CHAPITER 3


An entire month of school had passed in a flash. Hermione was still trying to cope with the fact that she would be leaving the best friends ever, to go around the world with her worst enemy and six other strangers. Back at the beginning of September, the meeting with Snape had gone surprisingly well. If you didn't count the terrible looks and name calling from Draco. But then again, that was expected.

Nothing in Draco and Hermione's relationship had changed in a month of seeing each other every few hours at least. Not only did they have to spend hours and hours together in their special curriculum, they also had to sit down and plan most things with Dumbledore on the trip. They had to help plan how they were going to get to the first school. Beaubaxton. Then they had to plan what the other schools would be doing when they came to Hogwarts. This was not nearly finished, which would mean they would have to take time during their stay at the other schools to plan, then send the plans to Dumbledore. More time they would have to spend together. And just to make matters worse for Hermione, there was the message in the envelope. In the envelope was a happy little surprise from their dear old Headmaster stating that they would have to work together in small little competitions throughout the year. Well the two were just extatic. The Slytherin King and Gryffindor Princess? Work together. Had anyone ever heard of such a thing? Well, it didn't matter now, because as much as the two tried to change it, the Headmaster had put his foot down.

With a sigh Hermione began to pack the last of her things quietly. She tossed in another pair of shoes when she heard foot steps come up the stairs. She turned to the entrance of the dorm to see all of her friends standing there (which was strange seeing as it was 5:00 in the morning). Even the boys had pilled up the stairs, Harry carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Aw you guys! Your gonna make me cry!" she said with a sniff. She could stand boggarts, goblins and even Voldemort, but leaving her friends was something she absolutely hated, even if it was only for a couple of months.

"We'll miss you Hermione!" said Ginny who was on the verge of tears herself. She laughed as she watched Lavender slip a fashion magazine into her trunk.

"To remember me by." she said dramatically.

"I'm not leaving forever! I'll be back in May!" Hermione said with a laugh.

"This is a big deal Hermione. Who'll do our homework?" Ron said jokingly. Hermione laughed.

"Well don't you all just stand there and cry about me leaving. Help me bring this stuff down to the common room."

"Yes Ma'am!" Ron and Harry said together. Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled at Ginny. Those two boys were spending so much time together they were almost like the twins. They helped her bring the stuff down the stairs. Finally in the common She gave her last good byes. The boys and Ginny made her promise to write at least once a week.

Finally Hermione shrunk her suitcases and turned to the door, as she was leaving, she could hear Ron start a playful argument with Sarah.

"Why didn't we do that in the first place? You women...so bossy...OW!"

So the first stop was Beaubaxton. Hermione was quite excited. She had met a few people from there (from the tri-wizard tourney!) but had never actually visited. She was positive it was in France, where, she wasn't sure, these schools were so secretive. Coming down into the Entrance Hall, Hermione smiled as she reached the Headmaster. She was a bit early, so they were waiting on Draco.

Hermione had dressed accordingly. She wore baggy gray sweat pants that said Hogwarts on the bum and the Hogwarts crest on the hip. A while back she had stolen one of Harry's Quidditch sweaters from a few years ago. The team got a new one every year so he didn't mind. It was a nice beige cream color with the Gryffindor crest on the chest and in big red letter on the back said Seeker. It also said Potter on the arm. Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail and she didn't wear any make up except a bit of mascara. She was wearing her Uggs (with her pants tucked in). A pair of muggle boots from Australia, which were quite popular now.

She was exhausted; she got up so early to finish her packing. Plus they had to leave at 5:30 to catch the train. Hermione felt bad for the two from Canada, they were taking a boat across the Atlantic. She let out another yawn and made a sort of groan of relief as Draco strolled over to them. Dumbledore accompanied them out to the train.

"I'm positive the two of you will have a lot of fun. I am eager to see you back when it is our turn to host." With that he gave a little wave and turned to leave, back to the castle.

"Ugh, I hope this doesn't take a long time" Hermione mumbled and stumbled into the first compartment she saw. She dropped her bag down on the floor then flopped down onto the seat. Her eyes closed and she went right into a deep sleep, barely noticing Draco sit down across from her on the other seat.

Draco looked up from his book at the sleeping girl. She'd been sleeping for over an hour now, all curled up in Potter's giant Quidditch sweater. He was quite shocked the day he saw her at the café. She looked so different. So non-mudbloodishy. Like a normal magical being. Like a pureblood. Now there was nothing he could say to her. She looked just like a pureblood. He couldn't say she wasn't smart, because she was extremely intelligent and he couldn't say she was ugly anymore, because she wasn't. The only thing left was Potty and Weasel, who would be a million miles away from her all year. Draco sighed. There's nothing left for him to stop himself from liking her.

'Why did she have to change? It was so much easier when she was ugly...I should make an ugly spell. Or turn her into a toad...' Draco sat contemplating what he should do to make her ugly again when her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes immediately went to Draco, who'd been staring at her.

"EW! Don't stare at me you pervert!" she yelled and sat up quickly. "What were you doing staring at me? Wait what are you doing in my compartment!" she said all at once whipping out her wand.

"Blimey Granger, get over it." he drawled. "I was waiting for you to wake up we have to talk abou-ahhhh!"

Suddenly, the train lurched forwards sending Draco sailing across the compartment landing in Hermione's laugh. She let out a shriek and was about to push him off when the train jerked back throwing him onto the floor, where the train stopped. Draco let out a groan of pain as he lay on the compartment floor.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Don't ask me! I don't know!" Hermione said and stood up. She slipped on her Uggs and rushed out of the compartment to see what happened, leaving Draco lying on the floor. A few minutes later, she came back in.

"The train...broke." she said finally. Draco, still lying on the floor on his back tilted his head up to her.

"Well aren't they going to fix it?"

"They said they couldn't."

"Well then what do we do Miss Ideas?"

"I don't know...I mean we have to be there in an hour..." Draco thought a moment.

"We'll fly." he said and stood up.

"Wait but I don't know-" he wasn't listening he was picking up his things and shrinking them, putting them in his pocket. Hermione grabbed her bag and followed him outside.

"Malfoy stop! We are not flying! I hate flying! Argh, I said stop! It's not fun. It's not safe! Plus, um...I don't have a broom! Now let's just go back to the train, send them a letter or something..." she said tugging at his sweater.

"Granger, shut up." he said coolly and wrenched his arm away from her reached. "You want to get there on time?"

"Yes but there are other means of-"

"Did I say you could speak?"

"Malfoy, I can speak whenever I damn well want to!"

"See that's your problem Granger, you just can't shut up. No wonder you don't have a boy-"

"Both of you please stop this bickering!" snapped the conductor. He stood with their bags in his hands. "Take your bags and go. Now Miss Granger as for a broom, I have one here." He said and handed off their bags, then going to get his broom.

"Wait...I don't know how to ride one..." she admitted. Sure she had learned, but she was so scared she had forgotten, and never went to learn again. Draco let out a frustrated yell and grabbed her wrist.

"Come on Granger, You've already wasted time with your talking."

Draco pulled from his pocket, a small bag. He reached into the bag and pulled out his broom. Brand spanking new. Hermione mentally noted his bag, which could hold up to 100 items not matter the size. She had read about them. He got on the broom.

"Um, Malfoy. What about me?"

"Granger just get on." he snapped. She slid on behind him and held onto the wood. Draco kicked off the ground. He leaned forward and they sped off at full speed through the sky. Hermione let out a loud scream and threw her arms around Malfoy's waist. She held on for dear life. After hearing her scream, Draco stopped the broom.

"WHAT?" by this time, Hermione was no longer holding onto the broom, but Draco himself.

"You were going too fast." she snapped.

"Well jeeze woman, I thought there was a dementor behind us the way you were screaming."

With that he leaned forward again and zipped through the clouds faster than before. Draco could feel Hermione's hold on him get tighter the faster they went. With a smirk, Draco turned them upside down the right side up. Hermione let out a muffled scream and held on tighter. He could hear her yelling something along the lines of "I'm going to effing kill you when we get down!" Draco did it again then a few loops. He couldn't help but laugh at her screams and yelps. Finally he saw the castle of Beaubaxton and landed down in front of giant metal door where there was a crowd of people. They had probably heard Hermione's screaming. Once they had stopped Hermione opened her eyes hoping they were on the ground. She visibly relaxed and got off the broom as quickly as possible. Hermione shot one of the deadliest glares to Draco before turning back to the crowd and putting on a smile. She couldn't kill Draco with people watching now could she? She walked forward and shook Madam Maxime's hand.

"It iz so nice to see you again Her-mini-non-e," The woman said and smiled. "And you too Mr. Malfoy. Now I would like to welcome you both to our school. And I hope dat you have a voundeful time! Now, zis isCecile LaFontaine and Adrienne Dugais, zey are ze two reprezenting Beaubaxton in zis wonderful echange."

Hermione smiled at the two girls. Adrienne had a model build; very skinny and tall. She had long chocolate brown hair with soft curls that went down mid-waist. She had bright blue eyes that matched the color of her school uniform. Hermione suddenly felt underdressed. Her baggy clothes didn't match Adrienne's nicely ironed uniform. She had a long narrow nose, which was covered in freckles. Hermione had a feeling she was part-veela (only because she could see Draco trying as hard as possible to not drool).

Hermione then turned to Cecile and smiled. She found comfort in the fact that not everyone at Beaubaxton was gorgeous or beautiful. Cecile wasn't ugly, but she was no match for Adrienne either. She was, plain and normal. Cecile had short blonde hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. She was around Hermione's height and defiantly seemed more friendly.

Suddenly, there were two loud cracks. Hermione looked over, startled, to see whom it could be. There was a short girl with shiny brown hair and bright green eyes. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't the only one wearing baggy not dressy clothes. The girl wore a pair of simple black sweats and a gray hoodie. Hermione almost laughed when she looked at the girl's feet. Pink uggs. The only diffrence was the girl's weren't tucked into her boots.

Beside the girl was the most gorgeous boy she had ever laid eyes on. He had curly brown hair and was quite tanned. He was at least 6 feet tall and had dark chocolate brown eyes. He wore baggy old jeans and a blue and a plain black hoodie. He was perfect. He smiled at her and Hermione almost died. Her knees went a little wobbly bit but she quickly regained composure. Defiantly man-veela if possible.

Mmm Maxime went over and greeted the two students who had just arrived. She was talking quite loudly so Hermione was able to catch their names. Paige and Jason ... Jason ... What a god's name.

"Ze students from Durmstrang have already arrived. You are all just in time for breakfest." Said Mme Maxime. As they walked through the corridors, Hermione noted everything. The building structure looked very much like a beautiful castle out of a fairy tale. Why did everything have to be so pretty here? Floating around them were a few tiny fearies. Hermione smiled. On the walls, instead of portraits, were amazing tapestries. Beautiful. Ugh stupid word. The two boys from Durmstrang joined them. Hermione noted how...Bulgarian they looked. They reminded her so much of Viktor...

Mme. Maxime pushed open large silver doors to reveal a marvelous Dinning Hall. It was a weekday morning so almost everyone was sitting together along five long wood tables. They all turned to look towards their giant Headmistress.

"Les filles, je vous presente les autes six eleves de l'echange." Hermione guessed that she was introducing them. "Gnarles Van Drake et Vlad Krum, de Durmstrang."

The two boys steped forward and the room clapped politely. Krum? Who was this Vlad? Did Krum have some sort of brother she never knew about? She would definatly make a point to know.

"Ensuite, nous avons Paige McCarthy et Jason Green du Wizarding Academie of Ontario." she said. "Et, Herminnonneny Granger et Draco Malfoy de Hogwarts. "

There was more clapping and cheering before they sat down at one of the tables. There didn't seem to be houses of that sort here so they just followed Adrienne and Cecile. After sitting there was a few minutes of completely awkward silence. Thankfully Hermione wasn't the one to embarrass herself by ending it.

"Well, uhh .. nice school ya got here." Paige trailed off. She was immediately met by a reply by snarky miss model Adrienne, who was sitting next to Vlad.

"Yes, well what do you expect? Its France. Everything is more Beautiful in France." The way she said it, almost hinted that the people of France (mainly her) were more beautiful. Great way to start off the next few months. Hermione looked over at Paige from Adrienne's other side. Paige was right across from the girl. Hermione could see the conflict of emotions on the girl's face. She had obviously been some what offended by the French girl's arrogance. Hermione silently hoped that Paige wouldn't send some terrible subliminal comment back. Thankfully Jason cut in.

"Well, we'll surly be able to see how nice France is in the coming weeks." He even spoke like a god. His voice was soft but strong and absolutely sexy. Hermione was incredible jealous of Paige. The two were obviously friends.

"Yeah, we have so much stuff planned." Cecile piped up a large smile on her face. Hermione smiled at her. Hermione then rembered about Vlad. She leaned over the table to get a better look at him sitting next to Adrienne. The seating arrangements were: from left to right, Hermione, Adrienne, Vlad and Gnarls on one side. Then Paige, Draco, Jason and Draco on the other side.

"So Vlad, how are you related to Viktor?" Hermione said with a small smile. It seemed he had tuned out after Jason spoke. He almost jumped when he realized he was being spoken to.

"Ohh, uh vell e iz my couzin." he said with a smile. Hermione nodded.

The rest of the breakfast had passed slowly. There wasn't all that much conversation except for when Draco said he was Slytherin Seeker. The boys then started to all talk about Qudditch like it was some sacred game. Hermione didn't pay that much attention but caught a few things. At WAO, there was a girls Quiddtich league and a boys. Jason was Seeker for his team. Paige liked Quidditch but hadn't made the team. Hermione couldn't tell why though, she seemed quite fit. Turns out she was too envolved in their Dance team to really keep up with Quidditch. The conversations about the newest Wizarding school interested Hermione a bit more. She also found out that It was the only Wizarding school in the Americas. The Salem Witch Academy had burned to the ground a few years ago and still no one knows why. So everyone one from that continent had all been transferred or enrolled into WOA. Hermione was excited to go see it.

After breakfast Mme Maxim led them through the many winding and magical staircases and into a tower. Hermione would surely lose a few pounds from a few months of this. They finally got to the top and stood in front of a large mahogany door. Mme Maxim explained that they would all be given a key to the door and that they would not be permitted to give it to anyone else. If anyone else got a hold on the key they would receive a small shock. She then slid the long golden key into the lock and turned it until she heard a click. She pushed open the door and let them in.

Hermione had to admit it was quite marvelous. It was one large commun room. the walls were a beautiful blue and almost seemed to sparkle. there was a fire place with a white mantel piece. There was a long mirror above it. The furniture was black. There was a corner couch and a love seat on the other side. There was a beautiful glass coffee table and a carpet underneath. On the far was there were eight doors. Each had a name in silver written on it. Hermione smiled. Finally her own room!

Everyone moved towards their doors. Hermione pushed hers open and smiled. There was a queen size water bed with a fluffy white duvet and pink, green and yellow pillows. There was a little bedside table with a copy of History of Beaubaxton on it. Defiantly on her must read list. Also in her room was a little desk a with few little compartments in it. There was also a full-length mirror close to her large armoire. She was defiantly going to enjoy this...


Sorry it took so long, i got to a certain point and then i was just like, crap how do i write it. Anyways I am looking for a Beta person .. like someone for all my stories. So if you would like just email me or something. or even post it in a review 3 ;)

FRENCH TRANSLATIONS:

Les filles, je vous presente les autes six eleves de l'echange : "Girls, I would like to present to you the six other students participating in the exchange."