"I don't believe this. There has to be something. People just don't kill people," Harry said.
"Well, you never know. It could just be some crazed murderer who just decided to kill someone," Ron said, but Harry didn't look to convinced. "Okay now can we please act like normal 6th years and go hang out outside?"
"Sure, if it will make you happy."
They walked down the hallways and made their way outside. The sun was shining brightly for the last summer day for the students at Hogwarts. The four of them decided to sit underneath a tree near the lake. Harry plopped down on the floor. He had missed this part of Hogwarts over the summer.
"Potter.."
On the other hand, he had definitely not missed that. He looked up and saw bright blonde hair in front of him. Is there no escaping him?
"What do you want Malfoy?"
Catherine felt her heart begin to beat rapidly. She was trying her hardest not to start smiling. It was useless. Catherine just began to stare at the grass so no one would notice her expression on her face. Ah. Too late.
"What are you smiling at, Bruins?"
"Oh-I, er." Damnit! Again the wonderful gift of comebacks is shunning me at the moment. Luckily, Harry decided to cut in.
"Don't bother her Malfoy. What did you want?"
"I just came by to congratulate you on becoming the captain of your quidditch team. You do know I am cpatain of the Slytherin team this year as well."
"Oh, did your father buy your way into that too?" Ron asked.
"You better watch your mouth, Weasel! You little-"
"If that's all you had to say, then why don't you just leave?" Catherine but in. Draco could sense the disappointment in her voice. He was about to just leave, but then he saw all of his Slytherin friends watching him. He knew he had to make a scene.
"So, you've got another follower, do you pothead?" Draco remarked, referring to Catherine. "At least she's prettier than the mudblood."
Ron was about to jump on top of Malfoy, but Harry and hermione held him back. Draco smirked at his accomplishment and began to walk away. But before he did, he glanced over at Catherine, who was just staring at him with no emotion in her eyes. It's going to take a lot to win her back after this, he thought. In Catherine's mind, she wanted to go punch him, but her heart was holding her back. Gosh, she thought. Draco Malfoy, I don't know whether to kill you or to kiss you.
She looked back at the group and saw that Ron was calming down. His face was still bright red. They all thought that smoke was going to start coming out of his ears. Ron was mumbling things about Draco that they could barely make out.
"Draco...stupid...bastard...don't...how...prefect...," he mumbled.
"Prefect?" Hermione said aloud. "Oh my gosh, Ron. We have a prefect meeting now. We have to go or we're going to be late!" Hermione grabbed his hand and started running. They both yelled goodbye and that they would see them at dinner. Harry and Catherine watched as they ran into the castle. Malfoy soon followed after them.
Harry looked at Catherine and smiled. She is so beautiful, he thought. Catherine could see his eyes gleaming and she began to feel uncomfortable. Harry got up and extended his hand. She took it and got up as well.
"Want to go for a walk?" He asked.
"Uh, sure." Catherine said with a smile.
They walked and talked for an hour and a half. Catherine really liked Harry. Not like a boyfriend, but as a best friend. He understood her a lot because he had lost his parents as well. She looked at the time and saw that it was almost time for dinner. They walked up to the castle. Harry grabbed her arm.
"Hey. Do you want to go watch the sunset?" He asked her.
"Okay."
They started walking up to a hill and sat down on the grass. It was very cool outside with a light breeze. Catherine was getting cold. Harry could sense this so he took off his hacket and gave it to her. She thanked him and put it on. His jacket was bug on her, but it was very warm.
"You know, I haven't done this since I was little. Everyday my parents used to take me out and watch it with them. Sometimes, they even woke me up in the morning to see it rise." Catherine said, staring at the sunset. It was very beautiful. She loved how the colors changed from yellow to dark blue.
"Do you miss them a lot? Or do like to live with your uncle?" He asked.
"Well, of course I do miss them terribly. They were the greatest parents anyone could ever ask for. I would give anything for them to come back. Living with my uncle is, well, interesting. When I first moved in with him, it was very different. He was the complete opposite of my parents. Everything they believed in, it was hard to see that him and my mom were related."
"That's probably the same way it was with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Everyone always tells me how great my parents were, I never could understand how they ever got along with my aunt and uncle."
It started to become darker. They didn;t get to see the whole sun set because they had to go back inside and eat dinner. Besides, everyone would be wondering where they were. They didn't want to get into any trouble.
When they got into the Great Hall, everyone was already eating. They sat down next to Hermione and Ron, who both looked up and sighed.
"Where have you guys been?" Ron asked.
"We looked for you everywhere," said Hermione.
"Oh we were just outisde watch-" Harry started, before he was interrupted.
"Hermione!"
It was Ginny. She kept pestering her about the dare. "Okay, tonight we have to practice how you are going to act with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And tomorrow I have to get you dressed for that class!" She was clearly going to enjoy this, even if she wasn't in the same class.
"What? Dress me? No, Gin-"
"Yeah, I have to dress you! Oh, when do you have that class?"
"Umm, I have it first, I think."
"Great! Then in the mornings, you have to come over to the girls dormotories and I will dress you and..." Ginny rambled on.
The next morning Hermione locked herself in the bathroom. She had never felt so bare in her life. What would her parents say if they found her in this outfit? She usually liked to dress in a more conservative manner.
"I am not coming out in this...this...I don't even know what to call it. It's like a bandana wrapped around my waist!" She screamed.
"Is it really? Now you know I wouldn't let you wear something like that," Ginny said. Catherine then heard Hermione sigh from behind the door. "It needs to be much shorter than that!"
Hermione grunted. "Kidding! So are you going to come out or are we going to have the bust the door open for you?"
"Guys hurry up!" Harry yelled from the common room.
They then heard the door begin to open and slowly Hermione came out. She kept pulling down her skirt. Ginny and Catherine were shocked. Hermione Granger had legs!
"You can't really expect me to go out like this!" Hermione exclaimed as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was perfectly straight and she was wearing make up, which she usually didn't do except for special occasions. She was wearing a skin tight light blue halter top and a jean miniskirt and heels. Hermione looked gorgeous.
"What are you talking about? You look hot!" Ginny exclaimed.
"No, I look like a child prostitute!"
"Hermione you look so pretty! I don't even know what you are talking about!" Catherine replied.
"Here, put your school robe on. Then like casually take it off during his class or something."
"I cannot believe I am doing this," Hermione said, as she shoveled her face in her hands.
"No no no! You'll ruin the make up!" Ginny scolded. "Okay, let's go."
Ginny and Catherine almost had to drag Hermione into the Great Hall. Right when they entered, everyone was looking at Hermione. They were dazzled by her radiant beauty. Well, it could of also been the fact that she was actually wearing make-up and she smelled of roses and cinnamon. Oh yeah, and her heels were rather loud when she walked on the stone ground.
When she sat down at the Gryffindor table, Ron's eyes got wide and he began to blush. He then quickly looked down and began puring orange juice into his cereal bowl. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Catherine were all staring at him.
"Um, Ron. I don't think that is going to taste so great with your cereal," Harry said. Ron looked at what he had just done and started mumbling. He then took a spoonful of it and put it in his mouth.
"So aren't you guys going to say anything?" Ginny asked with a smile.
Harry just smiled and said, "Hermione you look beautiful."
"Thanks Harry."
"And you Ronald?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, you look really beautiful 'Mione," Ron said, barely making eye contact with her. Catherine and Harry exchanged looks. Ron looked like he was about to pee in his pants.
Herimone began to blush and smiled. She was just about to say something to him when the bell rang (I don't care if there is a bell, but there is now.) Oh great, school is starting, Catherine thought.
Ginny got up and said, "Hey Catherine, tell me everything. IF she doesn't do it then we will have to think of something worse for her to do!"
"She really is evil, isn't she?" Catherine asked laughing.
"Yeah, try living with her," Ron replied.
They all walked into their first class and to their disappointment, they found they had it with the Slytherin.
"Woah, so Granger is a girl. Looks like we were all wrong guys," Malfoy said when Hermione first entered the classroom. Catherine looked over at him with a cold stare. He new he was going to be hearing about this from her later. Ron started lunging toward him but Harry was trying to hold him back.
"Malfoy! You -"
"Everyone please take your seats. Welcome to the first class of the first day of school." Professor Nieto said..
"Yeah and we had to have it with the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle already look confused," Ron commented. This was true. Crabbe and Goyle looked at Professor Nieto as if he was speaking in an entirely different language. Then again, they always looked like that.
"I am professor Nieto and I shall be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Are there any-"
Right then Lavendars hands shot up. "Uh, professor, I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you?" she asked, batting her eyes. All the guys in the class gave a little groan.
All the girls began to nod their heads in agreement to Lavendars question. They were all dying to know. Even the Slytherin girl were swooning over him.
"I, um- well, how about I start off by telling you guys a little about myself. I am 25 years old so I graduated from here 8 years ago. I then went on the Auchendahl to study the defense against the dark arts. I-"
"Uh professor, sorry to interrupt. Are you married? or dating?" asked Alicia. Draco looked down at her with a look of surprise on his face. He thought that she was still sad about him. He was beginning to not like this new professor.
"Well, I don't think thats very appropriate for me-"
"Oh come on. You can tell us," said Hermione with a sweet smile. Catherine silently laughed at this. The professor looked up at Hermione and smiled. This made Ron start glaring at him. Catherine and Harry were going to enjoy this week way to much.
"Alright. No I am not married or dating. Now the papers on your desks are this classes syllabus.."
Catherine looked around the classroom. Half of the girls were either twirling their hair or batting their eyes. The other half of the girls, like herself, just looked amused. On the other hand, all the guys in the room looked like they wanted to kill Professor Nieto.
"That is all I have to say about the class. Are there anymore questions? I mean, questions about the class only?" Everyone just sat there staring at him. "Okay, then for the last five minutes of class, you guys may talk quietly."
Ron, Catherine, Harry, Hermione, and Neville all turned in and faced eachother. "So what do you guys think of him?" Ron asked.
"He sounds like he is going to be a pretty good teacher, I guess," Neville replied.
Hermione looked back at Professor Nieto who was staring at her. "Yeah, I guess-"
"Hermione Granger, can you please come over here?" Professor Nieto asked. Hermione looked around and some of the girls began to glare at her. Most of them wanted to be her right now. Harry, Catherine, and Ron all looked at eachother and began to smile at eachother. Well, not Ron. He had a look of horror on his face. If no one knew he had a crush on Hermione, they were now.
"Oh crap," she whispered to Catherine, "Do you think he knows?"
"How could he possibly know? Now go," she answered with a smile. "Oh wait!" Catherine pointed to her buttons on the robe. Hermione sighed. She looked around to see if anyone was looking. To her misfortune, everyone was looking at her. She tried to make it look casual, but some of the girls noticed and shook their heads. Hermione looked back at Catherine who was tilting her head towards Professor Nieto, motioning her to go.Hermione nodded her head and slowly walked down to his desk. She was slightly nervous because she had no idea of how she was supposed to act. Flirting was one thing she was not so smart in. She could never understand why Viktor had liked her so much. When she finally reached his desk, his head was down looking at some of papers. "Umm, professor? What did you need?"
Professor Nieto lifted up his head and smiled. He really did have a very nice smile. "Oh nothing. I just wanted to talk to you. I have heard a lot about you," he answered.
Now Hermione's heart started to pound. Did he really know about the dare? What if she got in trouble for trying to act in a student-teacher relationship? Well, she wasn't really. It was just a dare. Stop being so paranoid, she thought to herself. "Oh, er, who told you about me?" she asked.
"Oh well I have seen all of the movies," he replied rather quickly.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked. Did he say movies? What in the world was he talking about?
"Oh I said I used to talk to Mad Eye Moody. Also, the teachers were telling me about you. From what I have heard, you are a very bright witch," he said with a smile.
"Oh, umm thanks," Hermione replied. The bell then rang and slowly all the students began to walk out of the classroom. Some of the girls were still glaring at Hermione and she could here them talking about her. Professor Nieto gave them a weird look and immediatly their glares turned into smiles. What gits, Hermione thoguht.
"Umm, Hermione, do you want me to wait for you outside?" Catherine asked.
"Well you guys can go. I don't want you to be late for your next class," Professor Nieto replied.
"Well, that was a great class. I will see you tomorrow, professor."
When they got into the hallway, Catherine started laughing. That was the most awkward thing she had seen in her life. When Hermione was talking to him, the look on her face was a mix of embarrassment and confusion.
"What is so funny?" Hermione asked, as she started to button up her robes again. She really did not feel comfortable being that "open" to a professor.
Catherine looked at Hermione and said, "You know more than anyone how weird that was!"
Hermione lightly shoved Catherine and laughed, "Oh be quiet! Now we better go or we will be late for class!"
Finally the last class of the day was coming. It was kind of sad how they were all thinking that on the very first day of school. And of course they end it with their favorite teacher: Professor Snape. They all walked in dread to the dungeons wondering if six years of potion was really necessary. Apparently there was just no escaping him.
"We start off the day with a class with Slytherins, then we end it with Snape. Could our schedule get any worse?" Harry asked to no one in particular.
"Yep, it could. We end it with the Slytherins too." Ron said. "And Professor Snape. Professor I-hate-his-Cape. Professor I-wouldn't-want-to-rape. Professor we-can't-escape. Prof-"
"Ron! That's enough!" Hermione yelled.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to say those outloud..." Ron replied.
Just then, Professor Snape walked in. He had his expressionless face as usual and brought melancholy into the dungeon. Well he brought more melancholy for a dungeon probably is already full of melancholy. (wow...i used melancholy three times in two sentences..)
"This year, you will have the same partners all year round and you will have to sit together. Don't look too excited. I am picking them out for you guys," Professor Snape said. Everyone looked very disappointed. Except for Draco, who would probably get someone he liked.
"Potter and Parkinson, Weasly and Goyle, Granger and Crabbe,"
The trio were all pretty much depressed. Not only did they get the stupidest people in the room, they got with Slytherin.
"Corley and Tindula, Malfoy and Zabini, and we have one left over. Ms. Bruins. Would anyone care to have her in their group?"
Hermione, Harry, and Ron all raised their hands, but Snape completely ignored them. He looked over at someone else who raised their hand. "Mr. Malfoy? Would you mind?"
"Of course not," Draco said with his smirk.
Doh, Catherine thought. Now I have even more chances to act like an idiot in front of him! Harry gave a look of sympathy to her. She tried to look a little sad at least even though she was kind of excited. Well excited and scared. She got up and sat next to Draco. This would be interesting. I am partnered with two Slytherin. One who probably is a jack ass and one who I don't know whether to love or to kill, Catherine thought.
After classes, they all fell down on the common room couch. It had been a very long day. All they got today from the teachers was lecture after lecture after lecture. Harry loved to be back at Hogwarts, but he really did not miss this. He also had Quidditch tryouts to think about. He should be having them soon so that the team could start practicing for the year. He looked over at his friends who were just sitting there. They all looked tired.
"So Harry, when are you going to have quidditch tryouts?" Ron asked. It was so weird how they sometimes thought about the same things at the same time. That's why they were friends probably.
"I don't know. I was just thinking about it. When do you think I should have them?" Harry asked Ron. He knew he was going to want to try out for it. He wasn't that bad of a player either.
"Whenever. I practiced a lot with Fred and George and Ginny over the summer. Ginny is pretty good. She is quick." Ron commented.
"Maybe we should have them next week. Or in two weeks."
"How about a week and a half."
"Yeah, that sounds good. Are you going to try out Catherine?" Harry asked.
Catherine looked over at Harry and laughed. "Clearly you have never seen me play. I think I will just stick to watching the games than actually playing them," Catherine replied. This was true. Her playing quidditch is like watching a dog chase its tail: pointless and stupid, yet funny.
"Ah, yeah, I am with you on that one Catherine. We will just leave it to you guys."
The next couple of days at school went by rather slow. Except for the first and last classes. Hermione was getting good at the flirting thing by the last day. And Catherine sitting next to Draco was interesting. He was pretty good at potions. Him and Blaise would tend to make fun of her during class though. Harry was constantly looking back at her to make sure she was alright. He was so thoughtful when it came to her. He even offered to carry her books for her. Of course she said no. That was a little awkward for her.
Ginny was having so much fun getting Hermione ready in the morning. She also had a good laugh when Catherine and Hermione would tell her what happened during the class. Except for the dirty looks she got in class, Hermione thought it was a pretty fun dare. That is, until Friday came. This was the day she would have to try to give Professor Nieto a kiss.
"Hey, just be thankful it's not Snape," Ginny said, trying to comfort her. The bell then rang and Hermione took a deep breath. During the whole lesson, she could not even pay attention. She had already asked Nieto if she could talk to him after class so it was all set.
"'Mione? Hermione? Are you there?" Ron asked, as he shook his hand in front of her face. She was in a deep daze. For some reason, she could of sworn that she saw Catherine crying. She looked over at her and saw that she looked just fine. She shook it out of her head and tried to pay attention. Hermione then realized that Ron was trying to get her attention.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Just making sure you are all here. You look out of it," he commented.
"Sorry. I just keep thinking about what is going to happen next." She said. Ron just looked at her and nodded his head. He looked kind of sad after seh said this, but she thought it was just her eyes playing tricks on her again. Finally the bell rung. Hermione could feel her heart. It felt like it was about to just come out of her chest. Her palms were also getting sweaty. She had only kissed one guy in her life. Viktor Krum and that was almost two years ago. Well she had also kissed Ron a couple days ago, but that didn't count. That was a dare. But this was too, wasn't it.
"Uh, professor?" Hermione asked, very timidly.
"Yeah?" He answered. He also sounded like he had something else on his mind. He began going through blank pieces of parchment like he was looking for something.
"Well, er, umm...you see, I-"
He sighed and took a deep breath. "It's okay. I know all about it," he replied.
Hermione looked shocked. "Wait, you know? About the..." She was lost for words.
"Dare? Yes, I know."
"But how?"
"I just know about it. Let's leave it at that. So to close it off, you have to kiss me...right?"
Hermione gave a little nervous laugh. "Yeah. Some great friends I have." There was a little awkward silence. "You're not mad are you?" She asked.
"Oh no. Actually, my friends and I did something like this when I was at Hogwarts."
Hermione looked up and smiled. "You did? That's funny. It is kind of like karma then, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Again, there was another awkward silence. Hermione looked down. She felt her heart beating even harder and her hands getting all sweaty. At least now, it wouldn't be as awkward after the kiss, she thought. Hermione slowly walked over to Professor Nieto. She bent down and closed her eyes. She felt like she couldn't look at him directly in the eyes because of how uncomfortable she was. Finally, their lips met. It was a very soft kiss that lasted for a couple seconds. For some reason, she knew Ginny was watching behind the door. She wouldn't care if she got detention in her next class, she had to see this.
"Uh, well, I better go now. Can we just forget this ever happened? I don't really want it to be awkward or anything..." Hermione said.
"Of course. It will never be brought up again," he answered, not really looking at her. Hermione just nodded and went for the door. Surely enough, Ginny was just outside the door. She looked like she was about to soil her pants.
"It was not that funny! And what are you doing out of class anyways?" Hermione asked, with a look fo surprise on her face. She couldn't imagine the whole thing being that amusing.
"Oh come on! You know I couldn't dare you to do this without seeing it for myself," Ginny replied with a smile. She looked rather satisfied with the way her dare turned out.
"Yeah. I thought you would be here. Well, we better get to class. I will see you at lunch, okay?"