The Secret Admirer of Hermione Jean Granger
A/N: Hello People, I've decided that I'll update the fifth chapter today and take rest tomorrow. I hope you liked the previous chapters. Thanks a lot for your reviews, I highly appreciate it. Enjoy!!!
Disclaimer: When Harry Potter and co. become mine, it'll be Headlines!!!
Chapter5. Defense Against the Dark Arts
*FLASHBACK*
"That's not possible, Draco's just pulling our leg, aren't you, Draco?" asked Pansy.
"I'm not, Pansy. Dumbledore told this to us," said Draco, seriously.
And he left to join Hermione in their common room.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
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After saying the password and entering the room, Draco saw Hermione sitting on the couch with tears filled in her eyes.
"What's wrong, Gran-Hermione?" asked Draco, worried, "Did I do something wrong?"
"It's not you, Draco," sobbed Hermione, "It's my friends. I can't believe that they don't trust me anymore. After all these years of being with them the whole time, they don't trust me. How can I call them my friends?"
Draco thought for a while and then said, "It's neither your fault, nor theirs, Hermione. They were just curious that we were called together. I've told them everything. They're really sorry. It's good that they confirmed with you. Or else, the whole world will think that Draco Malfoy is going to wed Hermione Granger!"
Hermione stopped crying at once and burst in to giggles. Draco smiled.
"You know what, Draco?" said Hermione, softly, "You've really changed a lot this year. I never expected you to be the one to comfort me. You were really annoying before."
"Things change, Hermione," said Draco, quietly, "I was supposed to be like that because my father had ordered me to. He used to tell me that our kind should never mix up with Muggles and Muggle-borns. But after the war last year, he changed. He never used to show so much affection on me. My mother does that. But after he realized that the Dark Lord was only after power and not really helping him, he lost all hope on Him and tried to help us out of this. You see, I don't know whether Potter told you this, but at one point, my mother saved him. That's because we wanted to come out of that 'Death Eater' tag."
"But then why did you call me 'Mudblood' in the beginning of this year?" asked Hermione, curiously.
"That I'll tell you some other time, Hermione," said Draco, "It's time to go to bed. Goodnight."
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Saying he fell asleep on the couch. Hermione smiled and she changed in to her night gown in the bathroom.
She switched off the lights and before closing her eyes, she said, "Goodnight, Draco," and immediately went to the other world of dreams.
The next day, when she woke up, she saw that Draco was still sleeping on the couch, peacefully.
She took a shower, got ready and came back to her room to see that Draco had not yet changed his position.
He looks like an angel, came a voice in Hermione's head.
He does not, she shouted back to her brain.
"I do not what, Hermione?" asked a muffled voice that came from Draco.
Hermione blushed furiously. "What are you saying?" she asked quickly.
Draco opened his eyes and smiled at her. He said, "I was awake when you just said 'he does not'. So obviously the only 'he' right now in this room is me. So obviously you were talking about me."
Did I tell that loudly? wondered Hermione.
"Earth to Hermione," said Draco, snapping his fingers at her.
"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking," said Hermione quickly.
"About me?" asked Draco, slyly.
"Shut up, Draco," snapped Hermione, in a friendly way, "You didn't change that much as I thought you did before."
Draco smirked, "I said 'things' change, Hermione."
"Ok fine, let's get ready now. We've got Defense Against the Dark Arts now. C'mon. I can't wait to see our new teacher," said Hermione, impatiently.
Draco rolled his eyes at her and went and got ready.
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They went to breakfast and went to their respective tables.
Hermione saw that Ginny was waiting for her. Harry had also not started eating, but Ron was already hogging a lot of food.
"Thanks for waiting, guys," said Hermione, and then added, "No thanks to you, Ronald."
Harry and Ginny sniggered. Ron scowled at her. "I was hungry," he said and went back eating.
Ginny muttered, "Pigs are always hungry."
Only Hermione heard this and she giggled.
They ate breakfast quickly and they saw Dumbledore standing up after having his breakfast.
"Excuse me, students," he announced, "I just need a minute from all of you. I have some important announcements to make."
All the students became silent.
"This year after a lot of consideration, we have selected the new head boy and girl. They are Mr. Draco Malfoy and Ms. Hermione Granger, respectively."
There was a loud cheer from all the tables.
"Secondly, I've chosen your house prefects and Quidditch team captains which also I'll be announcing now," he said.
The cheering stopped and all began to listen carefully.
"There will be two prefects from each house of which, one will be head and the other, assistant. The same goes for the posts of the Quidditch captains. A student can be both prefect or head and Quidditch captain. So there'll be no commotion. The heads, prefects and Quidditch captains will wait after breakfast near my office and I shall join you soon. Now I shall call out the names of the prefects first."
Everyone held their breath.
"The head prefect for Hufflepuff is Mr. Ernie McMillan. The assistant prefect is Ms. Hannah Abbot."
There was a loud cheer as Ernie and Hannah stood up and left the breakfast table to join Dumbledore.
"The head prefect for Ravenclaw is Ms. Luna Lovegood. The assistant prefect is Mr. Michael Corner."
Another loud cheer was from Ravenclaw where Luna and Michael stood up and waved to Harry, and joined Dumbledore.
"The head prefect for Slytherin is Mr. Blaise Zabini and the assistant, Ms. Pansy Parkinson. "
Hermione and Ginny saw Pansy and Blaise waving at Draco before joining Dumbledore.
"And lastly, the head prefect for Gryffindor is…" Ginny gasped loudly "Mr. Harry Potter and the assistant is Ms. Ginevra Weasley."
Harry was shocked and so was Ginny. Ron smiled at them. Hermione beamed at them. But this was nothing compared to the huge cheer that erupted from the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table.
Harry smiled broadly and taking Ginny's hand, they walked towards Dumbledore and stood next to him.
"Congratulations to you all. Please go to your head of house for the badge before leaving the hall. You may return to your seats."
All eight of them went back to their house tables.
"And now lastly, I'll announce your Quidditch captains."
All students except Hermione and a few Ravenclaws listened carefully.
"The Hufflepuff head Quidditch captain is…Mr. Justin Finch-Fletchey. The assistant is Ms. Susan Bones."
All the Hufflepuffs cheered for Justin and Susan as the duo waved at them.
"The Ravenclaw head Quidditch captain is Ms. Cho Chang. The assistant is Mr. Terry Boot."
There was a loud applause from Ravenclaw for Cho and Terry.
"The Slytherin head Quidditch captain is…Mr. Draco Malfoy. The assistant is Mr. Blaise Zabini."
Draco gave his trademark smirk while waving to all his house mates who cheered for him. Blaise grinned lazily at all.
"And last but not the least, the Gryffindor head Quidditch captain is Mr. Harry Potter. The assistant is Mr. Ronald Weasley."
Harry grinned at his best friend, Ron, who was totally shocked. Ginny gave him an encouraging smile and said, "Good for you, Ron. I hope you do your best." Hermione just smiled at him.
"Excuse me again, students. I've decided that you all should meet me after dinner as I've some urgent matters to attend at the ministry. So, see you in the evening," said Dumbledore and all students and teachers left to go to their classes.
"Yippee!" cried Hermione, "We're in the same class now. Let's hurry up."
"We get it, Hermione," said Ron.
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They went to the classroom. There Hermione joined Draco while Ginny went and sat next to Blaise and Harry sat with Luna while Ron, grumpily, went and sat with Pansy.
"Congrats on being made the Quidditch captain. I think that's what you wanted all these years," said Hermione.
"Yeah, thanks Hermione," said Draco.
Just then, all the students saw a familiar face entering the class.
"Professor Lupin!" shouted Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny together.
Remus Lupin had returned as their DADA teacher. He smiled at everyone warmly.
"Good morning, class," he said in his kind voice, "I have been appointed as your defense against the dark arts teacher, again. I'm pleased to see all of you. Now let's begin the class."
Everyone sat straight and paid attention to him.
"Today, I shall be teaching you something very important. Something that I've taught Harry, here. But I presume most of you must know what I am talking about."
There was confusion on those who were not a part of Dumbledore's Army.
"I am of course talking about the Patronus Charm."
There was a cheer from the whole class.
"But first of all, can any of you tell me what the use of a Patronus Charm is?"
Hermione and Harry raised their hands.
"Yes, Hermione?"
Hermione said in her clear voice, "A patronus charm is a charm used as a shield against the dementors."
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor. Now, the incantation of this charm is 'Expecto Patronum' .Please repeat after me."
The whole class chanted, "Expecto Patronum."
"Very good. But the incantation alone is not enough. What is the other necessity required to use the Patronus Charm?"
Harry and Hermione's hands were up and so were Ginny, Ron and Luna's.
"Yes, Harry?"
"You'll need to have a happy memory for using this charm. A real happy memory will be a strong shield towards the dementors," said Harry.
"Excellent, Harry. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, I'd like all of you to take out your wands."
Everybody kept their wands ready.
"Now, I'd like you all to concentrate on a very happy memory. It can be anything but it should be strong that will create a strong shield between you and the dementor. Of course I didn't get a dementor here, but this is a very important and useful spell. Your true patronus will also reveal the form of it. It will be an animal of course."
"Now, please be very clear as you speak, 'Expecto Patronum'."
One by one, everybody started saying, "Expecto Patronum'.
Harry's patronus, the stag, erupted the earliest of all. Hermione's otter and Ginny's horse was next. After which Ron's terrier came in to view.
Surprisingly, the next person was Neville, whose Patronus took the form of a griffin.
Luna's hare was the next to come out.
Draco's patronus finally erupted. It was a silver dragon.
Blaise's was a panther and Pansy's was a unicorn.
"Thank you for co-operating this well everybody. Your class has just ended. But before you leave, I want all of you to write an essay on Patronus and what form did yours take. See you next week."
Everybody left the class happily.
"I really liked it. It was like D.A. again," said Luna, dreamily.
"Yeah, I know," said Ginny and Hermione together.
"Bye, Harry, Ron and Luna. See you at lunch," said Hermione.
"Bye," said the other three.
Hermione and Ginny were soon joined by Draco and Blaise.
"That sure was an interesting class," said Draco.
"Yeah," said Blaise, " I never really liked Lupin before."
"He's the nicest person in the world!" cried Hermione and Ginny together.
"I do agree that now," said Draco.
"C'mon let's go to Transfiguratiom before Mcgonagall gives us detention," said Hermione.
Saying they left for Transfiguration.
A/N: that's where I end this chapter. It is the longest chapter I've ever typed so far. I hope you enjoyed it and send reviews as well. I'll introduce the second letter in the next chapter. And yes, I know that Cho Chang is a year senior to Harry, but in my story, she'll be the same year as him.
Till then,
Mischief Managed.
Athena Black Malfoy
