The Great Hall, Breakfast, Gregory's POV:
Gregory Goyle was not an idiot.
He wasn't even dumb, or slow, or unintelligent- he simply knew that if you kept your mouth shut and made sure that people thought you were an idiot, you would be left the hell alone. That was how he managed to make it through the War without having to do any really awful acts of torture. Sure he had to get rid of bodies and those faces would haunt him all his life, but he made it through the War with his soul intact.
He never argued against anything anyone ever told him, so they never doubted his loyalty. He never spoke in public, and so for the most part the Death Eaters had forgotten he was even there. He didn't even have to take the mark, which was a blessing in itself, but it wasn't easy for him to watch his friend's line up and do it without having to do it himself.
The only reason he participated in any of that stuff was his father, and now that he was out of the way for good- he was free.
Free, and alone.
It wasn't the first time that Greg had thought his freedom had come at too great a price; despite the fact that he had turned evil, Vincent was his best friend, his only friend really. They had been together since they were little kids. Without him, he didn't seem to want to do anything. Not even pick on someone- Vincent and Draco were always the talkers in that part anyway, Greg just liked to hit things.
He missed having a friend, and now that he was in Hufflepuff, his only real option was Millie.
Don't get him wrong, he liked Millie well enough, but they had never been that close to each other. And you just couldn't relate to girls the way you could to a bloke, but she was better than nothing.
Weasley had just sat down next to him, and that was enough to shock Greg out of his thoughts. When he looked up to see the person on the bench beside him, he only saw a head full of flaming locks because the face was too busy staring at the Slytherin table. Judging by the way his ears were turning red, he doubted that he was staring over there with a smile.
I wonder what he'll do once he realizes who he sat beside…
And then he had an idea. Reaching out in front of him he grabbed the pitcher of pumpkin juice and poured a decent amount into Weasley's goblet, set the pitcher back down, and waited. Finally Weasley turned back around, still seething, and glared at the plate in front of him. Greg took his chance.
He set the full goblet in front of Weasley and watched as the color drained from his face. He looked up at Greg, but before he could speak, Greg cut in.
"I never thanked you, that night, for coming back. So, thank you."
It had to be the longest sentence he had ever said to someone other than Vincent or Draco, but the shell-shocked expression on Weasley's face had been well worth it. Greg offered a small smile before turning back to his breakfast like the exchange had never happened. Weasley took a bit longer to get back to normal, but when he did, Greg gave a small nod in satisfaction.
This wasn't so bad. The Hufflepuffs had pretty much left him and Millie alone, and it didn't really matter than he had no friends, did it? At least he could be civil with people now… and maybe friends would come later.
It wasn't like he wasn't used to being alone.
So lost was he in his contemplations that he didn't notice that the mail had arrived, until a letter nearly landed in his breakfast, that is. Confusion wafted over him as he broke open then wax- hadn't he seen that seal before?
Greg,
As sad as I am that you're not in my House anymore, I would be lying if I didn't say Hufflepuff was a bit more suited to you. You always were a bit softer than the rest of us. I know for the most part McGonagall has us tied to our Houses, but when we aren't (during lunch and such) I hope you're not afraid to stop by. You're still one of us, mate.
D.M.
He smiled and looked up to see that Millie had also gotten a letter- a quick glance at the Gryffindor table told him the same went for Daphne and Theo. He wasn't sure if it was shock or happiness, but suddenly he felt warmer.
He hadn't been forgotten, he wasn't alone.
Potions, Hermione's POV:
The ruling that she had to sit next to someone in her own House wasn't such a terrible one since Dean was in Slytherin too, so it wasn't even a question that they would sit next to each other in potions. He didn't seem too happy about sitting in the very front, but there was no way Hermione was going to sit in the back of her N.E.W.T. level potions class.
She did a quick glance around her to see Malfoy being manhandled none too gently by Pansy into the seat next to her. Hermione had no idea what she was saying, but she did enjoy watching Malfoy shrink under her words.
A voice cleared its throat next to her, and Hermione turned to find Harry and Ginny sitting at the desk next to her. She squealed and threw her arms around Harry's neck and then just as quickly transferred herself to Ginny, who squeezed her for all she was worth. When she finally pulled away, Ginny was beaming at her and Dean and Harry were sitting on the desks talking. Hermione turned to wave at Padma and Parvati, but they seemed to be ignoring her. The bubble of happiness inside of her deflated slightly.
"Ignore them, they're just stupid bints." Ginny said as she glared death at the twins. "Now, tell me everything that's happened so far. Harry already described the common room to me, it sounds awful!"
And so Hermione told Ginny everything, including the stunt with Malfoy earlier that day and at breakfast. She remained perfectly quiet until the end, although her eyes had started to bug out around halfway through. She also noticed that Dean and Harry were listening in, but she didn't mind. Harry seemed to be mulling it all over in his mind, but Dean didn't seem to be surprised about anything at all, she'd have to ask him about it later.
"Malfoy apologized? And Parkinson she… defended you? Last time we saw her she was trying to hand Harry over to Voldemort! But before we get started on that, there is something more important we have to discuss. What does Malfoy look like with his shirt off? I'd always wonder-"
"OI!" Harry looked indignant, Ginny only giggled.
Only Ginny. But then Slughorn came in a ruined the little reunion and they all had to return to their seats. Hermione tossed one last desperate look at her friends and saw that Harry was mouthing something to her.
'Lunch?' he asked.
Hermione nodded as Slughorn began his lecture.
"Now, due to the rather extraordinary circumstances surrounding this term, Madame Pomfrey has asked us to begin brewing some potions that she believes she may well run out of soon. Thus, this morning we shall begin working on the Calming Drought. Now, this potion could be disastrous to get wrong, who can tell me why?"
Hermione's hand shot straight into the air and a small smile lit her face. Finally she was on familiar ground! She began to suspect that classes may well end up being her safe haven this year. She heard Dean chuckling beside her and a voice in the back of the room was laughing as well. She could have sworn it had said, "Yep. Some things never change."
Ignoring them, her hand remained in the air.
"Ms. Granger?"
"The Calming Draught is almost exactly like the Draught of Living Death, the only differences being the measurements of the ingredients, and that when adding the valerian root the potion must be stirred 3 times counterclockwise as opposed to 5 times clockwise," she answered proudly.
"Excellent, you are exactly right, Ms. Granger! 30 points to Gryffin- uh. I mean 30 points to Slytherin," Slughorn had to stop a moment because he seemed a bit troubled at how wrong that sentence sounded.
"Well that's an unexpected benefit," Pansy cackled out from the back of the room. "We might actually have a shot at the Cup this year!"
"Hey now, that's not fair!" Theodore Nott exclaimed. He tried to stand up but Greengrass pulled him back down into his seat. "I finally get put into the winning house, and the brainiac gets switched? The universe hates me!"
Hermione had no idea if she was supposed to feel flattered or not, so instead of commenting she sat back and watch the situation unfold around her, an incredulous look plastered on her face. Harry, Dean and Ginny were all grinning.
"Calm down, Theo. You've forgotten how it usually goes then, haven't you? Slytherin will be all nice and happy in the lead-" Blaise began, only to be cut off by Pansy.
"- And then some form of wrongdoing or evil will happen about the castle. So-"
"So then Potter and his little band of heroes will go off heroing again which will earn them loads of house points and cause Gryffindor to win. Every year it happens Theo, you'd think you'd remember," Malfoy finished off the story begun by Blaise.
For a moment Nott seemed mollified. Hermione turned her head to see Ginny outright laughing and Harry had now fully turned around in his seat to begin defending himself.
"Excuse me but what exactly do you mean by that-"Harry started in but he was interrupted by Dean.
"Oh come off it, Harry, you know it's true! First you had that funny little stone…" Dean led.
"Followed by the Chamber of Secrets," Ginny piped up, although the reminder of second year seemed to have sobered her up a little bit.
"Then you had the whole thing with those Dementor's…" Dean added.
"Follow that up with the Tri-Wizard tournament and having You-Know-Who come back-"
"Voldemort." Harry interjected.
"Yes, very well then Potter, Voldemort come back." Blaise continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted in the first place. "And then 5th, 6th, and 7th year was basically the War. Every year, without fail, you go off heroing with your band of Hufflepuff-hugging heroes and you win." He shrugged as if this settled the matter.
Harry looked stupefied by this point, and Hermione could hardly contain herself. Never had she heard Harry's deeds wrapped up in so tight a bundle and described in such a lackluster and slightly mocking way. She supposed she should be insulted but she just couldn't find it in herself to be.
"Hufflepuff hugging…?" Harry ventured. The way he seemed so lost when he asked it sent Ginny, Hermione, and Slughorn (who had been forgotten until that moment) into fits of laughter.
"Yes, Hufflepuff hugging." Blaise confirmed with a single nod of his head.
Harry was shaking his head, and Hermione thought that not only did this have to be the longest and most civil conversation between Gryffindors and Slytherin's that had ever existed, but it had to make her wonder how long this shaky peace could possibly last.
"Hold on a moment, she's one of the merry band of heroes! That means she'll be getting the points too!" Nott had only just caught up to the conversation, it seemed.
"Yes," Malfoy's unmistakable drawl started in again. "But she won't be getting all of them. So as long as Potter does some extra heroing on the side, Gryffindor will still come out on top once again. Not even Granger's brains can keep up with an extra dose of hero."
Nott nodded in satisfaction. Once again, Hermione had no idea what to think, and instead basked in the good feeling that came from lighthearted banter in the still fragile peace. Then Parvati spoke for the first time.
"Shame really, her brains were the only good things about her, and now they're useless," Parvati snarled.
She knew that the peace couldn't have lasted for long. She felt the smile melt off of her face before it turned to stone. She saw Ginny and Harry reach for their wands, and felt Dean do the same beside her. She heard something snap in the back of the room and briefly wondered if it was Pansy. But this would not do! She could take care of herself, and it was high time that everyone remembered it.
"Poor Parvati, it must hurt to know that no one ever thinks of you as being good for anything. Other than some pointless airheaded gossip and a shoddy lay, of course. How does it feel, only being wanted for skills that you can't even preform adequately enough to get a man that hasn't previously drowned himself in Firewhiskey?"
Hermione's voice was cold, her eyes steely and as she watched the color drain from Parvati's face she felt a small rush of something- though she had no idea what. Pride, possibly, at defending herself without the help of anyone else.
The room was so quiet that she could hear two female voices whisper a satisfied 'yes!' One of them she knew came from Ginny, but she wasn't sure about who the other was from, though logically it could only be Pansy. Before Parvati recovered her wits enough to drudge up a retort, Slughorn seemed to remember that he was supposed to be teaching something.
"Right, 5 points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin. There shall not be any hostile talk like that in my classroom, ladies. The rest of the class is to be spent in silence- speaking only when it is needed for you potions. You'll be lucky if I don't make you drink them once you're finished, honestly!" Slughorn seemed a bit flustered.
Hermione ventured a glance around; afraid of what she might see. But to her great surprise, the only faces she could see scowling at her belong to Parvati, Padma, and Zacharias Smith. Everyone else, with the exception of Malfoy who was ignoring her completely, seemed to be smiling at her. Neville, although did look a little uncertain.
Perhaps it was because he wasn't used to hearing her being mean to any of his friends. She gave him what she thought was a reassuring smile before turning around to do her work. Neville had always been a good friend; she really didn't want to lose him.
"Pass me the mortar, will you Dean?" Hermione got to work.
AN: Phew! That one took a lot out of me for some reason. Now, I know many of you will be disappointed that there wasn't much Draco in this chapter, but I really wanted to start playing around with Goyle's character! Trust me, there will be plenty of Dramione soon enough.
I love all of your reviews and I do hope you keep them coming! Each one I get gives me the confidence to keep on writing, and I can't thank all of you enough for that.
Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling, I'm not that awesome. Only the plot is mine.