Draco remained missing as Dumbledore led Hermione to the Head dorm following the 'incident', as she was now calling it in her head. He had assured her that the missing blond would be along in due course but had said nothing that explained or justified what had happened in the Great Hall.
"Now, as you know, along with the added responsibility that comes with this position, there are also several bonuses. These include your own bathroom, kitchenette and common room shared with the Head boy and a private room to yourself. I'm sure I can trust you and Mr Malfoy to coexist in relative harmony," here he gave an ironic chuckle, "without too much trouble. You shall be provided the locations and passwords of all the houses for cases of emergency, but sharing these with anyone will result in the withdrawal of your position, the same goes for abusing the right to wander around the school at night whilst on patrol You have unlimited access to all sections of the library and the ability to add or deduct points off of houses. Misuse of this power will be taken seriously. In short, you have been given a lot of privileges; do not give us reason to take them away."
Hermione nodded vigorously, deciding against mentioning Snape's gross misuse of power when it came to House Points. Whilst she never liked it, she did understand that the Slytherins weren't the favoured house of the majority of the teachers and Snape was like their safe haven. Or rather, he used to be.
Dumbledore stopped suddenly in the middle of a corridor, causing Hermione to nearly run into him. He turned, and gestured to a large portrait framed in an ornate golden edging of two angels sat atop a mountain. They turned to her and smiled widely, introducing themselves in silky voices and Uriel and Aurora.
"Tatra Mountain," said Dumbledore in a clear voice causing the portrait to swing open into a cosy looking common room. Stepping in, Hermione admired the gentle blue colour scheme with silver and gold embellishments. The room was light, with several large windows on the left wall. On the right was a door leading to a small kitchenette, the rest of the wall was taken up by bookshelves. On the far wall there were two small staircases on either side of a huge lit fireplace, each one leading to what Hermione assumed was their rooms. Facing the fire was a comfy sofa with several armchairs scattered around the room and a large oak table.
"Well then," proclaimed Dumbledore as he surveyed the common room with a twinkle in his eye, "I'll be off now. Your room is the one on the left, and yours to decorate as you wish, and the password for the time being is Aurora. You may change that any time you please, just talk to the statue in your room."
Dumbledore nodded to her and swept out of the room, leaving Hermione alone. She already feeling very tired, what with a near duel at dinner and Ron's constant yapping on about the great and terrible Draco Malfoy.
At least now, however, gossiping about Malfoy could be justified. In the great hall Hermione had definitely noticed his irises shifting colour to black, even if it was only for an instant. And that growl, it sounded like something out of a wild animal.
Shaking her head, Hermione resigned to forgetting about the whole affair. It was probably meaningless anyway, and all she really wanted to do for the moment was have a hot bath. Walking up the few stairs to her door she said the password and wandered inside her room. It was very plain at the moment, with only a four-poster bed, a wardrobe, a dresser and a desk all in plain white. The only things that really stood out were her belongings that had appeared at the foot of her bed and the cat-sized golden statue of a sleeping lion on the windowsill.
Figuring that this was the statue that Dumbledore had been talking about, Hermione hesitantly approached it, not sure what to expect. When she was within touching distance, the lion opened one eye and stretched out in a very feline way, opening his jaws in a silent yawn before turning to face her.
"I assume that you are Miss Granger," he said in a low grumble, "would you like to change your password?"
Hermione nodded, figuring it would be only too easy for Draco to figure out hers if his was Uriel like she suspected. "I would like my password to be Winston Churchill for now, please." She figured that a muggle Prime Minister would be easy for her to remember but not nearly obvious enough for a particular pureblood.
The lion nodded his consent, "Very well, and as one well-versed in muggle culture, you might as well call me Aslan. I will work as a kind of personal planner for you. Tell me things you want to remember, lists and important dates, and I shall notify you in due course."
She smiled at the somewhat sullen lion, and he gave a grunt of approval before curling back up to sleep. Sighing, she made her way into the bathroom connecting her and Draco's room. It had a reasonably sized bath and shower along with two sets of sinks and mirrors on opposite sides of the room, with green and red towel sets hanging on a rail. Shutting and locking both doors, Hermione drew herself a bath and tried to relax after a hectic first evening.
"Mr Malfoy, it is hardly becoming of a Head Boy to storm out on his first evening."
Draco turned round in shock at the voice of Dumbledore, who was standing smiling at him from the doorway of the classroom.
Scowling, he kicked the chair in front of him, "Yes, well, it's not like people were being very welcoming," he snapped, glaring at the headmaster.
Dumbledore shook his head slightly and gestured for Draco to follow him. Reluctantly, Draco did, not really wanting to lose his position as Head Boy for insubordination on his first day.
"I understand that it must feel very difficult for you Draco, what with recent events and your current situation. Oh yes, I know all about your… predicament shall we call it?" he added, seeing Draco's dumbfounded expression. The old coot seemed to know everything!
"If you knew, why didn't you stop me in the great hall? You must know about how temperamental I could get."
Chuckling, Dumbledore continued to lead him through a maze of corridors and stairways. "Several lessons have to be learnt, Draco, by several people, including yourself. Any interference on my part would have simply slowed the process down."
Draco frowned, he had never understood Dumbledore's obsession with being cryptic. Sure, he himself was a Slytherin and therefore not unfamiliar with withholding the truth, but sometimes it was even better to be upfront and frank about whatever it happened to be.
"Listen to me; it isn't going to be easy for you these first few weeks, and not just because of your veela tendencies. People are afraid of you and this may cause them to lash out, as one did earlier on, my advice as a Gryffindor would be to prove to them that you can change, that you have renounced your old ways. Be open and receptive to those you would not normally converse with, and have pride in your change of heart. It is an admirable thing, to admit that you were wrong and are willing to change. I would also, however, advice you as a Slytherin and tell you to make allies here in school. Harry holds resentment, but he always sees the best in people, try and see if you can put old rivalries to rest and actually form a friendship with the boy. You're even sharing the Head position with Miss Granger, see if you can't build some new bridges with her."
"How am I going to do anything while I'm already worrying about finding my mate! If I don't within the time period, I'm as good as dead."
"Don't worry, Draco," said Dumbledore, "I have a feeling your mate is within this castle. You'll find her when the time is right."
Here he stopped walking and gestured to a painting of two winged people, angels if Draco recalled muggle studies correctly, and told him the password. After briefing him on the rules, privileges and workings of the common room, Dumbledore left him alone to mull over what he had been told. It was basically the same as what his father had told him, but Dumbledore's words held a deep integrity to them that spoke of years of wisdom that Lucius didn't yet possess.
Opening his door with the password Uriel, Draco immediately changed the décor to his preference of dark blue and silver with dark mahogany wood. A silver snake statue, no longer than his forearm, jumped up from its resting position in the windowsill and swayed its head towards him.
"Hello, you must be Draco, congratulations on getting Head Boy!" the snake chirped in a light, feminine voice. He merely raised an eyebrow at it, before throwing his trunk on the bed and opening it up to start unpacking.
The snake coughed, "Um, would you like to change your password at all?"
Draco nodded, having decided from her voice and manner that she was very definitely a she, "Yes, Bellatrix is a bitch should do for now I think."
The snake coughed uneasily again, "Very well then. Apart from that I shall be your personal planner, so anything you want to remember, just let me know! Oh, and you can call me Kaa. I know that it's technically a male snake's name from a muggle story, and I'm really nothing like Kaa in The Jungle Book, but I guess you do have to trust me!" she giggled uncertainly.
Draco snorted at the snake; she was reminding him more and more of Granger with each word she said. "Alright Kaa, thank you but that will be all."
She nodded and slithered back up to the windowsill where she stilled into her original position, emerald eyes glinting in the moonlight.
Sighing, Draco abandoned his half-unpacked trunk and collapsed backwards on his bed. He really wanted a hot shower in that instant, but the door that presumably led to the shared bathroom was shut and most likely locked, if the gentle humming from the other side was any indication.
He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it all. Hermione Granger: bookworm, golden girl of the infamous trio and Gryffindor princess was currently humming away merrily whilst naked in a bath on the other side of his door. He wondered what she must think of Draco Malfoy: former death-eater, sex-god and Slytherin prince being within talking distance of her.
He shook his head suddenly, trying to rid himself of thoughts of Hermione wet and naked in the next room. It just wasn't proper. Closing his eyes, he willed any indecent images of her away and promptly fell asleep half sprawled on the bed.
The next morning Hermione was woken up by golden light spilling onto her closed eyes and the sounds of a shower assaulting her ears. Groggily reaching for her clock, she realised she still had an hour before breakfast began. Knowing she wasn't going to be going back to sleep any time soon, she got out of bed and pulled off her pyjamas.
"You still have an hour, by the way," a masculine voice said drily just as she pulled off her top. Squeaking, she covered herself and looked wildly around the room for the intruder.
"Relax," said the voice again, which Hermione recognised as Aslan, "I'm an enchanted golden statue, I have no interest in anything you have."
She huffed and hastily pulled on her bra and shirt, steadily ignoring the belittling way Aslan was flicking his tail. Once she was dressed she looked around the barren room, deciding it was time to decorate. Pulling out her wand, she transformed the room into light shades of lavender and cream, with oak furnishings. Satisfied with the way her room looked, she grabbed her hairbrush and started tackling the monster on her head.
"Note to self," said Aslan in a mocking voice, "remember that I am in fact a witch and should use magic on the birds-nest I have for hair."
"I thought you had no interest in what I look like!"
He sniffed haughtily, "I don't, but other people will for sure."
Hermione grit her teeth in an attempt to remain calm and refrain from throwing anything at his obnoxious golden head, "Is there a nicer statue I can get, please?"
"Well Kaa is considered much friendlier by some, she's the silver snake next door, but personally I believe she conducts herself with absolutely no decorum at all."
Hermione giggled, so Malfoy was stuck with a bubbly female whilst she had the pleasure of an unbearable prat of a lion. She thought that maybe Dumbledore had gotten them the wrong way round, but her knowledge of the headmaster told her that he knew exactly what he was doing.
"I don't know why you've stopped brushing, it's nowhere near decent yet!"
"Right," proclaimed Hermione, "I'm going to the common room until breakfast starts. You are entirely too annoying!"
She was out of the door before he had a chance to retort, with her bag in one hand and her wand in the other. Throwing her stuff down on the table, she skipped over to the bookshelves and began skimming over the titles in excitement.
Just then, the door to Draco's room opened, and he emerged looking like he had gotten no sleep at all.
"Morning," he said gruffly, making his way over to one of the sofas and collapsing in it.
Hermione regarded him with a raised eyebrow, "Bad night, Malfoy?"
He snorted, "I guess that is to be expected, Granger. I'm not exactly Mr Popular at the moment and I was kept awake wondering who will try and kill me next."
She rolled her eyes at him and went back to looking at the books. After a short while, Draco spoke again.
"So did you, um, sleep well at all?" he said awkwardly, stumbling a bit over is words.
Hermione snorted, "Please Malfoy, don't feel obliged to exchange pleasantries. I was just commenting on what I saw."
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I know, I know. Truth is, I'm not really sure how else to work out a peace treaty."
"Peace treaty? You mean between you and me?"
He nodded, "I guess so, you and Potter and Longbottom. Weasley is stretching it, but I think I can control myself."
Hermione surprised them both by laughing, "Honestly Draco, you overthink things far too much. If you want to be friends, just say! I can't tell you it will happen instantly, if at all, but we can definitely be civil."
"I don't want to be friends," he grumbled, "I just don't want to be seen as a death-eater."
"Alright then," Hermione said, "it's settled. No more arguments."
"Agreed. Hey, do you have an insufferable snake as well?"
That's all, folks! Sorry it was late, life got in the way. Please review and I hope you enjoyed!
GoldieXxx