I am fully aware that I took quite a bit longer to update this time, but school has been a bitch lately. An update per week is probably a much more realistic schedule.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next installment and hopefully, you will let me know what you think too via review! Well, that's what I keep dreaming of, anyway. Bunny out ;D
The ride to school flew by with lightning speed for Hermione. Unlike the previous years, her presence was required in the Prefects' compartment immediately. She said her goodbyes to Ron and Harry, then headed for the very front of the train.
Upon arriving there, the richly furnished room was still empty. She put her things down in one corner and immersed herself in the numerous pages laid out on the table that occupied most of the space. They were mostly pointers and directions, or reminders to set up patrol schedules and such. She heard the door slide open and turned excitedly to greet her work partner. "H-" She choked on her words and the hand she was about to offer in greeting fell limply by her side.
Malfoy had made Head Boy. Malfoy! Who the hell came up with that brilliant idea? She had to begrudgingly admit that he had been an exemplary Prefect for the last two years, but that didn't mean he should be trusted with that kind of power! Who knew how he was going to abuse it!
She did have to admit though; the blonde looked quite stunned himself. Surely it didn't come as such a surprise to him that she would have gotten the position? Hermione questioned his speechlessness, but then she noticed his steely eyes slowly moving downwards, scanning her appearance. Oh, that. Suddenly feeling a bit warm in the face, the brunette pulled the robe tighter to herself, not used to such scrutiny.
A smirk that could only be described as Malfoyesque slowly spread across his face and he mockingly held out a hand to her. "Well, Granger, wish I could say I was surprised. Only, I'm not." With a stubborn look on her face, she took and shook his hand, choosing to be the bigger person. They were both adults who would need to work together for most of the year; she could at least try to be civil and hope he would reciprocate. "Yes, well, the achievements of some people speak for themselves. I don't believe there was much competition for my spot. Yours, though... Who did daddy pay off to get you here?"
The barb slipped out before she was even aware of it and Hermione cursed in her mind. So much for being civil... It was just too easy to fall back into old patterns when it came to Malfoy. He cringed slightly, but his face remained impassive. "Well, Granger, if you ever paid any attention to someone other than yourself, you'd know that my academic achievements come in second to yours." He gave her a smile that was anything but pleasant before he finally moved further into the room. "Now you can stop being childish, we have work to do."
Me, childish?! The little bastard, I'm gonna... Hermione realised in a second this was exactly the reaction he was hoping to induce, which is why she forcefully calmed herself and stepped to the table by his side. Taking deep breaths to ensure she didn't let herself become too irritated again, the brunette committed fully to examining the documents laid out and talking them over with Malfoy.
Almost an hour later, the prefects finally started filtering into the room and took seats around the vast table. The blonde and the brunette had used their time to go over all the instructions given to them and splitting the conveying of them to the other prefects in half. When everyone was gathered, the boy was first up. "I'm going to skip straight to the point, because we all need to start patrolling the train very soon. There are a few things the Head Girl and I would like to tell you..." He motioned with his head for Hermione to come stand by his side and curiously, she did so, more than slightly surprised by his change of demeanour when he wasn't dealing with her or one of her two friends. "Yes, Malfoy is quite right," she picked up where he left off. "Besides the few of you who are new to this position this year, most of you have been prefects last year or even the year before. Your duties are simple; once we all get our class schedules, a patrol chart will be written up and unless an emergency comes up, you are required to patrol on the days that you were assigned. Furthermore, you should be friendly and open to any questions or problems students might come to you with, just as you should inform one of us or a teacher if something serious is going on. As prefects, you cannot take away points, but you can report any rule breaking behaviour to someone who does. That is really all there is to a prefect position, but disrespecting any of those things can result in the revocation of your status. Any questions?" A quick look around the room and she didn't see any raised hands, which was Malfoy's cue to go on.
"Miss Granger has basically told you all you need to know. Now, first up for patrols are all the fifth years, all you need to do is walk up and down the halls and make sure no one is causing too much trouble. Well, off you go!" The youngest of people gathered in the room left one by one and the space suddenly felt so much roomier. "Now for the finishing touches, the new prefect's bathroom password is Lotus Flower. For your individual house passwords, I will pass it on to the Slytherins and Granger to Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Sixth years, you are replacing the fledglings in two hours, seventh years after that. And when they announce we are getting to Hogsmeade, get to the doors and make sure no one gets hurt in the crowd."
Lots of shuffling, chair moving and chatter followed that, as the others left, save for Hannah Abbot who came to Hermione for the password to their common room. "It's home sweet home," she smiled while passing the message on and the freckled girl giggled a bit as she too left the room.
Considering her work done for now, the brunette went to the corner of the room where she had left her things and started packing them up to get back to the company of her peers. Turning back around, she was faced with the sight of Malfoy bending over, browsing in his bag. Damn, but the boy had a good ass. Blushing slightly and wondering, when the hell she started appreciating butts, she mumbled a half-assed 'See you later' and exited the compartment.
Everyone got off the train and on the carriages safe and sound and Hermione only saw the blonde again when she entered the main hall, standing by the side with Flitwick. The girl briefly wondered why McGonagall wasn't here, since she usually handled official matters like this, but didn't pay it much mind. As they were obviously waiting for her, she hurried to get to them.
"Ah, here you are, Miss Granger. Well, we can get this over with very quickly. You are both aware of the whereabouts of the Head dormitory, yes? Good, good. Well, the password is Memento Mori, but you can change it if you like, just talk to the portrait. I'll be off now, bye bye." The vertically challenged professor disappeared in the crowd while Hermione stood there, speechlessly. How could she have forgotten? After she had gotten over the initial shock of the nasty Slytherin being her work partner, she realised that he was able to put their differences aside when it came to duties and she was calmed. The shared living quarters completely slipped her mind.
And then, to top it off, a very familiar redhead walked by, wearing silver and green.