Chapter 5
I woke in the morning, sunlight filtering through the window. I looked at the clock beside my bed and smiled at the time. I still had an hour or so to get to classes. I jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes and my wand. I walked to the bathrooms and knocked. After nobody answered, I walked in and locked the door with a spell. After a shower, I got dressed and brushed my teeth. I walked back to my room and fixed my hair with Mimi's Magnificent Hair Spray. My hair was soon wavy and flowing past my shoulders. I pulled it into a ponytail and checked the clock. Another half an hour. I skipped to the Great Hall and sat at my table. Only some sixth and seventh years were up, along with the teachers. I piled my plate with some fruit salad and toast. I poured some milk into the glass from the milk jug.
When I was done with my breakfast, I walked up to McGonagall and took my timetable from her. I thanked her and skipped back to the dorm. I packed my books, quills, and parchments and walked to Mr. Flitwick's classroom for Charms, my first class. I was the first outside the door, a wide smile on my face. I had no idea why I was in such a great mood today. I guess it was because I didn't run into anybody who tried to ruin my mood.
It was about five short minutes later everybody started to arrive. When Ginny got there, still one of the first few, she said "Hermione! Please don't ever do that again. I thought Ferret or Italian over there had kidnapped you and was holding you against your will!"
I laughed at Ginny's nicknames for Malfoy and Zabini. I shook my head and said, "No, Ginny, I'm fine. I just got up earlier."
At that time, Flitwick came waddling from down the hall and ushered us in. He did attendance and then we learned a few simple charms. The wind charm and one to make people grow hair from their ears. It was easy, and the only person who couldn't get it was a small Gryffindor in Ginny's year. Once we all had it under control, we practiced using it non-verbally. That was easy, too, and to my surprise, the girl got it without a hitch that time. She seemed to be better at doing spells non-verbally than regularly. All in all, it was a pretty boring class.
Next was Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws. McGonagall was still teaching that, on top of all of her Headmistress duties. We learned to do animal transfiguration today. That was actually kind of fun. I was assigned a small dog, one that was conjured from a piece of paper McGonagall drew it on. I transfigured it to a small tiger cub, and there was a few gasps with that. I laughed too, but was slightly disappointed. I was trying for a lion cub, not a tiger cub. I tried again and it worked. Ginny, Harry, Parvati, and a few Ravenclaws got the spell easily. Everyone, excluding me, groaned though, when McGonagall told us we had homework.
As we were walking back to our dorm for the free we had next, Ginny said, "Why does McGonagall have to give us homework on the first day back?"
I laughed and shook my head. "Calm down. It'll take you about ten minutes to do."
"Still. Homework is homework," she grumbled.
Hoping the Slytherins weren't there, we continued our walk to the dorm. I walked in after saying the password, and Ginny trudged in after me. She dropped her bag by the couch and plopped down. "Wake me for lunch." I shook my head and laughed. But I let her sleep while I pulled out Hogwarts: A History. After reading for about ten minutes, I heard a door creak. I looked up to find Malfoy walking down the stairs. I turned back to my book.
After another minute, Malfoy sat down on one of the chairs. I looked up at him in surprise. He just narrowed his eyes at me and turned to the fire, so I shrugged and started reading my book again. But I continued to watch the Slytherin out of the corner of my eye, still watching as he leaned back and closed his eyes. I noticed his hair was still damp, meaning he had just taken a shower. I studied his features, still out of the corner of my eye.
"Granger, why are you staring at me?" he asked, his eyes still closed. I jumped, startled, and tried to hide the slight blush creeping onto my cheeks.
"I wasn't. Merlin, I'm not sure your head could get any bigger with that inflated ego of yours." He just smirked and said nothing. I rolled my eyes and attempted to read my book again. But I just wasn't able to. The presence of Malfoy was too distracting. So I closed my book, stuffed it into the bag and climbed the stairs to my room.
I walked in and checked the clock. I still had another ten minutes to go until lunch. I sighed and sat at my desk. May as well start on the little homework we got from McGonagall. I was finished in a few minutes, and I sighed and stuffed it back into my bag. I came down and saw Blaise and Malfoy conversing on the couch across from Ginny.
"Come on, Ginny. Time for lunch." I shook Ginny's shoulder until she woke. When she finally did, she grumbled but got up from the soft sofa. I laughed when I saw her hair. It was a mess. I told her and she gasped when she felt it. She ran into her room and emerged a minute later. We walked to the portrait hole when Zabini asked, "Can we join?" I arched an eyebrow as I turned to them.
"I guess."
He and Malfoy stood up, following us to the Great Hall. We parted ways to our tables when we got there, going to our separate tables.
As we made it to our table, Ginny said, "Well that was a bit awkward." And it was. On the walk here, nobody said a word. I have to admit, I liked the Slytherins better that way, but Ginny and I didn't say anything, either.
I nodded my head. "I know. I guess I don't mind walking with them now, as long as they are like that, but we didn't say anything, either, so it was odd."
We started eating, and when we were finished, we headed to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.
It was still nice outside, warm and bright. I smiled when I felt the sun against my arms. It was just as warm inside the greenhouse, and full of wiggling, orange and green plants. As we go of closer, we saw that they had slime all over them. There were spikes on them everywhere. With further inspection, I found big fangs near the base of the plant. The plant was about two feet tall, and the middle was huge. When Professor Sprout told us to grab the goggles, I groaned inwardly to myself. This was going to be fun.
An hour later, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were walking back to the castle, covered in slime and teeth marks. None of us were smiling. Well, Neville was. But nobody else was happy with what the day's lesson was about. The plants were called Magurnytes, and were helpful for mending and curing internal injuries. They didn't like to be touched at the base of the trunk, though, and bit people when touched there, and that was exactly where the medicine was to be be extracted from.
Sprout told the teachers we were going to take a while to clean up after the monsters.
I took a shower first, but it was a quick one. I waited for Ginny while she took hers. It was just as quick as mine, and as soon as she was finished, we ran to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. We slowed down as we came across Filch's cat, and then sped up again. We came to the door of the classroom and stopped outside. The door was closed, and when we tried the knob, it didn't turn. Ginny and I exchanged glances, shrugged, and knocked. The door opened by itself, showing a classroom with a few students and desks. We walked in and saw the other Gryffindors.
"What's going on? Where is our teacher?" I asked, confused. They all shrugged, looking as confused as us. The few students in the classroom started to pick random seats and sit, but I stayed standing. The tension in the room was strong; it was disturbing. We weren't alone.
More students came in, and Harry was among them. I ran over and said, "The new teacher isn't here. I'm worried. Can you feel it?" Harry knew what I meant, and he nodded along with Ginny, who stood next to me. The times from the war had us trained to detect the slightest suspicion among the room or space. I pulled out my wand and dropped my bag. Harry and Ginny did the same.
"Ronald!" Ginny said in a whisper. Ronald, who had entered with Harry but went ahead to find a seat with Veronica, came over.
"What?" He seemed totally oblivious. "Grab your wand. It's not right in here. remember the times during the war, when we were able to feel if someone was here?" I spoke all of this in a whisper.
He nodded, realization finally spreading upon his face. He grabbed his wand from his back pocket. I turned to the rest of the class and said, "Grab your wands. Something isn't right in this classroo-" I was cut off as the windows opened and people in black clocks with hoods covering their faces came in through them. I gasped and put my wand up. "Don't kill!" They understood. These people fought in the war.
I shot a spell at the first one, Stunning it. It went down easily. I furrowed my eyebrows, but shot one at the next. That fell, also.
The next.
The one after that.
That one.
They were all going down like ragdolls, just sitting and letting us shoot them down. I saw Harry's wand flash past my eye, shooting a Stunning Spell at one coming from beside me. Ginny's flaming hair whipped past my view. Soon, all of the lay on the floor. I walked to the nearest one and pulled back the hood. Underneath was a material the looked like iron. It wasn't, and I had no idea what it was, or what the creatures were, actually. When the smell reached my nose, I wrinkled it in disgust. They smelled horrible. I backed away, shuddering at the smell stuck in my nose. The other students did the same, and I walked over to Harry and Ginny, holding my nose.
"Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?"
"Oh, Miss. Granger, I assure you nobody is hurt." I looked up as the soft voice wafted down from the windows. A woman I have never seen before jumped down from the windowsill, landing on the balls if her feet. I heard a strong American accent in her voice. She had thick blonde hair. Her wide green eyes looked over the students in interest. I gripped my wand tighter, in case she was dangerous, or the person who sent the revolting creatures.
"Who are you?" Neville was the first to speak up.
"Oh. Right." The woman laughed. "I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Malurine Burtase. You will address me as Professor Burtase. This-" she gestured to the creatures laying on the floor, "was just your first test." She stared at the creatures and said, "Yes, well, uh, there you go." She waved her wand and made the smelly creatures disappear. Then she just stared at us for a moment and said, "Well? Take your seats!"
I grabbed my bag from where I had dropped it and sat near the front. I was sharing a table with Ginny, Harry, and Neville. Professor Burtase went towards the front of the room and just stared at us for a few minutes, meeting each person's eyes. Some became uncomfortable quickly, and looked away. But the people at my table met her eye, chins high, as did Ron from the table beside us. The professor smiled when we did.
"Okay, now, we will be learning Patronuses today. Who can tell me what they are used for?" Nearly the whole class's hands shot up, most of them having been in the DA. "Mr. Longbottom?"
"It is used for fighting off dementors, ma'am." She nodded.
"Yes, exactly. Is there anything else they can do? Miss. Granger?"
"They can also, if using a different spell, be used to send messages. The animal, or thing, will speak in the owner's voice once arriving at needed destination, successfully sending the message."
"Good. Ten points to Gryffindor. So, the way you do this is to imagine a happy memory, any one you want, but it has to be happy. Some may not be happy enough, so just imagine a different one, okay? Then, when you are ready, say the words, "Expecto Patronum!"
We all stood and performed the spell. I looked at the professor's face when she saw that most of the class successfully came out with full, galloping, trotting, sitting, standing, or hopping animals. The whitish glow filled the room, and the animals all moved passed each other. I laughed aloud, seeing Professor's face. Her jaw was hanging, her eyes bugging.
"Professor, weren't you told that half of these wizards and witches were in the DA? We learned these back in fifth year. Well, some of us. Harry learned it in third," said Neville, clapping Harry on the back.
"You- you learne- learned this where?"
"Oh. The DA. Dumbledore's Army. It was just a little something Harry came up with and taught, because fifth year we had an awful DADA teacher. Wouldn't let us use our wands at all. Slimy, pink toad. Anyway, Harry just taught us a few spells that he thought would come in handy if we came to a fight with Death Eaters," said Parvati.
"Oh. Well, um, that's... um, lovely. Do you know the shield charm?" We all nodded. "How about the Stunning Spell?" Nods. "Unforgivables?" Nods. Her eyes grew wide and she said, "Well then, what am I supposed to teach you? You seem to know just about everything that I had on the agenda for the year!" I shrugged. There was a moment of silence. "Do you know the boggart spell?"
"We learned that in third year. We know most of the spells to fight off creatures, because we learned them in third year," said Ginny.
"Um, okay," said the professor slowly. I furrowed my eyebrows at her odd way of speaking.
"Well, we are finished with this class. Um, I will come up with something for tomorrow. Ok? Goodbye! Have a nice rest of the day!" We shuffled out of the room, heading to our next class.
"That was... odd," I said to Ginny.
"It was. I mean, there has to be something we don't know."
I shrugged. We made it down to the cold dungeons. We had potions with the Slytherins. "Time for potions. And Slytherins. Yay! Not really," I said to Ginny.
"I agree."
We talked into the potions room and sat on a stool. Slughorn came in shortly after. "Hello, hello, students. Today we will be learning about a very special potion. This potion, in fact," he said, gesturing to a potion sitting on the table. "This is called Polyjuice Potion. Can anyone identify what it does?"
I shot my hand into the air. "Polyjuice Potion disguises a person as another, so long you have a part or piece of that person. Say I wanted to turn into Harry for a short while, I would take maybe a piece of his hair, or maybe a toenail. When used, though, it is most commonly used a piece of hair."
"Good, good. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, turn to page seventeen and start the potion. Oh, wait, wait! Partners!" Slughorn pointed his wand at the board and the partners appeared.
Weasley and Zabini
Weasley and Potter
Patil and Parkinson
Longbottom and Goyle
Thomas and Bulstrode
Granger and Malfoy
Finnegan and Thyroe
Bufgut and Brown
That was just some of the list. Most were paired with Slytherin. My eyes bulged when I saw who I was paired with. "This will be easy. At least the potion will be. Lucky, Harry. That's what you are. Lucky." I whispered the statement to Harry, then moved over to where Malfoy was sitting.
"Er, Professor, which Weasley goes with Harry?" Ginny asked, her face hopeful. "She turned towards me and pulled me back over. "I honestly don't think I can handle Italian any more than I have to." I laughed lightly.
"Oh, right. Miss. Weasley goes with Mr. Zabini, and Mr. Weasley goes with Mr. Potter." I laughed again when Ginny groaned.
"Sorry, Gin. Good luck," said Ron. Ginny just glared at him. I started to laugh again, then quickly sobered after remembering who I had as a partner. I walked over to where Malfoy and Zabini were still sitting, dragging Ginny along behind me.
"Hello? Zabini, I'd like to start our potion today," said Ginny, an irritable look on her face.
Zabini smirked. "I don't think that's why you want me to go over there. You just want to stare at me in peace."
"Trust me. If I wanted that, I would have asked for Hermione to kill me by now. And if she refused, I would have proceeded to do so myself. I just want to get good grades, and that isn't going to happen if the table we are supposed to be at is empty, along with our cauldron, now is it?"
Zabini just smirked wider and crossed his arms. I sighed and said, "Besides, Malfoy and I have to do our potion. At this table. So get up. Now." He didn't move. "I have a wand, you know." I pulled out my wand and he narrowed his eyes.
"You wouldn't curse me in the middle of class."
"I would if you were in the spot I need to be in. And if we haven't even started out potion almost ten minutes into class. And you are doing both things, so... I wouldn't take any chances."
Zabini put his head down and moved to the other seat. "Thanks, Hermione."
"Your welcome, Ginny." I smiled.
I sat down on the seat next to Malfoy, and turned to page seventeen. I sighed and smiled. "Okay, this takes almost a month, so we will have to be partnered together for multiple classes."
"How do you know that without even looking at the book?"
I smiled. "I've made this before. A while ago. Now come on. I will go get the ingredients while you light a fire." I walked over to the ingredient cabinet. I looked for some ingredients, such as lacewing flies.
I walked back over to Malfoy's table. He had started the fire, and was adjusting the cauldron to fit over it so that the heat hit it perfectly. "So when did you do this potion?" he asked after I added some ingredients.
"Oh, a while ago. Why?"
"Curious. How many times do I have to stir it?"
"Ummm... eight times, counter-clockwise. Then pause for four goblin breaths, then seven times clockwise."
He nodded and followed the instructions. I was able to see why he was good in potions. He followed directions and got them done quickly. "What's next?"
"Uh, let it sit for exactly three minutes and four seconds, and then we add sixteen lacewing flies and then stir six times clockwise. Umm, we are done for the day, then."
He followed the directions, and then we sat back. "So when exactly did you first make the potion?"
I sighed. He wouldn't let it go. "Second year."
"Second year? What? How?"
I smiled. "Remember when Snape kept hinting that someone stole from his potions ingredients?"
"Yes." His eyes narrowed.
I raised my eyebrows. "That was me. Along, of course, with the help of Harry and Ron."
"What a surprise. Weasle and Potty to the rescue. Again."
I narrowed my eyes and jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. "Don't call them that."
He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what did you make it for?"
"Just a little... sneaking. We just wanted to speak to somebody and couldn't without the disguise." I smirked.
"Who was this person?"
I just smirked wider and stayed silent. I looked at him pointedly. "Me?"
"I never said that!" I said quickly.
"But you aren't denying it!" he answered just as quickly.
"Oh. Well. Oops. Anyway, that was a long time ago."
He seemed to be deep in thought for a while after that.
"Er, what're you doing?"
"Trying to think of a time in second year that one- or more -of you could have tricked me to say something, or tried to get me to say something you would have needed..."
"But I never said it was you!"
"But it was me!"
I shrugged and looked away. "I've got it!" he said suddenly, making me jump. "It was that time I was sleeping and you guys woke me up by playing that prank-"
"No! No, no, no! We have never seen you sleep!"
"Oh, ok. Who were you disguised as?"
I just sat back and crossed my arms.
"Come on! At leas-"
"What is going on here?" Slughorn had marched over and interrupted Malfoy.
"We are done for the day, Professor. Sorry we didn't tell you sooner. We have done everything we possibly can for today."
"Oh, well, alright. Well, you are dismissed! And you, too, Mr. Malfoy!" I smiled and packed up my stuff. I levitated the cauldron over to the counter behind the table. I marked our names on it with my wand and then I left, Malfoy on my heels.
"Where are you headed next?"
I gave him an odd look, but answered nonetheless. "Free. Then dinner. But I have Astronomy tonight! Yay!"
"You like Astronomy?"
"Yes. The stars are pretty, and so fun when meaningful."
"I have it too."
"Oh?" I said the password to the wall.
"Yes."
I pulled out another book and plopped down on the couch, starting to read. "Is that all you ever do? Read?" I looked up at Malfoy.
"No. I eat. I talk, I study, I go to classes, I walk, I run-"
"You run?"
"Yes I run. It's quite normal, Malfoy. Lots of people run. In fact, I am going to do so now."
"Oh. Well, can I join you? Please."
I looked at him oddly, but said, "I guess."
I walked up to my room and changed into sweatpants and a short sleeved shirt. I threw my hair up into a ponytail. Remembering what Ginny had said that morning, I grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote, Ginny, in case you're wondering where I am, I will be running. Just around. I might be back for dinner. If not, don't worry. Hermione
I decided not to mention that I was going with Malfoy. She would freak, surely, if she knew. I walked out of my room, seeing Malfoy do the same while dressed similarly to me. I placed the note on the table and turned to Malfoy. "Ready?"
He nodded. I walked out of the dorm and headed to the Astronomy Tower. I heard Malfoy follow me and I looked back at him. He looked forward.
Once we made it to the steps, Malfoy spoke. I sighed. I knew it wouldn't last long. "Why are we up here? Aren't you supposed to run on the ground?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course. Just... watch."
And I pulled out my wand, climbed the stairs, and turned to the window. I cast a cushioning charm on the ground below. "Just jump," I said, not looking at Malfoy.
And I jumped.
The wind whipped through my hair and past my skin. My eyes watered, my skin burned, my hair fell into my face, and yet, I smiled. The wind captured me, held me. I felt free, freer than I have in a while.
But it came to an end all too soon. I landed onto the thick cushioning. I bounced once, twice, three times. I sighed and slipped off the soft surface. I looked up and saw Malfoy staring down. Raising my hand, I waved for him to come down.
He did the same as I. He stumbled off the cushioning and said, "You are mental. That was scary."
"No it wasn't. It was just... the wind. Not scary. It makes me, personally, feel free." I shrugged. "Not scary," I repeated.
He just stared, and I grew uncomfortable under his deep gaze. "I bet I can outrun you." And I started to run.
I headed forward, toward the gates. Then once I came close, I turned toward the lake. Soon Malfoy's long strides matched my smaller, but quicker ones. I went around the tree near the lake and ran past Hagrid's cabin. I still ran, smiling and not a bit out of breath. Yet. I didn't plan on stopping soon. I came close to the Forbidden Forest, then ran along side of it. I curved with the trees, coming of the back of the castle. I smiled even brighter at the sun peeking over the trees.
"Wait," a voice panted from behind me. I started, forgetting I wasn't alone. I sighed and then slowed, coming to a complete stop near the edge of the castle. I turned, raising my eyebrows. "I thought-" pant "I was in-" pant "better shape than this." Malfoy kept panting, and I stared.
"You can't be that bad. I mean, you play Quidditch, for Merlin's sake!" He was doubled over, his hands on his knees. "I am barely out of breath, and all I do is run!"
"Quidditch hasn't started yet this year," he nearly growled. I waited until his breathing slowed down to a normal pace.
"Well, I will just have to get you into shape for then, won't I?" I asked brightly.
He just glared. I rolled my eyes. "I'm not kidding. I will help you. Because you obviously need it. We'll run every day. Not too hard, right?"
I raised my eyebrows. After a few moments, he said, "Fine. But this doesn't mean I need help. I just thought... I could tale a small run."
"Yeah. Okay." I rolled my eyes and shrieked when he began to sit against the building. I ran forward and grabbed his arms. "You have a lot to learn." I took a deep breath. "You cannot sit after you just ran, or if you were walking for a long time, or anything. It is very probable that you will get cramps. Or you might just not have the motivation to get back up and run."
"What if I want to rest?"
"You lean against something. You don't get cramps that way."
After about five more minutes of resting, I stood up straight. "Let's go." I waited for him, then started to run again. I ran out from the back of the castle to the trees again. I ran along them. After a few yards, I entered the woods. "Wait! What are you doing?"
I rolled my eyes. "There is a spot I used to go to all the time before. Don't worry, there aren't a lot of monsters or anything in this section, if that's what you're worried about." And I ran.
I heard Malfoy scrambling behind me to keep up. After three short minutes, we came to the place. I slowed my pace to a walk and stared at the creek before me. The water was fresh blue, and it was giving life to the wildflowers that were living beside it. The flowers were purple, blue, white, and pink. I sat on a grass covered spot of soft earth. I leaned against the tree growing behind me.
I was startled when Malfoy sat next to me because, once again, I forgot that I wasn't alone. "It's beautiful." I nodded because it truly and surely was.
After a few minutes of silence, Malfoy said, "Why don't we call a truce? It would be better. And easier in my life, and yours, probably. Especially now that we are sharing living quarters." I whipped my head around, surprised at what he was implying.
He did have a point. It would be easier. And wouldn't be as hard to keep up a petty bickering session all the time...
I stuck out my hand, into his waiting one. Wow. I thought I would never see the day. Me making a truce with Draco Malfoy. No more bickering, no more childish teasing, no more annoying comments about everything, and I would have to call him by his first name.
I pulled my small hand from his big, strong one, finishing, binding off the truce.
It was no Unbreakable Vow, but it would have to do.
A/N:Hello, lovely peoples! I am sorry for not updating sooner, I just didn't feel motivated. Next, I would like to explain something. Hermione is supposed to be finished with Hogwarts, right? Well, do to their missing seventh year and all, she was invited back to Hogwarts for sort of a redo year. Others were, too, due to the lack of responsible, sensible, and appropriate teaching the previous year. So they are still practically in the same year as Ginny and her regular classmates, just sort of as a redo type. Not a lot of people came back due to the horror at Hogwarts the previous year. The war is over, in my fanfic, but some people are idiots and decided to forget about that. I just wanted to explain that because when I tried to tell my sister beforehand, she said she was confused. So, since we are finished clearing that up, please review and tell me if you liked the chapter!