Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, they are the brilliant works of the marvelous J.K.Rowling. I also do not own Coldplay or To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

CHAPTER 3

The rest of that day went on without a hitch, and Hermione eventually calmed down from the events of the morning. That evening after dinner Draco and Hermione were requested to deliver a speech officially introducing themselves and welcoming in the new students to the year. Hermione spoke:

"Good evening Professors and fellow students. My name is Hermione Granger and I will be your Head Girl this year. This blonde haired young man standing next to me is Draco Malfoy, and Head Boy for this year. As you second years and older students should know by now, Draco and I are none other than worst enemies, and as I am going to try my hardest this year to make a fair go of getting along with him, recent events occurring earlier today would appear that he does not feel the same. So, you will of course have to pardon my colleague's rudeness over the next year. It seems he's not quite ready to give up his tough-guy act. Who knows what he's compensating for?."

She said this with a smile on her face, feeling rather proud of herself for bringing this much attention to him. Draco's face spelt none other than contempt for Hermione at this moment, and total embarrassment at being spoken of in such a way in front of the whole school.

"I will now hand you over to our Head Boy for this year, please, try and make him feel welcome...Draco Malfoy!"

Such behavior, you might think, would come with a stern talking to by the Headmaster, but instead, when Draco had finished with his speech and the school had gone to leave, Dumbledore simply stood up, whispering with a glint in his eye to Professor McGonagall next to him,

"This is going to be an interesting year."

On Hermione's way off the stage, she whispered to Draco,

"That was nothing. You keep acting the way you normally do and that won't be that last of such speeches."

Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. Being blackmailed by Granger? No way. He wasn't going to stand for it. He would just have to beat her at her own game. Hermione made her way down to where the Griffindors were crowded after the meal, only to be congratulated by her peers at the marvelous speech she had just made. Slightly rattled that she had actually pulled it off, she walked out of the Great Hall and into her dorm before she had another run-in with Draco, and went to bed earlier that usual.

Hermione awoke the following morning to an unbelievably loud banging on her door. It did not wake her fully at first, and she was too sleepy to be able to tell what was going on. She lay there for a minute, only to hear someone yelling:

"Granger! Granger! Wake up! It's important! It's an emergency!"

She looked over to her Muggle alarm clock to see that it was only 5:45am. Her alarm didn't go off for another hour and a half. Finally everything clicked and she woke up completely. She bounded out of bed and flung open the door to find Draco standing on the threshold, wearing only his silken boxers and a relaxed smirk on his face. She looked stunned for a moment, then he spoke:

"Morning sweetie." he said smugly.

"Just wanted to let you know. I'm going to the bathroom now to have a shower. Then I'll do my hair and get dressed, rattle around in the dungeons for a while, and go to breakfast where I'll check in with you again, ok? Just so you know. Wouldn't want another repeat of yesterday now, would we?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

He reached up and held her chin in his fingers, then leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Miss you. See you in a few hours." He winked at her and walked off to his own staircase, a more than satisfied smirk on his face. Hermione stood there in complete disbelief. She watched his muscular back as he walked down her stairs. Game on she thought to herself.

She stepped back and shut the door, flopped back onto her bed and thought about it. Yes, she was annoyed, but come to think of it, it was pretty funny. She eventually fell asleep with an amused smile on her face, and was woken an hour and 25 minutes later.

At breakfast, Hermione sat drowsily poking her porridge, absentmindedly sprinkling teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar on the top. When she realized what she was doing, it was far too sugary to eat, and she pushed it aside. When she was leaving the great hall with Ron and Harry on their way to Herbology, Draco approached her and seemed to be in a hyper-active mood. He was circling around her not seeming to notice Ron and Harry at all.

"Morning again my sweet" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"How did we sleep last night? Good I hope. Well, I'm off to our dorm to collect my things. I have Arithmacy now, so I'll be seeing you later in Muggle Studies. So now you don't have to worry about me. Good Day!" As he said this, he pretended to tip an imaginary hat before turning and leaving for their dorm.

Ron and Harry stood dumbfounded at what they had just seen. Not only the display Malfoy had made, but that it left a smile on Hermione's face. This is getting ridiculous! she thought to herself. That morning she had taken her books with her to breakfast, and hugged them close to her chest as she walked down the hall to Herbology, too deep in her world to answer the numerous questions from her two confused friends.

In Herbology the Griffindors and Ravenclaws learnt about the Wizarding equivalent of a Venus Fly Trap; this one was much more vicious and was not to be touched or even approached by the students. Neville Longbottom had the most unfortunate accident of tripping over a chair leg on his way out of the door to the toilet. He was traveling at a fair distance away from the plant on the front table, though he tripped and skidded forward on his knees so far, he ended up kneeling right in front of it.

The plant opened its huge jaws and lunged at Neville's head. He was too frightened to move, and its jaws encompassed half of his face. Its teeth sunk in, and in a second, it was over. Neville was left kneeling there. Some of the other students helped him up, but no one had expected the damage that was now Neville's face. He had large bite marks on half of his face, like two C's joined together at the ends, and he was going bright green. Before all of their eyes, small green shoots sprung from the bite marks and there was suddenly a garden bed in place of his face!

Hermione (as Head Girl) was ordered immediately to rush him to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey tried her hardest to look busy with him, when in actual fact she had no idea what to do. Hermione decided that she'd stick around and keep him company while was told to drink this potion and that until one would finally work. Madam Pomfrey would say things like,

"Here dear, try this one" and would pour vibrantly coloured liquids into what she guessed was his mouth, and then things like,

"No, that's not it. Ah! I know! Just wait, I'll go and get another that'll do just the trick."

But it never did. He ended up spending the whole day in the Hospital Wing, the Ministry was called in, and they in turn sent one of their best doctors to come and help. Hermione left the Wing at the end of first period, and went to her room to change books for her next class - Muggle Studies.