As they followed Professor McGonagall through the castle, Hermione found that she was drained of all energy. She was exhausted, and on top of that in a rather bad mood. While she understood that there was a certain logic to the decisions the Headmistress and former Headmaster had made, she most certainly didn't like that she had to be involved.
It was one thing that Malfoy was Head Boy, she could somewhat understand that decision now. But being forced to share a separate tower with him was simply cruel, especially after what had happened in the past few months. It was too soon after the War for this sort of nonsense. She glared at the boy beside her, blaming him for this. Hermione realised that she wasn't really being fair, but at this point, she honestly didn't care about being fair. She felt bad and he was the reason for that, whether it was his fault or not.
The corridors were deserted and quiet. There were absolutely no traces from a battle, something that slightly comforted Hermione. For months she had only been able to visualise a ruined castle when she had thought of Hogwarts. It was such a relief now that they had managed to completely rebuild it. After turning a corner, Professor McGonagall halted before a scenery portrait of the Scottish Highlands with a grazing herd of Highland cattle. Hermione felt relieved when she noticed that they were on the sixth floor, not very far from Gryffindor Tower.
The Headmistress turned around to face them. "This is the entrance to your common room and dormitories. I have taken the liberty of choosing the password, and it will change every two weeks on Sundays. You will be notified two days in advance." She turned back to the portrait. "Unity."
Next to her, Hermione heard Malfoy trying to cover up a snort by coughing. She couldn't really blame him, it was a ridiculous password given the circumstances. A unity between the two of them was not bound to happen in this lifetime. The portrait slid to the left, revealing the entrance of their quarters. They followed Professor McGonagall through the entrance into the common room and were greeted by a wave of warmth and comfort.
The room was circular and reminded Hermione of the Gryffindor common room, except this room was much smaller and lacked a dominant red colour. There were two doorways, one on either side of the room that probably lead to their dorms. On the right was the fireplace with a couch and two comfortable armchairs. On the left was a small study section with several bookcases. The walls were draped with tapestries and above the fireplace hung a huge banner with all four Houses illustrated. There was also a little kitchenette near the study area. Despite the situation, Hermione smiled. No, this room wasn't so bad. In fact, it would have been rather cosy if she didn't have to share it with one of the few people she didn't particularly like.
"Well," Professor McGonagall started after a short moment of silence, in which she had allowed the two students a brief moment to take in the room, "these will be your quarters for the coming year. They are exclusively for you, meaning you are not allowed to bring guests here. The doorway to the right leads to your dormitory, Ms Granger. The one on the left, Mr Malfoy, leads to yours."
The Headmistress paused. "I don't expect you two to miraculously get along within the next few days, but I would encourage you to try your very best," she continued quite gently. "It will make it easier for the both of you."
She then turned to Malfoy. "As you might remember, I mentioned that you are not allowed to leave this common room after curfew, which will be set at seven p.m. You are to come here directly after supper but you may visit the Slytherin dungeons during any free period. After seven p.m. you will not be able to leave this room without me knowing; I have seen to that personally. Should you avoid coming here after supper, I will know, too, and you will not like the consequences."
Malfoy nodded. His facial expression spoke a thousand words, and Hermione could tell that he was most displeased with these rules. "What about me, Professor?" she asked nervously, remembering that she was asked to keep an eye on him.
"Technically speaking, Ms Granger, you are free to visit the Gryffindor Tower whenever you like," she said, carefully choosing her words.
"But you would prefer me to stay here to monitor him," she muttered. The Headmistress gave her a look of sympathy. Hermione knew that Professor McGonagall didn't really want to do this to her, but that she felt it was necessary. Hermione understood her reasoning, but she still felt punished for something she didn't do.
"I trust you to make decisions that will not interfere with your responsibilities, Ms Granger." She looked at the both of them. "If there are no more questions, I advise you to get some rest. I expect you two to have the patrol schedule for this month done by the end of this week." With these words, Professor McGonagall bid them goodnight and left the common room.
Hermione glanced at Malfoy who was standing a couple of feet away from her. He was staring at the fire and looked quite miserable. He had been uncharacteristically silent the whole evening and he hadn't even responded when Professor McGonagall had announced their living arrangements.
"You knew about this, didn't you?" she sighed, drawing the conclusion. He seemed to snap out of his trance and turned his head to look at her, nodding. "Great," she muttered. "You were informed and I wasn't."
"Apparently they hold your summer holidays in higher regard than mine," he responded bitterly, looking away from her. "Of course, this school has always been big on favouring Mugglespawn."
"Oh please, Malfoy. It would have softened the blow for me and you know that," Hermione bit back with annoyance, choosing to ignore his comment on her ancestry.
Instead of answering, he merely shrugged and then turned around, making his way to his dormitory.
Hermione decided to seek out Ginny, not only to have an excuse to visit the Gryffindor Tower but also to find out where Crookshanks was. She exited the common room and made her way up to the seventh floor. As she walked through the corridors and neared the portrait of the Fat Lady, she realised that she didn't know the password. She slowed down and walked around the corner, sighing in relief.
"Hey, Jimmy!"
"Oh, hey Hermione!" the cheerful fifth-year prefect answered.
She then realised that he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by Ritchie Coote, a sixth-year, and she quickly greeted him as well. Both boys had been Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and were quite pleasant. Hermione smiled at them, happy to be around friendly faces. "I just had a meeting with McGonagall, and when I was on my way here I realised that I don't know the password."
Ritchie grinned at her. "Aren't you lucky that we happened to be here! The password is Bubotuber."
"Thanks, Ritchie," Hermione said gratefully. She turned around and approached the Fat Lady, who, upon hearing the password, swung her picture backwards so Hermione could enter the tower through the portrait hole.
Even though it was getting late, The Gryffindor common room was noisy and crowded. It seemed the students wanted to make up for lost time. She was greeted by several enthusiastic exclamations, and it took a while before she found Ginny in front of the fireplace, accompanied by Jennifer, Jada and a couple of fifth-year Gryffindors. Hermione made her way over to them and Ginny smiled brightly when she saw her friend approaching, continuing to stroke Crookshanks, who was curled up in her lap.
"There you are! Took you long enough!" she chuckled.
Hermione forced a smile on her face as she was greeted by the sixth-years before leaning toward Ginny. "Could you join me for a minute?" she asked her friend quietly.
"Sure thing," Ginny answered, lifting Crookshanks who jumped away from her immediately, offended that she had woken him and now denied him to lie on the lap he had claimed.
Ginny led the way to her dormitory and once they arrived, they sat down on her bed. Hermione felt the cheerfulness leave her when she remembered that she couldn't stay here. Ginny took the little purple fluffy ball from her pillow that Hermione recognised as Arnold, Ginny's Pygmy Puff. Arnold squeaked and climbed onto his owners' shoulder where he started humming softly. "What's wrong?" the redhead asked softly.
"I've received duties that I didn't sign up for," Hermione sighed. Ginny stared back at her with her brows arched, waiting for the story that would undoubtedly follow. "Malfoy was allowed to come back," Hermione continued, "but there were conditions. One of them is that he isn't allowed to stay in the Slytherin dungeons, he has to stay in a separate tower..."
"...with you," Ginny finished her sentence with gritting teeth. "How can they do this to you?" she exclaimed when Hermione nodded. "Don't they remember what you did last year? What he did? That you two aren't exactly friends?"
"Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore both hope that Malfoy has somehow redeemed himself and that being Head Boy will motivate him to be on his best behavior. They believe that I'm the best person to guide him, and on top of that, I have to monitor his behaviour and report him whenever he misbehaves."
"Honestly, it sounds as though you have to babysit this insufferable git."
"I suppose that's exactly what I'm doing," Hermione answered softly, frowning at Ginny's choice of insult, which sounded exactly like something Ron would say.
Their privacy was interrupted by two pairs of footsteps on the stairs and the sound of someone giggling. Two girls appeared in the doorway. "Hey Ginny, Hermione," the strawberry-blonde girl who entered the dormitory first greeted them cheerfully. She was followed inside by a girl with a dark brown pixie cut who grinned at them.
"Thelma, Pauline! Did both of you have a good summer?" Ginny said, greeting her dorm mates with a smile. The two girls nodded and then resumed their giggling and gossiping. Hermione got to her feet and motioned her head to the stairs, signalling Ginny to follow her back downstairs.
"But you are allowed to come to the Gryffindor Tower whenever you want, aren't you?" Ginny asked once they were in the common room again. Many students were moving past them to go upstairs, wishing one other a good night.
"In theory, yes," Hermione said, dragging Ginny out of the way to the stairs and toward the fireplace where it wasn't as noisy. "But I think Professor McGonagall prefers if I spend more time in the Heads quarters to keep an eye on Malfoy."
"She can't expect you to stay there all the time, though. You'll go mad."
"Definitely," she agreed. "But I'll make sure to stop by every day if I can."
Ginny smiled. "You should." She took Arnold from her shoulder and stroked the miniature Puffskein softly, causing him to immediately hum louder. Crookshanks approached them slowly, his eyes never leaving the purple ball of fur. Hermione picked him up and hugged him. The ginger cat lost sight of the Pygmy Puff and responded with annoyance, but was quickly distracted when Hermione scratched him behind his ears. He closed his eyes, purring softly.
"I better head back," Hermione sighed. "It's late, and I want to be well-rested for my first class tomorrow. It's been a long time."
"All right. Good night, Hermione. See you tomorrow at breakfast," Ginny said, smiling encouragingly. She strode off and disappeared around the corner of the spiral staircase. Hermione made her way back to the portrait hole, waving goodbye to the small group of students that were still sitting around the fireplace. When the portrait of the Fat Lady closed behind her, Hermione drew her wand.
"Lumos."
She absent-mindedly held her wand in front of her to illuminate the empty corridors, earning quite a few disapproving glares from the portraits that decorated the stone walls. She was out after curfew, an old wizard reminded her grumpily. Crookshanks hissed aggressively at that particular portrait, earning a scold from Hermione. After a few more minutes of walking, she recognised the corridor on her left and found the scenery portrait that hid the way to her new quarters. She muttered the password and entered the common room, relieved to find that it was empty.
Hermione immediately climbed the stairs to her right and was happy to discover that her things had already been unpacked. She put Crookshanks on her bed and started packing her school bag according to the timetable Professor McGonagall had given her earlier. The day would start with a double Charms class, followed by a double Defence Against the Dark Arts. After lunch she would have a free period, and then she would have Arithmancy. Not a bad first day back at all, except for the fact that it was Wednesday, which meant that she would also have Astronomy at midnight. So much for a good night's sleep. At least she would have plenty of time for homework beforehand.
She changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed before drawing the curtains. Crookshanks laid down next to her, and Hermione felt the warmth of the cat through her blankets which made her feel rather safe. Now that she was lying in bed, she noticed how exhausted she had been all day, and her entire body felt sore. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
Wednesday, 2 September 1998
When Draco woke up around seven o'clock, sunlight was peeking through the drawn curtains of his four-poster bed. He rolled over and stretched, his back making a satisfying cracking noise before he swung his legs out of bed and opened his curtains. He sat on the edge of his bed for a little while before getting dressed for breakfast.
He ran down the stairs and entered the common room. A large bandy-legged and ginger-coloured cat entered the common room from the other set of stairs and looked at Draco with a bored expression on its squashed face. He briefly wondered if this ugly creature was a Weasley in disguise before dismissing this thought with a snort and leaving the room through the portrait hole. Still not entirely awake, Draco half-stumbled at the bottom of the main staircase. Groaning, he crossed the Entrance Hall and entered the Great Hall, walking towards the near-empty Slytherin table where his bad mood only worsened.
"Where have you been?" Pansy snapped as soon as he sat down across from her. "I've waited for you for hours and Zabini said you never even came to your dorm!"
"Good morning to you too, Pansy," Draco sighed irritably as he reached for the coffee pot.
A large number of owls streamed into the Great Hall and Daphne Greengrass, a blonde fellow seventh-year seated next to Pansy, caught today's edition of the Daily Prophet and searched her pockets for coins to pay the owl.
"I guess I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm not allowed to stay in the Slytherin dungeons anymore. McGonagall has put me under the surveillance of the Head Girl, and I have to share a common room with her so she can keep an eye on me," Draco answered reluctantly, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Pansy's eyes widened in shock and Greengrass, who was just about to put a tiny bronze Knut in the small leather pouch tied to the owl's leg, paused and looked up at him, her eyebrows arched in surprise. "Are you serious? How is that an appropriate arrangement?"
"You have to share a common room with that Mudblood?" Pansy shrieked before he could reply.
The few people that were sitting at the Slytherin table turned their heads to stare. Draco was sitting with his back to the majority of the Great Hall, but he could almost feel the other students' eyes on him. He just hoped that the staff hadn't noticed.
"Be quiet," he hissed at her. "Do you want to be expelled? You know they won't tolerate that from us anymore."
"What do I care?" Pansy hissed back, but she kept her voice down after that. She ran a hand through her dark brown hair and tied it up into a ponytail, shooting nervous glances at the staff table. Slughorn was making his way over to the Slytherin table, but as they watched him they saw with relief that he had merely started to hand students their timetable. Greengrass looked at him and Pansy with mild interest before greeting the girl who sat down next to Draco. The bespectacled girl muttered a good morning to him and Pansy and started chatting with her blonde dorm mate.
He had never paid much attention to Sally-Anne Perks. She was a quiet and shy girl that liked to hide behind books, and Draco suspected that her ambition was the only reason why she was Sorted into Slytherin. Greengrass and Perks were somewhat friendly, but Pansy didn't like her very much. She thought Perks was too serious and boring—a sentiment he shared—and she loved to taunt the girl, though she usually left her alone because Greengrass asked her to. Today, however, was not one of those days.
"Sally, could you be a doll and run back down to the dorm for me? I forgot my Charms books," Pansy asked innocently, stirring her tea. Perks flushed. She didn't get bossed around often, but whenever Pansy was in a foul mood she was the one to suffer and Perks knew better than to refuse. The brunette stood up and hurried back to the Entrance Hall.
Greengrass put down the Daily Prophet and glared at Pansy. "Really, we're doing this again? Why don't you just leave her alone!" she snapped.
"Oh come on, I asked nicely, didn't I?"
"You're a nasty, wicked wench, Pansy."
Pansy looked at the blonde girl in mock horror, receiving a glare in return. "Fine, fine, I'll leave her alone," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
Draco finished his scrambled eggs, quietly enjoying their banter. He loved Pansy's fiery attitude. People often said that she was his female counterpart and there was certainly some truth in that. It was the main reason why they could get along so well.
Zabini arrived at the table and sat down on the other side of Draco, not acknowledging them. He immediately reached for the coffee pot. Pansy was smirking at him, sipping her tea as she watched him grumpily pour himself a cup. Zabini really wasn't a morning person, and she loved teasing him about that.
"Ms Parkinson, Ms Greengrass, good morning. Your timetables, here you go," Slughorn interrupted them jovially, as soon as he had reached them.
Greengrass took her timetable and asked for a timetable for Perks, to which Slughorn happily obliged before turning around with a grin. "Mr Zabini, m'boy, how are you, had a pleasant summer, yes? Ah, good, good. Here you go. Mr Malfoy, you have already received your timetable, have you not? Yes, thought so, very good, have a good first day back, you lot."
"I thought you went back home," Zabini muttered when Slughorn was out of earshot, raising his eyebrow at Draco.
"No," he replied nonchalantly. "McGonagall just decided to give me private quarters now that I'm Head Boy."
Zabini stared at him in unflattering disbelief. "Don't forget to mention that part where you have to share them with Mudblood Granger," Pansy added sweetly.
Giving him a superior smirk, Zabini reached for the scrambled eggs and started to fill his plate. "Isn't this the part where you tell us to just wait until your father hears about this?" Pansy joined Zabini's roar of laughter and even Greengrass chucked. Draco gave them a less than half-hearted laugh and finished his cup of coffee. It stung that they laughed at him like that, even though he knew full well that he would have done the same thing if it were someone else.
Two books were smacked down on the table and Draco watched as Perks sat down next to him again, pushing the books in Pansy's direction and quickly grabbing a few pieces of toast and some orange juice. It was nearly eight-thirty and breakfast was almost over. Most students didn't pack their school bags the evening before, so they had to use the coming 30 minutes to go back to their dorm, pack their books and get to the right classroom. They would have Charms, Draco had gathered.
"I'm off to get my things, see you guys in class," he announced grumpily before walking away from them. He climbed the Marble Staircase and made his way through the corridors.
The common room was empty, apart from the Weasley-in-disguise cat that laid curled up in one of the armchairs as a furry orange pillow. Draco climbed the stairs to his dorm and quickly packed some books while referencing the timetable on his desk. Noticing the class that was scheduled for midnight, he sighed. It was going to be a long first day back, but luckily he had a free period after lunch. He swung the bag over his shoulder and made his way back downstairs to the third floor. He checked his wristwatch. It was ten to nine. Draco turned a corner and found himself in the Charms Corridor. Pansy and Zabini weren't there yet, but Draco noticed that Nott was, and he walked up to his former dorm mate.
Nott also asked why he never came down to the dungeons, and he raised his eyebrows when Draco told him the story. "Well, she certainly meant it when she said she would put you under surveillance," he commented. Draco grimaced and glanced at the girl with the bushy hair that was standing near the closed door of the classroom. She was talking to two Ravenclaw girls, one of the Patils and Lisa Turpin, a plain girl with mousy brown hair and an uneven row of upper teeth who was often the target of Slytherin pranks.
The classroom door opened and the students started moving toward the door, Draco and Nott among them. After taking their seats in the back of the classroom, Pansy, Greengrass and Zabini entered the room as well. The girls seated themselves in the row in front of him and Nott, next to Tracey Davis, while Zabini joined them in the back. When all the students had taken their seats, Flitwick took the register. Once he had reached the last name, he announced that they would be working on Concealment charms.
"Now, who can tell me the difference between Concealing charms and Concealment charms?" To no one's surprise, Granger's hand had shot up the second Flitwick finished his sentence. "Yes, Ms Granger?
Pansy sighed loudly with dramatic annoyance.
"Concealing charms are spells used to hide secret messages in parchment by magical means, as an alternative to invisible ink. Concealment charms are spells used to conceal things from view and to obfuscate inherent magical properties of objects."
"Well done, Ms Granger! Ten points to Gryffindor!"
Draco groaned something unfriendly under his breath, which was not missed by Zabini. "Don't blame her, you must realise how much she missed this last year," he said, exaggerating a concerned tone that was thick with sarcasm.
"Mr Zabini, Mr Malfoy, boys, please pay attention. Now, today we will start with concealing objects, and once you have all mastered that, we will start concealing spells in objects. All clear? If you could all take a goblet from this box, Mr Corner, would you please pass it on? Yes, thank you. Now, the incantation of this spell is Abscondo, with the emphasis on -scon. The wand movement is simple—like this—but the timing of the flick is of utmost importance…"
Draco zoned out, not particularly interested in the Concealment charm. Zabini seemed to be mindlessly doodling on a piece of parchment, but Nott was taking notes. He would ask him if he could have a look later. The box had reached them, and they each took out a dusty goblet. The students in the front of the class had already started practising. Nott took out his wand as well, and he started practising the wand movement while carefully studying his notes. "Mind sharing those?" asked Draco begrudgingly, motioning his head at the parchment. Nott sighed and put the notes between them.
"No, I have a better idea," Zabini muttered, a mischievous smirk on his face. He scribbled something on his parchment and pushed it towards Draco, who glanced down at it with curiosity. The words spelled Caesaries Incrementa, and Draco couldn't help but smirk as well, though he didn't move to cast the spell.
"Come on, do it then!" Zabini hissed, but Draco shook his head and pointed at the badge on his robes, causing his classmate to roll his eyes. "Don't be a wimp. Who cares, you didn't want to come back anyway."
"Neither did you, but here you are, making sure you're not cut off from the family fortune," Draco hissed back. "Do it yourself, then!"
The two boys glared at each other, each non-verbally challenging the other to do it. With an exaggerated sigh, Zabini whipped out his wand and once Flitwick turned his back on the class to write down instructions on the blackboard, he pointed it at the front of the class and muttered the incantation. A few girls started screaming and Flitwick turned around with such haste that he toppled off the stack of books he was standing on. Granger and Patil ran for the door and disappeared out of the room.
Once the tiny wizard had climbed back up, he urged the class to be silent as he scanned the room. The Slytherins were all roaring with laughter, Zabini the loudest of all. "Mr Zabini! Mr Malfoy!" Flitwick squeaked angrily, sounding quite upset. "Hexing someone from behind is something I will not tolerate! You are both to leave this classroom right this instant and I will make sure you will both serve detention later this week. Off you go, and be quick about it!"
They gathered up their things and hurried to the door. Pansy shot him a sympathetic look; she knew that he would be in trouble. Draco realised this too. He knew that if he didn't behave, McGonagall wouldn't show him any mercy and expel him immediately. He was also Head Boy now, and it was expected of him to be responsible. Dumbledore was counting on him. His mother was counting on him. And as much as he wished that it had, seeing Granger run out of the classroom with embarrassment had not been worth the trouble he was going to face.
