A/N: Just a thought, but I was thinking (thinking a thought, whoa, mind-
blow). The only characters, other than the main ones (Harry, Ron, Hermione,
Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Ginny, and Pansy) I've ever seen used in fan fiction
are Lavender, the Patil's, Justin, Dean and Seamus, Blaise Zambini, and
once in a while Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, and Terry Boot. Never once have
I seen Mandy Brocklehurst, Morag MacDougal, Lisa Turpin, or Sally-Anne
Perks. And yes, these are real characters! I didn't even know about them
until I reread the sorting ceremony part in the first book, but they're
there!
.
Disclaimer: I heard if from a friend, who... heard it from a friend, who... heard it from another; you've been messing around... (Take it on the Ron ~ REO Speedwagon) Yes, I HAVE been messing around... with JKR's characters! Okay, I know that was lame... and I'm sorry. Really. None of it's mine, yeah. It's all hers... we all know this.
.
Last time on LGG:
"Mione, I thought we told you to stay away from him!" Ron hissed and Harry glared and nodded once in agreement.
"And I thought I told you to shut the hell up and let me deal with my own problems," she said harshly and began walking a little faster "Keep up, now, Gryffindor!" she called, and they did, with the exception of Harry and Ron, who simply stopped and stood in the middle of the crowd, letting all the younger students walk around them. They looked at each other and Hermione faintly heard them say: 'This is going to be harder than we thought.'
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~*~*~*~
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CHAPTER FOUR: The Defilement of Eglamour
Hermione silently walked the Gryffindor to their dormitory, leaving Harry and Ron in the dust. Her ex-friends stayed at the very back of the group, no doubt thinking of a new plan to turn her against Draco. She could honestly say she missed Draco... a little. Everything was different when he was there; better, definitely. Now that she was alone, surrounded by people who utterly despised her, including two people she had truly loved, she felt lost and depressed. Holding in the salty tears, Hermione continued quickly toward Gryffindor Tower. She could never trust Harry and Ron again, nor any other Gryffindor for that matter.
As she walked up to the Fat Lady, Hermione didn't even bother to turn and address her peers.
"Fairy dust," she said dispassionately, and the lady lifted an eyebrow at her. "I said the password, open the damn door," Hermione demanded calmly, no emotion in her voice. Now the Fat Lady looked surprised, but did as she was asked. Hermione led her Gryffindor through the tunnel and stopped in the middle of the common room, then turned to her groupies. "Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. As you may have heard, the password is 'Fairy dust', but that is subject to change. Please try to remember. First years, as always, boys' dormitories, upstairs and down to your left, girls' on the right. If you have any questions, ask me tomorrow. Alright then, disperse!" she said quickly and the Gryffindor were quick to do so, particularly the first years. Hermione was beginning to think she may be feared just a little as well, and if not, then perhaps she should make it so. Being hated is one thing, but being hated and feared is another prospect entirely.
S~S~S~S~S~S~
Draco led the Slytherin to the dungeons with an un-amused look about him. He held his arms crossed over his chest and his head high, features drawn and eyes looking pointedly ahead of him. He couldn't deny that he was a little annoyed with these people for interrupting his... 'moment', but he wouldn't let them know that. Draco walked quickly, hoping no one would bother to approach him. Of course, he wasn't that lucky.
"Draco!" called the annoyingly off-key voice of Pansy Parkinson as she jogged up behind him. She was the most tone-deaf person he had ever met. The rest of the Slytherin stayed at least three feet behind their prefect, noticing his unhappy demeanor.
"What do you want, Parkinson?" Draco asked, only semi-coldly, and Pansy pursed her lips together.
"Didn't I just tell you to stay away from the Mudblood? So what do you do? Chase her down and have a nice little chat? Honestly, what the fuck were you thinking? Are you going through that 'do the opposite of what I'm told' phase? My mother went through that last year. Got her leg broken three times.
"To save you a little pain, I'm going to play child psychologist. Go ahead and do whatever you want with Granger, Draco. She seems like a lovely girl. Perhaps she could bear your children, if you're lucky," Pansy said, sounding angry as she questioned him, then gentle as she gave him her approval of his seeing of Hermione. Draco's expression did not change, but he turned to Pansy slightly.
"Honestly, Parkinson, you have no idea what you're talking about. Why can't you just keep your dirty little nose out of my business hm? Oh, and I'd like my boxers back, if it's not too much to ask," Draco said, then turned back ahead and continued walking quickly to the dungeons. Pansy scowled after him, then angrily stopped and waited for Millicent to catch up with her.
"I don't know what's up with Malfoy, Mil, but I don't like it. Perhaps Mr. Malfoy would like to hear about it. What do you think?"
"I don't know Pans; Malfoy's pretty sneaky. He wouldn't do anything unless there was a reason. Maybe he WANTS you to tell his dad; he knows you're going to and he doesn't seem to care. Maybe he knows something," Millicent told her friend and Pansy glared at the blonde who still walked a few feet ahead of the crowd. "Maybe we'll have to do a little undercover work and find out what he's planning, hm?" "No, I don't think that's a good idea. Malfoy is harmless; his father won't help him against us. Let's just wait it out and see what our little prefect has up his sleeve..."
S~S~S~S~S~
As the Gryffindor cleared from in front of Hermione and broke off to either side, heading to their dormitories, one remained. Hermione stared at the lone lingerer for a moment, then stepped toward him, looking a tad bit angry.
"I said disperse! Go to bed, Harry. I didn't bring you up here so you could stare at me," she said, looking her so-called friend in the eye. Harry looked a little surprised, but quickly regained himself.
"And I didn't walk up here so you could yell at me. I have to go back downstairs too; I thought maybe we could walk together," he said and Hermione secretly grew intensely angry. How dare he pretend to be a gentleman? What exactly is he trying to pull?
"I'm sure. Whatever, Harry. I'm leaving. Remember to kiss your girlfriend goodnight... and Ron's too, if what I hear is true," she said and stepped around him, toward the portrait hole. Harry looked a little angry and glared at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" he asked sharply and Hermione turned around, still walking, but now backwards. She batted her lashes innocently.
"Oh I don't know, Harry. If it means what you think I mean it means, I think that's evidence enough that it's true." Hermione turned and left the common room without another word, leaving a slightly confused Harry behind. He turned his head toward the girls' dormitory staircase and saw Ginny sitting at the bottom; whether she was waiting for him to say goodnight or not, he didn't know, but Granger was right about that part. She did deserve a little kiss.
Hermione smiled widely as she stepped out of the portrait hole.
"Let's see how long it takes him to figure that one out," she said to herself and happily started walking back toward the Great Hall with a quick pace. She kept this attitude until the small group of students came into view, waiting for the remaining members of the elite team to appear. Draco was already there, surprisingly. The dungeons were a bit farther away than Gryffindor tower; he must have opened the door, turned around, and ran back here without bothering to explain anything.
The lone Slytherin stood behind Mandy Brocklehurst, the Ravenclaw prefect, Hannah Abbot, Head Girl, Morag McDougal, the Hufflepuff prefect and professor McGonagall. Because they were all facing Hermione as she approached, Draco was able to smile and wave a little at her without arousing suspicion. Hermione sent him a quick smile back, then her look of annoyance returned. (A/N: Morag's gender and house were never specified, so it's a guy and a Hufflepuff now, k? k.),
"There you are, Miss Granger. Now all we need is Mr. Potter and we'll be on our way. Where is he, then?" asked Professor McGonagall impatiently and Hermione shrugged.
"I don't know; I'm not his babysitter," she said innocently and McGonagall's mouth dropped open a bit. Draco was trying hard not to laugh, and all the other students were looking surprised. Before anyone could say anything, however, a male voice broke the silence.
"Here I am, Professor!" Harry called as he jogged up behind Hermione and McGonagall forgot all about Hermione's strange comment.
"Finally; follow me then," she said and started off toward the stairs. Mandy, Morag, Hannah, and Harry all began to follow Professor McGonagall, but Hermione remained still and Draco approached her.
"Hey," he said with a smile and Hermione let a small one show.
"Hey, Draco," she said, slowly starting to follow the others. Draco walked with her, but the couple stayed quite a bit behind their fellow class officers.
"So, how's the prefect life treating you?" he asked, just to make conversation.
"About as well as the non-prefect life. You?" Draco nodded.
"Yep, everyone still hates me." He laughed. "It was somewhat amusing, though; Parkinson tried to use reverse psychology on me to get me to stop talking to you. When that didn't work, she threatened to tell my father. Ha, as if I care what she tells him."
"I care what she tells him; your father freaks me out," Hermione said in her usual dead-toned voice. Draco smiled a little.
"Yeah, he should freak you out. But I am in no way intimidated by him and could take him down if necessary. Especially now," he said and Hermione looked up at him.
"Are you implying that I am not a match for your father?" she asked suspiciously, obviously on the brink of offense. Draco shook his head.
"Nope, I have no doubt you could kick his ass, there's just one problem. You, my friend, are a muggle born witch. To Lucius, you are about as significant as a grain of sand. He'd turn around and kill you before you'd even realized he knew you were there. I, on the other hand, have the significance of a small cobblestone. Much more than sand, yet much less than a boulder. He'd mess with me a bit before jumping into the avada-ing," he said, but seemed unbothered by this thought. Hermione looked at him strangely for a moment, then turned back ahead, not replying as the rest of their team was impatiently waiting for them just down the hall.
As the two remaining prefects finally joined the others, McGonagall turned to the portrait just behind her and waited to be addressed. In this particular painting, a large black cat with beautiful and equally black wings sat plucking at and tuning a banjo-like instrument. He looked up when McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Minerva!" cried the cat happily and he briefly spread his wings in excitement. "Is my common room to be of use this year? Oh, this is quite wonderful!"
"Yes, Cronan. Due to the unique personality combinations of our prefects, your quarters seemed appropriate."
"Well, you do look like an interesting bunch," Cronan said as he surveyed the crowd. McGonagall gave a tight smile and nodded.
"The password will be Opale pallido," she told the cat, which nodded once and batted his wings, then turned to the group of teens behind her. "I'll leave you for the night; your rooms have been left undecorated; we assumed that as 7th years you should know enough to do so to your liking. Come, Mr. Potter and Miss Abbott; I will show you to your common room."
" 'Night, Mione," Harry said as he moved to follow McGonagall. Hermione put on a very overenthusiastic smile and waved dramatically.
"Bye Harry!" she called, sounding much happier than anyone had heard her in weeks. As soon as Harry left her view, Hermione turned to Draco and dropped her act, placing her index finger in her mouth and making a gagging motion. Draco laughed and Hermione smiled. Mandy and Morag were watching the two with an appalled expression and Hermione noticed. "What?" she asked innocently and both just shook their heads.
"Might as well go inside, I suppose. Opale pallido," Draco said and Cronan opened the portrait without a word. Mandy and Morag both just stood there, so Hermione shrugged her shoulders and walked around them, Draco following close behind.
"Oh thank god," Hermione said as she took view of the large common room. "I was afraid it would be some weird play on house colors." The room was in fact quite tastefully decorated. There was a large black marble fireplace on the wall to their left, a fire already alive and blazing, surrounded by four black leather couches. The floor was of the same marble as the fireplace, but the walls were made of white, quartz like, stone which clashed beautifully with the dark surroundings. The only remnants of house colors in the entire room were the blankets on each of the couches. One red, one green, one yellow, and one blue. On the wall directly in front of them was two redwood staircases; one leading upstairs, one leading down. The latter held a plaque on the middle stair, inscribe with the letters MM. The upward case held a similar label, but with the letters DH.
"Ha! We get the loft, you get the dungeons, you heathens!" Draco said with a slightly evil laugh. Mandy and Morag looked scared and Hermione laughed.
"Look what you're doing to the poor things, Draco," she said with mock warning and Draco immediately stopped his guffawing and tried to look serious.
"I apologize. I'm sure it won't be that unpleasant," he said, maintaining his serious demeanor for only a moment before he burst out laughing once again. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects looked worriedly at each other; it was obvious they thought the man crazy.
"Come on, Draco. Stop taunting our fellow prefects and voyage upstairs with me. I want to explore," Hermione suggested, taking a few more steps into the room. Bravely, the Hufflepuff boy spoke up.
"Wow Granger, didn't know you were that desperate," he said and his stair- mate turned to him, surprised.
"Wow, Morag. That was brave and everything, but I really don't think it was such a good idea," Mandy whispered to him and he swallowed.
"Yeah, I know," he agreed. Draco put on a superior smirk and turned to Hermione, who smiled and shrugged, then started up their staircase. Draco then turned back to the other prefects. The girl, Mandy, was fairly pretty. She had had delicate features and a creamy complexion, but wasn't very wealthy in the 'womanly curves' department. To be perfectly honest, she was flat as a board on all sides; no hips, no arse, and no chest. Her legs were quite pleasing, however, and her hair quite interesting. It was an intense red, much darker than any of the Weasleys', and curled to an end an inch below her ear. On the bridge of her nose rested some stylish black framed glasses, completing her look which screamed 'I want to be a preppy' at the top of its lungs.
Morag was a poor excuse for a seventeen year old. He was considerably shorter than Draco, at least five inches, and was thin and scrawny, with no muscle mass to speak of. Draco now realized why he had never noticed this classmate before. He just wasn't much to look at. His hair was a dusty brown and somewhat curly, but it suited him quite well. The only thing to take notice of about this particular boy was his large shoes, but Draco seemed to place Morag in the 'afraid of intimacy; will be virgin forever' category almost instantly, meaning that no matter how big his equipment , it was no surprise that he wasn't even know for his work on bed sheets.
Draco laughed internally; both of his new friends were practically shaking in their skin.
"Good night, then," he said nicely, but didn't move from his spot. Out of fear or surprise, he didn't know, but neither of the other prefects moved either. Draco decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Without warning, he threw himself forward a step, causing both Mandy and Morag to jump. Draco laughed and threw his hand at them as if they were pathetic, then turned and took his stairs two at a time. He stopped at the top and listened to his classmates below.
"Holy shit, Morag! What the hell were you thinking?!" Mandy exclaimed, quite loudly, to her companion.
"I'm sorry; I don't know! I wasn't thinking... I... wow, I'm an idiot, aren't I?"
"Yes, that would about cover it. God, I swear, if you EVER do ANYthing like that again, I'll... feed your toad to my cat or something," she said and stomped off toward their staircase.
"What? Mandy, you wouldn't! Proteus didn't do anything to you!" cried Morag in horror and Mandy laughed.
"No, but I know of a jar and cotton ball that may be doing something to him very shortly..." she said and loudly stomped down the stairs.
"You MONSTER!" cried her counterpart, who then chased after her.
Draco, who had heard the entire exchange, shook his head and laughed, then turned around to view his surroundings. This room was like a smaller version of the common room, with a smaller fireplace and a large decorative rug beneath the two large chairs which occupied most of the space in the room. There were three redwood doors to the wall opposite the staircase, and the wall to the left was home to a large, stained glass window shed colorful light on white marble floor, but it was dimming quickly as darkness approached. Against the walls to either side of the window were two desks, one for each of them, Draco presumed. The walls were of the same white quartz, but seemed to be dusted with a darker, almost grey, coloring of some kind, making the room quite comfortable. Directly in the center of the mini-common room was all of both his and Hermione's possessions; their trunks, his owl, her cat, and a few various bags for each of them.
"Hello Sebastian, did you have a good trip?" Draco asked, taking a step toward his owl and poking a finger though the bars of its cage. The large, midnight black, and sleepy looking bird nipped affectionately at his fingertip.
"Draco?" came a voice which did not belong to Sebastian. The center door opened to reveal Hermione, standing at the entrance of what appeared to be their bathroom, holding a foamy toothbrush. Draco looked up and smiled. "Sebastian? The Tempest?" He shook his head.
"Twelfth Night," he corrected and she nodded. "But I get that a lot." Hermione was silent for a moment, then jumped a tiny bit.
"Oh, I wanted to ask you; do you mind if I take the west facing room?" she asked, pointing her toothbrush toward the door she wanted. Draco smirked.
"Rather the sun just go away than be annoying and come out to play?" he asked smartly and she smiled.
"Again I feel the need to remind you that rhyming is not one of your strong points. But no; the sun can do whatever the hell it wants, as long as it doesn't include waking me up at seven AM just because it feels that now is a good time to rise. But anyway," she said and he shook his head.
"No, whatever you want; I don't care, really. I'll just shut the curtains or something," he said, turning back to his now asleep owl. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Gee, why didn't I think of that?" she asked sarcastically and poked her toothbrush back into her mouth, turning around and walking back into the bathroom without bothering to close the door.
"You're welcome," Draco said as if she had actually thanked him and took hold of the top of Sebastian's cage. "Guess you're spending the night with me; I don't trust you to fly when you're this tired," he said to the bird with a smile as he lifted the cage.
"That's sweet of you, Draco, but I actually wasn't planning on going anywhere," came Hermione's call from the bathroom and Draco scowled, although he wasn't really angry.
"Stuff it, Granger," he said back and she laughed as she came back through the door, now with clean teeth and no brush.
"Eglamour," Hermione sang softly as she knelt beside and opened the tiny metal door on her cat capsule. "Hey, you," she said, reaching inside with a smile and bringing a small black kitten into her arms, hugging it close to her.
"Two Gentlemen of Verona," Draco said and Hermione nodded.
"You know your Shakespeare."
"That I do. Doesn't that really mean orange cat who hangs out in the dungeons belong to you?" Draco asked, noticing that there was only one animal carrier which could belong to her. Hermione scowled.
"So that's where he always went. Traitor. Yes, unfortunately Crookshanks was my responsibility, but he's gone now. Heart attack; high cholesterol. Too many Slytherin mice, is my theory," she said sourly, turning her head down to nuzzle the little kitten's fur. He closed his eyes and purred softly.
"Hey," Draco voiced. "Our mice are just as responsible for killing your cat as your cat is for killing our mice." Hermione smiled and nodded.
"That's true. I'm not blaming you, or you little dungeon rats. I never liked Crookshanks much anyway; I only bought him in the first place because it was fun to watch him annoy Ron. Eglamour is a much better cat, in my opinion. Aren't you, baby?" she asked the cat with a smile.
"Why Eglamour?" Draco asked and Hermione smiled.
"I don't know; I just love that name... it sounds so, romantic and old... I don't know, I can't describe it. I was going to save it for my first born son, but I thought he might get picked on, so I used it for my kitten. Yes I did," she said, the last three words in a prattle directed at the feline in her arms. "And Sebastian?"
"My mother's favorite play," Draco said, smiling slightly at the thought of his mother.
"That's sweet," Hermione said and placed her kitten gently on the ground, then stood. "Come Eglamour; to the west wing," Hermione said and took hold of her charmed-to-be-feather-light trunk, starting toward her room. Just as she made it to the door, Draco spoke.
"A Winter's Tale," he said suddenly, as if he had just thought of it. Hermione turned back to him confusedly.
"What?"
"Hermione; from a Winter's Tale. Took me a minute, but I got it," he said, smiling proudly. Hermione smiled as well and nodded.
"MY mother's favorite play," she said, then opened the door to her room. "Ow!" she yelled, dropping the trunk with a thump and scaring Eglamour, who ran quickly into the room to escape the inanimate monster. Hermione brought her hands to her eyes and Draco laughed.
"What's wrong?" he asked, walking up behind her.
"Too much; can't take it," she said and Draco looked past her and into the room.
"Whoa," he said; everything in the room was completely white, from ceiling to floor, including the door which led to the bathroom. Even with the darkened sky shown through the window, the room was incredibly bright.
"Ah... have to make it stop," Hermione said, turning back into the mini- common room and searching blindly for her bag as Draco watched amusedly. Hermione located the black sachet and extracted her wand, then turned swiftly back to the room, eyes closed against the bright, arm out as if facing the deceased Dark Lord once again. With a flick, the room was basted in black; from ceiling to floor, including the door. Hermione blinked her eyes open cautiously, then sighed as she noted that the spell had worked. "Perhaps a little too dark, but arrangements can be made. Eglamour? I'm sorry baby! Where are you?" Hermione said, squinting and looking around for her precious kitten.
"I'm assuming you used a contrast charm and not a spell to change everything black?" Draco asked with a knowing smirk and Hermione nodded, turning to him.
"How did you know?" she asked curiously and Draco pointed to the corner of her room. Hermione turned and followed the arrow formed by his arm to see a tiny white ball of fluff, huddled against the blackened walls and floor. "Oh, Eglamour! I'm sorry!" she cried, running to the cat and lifting the spell solely from him; the room remained dark. Hermione picked her cat up and hugged him close, muttering soft apologies.
"Now what'd you go and do that for? He was cute the way he was," Draco said and Hermione turned around to face him.
"Yes, but he wasn't Eglamour," she said and walked to her bed, gently placing the kitten down on the soft black spread, unable to be seen in the darkness. Draco shook his head and returned to the spot he had set down the cage of a sleeping Sebastian, picking it up again and making his way toward his room. He opened the door cautiously, expecting the eye watering white he had seen in his dorm mate's, but was pleasantly surprised to see no such thing.
"Hey, Hermione! Looks like you picked the wrong room," he said smartly as he walked inside, placing the cage down on an empty bedside table. Moments later, Hermione appeared in the doorway, looking curious. She rolled her eyes at what she saw.
"Oh yes, I totally agree, Draco. A blinding white room is much worse than this drippy cell you've claimed. It reminds me of the dungeons..." she said and shuddered. "Creepy."
"Yes, but I can make my room whatever you make yours, without the loss of my eyesight." Draco's room was composed entirely of grey; the walls were a smooth shale, the floor a hard, cold, concrete. The bed dressings and furniture were grey as well, just to complete the décor. Hermione shrugged one shoulder.
"I suppose that's true, but I still think I made the best choice," she said and turned away, moving back to the luggage pile to collect her remaining bags. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Women."
A/N: Aren't I cute? There's the classic Draco/Hermione, but then we have Harry/Hannah, plus Mandy/Morag... hehe, I crack myself up! Yeah!
PRF:
Jamie: You're the only one to review since yesterday; go you! Haha... thanx for reading my other fic too; most people don't bother to see what other stories an author has written. You rule!d, concrete. her eyes at what she saw.
.
Disclaimer: I heard if from a friend, who... heard it from a friend, who... heard it from another; you've been messing around... (Take it on the Ron ~ REO Speedwagon) Yes, I HAVE been messing around... with JKR's characters! Okay, I know that was lame... and I'm sorry. Really. None of it's mine, yeah. It's all hers... we all know this.
.
Last time on LGG:
"Mione, I thought we told you to stay away from him!" Ron hissed and Harry glared and nodded once in agreement.
"And I thought I told you to shut the hell up and let me deal with my own problems," she said harshly and began walking a little faster "Keep up, now, Gryffindor!" she called, and they did, with the exception of Harry and Ron, who simply stopped and stood in the middle of the crowd, letting all the younger students walk around them. They looked at each other and Hermione faintly heard them say: 'This is going to be harder than we thought.'
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~*~*~*~
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CHAPTER FOUR: The Defilement of Eglamour
Hermione silently walked the Gryffindor to their dormitory, leaving Harry and Ron in the dust. Her ex-friends stayed at the very back of the group, no doubt thinking of a new plan to turn her against Draco. She could honestly say she missed Draco... a little. Everything was different when he was there; better, definitely. Now that she was alone, surrounded by people who utterly despised her, including two people she had truly loved, she felt lost and depressed. Holding in the salty tears, Hermione continued quickly toward Gryffindor Tower. She could never trust Harry and Ron again, nor any other Gryffindor for that matter.
As she walked up to the Fat Lady, Hermione didn't even bother to turn and address her peers.
"Fairy dust," she said dispassionately, and the lady lifted an eyebrow at her. "I said the password, open the damn door," Hermione demanded calmly, no emotion in her voice. Now the Fat Lady looked surprised, but did as she was asked. Hermione led her Gryffindor through the tunnel and stopped in the middle of the common room, then turned to her groupies. "Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. As you may have heard, the password is 'Fairy dust', but that is subject to change. Please try to remember. First years, as always, boys' dormitories, upstairs and down to your left, girls' on the right. If you have any questions, ask me tomorrow. Alright then, disperse!" she said quickly and the Gryffindor were quick to do so, particularly the first years. Hermione was beginning to think she may be feared just a little as well, and if not, then perhaps she should make it so. Being hated is one thing, but being hated and feared is another prospect entirely.
S~S~S~S~S~S~
Draco led the Slytherin to the dungeons with an un-amused look about him. He held his arms crossed over his chest and his head high, features drawn and eyes looking pointedly ahead of him. He couldn't deny that he was a little annoyed with these people for interrupting his... 'moment', but he wouldn't let them know that. Draco walked quickly, hoping no one would bother to approach him. Of course, he wasn't that lucky.
"Draco!" called the annoyingly off-key voice of Pansy Parkinson as she jogged up behind him. She was the most tone-deaf person he had ever met. The rest of the Slytherin stayed at least three feet behind their prefect, noticing his unhappy demeanor.
"What do you want, Parkinson?" Draco asked, only semi-coldly, and Pansy pursed her lips together.
"Didn't I just tell you to stay away from the Mudblood? So what do you do? Chase her down and have a nice little chat? Honestly, what the fuck were you thinking? Are you going through that 'do the opposite of what I'm told' phase? My mother went through that last year. Got her leg broken three times.
"To save you a little pain, I'm going to play child psychologist. Go ahead and do whatever you want with Granger, Draco. She seems like a lovely girl. Perhaps she could bear your children, if you're lucky," Pansy said, sounding angry as she questioned him, then gentle as she gave him her approval of his seeing of Hermione. Draco's expression did not change, but he turned to Pansy slightly.
"Honestly, Parkinson, you have no idea what you're talking about. Why can't you just keep your dirty little nose out of my business hm? Oh, and I'd like my boxers back, if it's not too much to ask," Draco said, then turned back ahead and continued walking quickly to the dungeons. Pansy scowled after him, then angrily stopped and waited for Millicent to catch up with her.
"I don't know what's up with Malfoy, Mil, but I don't like it. Perhaps Mr. Malfoy would like to hear about it. What do you think?"
"I don't know Pans; Malfoy's pretty sneaky. He wouldn't do anything unless there was a reason. Maybe he WANTS you to tell his dad; he knows you're going to and he doesn't seem to care. Maybe he knows something," Millicent told her friend and Pansy glared at the blonde who still walked a few feet ahead of the crowd. "Maybe we'll have to do a little undercover work and find out what he's planning, hm?" "No, I don't think that's a good idea. Malfoy is harmless; his father won't help him against us. Let's just wait it out and see what our little prefect has up his sleeve..."
S~S~S~S~S~
As the Gryffindor cleared from in front of Hermione and broke off to either side, heading to their dormitories, one remained. Hermione stared at the lone lingerer for a moment, then stepped toward him, looking a tad bit angry.
"I said disperse! Go to bed, Harry. I didn't bring you up here so you could stare at me," she said, looking her so-called friend in the eye. Harry looked a little surprised, but quickly regained himself.
"And I didn't walk up here so you could yell at me. I have to go back downstairs too; I thought maybe we could walk together," he said and Hermione secretly grew intensely angry. How dare he pretend to be a gentleman? What exactly is he trying to pull?
"I'm sure. Whatever, Harry. I'm leaving. Remember to kiss your girlfriend goodnight... and Ron's too, if what I hear is true," she said and stepped around him, toward the portrait hole. Harry looked a little angry and glared at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" he asked sharply and Hermione turned around, still walking, but now backwards. She batted her lashes innocently.
"Oh I don't know, Harry. If it means what you think I mean it means, I think that's evidence enough that it's true." Hermione turned and left the common room without another word, leaving a slightly confused Harry behind. He turned his head toward the girls' dormitory staircase and saw Ginny sitting at the bottom; whether she was waiting for him to say goodnight or not, he didn't know, but Granger was right about that part. She did deserve a little kiss.
Hermione smiled widely as she stepped out of the portrait hole.
"Let's see how long it takes him to figure that one out," she said to herself and happily started walking back toward the Great Hall with a quick pace. She kept this attitude until the small group of students came into view, waiting for the remaining members of the elite team to appear. Draco was already there, surprisingly. The dungeons were a bit farther away than Gryffindor tower; he must have opened the door, turned around, and ran back here without bothering to explain anything.
The lone Slytherin stood behind Mandy Brocklehurst, the Ravenclaw prefect, Hannah Abbot, Head Girl, Morag McDougal, the Hufflepuff prefect and professor McGonagall. Because they were all facing Hermione as she approached, Draco was able to smile and wave a little at her without arousing suspicion. Hermione sent him a quick smile back, then her look of annoyance returned. (A/N: Morag's gender and house were never specified, so it's a guy and a Hufflepuff now, k? k.),
"There you are, Miss Granger. Now all we need is Mr. Potter and we'll be on our way. Where is he, then?" asked Professor McGonagall impatiently and Hermione shrugged.
"I don't know; I'm not his babysitter," she said innocently and McGonagall's mouth dropped open a bit. Draco was trying hard not to laugh, and all the other students were looking surprised. Before anyone could say anything, however, a male voice broke the silence.
"Here I am, Professor!" Harry called as he jogged up behind Hermione and McGonagall forgot all about Hermione's strange comment.
"Finally; follow me then," she said and started off toward the stairs. Mandy, Morag, Hannah, and Harry all began to follow Professor McGonagall, but Hermione remained still and Draco approached her.
"Hey," he said with a smile and Hermione let a small one show.
"Hey, Draco," she said, slowly starting to follow the others. Draco walked with her, but the couple stayed quite a bit behind their fellow class officers.
"So, how's the prefect life treating you?" he asked, just to make conversation.
"About as well as the non-prefect life. You?" Draco nodded.
"Yep, everyone still hates me." He laughed. "It was somewhat amusing, though; Parkinson tried to use reverse psychology on me to get me to stop talking to you. When that didn't work, she threatened to tell my father. Ha, as if I care what she tells him."
"I care what she tells him; your father freaks me out," Hermione said in her usual dead-toned voice. Draco smiled a little.
"Yeah, he should freak you out. But I am in no way intimidated by him and could take him down if necessary. Especially now," he said and Hermione looked up at him.
"Are you implying that I am not a match for your father?" she asked suspiciously, obviously on the brink of offense. Draco shook his head.
"Nope, I have no doubt you could kick his ass, there's just one problem. You, my friend, are a muggle born witch. To Lucius, you are about as significant as a grain of sand. He'd turn around and kill you before you'd even realized he knew you were there. I, on the other hand, have the significance of a small cobblestone. Much more than sand, yet much less than a boulder. He'd mess with me a bit before jumping into the avada-ing," he said, but seemed unbothered by this thought. Hermione looked at him strangely for a moment, then turned back ahead, not replying as the rest of their team was impatiently waiting for them just down the hall.
As the two remaining prefects finally joined the others, McGonagall turned to the portrait just behind her and waited to be addressed. In this particular painting, a large black cat with beautiful and equally black wings sat plucking at and tuning a banjo-like instrument. He looked up when McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Minerva!" cried the cat happily and he briefly spread his wings in excitement. "Is my common room to be of use this year? Oh, this is quite wonderful!"
"Yes, Cronan. Due to the unique personality combinations of our prefects, your quarters seemed appropriate."
"Well, you do look like an interesting bunch," Cronan said as he surveyed the crowd. McGonagall gave a tight smile and nodded.
"The password will be Opale pallido," she told the cat, which nodded once and batted his wings, then turned to the group of teens behind her. "I'll leave you for the night; your rooms have been left undecorated; we assumed that as 7th years you should know enough to do so to your liking. Come, Mr. Potter and Miss Abbott; I will show you to your common room."
" 'Night, Mione," Harry said as he moved to follow McGonagall. Hermione put on a very overenthusiastic smile and waved dramatically.
"Bye Harry!" she called, sounding much happier than anyone had heard her in weeks. As soon as Harry left her view, Hermione turned to Draco and dropped her act, placing her index finger in her mouth and making a gagging motion. Draco laughed and Hermione smiled. Mandy and Morag were watching the two with an appalled expression and Hermione noticed. "What?" she asked innocently and both just shook their heads.
"Might as well go inside, I suppose. Opale pallido," Draco said and Cronan opened the portrait without a word. Mandy and Morag both just stood there, so Hermione shrugged her shoulders and walked around them, Draco following close behind.
"Oh thank god," Hermione said as she took view of the large common room. "I was afraid it would be some weird play on house colors." The room was in fact quite tastefully decorated. There was a large black marble fireplace on the wall to their left, a fire already alive and blazing, surrounded by four black leather couches. The floor was of the same marble as the fireplace, but the walls were made of white, quartz like, stone which clashed beautifully with the dark surroundings. The only remnants of house colors in the entire room were the blankets on each of the couches. One red, one green, one yellow, and one blue. On the wall directly in front of them was two redwood staircases; one leading upstairs, one leading down. The latter held a plaque on the middle stair, inscribe with the letters MM. The upward case held a similar label, but with the letters DH.
"Ha! We get the loft, you get the dungeons, you heathens!" Draco said with a slightly evil laugh. Mandy and Morag looked scared and Hermione laughed.
"Look what you're doing to the poor things, Draco," she said with mock warning and Draco immediately stopped his guffawing and tried to look serious.
"I apologize. I'm sure it won't be that unpleasant," he said, maintaining his serious demeanor for only a moment before he burst out laughing once again. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects looked worriedly at each other; it was obvious they thought the man crazy.
"Come on, Draco. Stop taunting our fellow prefects and voyage upstairs with me. I want to explore," Hermione suggested, taking a few more steps into the room. Bravely, the Hufflepuff boy spoke up.
"Wow Granger, didn't know you were that desperate," he said and his stair- mate turned to him, surprised.
"Wow, Morag. That was brave and everything, but I really don't think it was such a good idea," Mandy whispered to him and he swallowed.
"Yeah, I know," he agreed. Draco put on a superior smirk and turned to Hermione, who smiled and shrugged, then started up their staircase. Draco then turned back to the other prefects. The girl, Mandy, was fairly pretty. She had had delicate features and a creamy complexion, but wasn't very wealthy in the 'womanly curves' department. To be perfectly honest, she was flat as a board on all sides; no hips, no arse, and no chest. Her legs were quite pleasing, however, and her hair quite interesting. It was an intense red, much darker than any of the Weasleys', and curled to an end an inch below her ear. On the bridge of her nose rested some stylish black framed glasses, completing her look which screamed 'I want to be a preppy' at the top of its lungs.
Morag was a poor excuse for a seventeen year old. He was considerably shorter than Draco, at least five inches, and was thin and scrawny, with no muscle mass to speak of. Draco now realized why he had never noticed this classmate before. He just wasn't much to look at. His hair was a dusty brown and somewhat curly, but it suited him quite well. The only thing to take notice of about this particular boy was his large shoes, but Draco seemed to place Morag in the 'afraid of intimacy; will be virgin forever' category almost instantly, meaning that no matter how big his equipment , it was no surprise that he wasn't even know for his work on bed sheets.
Draco laughed internally; both of his new friends were practically shaking in their skin.
"Good night, then," he said nicely, but didn't move from his spot. Out of fear or surprise, he didn't know, but neither of the other prefects moved either. Draco decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Without warning, he threw himself forward a step, causing both Mandy and Morag to jump. Draco laughed and threw his hand at them as if they were pathetic, then turned and took his stairs two at a time. He stopped at the top and listened to his classmates below.
"Holy shit, Morag! What the hell were you thinking?!" Mandy exclaimed, quite loudly, to her companion.
"I'm sorry; I don't know! I wasn't thinking... I... wow, I'm an idiot, aren't I?"
"Yes, that would about cover it. God, I swear, if you EVER do ANYthing like that again, I'll... feed your toad to my cat or something," she said and stomped off toward their staircase.
"What? Mandy, you wouldn't! Proteus didn't do anything to you!" cried Morag in horror and Mandy laughed.
"No, but I know of a jar and cotton ball that may be doing something to him very shortly..." she said and loudly stomped down the stairs.
"You MONSTER!" cried her counterpart, who then chased after her.
Draco, who had heard the entire exchange, shook his head and laughed, then turned around to view his surroundings. This room was like a smaller version of the common room, with a smaller fireplace and a large decorative rug beneath the two large chairs which occupied most of the space in the room. There were three redwood doors to the wall opposite the staircase, and the wall to the left was home to a large, stained glass window shed colorful light on white marble floor, but it was dimming quickly as darkness approached. Against the walls to either side of the window were two desks, one for each of them, Draco presumed. The walls were of the same white quartz, but seemed to be dusted with a darker, almost grey, coloring of some kind, making the room quite comfortable. Directly in the center of the mini-common room was all of both his and Hermione's possessions; their trunks, his owl, her cat, and a few various bags for each of them.
"Hello Sebastian, did you have a good trip?" Draco asked, taking a step toward his owl and poking a finger though the bars of its cage. The large, midnight black, and sleepy looking bird nipped affectionately at his fingertip.
"Draco?" came a voice which did not belong to Sebastian. The center door opened to reveal Hermione, standing at the entrance of what appeared to be their bathroom, holding a foamy toothbrush. Draco looked up and smiled. "Sebastian? The Tempest?" He shook his head.
"Twelfth Night," he corrected and she nodded. "But I get that a lot." Hermione was silent for a moment, then jumped a tiny bit.
"Oh, I wanted to ask you; do you mind if I take the west facing room?" she asked, pointing her toothbrush toward the door she wanted. Draco smirked.
"Rather the sun just go away than be annoying and come out to play?" he asked smartly and she smiled.
"Again I feel the need to remind you that rhyming is not one of your strong points. But no; the sun can do whatever the hell it wants, as long as it doesn't include waking me up at seven AM just because it feels that now is a good time to rise. But anyway," she said and he shook his head.
"No, whatever you want; I don't care, really. I'll just shut the curtains or something," he said, turning back to his now asleep owl. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Gee, why didn't I think of that?" she asked sarcastically and poked her toothbrush back into her mouth, turning around and walking back into the bathroom without bothering to close the door.
"You're welcome," Draco said as if she had actually thanked him and took hold of the top of Sebastian's cage. "Guess you're spending the night with me; I don't trust you to fly when you're this tired," he said to the bird with a smile as he lifted the cage.
"That's sweet of you, Draco, but I actually wasn't planning on going anywhere," came Hermione's call from the bathroom and Draco scowled, although he wasn't really angry.
"Stuff it, Granger," he said back and she laughed as she came back through the door, now with clean teeth and no brush.
"Eglamour," Hermione sang softly as she knelt beside and opened the tiny metal door on her cat capsule. "Hey, you," she said, reaching inside with a smile and bringing a small black kitten into her arms, hugging it close to her.
"Two Gentlemen of Verona," Draco said and Hermione nodded.
"You know your Shakespeare."
"That I do. Doesn't that really mean orange cat who hangs out in the dungeons belong to you?" Draco asked, noticing that there was only one animal carrier which could belong to her. Hermione scowled.
"So that's where he always went. Traitor. Yes, unfortunately Crookshanks was my responsibility, but he's gone now. Heart attack; high cholesterol. Too many Slytherin mice, is my theory," she said sourly, turning her head down to nuzzle the little kitten's fur. He closed his eyes and purred softly.
"Hey," Draco voiced. "Our mice are just as responsible for killing your cat as your cat is for killing our mice." Hermione smiled and nodded.
"That's true. I'm not blaming you, or you little dungeon rats. I never liked Crookshanks much anyway; I only bought him in the first place because it was fun to watch him annoy Ron. Eglamour is a much better cat, in my opinion. Aren't you, baby?" she asked the cat with a smile.
"Why Eglamour?" Draco asked and Hermione smiled.
"I don't know; I just love that name... it sounds so, romantic and old... I don't know, I can't describe it. I was going to save it for my first born son, but I thought he might get picked on, so I used it for my kitten. Yes I did," she said, the last three words in a prattle directed at the feline in her arms. "And Sebastian?"
"My mother's favorite play," Draco said, smiling slightly at the thought of his mother.
"That's sweet," Hermione said and placed her kitten gently on the ground, then stood. "Come Eglamour; to the west wing," Hermione said and took hold of her charmed-to-be-feather-light trunk, starting toward her room. Just as she made it to the door, Draco spoke.
"A Winter's Tale," he said suddenly, as if he had just thought of it. Hermione turned back to him confusedly.
"What?"
"Hermione; from a Winter's Tale. Took me a minute, but I got it," he said, smiling proudly. Hermione smiled as well and nodded.
"MY mother's favorite play," she said, then opened the door to her room. "Ow!" she yelled, dropping the trunk with a thump and scaring Eglamour, who ran quickly into the room to escape the inanimate monster. Hermione brought her hands to her eyes and Draco laughed.
"What's wrong?" he asked, walking up behind her.
"Too much; can't take it," she said and Draco looked past her and into the room.
"Whoa," he said; everything in the room was completely white, from ceiling to floor, including the door which led to the bathroom. Even with the darkened sky shown through the window, the room was incredibly bright.
"Ah... have to make it stop," Hermione said, turning back into the mini- common room and searching blindly for her bag as Draco watched amusedly. Hermione located the black sachet and extracted her wand, then turned swiftly back to the room, eyes closed against the bright, arm out as if facing the deceased Dark Lord once again. With a flick, the room was basted in black; from ceiling to floor, including the door. Hermione blinked her eyes open cautiously, then sighed as she noted that the spell had worked. "Perhaps a little too dark, but arrangements can be made. Eglamour? I'm sorry baby! Where are you?" Hermione said, squinting and looking around for her precious kitten.
"I'm assuming you used a contrast charm and not a spell to change everything black?" Draco asked with a knowing smirk and Hermione nodded, turning to him.
"How did you know?" she asked curiously and Draco pointed to the corner of her room. Hermione turned and followed the arrow formed by his arm to see a tiny white ball of fluff, huddled against the blackened walls and floor. "Oh, Eglamour! I'm sorry!" she cried, running to the cat and lifting the spell solely from him; the room remained dark. Hermione picked her cat up and hugged him close, muttering soft apologies.
"Now what'd you go and do that for? He was cute the way he was," Draco said and Hermione turned around to face him.
"Yes, but he wasn't Eglamour," she said and walked to her bed, gently placing the kitten down on the soft black spread, unable to be seen in the darkness. Draco shook his head and returned to the spot he had set down the cage of a sleeping Sebastian, picking it up again and making his way toward his room. He opened the door cautiously, expecting the eye watering white he had seen in his dorm mate's, but was pleasantly surprised to see no such thing.
"Hey, Hermione! Looks like you picked the wrong room," he said smartly as he walked inside, placing the cage down on an empty bedside table. Moments later, Hermione appeared in the doorway, looking curious. She rolled her eyes at what she saw.
"Oh yes, I totally agree, Draco. A blinding white room is much worse than this drippy cell you've claimed. It reminds me of the dungeons..." she said and shuddered. "Creepy."
"Yes, but I can make my room whatever you make yours, without the loss of my eyesight." Draco's room was composed entirely of grey; the walls were a smooth shale, the floor a hard, cold, concrete. The bed dressings and furniture were grey as well, just to complete the décor. Hermione shrugged one shoulder.
"I suppose that's true, but I still think I made the best choice," she said and turned away, moving back to the luggage pile to collect her remaining bags. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Women."
A/N: Aren't I cute? There's the classic Draco/Hermione, but then we have Harry/Hannah, plus Mandy/Morag... hehe, I crack myself up! Yeah!
PRF:
Jamie: You're the only one to review since yesterday; go you! Haha... thanx for reading my other fic too; most people don't bother to see what other stories an author has written. You rule!d, concrete. her eyes at what she saw.