Ron and Harry came over to the carriage she was in. "Malfoy's been bothering you?" Ron asked immediately, cracking his knuckles threateningly. "I heard you and him yelling at each other after me and Harry lost Paul-whoever he is. Harry won't tell me. He says it would be better if I didn't know." Harry laughed at the confused look on Ron's face. Hermione sighed. "It's nothing Ron. He's not bothering me." Ron looked a bit disappointed. "Okay, well if he does bother you, Harry and I will take care of him!" Ron and Harry high-fived. Hermione rolled her eyes.
They got out of the carriage. As they walked they heard a shriek coming from in front of them. They all froze. But it was just ugly Pansy Parkinson.
"Eww! Draky! Your robes are covered are covered with some icky goo!" Hermione was laughing so hard she was doubled over. In his haste to insult her, Malfoy had forgotten to clean his robes. "It's nothing Pansy!" said Malfoy hurriedly. Hermione stopped laughing for a moment to talk to Ron. "By the way Ron, thank you for drooling on me when we were on the train. It really helped me out!" Then she continued laughing.
"Hermione? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Ron looked at Harry for help. Harry shrugged. "First Harry, then you. You guys are so confusing! I'm so confused!" Ron looked at Hermione, who was still laughing, and then at Harry, who was laughing at the look on Ron's face again. "Ah!" Ron cried, clearly frustrated. He sped up, walking in front of them.
The students went inside, talking and laughing. They all waited for the sorting to be over. Ron was complaining as usual. "I'm so hungry! When will this thing be over?" Ron whined. Hermione slapped the back of his head. "You're so stupid Ron. You had all that candy on the train!" Ron gave her a dirty look and rubbed the back of his head. "Well that was…" he looked at his watch, "5 minutes ago! I'm still hungry!" "Shut up Ronald! That's all you care about, food! No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!" "I'll have you know-"
"Shut up both of you! The sorting is done and here comes Dumbledore!" Harry hissed, turning his attention to Dumbledore. Dumbledore gave his usual warnings, and then started to talk about unity. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. There must be more house unity in Hogwarts, we cannot be divided from within, for how will we unite outside to defeat the dangers that will soon fall on us? He paused to see their reactions. Everyone at the Gryffindor table was looking at each other, obviously skeptical that they would ever get along with Slytherins, for they felt that being friends with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would be pretty simple. But Slytherins? Never.
Dumbledore cleared his throat to get their attention again. "Also, this year we have a new DADA teacher. Please welcome Mr. Benson," Dumbledore said, waving a hand toward the new teacher. The new teacher stood up. Hermione saw that he was a middle-aged man with thinning black hair, and dark brown eyes. He was slim and of average height. He had round red glasses. All in all, Hermione thought he looked like a pretty average guy, nice but strict. Hermione turned to her friends.
"What do you think?" Hermione whispered. Ron shrugged. "Normal looking, he doesn't look so bad." Harry nodded in agreement. "But you can never know for sure just by looking at a person," Harry said logically. Ron and Hermione nodded too. Then they turned back toward Dumbledore.
"I think that is about it. Let's eat!" Dumbledore waved his hand again, and the food appeared. Ron looked greedily at all the food. He started to grab everything in sight and load it all onto his plate. Harry and Hermione exchanged looks and sighed. 'That's Ron for you. He's always thinking about food.' She wasn't very hungry herself, so she looked around, her eyes falling on Draco Malfoy. She shuddered at the thought of sharing a dorm with him. 'I'll just try to stay away from him, that's all I can do'.
After dinner was over, Dumbledore dismissed everyone but Hermione and Malfoy. "Since you two are Head Boy and Head Girl, I'm sure you know you have your own rooms. Follow me and I'll show you where they are." Dumbledore gave them both a smile and then led them out of the Great Hall. They followed him silently, until he came to a stop beside a black door that neither of them had ever seen before.
"This is the door to your common room. In there you'll find two doors. The door on the right is yours, Ms. Granger. The door on the left is yours, Mr. Malfoy. I'll leave you two to pick a password. He left them.
"How about 'Gryffindors are stupid?" Malfoy said with a smirk.
"No way! How about 'Slytherins should die?"
"Yeah, right. 'How about 'Purebloods'?"
"That's stupid."
"You're stupid!"
Hermione sighed. "Look Malfoy, I just want to get into the damn room. Pick something!" Malfoy thought for a moment. " Crystal Shards''" he said.
"Fine. Go in already. The door swung open.
They enter the common room. It had red sofa with gold pillows. On the other side there were a couple of dark green soft chairs. There was a large table in the corner of the room with 3 chairs. On the walls there was a picture of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. They were sleeping at the moment.
Malfoy walked to the door on the left, and then turned to face her. "If you know what's good for you, stay out of my room!" Hermione snorted. "Why would I want to go in your gross room?" Malfoy raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Well, seeing how you have an enormous crush on me Granger, you might not be able to control your obvious passion for me." He laughed at her anger
"You're such a dumbass Malfoy! Not in a million years would I ever like you! It's you who better stay out of my room, because I learned some new curses over the summer that would make you…how should I put this…very uncomfortable for the rest of the year. Or your whole life." She gave him a dazzling smile and then laughed at the incredulous look on his face as she walked into her new room, slamming the door behind her.
The next morning in Potions, Snape walked in with the news of an assignment that they would have to do.
"I will be pairing you up with people that you don't normally get along with…simply because I like to see you suffer. Well, not exactly. You will also be paired this way because this is a new attempt at creating House Unity. We'll see how well it works," said Snape. He gave a rather mocking half-smile. Clearly, Snape believed that these projects wouldn't actually create House Unity. He thought it would fail miserably. But, looking at the half-smile Snape gave; he meant what he said before: He would love to see them suffer. Snape's smile faded and his look became the usual one of contempt. He continued to talk. " You all have different assignments, so don't think about getting help from people not paired with you," at this Snape's eyes lingered on Harry and Ron with a look of utter loathing on his face, while Harry and Ron glared back at him. "Now, this project will be a major part of your grade, so I suggest that you learn how to…get along," he sneered at the thought. Ron and Harry seemed to agree. The were looking at each other and making disgusted faces-obviously they knew there was no way they were getting along with a Slytherin. "These pairings come straight from Headmaster Dumbledore, so there are no excuses and no exemptions. Nobody will be paired up with anybody from the same house, obviously, as this is part of the House Unity Project." He looked around at all the students. "Mr. Potter, you will be working with Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Weasley with Ms. Parkinson, Mr. Longbottom with Mr. Goyle, Ms. Granger with Mr. Malfoy…"
Hermione groaned. She always had to work with Malfoy. She barely listened to the other pairings, only aware of Malfoy's evil grin. She realized Snape was speaking about the assignments. "I will give each of you a piece of paper with the assignment on it. These are due at the end of the month. Class dismissed."
Hermione looked at the piece of paper Snape handed her on her way out. It said:
Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy:
Ms. Granger will tutor Mr. Malfoy in Charms for the House Unity Project.
"I have to tutor Malfoy in Charms! There is no way I'm doing that!" She turned around and went back into the classroom. Malfoy was already there. He was currently pleading with Snape. "Please Professor; don't make me work with her! I don't like her!" He thought for a minute, a smirk on his face as he continued. "Well, she is really attracted to me, but she's a horrible- Oh, hello Granger-little…" Malfoy greeted her as she walked in and then resumed insulting her. He was having trouble describing her, "Well, I can't find a word bad enough to describe her." He gave her a suggestive smile. Hermione was incredibly angry. Her face turned red. "Oh yeah? What makes you think that I'd enjoy working with you?" Malfoy stared at her in disbelief. "Because Granger, you're so in love with me that you can't think straight." He said matter- of- factly. Hermione stamped her foot. "You…I…hate…no way…ahh!" Hermione yelled in frustration, running her hands through her hair. "See? You're speechless. This is the way you should always be, Granger. It's nice not having to hear your shrill voice every time a teacher asks a question." "My voice is not shrill It's-". Hermione was cut off by a swift remark from Snape. They both jumped. They had forgotten he was there, though he had been right in front of them the whole time.
"This has been quite amusing but I feel I must break up your little lover's quarrel to remind you that I have not paired you up, but the Headmaster. If you want to complain, why don't you go to him?"
"But Professor, this is Potions class. Why do I have to tutor him in Charms?" Hermione asked desperately. Snape gave her a piercing look. "Because he needs help in that subject…and because I said so, of course. I never said that the project was about Potions. It's not a Potions project." With that, Snape walked smoothly out of the room, leaving behind Malfoy, who had a huge smirk on his face, and Hermione, whose mouth was wide open. "We aren't going out! I don't like him!" she called after Snape. Snape ignored her. Malfoy yawned. "Oh, shut up Granger. You know you like me. I know about all your fantasies…" He trailed off, watching her face and snickering. He sat down on Snape's desk. 'What nerve he has, sitting on his desk…he's so stupid.' She sighed loudly, and sat down in a seat. She suddenly felt extremely tired. She put her head down. "Malfoy, leave me alone…" His demeanor changed, as he went from amused, to angry. He glowered at her. "Fine, Mudblood. Not like I wanted to be near you in the first place." He turned and walked out of the classroom. Hermione sighed again. 'Finally, he's gone'. As if on cue, Malfoy stuck his head back in "Meet me tomorrow, at 5:00 in the common room. We're still stuck together for this tutoring, you know." She groaned. 'Damn, I forgot.' "Fine! Although I would rather die than spend an evening with you! I hate you!" Malfoy came back in and sat down on top of Snape's desk for a second.
"Trust me Granger, The feeling is mutual." He left without another word.
Hermione lay her head down on the desk again. 'Why me?'