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Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me!
The Game
Chapter 3: The Accident
When Hermoine woke the next morning it was to loud banging on her door.
"Uhhhhh…" She groaned, and turned over, thinking that if she ignored it it would go away.
The knocking continued.
"What do you want?" She mumbled, as she opened her eyes, her mind still foggy from sleep.
"Granger!" It could only be Draco calling from the other side of the door. "Are you up?"
Hermoine sat up and looked at her clock. Ten minutes till class.
"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed. "I'm up Malfoy! You can stop banging on the door!"
"You'd better hurry if you don't want to be late. Potter brought by your schedule for you. I left it in the Common Room." Draco informed, and then left for his own classes.
"Thank you!" Hermoine said, as she made a mad scramble to prepare for class.
Unlike many other Hogwarts students, she hadn't over slept because she had stayed up late trying to finish all her summer work that she had not done. But nor did she go to bed early because she had all her summer work finish. For once in her life Hermoine had not done any homework that was assigned for the summer holidays and she had not read ahead. For once in her life she would be on the same page as everyone else in her classes.
She threw on the first thing she saw in her closet and put on her robe. She stuffed her school supplies in her book bag and ran down the stairs. Along with her schedule was a plate of buttered toast set out for her. She had little time to wonder if Harry had brought it for her or if Draco had actually left it for her. She didn't wonder too long, and she grabbed the toast and her schedule and ran to her first class. That class happened to be Transfiguration.
At the door she looked at the toast in her hand that she hadn't eaten on her mad dash to class. She felt nauseous and threw it in the trash.
The bell rang as she slid into her seat next her Harry.
"Where have you been?" He whispered.
"I over slept. Thanks for bringing my schedule." She answered him.
"I figured. You're welcome. Did you bring your essay?" He asked.
Hermoine stared at him. "What essay?"
"Our summer assignment that could possibly be taken up today. You did do it right? Of course you did. You always do your work." Harry informed.
"Er, right. Umm, actually I don't have it Harry." Hermoine confessed, looking down at her desk.
"What!" Harry fought to keep his voice down. "You better hope she doesn't take it up then! I can't believe you didn't do it!"
Professor McGonagall decided to cut their conversation short. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger. Care to join the class? Or is what you have to talk about more important than Advanced Transfiguration?"
"Sorry, Professor." Then both mumbled.
So, Transfiguration continued, and luck was on Hermoine's side as Professor McGonagall decided not to collect their essays until the next class.
Hermoine sighed as she walked out of the class with Ron and Harry.
Harry looked at her. "You got so lucky."
"Yeah, right." She said.
Ron looked on confused. "What? What happened?"
Harry turned to Ron. "Hermoine didn't do her summer essay for Transfiguration."
Ron's mouth dropped open. "No way! That can't be possible!"
Hermoine looked at Ron. "It is Ron, now will you drop it? I've got Advanced Runes. I'll see you later."
"Alright, bye Hermoine." The boys said, and left for their class as well.
There were few people in this class. Three Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuff, Hermoine, and one Slytherin, Draco Malfoy. She was the first one to arrive, so she took a seat towards the back. Only a short while later someone else came in and sat down next to her. She looked up to see who it was.
"Hello." Draco said.
"Hi." She replied.
"You don't mind if I sit here do you?" He asked, pointing to where he was already sitting.
"You're already sitting there. No point in making you move."
"Thanks." He said, getting his things out for the class.
It was silent for a moment. No other students had come in yet. Hermoine turned back to Draco.
"Thanks for waking me up this morning." She said.
Draco looked up from his book. "No problem. I know I don't like to be late. Did you get the toast? I thought you might be hungry."
Hermoine smiled slightly. "Yeah, thanks for that too."
"You're welcome."
The bell rang, and the other students entered together. Hermoine supposed they were chatting with friends in the hall. After class Hermoine made her way to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry and Ron were already there, eating. She slid into a seat next to them.
The boys each greeted her with their mouths full of food.
"How was your class?" Harry asked.
"It was all right. How was yours?" Hermoine replied, as she moved the food on her plate around with a fork.
"Oh, as good as Divination can be." Harry said, rolling his eyes.
Ron swallowed his food and said, "Yeah, but you have to admit that it's a whole lot better with Firenze than with Trelawney."
"Definitely. We have Care of Magical Creatures next. It'll be great to see Hagrid."
"But we also have that class with Slytherins." Ron informed. "Including Draco Malfoy."
"I don't think Draco Malfoy is going to be such a problem this year." Hermoine said.
"What?" Harry and Ron said, together, and actually stopped eating to give her an 'Are you mad!' look.
"Well, don't you think he's been acting kind of, well, civil, so far this year?" Hermoine asked.
"I guess he hasn't said anything to us yet. But it's only a matter of time." Ron said. "His silence won't last for long."
"How do you know?" Hermoine asked.
"Has he ever kept quiet?" Ron countered.
Hermoine didn't reply. Then after a few moments she stood up. "I'm going to go outside for break. I've got a few assignments I need to work on. I'll meet you guys outside for class."
"Okay. Don't work too hard." Harry said.
"Don't worry, I won't."
In fact, she didn't plan on doing any work at all. She found a nice shady tree by the lake and sat under it. And she was left alone with her thoughts. The only thing that was on her mind at the moment was the small wooden box in the bottom drawer of her dresser. It called to her and she craved it.
Not five minutes had past when a shadow stood over her. She looked up.
"Fancy seeing you here." Draco greeted. "Waiting for class?"
"Yeah. What are you doing here?"
Draco looked up at the tree. "I always come here whenever I need to think and clear my thoughts."
Hermoine laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this was your tree. Would you like me to leave?"
Draco thought for a minute. "No, you can stay if you'd like. I wouldn't mind some intelligent company."
Hermoine just moved over a bit and patted the grass next to her. "Be my guest."
Draco sat down and they were both silent for a while.
Hermoine finally had to ask the question that had been on her mind. "Why are you being so civil this year?"
"Hm, I just grew up I guess." Draco said. "Would you like me not to be civil?"
"No! Of course not! I was just curious."
Draco nodded. "I suppose you're not the only one who has noticed." He tried to change the subject. "What are you thinking about? I come out here to think, so I'm guessing you did to? What's on your mind?"
"Knives." Was her answer.
"Excuse me?" Draco asked.
"Sorry, random I know. It's… I found one this summer while cleaning an old room. It's really pretty. I was just wondering about it. You know, who it belonged to, where it came from."
"What does it look like?"
"There's an engraving of a dragon on the hilt. It has sapphire eyes and certain scales have emeralds on them. The top and bottom are encircled in rubies. It's the prettiest knife I've ever seen." She described.
"Sounds beautiful. Did you bring it to school? I wouldn't mind seeing it."
Hermoine closed her eyes. "Yeah, it just sits in the box I found it in."
The bell then signaled the end of break and it was time for their next class. They stood and went to join their classmates by Hagrid's hut.
Hermoine skipped dinner all together and went to her room. Harry and Ron gave each other worried looks when they realized she wasn't coming. Hermoine entered her room and closed the door behind her. She sighed as she knelt in front of her dresser and opened the bottom drawer. She removed the clothes from the drawer and took out the wooden box holding the knife, setting it gently in front of her. She removed the lid and looked at the small knife that lay inside.
"Hello again, my friend. I missed you yesterday." She said, grabbing the knife's handle and taking it out of the box. Its sharp, pointed tip gleamed at her as she held it in front of her. She lowered it gently to her wrist.
"Granger!" Draco banged on her door.
Hermoine's heart skipped a beat and she turned to face the door so quickly the knife moved against the palm of her hand.
"Oh, bloody hell!" She cried. "Shit! What is it Malfoy? This isn't going to be a habit of yours is it?" She asked, as she quickly replaced the knife and box back in the drawer and stuffed the clothes on top of it.
"I hope not. Just wanted to remind you of our meeting with the prefects. It's in fifteen minutes." Draco said, from behind the door.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me. I'll be there in a bit." Hermoine said, as she got a towel to clean up her hand.
"Not a problem." She heard him walk away and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Another time then, my friend." She said, leaning against the door.
She entered the Great Hall where the first prefect meeting was to be held. Professor Dumbledore and all head's of houses would be present for the first meeting. She had wrapped a white bandage around her hand and pulled on a hoodie and kept her hands in the pocket. Everyone was already there waiting for her.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." She said, taking a seat next to Draco. He gave her a small smile and she smiled back.
Dumbledore just smiled. "That's quite all right, Ms. Granger. We were just early. You were on time. Shall we begin then?" There were nods from all the students and teachers. "Well, your teachers and I will only be at this one meeting. Your Head Boy and Girl, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger will conduct the rest. I just wanted to give you a good starting place and let you know what will be expected of you. Some of you know what your duties are as prefects, but for those that have not had the position yet will need to be filled in. Mainly, you must keep an eye on your fellow students and report anything to your Heads of House immediately. The Head Boy and Girl will schedule you patrolling duties.
"Enough of that for now. I want to have more events for the students this year such as balls and dances. Something fun for all the main holidays throughout the year. I will leave the planning for them up to you. I think that is all for now. Does anyone have any questions? Or anything to add? Something I've forgotten?" He looked around and when no one spoke up he continued. "Well, all right then. Off to bed now!"
The group split up and left to their Common Rooms. Draco and Hermoine walked back to their rooms together. The halls were surprisingly empty on the trip.
A piece of hair fell into Hermoine's face and she brought her hand out of the hoodie's pocket to put it behind her ear. Draco looked over to her and noticed the bandage.
"What happened?" He asked.
"What?" She looked at him, confused.
He pointed. "Your hand."
"Oh, I, um, cut it." She said.
"Cut it? How did you manage to cut your hand?" He asked, smirking.
Hermoine looked away, trying to find a good answer that was believable. How did one manage to cut the palm of your hand? It wasn't an everyday occurrence. "I, um, well, I'm not sure really. I, um, just looked down and it was bleeding." Well, that sure wasn't a very good story. Lame, Hermoine! Lame! She thought to herself. He's never going to believe that.
And he didn't, but he let is slide with a, "Uh huh, sure."
Embarrassed, Hermoine ran straight up to her room. She decided that she ought to do some homework, so maybe she wouldn't fail any of her classes.
She didn't get much done. Her hand throbbed and still, the knife called to her.
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