Author's Note: So I went on a bit of a hiatus, for which I apologize. I really am sorry guys, I just got wicked busy with school. But now that it's summer I've come back and have a slightly longer chapter as an apology. I hope you don't find my writing too out of character or insane, I mostly write for fun and don't often re-read things too many times. I'm not perfect haha. Regardless I hope you're enjoying the story so far and I'd love any comments or reviews you have.
Hermione had followed Draco through the familiar corridors and stairways until she recognized the path they were headed on. Draco had gotten fairly quiet once they'd left the room and he'd only gotten more sullen as they'd walked. Hermione broke the strained silence they'd been in with a question. "Hey, are we going to the Room of Requirement?"
Draco didn't bother with a verbal affirmation, instead he just nodded his head and kept walking.
"But wasn't it destroyed in the fire…", Hermione trailed off as she remembered what had also been lost in that fire. No wonder Draco hadn't been very talkative, he must have been reliving some unpleasant memories. Though the war wasn't exactly a bright time for anyone.
"Yes," Draco answered shortly, "it was. But they rebuilt it when they rebuilt the rest of the building. Minerva realized it's potential and all it had done for students over the years so she saw to it herself that the room was rebuilt." He seemed to lighten up at the mention of his previous teacher and Hermione still wasn't sure why he had a soft spot for the women, but it would just have to wait. They'd arrived.
Hermione allowed Draco to step forward and envision the space by himself, after all she had never been in the meeting room before. After a moment he pushed open the door and she followed him inside. The room itself was fairly bare, save for a few armchairs here and there. The biggest piece in the room was the round table that sat in the middle. It looked like everyone else had already gathered around and was waiting on them. Hermione looked down and double-checked her watch. They were on-time, it just appeared everyone else was early.
"Finally! We nearly died waiting for you two love birds to show up." The voice that broke the silence was bright and one Hermione had gotten to know well during her last year here at Hogwarts.
"Oh, shut up Blaise. Hermione's the one who took forever, and I couldn't exactly ditch her when she doesn't know where she's going, could I?" Draco said as he made his way to the chairs that had been left for them. Closest to the door and between Neville and….
"Ginny?" Hermione couldn't believe her eyes. She definitely hadn't seen the youngest Weasley at dinner last night, and she was in doubt as to whether she was currently there or not.
"Who else babe? Now get over here and give me a proper 'Hello'!" Ginny said as she stood and held her arms out expectantly. Hermione reacted out of instinct and went over to hug her. She definitely felt real as Hermione hugged her. She was partly so surprised because she'd just seen Ginny last Sunday at brunch and Gin hadn't mentioned anything about a camp at Hogwarts much less that she'd be working at it.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you'd be working here? Or that it exsisted?" Hermione couldn't hide her confusion as she found her chair next to the already seated Draco.
"I could ask you all the same questions babe, but not right now. Later. And we'll also talk about how you got on first name basis with the hottie." Ginny gave her a look that let her know there was no point in denying it or hoping she'd drop it. Ginny's attention to detail when it came to boys was almost scary.
"If you birds are done chatting, I'd like to get this Summer started." Blaise said from his seat next to Ginny. As he saw Hermione and Ginny settle down he took one last look around the table. Everyone was accounted for and he could officially start. "All right everybody. Let's start with introductions, though I'm fairly positive we already know each other. Just say your name, year you're in charge of, and station you'll be running." He looked to his left and nodded as a start signal.
"Luna Lovegood, 5th years, and I'll be going over different magical creatures with the kids." Luna said all of this while looking at the ceiling, probably examining one of the creatures she was talking about. Luna had remained ever the ethereal being she had been back at Hogwarts. Her hair was even a little longer and brighter, though she had filled out a bit and wasn't the waif she used to be. Hermione knew from the papers that Luna had become a leader in the discovery of new magical creatures, having found over fifty new kinds. It turned out she wasn't completely crazy...though it was still debatable.
"Padma Patil, 4th years, and I'll be showing the kids what Muggle London is like and how modern day Muggles live. It's too bad we can't actually leave campus, but holographic spells will just have to do." Hermione didn't know much of what the twins had been up to since graduating. While she had known Parvati better, Hermione remembered seeing Padma around during her last year. She had mostly kept to herself, but she seemed quite friendly now.
"Theo Nott, 3rd year buggers, and defensive wizardry. Like real defense skills, not that crap they tried to teach us. God forbid another war happen, we want these kids to know what to do." Theo seemed excited about teaching the kids applicable skills, but it just sent chills through Hermione. Even though she agreed it would be better to prepare the kids, she prayed they would never need to be. Regardless, it was nice seeing Nott all riled up, it just made him seem cuter. Hermione had forgot what the looker he was, though he hadn't really been on her radar back in the day. Slytherins had always been off-limits to her, it was odd now that they suddenly weren't. 'But', she thought, 'they're not really snakes anymore. Even just thinking about this morning it's clear Draco's not the Slytherin punk he used to be.'
A high-pitched noise broke her train of thought. "Lavender Brown!", Hermione inwardly cringed. "2nd years, and I'm in charge of History. Considering we were a part of it, it's pretty easy to teach. Minerva wants us to really emphasize the new house unity thing this year, ya know, that all for one and one for all stuff." Hermione was sure Lavender would have babbled on forever had the next person not spoken up. Seeing Lavender was only slightly painful for Hermione, though she did serve as a remainder of Ron which was making her stomach turn. If she lost that delicious breakfast over thoughts of him she'd be even more pissed off.
"Neville. 1st years. Herbology." Neville was to the point, but not mean. He simply understood how to get things done. Hermione could see why he was in charge of the 1st years. He seemed like he could command attention very easily now, a total 180 from past Neville. Though he looked about as much the same as he acted. Completely different, and dare Hermione say it, hot. Puberty had done that boy very well.
"Draco Malfoy." Hermione jumped a little bit as she had somehow forgotten he was seated next to her. Maybe because they hadn't fought or pinched each other at all. "Hermione and I will be in charge of 7th years and games. Yeah, be jealous." Hermione sighed. Of course he hadn't completely changed. The cockiness would probably always be the same.
"Hermione Granger," she gave Draco a pointed look that said he couldn't stop her from speaking just because he'd tried to introduce them both, "and like my colleague said I'll be assisting with 7th years and games. It's nice to see you all again, and it seems like I'm the only new person. If that's the case, so be it. Please be kind to me while I learn the ropes." Hermione nodded her head, satisfied with her introduction. Hermione noticed most the other years only had one person, she assumed that none of them had people that needed mentoring. She was also surprised that she hadn't been assigned to first years, as they had clearly been the largest group at dinner last night and were probably the most unruly. She made a mental note to add that to her list of questions for Draco.
"Ginny Weasley. Call me Ginevra or Weasel and you'll be sorry you even thought about doing it in the first place. I work with this dork," she motioned to Blaise, "on teaching the brats in 6th year spells and charms." Ginny winked at Hermione after she finished. Under her breath she said, "Looks like you're not the only one with a hot co-worker Herms." Hermione blushed as Ginny used her nickname for her that Hermione hadn't heard in years. She convinced herself it had nothing to do with Ginny's innuendo involving Draco and Blaise. Nope, nothing at all.
"Blaise Zabini, and like Gin said, 6th years and spells and charms. Though most of the lads only want my help with charms, charming the ladies that is." Blaise cheekily looked at Ginny and flashed a smoldering grin. She gave in and giggled causing Hermione to nearly lose it. She knew that Ginny and Harry had broken things off at the end of the war. It was both too much pressure for them and they needed to have some healthy, youthful relationships instead of the mature and dead set one they were in. Thankfully for Hermione they had remained on good terms, no fighting between her two best friends. Still, the sight of seeing Ginny actually flirt with Blaise was a little much for her exhausted brain.
Shivers went down her spine as someone whispered in her ear, "How much you wanna bet they're doing it in the broom closet before the end of the month." Draco laughed a little when Hermione jumped due to his breath, only causing more air to flow unto her exposed shoulders. 'Maybe a tank top hadn't been a good idea', she thought. She couldn't even turn and glare at him her face was so red. Maybe Ron had been mad about how she was in bed because he couldn't remember. It had been awhile…
"Alright," Blaise continued on, "so all of us know except Hermione that we get this group for one month. Then we'll get the second group in July and the last group in August. Ginny is passing out the schedules for the summer, each week will basically be the same as you know. Let's have another great year and please, for the love of Merlin, no letting your kids run loose." He looked at Theo specifically, "We don't need another incident.".
Theo mumbled his comeback incoherently to himself as we all got up and collected our schedules from Ginny. Blaise was right and it looked like every week was basically the same, with the exception of which activity station would be replaced by Quidditch. Today it was Draco and Hermione, tomorrow Ginny and Blaise, the day after it was Luna, and so on. It seemed like each grade generally had the same schedule everyday as well. Everyone met at 8:00am for breakfast, group morning meeting was at 9:30am, classes started at 10:00am and there were 3 classes before lunch at 1:00pm, then 4 more classes after that which started at 2:30pm and went until 6:30pm, the end of the day meeting was at 6:45pm and dinner followed at 7:00pm. From 9:00pm until 10:30pm the kids had free time and it was lights out by 10:45-11ish, each year leader was in charge of their years bedtime it explained.
As everyone started to head to what must be the morning meeting Hermione couldn't help the sinking feeling she had that everything was going crazy. Her life had been completely flipped upside down in a matter of days and she'd already found herself thinking about her new roommate, which was insane enough in itself, enough times that she was thoroughly questioning her sanity. Hermione had been to theater camp for a couple summers and this camp seemed similar to that, so it wasn't all too new to her. She'd get her bearings fairly fast...hopefully. She mostly hoped she could make it through the summer alive though.