Chapter Two
Draco Malfoy wasn't particularly happy to be back at Hogwarts and based on the distance even his own housemate kept from him, he could safely assume he would likely have no allies this year. That was fine. He had expected nothing less. Other slytherin students may have had the same, or sometimes even more extreme, beliefs as he did, but Draco was the only one of his housemates who had went and gotten the dark mark.
Throughout the war, Draco's beliefs had altered a little bit. They were no longer an extreme to the point where he believed muggleborns were undeserving of magic, but he wasn't sure that he fully trusted them either. Draco's beliefs had really started changing once Voldemort started living full time in Malfoy Manor and Draco witnessed the dark lord's violence first hand.
Despite Draco's changing beliefs, he wasn't particularly happy with having his schedule altered without his approval. He didn't really see how muggle studies would help him succeed once he was out of Hogwarts. He didn't particularly need a job, and even if he did he wouldn't be getting one that required a NEWT in Muggle Studies. However, there wasn't much he could do about this new situation. Draco had managed to stay out of Azkaban by the skin of his teeth. His only saving grace was that he had been underage during most of the crimes he performed, and it certainly helped that Harry Potter had testified on his behalf. Draco had been warned countless times that if he put so much as a toe out of line he would be Azkaban with his father.
Draco picked at his food during a lonely breakfast at the end of the table, and occasionally lifted his head to watch what was happening around him. None of the students seemed quite as happy as they were two years ago. Of course the great hall was still loud, but it was loud in its silence this time. The sounds of forks scraping plates and books and bags being dropped was much more noticeable than it had ever been. The voices that could be heard weren't yelling and laughing, but appeared to more so be mumbling and most students stayed in their own groups even at their own tables.
Draco chose to wait until the great hall had mostly cleared out before getting up himself, just because had was being forced to take Muggle Studies didn't mean he wanted to get there any earlier than he absolutely had to. He managed to find the classroom just early enough to claim a seat near the back of the classroom next to Theodore Nott who only nodded in acknowledgement.
"Hello students, and welcome to Muggle Studies," said a willowy middle aged witch in lavender colored robes at the front of the classroom. "I am Professor Pine. I know most of you probably didn't plan on taking this class, but I am happy to have you here and I hope this will be a pleasant school year."
Professor Pine surveyed the classroom from her spot in front of the blackboard and seemed to be in thought. After a few moments of silence Professor Pine began speaking again.
"There will be many changes this year, including promoting interhouse unity. So I have created a seating chart to encourage you to interact with students from other houses," Professor Burbage flicked her wand taking a step to the side, and a seating chart appeared on the chalkboard. "Please find your new seats quickly so we can start today's lesson."
Draco found his new seat quickly, and it was thankfully still in the back of the room. However, he was less than thrilled when he saw that Weasley would be his new desk partner. On his way to his new seat, Draco made sure his chin was lifted just a little higher and his shoulders were just a little straighter. He wasn't happy about sitting next to the Weasel, and he would not pretend to be, no matter what consequences might come if the Weasel decided to make a big deal about Draco's nearness to him.
Weasley scowled as Draco took his seat, and Draco sneered in return before preparing his materials for class. He had been a pretty piss poor student over the past two years so Draco was aware it wouldn't hurt him if he put a little more effort into all of his classes this year, even if one of those classes was muggle studies. It also didn't hurt that part of Draco's probation included regular class attendance and acceptable grades.
"You should be rotting in Azkaban," Weasley muttered under his breath a little way into the lesson. Draco thought about not responding, but he couldn't let one of his least favorite gryffindors have the last word.
"Unfortunately for you, your best mate seemed to take my side," Draco mocked quietly before returning to his notes. Weasley turned bright red, and Draco could imagine him melting his pen with the way his face appeared to be fuming.
The rest of the lesson passed in an uncompanionable silence, and at the end Weasley left his seat as quickly as possible to meet up with his housemates, and likely complain about Draco. Draco, on the other hand, took his time gathering his materials and making his way to his next class. It was unlikely had would have anyone to complain to even if he was interested.
Hermione's morning passed a blur. She had been anxious but excited to be back at Hogwarts, but now that she had made it to a few classes it all felt so unreal. Just months ago the castle had been torn apart by war, and now it was whole again and filled with students who had the potential to live lives that would no longer be impacted by Voldemort.
Hermione could not remember much about her first few classes of her final school year. She was even pretty sure she didn't raiser her hand hardly at all, but so many students were lost in their own thoughts it seemed no one had noticed. Or at least if they had, no one had anything to say about it.
The few things Hermione did learn during her morning classes was that there were so few returning eighth year students that all eighth years had their core classes together, but it seemed as though the professors had tried not to intermingle eighth years and true seventh years in classes.
Hermione also noticed that each of her professors so far had been emphasizing interhouse unity quite a bit, and it was a pattern she was expecting would continue well into the afternoon. She had not been able to sit with any of her housemates all day. She had been fortunate enough to be set with a Ravenclaw in Ancient Runes and Advanced Arithmance, and a Hufflepuff in History of Magic. So far, she had been fortunate enough to avoid being seated next to any Slytherins.
Hermione was aware she was acting somewhat prejudice towards her Slytherin peers, and she was trying really hard to keep herself accountable and remind herself not all Slytherin's are bad. However, after her experiences over the past year, she was struggling to rein in her distrusts of all Slytherins just a little bit.
The Great Hall was a little bit louder at lunch time than it had been during breakfasts. Students were talking a little bit louder, and the cliques that appeared during breakfast appeared to have loosened up a bit. Hermione made quick time finding Harry, Ron, and Ginny near the end of their house table. Ron was fuming, and Ginny and Harry appeared to be somewhere between trying to reassure him and walking on eggshells to avoid making his temper worse.
"What happened?" Hermione asked as she packed her lunch plate with a few of her favorite foods nearest to her. She had decided over the summer that she would never take a warm meal for granted again after the infrequent eating her and the boys had experienced over the past year while trying to preserve their supplies.
"I've been sat next to a bloody death eater in Muggle Studies," Ron barked around a mouthful of his lunch. He too appeared to be enjoying a warm meal as well.
"He's not a death eater anymore," Hermione reminded, and tried to balance her tone so that it was gentle without being condescending. Her tone might have still been more condescending than she had hoped because Ron just scoffed in her direction. "Besides, it's obvious why interhouse unity is so important this year. Maybe if they had started interhouse unity when we were first years maybe more students wouldn't have been on opposite sides of the war."
Ron shook his head and continued his lunch in silence. Hermione chatted with Ginny about their morning classes, and Harry seemed to be trying to work on taking Ron's side without excluding Hermione by ignoring everyone.
The lunch period was almost halfway over when owls flew through the windows as they would normally do during breakfast. There were quite a few owls that seemed to have letters for most of the students in the room. Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny all received their own letters. Feeling puzzled, and unexplainably nervous, Hermione opened her letter as everyone else did.
Miss Granger,
You have been assigned as a peer mentor for an eighth year student taking Muggle Studies. You are expected to meet your partner tonight 2 September, 1998 at 6 p.m. in the library. You will find your partner at a table temporarily marked 15A.
After tonight's meeting, you and your partner will make plans for when and where you would like to meet.
Meeting Requirements:
Meet your partner at least twice a week for at least one hour each meeting
Answer any questions your partner has about the muggle world
Help your partner pick a topic for their final project
We, the faculty of Hogwarts, understand that mentoring a student in Muggle Studies is extra work on top of your already strenuous work load so we have developed a list of benefits we hope you can appreciate.
Meeting Benefits:
5 house points per meeting
30 house points awarded for four consecutive meetings
Skipping one assignment per semester with no consequences
100 house points if your mentee receives an acceptable grade on their final project
We, the faculty of Hogwarts, greatly appreciate you undertaking this task and will always be available for any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Headmistress M. McGonagall
P.S. Miss Granger, you will not be receiving the same benefits as other students. I have spoken to Minister Shacklebolt about your actions in the summer of 1995, and while I understand what you did, I'm appalled that you blatantly broke the underage wizarding statue.
Therefore, if you refuse to work with your mentee for the entire school year, you will not be allowed to sit your NEWTs in the spring, and you may have your wand confiscated for a period of time at Minister Shacklebolt's discretion.
Hermione stared at her letter in stunned silence. She had been expecting to learn of her punishment today, but she had honestly been expecting worse. Why was Professor McGonagall going so easy on her? Who could be so bad to mentor in Muggle Studies for a year?
While Hermione was pretty sure she had an idea of who might be the student she was being forced to mentor, she decided to ignore her gut feeling. It wouldn't help to worry about it so much today anyways.
"Are your letters about Muggle Studies too?" Ginny asked as she set her letter to the side.
"Yeah," Harry responded. "It says I'm to mentor someone who's taking Muggle Studies. It just doesn't say who."
"Wait, Harry," Ron said suddenly. "I thought both of your parents were wizards. Why aren't you in Muggle Studies with me?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked. "Harry was raised by muggles. He might as well have been a muggleborn when he started Hogwarts."
"Hermione's probably right," Harry said. "My schedule wasn't changed at all. Do yours and Ginny's letters say who is mentoring you?"
Ron and Ginny both said no, and none of the group was entirely reassured about going into a schoolwide mentorship project blind.
