I'm sorry, guys. School takes prescedence over writing, unfortunately. But here's another chapter, with both Draco, Clarise (whom I hope you all will grow to love), and Ronald!
Please comment! Anything is appreciated, and it really encourages me to write more. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, anything! Thank you!
Anything you recognize is not mine.
Chapter Ten
The next morning Hermione decided to eat in the dorms rather than go to the Great Hall. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, having woken up every few hours, and wanted the peace and quiet that her dorm offered. Besides, the Great Hall didn't serve coffee, and she was going to need it after staying up so late the night before.
She was just pouring her coffee into a mug when she heard a knock on the door. Wondering who would be visiting that early in the morning, she pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders and walked to the door, holding her steaming mug in her hands.
"Good morning," said the small girl standing in front of Hermione when she opened the door. She recognized her as Malfoy's little sister from the other night and stepped aside to let the girl inside. The girl looked much too energetic for so early in the day, with wide-open eyes and a bright smile. "Is Draco awake yet?"
Hermione hesitated, glancing at the Head Boy's door and realizing she hadn't even given him a thought that morning.; her mind had been busy contemplating her nightmares from the night before and wondering if the Death Eaters could truly return without Voldemort. "Um, I'm not sure… he might have gone down to the Great Hall already."
"He wouldn't have, we eat breakfast together every morning," the girl replied, walking past her to Malfoy's door. Hermione stood at the main door, still shocked at the girl's appearance; they didn't often get visitors in their new dorms.
"Draco! Wake up!" Clarise yelled, pounding on her brother's door. Hermione stifled a laugh; the girl was obviously used to getting what she wanted, not unlike Malfoy. "Draco!"
Malfoy opened the door while Clarise was mid-knock, grabbing her little fist to stop it from colliding with his chest. "All right, all right; I'm up, and I'm sure the rest of the castle is too now, thanks to you." Malfoy chuckled, his voice gentle and good-natured.
"Everyone's already up, you sleep longer than anyone I know!" Clarise pulled her brother to the kitchen table, laughing. "Come on, I'm hungry, and classes start in half an hour!"
Hermione followed the pair slowly, watching the strange interaction between the Malfoys. The elder had a look of fondness permanently in his eyes when with the girl, one that Hermione couldn't seem to match to the sneer he had worn all the previous year.
"I'll just bring this upstairs and let you two eat," said Hermione, slipping into the kitchen and picking up her mug. Malfoy gave a brief nod, but his sister, not knowing of the bitter relationship between the two, rushed over and grabbed her hand in hers.
"No, join us! I want to get to know my brother's roommate! He never talks about you no matter how many times I ask!" Looking deep into her eyes with her own silver ones, she pouted. "Please?"
Hermione glanced at Malfoy for his approval, and he shrugged. "All right," she conceded, and allowed herself to be dragged to the table and seated right next to the younger girl and across from Malfoy.
"Where we ever this hyper?" she asked after sitting down, grinning at the little girl. Her energy worked better at waking her up than coffee did.
"Well, Clarise here has a special fondness for sugar," replied Malfoy, rolling his eyes with a smile. "And I think somebody got into the sweets this morning."
Clarise grinned back, a guilty look on her face. "I couldn't help myself! Meghan's Mum sent Sugar Quills to her yesterday. I grabbed one thinking it was my quill, and when I realized it was sugar, of course I had to eat it!
"At 8am?"
"Of course!"
Clarise then turned to Hermione, who had curled her legs beneath her and was sipping her coffee contently, enjoying watching the pair. It reminded her of the Burrow, where everyone was comfortable and familiar with one another, something she had rarely experienced as a single child.
"So you're the Head Girl, right?" asked Clarise. "My name is Clarise Malfoy, but Draco calls me Reese. He never talks about you, even though I ask every morning. I've heard loads about you from other kids though. You're the smartest kid in school, right?"
Hermione blushed at the comment. "Well, your brother is pretty close in grades," she admitted.
"He's really smart," Clarise agreed, beaming at her brother. She turned back to Hermione. "And you're friends with Harry Potter, right? Most kids in my House don't really seem to like him, but I sit with a girl in Ravenclaw during Potions and she says Harry Potter is the best wizard of our age. Is that true?"
Hermione could feel Malfoy's eyes on her as she struggled to answer the girl. What was she supposed to say – that her best friend had defeated the man her parents had followed for years, had despised her brother throughout their entire school life? "He is very talented, though rather lazy when it comes to class work," she finally answered, deciding it was a safe and true statement.
"Malfoy's really lazy too. I keep telling him to work harder, but he says he's busy. But he needs to do well in school if he wants to be an Auror!"
Hermione glanced up at Malfoy, surprised. "You want to be an Auror?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Maybe."
Hermione found herself talking at him despite his obvious lack of interest in the subject, energized by the smaller girl. "I haven't really thought much after life after Hogwarts yet. We've been here so long, it's hard to imagine there's anything else. My parents wish for me to return to the Muggle world, though, for college."
"What's college?" asked Clarise, clearly not enjoying being left out of the conversation.
Malfoy answered before Hermione had a chance. "It's a school for Muggles. But why would your parents want you to go there?"
Hermione stared into her coffee, watching the dark liquid swirl in her mug. "They don't think Hogwarts will give me adequate job opportunities, and that I need a degree to fall back on if "the magic thing doesn't work out". They're just trying to look out for me, I know, and I am rather clueless as to what I want to do, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea."
"You'll forget all you've learned. You would never be able to use magic with all those Muggles around."
Hermione shook her head, still refusing to look up. She had never discussed career options with Harry or Ron, and they had never asked. It seemed everyone at Hogwarts just assumed she would stay there, but her parents' argument had slowly been getting to her. And after the war, she wasn't sure she would object to having a break from this world so obsessed with blood purity. "There's more to life than just magic."
"Not in this world."
The chair screeched as Hermione stood up and pushed it backward, causing Clarise, who had been entertaining herself by tracing flowers into a pile of sugar that Hermione had spilled earlier, to jump. "But I don't belong in this world, remember?" Hermione said, her voice vicious. Her mind flashed back to her dreams from the previous night, of all the torture she had endured for her birth. "I'm a Mudblood." She turned and stormed across the living area to her bedroom, slamming the door shut and cursing herself for letting Malfoy get to her.
As she left, she heard Clarise whisper to Malfoy, "What's a Mudblood?"
Hermione waited until she heard Malfoy and Clarise leave the Common Room before she ventured out of her bedroom. She had the morning off while Malfoy was in Herbology, and she was planning to take a walk around the Black Lake as she hadn't gotten many chances to escape the castle since her arrival.
As she began walking up the slow incline from the dungeons to the main doors, she felt transformed. Every step seemed lighter, every breath sweeter. She was suddenly aware the fragility of the aged paperback book that she held in her hands, and the softness of the pink sweater she had donned before she left. She hadn't had a chance to really just take in life for quite some time; even her dreams were haunted by the memory of Death Eaters and offered no escape. She was the only student in the castle taking all Advanced level courses – even Malfoy, who often rivaled her in class, was in standard Herbology and an unleveled Muggle Studies course. And she had twice the typical work of a Head Girl, as the Head Boy often didn't make much effort.
The crisp, autumn air brought a flush to her cheeks as she pushed the heavy oak doors open and stepped outside. She turned towards Hagrid's cabin out of habit, and felt a wave of sorrow when she saw no smoke drifting out of the hut. He had been injured during the war fighting the other giants, and was still recovering at St. Mungos.
Hermione pulled her book close to her chest and took off down the grassy hill toward the still, glassy lake. During the later spring months the lake was full of motion, with kids taking boats across and swimming in the shallow ends, but she preferred it when it was calm, even more in the winter when patches of ice claimed the surface.
There was an old birch tree that Hermione had discovered many years ago, and it was to this tree that she immediately walked. The soft bark molded perfectly against the arch of her back, and she was able to lose herself in her books there while listening to the wind wisp past her.
Hours later, When Hermione was finally pulled out of her book by approaching footsteps, the sun was nearly directly over her head and the Giant Squid had surfaced to sun itself, causing the water to ripple.
"Hey 'Mione," said Ron, coming over and plopping down on the soft grass beside her. "Whatcha doing?"
Hermione sighed, shutting her book reluctantly. Ron really had the worst timing sometimes.
"Just doing a bit of reading. I had the morning off. Shouldn't you be in Herbology with M-" she paused, catching herself, "Harry?"
"No," replied Ron casually, not noticing her mistake. "I was put in remedial Herbology. It's a joke class anyway, not like I'm ever going to need the stuff."
"Oh, no, of course not. Not like you'll ever have to be able to escape, oh, I don't know, the Devil's Snare?"
Ron drew circles in a patch of dirt beside him, muttering under his breath, "Okay, so maybe I needed it once."
Hermione sighed again, annoyed with his obvious lack of effort in school. His name and involvement in the war guaranteed him a job as soon as summer began, and he seemed to think that meant he could spend the remainder of the year goofing off. "Did you want something, Ron? I was rather enjoying my book."
"What, a guy can't talk to one of his best friends anymore? I never see you nowadays, so when I saw you out here I figured I'd come say hi."
"Hello then," relied Hermione, letting her voice soften. She was being rather harsh on Ron. She hadn't seen much of either him or Harry since they arrived at school, and although she missed them greatly, she had been too busy to really consider their absence.
Ron lowered his head, becoming immersed in the drawing he was creating beside him. "I miss you, 'Mione. Harry does too. We never see you anymore."
"Well, I am in the dungeons now. It's rather far away from the Gryffindor towers," she conceded logically.
"Yeah, with that prick Malfoy," Ron said, digging deeper into the dirt. He turned and faced Hermione. "Why can't you just stay with us in the towers? You could stay with Ginny, or with… with me. There's no reason for you to be living with Malfoy."
"It's for inter-House-"
"I don't care!" yelled Ron, hitting the ground with his fist. He turned and faced her, his long legs awkwardly sprawled behind him. Hermione suddenly caught herself comparing him with the more graceful Malfoy, and shut her eyes, trying to dispose of the thought.
"Hermione, I just want you back in my life," Ron murmured, and before Hermione could comprehend why he sounded so much closer his lips were on hers and his hands were grasping either side of her face.
Hermione jerked back, pushing him away with both hands. "Ronald!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. "What are you doing?"
"I just… I thought…" said Ron, fidgeting under her angry glare. Hermione stood up and held her book close to her chest.
"I've got to go meet Malfoy," she said, knowing that the name would sting Ron. "Good bye." As Hermione rushed up the hill to the main doors, Ron fell back against the tree that Hermione so often rested against, only to have the unfamiliar bark dig into his back.