Stuck. Draco's POV
Draco was woken from his musings as a long roll of parchment flew under his nose. "Malfoy! Wake up! Were you listening at all to what we were saying?"
"Uh…" He glanced around, seeing that all of the prefects were staring at him, most with undisguised hatred. "No, sorry." He confessed. "I didn't sleep well." Which was true: he had been far too nervous to sleep last night.
"We were discussing prefect duties and patrols. We thought it would be a good idea to split duties between different houses, so there is no biased punishments."
The Head Boy glanced around, taking in the less than enthusiastic faces that had greeted his proposal. "So, that would be Weasley with Macmillan, Abbott with Patil, Goldstein with Parkinson… which leaves…"
Oh Christ.
"…Malfoy and Granger. Everyone okay?"
Everyone nodded, though some of the teenagers looked quite glum- Pansy let out a small moan of disappointment and looked up at Draco despairingly. He, on the other hand, could hardly keep the happiness that was bubbling up inside of him from showing on his face.
He'd got Hermione.
He shot her a smirk, desperately trying to hide his excitement. Hermione sent back a look of undisguised disgust.
Slightly crushed, Draco turned back to the Head Boy. "Is that all?" He asked disdainfully, acting with all his might to stay disinterested.
The Head Boy glanced at him before continuing. "You'll need to meet-" ! "every week or so with your partner in order to compare schedules, notes, and so on. Oh, and we'll need a patrol of the train every half an hour or so." He smiled. "That's it. Have a good journey. Next prefect meeting will be on the notice boards and reminders will be sent by owl." And with that, he turned his heel and the Head Boy and Girl exited the compartment.
Talk started immediately as people compared partners, some despairing, others exalted. Draco pushed his was over to where the Gryffindors stood, deep in discussion with that over-conceited Hufflepuff prat, Macmillan.
"Granger," he said curtly, falling into the old condescending tone so his feelings were masked from her. "Macmillan… and Weasley."
"What'd you want, Malfoy?" Weasley snapped at Draco. "Come to make Hermione's life hell?"
Draco ignored him and turned towards the pretty muggleborn, who huffed in despair and strode away from the boys. Surprised, Draco followed her until she stopped on the other side of the compartment.
"Granger, I-"
"Drop it Malfoy." She sighed. "I came over here to get away from Ronald. He's been insufferable over the summer." She made a face, but Draco saw the glimmer of affection in her eyes. Ugh. Hermione and… the Weasel? Ugh ugh ugh. He glanced back at her as she continued. "Look, I'm as annoyed as you are about this, but rules are rules. You're stuck with me, so grow up." Annoyed? Stuck? As if.
"Okay, okay, cool it Granger." He held up both hands in mock surrender whilst flashing a smile at her. She stared back, bewildered and bemused.
He stared back.
"So…"
"Tomorrow lunch, in the Library?" She suggested quietly.
Draco was taken aback.
"Look," she continued. "I'm willing to make this work, as long as we are perfectly civil towards each other during our meetings. Deal?"
Draco stuck out his hand.
"Deal."
He relished the contact of her smooth, warm skin, and he held it longer than was deemed polite. A small flush of pink crept up Hermione's neck and Draco stared at it hungrily as she dropped her hand and pulled away.
"Hermione!"
They both glanced around, surprised to see Weasley beckoning her from the doorway.
"C'mon! I'm starving!"
Draco smothered a laugh as Hermione hurried away.
"So what did the ferret want?" He heard Weasley ask.
Hermione glanced back at Draco, and he glimpsed her blushing face just before the door snapped shut.
Hermione.
This is a slightly longer chapter as so much happens here. I'm so glad that people are following the story, and please please please tell me what you think!