Claire (shygirl135) had major writers block so I (Natalie) wrote this chapter, and the next chapters to come. Claire is concentrating on her other story 'Way Out Of Your League'- check it out, it's amazing- so this will be temporarily taken over by me. You won't mind, it will mean quicker updates.

Thanks to all who reviewed.

Edited: 7th March 2010.

Chapter Three: Getting To Know You

"I can begin," said Professor McGonagall. She glanced at the students before her. Not one person seemed to be pleased with their partner, except for Ginny who had a certain glint in her eye, which seemed to say that all was not lost in her case.

"Through this door, there is a large common room with a mini kitchen, comfy sofas, tables, chairs and a small library. This area is for studying, eating or relaxing. There are 3 doors leading from here. There are three bedrooms and three en-suite bathrooms- one for each couple. Unfortunately, there are no single beds, it is part of the rules that you share a bed," Professor McGonagall paused to see their reactions. There were none, it seemed that they already guessed as much. She continued, "The 6th and 7th years will be having their own timetables apart from one lesson a week which will be a compulsory class. You will learn more about this later on in the week. The six of you are allowed to invite other students for socialising, but it is your responsibility to make sure they act accordingly. There is a password that you need to know before entering," she stopped and turned to the door. She leant in so only the six could hear.

"Veneratio," she murmured at a small bronze crest in the middle of the door with what looked like an empty phial emblazoned into it and a large number 16. The door opened and she led them into the room.

Hermione gasped. It was huge! She had thought it would be small; the doors in the corridor were all squashed together. She realised there must be charms on the room, to make them bigger on the inside than they look.

She turned to Draco but he just looked unimpressed. Of course, this must be the size of his bathroom at his manor. She shuddered at the memory of Malfoy Manor. When she, Ron and Harry were looking for Horcuxes the previous year, they were captured and taken to Draco's family home- and Death Eaters headquarters. Because she was a 'Mudblood', she was tortured for information. Thank god Dobby turned up. He is a real hero.

Hermione, Harry and Ginny sat down on the nearest sofa and looked at McGonagall.

"I'll leave you to settle in, your luggage has been brought up here and your timetables are on your beds. Classes start after lunch, where you will be required to sit in dormitory groups. This morning is for you to settle in. Get to know each other. You will need to be married by August next year and ladies must be pregnant by Christmas. Failure to do so will result in dire consequences as set by the Minister of Magic. Although you can get divorced, It is uncommon for wizards and witches to do so and you will be required to stay married until the off-spring has been born and been registered as a Wizard/Witch." Professor McGonagall glanced at each one of them seriously then left the room.

Pansy hurried off to the bedrooms to look at her room, while Draco and Blaise sauntered around their living quarters with disgusted expressions.

"Well, this is great. It's so small," Draco said as he looked around the room, "Although, I bet this is the size of your whole house isn't it Weasley?"

Ginny flushed, "Get lost Malfoy."

"Sorry, I can't. Wish I could, but we are unfortunately stuck together. I feel sorry for you Blaise." Malfoy countered.

Blaise grimaced, but Draco saw a glint of something there. He remembered a few years back, when Blaise and Pansy were secretly dating, they were on the train and Pansy had said "She's quite pretty. Even you think so, don't you, Blaise and we all know how difficult you are to please!" Maybe this wouldn't be so bad for Blaise and Weaslette.

"Can't believe I have to share a room with a Weasley, although I could do a lot worse," Blaise's eyes turned pointedly to Hermione.

Harry clenched his fists. He rose to confront Malfoy but Ginny and Hermione pulled him down.

"Leave it Harry, they aren't worth it," muttered Ginny under her breath. She didn't want to start a fight on the first day.

Harry nodded but his fists were still clenched.

At that moment, Pansy came out from the bedroom and looked at the scene. She didn't want to get involved, for a Slytherin, she wasn't so bad. She just had a reputation for being a bitch.

"……Come on Potter, I'll show you our room," she said as she walked over to him, pulled him up and led him to their room.

"My my my, isn't Pansy getting along nicely with Potter, how long do you think it will be until the walls start shaking?" smirked Draco.

"Hey, watch it!" Blaise said, "That's my ex girlfriend you're talking about, someone whom I would still be with if it weren't for this stupid bloody marriage law thing!"

"Yeah, put a sock in it Malfoy. This is going to be bad enough without you causing dodgy relationships between us all, and sticking your big pointy nose in where it isn't wanted." Hermione stated a-matter-of-factly "Come on Ginny, let's go see our rooms."

Ginny nodded, held out her hand for Hermione to help her up, they both gave evils to the Slytherins and together went into Hermione's room.

As they opened the door, they could still hear them laughing at Hermione's poor attempt at a come-back.

"They are repulsive! How are we meant to get married and have children with them?!" Hermione ranted. She was furious. "How are they our 'perfect' matches? If anything, we are completely opposite!"

"Are you talking about all of us or just you and Draco? Anyway, in a weird way, I'm actually looking forward to it."

"You're looking forward to it? How? Why? Why would you say that?!" Hermione's eyebrows knitted together, trying to work out what Ginny meant.

"Well, they're ……….different. We've never had the chance to interact with them on this level. We can learn to make come-backs quicker because, no offense, yours are a little shoddy. We can also hopefully learn some of their secrets and get some revenge for all the years of crap we've had to deal with and….." she paused before quickly muttering, "…..they're gorgeous."

Hermione had been nodding along in agreement until the last statement.

"What did you say?"

Ginny's cheeks matched the colour of her hair.

"Well….yes….they are. Come on, you have to admit they are the hottest Slytherins!"

"No….they're not."

"Yes......they are."

Hermione groaned.

"How are they hot? I don't understand. They are mean, nasty creatures whose idea of fun is tormenting others. How is that attractive?"

"I don't know, but think about it Hermione...we could have got Crabbe and Goyle." she said looking horrified. "And in all honesty, if Blaise wasn't a Slytherin, I would have gone for him a LONG time ago" She said with a wink.

"I guess," Hermione laughed. "But what happened to your attitude anyway? I thought you still liked Harry, how awful will it be to see him with Parkinson?"

"Pretty awful," she admitted, "But Hermione I think they have the right idea, she doesn't like him, he doesn't like her, but I think they realise as much as anyone here, we're stuck with this for a while so we might as well suck it up and get on with it."

"Yeah. I suppose. It's just going to be hard you know, with what happened last year at Malfoy Manor." stated Hermione quietly. She hadn't given the details of what happened at Malfoy Manor to Ginny yet. Though she seemed to have figured much of it out by herself, and didn't persist about the subject after glancing at the scar on Hermione's neck. "I wonder if they told our parents. I'm pretty sure my mum won't be too pleased when she finds out she's going to be a Gran in about two years!" said Hermione changing the subject.

"Are you kidding?! I'm pretty sure my mum's head will explode when its gets to the Daily Prophet!" laughed Ginny.

"You seriously think they will print it?"

"Yeah!!! Come on Hermione, a story like this is going to make millions!"

"I guess so....Oh My God! This bathroom is huge!!" exclaimed Hermione upon wandering into the room to the right.

"What's going on now Granger? Why are you yelling?" drawled Malfoy as he casually lent against the doorframe. Ginny had mysteriously melted into her own room with Blaise, it seemed. "Come on it isn't that good; the bathroom at the Manor is five times bigger than this!"

"Do you have to be such an insufferable prick Malfoy?! Not all of us are used to rolling around in gold and luxury, whilst being waited on by about 100 house elves!"

"Well you'd better get used to it Granger, In case you hadn't realised we're going to get married, and I'm certainly not moving into your place, so you're going to have to come back to mine."

"And what makes you think I'm going back to yours?"

"Honestly Granger! Don't you read?!" he said knowing this would infuriate her, "Once a couple have been joined in holy matrimony, they have to sleep in the same bed. It's a curse upon the rings, which is why barely any wizard's and witches get divorced, it costs a lot. Also, if one of us commits adultery, the ring will crack and won't be repaired. So, I'll know if you run off with Weasel." he finished.

Of course! I knew that! I had read about it....somewhere...the cheek in that boy! To even SUGGEST me and Ron! We tried it last year but it didn't work. Besides he was with Luna now, it's such a strange pairing, but weirdly I can see it happening between them, they were strangely suited to each other....

"Anyway Granger, I'm going to shower and get ready for class. Oh I also need to check my timetable." Malfoy interrupted her thoughts dismissively. He strutted past her into the bathroom and slammed the door in her face. She turned around, offended, and for the first time she registered that there were two pieces of parchment lying on the bed.

She picked up the one labelled with her name and opened it up, to find her timetable. This year there were two things different with it. Firstly, at the bottom, underneath the timetable itself was a note:**NB: Where the same lessons are taken in conjunction with partners, the two are required to sit together to promote small talk and to get to know each other better.**

Hermione shook her head at this, grabbed Draco's envelope and opened it. She sighed loudly when she realised the only lesson she had without him was Ancient Runes, when he had Divination. Great! Just what I need, more time with Malfoy! The second thing that was different was that on a Thursday and Tuesday after lunch (her usual free period) there was a new class called PRC. What on earth could PRC stand for? I'm pretty sure it's not been on the time table before, I took every subject possible in 3rd year and it wasn't there.

She turned around and sat on the bed. Hmm you would have thought they would make the bed more comfortable. Hermione wiggled from side to side she could feel the springs through the mattress and the thin quilt, draped carelessly over the top was an awful colour! A reddish green colour. If that was possible. The pillows were only half filled with lumpy polyester filling and there was no bed pan, placed by the elves to warm up the bed. It was then she realised the whole room was made up with the same attire. The curtains were sporting a green and red flower pattern and the carpet clashed awfully. Hermione sighed got out her wand and murmured Distinguo under her breath, but nothing happened. She tried again, with more effort this time, the walls glowed, but nothing happened.

"Ha!" laughed a voice from behind her.

Hermione screamed and slipped of the bed, dropping the timetables and her wand, causing red sparks to fly out the end of it and set the bedside lamp on fire. She turned crimson, retrieved her wand, pointed it at the lamp, thought Aguamenti and extinguished the fire.

Draco looked on with amusement.

Haha as is that makes up for the fact that she couldn't perform a simple redecoration spell! I wonder why, she has never missed a spell before. Mind you I don't blame her for wanting to redecorate. Trust her to pick the crappy room, Blaise and Weaslette's is much nicer than this, with a king size bed and a silk quilt.

Malfoy chuckled and picked up his time table to examine it. He glanced at the note on the bottom and sighed. He sat down on the other side of the bed. Hermione glanced around at the additional weight applied to the bed and realised for the first time Malfoy was in nothing but his towel. She gasped and turned back around, Malfoy, who had noticed this just grinned.

"So how many lessons do I have the pleasure of spending with you?" said Malfoy, putting as much sarcasm into the word pleasure as he could muster.

"Um...um...every lesson except for Ancient Runes, when you have Divination."

"Great," he snapped.

"Oh and I'd hurry up because in case you didn't realise you spent a good while in the bathroom and we are going to be late for Potions."

"Snape won't deduct points from me!"

"No but he will deduct points from me, which means our room status will go down."

She does have a point. Oh shut up Draco!

"Fine. I'll get dressed," he replied smirking.

Hermione turned around pointedly, because she had a feeling that Malfoy would do nothing to protect his modesty, and she was right, without even a small hesitation Malfoy dropped his towel and got dressed.

Review please and tell us (Claire and I) how much you liked it.