Instead of heading back to her office, she decided to find Neville. It didn't take her long, considering he was holed up in the greenhouses. Neville's appearance had changed quite a bit since his time at Hogwarts. He was lean, almost muscular. His light brown hair fell nicely back and to the right, almost effortlessly. He was also extremely tall, much taller than Hermione, but not taller than Malfoy. Hermione wasn't sure why Malfoy was her object of height comparison, but she shook it off. She cleared her throat and Neville spun around, a bit on guard it seemed.
"'Mione!" He almost yelled, moving quickly towards her, his arms outstretched for a hug. "I am so glad you are here!" He added, while releasing her from his grip.
"How are you Neville?" She asked, beaming at him.
"I'm a'right I suppose….happy you finally saw reason." He chuckled softly.
"It took some time, how is Luna?" Hermione was now sitting down on top of one of the greenhouse tables, Neville followed her lead.
"She's swell!" His whole face lit up when he heard his wife's name. "She's been the editor for the Quibbler since her dad…" Neville swallowed hard. "…How are Harry, Ron and Ginny? Gosh I haven't seen them since….THEIR ANNOUNCMENT" Neville ended cheerfully.
"They are good! Ginny isn't showing yet, but soon!" Hermione chuckled softly at Neville's excitment. "Ron is fine I suppose…" She let her sentence hang there, not really sure what else to say.
"Sorry I know that's awkward of me to ask…" Neville winced apologetically. "…but you look great! Have you seen anyone else yet, or was I the lucky one to see you first?" Neville inquired innocently.
"Well I saw Irma…" Hermione started slowly, trying not to sound awkward using her first name. "…and Malfoy briefly."
"Malfoy eh? How'd that go?" Neville inched closer to Hermione now, showing interest.
"It was….not horrible."
"Well that's a start!" Neville said enthusiastically, causing Hermione to laugh.
"How do you feel, working alongside him?" Hermione questioned.
"He's….surprising." Neville said, pausing to think. "In a lot of ways he's the same old Malfoy." Hermione shivered slightly. "Not like that though!" Neville added quickly. "I mean…the sarcasm, the…swag…" Hermione nodded, having full understanding what he was describing. "It's all still very much him. Yet he's….softer, more…human. It's hard to describe." Neville seemed loss for words, so Hermione jumped in.
"Well I guess I'll have to find out for myself." She said nicely.
"You'll have plenty of opportunities, that's for sure!" Neville retorted, this time being sly himself. Hermione's eyebrow raised, prompting him to explain. "You two are paired together, certainly Minerva told you that…" Neville lost confidence when he saw Hermione growing annoyed. "Following the battle, Minerva thought it was best to promote interhouse unity. She therefore paired the two most adverse houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff together. This meant that the heads of each house were to confer throughout the semester, switch up partners when rivalries were starting, so on and so forth." Neville took a breath, and Hermione nodded, letting him know she was still listening. "It seems to me, from an outside perspective of course, that the heads spend quite a lot of time together because of this."
"But how does that unite the students in the house?" Hermione spoke for the first time, her tone was stern.
"Lead by example." Neville retorted, obviously reciting what he was told. "Students are also mixed way more than when we were here. The partners in each class are constantly shifting, it seems the heads work in tandem on that."
"But what about with professors that aren't heads, you for example?" Hermione countered.
"Well that's the beauty of it, it's not forced constant unity. They have plenty of classes with freedom to form their own bonds and friendships. "
"And in the younger years….they have less and get more gradually as the age….it's…"
"Brillant!" Neville finished her sentence happily.
"Gotta hand it to that woman, always spectacular." Hermione said, almost to herself. Her and Neville talked some more, and then she made her exit, heading for Hagrid's hut.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"'ermione" Hagrid said cheerfully, opening his hut door. "I've missed yeh I 'ave." He said, while watching her walk in and grabbing her some tea.
Hermione looked around and saw small pieces of evidence that Hagrid's life in this hut had improved since her days here. Hagrid's wand - not the umbrella - laid on his table. After the war, McGonagall had asked Kingsley to clear Hagrid's name with the ministry, thus allowing her to reenroll him in "school" and give him his wand back. Hagrid's version of school was performing specific spells in front of McGonagall herself, to make sure his wizard skills were up to par. A couple private lessons later, and Hagrid was up to speed.
"How are you?" Hermione asked, positively beaming from ear to ear.
"I'm alright I reckon, 'appy to see yeh that is. 'Ow are YOU?" Hagrid shot the question right back at her.
"I'm great! Happy to be home."
"Right yeh are! This is your 'ome." Hagrid said sweetly. "'Ow are yeh feelin bout bein paired with Malfoy?" Hagrid cut straight to the point, he usually did.
"I'm unsure, if I'm being honest. Everyone I've seen thus far has had nothing but nice things to say about him." Hermione sounded almost disappointed.
"Well I go to tell you 'ermione, lads changed he has." Hagrid started, sitting down across from her in his oversized armchair. "First thing 'e did was come right up to me, apologizing for 'is behavior as a lad." Hermione's face must have shown how surprised she was because Hagrid added "I was just as surprised! Told 'im off a little didn't I eh?" Hagrid said, as if asking himself what he himself did. "Been nothin but nice to me since. Something to be said for 'im ownin up like that I reckon." Hermione nodded silently. "I know there is a lot of reasons not to trust 'im 'ermione, but I reckon if you give 'im a chance, 'e'll surprise you." Hagrid finished, looking mighty pleased with himself.
"You know what Hagrid…I think I might actually listen to you and Harry this time." This caused Hagrid to laugh, a laugh so loud it filled the whole hut.
Hermione and Hagrid talked for about another hour before Hermione departed from him as well. She thought it might be best to get the ice broken with Malfoy sooner rather than later. She walked towards Snape's old headquarters, daydreaming a bit as she did. She thought about how how odd it felt, to relive these memories without Ron and Harry. How even though they were her own, they were also collectively shared. As she felt the air temperature shift as she headed towards the dungeons, she was almost sure this constant cold is what made Snape so miserable.
"Granger." Malfoy greeted, much sooner than Hermione anticipated, she wasn't even halfway down the staircase yet. "Looking for me?" He asked, eyeing her suspiciously, much like his predecessor used to.
"Actually I was, mind if we eh, talk for a minute?" Malfoy nodded in response. They walked in stagnant silence for the remainder of the walk to his office.
"Have a seat." Malfoy insisted, gesturing to the seat opposite his desk. The office looked much different than when Snape occupied it. The fixtures were lighter, the furniture was more welcoming and the lighting was much better. How, he did that last part, she wasn't sure. She took her seat. "House unity?" He asked, anticipating her next step.
"Yes." She answered dryly. "I wasn't aware it was in effect until I spoke with Neville."
"Longbottom knows all" Malfoy replied heartedly. Hermione couldn't tell if he was making fun of Neville, or it was an inside joke of some sort. She decided not to comment on it.
"He was very informative." Her voice sounded controlled, almost too controlled, not like herself. She tried to snapped herself out of this defense mode he brought out in her. "I wanted to touch base because I'm not really sure what you've already got in place, and what my role would be." Hermione finished, a little looser.
"Well every year is different, since the students behaviors and interactions determine how controlling we get." He said matter of factly. "I assure you, my…" He paused. "…experience teaching here does not outweigh yours." Hermione was shocked at this, what she thought was a compromise on his character.
"But surely, you are more well verse." She prodded.
"Well sure, but we are partners." Malfoy responded, looking her straight in the eyes. "So you see, I have no issue telling you what I did last year, but this…quick chat is more of a brainstorming session than a fill in." Malfoy was watching her carefully, making sure not to ruffle any feathers.
"Well okay then, fill me in and then brainstorm." She demanded, which caused him to smile ever so slightly.
Malfoy explained to Hermione that last year he created a sort of magical chart. It held all the pairings, and what, if anything, happened between those pairings. There was one chart per year, and tried as he did, the pairs did end up repeating a few times. He also explained that him and McGonagall did a team up with DADA and transfiguration, where the students had to rotate groups and solves the riddles placed by each teacher to get to the prize. The prize, if the classes uncovered it, was an extra trip to Hogsmeade.
"Well there you have it, any thoughts?" Malfoy asked, seemingly very open to her thoughts, if she had any.
"Actually yes."
"Not surprising" He retorted quickly, noticing she got defensive he added "Brightest with of our age better have some ideas" and chuckled softly. Her icy glare melted.
"I just thought, since I'm teaching Muggle Studies…" Malfoy nodded. "That maybe we could do some joint lessons." Hermione finished her thought, only to look up to a confused Malfoy. "Well my thought process is…I could explain how Muggles think and feel and react, but why not show them as well. I mean the whole point of Muggle Studies is to educate wizards so that they know how dangerous magic is in front of Muggles and why. So if let's say, you are teaching them about Dementors…I could show them in real time, what that looks like to a Muggle." Hermione finished, a little out of breath. Malfoy was silent for a long minute.
"Not half bad Granger." He finally said, a hint of banter in his voice. "I'll take it under consideration." He added offhandedly.
"Now wa-" Hermione stopped herself, realizing he was messing with her.
After about another five minutes past. They had decided to split the work load of the charts. Since Malfoy had the first years first, he'd make their chart, and vice versa. They had also agreed to meeting at break daily to discuss any issues, and to pop in and out of each others classes when possible, in an effort show house unity. Hermione started to pack up her items with a wave of her wand, she nodded curtly to Malfoy and then stood to leave.
"Hey Granger." Malfoy called when she reached the door. "It wasn't horrible working with you today." Hermione rolled her eyes heavily and strode towards her office.
'Maybe everybody is right, maybe he isn't half bad" Hermione thought as she walked the corridors.
What she didn't know, was that Malfoy was in his office, patting himself on the back for not messing this up yet.
