Author's Note: Alright, this one may be a little rocky, I had a different route in my mind a couple of days ago but I couldn't remember what exactly happened so this is what happened. Hopefully you all enjoy it. Please read and REVIEW! I would love to have reviews, even if it's to tell me you read it, it would be enough encouragement to keep me writing this. So I hope to see some reviews.
Disclaimer:I do not own any character in this chapter except for Emily Lennis, but I don't own her either. She just came to mind.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3
Draco found a few books that would pertain to the Venomous Tentacula plants that they had to write an essay on and then perform some sort of stupid and idiotic presentation on in class on an actual plant. He rolled his eyes at the thought but he was a good student, he was not an idiot like some people thought and he would do his homework. He may not like it… but he'd do it. He moved his way through the shelves glancing for a moment back at her table but what he saw made him slightly angry. Closing the book and moving quickly towards the table he stood before her, she had very dark, almost a dark chocolate brown color for her hair, her face was down looking to the books that was spread out before her. He furrowed his brow and snapped
"Who are you?"
The girl looked up and he was caught a bit off guard at her face. His eyes widened slightly as he took her in, her eyes matched the darkness of her hair and it seemed to fit perfectly with the peach tone she had to her skin. This girl… looked just like...
"Excuse me?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at the harshness that came from whoever spoke to her. Of course she didn't think that she'd be so rudely spoken to on her first day but of course… it had to be Draco Malfoy. Her chocolate eyes narrowed at him and was ready to retort with her own harshness but she had to remember, she was NOT Hermione Granger but Mia James. Taking in a deep breath she put on a curious expression
"You heard me… who the hell are you? Who told you that you could sit at this table?"
"If I am not mistaken, this is just a table."
"You didn't answer my first question"
The brunette rolled her eyes at the blonde; she didn't even think that she would see him again. He never crossed her mind and now he was the first actual student to speak to her, running a hand through her dark curls she rolled her eyes "You're a bit rude aren't you? I'm Mia James, I just transferred here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy." Grey eyes narrowed at the girl, Mia James… but… she looked so much like...like h-her. Grey eyes narrowed as he looked to her, who did she think she was? She could not sit at this table, he would not allow it. He was Head Boy and he would definitely enforce his power on this girl whether she was new or not, he folded his arms across his chest and smirked
"I'm Head Boy and you have to do as I say, you may not sit here. This table is not open to other students"
Hermione looked back up to him; she blinked slowly trying to keep her surprise from her face. He was Head Boy? Who came up with that bloody decision? Well of course Snape, he was Headmaster and he always favored the blonde over his other students… well then who was Head Girl? Surely Pansy Parkinson wasn't. "You still have not told me why I cannot sit here. For one, it is just a table and two, there is no name claiming the table. So you sir, Mr. Head Boy, are being a bit overdramatic about a table" She smirked in his direction, even if she wasn't herself, she was not going to allow him to bully her. Before he had the chance to retort, a piece of parchment flew towards her, it must be the letter from Professor McGonagall, and it landed right in front of her. Draco blinked in surprise
"What is-"
"It has nothing to do with you" She snapped plucking the parchment from the table and opened it quickly. Her chocolate eyes scanned the words, apparently her room was ready, and the password to the Gryffindor tower was given as well along with her class schedule. Letting out a sigh, she began to pack up her things, might as well go ahead and get moving now. This is really it. Not giving the Slytherin a second glance, she pulled her things together and brushed past him and quickly left the library to head up to the seventh floor. Draco watched the very familiar girl leave, he did not appreciate being ignored and cut off the way he was, who did this girl think she was?
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Hermione made her way quickly down the corridors; it was almost like the other few who were also in the corridors were blurs to her. She really just wanted to get to her room, take a shower and cry herself to sleep, the brunette had been holding her emotions in since she left McGonagall's office and now she really just wanted to release them all. Almost making it to the changing staircase, she was suddenly jerked sideways as she was grabbed from behind and pushed into a classroom, letting out a startled gasp she stumbled throwing her hands out to stop herself against one of the desks. Body tensing, she pulled her wand from her jean's pocket and quickly turned pointing her wand at whoever had the nerve to do this.
"You!" Closing the door and locking it behind him, he moved forward. His eyes were trained on her and he shook his head a small chuckle bubbling in his throat
"What the bloody hell were you thinking? Did you honestly think that you could get away with this? Why are you even here?"
"Why do you care? If you knew then why didn't you run off and tell on me like you have done in the past!"
His lip twitched at her accusation, he moved forward more into the room looking to her with narrowed eyes "Seriously? I am not a CHILD Granger! What makes you think that I am going to go and snitch on you? I find this fascinating and amusing. Not to mention I have something on you." He grinned "What happened? Did Potter and Weasley finally get together and drop you off alone?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed but her wand arm never faltered, she was not afraid of the blonde Slytherin who stood tall before her. How did he recognize her? She thought she altered her appearance enough to not give herself away, so how did someone like Draco Malfoy notice?
"You have no right to speak about either of them you slimy git!" Draco moved forward, he hardly cared about her narrowed eyes but he had no doubt that wouldn't and couldn't spell him if she so pleased. Hermione Granger… was a force to be reckoned with. He moved until he was chest to wand and stared her down
"Tell me Granger… what must have been so bad that you had to return to Hogwarts in its worst state ever" There was no way she was going to tell him what really happened. He had no right to know and she definitely would not give him the honor in telling him the story. Lowering her wand, Hermione took a step back from him her eyes never leaving his face
"What do you want Malfoy?"
"You're supposed to be smart, you are supposed to be all of this greatness but yet you have made the most idiotic decision… well other than choosing to be friends with Pothead and the Weasel…"
"Is there a point to your ramblings?" She was growing angry and giving him another slap to match the one that she gave him back in their third year was coming to her mind. Honestly, the Gryffindor would find no remorse in doing so because right now, that's what he deserved. "I don't really see what you're trying to do here other than irritate me. Speaking of irritating, you antagonizing me over a bloody table… a table where I always sat in the past… that was just bloody ridiculous. Regardless of it being me in disguise…"
"Not a good disguise… honestly Granger. You making your hair that color may throw people off for a moment, but for a continuous effect, you need to do a drastic change."
Hermione folded her arms, her wand was never put away but she gave him the look saying 'what would you have done' since clearly he was hinting that he would have done something different. "Oh please tell me oh great Malfoy… you think my current look is too obvious then please tell me what to do now" Sarcasm was laced through her words but it only caused the blonde to smirk, quicker than she could react, he grabbed her shoulders in a tight grip, spun her around to face the window behind them and nodded to her reflection.
"You look too much like yourself. Change your hair color and your eye color… I think blonde hair and blue eyes would definitely make you more appealing." The brunette cringed at his breath against her ear and she shrugged him off
"Definitely not, I am not going to look like you." If there was anyone she would look like…gazing at her reflection she formulated an image. He was unfortunately right. She looked like herself and for this to work she couldn't keep her brown hair or her chocolate brown eyes, she loved her eyes but they were the two obvious things for her to change. Closing her eyes she let out a sigh, forced herself not to cry and whispered the spell that would allow her to change her appearance and she would have to go to Professor McGonagall to show her to properly do it to make sure it didn't suddenly change back. There wasn't anything to feel to let her know it happened, there was a tingling feeling that ran down her spine but otherwise… nothing.
Draco rolled his eyes at her comment but while she tried to figure out what she was going to do about her ghastly appearance, he turned his back and looked at the classroom they were in, it was just a random room, old desks, broken chairs…disgusting. No wonder the door was always closed. Hearing the girl in the room say 'alright' aloud, he turned around and froze, the eyes staring back to him were a deep intense emerald green, almost like a blazing fire. So similar to her brown ones just… green. Draco took a sharp intake of breath, her hair was now black, like the wings of a raven, her skin stood out against the new look
"Wow" he muttered, he almost lost his senses… this was Hermione bloody Granger. She was NOT pretty.
"Wow? Is it bad?" She asked turning around quickly finally looking to her reflection in the window, the witch didn't want to really, and she was already under a new name, almost a new life. She did wipe all of her traces from her parent's memories so it was like it was all new. Covering her mouth in surprise she muttered to herself "I don't even recognize myself"
"That's a damn good thing Granger"
"Stop calling me that before you give me away. I am Mia James now."
Draco grinned in her direction looking her over; it wasn't as if he didn't notice in the past that she didn't look the way she did when they were younger. It first happened in their fourth year when she came to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum in her periwinkle blue dress; he had nothing to say on that matter. It was then that he realized that Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's mudblood could be attractive but she just wasn't his type. She is a Gryffindor, she is a mudblood and she just… but now, his grey eyes took in her figure, and her uniform always hid that. Where did that come from? "It is definitely a step up"
"Shut up." She said quickly looking to him "Now that you know all of this you must keep it a secret. You have too Malfoy. I don't know all of the details of what is going on around here but it doesn't take a genius to know that clearly Voldemort has taken control of the school."
"Don't say his name!" he said sharply but Hermione just ignored him walking past him, the now raven haired Gryffindor had every intention of leaving and making it to the tower. She had been in Draco Malfoy's company for far too long for her to be comfortable however Draco didn't allow her to get far, as soon as she got near the door to open it, he put his much larger hand on the wood preventing her from opening it. Hermione yanked the knob in hopes of dislodging it but there was no hope, he was taller and stronger, the perks of being smaller compared to bigger people was that she was faster however with Draco being Slytherin's seeker for the last five years would make it harder. Hermione turned around quickly to duck under his arm but he caught her, planting his hands on either side of her head
"Move!" Her tone was sharp and intense but he just smirked. He demanded to know why she was back, what made her come back but she refused to speak so he refused to move, they stood there until Hermione groaned "Why is that important to you? Why must you know? Now move!"
"Is it that hard a task for you to just tell me? I won't let you go until you tell me" Being on the run for the last two months caused her to learn how to react faster, think faster than she already did and she quickly found her way to his chest, she could feel his muscles beneath his shirt but she hardly took the time to stop and admire this boy, instead she pushed with all of her might. The Head Boy stumbled backwards but he pulled her with him and they both fell to the ground with a loud grunt escaping Hermione as she fell on top him. "Throwing yourself at me Granger, I mean James, isn't going to make me stop asking."
Irritated, Hermione jumped to her feet and dashed to the door gripping the handle but again, he was quicker. He stood next to her his hand on the door again
"Can't you just leave me alone, you know my secret? Leave it at that Malfoy. I have things to do and you can spend the rest of the night in the form of a ferret. I'm sure you'd like that." He frowned for a moment, people always brought up that blasted ferret business, and it was rather annoying. He quickly changed expressions. Smirking Draco pulled his hand from the door
"Fine. Don't expect me not to use any of this in the future against you."
"Do whatever you want, I don't care." She opened the door and moved to leave but he was in the way and he was not moving. Letting out an annoyed huff, Hermione slipped past him, she had to turn her body to the side and unfortunately was pressed against him slightly as she eased her way out of the room. Once free, she glanced over her shoulder to him before walking quickly to the stairs.
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"Bonum ductu"
The password that allowed passage into the dormitories for the Head Boy and Girl enabled the portrait to swing open. Draco made his way inside, his grey eyes scanned the room for his counterpart but she was nowhere to be found which was fine by him so he made his way to the couch and plopped down stretching his legs out. He got a bit sidetracked by the return of Hermione Granger, the girl he had managed to think about before she reappeared and he hadn't made much progress on his assignment. It didn't matter that much right now anyway, he had plenty of time tonight and tomorrow, it'll be done and if it's not, he'll just inform Professor Sprout that he just didn't feel like doing it and she would do nothing about it.
"Oh good you're here"
He sighed closing his eyes in annoyance at the brown skinned girl who made her way into the common room from her own bedroom he figured. Not bothering to sit up Draco muttered
"You know you weren't supposed to be Head Girl right? You were second choice." He lifted his head slightly looking to the Ravenclaw girl. Padma Patil sighed and rolled her eyes
"Yes I know, however Hermione isn't here so they had to go with the next best person. Hannah Abbot could have potential if she didn't fail 6th year."
"Yes well… be glad that you have the position"
The Ravenclaw seventh year rolled her eyes and sat down on the chair that was turned perfectly just so she could look at him, they did not get along. She did not expect for them to get along, honestly Padma never paid him much attention, a lot of the Ravenclaws these days were falling on the Death Eaters' side, the ones who were pureblood anyway. It was the smart thing to do in these dark days however Padma and her twin sister Parvati were apart of Dumbledore's Army, they were a part of it when Harry was here teaching them and they would always be members. She just hoped that it would be effective again. "Are you finished? We have important things to talk about. We have to do the new schedule for next week, it's Friday and I want to go ahead and do it now before we just not do it at all"
Draco let an annoyed sigh putting his hands behind his head and kept his eyes closed because he really did not want to be looking at her, not that she wasn't good to look at because generally she was but he just wasn't… wasn't up for any of his Head Boy duties at the moment and certainly did not want to work out a new schedule for those Prefects to do their rounds. Padma looked to him once more before sighing leaning back in her chair
"Alright fine, we don't have to do it now but just so you know, I was just informed that we have a new student. Her name is Mia James; she was sorted into Gryffindor, seventh year transfer from The Salem Institute…"
"Did you tell one of those annoying Gryffindor Prefect girls to keep an out for her?" he concluded that he would keep Granger's secret.
"Of course I did, what do you think I am? I am not you, I actually do my job." With a laugh, Draco pulled himself up to his feet and moved to go to his room, whatever insult she just shot at him went right over his head because he was not listening. Instead, he was occupied thinking…thinking about her.
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Hermione smiled to the portrait of the Fat Lady, she glanced at the letter in her hands was prepared to say the password but the woman in the portrait squinted her eyes at the girl
"You look familiar… are you new here dear?"
"Yes ma'am I am"
"Are you sure?" Hermione's smile wavered and she nodded tucking an ebony curl behind her ear, the woman continued to stare at her before allowing her to finally say the password allowing the large portrait to swing open. Feeling the warmth of the Gryffindor tower caused her heart to speed up in her chest. She was back. Newly emerald eyes glanced around the common room, it wasn't filled thank merlin but Colin Creevey and his brother were there, they were speaking to what looked like first years who happened to look a bit ruffled and afraid. The letter told her that she'd ironically have her old room back, in all actuality though she was glad of that but slightly unhappy mainly because she never really got along with her roommates, Parvati and Lavender weren't her favorite people in the world, especially the blonde, after last year and how she was permanently attached to Ron's lips caused the brunette… well raven haired girl to dislike her more. Emily was the fourth person in the room but Hermione hardly spoke to her, the girl never talked, she was rather mousy.
"You must be Mia" Hermione turned to the source of the voice; she tilted her head to the side seeing the familiar face of the girl whom she knew was a fifth year now. "I'm Romilda Vane, Gryffindor's fifth year Prefect" she extended her hand and the "new student" shook it with a smile on her face. Hermione wasn't Romilda's biggest fan considering how she tried to use a Love Potion on Harry but ended up using it on Ron who was too greedy and ate his chocolates. Not that she wished it was Harry but… well no matter.
"Right I'm Mia, I'm supposed to be living with-"
"Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Emily Lennis, come on, I'll show you your room." Climbing the stairs to her room, Hermione took a deep breath before pushing open the door once Romilda stood to the side
"Hello!" Her eyes widened at the sudden appearance of blue eyes surrounded by blonde hair, her hand was grabbed as she pulled into the room and directed to her bed, her old bed "Hello! I'm Lavender!" Hermione pulled her hand away and gave an unenthused laugh
"I'm Mia"
"We know, that's Parvati" She pointed to the brown skinned girl with long black hair that she kept in a long braid who waved "And Emily but she doesn't talk much" the other blonde in the room gave a small smile and Hermione smiled to her in return. Maybe this year she'd actually speak to her and become friendly with her, it'd probably be the best thing if she didn't want to talk to Lavender. Romilda eventually left, Hermione sat on her bed and leaned back on the pillow taking in the familiar sight of the maroon curtains that surrounded her four poster bed, she sighed and for once in a long while, her body seemed to just drop and melt into the mattress.
"I hope you like the room" Parvati said, Hermione didn't respond, she was just too tired. She didn't realize how tired until she made it to the bed, she didn't have any luggage so she didn't need to unpack. Since it was Friday, she'd just see Professor McGonagall tomorrow about clothes.
"I can't seem to figure out though why you even transferred here, things are completely different. If you would have come before this year then you might have had fun but… well… are you a muggleborn?"
"Yes I am" Hermione muttered tiredly, that was one thing she couldn't change with any amount of magic. She heard the annoying blonde scoff and it caused her to sit up quickly out of anger "Why did you scoff?"
Lavender blinked in surprise, she hadn't expected the new girl to hear make any sort of noise but now she had to backtrack, the intensity in the girl's green eyes caused her to stumble over her words "I-I d-didn't mean anything by it. I was just about to tell you that it wasn't smart to come here, you do know who Harry Potter and You-Know-Who is right?" Hermione blinked at the girl but nodded slowly, she would have to know who Harry and Voldemort was regardless of her being a muggleborn new student to Hogwarts. "Well he controls Hogwarts now, being a muggleborn here is dangerous."
Hermione looked to Parvati, who was nodding her agreement, what could she possibly say? McGonagall did tell her that things were drastically different but they couldn't be treating muggleborns badly could they? Voldemort had earlier plans to rid the school of muggleborns like his ancestor wanted when he opened the Chamber of Secrets, now he could really do it.
"I see… well I guess we'll see" She muttered before falling back on her pillow letting out a tired yawn, she pulled her wand from her jean pocket slipping it under her pillow before drawing her curtains. Hermione lay awake for about an hour trying her best not to think about her two best friends and what they were doing; now that she was here it hit her hard. Tears slipped down her cheeks from her eyes and she cried herself to sleep.