A/N: So, I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out, but here you go. Enjoy, and please leave a review! Or PM me, let me know what you think. Also, I emphasized Hermione being a Prefect in this chapter, because I feel like that is a huge leap in her character, and nobody ever includes it! Anyway, enjoy Prefect!Hermione. Much Love- Bookworm
The opening feast was just the same as any other year, just with the addition of Voldemort being back and Hermione now being a Prefect. She spent the feast sitting next to Fred and George, talking to them quietly about their new place. They purposely avoided talking about what they knew everyone else was talking about. They had been hearing the whispers since they were on the train.
Everyone was whispering about Harry and Dumbledore, they would occasionally catch some of the other students staring at Harry. Hermione glared at some of them until they stopped, as she was sitting across from Harry during the feast. Fred would take her hand gently every time he noticed her doing this, and Harry would give her a thankful glance.
The first years seemed sparse this year, Hermione noted as she called for them to follow her to the common room. She told them little fun facts about the castle as they walked, her information mostly coming from Hogwarts: A History. She smiled when she looked back and saw that many of the first years were looking around in amazement. Once they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione turned and smiled at the group of students standing in front of her. The rest of the Gryffindors had already come up with Ron, who had also been made Prefect.
"Okay everyone. This here is the Common room." She said, and some of the first years looked confused.
"No it's not. It's just a portrait." One boy said, pointing at the portrait behind her.
"Oh just a portrait?" Said the Fat Lady, and Hermione turned to see her smiling at all of the first years before her.
"Oh hello Pink Lady." Hermione said politely. "Have a good holiday?" She asked, and the woman in the portrait smiled pleasantly at her.
"Oh yes. It's always nice to have a little break in the year from opening up." She said, and Hermione nodded in understanding.
"Well everyone, this here is the Pink Lady. She guards Gryffindor Tower, only allowing entrance if you have the correct password. Which, right now, is Gillyweed." And at the last word, the portrait opened up, revealing an open room decorated in crimson and gold, with a raging fire in the fireplace. The first years tentatively made their way into the room, Hermione following after the last one and closing the portrait hole behind her. The first years formed a tight group in the middle of the large room, looking around, some looked scared, others were looking around with amazed looks on their faces. Hermione smiled at them and gestured around.
"This is the common room, most people come here to both study and just hang out with friends. Girls dormitories are straight up the stairs on your right, boys the same on your left. All your belongings are there already, I suggest you go unpack and maybe get some rest. Classes start first thing tomorrow morning, breakfast is at seven." She said. She gave them all another smile and they filed past her, still looking around the common room. She let out a sigh of relief and walked over to where the twins were sitting by a window.
"Hello love, good job there with the ickle firsties." Fred said, giving her a wide grin.
"Oh shut it." She said, smiling at him and sitting down between the twins and across the small table from Lee. She pulled out a pocket version of Hogwarts: A History that Fred had given her over the summer and opened it while the boys around her talked in hushed tones about the coming year.
"I don't know mate, maybe it's not the best year for it, you saw that woman. She looks like she would happily string us up by our toes in the dungeon." Lee said, and George frowned. Hermione glanced up at her boyfriend, who had an emotionless expression on his face as he listened to the conversation.
"Mate, it's our last year. Our last chance to make an impression." George said, and Hermione felt her heart drop. She had avoided thinking about it the entire summer, but it was true. It was her last year going to school with her best friends, next year she would be alone. Sure, there was Harry and Ron, but she hadn't been close with them in years. She looked back down at her book quickly, that was still a year away. She should just enjoy the time she has with them. When she couldn't read anymore, she closed her book and looked around. Most everyone had cleared the common room, and Lee looked as though he was about to pass out. Hermione tucked her book back into her pocket and kissed Fred gently. He grinned at her and gave her a hug before she turned and hugged George as well, a move that made all three of the boys look at her. She stared at them for a moment before giving Lee a quick hug and heading up to her dorm. She reached the stairs before turning around, and seeing that they were all staring at her, smiled at them.
"I love you." She said. She chuckled when all three said it back, though she winked at Fred before turning once more and making her way to where she knew her bed was waiting.
The three boys, still sitting around the table, looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. George opened his mouth, sucked in a breath, shook his head, and closed it again.
"When was the last time she hugged either one of you before bed?" Fred asked, and Lee shook his head.
"Must've been the end of fifth I think." He said. George nodded in agreement.
"Okay, in the year and a half since then, what happened to make her do it tonight?" George asked, and they all shrugged. George turned to Fred, one eyebrow raised. For once, Fred was unable to answer a question about his girlfriend.
"Maybe, and hear me out on this one." Lee said, and the twins turned to look at him. "Maybe we all just go up to bed and ask her at breakfast tomorrow?" He suggested, and they sat there for a moment before the twins nodded, at a loss on what else to do. They silently made their way to their own dorm room, Fred thinking hard on what was going on with Hermione that he couldn't think of.
The next morning, Fred waited for Hermione to come down from her dormitory before he headed down to breakfast himself. He grinned as he watched her descend the last couple steps, tying her hair up into a ponytail as she did so. She smiled back at him and took the hand he offered her, adjusting her bookbag slightly on her shoulder.
"Want me to carry that?" He asked, and she laughed lightly.
"Where is your bookbag?" She asked him, and he grinned at her.
"George has it, I asked him to go down so we could walk together." He said to her, and she raised her eyebrows slightly.
" Well that was nice of him." She said as they exited the portrait hole and began to make their way down the castle to the Great Hall.
"Well, he owed me." He said, and she opened her mouth to ask why, but he stopped her by pushing her behind a tapestry to a little nook in the wall.
"Fred.. What?" She began to ask, but he interrupted her by pressing his lips to hers. Stunned, she dropped her bag just as he wrapped her in his arms, pushing her gently against the wall behind her. She rested her hands gently against his slim waist under his robes, and responded to his kiss enthusiastically until they heard someone trip slightly and fall against the wall just next to them. Hermione jumped and blushed deeply as Fred peeked out behind the tapestry. He pulled back and picked up Hermione's bookbag off of the ground, giving her another peck on the lips before guiding her out from the nook and back on track to the Great Hall. She was still blushing, though not as furiously, when they sat down at the table. George looked back and forth between them before shaking his head in mock disappointment.
"You know Hermione, you are a prefect now, you should really be setting a better example." George said, and Hermione sputtered for a moment before Professor McGonagall cleared her throat at the end of the table.
"I will be coming around the table, handing each of you your class list, and classes will begin in twenty minutes." She said, and handed two pieces of parchment down to the students sitting in front of her. Luckily, the group consisting of Hermione and her best friends were quite close to the end of the table so it only took the professor a few minutes to reach them. Hermione stuck her hand out eagerly and studied her schedule closely as soon as she received it. Fred looked over her shoulder at hers, then back at his own.
"Hermione, I can walk you to every one of your classes!" He said brightly, and Hermione looked at his schedule.
"That's because you are only taking… three classes a day." She said, and he nodded.
"All I need." He said, smiling at her, and she smiled back at him sweetly.
"Hey Hermione, can I ask you something?" Lee said a few moments later, and she nodded.
"Last night, you hugged us all goodnight. Are you doing alright?" He asked her, and her smile faltered.
"I can't hug my friends goodnight?" She asked, turning her gaze to George.
"It's not that love, it's just… well you haven't done that since the end of your third year. And we were worried something was wrong." He said, and her smile fell completely. She looked down at her plate for a moment before speaking.
"This is your last year." She said softly. "And I still have two more after you leave." She added, looking back up at them. George and Fred groaned slightly, and Lee looked down at his plate.
"Oh love, you know we don't want to leave you alone here with this git filled school." Fred said, and she smiled at him.
"I know that, it's just, I realized it last night when you lot were talking and it got me thinking." She said with a shrug. She was saved talking by McGonagall once more.
"Okay everyone, classes start in ten minutes, I suggest you finish up your breakfast and head out." She called to her house, and Hermione shoved her schedule into her pocket before standing. Fred quickly shoved his last bit of his toast into his mouth and stood as well, reaching for his bag that George held up for him.
"See you in class mate." George said, and Fred nodded vigorously, his mouth still full of food. Hermione waited until he had slung his bag onto his shoulder before taking his hand and walking leisurely up to the Defense classroom. Once there, Fred leaned against the wall at the back of the line of students waiting for entry and pulled Hermione to where she was standing in front of him. He kissed her cheek and she smiled at him, he played with her bag for a moment before sighing.
"I have to go to class." He said, and she nodded.
"Yes, you do." She said back to him, and he grinned at her before pulling her in for a hug.
"Hem Hem." Came a small cough- like sound from behind Hermione. She jumped away from Fred and stepped away from him when she saw that it was her teacher. Fred stayed leaning against the wall, and smiled at the new teacher.
"Morning Professor." He said, and Hermione grimaced in embarrassment at the blatant lack of respect that he held for most professors.
"Don't you have class Mr?..." She trailed off.
"Weasley, Miss. And yes. I was just saying goodbye." He said, and with a wink at Hermione, he pushed off the wall and walked away. Professor Umbridge, who Hermione was already disliking, turned to glare at her, before spinning on her heel and walking to the classroom door.
"Enter please children, and sit in your assigned seat please." She said, in what Hermione could tell was an utterly false and sickly sweet voice. Hermione scowled when she realized that she had been placed next to Millicent Bulstrode, she sat down heavily and placed her things that she would need for class on the desk, as far away from her desk mate as she possibly could. Luckily for her, Millicent seemed to be just as angry at this arrangement, and turned herself away from Hermione, to where there would be no need to speak to one another.
Once everyone was settled into their seats, Umbridge made her way slowly down the aisle down the middle of the class, staring at her students as she passed them until she reached the front and faced them. She cleared her throat and flicked her stubby wand, books that had been stacked against the walls sailed out and placed themselves, two on each desk right in front of each student. Hermione touched the cover, Defense for Beginners, then looked up at the professor standing in front of them in confusion. Though this wasn't a required text, Hermione had read this before her first year had started, and had found that it was likely meant for a child coming from a magical family, maybe a nine year old.
"Before we begin, please put away your wands, you will not be needing them in this class from now on." At this, Hermione's mouth fell open in surprise.