A/N: I hope you're not finding this too slow. This is an improvement over the last one, which was written while I had a disgusting cold. :D
Enough talk, here's the next one.
Chapter 10
Draco walked slowly into the office. It was exactly fifteen minutes to five in the evening and he hoped he reached before the ever punctual Granger. He had no idea what a "meeting" with Prefects encompassed since he hardly remembered attending any in his fifth year. A lame affair, surely. Nothing compared to the Inquisitorial Squad that he'd been involved in.
As he entered, he spotted a mousy looking girl, presumably an overachieving fifth year sitting in one of the chairs reserved for prefects.
"Meeting doesn't start for another fifteen minutes." He stated.
She looked at him and blinked.
"I know." She said simply.
Heavens, a Granger clone! The world could do with one just fine. Speaking of which, what was the real Granger up to? And why wasn't she here having some soul-sister talk with this girl who was now staring at him? He began pacing around the office.
It quickly became irritating, he didn't like to wait and her gaze was unnerving him. Simply to escape from her sight, he marched up to the door connecting the office to Granger's room and knocked impatiently.
"Granger."
No answer.
"Granger, open the door!"
No answer.
"Granger, you open this door NOW!" He knocked repeatedly.
Not a sound.
He looked around. Well, he definitely wasn't going back in there. Drawing out his wand he whispered, "Alohomora."
To his complete surprise, the door opened with a small click. Wow, she must be really careless or just really stupid. He consciously debated for about three seconds whether he should just walk back out into the office or invade upon her privacy. Mudbloods deserve no privacy, his inner voice declared. He ignored his unhinged inner voice and instead focused on logic. Chances were that she wasn't even present in the room. So it wasn't really invading if she wasn't even there.
Right.
He cautiously pushed her door aside and tried to enter without making a sound. He stopped within two steps of entering.
Oh, she was there alright. Fully there and fast bloody asleep.
He waltzed up to the foot of her bed on which she lay curled sleeping in fetal position. Setting his fists on his hips, he examined the sight.
She was fully dressed in her uniform with the exception of her robes, but her shoes were on. Her mouth was opened slightly as she took deep even breaths, seemingly without a care in the world. Her hair had seemed to have acquired a life in their own; they lay in an explosion around her head, covering her shoulders and half her face, tangled and springy from the slight wind. A dozen insults should have entered his mind at this point but somehow his eyes kept returning to those black stocking-clad legs, where her skirt had ridden up to mid-thigh.
Annoyed at himself for being distracted so, he looked around the room. It wasn't the picture of perfection like he'd expected it to be. Her desk lay in casual disarray. When classes hadn't even started, go figure. Muggle clothes lay strewn about the dresser and the chair, her trunk wasn't fully unpacked, few of those precious timetables were scattered on the floor, the windows were thrown open, curtains fluttering. Perhaps the elves deliberately avoided her room. The thought made him smirk.
Where to go from here? Oh, the possibilities.
He decided that he should just leave her to it. It would do her some good to not show up for something for once in her life. Plus it would also give him something to hold against her for later. Lazy bastard now, was he?
He spotted an alarm clock on her bedside table. He had just picked it up to disable it when she moved. He swiftly drew back, wishing he could somehow merge in with the surroundings. Caught spying on her was not going to be good for his reputation. She had turned onto her side, her arm pillowing her head. He was just drawing in a breath of relief when her eyes snapped open to meet his.
To her credit, she didn't scream. She hardly reacted, just blinked drowsily for few seconds and closed her eyes again.
"Bloody Malfoy..." Her voice came out scratchy and thick.
Suddenly, as if electrocuted, she sat up with a start. She stared at him with wide eyes and seemed to finally come to her senses.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?!"
He opened his mouth to retort but she held her palm up, cutting him off.
"Save it. Get out!"
She arranged her skirt to cover more of her legs. His eyes followed the movement.
"Deaf, Malfoy? I said, get OUT."
He smirked at her menacingly. She saw this and reached for her wand.
"Get a grip, Mudblood." He said as he eyed her pointed wand, "Meeting's in five minutes. Better get your ass moving."
Her eyes widened even more at this piece of information.
He turned on his heel and walked out of her room, shutting her door loudly behind him. His eyes again drifted to the fifth year Hufflepuff girl who didn't seem to have moved an inch from her spot. He watched her closely for a while and deduced that she was smiling faintly, as if amused. She couldn't possibly have heard anything, had she? Thinking it over but then dismissing her out of his mind unimportant, he moved on to sit at the head of the table, crossing his legs over it.
He could definitely get used to this.
"Stop your gawking." He barked at the girl.
She flinched, and then made a show of looking around the room. "I wasn't." He scoffed in return.
Hardly a minute had passed when Granger's door clicked open and she arrived in a haste. She had donned plain black robes over the uniform and had tied her hair into a large ponytail. She carried the timetables with her and deposited them on the table right next to his crossed feet.
"Feet off, Malfoy."
He uncrossed and re-crossed them, simply for the pure relish of it.
"Oh, honestly-" she started to speak but in walked Blaise and Pansy at the precise moment.
"Malfoy, my boy. How great to see you again!" said Zabini, "Can't say the same for you Granger, I'm afraid."
"That's Head Girl to you, Zabini. Please take your respective seats."
He rolled his eyes but obliged her, and took a seat beside the mousy Hufflepuff girl. That guy would try it on a female troll if he had the chance. Pansy gave Granger her standard bitch face then proceeded to take a seat right beside his self, much to his dismay. Granger pursed her lips. Muttering a spell, she flicked her wand with four rapid movements and the schedules arranged themselves into their premeditated order.
Slowly the Prefects began filing in. Anthony Goldstein entered with a fellow Ravenclaw girl and sent a nod in Granger's direction, who returned it with a smile. He felt his eyes narrow at the exchange. Ginny Weasley came in with Hannah Abbot in tow. He watched as she moved around to get to the last few of the empty seats and studiously avoided the one right next to Blaise. Interesting.
Granger cleared her throat.
"Okay, I hope everyone's settled. Hello and welcome to the new prefects. I'm Hermione Granger your head girl and this is Draco Malfoy, the Head Boy. As you know, we hadn't been able to brief you in the train when we first arrived due to some minor concerns, so I called in this meeting before term officially starts, in order to outline the major part of your duties. Basically, you're aware that your job is to look for any disorderly activities and keep the overall discipline in check. You patrol the halls and the school corridors when classes are not in process; this includes the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, the corridors and bathrooms of all the seven floors, each one of the four towers, the Dungeons and of course, all of the sixty-two classrooms. You report at ten pm every night and leave when the assigned area is covered thoroughly."
Draco looked around at their faces at this point, they were all listening intently clearly unaware that the know-it-all had obviously memorised this.
"We'll display the house-wise roster in a day or two so you can start with your duties as soon as possible. This position also enables you to deduct points from students but I advise you exercise discretion while doing so. Well, that's your main duty covered, moving on to the other things-you help the younger students and your fellow batch mates with anything that they might require of you. You assist the Hogwart's staff with school-centred activities. You also keep a check on the school's equipment and property, see that they aren't tampered with."
"Your badge also gives you the power to give out detentions to troublemakers but provided you notify anyone of us Heads later with a written script of some sort." She looked over at him as she said so. He raised his eyebrows at her but she was obviously enjoying this as she gave no visible response.
"I don't think I've left anything. Well, besides these duties you should know that your job is to assume automatic responsibility in case a situation arises, you're going to be held accountable for housemates' behaviour. You need to communicate effectively, see that the students can comfortably approach you… but most of all you should remain friendly yet firm. Be prepared for all kinds of odd jobs that the staff might ask of you…take Quidditch for example; you're the ones to be called on for maintenance of the supplies. You'll be the ones overseeing the detentions when the teachers are busy. You get to deal with crying first years or Hagrid's creatures running rampant in the area..."
He'd been zoning out when Granger turned on to him. "Anything you'd like to add Malfoy?"
He looked up to her blank face then gave a lazy once-over to all the twenty-four assembled.
"I think Granger covered it quite accurately. But a few warnings from my side: if you wish to switch partners, you better settle it among yourselves. I've got better things to do than listen to your mindless griping about the other person. And I don't care if you're sick or dying, you report to this office so we can arrange a replacement well within time. I don't mind if you bend the rules when the situation demands it, do it when nobody's watching. And for heaven's sake, avoid Filch and his stupid cat, or the poltergeist. I also don't need any uninvited visits in the office or my dorm, after your duties are over. See Granger for those things as she'll be happy to look into it. Any questions?"
A few of them muttered amongst themselves but nobody came up with anything. He glanced at Granger but she was ignoring him. Her jaw was clenched tightly which made him rejoice internally.
"Right, well. Before you leave, please take these timetables with you and distribute them amongst yourselves. Hand these out tomorrow at breakfast. They're meant for years one through five and the rest will be mailed in tomorrow morning by Owl Post. That's all then; you'll be notified about the next meeting in time. You can leave."
The Prefects filed out the way they'd come, glad to be freed.
"Not so fast, ferret." She spoke as she spied him trying to make his exit just after the Prefects. He froze at her command and turned to face her, amusement crawling over his pale features.
He walked over to where she was standing and stopped a few feet away.
"That was quite a speech you pulled out of your ass, Granger. At the last moment, too. Sure you don't have the whole thing taped to one of your walls somewhere?"
"You'd know." She fired back, "You had your fill of my room just a short while ago."
He didn't say anything in retaliation, simply watched her simmer in slow anger. Looking at his face, he expected there was more to come.
"We're going to clear a few things right now Malfoy. Let's start with what exactly you were doing in my room."
Hermione was livid. Over what precisely, she couldn't say. She just knew it all had to do with the person standing in front of her. He was so infuriating. How did they expect her to work with him? How could anyone work with him? Even now he was just staring at her like an elated psychopath, like it warmed the very cockles of his heart at seeing her so exasperated.
He still wasn't saying anything.
"Well?!"
"What do you think I was doing, huh? I just came in to discuss about this meeting, just like you said. Your door was unlocked and you were sleeping. You still would be if I hadn't woken you up."
He looked mighty pleased as he said this, assuming himself to be clear of everything.
"And that involves holding my alarm clock between your ferret hands just how? Why didn't you just…poke me or something? Why were you standing there looking like a guilty child? And I don't believe for a second that my door was unlocked!"
"Oh it might as well have been…"
"What was that?"
"Forget it Granger, you're blowing this out of proportion, just like you always do. Your room stinks like hell. I wouldn't have gone in there if I'd had another bloody option."
Her face flushed.
"You were spying. Admit it!", she shrieked.
He gave a fake bark of laughter.
"Right. Like I'm just dying to read your precious diary filled with sorry anecdotes of the Golden Trio and go through your mouldy underwear drawer. Besides, I already know how the former will go. 'Dear diary, Ronald touched my knee today. It felt reeeaallly nice but sometimes I wonder when he'll finger me.' Just how pathetic do you think I am?"
She knew her face was now a spectacular crimson. How dare he??
"That's not!-Ron's not-!" she stuttered in mortification.
"No? Is it our very own Saint Potter? Oh joy. Too bad he swings the other way. But I guess that should do it for you? You're only a mudblood after all…"
She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so enraged and mortified at the same time. Her fingers practically itched to claw at his face.
"You shut your mouth, Malfoy. Can't you have one single conversation with me without dragging my friends into it?!"
He looked around the office now, as if bored of the whole thing already.
"Well, what do you want? I came in simply to wake you up, end of fucking story."
He wasn't going to admit anything, she knew it. But she just really wanted to know what he'd gone through. She had several important letters lying on her desk and a few books for the Horcrux research, not to mention her journal in which she kept a thorough account of the Order's members, activities and possible future missions. A million things he might have rifled into without her knowledge. She felt sick to her stomach, now that she knew her that privacy had been compromised. By Malfoy, no less!
It was useless. He wasn't going to let up. She rubbed her forehead tiredly and sighed.
"Just get out of my sight."
He smirked. Big surprise.
"With pleasure."
a few words would do..something,anything? please review!