Moving In

Chapter Two

"That sucks."

"Sucks?" Pansy sat down on the sofa beside Millicent Bulstrode. "Millie, 'sucks' doesn't begin to describe it."

Blaise folded her legs under her, shaking her head. "That's not even the worst part."

Crabbe raised his eyebrows and looked at Draco inquiringly. "There's more?"

"Yes, there's more," he exhaled. Draco had been standing by the fireplace staring intently into it, one hand on the mantel and the other on his hip. "If we don't get along with them soon, there will be no Quidditch for me this season."

Goyle muttered, "Damn. For Potter and Weasley, too?"

"Yeah, I was surprised they didn't make a special exception for them myself, but yeah. Same goes for them."

Millicent shrugged, "So all you have to do is befriend them as soon as possible and you'll be out before the season starts."

Draco turned his face around to look at her. "There's no fucking way I'm going to become chummy with Scarhead, Weasel, or the Mudblood. I'm going to owl my father. He'll put a stop to this nonsense." He ran toward the dormitory stairwell.

"It must be important if he's going to owl his father about it," Millicent observed.

"Of course it's important!" Pansy exclaimed loudly. "Seriously, Mill. What's wrong with you? Did you not hear a word we just said?"

Blaise gave her a 'duh' look. "We have to bunk with Gryffindorks until we not only get along, but until we believe that Mudbloods or whatever bloods are equal to Purebloods."

Millicent nodded and added quickly, "Yeah because they're not, right?"

"Right." Pansy settled into the couch and looked at Blaise as the same thought crossed their minds. Did they really have that much influence on people?"

* * *

"What!"

"That's bullshit-,"

"Yeah, we are not prejudice. They are!"

Ron, Hermione, and Harry were sitting in the Common Room sofas with the rest of the Sixth Years and Ginny. They had just relayed the news to them and the other Gryffindors were showing utmost sympathy.

Hermione had her arms crossed primly under her chest. She was glaring at the fire with disgust as if it were to blame for this predicament. "I know! We didn't do anything. They started it by calling me a Mudblood."

Lavender Brown flinched. "God, I hate hearing that word."

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. "You haven't even heard the worst part."

"What could be worse than being locked up with Malfoy, Zabini, and Parkinson?" Ginny asked, laying her feet in Hermione's lap.

Harry clenched his fists and exhaled, "Unless we settle our differences soon, Ron and I won't be playing Quidditch this season."

Everyone's jaw dropped. Neville looked at them. "They can't do that, can they? I mean, they aren't serious?"

"They sounded pretty serious to me," Ron answered.

Seamus shook his head. "No way. They're just trying to scare you. They wouldn't really do it."

Hermione countered, "Oh, I think they would."

Pavarti shrugged twirling a lock of her hair, "Well it could have been worse."

Hermione asked, "How so?"

"Well at least you're not bunking with someone ugly from Slytherin like Crabbe or Goyle. Malfoy got a lot better looking this year." Lavender giggled her agreement and high-fived her. Even Ginny cracked a smile.

Harry gaped, "Have you three gone mental?"

Hermione exclaimed, "This is Malfoy we're talking about!"

"What are you thinking?" Ron declared.

The smiles fell from their faces and Lavender said quickly, "Well we didn't mean he's completely good looking. Just that he's gone from ugly to less . . . ugly."

"Yeah," Pavarti and Ginny chimed.

Hermione studied the three of them. 'Did they just say that because that's what we wanted to hear?' she thought. She looked across at Harry and Ron who had the same perplexed look on their faces.

Then they heard someone clear their throat behind them. The lounging Gryffindors turned around to see their Head of House standing with her arms crossed primly looking sterner then ever.

"We're ready for you now."

Ron groaned, "Already?"

Professor McGonagall nodded, "Come along." The three of them stood up and waved goodbye. The whole room fell silent as they walked to the Portrait.

Hermione asked, "What about our stuff?"

Professor McGonagall held the door open. Hermione, Ron, and Harry stepped out into the hall. The Professor closed the door and answered, "It'll be in your new quarters by the time we get there."

They walked in silence for a long time. Many staircases and a couple of corridors later, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a very provocative painting. Hermione's jaw dropped.

Harry's green eyes had widened from shock and horror. He looked away from it and muttered, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Ron scowled crossing his arms. "That's so wrong. Who did that?"

Before Professor McGonagall could answer, the Slytherins had finally arrived along with Snape and they looked equally disgusted.

Pansy's nose crinkled. "Is this supposed to be funny? Because no one's laughing."

Blaise covered her mouth with a perfectly manicured hand. "That is vile," She whispered.

Draco raised his eyebrows at her. "Vile?" He shook his head and regarded the painting with distaste. "Sick and twisted is more like it."

The painting was an accurate one. The six people in it looked exactly like the six people about to live in the room behind it, but that's where all the good things died. First of all, the painting is huge. It couldn't possibly go unnoticed but what the painting was of was the most grotesque part. It was divided into five HUGE parts.

The first part was of Draco sitting on a red loveseat in green silk pajama pants with golden snitches all over it and a white wife beater with one big snitch in the center and underneath it read 'Seeker.' It would have been fine if just stopped right there but it didn't.

In between his legs, sitting on the ground was Hermione in baby blue boy boxers and a white tee. Her head was rested on his right leg and her chocolate brown eyes were drooping shut. Draco was bent over her. His platinum blond locks, free of gel, fell into his eyes as he brushed her hair with such care and gentleness that Hermione was falling asleep with a smile of content on her face.

Professor McGonagall sighed, "I admit it's not something you'd see everyday-,"

Hermione moaned, "It's not something we'd want to see every day. The painting is bad enough, but the fact that the whole school is going to see this takes the prize."

Pansy's head snapped at her and her angel blue eyes were wide with fear. "What do you mean?"

The second part of the painting was of her and Ron on the beach. She was wearing jean shorts with a bikini top while Ron was wearing rolled up khaki's that were wet along the bottom. In the painting, Ron was giving her a piggy back ride and they were laughing together as the wind blew through their hair and the sun set behind them.

"This is the way to History of Magic, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Potions straight from the Great Hall. Don't you recognize the location?"

And with a sinking feeling in their stomachs the students finally recognized that this was indeed, the way to those classes. Blaise muttered bitterly, "Well this just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" She gave Harry a cold glare as if he were to blame for the fourth column of the painting.

In the fourth part, Blaise seemed to have been running away from him, but Harry caught up with her. With one arm at her waist to keep her from getting away, Harry used his other hand to tickle her mercilessly. His emerald green eyes sprinkled in delight as Blaise's bouncing black curls veiled her face as she bent over in laughter.

The fifth part was two paintings in one. It was one way a couple of moments and then flashed to another one. The first part was a side view of the three girls in a row. Pansy was first; holding her hair up while Hermione clasped a necklace round her neck and behind her was Blaise, zipping up the back of Hermione's dress. Then the picture flashed to the boys. Draco was tying Harry's tie while Ron brushed dirt off Draco's shoulder. The six of them seemed to be getting ready for some kind of ball.

The center of the painting was the insult to injury, the salt in the wound, the finishing blow. The six of them were standing in front of a wedding chapel waving to the picture taker. On the left was Pansy and Blaise in navy blue bridesmaid dresses and on the right was Harry and Ron in matching tuxedos with navy blue comber bands. In the center was Hermione in a beautiful white wedding gown and Draco in a white tux. His right arm was around her waist and her left was around his. They looked a bit older in this one than in any of the others like, mid to late 20's.

Hermione shook her head and backed away from the portrait. She spoke very slowly and said, "There is no way, that I'd ever accept a proposal from Malfoy. Let alone marry him."

Malfoy's face contorted in disgust and he glared darkly at her. "Like I'd ask. I'd rather die first." He rolled his eyes and stared at the picture once more. "Once my father hears this-,"

"Your father already knows." Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows with a twinkle in his eye and Professor Dessen in tow. "The password is 'equality'."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Oh how original!"

Professor Dessen smiled at her sarcasm, "Say it."

The six of them muttered under their breaths, "Equality." The portrait hole swung up and it was large enough for the ten people to walk in simultaneously, comfortably. Blaise shook her head. "This is unbelievable."

Pansy nodded stepping in first. "I know. It's so lame."

The Common Room was the size of their old ones. When you came through the Portrait hole, there were stairs that descended to the common room like the Slytherin Common Room and the couches of both house colors around the fireplace to the right like Gryffindors'. (Think of the way the Common Rooms look in the movies. I'm not good at describing things.) Where the furniture would have been in the Slytherins' Common Room was just a vast open space with two other fireplaces. A couple of yards away was a door with bubbles on it (a bathroom).

When everyone was through and the doors were closed, there were many clicks that made the students turn round. On the door were 18 double vaulted locks with their names engraved in them: Blaise and Harry, Blaise and Ron, Blaise and Hermione, Pansy and Harry, Pansy and Ron, Pansy and Hermione, Draco and Harry, Draco and Ron, Draco and Hermione, Harry and Blaise, Harry and Pansy, Harry and Draco, Ron and Blaise, Ron and Pansy, Ron and Draco, Hermione and Blaise, Hermione and Pansy, and Hermione and Draco.

Draco pointed to the door. "What is that?"

"That is a clever way of showing you your progress on getting out of here." Professor Snape walked back and pointed to a lock that read, 'Draco and Harry.' "For example, when Draco respects Harry one of the double vaults will unlock. When he gets along with him, the other vault will."

"And the lock for me and Draco is for when I respect and like him?" Harry asked.

When Professor Snape nodded Hermione sputtered, "In order to get of here, we have to like them back?"

Blaise glared, "Don't flatter yourself, Granger. Like we would like you first?"

Professor Dumbledore nodded, "Everyone must respect and get along with every member of the opposite house."

Draco crossed his arms across his chest. "You told my father everything, and he didn't have a problem with any of this?"

"Yes, I told him that you and a few other students have been grounded."

Malfoy looked horrified. "You told him that?" Dumbledore nodded. "Well can you speak with him again and not make it seem like I did something bad and I'm being punished for something?"

"Why? You are being punished for something. All of you are and that's what I told everyone's parents."

Pansy twirled chestnut tendrils around her finger nervously. "Why do they have to know?"

"Well, they would have found out sooner of later. You're not gonna see or talk to them until winter break which, by the way, they want the three of you home for." Professor pointed to Draco, Blaise, and Pansy.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute-," Blaise held a hand up to pause the conversation. "We're not allowed to write to our parents to explain our side of the story?"

Professor McGonagall shook her head no. "We're trying to avoid outside influence."

Draco shook his head and chuckled, looking at the ceiling. "This is just fantastic."

Blaise patted him on his shoulder and glared at Professor Dumbledore. "Is all this really necessary?"

Harry snapped, "Why do you guys care so much?"

Draco looked back down at Harry and his face hardened. Blaise squared her shoulders and glared at him. Pansy's angel blue eyes iced over and her nerves calmed for the moment as she gave him her meanest look. "Look Potter, just because our parents are alive and yours are dead does not give you right to snap at us." There was a stunning silence and then-,

"Ms. Parkinson!" Professor Dessen exclaimed.

Ron demanded, "What the hell is your problem?"

Hermione was patting her pockets as she answered, "She's tactless, Ron. THAT'S what it is." Hermione's chocolate brown eyes had gone a shade darker and her eyes surveyed Pansy with disgust. Her right hand located her wand and she fixed it on Pansy the exact moment Draco's fixed on hers.

"Try anything Mudblood, and I'll leave you so mentally fucked up, you'll be sharing a room with Longbottom's parents." His voice was dangerously low and Draco's grip tightened on his wand.

Professor Dumbledore said softly, "Put the-,"

"I'm not scared of you, Malfoy." Hermione's face was still facing Pansy but now she glared at Draco from the corner of her eyes. "You call me Mudblood or whatever stupid names you have but if Parkinson ever, ever says shit like that again I will not hesitate to rip her voice box from her throat. Do not think I won't." Her voice was equally as low and she talked slowly for emphasis.

Professor Snape said, "Draco, put your wand down." Draco shook his head very slowly. His gray eyes remained on Hermione.

Professor McGonagall asked kindly, "Ms. Granger, will you please lower your wand?" To everyone's amazement, Hermione still kept her wand on Pansy as if she didn't hear her Head of House.

Harry put his hand on Hermione's and said, "Its okay, Hermione. I'm fine." Though he still looked pallid from Pansy's comment, he was still shocked. He had never seen Hermione this angry before.

Hermione looked at Harry and her face softened. She relented and put her wand back in her pocket. Only then did Draco drop his.

As soon as they did, Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Okay, new rule: if you guys do any dueling or fighting besides for school, then you will get 20 points deducted from your house, a letter to your parents, and a game guaranteed to be missed of Quidditch. Five points off each house for Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy cursing in teachers' presence. Now on with the room," he added before they could squeeze in a protest. He walked to the center of the open area. "There is a large table by the first fireplace on this side of the room. It'll be there 24/7. At 7:00 am, noon, and 7:00 pm the meals will appear as they do in the Great Hall and when everyone's done it'll clear so you can use that for homework. By the second fireplace," he pointed to it. "Six queen size beds will appear at 9:00 pm. You'll know which ones are yours when they turn up. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what happens if one of us are like, bleeding to death or something? How do we get out of here?" Pansy asked.

Professor McGonagall walked up to one of the bricks on the second fireplace and pressed a firm hand on it. The brick protruded out of the wall and the top layer of it opened like a lid, revealing a big red button. She pushed it with the palm of her hand and the portrait hole opened. "This button is for emergencies only." She looked to the corner of the room and said, "Your things are over there, by the way. And the locks open up automatically when it's about time to go to class."

The four professors walked to the exit. Dumbledore ran a finger beside the locks (like the goblins in Sorcerer's Stone) and they clicked open. The Portrait swung open and the Professors stepped out. Professor Snape called as it closed shut, "Have a great weekend!"