Chapter seven.
"-And of course, we have four new additions to our staff! Please welcome back Mr. Remus Lupin, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures, Mr. Neville Longbottom, who will be taking Mrs. Pomona Sprout's old position as Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff, Mr. Draco Malfoy, who will be taking his Godfather, Severus Snape's position as Potions Master and Head of Slytherin and Miss Hermione Granger, who will be taking my old position of Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor. Now, we have yet to replace the D.A.D.A teacher, and so the students will have a free period during that time in the upcoming weeks until we can find one." McGonagall said to the gathered staff.
"Now, everyone you know where to go, meeting dismissed. Neville; Hagrid will take you to your house and bring in Miss Hannah Abbot from Hogsmeade. Hermione and Draco, please follow me and I'll show you to your commons and don't worry, all your things have been placed into your respective rooms."
The rest of the staff wandered off, chatting and catching up and Hermione hugged Neville good-bye before turning to follow McGonagall.
"Come on Granger, you're holding us up." Malfoy drawled in a rich baritone.
Hermione glared at him, before flipping her hair over her shoulder and hurrying up to McGonagall's side. She'd rather be dead before she said this, but Malfoy had grown rather…hot.
He had filled out into a tall, lean and muscular man, with a perfectly chiselled face and the blond hair that had been so arrogantly slicked back now fell (sexily, but she'd be double dead before that word and Malfoy's name fell between her lips at the same time) into his eyes, giving him a handsome, haunted look that had girls falling over themselves.
He had ditched his travelling cloak and was now wearing well fitted charcoal slacks and a loose white shirt that, when he walked, from the corner of her eye, Hermione could catch glimpses of a hard six pack hidden underneath from when the shirt pressed itself against him.
Meanwhile, Draco was enjoying the view of Hermione's backside as her hips swayed enticingly when she walked.
Her bushy hair was now tamed into curly waves that shone and, damn it, Blaise was right, she had grown into her body, she had delicious curves that ached to be stroked and long toned legs.
She wore a close-fitting knee length black skirt that emphasised her waist and tight bottom and a top collared white blouse that was carefully tucked into it that drew attention to her equally delectable top half.
Over that she still wore her dark blue travelling cloak that billowed out behind her. Other than that, the only colour she wore was a small goldish-red lion brooch that clasped her cloak together.
Draco smirked; this girl - no woman - was still as feisty as ever, it'd take a bit of work for her to succumb to the good ol' Malfoy charms.
Regardless of what others thought, Draco had been raised to respect muggles, as they lived in a world that was harder then his, what with them being without magic and to also have the utmost respect for muggleborn witches and wizards as they had to have an extraordinary amount of power to be able to conduct the magic that muggles believed didn't exist.
But as the threat of Voldemort loomed, Draco's father urged him to pretend to hate muggles and muggleborns to prevent any word that Lucius was spreading views other than Pureblood Propaganda.
After the war, Draco found out that a lot of the Slytherins had also been faking their hatred, as they feared the wrath of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, now most of his old Slytherin friends were best mates with muggleborns.
The Dark Mark that had marred Draco's alabaster skin was now just a fancy tattoo and Draco had been experimenting with ways to change its form so that it no longer represented the evil man's twisted ideas but instead to take the form of his namesake.
A small dragon now lay where the Dark Mark once took residence. Of course, he would have preferred it if there was no tattoo at all, but he would take what he could.
"And here it is." McGonagall showed them the portrait of a lone wolf, silently watching them with large, amber eyes as it prowled a dark forest.
"A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi."McGonagall stated and the painting slowly opened. Draco blinked and shook his head, "Sorry, what was that again?"
Hermione shot him a withering look, "You're going to need to write that down, aren't you?"
"…Maybe. At least until I can remember it all…"
"You two can decorate as you see fit. Now, as Head of Houses, you're also going to need to set a password for the entry of each of your respective house commons. Just go to the appropriate entry-way, tap it three times and say 'Mut Occultus', before saying the password you've chosen.''
McGonagall clapped her hands and gave them her infamous thin-lipped smile, "Well, Good-night, I'll leave you two to get settled and Hermione-" Hermione turned to her old Head of House, "You'll be taking over my role of bringing in the First Years…Try not to scare them too much, I know how much fun it is." Hermione blushed as Draco sniggered. McGonagall tipped her head slightly and left swiftly.