2. In the Library
The next morning at 8:00 Draco was wide awake and buried in a book, namely, A Guide to the Dark Arts. He was particularly interested in the Imperius Curse, which gave the one producing it total control over an individual. His father had taught him the curse in his second year, but he hadn't been able to accomplish it until the third year. Now he was a bit rusty on some of the darker aspects of magic, and he figured it could all come in handy one day. As if by other things than coincidence, Hermione Granger had just entered the library and had chosen a table in the far corner.
" Is it possible that I could make Hermione Granger care for me?" pondered Draco, allowing the wheels to turn in his head. Across the room Hermione peered over at Malfoy, wondering how she would ever put up with him as the year progressed.
"I wonder why he's in here? I've rarely seen him anywhere but the Great Hall…he's probably just in here to fool around." she thought darkly, trying to concentrate on her book.
" The Unforgiveable Curses are often used in a large portion of Dark Magic in this day and age. The Imperius and the Cruciatus Curse are the more popular spells, as opposed to the formidable Avada Kedavra. The use of any of these curses on a fellow witch or wizard will result in permanent placement in Azkaban."
Hermione was suddenly startled when she looked up at the clock to find that it was almost lunchtime…and Malfoy was still in the library. She hurriedly arranged her books in her backpack and scurried away to find Harry and Ron. She slowed down to a halt as she approached the Great Hall, and as she opened the large oak doors, she immediately began searching for her friends at the Gryffindor table. Upon her arrival, she added liberal amounts of beef stew to her plate.
"Why were you in the library so early this morning Hermione?" Ron sputtered, sending specks of beef stew onto the table.
"I was catching up on my Defense Against the Dark Arts. I found a really interesting book called A Guide to the Dark Arts." Hermione said earnestly.
"So what else is new, you're studying for a class that hasn't even started yet." Ron muttered.
"Well for those of us who actually do their work…" Hermione trailed off as she spotted the empty chair at the teachers' table.
"Who is the replacement for Professor Umbridge?"
"Dunno. I don't think they've arrived yet." Harry said.
Hermione finished her meal then excused herself to her dormitory. She had a load of organizing to do before term started.
Draco Malfoy shrugged unhappily as he made his way toward the Head Boy and Girl Dormitory.
"I suppose I'll just have to wait a bit longer before I can get Hermione alone. Somehow, we have to become better aqquainted…"
Hermione traipsed up to her dormitory, almost dreading having to be within 3 feet of Malfoy. What business did he have calling her a Mudblood and treating her like she was inferior to him? Lost in her thoughts, she accidentally ran into the person she least wanted to meet at the time.
"Oh. Excuse me Granger." Malfoy drawled, pushing by her, throwing her a slight smirk.
"I hate him I hate him I hate him." she breathed, her teeth clenched and fists bunched.
"I will get even with him if it's the last thing I do!"
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were still sitting in the Great Hall, procrastinating getting started on their Divination pre-homework.
"Miserable old bat." Ron grumbled, thinking about the two rolls of parchment they both had to write on how one would be affected if Mars and Jupiter swung off their normal orbit.
"Why does she have to go and give us homework before the stupid class even starts!?"
Harry shrugged and glanced over his shoulder to find that Draco Malfoy had just strutted into the Great Hall and sat himself down at the Slytherin table. It puzzled Harry that his usual cronies Crabbe and Goyle were not present, but instead he appeared to have made new followers. They appeared to be, if possible, somewhat dimmer than Crabbe and Goyle. Harry made a mental note to find out where Malfoy's two chief muscles had gotten to and why they had be replaced. Harry continued to observe them, and found that the two new followers were not at all like Crabbe and Goyle. They appeared to be much more involved with talking to everyone else at the table, leaving Draco alone. Apparently Draco had lost a large amount of his popularity with the Slytherins, though Harry was also unsure about. He turned his attention back to Ron, babbling about Professor Trelawny's imperfections, including her dewy smile and beady eyes.
"Ron, give it a rest. If you would shut your trap long enough, you could see that Malfoy had some different friends this year. Do you have any idea why?"
"Oh, yea. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle did something really awful to get He-who-must-not-be-named all ruffled and he punished them…severely. The only reason dear old Draco is still alive is because his dad saved his neck with his influence as his master's favorite servant."
"What?! When…how did you find this out?"
"Well, one of the members of…"
Ron glanced around warily, then lowered his voice tremendously.
"…The Order of the Phoenix has been an insider Death Eater for a while. Beats me how they've done it…I don't even know their name though. Anyway, this spy witnessed all of this, and told the rest of the Order. I only just found out myself a week or two ago. I would have told you, except no one really wanted the news to get out."
Harry sat there completely blight sided. For perhaps the first time in his life, he felt a twinge of sympathy for Malfoy. Given the fact that Crabbe and Goyle weren't really all that good of friends with Malfoy, and were more like his bodyguards, Harry tried to picture how he would feel without Ron and Hermione. He decided that it would be better to try extremely hard this year to not let Malfoy get to him this year…at least he had an excuse. Besides, he was probably too depressed to pull anything this year.
Hermione heaved a large box of books onto her desk and began to arrange her books neatly on the shelf. She came upon a particularly heavy box and try as she might she could not lift them off the ground. But before she could cast Wingardium Leviosa, a pair of hands seized the box and set it gently down on the desk.
"Hey Hermione"
She turned around to meet a pair of eyes that certainly did not match the voice.