Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own Harry Potter and the crew in the books. Would I be writing this if I had? So just simply said, no suing can be done because I am not plagiarizing.
This means emphasis on these words.
Thoughts.
Last Time:
The group nod their heads, and slowly, Hermione and Draco do their rounds. Nothing more eventful catches their eyes as they make their ways back to their compartment.
"I am going to sleep for a bit," Hermione says after placing her stuff back in the corner of the compartment. She takes her seat back on the floor where she once sat and lays down, her head on her bag, and soon she is asleep.
Draco and Harry begin a conversation on Quidditch and who may very well be the best and Ron soon joins in. Blaise takes out The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.
The ride continues this way, until they arrive to their destination; Hogsmeade Train Station.
Now, on with the story!
Hermione opens her eyes and looks straight up to the ceiling of the compartment, and watches it for a moment before Blaise bends forward into her line of vision. She looks at him as a tear slides down her cheek.
Blaise stares at her with a questioning glance. He looks over to Harry and Ron, who have their backs turned getting their trunks, and then to Draco, who is standing in the doorway. Blaise looks back to Hermione.
Hermione ignores his questioning glances and stands up slowly and clumsily. She hops over to the corner of the compartment and grabs her crutches. She puts them under her arms and turns her head to look to the others.
"Hermione," Ron says, picking up her carry-on bag and handing it to her, "Here. Do you need anymore help with anything besides your trunk?"
Hermione takes her bag and shakes her head. She takes Draco's spot in the doorway as he moves out into the empty hallway. Hermione heads towards one of the gang planks and looks around the station.
Students are bustling about, heading off up to the carriages so they can make their slow way to the castle. Hermione closes her eyes and listens to the sounds. The sounds that resemble her home. Her real home. She smiles slightly and tips her head forward.
Welcome home, Hermione. She mutters in her head.
A hand on her shoulder brings her out of her reverie. She turns her head to see Blaise and his wicked hazel eyes that are surveying her. She looks to the ground and smiles. "Home sweet home," She whispers to Blaise.
Blaise smiles and nods to her. "Come on," He says, "Let's get you situated into a carriage."
Hermione nods and hobbles as graceful as she can to the nearest carriage. She leans her crutches against the carriage and sits down backwards and pulls herself into the carriage with her upper arm strength. She pushes herself against a seat in the carriage and pulls herself up.
"Quite the little active one," Blaise says while grabbing her crutches and getting into the carriage, "Aren't you?" He sits down next to her.
"Yeah," Hermione says, "Sometimes." She places her knee over Blaise's lap. He smiles at her and rubs up and down her brace.
"Oh," Draco says while coming into the carriage, "It's getting steamy in here." He smirks to Blaise and Hermione and sits down on the floor at Hermione's feet.
"Blaise going bi, now?" Harry asks, "Maybe going after Hermione?" Harry smiles to Hermione trying to warm her up towards having winter vacation guests.
"Bloody hell!" Blaise nearly shouts, "Are you bloody losing that mind of yours?" Blaise looks to Draco for help.
"Don't look at me," He smirks, "It doesn't look right from here, either. You look like you're feeling her up."
"You two try wearing a brace," Hermione says suddenly, "It itches, the rods hurt, my knee feels like it's suffocating, and it feels like it wants to fall off."
Ron tilts his head off to the side watching the four mingle and he sighs. "Guys," Ron speaks up, "What's going on?"
Hermione looks at Ron with concern in her eyes. "Ron, you should know most out of all of us that second chances are worth being given out. Plus," Hermione pauses, "You and Harry are the ones that want them to stay with me over Christmas vacation."
Ron nods. "Just looking out for a friend," He says. Hermione sighs and looks to Blaise who is playing with her encased knee.
"Are you easily amused?" Hermione asks suddenly, now very curious.
Blaise nods and continues to play with her knee until they reach the castle. Hermione moves so her knee is out in front of her, her stiff brace supporting her entire leg. Blaise stands up and gets out of the carriage.
He holds up a hand and waits for Hermione to make her way to the stairs. When she does, he picks her up bridal style and carries her to the school entrance leaving everyone else to gather her things and whatnot.
Hermione wraps her arms around his neck so she could hold up some of her weight. She looks at Blaise while he looks off towards where they came from. She smiles and shakes her head. "So," Hermione begins, "Are you trying to be a knight in shining armor?"
Blaise turns back to her when she speaks. He smiles and winks at the woman in his arms. "Maybe. You should know, I am a complete flirt whether you be male or female. But in all honesty, I only date males." He says.
"Well yeah," Hermione replies with a smile, "I expected that much. I mean you are gay..."
Blaise nods and when everyone catches up, he opens the door to the school and they walk into the Entrance Hall. There, groups of students are gathered around the doors to the Great Hall.
At the entrance of the Great Hall, the professors stand. The group that just entered the Entrance Hall look around confused.
"Silence!" Dumbledore shouts over all the students. He looks about as silence fills every nook and cranny (A/N: Hey Ethiawien, get it?) between each and every body in the hall.
"Before anyone enters," Dumbledore says, "I would like to warn you that things have changed. Sit with whomever but be in for a big surprised."
There are many groans, mostly from the Slytherins. Hermione smiles and continues to listen as the groans die down.
"Please, take this as a new adventure," Dumbledore looks in the general direction of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Welcome change as a form of a new adventure. Now, go on, find a seat and let the new year begin." The professors step aside as Dumbledore looks to his pupils, also stepping aside.
The doors open and the students slowly walk in. Everyone goes to choose a small table to sit at which seat four to five people. Each one has a small table cloth with the Hogwarts crest on it, and each chair has a small sort of cushion for comfort.
Blaise moves about the students and sets Hermione into a chair near the middle of the Great Hall. pulls up a seat across from her. Harry, Ron, and Draco soon follow suit and take seats when they find the two.
Harry sits down next to Hermione on her right. Draco takes the seat between Harry and Blaise, and Ron takes the last seat at the table. Harry lays her crutches down under his feet so he could grab them for Hermione when she wanted them.
"Uh," Hermione looks uncomfortable for a moment, searching for her words, "Could you two switch seats?" She looks to Blaise, then to Harry, "I need to elevate my knee."
Harry looks to Blaise and they both nod. Harry stands up as does Blaise. They quickly switch seats and Blaise pulls her leg up to his lap and continues the little massage he had started on the carriage ride up to the castle.
"Now that the new seats are settled," Dumbledore speaks from the podium set up near the Heads Table, "Let us have our first years. Minerva, we're ready."
Minerva nods from the double doors. She walks out and comes back with about one hundred new students. She leads them to the front of the Great Hall.
"Gather around, gather 'round!" Minerva says to the scared first years, "Once the sorting hat is done with the new year's song, you will be sorted into your house. You could be sorted into Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin.
"After you are sorted, take a seat wherever you feel you would be comfortable. Make new friends, and please, don't let bad times and a house push yourself away from a possible friendship. Now, prepare to be amazed," Minerva says, turning to a three-legged stool holding a hat.
Welcome to another year,
for at Hogwarts,
Change is near.
It will start with two people,
and it will spread to two houses.
And as a domino,
it will fall into the rest.
Welcome to Hogwarts,
For it shall be a feast.
Everyone looks around, silence filling the hall. Minerva turns back to the first years and pulls out a scroll from her robes.
"Avera, Samantha," A small girl with brown hair and pale features steps up to the stool timidly and sits down.
After a few moments, the hat yells, "Ravenclaw!" Everyone claps, but the Ravenclaws yell, hoot, and cheer for their new house member.
Samantha takes a seat over where the Slytherin House Table would usually be with a fifth year that looks almost identical to her.
The list of students goes on, as does the sorting, but the group of students dwindles. "Vaillant, Jordon."
A sort of tall, red-head boy walks up to the stool slowly, but surely. He sits down and McGonagall places the hat onto his head.
"Slytherin," It shouts after a moment. The boy goes to sit with another first year that was sorted into Gryffindor.
"Wellington, Aria," Minerva calls. A small girl with long, dark, mahogany curls and a beautiful tan walks up to the stool and sits. When the Hat is placed onto her head and it shouts, "Hufflepuff."
The girl gets down and sits with a few other first years. A little girl is left standing. "Zabini, Kalie" Blaise turns his head and watches as his sister sits down on the stool. The hat is placed over her head. "Gryffindor!" The hat shouts.
Harry and Ron look at each other, a pure look of shock on their faces. Hermione smiles and motions for the little girl, who is looking for her older brother, to come over. Blaise smiles, and Draco turns to look at his favorite little girl.
"Blaise!" Her small voice squeaks as she wraps her arms around her brother's neck. She places a small kiss on his cheek and blushes, "Hi everyone!"
Hermione smiles and introduces her fellow Gryffindors, "Hey, my name's Hermione. That's Ron Weasley" Hermione points to Ron, "And that is Harry Potter," She points to Harry, "Welcome to Gryffindor."
"I'm Kalie. Thank you, it's nice to meet you," Kalie says politely, and then turns to her brother, "I am going to sit with Damien," She says, "He's in Slytherin." She skips off towards where Damien is sitting.
"She's cute," Hermione says as Blaise continues the massage, "Energetic, but cute."
"Yeah," Blaise says with a smile as the food appears onto the table. He abandons the massage on Hermione's knee and everyone proceeds to fix their plates. Blaise sighs and takes a bite of his dinner roll.
Hermione looks across the table to Draco with a raised eye brow at Blaise's sudden change of mood. Draco shrugs and shakes his head and eats his own dinner.
"Hermione," Ron says, "You never did say why you are going home over Christmas vacation. I mean, you said it yourself, no one's there."
"Traditional muggle Christmas reasoning, "Hermione mutters, "After six years of wizarding 'magical' Christmases I kind of want something to go back to the way it was before Hogwarts."
Ron's mouth forms an "O" as he goes back to eating. He shovels his forkful of potatoes into his mouth as though nothing happened.
Hermione sets her fork down and wipes her mouth with her napkin. She sits back patting her stomach as everyone else continues to eat; everyone with the exception of Blaise.. She looks over to him and notices his spaced-out look. She shifts her knee that's in his lap and he snaps out of it.
Blaise turns to Hermione and looks at her for a moment and smiles. He turns to look at the Head Table when a tapping noise on a glass is heard. Everyone else in the Great Hall follows suit and all the back-to-Hogwarts chatter stoops into a lapse of silence.
Dumbledore, now standing at the podium, smiles to his pupils again. He clears his throat and speaks, "Welcome back and to the first years, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now that your bellies are full, I would link to make a few announcements.
"One, the Forbidden Forest is as it is named, forbidden. Two, Mr. Filch would also like to remind those who are returning and to the first years that the ever growing list of pranks and jokes is still pinned on his office door.
"Now I would link to have a welcoming to the new Heads of the school. The staff and myself would link to introduce Draco Malfoy, Head Boy and also from Slytherin, and Hermione Granger, Head Girl and also from Gryffindor."
Everyone gives a polite applause and when it dies down Dumbledore continues with a smile. "Will the Prefects please lead their house mates to their dorms, please? Oh, and will the Heads stay behind?" Dumbledore finishes.
Blaise looks to Hermione and pushes out his chair. He stands up slowly and carefully and sets her leg on the chair and goes off to call for his house mates. Harry gets up and places a kiss on the crown of Hermione's head as does Ron and they go to head out.
Everyone starts to move about grabbing deserts and Hermione listens to the Prefects as they call to their house mates. "Slytherins follow me!" She hears Blaise shout. She also hears Ron yelling to the Gryffindors, "Gryffindors hop to it, follow me!" She hears Hannah Abbott "Hufflepuff come along with me!" and Lisa Turpin's "Ravenclaws hop to it!"
Hermione shakes her head and sighs. Draco looks to her and raises an eye brow and shakes his head when she rolls her eyes.
"Good evening, Mister Malfoy, Miss Granger," Dumbledore says while taking a seat at their table. When the Heads nod their hello's he continues, "Now, this year we are going to have a ball before Christmas vacation and for All Hallow's Eve. We need you to have a meeting with the Prefects to inform them and to plan these.
"We will also have a 'prom' as you call them in the muggle world for your fellow classmates," He says to Hermione, "I will only say that this one already has a theme. I want it to be as a muggle prom would be."
Hermione nods and smiles and lets Dumbledore continue, "I know that some of the muggle-borns were looking forward to their proms only to have Hogwarts interfere with this. Oh, and I would like you to have monthly meetings with the Prefects to keep in touch with planning. Shall I escort you to your new quarters?"
Hermione watches as Draco nods. Hermione turns to the headmaster and sighs. "How many flights?" She asks.
"About five," Dumbledore says, "That was when I last counted, which was this afternoon, now, shall we?"
Hermione turns to Draco and sighs, fighting an emotional battle. "Erm, Mal-mal...Draco, would you mind carrying me to the dorms?" Hermione stutters.
Draco looks at her for a moment before nodding. He gets up and kneels in front of her, "Wrap your arms around my neck," He instructs her. When she does, he stands up rather easily.
Hermione wraps her right leg around his waist and lets her left leg hang next to his. She lays her cheek against his shoulder and says, "Don't forget my crutches, they're under Blaise's chair."
Dumbledore nods and bends down slowly and picks them up and motions for Draco to follow him.
Draco goes to walk, but reaches behind him and takes her braced knee into his hand, carrying it so it wouldn't be a hassle while he walked. Draco follows Dumbledore up to the second floor and when he speaks both of the teenagers listen.
"Now, I know you two do not get along very well," Dumbledore says, "But this year you need to put aside petty differences. Many times, I have seen a Head Boy and Head Girl give chances and let them into their lives. Many have kept in touch and I like to see that.
"I would suppose that I am trying to say that, getting along with each other, and tolerating each other would be best. Set examples for the younger students, and have fun this year. It is your last year." Dumbledore continues walking up the remaining. He walks to a portrait of a young woman with mahogany colored hair pulled back into a bun and a tiara. She is also wearing a white, medieval gown with belled sleeves.
"Albus," The woman replies, "How good it is to see you. And these must be our new Heads. I am Anna Velarios, your commons keeper." Anna bows to Hermione and Draco.
"This is Draco Malfoy," Albus says, motioning to Draco, "And the young woman on his back is Hermione Granger. Now, this is where I take my leave. Please, fill them in Anna." He places Hermione's crutches against the wall and leaves.
Anna curtsies and then straightens. "Choose a password," Anna says.
Hemrione looks at Draco, who is looking at the portrait. She sighs, "How about Icy Wonderland?"
Draco turns his head trying to look at Hermione. When he can't, he settles for shrugging. He nods and looks back to Anna. "Icy Wonderland." The portrait opens and the two enter their home for the next year.
Author's Notes:
Reviewer's Corner:
Helli: DON'T DIE! IT'S UP SO READ!
Ethiawien: I updated! Please read and review.
Natty123: Nope just Spanish, now read and review please!
Caligirl-HPLVR: Yeah well its my third year of Spanish and I don't think it's that great. Well, thanks and review another chappie, please.
Ciao!
A-N-G