Hermione took a deep breath.
"How did you become head boy?" she asked almost accusingly.
"Well Granger, contrary to popular belief, I am as smart as you. If not, then smarter." He smirked, then continued looking out the window.
Hermione was a bit shocked, but recovered quickly.
"Well then, I suppose we will be having a very good year, considering the school's smartest witch and wizard will be in charge of almost all upcoming major events."
Malfoy merely snorted, and kept his gaze outside the window. Hermione sat down in a seat away from Malfoy. He looked the same as ever, his white blond hair slicked back, and his eyes were cold and grey as she had remembered them. Except for maybe he did grow a few inches over the summer. Her thoughts then traveled to Creevy.
What if he follows me around the whole school year? I may need some body guards... like Crabbe and Goyle... speaking of body guards, where are they?
Malfoy looked oddly incomplete without the two hulking figures of Crabbe and Goyle by his side.
And almost as if he were reading Hermione's mind, Malfoy stood up and said with some sarcasm, "This has been lovely Granger, but I have to get to my compartment. Crabbe and Goyle may be wondering where I have gone off to. Those idiots." Malfoy opened the door and walked into the compartment right across from the one he was in.
Hermione decided it was time to change into her school robes. She went over to the compartment with Harry, Ron and Ginny, and sincerely hoped Colin Creevy wasn't in there. She sighed with relief when she discovered he wasn't.
"Hey Hermione!" Ginny smiled as Hermione entered. "So who's the Head Boy?" Harry and Ron turned their gazes to Hermione to hear her response.
"Oh, its just Malfoy." She said as she waved her hand carelessly.
"What?!?!" Ron yelled. "Hermione, you should go complain to Dumbledore, or McGonagall, or-or-somebody!" Ron sputtered. His face was as red as his hair.
"Ron, its just Malfoy. Its not like I'm going to spend every single minute with him. The only time we actually have to talk is when we make patrol schedules. Thats it." She was using her one plus one equals two voice. It was working quite well; Ron's face wasn't as red as it had been before.
"OK, I guess..." Ron trailed off.
"Harry, Ginny, you haven't said anything yet, what do you think?"
"We thing you can take care of yourself, Hermione, and that this is no problem for someone like you to handle." Ginny responded, with Harry nodding in agreement with her.
"And if he does bother you, you can always hex him." Harry said, grinning.
Hermione smiled, and grabbed her trunk.
"So wheres Colin?" She asked.
"Probably locked himself inside the loo, the git." Ron said, picking at a spot on his hand.
Hermione decided to tell Ginny about Colin's strange behavior during the feast, but it went right out of her mind when she walked into the Great Hall.
After the first years got sorted into their houses, Professor Dumbledore went up to make a small speech.
"It is time for another year at Hogwarts. To the new students, welcome. To the old students, welcome back. Now, before we get immersed in our feast, I need to introduce to you our new Head Boy and Girl. Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy, if you would kindly stand up for a moment."
Hermione and Malfoy stood up to show who they were.
"Thank you," Dumbledore continued, "now, I wish for you to treat these two students with respect, because they will be able to assign detention, and they will also have the privilege of giving or removing house points. Let the feast begin."
Hermione looked over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy looked extremely smug, talking to some girls who kept touching his Head Boy badge. She rolled her eyes, and began talking to Lavender and Ginny.
After the desserts vanished from the table and Dumbledore had given his last announcements, Hermione was called up to go see Professor McGonagall. Malfoy was called up as well.
"Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy, follow me to your dorms please."
They walked up a couple set of stairs and went though a few corridors. They stopped in front of a painting of an old wizard playing chess with a goblin.
"I will give you a list of your responsibilities tomorrow morning, and you will be expected to make the timetables for patrolling. For now, your password is Devil's Snare. Good night."
Hermione entered their common room. It was almost as big as the Gryffindor common room, and instead of being decorated in scarlet and gold, it was decorated in neutral colors. She walked up the set of stairs that led to her dorm room. Her dorm looked exactly as it did when she slept in Gryffindor tower, except for there was only one bed.
This isn't so bad... the only thing I have to share with Malfoy is the common room...
Hermione was thrilled of the prospect of having her own bathroom. She grabbed her bath robe and some pajamas from her cabinet, and went to her private bathroom to have a shower.
Hermione woke up the next morning, and after dressing and making sure her hair was OK, headed for some breakfast. She found Ginny reading the Daily Prophet and eating cereal.
"Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking kind of worried, "are you reading?" Ginny looked up.
"No, I'm only pretending to." She grinned. "So, how is the whole sharing - dorms - with - Malfoy going?"
"Actually, it is not as bad as you may think. I didn't even see or hear him last night. And the only thing we have to share is the common room."
"Well, you are really lucky," Ginny said matter-of-factly, "because Malfoy is a total hottie."
"Ginny!" Hermione whispered, looking alarmed, "keep your voice down, you wouldn't want Harry or Ron to hear you say that!"
Ginny shrugged, and ate some more of her cereal. Hermione then remembered to tell Ginny about Colin, when at that moment, he sat down next to Hermione.
"Hey Hermione!" He said breathlessly, "What classes do you have today? Do you think we may have the same class?"
Ginny looked at the two from above her newspaper. She raised an eyebrow. Hermione gave her a 'please save me' look, and Ginny understood immediately.
"Er - Hermione, I think Malfoy is calling you." She pointed to Malfoy, who was just entering the Great Hall.
"No hes not," Colin said as he looked over at Malfoy with narrowed eyes. "Hes yawning."
"Yes he is!" Hermione scrambled out of her seat towards Malfoy. She grabbed the blond boy and ran out of the Hall.
"Arrgh! Granger! Get off!" He snapped as he brushed off the spot where Hermione had grabbed his arm. "If you're here to make the bloody timetables, forget it. I am not starting off the day by doing work."
"No, no!" Hermione whispered, annoyed by his behavior. "I'm hiding from Colin Creevy. Hes been following me everywhere!"
Malfoy's expression changed from disgust to amusement.
"So you have a stalker. Congratulations. If your lucky, he may start an 'I love Mudbloods club'." He smirked and went back into the Great Hall.
What troubled Hermione about Malfoy's comment was not that he had called her a Mudblood. It was that what if Colin began parading around, telling everybody he loved her? She couldn't bear to think about it. She went up to her room to prepare for Potions, her first class of the day.
Potions went by pretty normally; Harry getting points docked from Gryffindor for being tardy, and Malfoy getting points to Slytherin for – well – just being Malfoy.
Hermione entered the Great Hall with Ron and Harry, laughing about how Neville's potion caused Goyle to sprout an extra arm on top of his head. She sat down, relieved that Colin was nowhere in sight. Professor McGonagall came over to Hermione to give her a list of the things she and Malfoy would be planning that year.
"So whavte do you haff to do vis year?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.
Hermione, ignoring Ron's rude table manners said, "We'll have to plan the Winter Ball, and the Graduation Ceremony."
"Sounds like merry fun," Harry said sarcastically, "And you get to do all that with Malfoy! Ron and I are so jealous."
She smacked him playfully and ate the rest of her lunch.
After all of her classes and dinner, Hermione returned to her common room to do homework.
After a few minutes, Malfoy entered the common room. He stood next to Hermione, who was reading a textbook so fast, her eyes looked blurry.
"What?" She snapped after a while, annoyed that he just stood by her.
"You have a letter."
"Huh?" He dropped a small piece of parchment rolled with a ribbon around it on her desk. Malfoy then went to his room. Hermione put her book down and opened the roll of parchment, dreading what she was about to see. It said:
Dear Hermione,
I really like you.
And I think you like me too.
We should be together,
Just you and me forever.
Nothing will tear us apart
We are two halves to one heart.
Love,
A Secret Admirer
Hermione felt extremely nauseous. How could Colin think she liked him too? And what if Malfoy had read the letter? He would tell everybody. No, Colin had taken this too far. She would have to confront him tomorrow.