Your Joking Right!
Chapter: A Not-So-Friendly Face
When an unexpected visitor arrives, things can get a little... different.
Hermione crashed into the Head's Room, only to find Ginny and Blaise snuggled on the couch by the common room fire once more. She made a fake gagging sound then grabbed Ginny's thin wrist and excused themselves from Blaise and proceeded to drag Ginny up the stairs, much to the red head's protest and dismay. As they entered their bedroom Hermione shut the door, sealed it and sat on the edge of the bed, she unfolded the letter and handed it to Ginny.
"Here read"
Ginny snatched the note and her hazel eyes read it quickly. A grin broke out over her face.
"Your mum knows all about your break-up with Draco and she's sad because she thought you guys would have made a fine couple." Ginny laughed.
"No not that" Hermione snapped, she could feel the blush creep into her cheeks "Even though I haven't the faintest idea how she knew that"
"Dare I say it" Ginny asked, "Dakota?"
"Ahhh forgot about her" Hermione sighed
Ginny had continued to read the letter, suddenly she let out a squeal,
"Oh look Hermione, your cousin is coming to spend the rest of the semester here at Hogwarts" she let out a wide smile. "That sounds fun!" Her eyes continued to finish the letter, "She's in my grade to"
Hermione let out a deep groan and sunk back into her bed, grabbing her fluffy silver pillow and burying her head in it. "I...oo" came a muffled voice.
"What did you say?" Ginny asked, lifting the pillow from her friends face.
"I said I no"
"You don't sound to excited about it!"
"Because im not" Hermione snapped, immediately regretting it, "Oh im sorry Gin, its just..."
"Keep going"
Hermione paced the room, "My cousin, Emery McCain, is 16, and her family is third richest in all of London, second to my family."
"So, as far as I can tell, she sounds okay, she may be a little spoiled but..."
"A little?" Hermione threw up her arms, "She is the most spoiled, snobbiest, I-get-everything-I-want girl I have ever met, and the worse part, she may also be the prettiest girl I have ever met"
"Ahhh" Ginny clapped, "So your jealous?"
"My god Gin, wait until you meet her, you will be to"
"Oh I don't have to wait too long, says here she'll be here in...3 days" Ginny smirked.
"What!" Hermione snatched the letter from Ginny's hand, "January 7th, you have got to be joking!" Hermione crossed the room and flipped open her calendar "Oh merlin, 3 days left to live"
Ginny laughed, "Come on Hermione, she can't be that bad!"
"You wait" was all Ginny heard as Hermione sunk into her bed and hid under the covers.
"We'll see,.. Night" Ginny replied.
XoXoXoXoXoXo 3 Days Later XoXoXoXoXoXo
Hermione had to force herself to get out of bed on the morning of January 7th. She quickly changed into her robes and threw her hair back into a messy pony-tail, she was in no mood to comb it. She grabbed her school bag and walked down into the common room to drop it by the couch, as she made her way down the spiral staircase a loud knock came from the port hole, followed by many more, equally as loud.
"I got it" Hermione called over her shoulder to nobody in particular. She groaned and walked over to the hole "Its called patience people" she snapped. Hermione unlocked the portrait and in came a quick flash of black and silver, talking fast, the squeaky-girly voice revealed it to be her sister. Hermione whirled around,
"Oh Mione im so excited, I can't wait! Can you? Think she's different from when we last saw her? Oh she was soo pretty! I wanna be just like her...
That made Hermione almost throw up the breakfast she hadn't even eaten yet. She walked over and put a hand over Dakota's rambling mouth, silencing her.
"Now, are you hungry?"
Dakota nodded.
"Follow Me"
Hermione led Dakota up the stairs, through her bedroom..
"Oh its soo pretty, Which bed is yours? Where's the red-head? Your soo lucky!"
... 'God, what did she eat this morning?' Hermione thought, she shoved open the door to the kitchen, only to be greeted by Ginny and Blaise making out and Draco giving them a disgusted look. Hermione cleared her throat, Ginny and Blaise broke apart and Ginny jumped up off of Blaise's lap so quickly you would have sworn she flew.
"Dakota, good morning!" Ginny smiled brightly, straightening her robes, and patting down her hair.
"Oh Merlin, were you two kissing! Im sooo telling Aunt Temperance" Dakota said in a sing-song voice.
Blaise shot a look at Ginny, who turned bright red, then he turned back to Dakota and gave her a charming, you-can't-resist-it smile "Now you wouldn't do that to your favorite cousin now would you?" He patted his lap and Dakota sat on it, he tickled her stomach and she giggled,
"Aunt Temperance told me to tell her everything you do this year" Dakota recited, almost mechanically.
"Now we don't have to tell her everything do we?"
Dakota shook her head, blonde pig-tails nearly smacking Blaise in the face, "I guess not"
"Good" Blaise tickled her again.
Hermione set a glass of orange juice in front of her sister then grabbed some for herself. She took a biscuit from the center of the table and bit into it bitterly, she was not ready for today.
"Well aren't you a little right ball of sunshine today?" Draco smirked, gliding into the seat next to her and running his hand along the length of her messy pony-tail, "Love what you did with your hair by the way"
Hermione would have cursed him right then and there if her sister hadn't have been in the room, so instead she settled for giving him an extremely dirty look. She stood up and grabbed him by his collar, dragging him into her room, even though she knew it was not allowed. She shut the door, locked and sealed it, then she whirled on him, her face turning a shade of red as she glared at the boy who could anger her so easily, then sweep her off her feet at the very next moment.
"Draco!" she sighed, "Im really not up for your petty smart remarks today, please?" she begged.
Draco was thrown off, he had been quite ready for an old fashioned Hermione-Draco scream match. Then again, she was full of many surprises. He stared at her for a moment, she looked like a beautiful mess. Her brown hair was extremely curly, like she took a shower then threw it back in a hurry, strands were falling out of her pony tail and framing her face. Her eyes looked a little swollen, and had small bags under them, as she hadn't slept to well or was under some stress. He couldn't kick her while she was down, sure Draco Malfoy was mean, but he wasn't evil. He sighed and held out a hand,
"Fine, you win Granger, I'll call a truce, but only for today"
Hermione's face broke out in a wide, clown-like smile. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly,
"Oh thank you Draco, you don't know how much stress that relieves" she sighed.
'Oh I do' Draco thought, "But instead he said, "I said only for today" Then ducked out of the hug.
Hermione still smiled, "Only for today"
Draco let a tiny grin slip, but he quickly recovered with his usual smirk,
"So, what's got your knickers in a knot anyways?" he asked,
Hermione blushed at the knickers part, then her face kind of fell and she turned to look out the window at some of the students out for an early morning walk. "Do you really wanna know?"
"Yeah, kind of"
"Well, my cousin is coming to spend the rest of the year here" Hermione sighed.
"So?" Draco prompted, "What is so wrong with that?"
"Emery, my cousin, could be the vainest person I have ever met, including you" she added, smiling.
"Oh really? " Draco raised an eyebrow and smirked. "We'll have to see about that won't we?" he gave her a playful shove.
"Yeah, I guess so" she laughed, smiling at him.
Draco smiled back, his eyes met her sparkling brown ones. Hermione blushed and turned away but Draco turned her head back so his eyes met hers once more. He moved in, as did she, all thoughts of Emery McCain instantly erased from both their minds, if only for a moment. There foreheads met, Hermione forgot how good it felt to be so near him. There lips just about met..
"Hermione, there's an owl for you"
..Ginny's voice floated through from the kitchen. Hermione silently cursed Ginny and stepped back instantly, Draco let out an angry sigh.
"Nothing happened" Hermione said, taking off the charms from her bedroom door.
"Nothing did happen" Draco replied angrily, then stepped through the door before her. He could tell by the way Dakota, Ginny, and Blaise looked all-to innocent that they had probably been trying to spy.
"God Granger, do you honestly think I care about your stupid cousin coming?" Draco, snapped, putting on a show.
Hermione was appalled, a mere minute ago they were back to how they had been the month before and now he wa...
'Oh' Hermione caught on
"You know what Malfoy, I just want your smart attitude out of my case while my cousin is here, she is enough to deal with, I don't want some immature brat like you sticking your arrogant nose into my business."
'Ouch' Draco thought, there was the Hermione he loved fighting with.
"Oh that hurt Granger" Draco mocked, putting a hand over his heart, or at least where it should have been.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
Dakota, meanwhile, was watching the fight with great interest, the only other person Hermione fought with like that, was Cory, who had been her sister's boyfriend over the summer.
'She likes him' Dakota concluded, then a wide grin fell over the little girl's face.
"Hm, Hm" Ginny cleared her throat.
Hermione shot her a dirty 'What now' look.
Ginny glared right back, playfully. "You have a letter"
"Oh" Hermione laughed, "I completely forgot about that"
"Wonder why?" Dakota muttered quietly, only Blaise heard her and chuckled quietly.
Hermione took a seat between Dakota and Ginny and pried open the letter.
"Its from Dumbledore" Ginny stated, pointing at the phoenix seal.
"You're a smart one" Draco muttered.
Ginny glared at him and Blaise hit his friend across the head, playfully.
"Watch it dude"
Hermione, completely aware that the entire table was watching her, pulled the letter back slightly, and watched as the entire table's eyes moved back slightly also. She rolled her eyes and squeezed out of her chair and moved over to the counter where she propped herself on the edge of it, swinging her legs as she read the letter, once she read it through she concluded that it was okay to read aloud.
Ms. Damenzla or dare I say it, Hermione:
I am aware that your cousin, a Ms. Emery McCain is due to arrive on this morning of Januray 7th. The letter from your mother states that she is to arrive at 9:45 am on the Hogwart's Xpress. I felt, that as she is your family, you and your sister shall go to meet her. Please be at my office no later then 9:15 am.
Sincerly,
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore
"Well you better get a move on, its 9:07 now" Blaise pointed at the small clock above the stove.
"Thanks" Hermione muttered, sarcastically.
"Can't I come? I mean if she's your cousin she's related to me somehow " Blaise pleaded.
"I don't see why not" Hermione smiled. Anything to keep Emery busy, she would probably be too busy checking out Blaise to even notice Hermione, which Hermione personally didn't mind.
"Great" Blaise lifted Dakota off his lap then jumped up himself. "Were off then" he kissed Ginny, and patted Draco on the shoulder "See you kids later"
XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo
As the three and Dumbledore waited for the train to come in, Hermione couldn't help but fidget. Last time she had seen her cousin, she had been extremely rude to her. She had even said Hermione wasn't even part of the family. Hermione just didn't like her. But for Dakota, it was the opposite. The whole walk to Hogsmeade station Dakota had babbled on about how great her cousin Emery was.
'She's known her for a while' Hermione thought, 'No need to be jealous'
Hermione decided, as she spotted the train coming around the hill and into the station, that she would try to be nice to her. A clean slate.
As the train stopped in front of them, Hermione's stomach lurched. People began filing off the train, one by one. The she saw her. Emery McCain was almost exactly as she had been that warm summer day. As she jumped down off the train Hermione examined her. Her dirty blonde hair was cascading around her face and down her back, every time the sun caught a strand, it seemed to glow a million times. Her perfectly tan skin looked baby soft, and tiny freckles dotted around her button nose and ocean blue eyes. Her pearly white teeth were perfectly straight. But there was one flaw Hermione couldn't help but smile at when she had first noticed her.
Hermione plastered on her fakest smile and hugged the girl.
"Hi Emery, how are you?" she beamed. "When did you get glasses?"
"Hi Hermes!" Emery smiled.
"Its Hermione"
"Whatever" Emery waved her off, then took off her glasses, "Oh, these, I've always had them, but I usually wear contacts, I just didn't feel like putting them in"
"Oh" Hermione's face fell. 'Darn'
"Emery!" Dakota screeched, hugging her.
Emery smiled and twirled Dakota around.
"How are you Dakota?"
"Great!"
Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and Emery shook his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you Headmaster" she smiled.
Hermione took all she could muster not to gag.
"Nice to meet you to Ms. McCain. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. As you already know, I am the headmaster. Come, let us head off to the castle where we can get you sorted and situated."
Emery nodded and smiled.
As Dumbledore led them up to the castle Hermione watched Emery watch everything around her. As they passed through the gardens Emery stopped and Hermione bumped into her. Hermione followed Emery's eyes over to the lake where.. Hermione gasped.. She was watching Draco throw stones into the lake.
"Who is that?" she smiled.
Hermione just shrugged.
"Well I am going to find out!" Emery smiled mischeviously.
Hermione glared at her.
"That's what you think"
As they continued throught the courtyard, she notcied a few students checking out her cousin.
'Gross' Hermione thought, but as she saw the next person whose head turned at the sight of her cousin Hermione almost died right there.
Harry Potter was speechless at the sight of her cousin Emery McCain.
'Emery likes Draco, Harry likes Emery, Draco hopefully still likes me. This should be an interesting semester' Hermione thought.
"Now I know you guys didn't expect that but I waned to throw a new cahracter in to make life interesting, don't worry, im wrapping up the next chapter then im gonna begin o slowly ending the story! Now, please review, makes me update faster.. 3NiCoLe 3"