A/n: I made some minor changes in the first chapter. I added Luna into the teams that were chosen for the hunt, and replaced her with the boy who was paired up with the Ravenclaw boy from 7th year. She's rather important later on in the story, and just now realized that.
Hermione stifled a yawn behind her hand, her eye lids feeling like lead and her head throbbing. Her and Ginny had spent the past 6 hours in the library, reading every book that might possibly help them in the forest.
She slowly shut the thick book on the dark forest that was laying out in front of her, and gathered her things. "I believe it's time for us to go back to our rooms." she sighed as she checked the clock, "It's almost half two in the morning."
Ginny looked up at her friend, nodding her head and flicking her wand at the dozens of books that they had stacked on the large table, watching them sort themselves into their rightful spots.
The two young witches silently strolled through the empty corridors of the castle, silently speaking about Ginny's relationship with Harry, and Hermione's relationship with Ron.
"I just feel different about him, you know?" Hermione sighed as they turned the corner. "It doesn't feel... right. He's like my brother. But he doesn't get that."
Ginny giggled lightly, looking up at Hermione's face. "He whined about it for weeks. 'Oh Hermione doesn't love me like that. Hermione doesn't want this. Hermione doesn't want that.'" she mocked her older brother with a grin on her face.
A small knot formed in Hermione's stomach as she nervously chewed on her bottom lip.
Her and Ron were together for about a good two months after the war, until Hermione had realized that the relationship was rather awkward for her. They'd been the best of friends since year one at Hogwarts, and Ron was practically a brother to her.
As far as she understood, the decision to break up was a mutual decision, but according to what Ginny had just told her, Ron hadn't taken the break-up very well, after all.
"Oh.." she mumbled absentmindedly, and before she knew it, they'd reached their rooms.
Hermione breathed in deeply as her hand lingered on the door handle. "Night, Gin." she mumbled, and watched her friend disappear behind the door across from her.
As Hermione stepped into her living quarters that she unfortunately had to share with Draco Malfoy, she was instantly greeted by darkness and the smell of whatever shampoo Malfoy used. Silently closing the door behind her, the young witch stepped into the dark room, and cast a dim 'lumos' spell, which ignited the tip of her wand in a soft, blue glow.
Hermione tiptoed through the room, dropping her bag on the small couch, before she realized that she wasn't alone. She could see the outline of his body standing just next to her door... what was he doing?
"It's two in the morning." Draco said, turning on a few candles around the room with the flick of his wand. "Don't you think it's a bit late? Where were you?"
The young witch furrowed her brows. "What's it to you, Malfoy? It's not like we're dating or anything-
"Just answer the damn question, Granger." he ordered, and Hermione swallowed hard.
Why the hell was Draco asking all these questions? He hated her, and she hated him. He shouldn't give two shits about what she was doing, where she was, or why the hell she was late.
"It's none of your business, alright?" she scoffed and walked towards her door, but only to find Draco step right in between her and her room.
"We're a team-
"That doesn't bloody mean that I have to tell you everything, Malfoy!" she snapped. "Now get the hell out of my way before I make you!"
The boy crossed his arms in front of his chest and towered over her, slightly frightening her. But she couldn't let her fear take over her; she was, after all, still a Gryffindor. The lioness began to show in her as she tried pushing the boy away, but his feet stayed in place as if they were planted into the ground.
"I think you're being-
"Oh and what did I do now to give you the impression I actually care about what you think, Granger?" Draco sneered, rolling his eyes at her.
Hermione flinched lightly at his comment, anger building up in her. "Well, leave me alone, then! Because if you don't, I'll definitely tell you what I think! If you care or not!" she screamed at his face, before pushing him aside and storming into her room, making sure that she loudly slammed the door.
Draco hated to admit it, but the mudblood was right.
Why did he care where she had been? He knew exactly that she was either in some secluded corner of the castle snogging Pot-head or the Weasel, or she was in the library, trying to read every fucking book in existence.
So why the fuck did he care?
Shaking his head free from the thought, he decided that a shower would be very appropriate right now. It didn't matter if he'd just been in the shower two hours ago. They always cleared his head whenever something was bugging him in the back of his mind, and they seemed to relax him more than anything.
Stalking off towards the bathroom door, he pulled his shirt over his head and discarded it on the living room floor.
Once in the bathroom, he turned on the water, testing the temperature with his fingers.
Fucking shower, get hot already.
He scowled at the shower, and while waiting for it to get hot, he locked the bathroom door, and with one swift tug, pulled down his pants and boxers.
Once again he tested the water with his hand, and this time it was just right.
Draco stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to run down his face, his shoulders, his chest, his stomach, his legs, and eventually down the drain right in between his feet.
He reached over and grabbed a bottle of body wash, squeezing the thick liquid onto the palm of his hand before massaging it into his entire body.
His mind slowly began to relax as he massaged the shampoo into his silver blond hair and rinsed it out. All the worries from the last few hours washed down the drain with all the dirt, sweat, and shampoo that ran down his body.
Just as he turned off the shower and stepped out into the cold room, he could hear a soft knock on the main door that led into the living quarters, followed by Granger's soft footsteps to the door.
Curious, Draco silently stood in the bathroom, his breathing slow and quiet, as he tried to make out the words of Granger and the person at the door.
"You sure?" said the male voice, which Draco couldn't put a face to.
He'd heard it once or twice, but never actually realized who the voice belonged to.
"Yes, I'll be fine, Jay. I had to deal with him last night, so I'll be able to deal with him tonight, too. And the next few weeks." sighed Hermione, sounding a bit annoyed.
Draco frowned as he heard Granger say the boys name. Jay. Wasn't he the Ravenclaw boy, who was also in the hunt?
What the hell does he want at this time of day?
Curiosity took over Draco, and he quickly pulled on his boxers and a baggy pair of sweats, before hurrying out of the bathroom, and sticking his head out of the main door.
There stood Granger, wearing awfully short shorts that ended just below her perfectly round bum, an a light blue tank top above that.
Damn. She didn't look too bad.
Jay opened his mouth to speak up, but quickly closed it as he spotted Draco's silver blond hair.
Hermione spun around, her brown curls bouncing up and down like springs.
"Malfoy!" she hissed. "What do you want?"
Draco cocked an eyebrow at the girl, crossing his arms in front of his bare chest and leaning against the door frame.
"I heard voices and wanted to see who it was, Granger. I live here as much as you do, you know." he growled back at her, looking the Ravenclaw boy up and down. He was in baggy sweats, and wore a shirt that was probably two sizes too small for him.
"Well," Jay breathed in deeply. "I was just coming to… Well, you know. Check on you. See you tomorrow, Hermione." and without another word, the boy disappeared into his room that he shared with Loony Lovegood.
"You're a nosy prick, you know that, Malfoy?" hissed Hermione, lightly slapping his arm. "Jay and I were just having a normal conversation."
A smirk crossed Draco's face as he looked down at the witch. She looked so attractive when mad; her cheeks would go pink, she would ball her fists together, and her chest would quickly heave up and down. "Don't get your panties in a bunch," he chuckled, rolling his eyes. "I was only curious. "
Hermione sneered at the boy. "Nosy, more likely." she mumbled quietly, before pushing past the half naked boy and disappearing into her room again.
Once inside, her loyal pet Crookshanks jumped up on her bed, meowing softly at her, as I'd to ask what was wrong.
"Hey Crooks." she sighed, pulling the car into her lap and absently stroking the cats fur. Crookshanks began to immediately our at his owners touch, and pressed his head into the girls hand.
After a while of silence, Hermione slowly reached over on her night stand, picked up her journal and quill, and began to write down the events of the day.
It didn't take her long, though, since the only things that really happened were her and Draco arguing, her and Ginny studying, and Draco being a nosy git.
With a loud and heavy sigh, the witch closed her journal, studying the outside of the small book for a while.
Her mother had bought it for her just before she had started her first year at Hogwarts. Though the young witch never really thought useful of it until her fourth year at Hogwarts, mainly writing about Viktor Krum that year, and when She had run out of pages after her fifth year, she simply casting a spell on the little book to add more pages to it.
Hermione slowly ran her fingers across the leather front, her name still clearly written across the top. Her neat, curly handwriting hadn't changed a bit since her first year here.
That's the only thing that hasn't changed since then….
The girl scoffed lightly at the thought, lying down on her side with Crooks curled up by her stomach, and the small journal in front of her so that she could read through some of her old entries.
The rain outside, and the soft purring of her cat slowly but surely lulled Hermione into a deep sleep, her hand still lying on her open journal.
A/n: sorry for having to make you wait. My computer is so distracting. :c I would've had this up much earlier but I've been role playing and on tumblr and here and there…
Well yeah. I mean you get my point. :3
But, question;
Do any of you other writers on here write the chapters out of order? o-o I'm already working on like, a chapter far ahead in the story, and I don't even know what chapter it is. And I'm starting to work on the very last chapter. Is that normal?