It was the day of the singing competition. The sun was just beginning to rise.
Draco Malfoy was in a blissful sleep when he was rudely awoken by a strange noise. Without opening his eyes, he groaned and rolled over onto his back, only to feel himself falling. He reached out and grabbed the first thing his hand made contact with. It turned out to be the curtains that hung from his four-poster bed. It proved useless as he fell flat on the cold stone floor, pulling the drapes with him.
He yelled in agony as his bottom made contact with the hard stone floor.
"Great start to the day!" he fumed. He'd already had a bad night. He had been leaving the kitchens when a drunken house-elf got in his way and poured a sickly smelling substance on him. And then Mrs. Norris had been lurking near the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Luckily he managed to escape through the door before Filch could appear. He was now starting to think that was just the start of his bad luck.
Draco quickly picked himself up off the floor, thinking perhaps his fellow Slytherin's might have heard him and felt the need to have a good laugh at his expense.
He glanced at the other four beds in the dimly lit room. He eyed them suspiciously. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Zabini, all of their curtains were drawn. He could hear Crabbe snoring loudly. He realised he was the only one awake. Sighing in relief that he had not embarrassed himself, he rubbed his left butt cheek tenderly. "That's gonna leave a bruise!" he muttered.
He paused wondering what exactly had woken him up. He was sure it wasn't Crabbe's snoring as awful as it sounded.
He paused to listen. He could hear another sound. It was a strange kind of singing voice. He couldn't tell if it was male, female or beast but he knew it was not music to his ears.
Sighing he walked over to Crabbe's bed and reached through the curtains and slapped him hard on what he hoped was his stomach. Crabbe exhaled rather loudly through his nose then fell silent. It reminded Draco of a snorting pig. He smiled at the irony of it.
He strained to listen again. It wasn't long before he realised where the horrendous noise was coming from. The lake.
He silently cursed whoever came up with the bright idea to have the Slytherin dormitory under the vast lake.
He also cursed the idiot who decided it would be a brilliant idea to inform the Merpeople about the impending singing competition. Anyone with sense knew that the Merpeople's singing voices above water were bad enough. Underwater was just as bad. Having the ability to speak didn't automatically mean you had a great singing voice. This was precisely why Draco would not be entering the competition himself.
He glanced at the Grandfather clock near the entrance to the room. 4:30 am. He performed a quick reparo to the drapes of his four-poster, and climbed back into bed.
Draco tried in vain to get back to sleep. Something in the pit of his stomach told him he was not going to have a good day.
Then he smiled to himself remembering the previous evening's events. Everything had gone according to plan. Assuring himself that this evening's events would be just as interesting, he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
In the Gryffindor tower, Hermione Granger was tossing and turning in her bed, mumbling incoherently under her breath. She was dreaming when she awoke abruptly. Sitting upright, only one word slipped passed her lips.
"Malfoy!" she whispered.
She wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on her brow. With her free hand, she opened the curtains slightly and immediately regretted her decision. The sun was shining brightly into the room. The rays practically burned her retinas. She winced begging her eyes to adjust to the light.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and climbed off the bed. Slipping her bare feet into her slippers, she glanced at the grandfather clock. 7:30 am.
She smiled knowing she would have the shower to herself for a while.
It was 8:15 am when Hermione reached the Great Hall for breakfast. Sitting at the Gryffindor table next to Ginny, she allowed herself a glance at the Slytherin table. She noticed it was absent of the blond haired boy who plagued her dreams.
"You still dreaming about him?" Ginny asked suppressing a smile.
Hermione nodded in response. She thought back to the dream she'd had that morning. She wished she had thought about it more when she awoke, for now, she couldn't remember the finer details. It wasn't like all the other dreams she had about him. They were like a fairy tale compared to this one. All she knew was the feeling she'd had when she awoke. She felt like she had lost something. She felt hurt, confused, embarrassed and the overwhelming sense of loneliness. She decided not to dwell on it.
"So…you finalised all the plans for tonight?" Ginny smiled mischievously.
"Yeah," she laughed, "Draco Malfoy won't know what's hit him!"