Even though it says in the summary, be warned, this story will have swearing. I'm trying to make this more of a mature story, but even so, you've been warned. Happy reading!
Today, the whole of the year would be told who their pair was, and shortly after that, they'd have a week and a few days to plan what their three weeks would be like. However, Ginny and Hermione agreed that most pairs would just use the time to relax. This was certainly very exciting, and hopefully everyone was going to get paired with who they wanted to. Hermione was hurrying to break, along with the huge crowd who was craving fresh air just as much as her. She tried to look behind her as the crowd thinned, looking for a red flash of Ginny's hair, but she could catch nothing. The crowd dispersed, and Hermione turned her body back, and bumped head first into someone's chest.
"Oof! Sor-!" Hermione eyes narrowed as she looked up to see the person who owned that chest. Malfoy. He was looking down at her with an equally distasted expression.
"God, look where you're going." He said, looking at her frowning. Hermione spluttered.
"What, you're not even going to say sorry? Tch, you don't have any manners, do you?" Hermione retorted. Even though they were both at fault, it was out of habit that she was picking an argument with Malfoy. Draco's eyebrow quirked.
"Excuse me? Why would I need to use manners on you of all people?" Draco sneered, yet Hermione was surprised he didn't say 'Mudblood', which would be the norm to say at least twice in one of their arguments. Hermione smirked.
"Of course, what did I expect? You're a Malfoy after all." She bit out. Draco looked like he was about to laugh, and Hermione was getting seriously pissed off by now.
"What did I expect? You're a Granger, after all." He said lazily, and started to walk away.
"Is that all you can say? You're truly the King of Comebacks." She called out sarcastically, and she too walked away. She was a few steps in, before he called out to her.
"Hey, Granger."
"What? Just leave me alone!" Hermione yelled. Sometimes he just irked her.
"You could have been the bigger person and said sorry first, you know." He replied, his voice echoing softly in the deserted hallway. Hermione spun back, but he wasn't facing her like she thought, he was walking away.
"Really? You could have done just the same." She called out after him. He stopped, and replied without turning around.
"Maybe I could have." He said. The tone was almost as if he was teasing her. Hermione bit her lip and fought the urge to run up and punch him. He paused, and then carried on walking.
He's not worth it, Hermione. Let it go. Hermione counted to ten, turned around, and walked away.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"Hermione, what happened? You look really... angry." Harry commented, as she sat down on one of the benches in the courtyard.
"Malfoy." Was all she said, and the others nodded in immediate understanding.
"The bastard." Ron said lightly. "But you know, he's improved. Sort of." Everyone threw a look at him, and Hermione threw him daggers.
"Not exactly the right time, Ronald." Hermione remarked coldly. Ron shrugged.
"Anyone else notice how he's stopped saying Mudblood and throwing insults around?" Ron said, looking around. It took a while for everyone to actually contemplate this, and they all 'hmmm'ed.
"Wow, Ron." Ginny said, smirking. "I never knew you were that observant. I'm surprised." Everyone laughed, while Ron flushed.
"Shut up." He said darkly to Ginny, which just set everyone laughing again. The laughing died down, and everyone started to take Ron seriously.
"I guess," Harry pondered. "I mean... He only insults someone if they directly call him out." He looked directly at Hermione.
"Hey, I..." Hermione objected, and then looked sheepish. Harry laughed.
"I guess it's a tradition to argue with Malfoy right?" Ginny asked, smiling. Hermione grinned.
"Of course." She replied, chuckling. Who knew they would have a conversation including Draco Malfoy, and actually laughing about it? The next lessons flew by, and at lunch stopped by her dormitory and sat onto her bed, still thinking of everyone's changed perspective of Draco Malfoy. Maybe Draco had changed. Maybe he hadn't. Either way, it was still his family's fault that her arm bore the remains of the wound Bellatrix Lestrange had carved into her arm. The scar that said 'Mudblood'. Hermione ran her fingers over the bumps of the fading words, and she had a flashback of the excruciating pain that she had been forced to go through. She couldn't help it. Her hands started to flutter and her eyes moistened. A montage of images filled up her head, until a trickle ran down her cheek. She leant back on her hands, shaky gasps escaping her, and she tried to stop the flow of tears that were suddenly cascading down.
"It's over. It's all over now." She managed to mutter without sobbing. She repeated the mantra over and over, until the tears slowed to a stop. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, and she clasped her hands tightly down in front of her. She gently set her head down between her knees, and slowed her breathing down to a regular rhythm, before she wiped her cheeks dry, blew her nose, quickly checked for redness in her eyes and walked out of the door. These kinds of flashbacks always came suddenly, ambushing her with only a few minutes alert. Sometimes they'd be so bad that Hermione would have to bite her pillow to stay quiet. This was the price of conquering the war. Flashbacks and nightmares that left you scared stiff for hours at night, which made you bite your lip so hard in the effort of keeping quiet, that they would bleed.
There was only one more period of lessons left, before each individual house would gather into the Common Room and be told their pair for the upcoming trip. Nearly everyone was pretty nervous in finding out who they were getting, and Hermione had an odd ominous feeling inside her, as she filed out with Ginny after class, and they made their way to the Common Room.
"Who do you hope you'll get?" Hermione asked. Ginny shrugged.
"I don't mind if they're half blood, or muggle born, to be honest. I have a feeling that Mum chose for us (Ron) to have half-bloods, since she knows the majority of my friends are of that blood." She glanced at Hermione, who threw her a look. "Oh! No offense to you, of course!" Hermione just shrugged. They stepped inside the Common Room, and joined the group in front of Professor McGonagall. She cleared her throat.
"As you know, you will all be going onto a trip in a short period of time." She swept a beady eye along everyone, and turned brisk. "So, with no beating about the bush, I'll say your pairs." She glanced down at her paper, and looked at her students. "However, I would like to make clear that some of you will get paired with students in other houses. Ahem, without further ado: Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchley, Harry Potter and Dennis Creevey, Ron Weasley and Lee Jordan, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood..."
Hermione was looking around, desperate to hear who she was going with, and her heartbeat was getting more and more erratic. She glanced at Ginny, who looked ecstatic at the prospect of a girl staying at her house for once. Hermione turned back to her Head of Year.
"Hermione Granger," The professor paused. "And Draco Malfoy."
Oh. My. God.
A/N: Yay, second chapter up! Any thoughts?