Dumbeldore chuckled to himself when he saw three miserable girls slup off the Hogwarts Express, followed by one cheerful girl prancing behind them. He cleared his throat:
"Good Morning girls."
Hannah was the first to chirp, "Good morning, professor." The rest followed, grumbling their replies to the professor.
"Well, I trust that you had a pleasant trip. You will be allowed to go to your respective rooms to change for your assignment and repack if necessary." He paused for a moment. "The password to your dormitories is inscribed inside your robes. Even though you are all prefects next year, you must wait for the start of the term to use that bathroom."
Hermione, ever curious, demanded, "And what IS the assignment, professor?"
"Well, Hermione, you shall be brewing and improving upon the St. Mungo's salve. I trust you have heard of it? Read it in the Prophet perhaps?"
At this point all four girls gasped.
"What! That hasn't even had successful test runs yet! And what makes you think that Pansy can brew a decent potion or that Cho won't get her tears mixed up in the salve?"
"If you weren't so busy in the library, you would know that you are not the only one with an O in potions. Aren't I beating you in Herbology? Or did you tune out the fact that a SLYTHERIN is better than you at something?"
"And I'm no slouch either. When I'm not flying my broom around the Quidditch field, I study magical creatures. I learn more by observing than in your silly little books."
"They're both right, Hermione. I may be from Hufflepuff, but I'm no slouch in academics. We all have strengths and weaknesses, but we're all pretty smart."
Dumbledore chuckled. He knew there was a reason why he picked these four. "Well, that saves me the breath. Your assignment will be to research the making of the salve, and to find a way to finish it. I expect an oral report at the start of the term. You are due back to the Great Hall in one hour where Hagrid will escort you to your home for the rest of the summer. Good day."
The four girls wandered up to their dorms. Pansy wandered towards the dungeons muttering a word sounding like 'scumbag' under her breath. She got to her dorm and threw off her robes. If she was going to be stuck somewhere far away with three vile year-mates then she was not going to be in stuffy school robes. She quickly changed into some green capris and a white shirt. They were going to remember what house she came from: the superior, pure house. She went over what she had already packed in her smaller luggage. Thanks to Mrs. Malfoy, she had top supply of everything. Just in case, she added in some of her personal supply of herbs and seeds. You couldn't count on mudbloods to provide ingredients, even though the assignment is potions making. Casting a quick minimizing charm on her broom, she placed it in her suitcase and eventually eased her way to the Great Hall. On her way out, she went to the 6th year boys dorm. She couldn't get her mind off of Draco. What was he getting himself into? Just because you are pureblood doesn't mean you have to be stupid. The best part of being magical nobility is all the freedoms you are given. Why would you give that power to some half-blood, no matter how powerful he happens to be? Where blood used to mean everything, it sure means nothing anymore. Sometimes people let their anger get in the way of what's really important. After sitting a moment in profound thought, she made her own way to the Great Hall.
Cho couldn't believe that a Gryffindor could be so close-minded. Yes, Ravenclaws had pretty narrow thinking, but Cho always admired the Gryffindors for their defense of even the smallest minorities. They just seemed all around good. Did that make them feel superior? What happened to their omniscience? At least Ravenclaws had some common sense. This was ridiculous. In fact, Ravenclaws were seriously under rated, causing cynicism at an unnaturally early age. If only they could get some respect.
Well never mind that. She was already at her dorm. She examined her smaller luggage, making sure she packed everything. After her inquiry was complete, she added several notebooks, and charmed a couple of ink bottles, making them travel-safe. In a way, she was actually a little excited to be out doing field work. She looked in the mirror and realized that she still had school robes on. That wouldn't do! She changed into her favorite pair of jeans and her baby blue t-shirt. Not that she wanted to display her house colors, blue was just her favorite color. Yeah, her favorite color. She loved her house, but she didn't need to display it all the time. Throwing her luggage strap over her shoulder she wandered into the Great Hall.
Hermione spent a grand total of five minutes in her room. Just enough time to change into some red shorts and a yellow t-shirt. Her house colors really complemented her Bulgarian tan. Thanks to her prepared mind, her suitcase was already packed, but she would need some books in the library for some extra information. She levitated her small suitcase behind her and headed for the library.
Strangely, the library was unlocked. Hermione entered. "Hello? Madame Pince?"
Movement sounded from the restricted section. "Hello, Hermione! How's my favorite girl?"
"Why are you here midsummer?"
"Dumbeldore told me what you girls would be doing, and I know that you would need some help so he asked me to come and help you out. Since you're here, I can show you what he and I have come up with so you can use all of the library's reasources. It will save me a trip to the Great Hall to explain. Come look."
Madame Pince led Hermione to the back of the room where she came across a small porthole. "There is one just like this in your house that you are staying. Only books and pieces of parchment can pass through. Every three days, I will check the porthole for your book requests. Then, I will send you the books through here at noon. Someone needs to be there every three days to receive these books."
Hermione felt like hugging Madame Pince right there. It would have been too much, to be cut off entirely from her books and stuck with three girls she'd rather not be with for that long of time. Skipping a little, she headed to the Great Hall, her luggage obediently floating behind her.
Hannah reviewed her luggage items. Oh GOSH! She forgot underwear! Blushing to no one in particular, she packed in some underwear. She slipped out of her robes into her yellow sundress. It was the only yellow thing she owned and it brought out her vibrant yellow hair. She always liked the color yellow. It was always so cheery and friendly. It practically screamed, "Be my friend!" which was exactly her personality. She headed back downstairs in hopes that someone else was done repacking early so she could talk to another girl.
Hannah, as she thought, was first. She put her suitcase on the floor and did something she always wanted to do. She stretched out on the staff table. No one was looking! Although the House tables were always moved around between mealtimes, the staff table remained where it was for all functions save the occasional ball. It was then transfigured into a stage for the band. As she stretched out on the table, she heard another person walk in and chuckle. Hannah sat up and saw a tall, Chinese face laughing at her.
Hannah suddenly pulled a mock-defensive wall around her. "Don't tell me that you've never wanted to do this. Stop laughing and join me!"
Cho took a moment and considered this. Hannah laid back on the table and not a moment later heard Cho dropping her luggage on the floor and getting on the staff table with her. Hannah just chuckled to herself, hoping Cho wouldn't notice. But Cho did, and ended up chuckling with her.
At that moment, Pansy walked in, her face with absolute disgust. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"
Cho just sat up and stared at her. "Don't be a prick Pansy. Just lay down here with us."
"Sorry Cho, but Parkinson's lay down for no person." However, she did lay her luggage with the other luggage on the floor and proceeded to sit on the staff table between the two girls. Hannah and Cho giggled and managed to grab on to Pansy's arms, pulling her down on the table with them. Out burst a guffaw from Pansy. The girls could have been best friends if they weren't separated by things like houses and bloodlines.
Hermione, not to be the bad egg, silently levitated her luggage over to the pile and sat on the floor. Maybe she would come to like these girls. It was true, they were better at her at something: having fun. She released her levitating charm on her luggage and it dropped on the floor. A little too hard.
Pansy sat up. "Too good for us Granger? You can't do anything without ruining the fun, can you?"
Hermione's pride kicked in. "At least I have the decency to sit on the ground, not where our professors will be EATING!"
Cho leaped off the table. "Oh, let me at her!"
Hannah leaped up and tackled Cho, preventing her from getting at Hermione. Pansy laughed and smirked as she said, "It's not like you could take Granger anyway."
Hermione looked at her. Was that a complement?
It obviously wasn't a complement for Cho. She stopped her efforts for Hermione and headed for Pansy. Hannah was still restraining her, but this was a losing battle. As soon as Hannah finally lost her control for Cho, Hagrid entered.
"ENOUGH!!!!!"
All four girls stopped what they were doing and stood still. Hagrid never raised his voice to students, and it was intimidating.
He continued. "Get your luggage and follow me."
The girls scrambled to get their luggage. Hermione reconsidered casting her levitation charm and carried her suitcase manually. Then, Hagrid led them through the Forbidden Forrest.
A/N: To Just some random reviewer…please read on! You will see why I have Pansy really like Draco right now. Don't worry that will change! Thank you for also being my most recent, and only new reviewer!