindor common room where Draco could not reach her. She smiled and walked off to find her friends.
Harry and Ron were sitting in a compartment towards the front of the train. They were deep in a discussion about Quidditch when Hermione opened the door and lifted her case into the overhead compartment.
"That's so cool," Ron exclaimed, "Who would have thought that Moran would still be playing after receiving that Bludger! Musta hurt though."
"I read he was in St. Mungo's for a week." Harry chatted.
Hermione rolled her eyes; how could people find that sort of thing interesting? As Ron was telling Harry that the Beater responsible didn't even face penalty, Hermione became bored with the discussion and pulled out one of her school books and began to read.
The trip was uneventful. Harry and Ron noticed the distinct lack of the customary visit from Ferret Boy (Draco); Hermione guessed that this was because he didn't want to be anywhere near her. Ron seemed a little disappointed: according to Harry he had spent a large part of his free time over the summer devising suitable insults and come backs. Hermione asked to hear them and an hour of the trip was then devoted to refining Ron's work.
"You know, Hermione," Harry managed to say after laughing at one of Hermione's suggestions, "I would never have thought that you would actively participate in thinking up ways to make someone's life difficult; Malfoy or otherwise."
"Well, Harry, a lot can happen over a summer," Hermione smiled as if she had just received a compliment, "Anyway, this is Malfoy we're talking about. Remember in third year when I punched him? Or all those times I had him at wand point?"
"True." Ron's laughter rang around the carriage.
The train pulled into the platform at Hogsmeade and the students began to swarm off of it and on to the platform. The cheery voice of Hagrid could be heard over the rabble calling the first years to follow him.
"Do you realise that this is the last time we will be doing this?" Hermione asked turning to her two friends.
"Yep." Ron's face was a mixture of sorrow and glee.
"The last time we will have a start of year feast." Harry sighed.
"The last year of Potions," Ron whooped, "After this year we shall be free."
"A year of lasts; the whole thing is beginning to feel quite nostalgic." Hermione gazed wistfully up at the castle looming in the distance.
"Feels fairly normal to me." Harry watched as the carriages he had once believed to be horseless began to fill up with students.
"Talk about a mood-wrecker." Ron swatted Harry on the back of his head.
"What?" Harry asked, climbing into one of the few remaining carriages.
"Nothing." Ron climbed up next to him.
Hermione put her foot on the step to boost herself up when a Ravenclaw fourth year walked up to her. "You're the Head Girl, right?"
"Yes."
"You are to go to that carriage." The girl pointed to the last carriage in the line up.
"Ok." Hermione looked apologetically at Harry and Ron, "Thanks."
The girl wandered off, clearly looking for someone else, as Hermione made her way to the appointed transportation. Several of the carriages at the head of the column were already pulling away towards the castle.
Hermione made her way to the carriage to find a sullen-faced Professor Snape waiting for her.
"Hello Mrs. Malfoy." Snape smirked, "Looking forward to the new school year?"
"Don't call me that." Hermione glared at her Professor.
"Don't call you what?" The nasty smirk on Snape's face deepened.
"Don't play dumb with me." Hermione was treading on thin ice, and she knew it. "I do not want to be called Mrs. Malfoy or anything associated with the Malfoy family."
"Watch you mouth, Ms.: regardless of whether or not you are head girl, you are still expected to show your professors respect."
"Yes sir." Hermione had the sense to bow her head a little in shame, even if she didn't really feel any.
The carriage door opened and Draco pulled himself in.
"Ah, good now we can begin this blasted conversation." Snape's face showed his disgust at whatever it was he was about to talk about, "The headmaster has seen it fit to beseech me with the task of informing you two of the new arrangements that have had to be made in light of the current situation."
"And what situation would that be Professor?" Draco folded his arms.
"Your father's decision to have you both wed."
"Ah." Draco shifted uneasily in his seat, "No special arrangements need be made. Neither Hermione nor I wish anyone to know, nor do we wish to spend any extra time together: quite the opposite, in fact."
"And I don't want to be called Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione felt the need to reiterate, "I want people to go on believing that I am Hermione Granger: I want all the Professors to remember that. There will be no slips of the tongue sir." Hermione stared her professor in the eye.
"Quite understood, Miss. Granger," Hermione smiled at this, "That is what the majority of the staff told the headmaster. However for some strange reason Lucius contacted the school and made a few requests."
"What did that ruddy git do this time?" Draco looked like he was about to punch the wall of the carriage, but thought better of it.
"You would do well to speak about your father with a little more respect than that, Draco." Despite his words Snape's mouth formed a small smile. "Lucius has contacted the school and requested that you two share a room; he even went as far as to threaten to withdraw your enrolment from the school if his request was to be denied."
"Great." Hermione's head fell into her hands, "Now everyone's going to know that I'm married to Ferret Boy."
Snape's eyebrow twitched up in mild amusement and Draco glowered at Hermione. "I forbid you from calling me that."
"There is a way around it." Snape metaphorically stepped in to prevent a third world war, or an eighth, depending on whose perspective you use. (AN: This is reference to the separation of the Muggle and Wizard worlds; us muggles know about two world wars, but who is to say the wizards didn't have a few of their own that we don't know about?)
"Yeah, she can just stop calling me that." Draco drawled.
"Around people knowing," Snape cut in. "The headmaster anticipated your reluctance to let people know and decided to set up a Heads Dorm. No one but you two will be allowed to enter so people will just think that you have to put up with sharing a commonroom and nothing else."
"That's clever." Hermione perked up a little.
"Of course it's clever." Snape hissed, "Now, I probably don't have to say this, you are still to abide by all of the school rules. There are also a few things you should know about being Heads that I am to go over with you."
For the remainder of the journey up to the castle the two new Heads were informed of their duties as Heads. Very exciting stuff really: that's why it's not written down here. (AN: Did you spot the sarcasm in that sentence?)
Harry and Ron were sitting in the great hall waiting for Hermione; most of the other students had already found their way into the hall and were chatting happily. Hermione was one of the last to come in; she was closely followed by Malfoy and Professor Snape.
"That's odd." Harry noted.
"What is?" Ron looked at the empty plates longingly.
"Hermione just came in with Snape and Malfoy."
"So? Probably has something to do with being Head Boy and Girl." Ron looked at Harry, "Hermione mentioned that he was HB on the train, remember?"
"Yeah, you're probably right." Harry waved at Hermione to call her over.
"Hey, do you think I could get Fred and George to send me that spell that changed Percy's badge to 'Humungous Bighead'?" Ron asked with a laugh.
"Sure, they'd suggest other stuff too when you tell them who it's for." Harry laughed.
"What you talking about?" Hermione sat down between the boys.
"Changing Malfoy's badge from Head Boy to Humungous Bighead."
"Nice, but how about 'Horrid Bastard'?" Hermione suggested.
"Hermione!" Harry looked at the brunette sitting next to him.
"What?" She looked back at him shocked.
"Language!"
"It's called English!"
"Ha! She got you on that one, Harry."
Harry smiled. "True, but I never expected that type of language coming from your mouth, Hermione."
"Quiet," Ron hushed, "The sorting is about to begin."
The little first years trooped into the hall behind McGonagall. Their little faces turned up to the ceiling with gasps; one little boy tugged at the sleeve of his friend and pointed up in amazement, despite the fact his friend was already looking up.
McGonagall placed the sorting hat on a stool and the entire all looked at it expectantly. The hat, true to form, did not disappoint them. (AN: I can't write songs/poetry so I'm not even going to try. I would apologise but I'm doing you a favour.)
After the song the slow process of sorting the new students began. There were a lot of new people in Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff had the least new kids, not that the famous trio particularly noticed or cared; they were too busy welcoming the new members to their fold along with the rest of their housemates.
Dumbledore stood up; the hall became quiet.
"I have two words for you all: let's eat." And with that he sat back down. The plates around the hall filled with food and the feast began.
Hermione smiled softly as the people around her began to eat. It was good to be back in the simplistic surrounds of the school, having spent several days at the Malfoy Manor, where proper protocol was of the utmost importance. She was glad she was back in a place where she could talk with her mouth full, knock things over and not worry about the mess or read a book at the table. Not that she did any of those things… apart from reading books at the table, that is.
As Hermione worked her way through her plate of food she felt compelled to look over to where Draco sat. He too seemed to be enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the hall. You might not have been able to pick it up if you hadn't seen what it was like for him at home, but Hermione could tell by the way that he sat, the way that he was a lot more at ease with his mannerisms, that he was glad to be away from the stifling etiquette of the Manor.
'Strange that I notice stuff like that.' Hermione thought, 'Hang on, how did I notice that? Wouldn't I have to know someone really well to notice such a subtle change in mannerisms? No, that's not right; I don't know Malfoy well enough to do that. I'm just very observant, that's all.' And with that Hermione quickly dismissed the thought, which was fairly easy because Harry engaged her in a conversation about DADA at that point.
The feast was up to the usual Hogwarts standards; the large array of foods meant that it was near impossible to sample everything without exploding, not that Ron didn't try. At the end of the feast Professor Dumbledore stood up to address the student body.
"Now that you are all fed, perhaps I can have your ears for a moment. There is yet another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year; I would like to introduce Professor Wadjet. I would also like to remind students that the forest is out of bounds and that a list of all objects banned from the halls is available on the notice board outside Professor Filch's office." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Now, I do believe it is time for bed."
Hermione stood with the rest of the students, but instead of going with Harry and Ron, she began to walk up towards the head table.
"Where are you going?" Ron called after her.
Hermione pause and turned back, "There's a head dorm this year. I have to go with a professor to find out where it is."
"That means you'll be sharing a dorm with that Slytherin git." Harry's eyes widened with concern.
"Yeah, I guess." Hermione tried to sound like she didn't care, "But I'll have my own common room to study in. Anyway if he becomes unbearable I can always just come visit you two, right?"
"Anytime 'Mione," Ron smiled, "but if he annoys you or does anything you don't like, tell us and we'll hex him for you."
"Ok, Ron." Hermione began to walk off again, "See you both tomorrow."
She watched sadly as her friends left the hall with the rest of the Gryffindor gaggle; it was going to be a long year. Hermione forced her way up to where Professor Dumbledore was waiting with Malfoy. Most of the other students had now left and those that still remained were out of ear-shot.
"I do believe congratulations are in order." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye… well, it twinkled brightly.
"I'd be looking for condolences actually." Malfoy drawled.
"Perhaps, perhaps." Dumbledore smiled at his two miffed students, "Now, how about I show you both to your new rooms."
Neither Hermione nor Draco responded, so Dumbledore, slightly put off, led them down a series of passageways to a portrait of a small girl. She looked to be about three, her blond hair up in two piggy tails and her blue eyes shining brightly. She wore periwinkle blue robes and was holding a white teddy bear.
"Path-word?" She smiled up at the three people standing before her.
"Verus consilium." Dumbledore spoke softly, and both Hermione and Draco noted the password for future reference. The painting swung forward and revealed a hole in the wall; Hermione and Draco followed the headmaster in. They found themselves in a small dark room, lit but only a few torch brackets on the walls. In the centre of the room were two holes: down one led a ladder, down the other a slide that appeared to twist around the ladder.
"Well, I'm sure you can find your way from here." Dumbledore smiled returning back through the portrait-way, which closed behind him.
Draco walked over to the slide and sat down, "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something so truly childish." he muttered under his breath, loud enough for Hermione to hear. He pushed off and down he went.
Hermione shook her head and followed after him. Draco had stopped at the bottom of the slide and was too busy looking about the room to bother moving. Hermione crashed into the back of him.
"What the fuck do you think you're playing at, Granger?" He yelled at her from the floor.
"You could have moved," Hermione responded, "you should have known I was going to be following you down."
"Did you even bother to check that the way was clear?"
"Well…" Hermione fumbled for words.
"Exactly." Draco tried to stand up but found Hermione was still on top of him. "Get off of me."
"Right. Sorry." Hermione stood and looked in awe around the room as Draco dusted himself off.
The room was made to look like a courtyard; it gave an impression that there was a stone wall that ran around the perimeter. Trees, or at least what looked like trees, were also in place around the edge. At one end was a study-like area; the branches of several trees had joined with those next to them to create a series of bookshelves. A low stone dolmen had been constructed in the centre of the study area; several wooden chairs surrounded it. (AN: It has been pointed out to me that some people don't know what a dolmen is; well a dolmen is two stones standing upright next to each other, normally a little gap in between, and a third stone placed over the top. I hope that cleared things up for you; if not do a Google image search on Dolmen.) In the middle of the room someone had decided to construct a well, complete with a bucket sitting beside it. Hermione walked over to the well and looked down; the water was close to the top and she could see her reflection.
The other side of the room looked like a campsite. There was a campfire in the middle of a circle of rugs and cushions to prop oneself up on. It was clearly not a sleeping area but it was a place to lounge.
The trees around the edge all wound up to create a canopy over the room, blocking what would have been the sky, or at least the ceiling, enchanted or normal. Light seemed to radiate though the leaves so that no lights were needed in the room. The floor was a thick dark green carpet that was enchanted to look a little like grass. The room was stunning, to say the least.
It was several minutes before Hermione's attention was drawn to an oak door on the left side of the room. The only reason Hermione noticed it was because Draco opened it. Hermione followed him into a large bedroom. The furniture was made with a dark wood that had a red tinge to it. The outdoor, slightly druidic theme seemed to have been carried into this room, for all of the furniture, despite its rich, almost polished appearance, appeared to be plants growing from the ground. The four posts on the bed were four young trees sending branches off to each other. The hangings were vines dangling down in a thick curtain. It was as if Hermione had stepped into another courtyard, except that one of the four walls appeared to be natural stone: a rock face.
There was a boulder leaning against this wall; Hermione walked over to it and reached out. The moment her hand rested upon it the stone rolled to the side, revealing a stone cave. A hole in the roof of the cave allowed a stream of water and light to cascade in. The waterfall hit the stone floor and then ran into a stone pool set in that floor. There was a silver dish next to a mirror and a slender jug up against one of the walls. Hermione figured that this was the hand basin and the jug was to collect the water. All of the plumbing normally found in a bathroom was formed from natural rock or slight variations on it. There was a series of ledges on the wall with everything from soap and shampoo to neatly folded towels.
Everything seemed to be perfect. Hermione couldn't stop marvelling at the beauty of the rooms; for possibly the first time in her life she was utterly speechless. Draco walked up beside her. Despite having grown up in the magical word, he too seemed in awe of the chambers he now found himself in.
"They've forgotten something." he spoke at last.
"What?" Hermione was having trouble drawing her eyes from the splendour of the room to look for anything that was missing, although from what she had seen so far nothing was missing.
"A second bed."
That did it. Hermione snapped out of her trance. "What!" She spun around, hoping to spot a second double bed hidden in a corner or something. Alas, it was difficult to hide something like that in a dark corner and Draco was quite right. There was only one bed.
"We're not sharing again." Hermione's words were more fact and question.
"I suppose you could always sleep on the couch-like things in the other room."
"But…" Hermione looked longingly at the bed; it looked so nice and she really wanted to sleep in this magical place. "Why don't you take the lounge and I'll have the bed?" She suggested hopefully.
"No, not going to work." Draco shook his head.
"Why not?" Hermione placed her hands on her hips.
"We could share again." Draco avoided Hermione's question.
"No way." Hermione seemed adamant.
Draco shrugged and ducked into the bathroom, closing the boulder behind him.
Hermione sighed. She wandered back to the study area and began to peruse the small library. She took one of the more interesting ones back with her and plonked onto the bed to wait for her turn to use the bathroom. After what seemed like ages the rock moved aside and a wave of hot air washed over Hermione, a steamy mist clung to the floor and oozed forth from the cave.
Draco wandered out, swaggering in his cocky way with a towel wrapped around his waist; with one hand he dried his hair, ruffling it to give it a messy look that Hermione found rather charming. Hermione found herself staring at his naked torso, toned from years of Quidditch and general life at Hogwarts. (AN: with so many traps, trip doors, changing staircases and other such like perils, not to mention the sheer size of the place, I reckon anyone at Hogwarts would become fitter just by living there.)
"What you looking at?" Draco broke Hermione's gaze.
"Nothing." Hermione instantly felt stupid for responding like that: it was obvious she'd been staring at him, why couldn't she have replied with some witty comeback?
"Whatever." Draco moved over to the cupboard and began ferreting around inside, looking for something.
Hermione stood up; putting her book down she grabbed her pyjamas and disappeared into the cave for her shower. She stripped off her clothes, having made sure the boulder was back in place first. She walked over to the waterfall; she looked around for some way to change the temperature of the water but found none. She gingerly put her hand under the water and found that she didn't have to change the temperature; it instantly changed to the perfect warmth for her. Hermione smiled as the warm water ran over her body, washing way her aches, pains and misery. She stood under the water for what seemed like ages before she decided that she should go to bed. There were classes in the morning, after all.
It felt strange leaving the water running as she wandered back into the other room. She was now wearing a large t-shirt, not dissimilar to the one she had been wearing the day she was taken from her parents. Now in the bedroom she noticed that Draco was sitting on the bed reading. His slightly wet hair was hanging in strands around his face; he was wearing dark green silk boxes. Hermione once again found herself staring at him.
"What are you doing?" He asked not looking up.
"That's the book I was reading." Hermione felt glad she hadn't given a really stupid answer this time.
"Well now I'm reading it." Draco looked up at Hermione.
"Well, you can stop reading it and give it back." Hermione folded her arms.
Draco did say anything; he just continued to look at Hermione.
"Draco?" Hermione sounded annoyed.
Draco put the book down and wandered over to his young wife. "You look really beautiful, Hermione." He whispered softly into her ear.
"Thanks…?" Hermione looked at him in a funny way, like he had gone completely mental.
Draco looked at her for a second and began to head back to the bed.
"Hang on a minute." Hermione called out, "We still haven't decided sleeping arrangements."
"We can share the bed," Draco looked over his shoulder, "if you don't scream when you wake up."
"Oh, what a generous offer." Hermione rolled her eyes, but followed Draco to the bed. The lights dimmed and went out, leaving a pale moonlight falling about the room.
"Goodnight, Hermione." Draco brushed a stray hair from Hermione's face. He then rolled over and closed his eyes to sleep.
Hermione's eyes were wide open, 'Draco just touched me! He touched my Face! Oh my god, yuck! That's horrible! It's left me with this nasty tingly feeling all down my spine. Ah! I can feel the blood pumping through my veins! This is so weird. How am I ever going to fall asleep now?'
The next day Hermione woke to find herself entangled in a pair of strong arms. Her head was resting against the warm surface of a chest. She smiled softly and snuggled closer. Then there was a pause where she stopped breathing. 'This is Draco Malfoy.' ran though her mind. She opened her mouth to scream, (AN: Don't you just love morning rituals?) but a hand snapped up and stopped her.
"Remember what I told you, Ms." Draco's deep voice warned, "Scream and you'll be sleeping on a sofa for the rest of your life."
Hermione looked up into his cold grey eyes and nodded; only then did Draco relax his grip on her mouth, but to Hermione's surprise not her also.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked after trying to break free without it being obvious what she was doing.
"We have an hour till breakfast starts, two till our first class." Draco yawned. Hermione nodded again to show she had heard.
The couple lay still for over five minutes without killing each other before Hermione decided she couldn't stand it any more.
"Do you think you could let me go?" She asked.
"What?" Draco looked down at her. "Oh, right." He released his grip on the young woman and she slid away from him and off of the bed. Grabbing her robes for the day she headed into the bathroom to change.
Draco was left lying on the bed, wondering why he had been holding Hermione so protectively. 'It's not like I like her or anything, so why would I do that? It felt nice, to just hold her tight; but still, I don't like her. She's nothing to me. But then why did I say she was beautiful last night? Why? Why would I do such a stupid thing? I couldn't possibly like her, could I?' Draco shook his head and started to prepare himself for the day ahead.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and scanned around for her friends; she found them quickly because Ron waved her over. She walked past the other tables and sat down between the guys.
"What's your new commonroom like?" Ron asked as he buttered his toast.
"It's amazing, you should see it," Hermione reached for the pumpkin juice, "It's a pity Dumbledore won't let me have visitors."
"Oh, come on Hermione," Harry smiled mischievously, "it'll be ok, we won't tell anyone. We could even use the invisibility cloak if you're really worried."
"Hey yeah," Ron bit into the toast, "Ee ood oo at."
"Ron! Swallow before you speak." Hermione groaned.
"Sorry."
"Now what did you say?"
"We could do that."
"Yes well," Hermione ran through possible excuses in her mind, 'If Ron and Harry visit the common room they'll notice there is only one bedroom and I don't want them to see that. I could say that only Malfoy and I can enter. Probably wouldn't work too well. Maybe… oh bother, why can't I think of a good reason? Err… I could say there are detectors for intruders and entering under the cloak would set off alarm bells and not going under the cloak would mean they are caught for sure anyway.'
"Well what?" Harry asked impatiently.
"It just wouldn't work ok." Hermione was surprised she'd been quiet so long thinking.
"You know Hermione," Ron looked straight at her, "if I didn't know you better I'd say you didn't want us to visit you."
"Well, there's a high chance you'd run into Malfoy, and the fewer confrontations the better." Hermione tried nonchalantly, "Anyway if I bring people down, he'll get the idea he can have his little Slytherin playmates over, and I couldn't stand that."
"Ok," Harry shrugged, "we won't visit you, but you have to promise to come visit us often."
"Deal." Hermione smiled.
Harry shook Hermione's hand as if to seal the deal, "Now give us all the details about this fantastic new common room."
Hermione spent the remainder of breakfast describing her glorious new quarters, half way through they were joined by Ginny who had their timetables for them. Everyone was really impressed with Hermione's description, and there was another brief discussion as to why they couldn't visit her. When breakfast was over the three friends bade goodbye to Ron's sister and headed off to the dungeon for potions class with the Slytherins.
"When will they learn that we don't want to do this class first thing back from the holidays?" Ron moaned.
"Cheer up Ron, it could be worse." Hermione patted her depressed friend.
"How?" Harry asked, he too was not impressed.
"We could have all our classes with them." Hermione suggested.
Ron gasped, "Don't even speak of such things."
Harry laughed at Ron's reaction, "Come on, you know what Snape is like with late-comers."
The trio increased their pace a little so as to reach their destination on time. They made it to the dungeon just before Professor Snape shut the door to lock them out. (AN: I hate it when teachers do that.) As per usual the class was segregated into two groups: the Slytherins were down one side of the room the Gryffindors down the other.
"Right," Snape slammed a thick book onto his desk for dramatic effect, "this is your NEWTs year and I expect you all to perform to the best of your ability; as such I will be placing you with a lab partner who will best compliment your skills."
Hermione's eyes widened a little, 'Surely the person who worked closest to my level was Malfoy; we are always vying for top of the class, but only because Snape was biased. I don't want to spend any more time with Draco.'
Hermione listened as Snape worked his way through most of the class; there weren't that many people because so many had opted to not do Potions in their senior year.
"Weasley and Pansy," Snape placed the two students together.
"Granger and…"
'Here it comes.' Hermione sighed.
"…Longbottom."
Hermione nearly whooped with joy; she didn't have to work with the Slytherin git! Then again the only other person left was Harry.
"Malfoy and," Snape smiled his evil smile, "Potter."
"It'll be ok." Hermione patted Harry on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Yeah, sure." Harry's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Now everyone move next to your bench partner and we will begin the lesson." Snape waved his wand at the board and a recipe appeared for a fertiliser potion. The potion looked difficult to brew but Hermione was confident that she could manage to brew it perfectly; then again, she was working with Neville. It had amazed everyone that Neville had passed the Potion OWLs and had astounded everyone even more when he elected to take the subject.
Hermione gathered her things and moved over next to Neville.
"Thank god you're working with me." He whispered as they began to prepare the ingredients.
Hermione just nodded happily.
The rest of the lesson passed in relative ease; Harry had ten points taken off him for yelling at his bench partner. Pansy screamed when Ron tossed her the ingredients she demanded that he pass her, which resulted in another fifteen points being taken from Gryffindor and, surprisingly considering the teacher, five from Slytherin. But the lesson was a good one for Hermione: she and Neville managed to brew a perfect potion and Neville was looking forward to his first ever O for a potion.
That evening Hermione found herself in the Hogwarts library working her way through several essays. Professor Snape had given his class two feet on the importance of several potion techniques practised in class, McGonagall wanted two feet on the wand movements required to turn a quill into a ball gown, and Flitwick had her writing two feet on transportation charms paying particular attention to Portkeys. Hermione was glad that she only had a few classes on her first day.
It was nearly midnight when Hermione finally finished her last essay. Harry and Ron had given up trying to finish an hour or so beforehand and had left for bed; Hermione had the privilege of being able to stay up later because she was Head Girl.
It had been a long day and Hermione would have been quite content to stay up even later just to avoid Malfoy, but she had to set a good example to the rest of the student body and attend all her classes… And that included her morning classes.
She shouldered her bag and headed off to the portrait of the little girl. The girl was asleep when Hermione reached her; she was curled up sucking her thumb, the teddy bear clutched tightly to her chest. Hermione felt sorry that she had to wake her up. She did so gently and whispered the password and left the child to fall back into slumber.
Hermione slid down into the common room and found Draco was still up. He looked like he'd taken a break, because his hair was damp. He was sitting bent over the stone table in frustration.
"Having trouble?" Hermione asked slyly.
"Bite me." Draco hissed back.
Hermione smiled, this was almost too easy, "I could help you, you know."
"As if I need help." Draco didn't even bother looking up, "Anyway, even if I did, I wouldn't ask you."
"Ok," Hermione walked in to the bedroom, "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."
"Humph."
Hermione pushed aside the boulder and disappeared behind it. She had a quick shower, letting the water relax her into a gentle state of restfulness. When she pushed the boulder aside she found Draco leaning against the wall waiting for her.
"I," he started.
"Yes?" Hermione waited.
"I need help with the homework." He muttered quickly, he almost sounded like he thought she would say no because he added quickly, "You mentioned if I needed help I could ask you."
"So I did," Hermione smiled at him, "Well come on then, I want to go to bed."
Draco looked really relieved, he lead her back out to where he was working.
"What you having trouble with?" Hermione peered down at Draco's neat handwriting.
"Snape's essay. I need another two inches, but I have run out of things to write about." Draco slumped down in his chair.
"Is that it?" Hermione was amazed, "That's all it takes to stump the mighty Slytherin?"
"If you're not going to help…" Draco started, getting defensive.
"No, no, I'll help." Hermione quickly looked over what Draco had already written. It was really good stuff, his real problem was he was writing things too concisely, doing things that way he'd definitely have trouble reaching the length required.
"I think I have something else you can write about, but if you didn't write things so succinctly you wouldn't have this problem in the future." Hermione quickly fetched a book from her bag.
"Here," she turned to a page and handed the book to Draco, "this should help you out. But I've noticed that you are penalised more for not reaching a length limit than going over it."
"Thanks," Draco read the passage Hermione had handed him and wrote in an extra two inches of writing that was slightly larger than that before it.
Hermione watched him, 'He looks so normal when he's working. He doesn't even have his usual smirk on his face. If I didn't know him I'd have guessed he was a normal person.'
"There," Draco dotted an i. "all done."
"Good, because it's way past bedtime." Hermione yawned, she started to walk slowly back to bed.
"Here let me help you, M'lady." Draco scooped Hermione up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He stopped short of the bed.
"Hey, put me down," Hermione wriggled about in his arms.
"Ok." Draco smirked and tossed Hermione onto the large bed and jumped on next to her.
"Gee, thanks." Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco.
"No, thank you." Draco looked into Hermione's eyes with sincerity.
"For what?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"Helping me with my homework." Draco rolled over, his back to Hermione, and the lights dimmed away to nothing.