Following the Headmistress through the castle, Hermione found she was drained of all energy. She was utterly exhausted and in a rather bad mood. While she understood that there was a certain logic to the decisions Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore had made, she didn't appreciate 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 everything that had happened in the past few months. It was too soon after the war for this sort of nonsense.
She shot a glare at the boy beside her now and then, quietly blaming him for this. Hermione realised she wasn't being fair, but she honestly didn't care about being fair. She felt bad, and he was the reason for that, whether or not it was his fault.
The corridors were deserted and quiet and exactly how she remembered them. For months she had only visualised a ruined castle when she had thought of Hogwarts. Even now, making their way to that blasted tower, it was such a relief that they had completely recovered it.
After turning a corner, Professor McGonagall halted before a scenery painting of the Scottish Highlands with a grazing herd of Highland cattle. They were on the sixth floor, not very far from Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione was very relieved they wouldn't be stowed away in some secluded, forsaken corner of the castle.
The Headmistress turned around to face them. "This is the entrance to your common room and dormitories. I have chosen the password; it will change every two weeks on Sundays. I will notify you two days in advance." She turned back to the painting. "Unity."
Next to her, Hermione heard Malfoy try to cover up a snort by coughing. She couldn't blame him, as it was a truly ridiculous password given the circumstances. A unity between them was not bound to happen in this lifetime. The painting slid to the left, revealing the entrance of their quarters. They followed Professor McGonagall through the portrait hole into the common room and were greeted by a wave of warmth and comfort.
The room was circular, given that they were in a tower. There were two doorways across the area, one on either side of the room, that probably led to their sleeping quarters. On the right was the fireplace with a couch and two comfortable armchairs. On the left was a small study section with several bookcases, with behind that a small kitchenette. The walls were draped with tapestries and above the fireplace hung a large banner with all four Houses illustrated.
Despite the situation, Hermione couldn't hold back a smile as she took in the tower. 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 really and truly disliked.
"Well," Professor McGonagall said after a short moment of silence, in which she had allowed the two of them a moment to take in the room. "These will be your quarters for the coming year. They are exclusive to you, meaning you may not bring guests here. The doorway to the right leads to your bedroom, Ms Granger. The one on the left, Mr Malfoy, leads to yours. You will find private bathrooms adjacent to your rooms."
The Headmistress paused. "I don't expect you two to miraculously get along within the next few weeks, but I urge you to try your very best," she continued, her tone gentle. "It will make it easier for the both of you."
She then turned to Malfoy. "As you might remember, I mentioned you are not allowed to leave this common room after curfew, which is 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 cannot leave this room without me knowing; I have seen to that personally. Should you avoid coming here after supper, I will be made aware, and I must stress that there will be consequences."
Malfoy wordlessly nodded his head. He had said nothing since they left the Headmistress' office, but his facial expression spoke a thousand words. Hermione could tell that he was most displeased with these rules, but then it hit her that she was asked to monitor him.
"What about me, Professor?" she asked, suddenly anxious to her about what rules she had to adhere to.
There was a brief silence. "Technically speaking, Ms Granger, you are free to visit the Gryffindor Tower whenever you like," Professor McGonagall said, seemingly choosing her words carefully.
"But you would prefer me to stay here to monitor him," she muttered, catching on.
The Headmistress gave her a look of sympathy. Hermione knew Professor McGonagall didn't want to do this to her, but that she truly felt it was necessary. Hermione understood her reasoning, but she still felt punished unfairly.
"I trust you to make decisions that will not interfere with your responsibilities, Ms Granger." She glanced at each 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 by the end of this week."
With these words, Professor McGonagall bade them goodnight and left the common room.
Hermione glanced over to find Malfoy—standing a couple of feet away from her—staring at the fire and looking quite miserable. He had been uncharacteristically quiet during the whole tour, and he hadn't even responded when Professor McGonagall had announced their new living arrangements back in her office.
And then it all clicked.
"You knew about this, didn't you?" The words came out much more accusingly than she had intended, but she didn't care enough to soften her tone. Malfoy seemed to snap out of his trance and turned his head to glare at her before finally nodding reluctantly. Hermione couldn't suppress a scoff. "I can't believe they informed you, but not me."
"Apparently they hold your summer holidays in higher regard than mine," Malfoy responded bitterly, pointedly looking away from her. "Of course, this school has always been big on favouring Muggle spawn."
"Oh please. Don't act like keeping me in the dark was a good thing," Hermione bit back at him with annoyance, choosing to ignore his comment on her ancestry. "It would have softened the blow for me and you know that."
Instead of answering, Malfoy gave a careless shrug and spun around, moving toward the doorway they were told led to his room and quickly disappearing up the stairs. Frustrated with the whole situation, Hermione decided to seek out Ginny. She tried to convince herself it was not only to have an excuse to visit the Gryffindor Tower but mostly to find out where Crookshanks was. She almost believed it.
She exited the common room and made her way up to the seventh floor. As she moved through the corridors and neared the portrait of the Fat Lady, she realised she didn't know the password to the common room. Just as she began thinking up an elaborate ruse to convince the Fat Lady to let her enter anyway, a tall guy appeared from around the corner and nearly collided with her.
"Oof! Ritchie!"
Ritchie Coote, a sixth-year Gryffindor, let out a yelp and jumped backwards. "Oh, Hermione! I'm sorry! I—er—I didn't expect anyone."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Sneaking out on your first evening back and immediately getting caught by the Head Girl. You're in no luck, are you?"
"I'm sorry." His face quickly turned red, and he struggled to maintain eye contact. "I started dating this girl last month, see? She's homeschooled. I miss her already, and I don't have an owl myself, so I thought I'd quickly visit the Owlery—"
"Ritchie, calm down." Hermione reached out and touched his arm. "I wasn't planning on giving out punishments already. It's my first day, too."
The tall boy finally seemed to relax again, and Hermione smiled. "I'll let you go to the Owlery. But just this once, okay?" She dropped her arm to her side again. "Besides, I just had a meeting with Professor McGonagall, and when I was on my way here, I realised she had not given me the password. So you being here is actually good news for me."
Ritchie grinned at her. "Thank you, Hermione. I appreciate this. The password is Bubotuber."
"Thanks, Ritchie. Be back in half an hour, okay?"
When he had given her a nod, she moved around him and approached the Fat Lady, who, upon hearing the password, swung her picture backwards so Hermione could enter the Gryffindor common room through the portrait hole.
Even though it was already getting late, the common room was still noisy and crowded. The majority of the students seemed to want to make up for lost time. Several enthusiastic exclamations greeted Hermione, and it took a while before she spotted Ginny in front of the fireplace, accompanied by her friends and dorm mates, Jennifer Dawn and sixth-year prefect Jada Angela, and a couple of fifth-year Gryffindors.
Hermione made her way over to them, and Ginny smiled brightly when she saw her approach. She waved briefly before continuing to stroke Crookshanks' fur as the half-Kneazle lay contently curled up in her lap. "There you are!" she exclaimed. "Took you long enough to find your way back."
Hermione smiled as she was greeted by the sixth-years. "Could you join me for a minute?" she asked Ginny quietly after having engaged in the least necessary small talk she could manage without seeming impolite.
"Sure," Ginny agreed. She gave Crookshanks a little push, causing the half-Kneazle to jump away from her, offended that she had woken him up and now denied him to lie in the lap he had claimed.
Ginny led the way to her dormitory. They sat down on her bed, and Arnold, Ginny's miniature purple puffskein, immediately jumped in Ginny's lap. The redhead picked him up and placed him on her shoulder, where he snuggled up against the side of her neck. Though she had always adored the little Pygmy Puff, Hermione felt her cheerfulness leave her when she remembered she couldn't stay here, in this tower.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked finally, appearing a little worried at her continued silence.
Hermione sighed sadly. "I've received duties I didn't sign up for."
The youngest Weasley arched her eyebrows questioningly as she awaited an explanation, and Hermione slumped her shoulders. "Malfoy could only come back under strict conditions," she began. "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 by gritting her teeth. "How can they do this to you?" she exclaimed when Hermione nodded her head. "Don't they remember what you did last year? What he did? That you were tortured in his home?!"
"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 behaviour," Hermione explained flatly. "They believe that I'm the best person to guide him. I have to monitor his behaviour and report him whenever he misbehaves."
Ginny let out a huff. "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.
Two pairs of footsteps on the stairs and the sound of giggling interrupted their privacy, and soon two girls appeared in the doorway. "Oh, hey Ginny, Hermione," the strawberry-blonde girl who entered the dormitory first greeted them. A grinning girl with a dark brown pixie cut followed behind her, briefly raising a hand as a greeting.
"Hi Thelma, Pauline! It's good seeing you again," Ginny greeted her dorm mates with a smile. There was a brief exchange of pleasantries before Hermione rose from the bed, motioning her head to the door to signal Ginny to follow her back downstairs.
"You may come to the Gryffindor Tower whenever you want, though, don't you?" Ginny asked once they were back in the common room again. Many students were moving past them to go upstairs, wishing one other a good night.
"In theory, yes," Hermione answered, dragging Ginny out of the way to the staircases and toward the fireplace, where it wasn't as noisy. "But I think Professor McGonagall prefers if I spend more time in the Head's quarters to monitor Malfoy."
"She can't expect you to stay there all the time, though. You'll go mad."
"Definitely," she agreed with a sigh. "But I'll stop by every day if I can."
Ginny smiled. "You should." She took Arnold from her shoulder, affectionately stroking the miniature puffskein as he immediately hummed. 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, and I want to adjust to being back as soon as I can."
They exchanged goodnights and parted ways. Ginny strode off and disappeared around the corner of the spiral staircase, while Hermione made her way back to the portrait hole, waving goodbye to the small group of students that were still sitting around the fireplace. Ritchie sent her a wink before turning his attention back to the conversation, and she smiled at him before exiting the common room. 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 portrait, earning a stern scold from Hermione.
After a few more minutes of wandering, she recognised the corridor on her left and found the scenery painting 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 on the right and was happy to discover that her belongings had already been unpacked. She put Crookshanks down 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, sunlight was already peeking through the drawn curtains of his four-poster bed, even though it was still early. Instead of being happy, the sun was just a nasty reminder that he wasn't in his Slytherin dormitory.
He rolled over and stretched, causing his back to make a satisfying cracking noise before he swung his legs out of bed and opened his curtains up further. He sat on the edge of his bed for a little while, angry about the circumstances of his return, before finally getting dressed for breakfast.
He made his way down the stairs and entered the common room. A large bandy-legged and ginger-coloured cat entered 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, trying to remember which way was the shortest route to the Great Hall. Once he finally made it downstairs, 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 at him as soon as he sat down across from her. "I've waited for you for hours and Zabini said you never even appeared in the dorms!"
"Good morning to you too, Pansy," Draco muttered irritably as he reached for the coffee, just as a large number of owls streamed into the Great Hall. 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," Draco elaborated quietly when Pansy kept glaring at him expectantly. "McGonagall has put me under the surveillance of the Head Girl, and I have to share a common room with her so she can monitor me."
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 turned to him, her eyebrows arched in surprise. "Are you serious? How is that an appropriate arrangement?"
"You have to share a common room with Potter's Mudblood?" Pansy snapped disbelievingly before he could reply. The few people seated close by at the Slytherin table turned their heads to stare, and Draco glared around until everyone pretended not to listen anymore.
"Be quiet," he hissed at her, hoping the staff hadn't noticed Pansy's choice of slur. "Do you want to be expelled? You know they won't tolerate that from us anymore."
"Why would I care?" Pansy hissed back, but she kept her voice down after that. She ran a hand through her dark brown hair and shot a stealthy glance at the staff table. To their dismay, Slughorn was making his way over to the Slytherin table, but as they held their breath they saw with relief that he had simply begun handing students their timetables.
Greengrass glanced between 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 quietly started chatting with her blonde dorm mate.
He had never paid much attention to Sally-Anne Perks. She was a quiet and shy girl who liked to hide behind books, and Draco suspected that her ambition was the only reason she was Sorted into Slytherin. Greengrass and Perks were friendly, but Pansy didn't like her 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 apparently not one of those days.
"Sally-Anne, could you be a doll and run back down to the dorms for me? I forgot my Charms books," Pansy asked faux-innocently, stirring her tea, and 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 quickly rose and hurried back to the Entrance Hall.
Greengrass put down the Daily Prophet with more force than necessary and glared at Pansy. "Really, we're doing this again?" she asked coldly. "Why won't you just leave her alone?"
"Oh, come on, I asked nicely, didn't I?"
"Why don't you pick on someone as nasty a wench as you are instead?"
Pansy's eyes shot up at her blonde friend in mock horror, but Greengrass was clearly in no mood to joke around, and she let out a sigh. "Fine, fine, I'll leave her alone from now on," she then muttered, rolling her eyes.
Draco quietly ate his marmalade toast, passively enjoying Pany's banter. He loved her fiery attitude. People often said that she was his female counterpart, and there was certainly some truth to that. It was the main reason they could get along so well. He didn't have to pretend with her.
He glanced up when Zabini arrived at the table and sat down on Draco's left side, not acknowledging the group. He immediately reached for the coffee pot, and Pansy smirked at him, sipping her tea as she watched him grumpily pour himself a cup. Zabini really wasn't a morning person, and Pansy loved teasing him about that.
"Ms Parkinson, Ms Greengrass, good morning. Your timetables, here you go," Slughorn interrupted jovially as soon as he had reached them. "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 remarked haughtily when Slughorn was out of earshot, raising a dark eyebrow at Draco. "Neither you nor your belongings made it to the dormitory yesterday."
Draco forced himself to present a nonchalant attitude, even though all he felt was annoyance. "McGonagall simply gave me private quarters now that I'm Head Boy."
"Don't forget to mention that part about having to share those private quarters with Mudblood Granger," Pansy added sweetly when Zabini stared at him in unflattering disbelief. As his superior trademark smirk widened, the latter reached for the scrambled eggs and filled his plate.
"Isn't this the part where you tell us to just wait until your father hears about this?"
Pansy and Zabini exchanged an amused glance before sniggering, and even Greengrass snorted from behind her newspaper. Draco gave them a less than half-hearted laugh and threw back the remainder of the coffee from his cup. It stung that they laughed at him like that. They knew there was no use telling his father anything. There was nothing he could do for him anymore.
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. As most students didn't pack their school bags the evening before, they had to use the next thirty 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. I'll see you guys in class," he announced moodily as he rose from his seat, quickly exiting the Great Hall. He climbed the Marble Staircase and reluctantly made his way through the corridors, back to the tower he was confined to. He hated not being in the dungeons anymore.
The common room was thankfully empty, apart from the Weasley-in-disguise cat that lay curled up in one of the armchairs, as a furry orange pillow. Draco climbed the stairs to his dorm and quickly packed his books while referencing the timetable on his desk. Noticing the class that was scheduled for midnight, he sighed with dread. It was going to be a long first day back. Luckily, he had a free period after lunch.
He swung the bag over his shoulder and returned downstairs to the third floor. Draco turned a corner and found himself in the Charms Corridor. Pansy and Zabini weren't there yet, but Draco noticed Nott was, and he walked up to his former dorm mate, preparing mentally to once again explain why he had not shown up in the dorm yesterday.
"Well, she certainly meant it when she said she would put you under surveillance," he commented quietly, his eyebrows raised.
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.
Finally, 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 soon joined them. 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 greeted them pleasantly before taking the register. Once he had checked their attendance, he announced they would work 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.
"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. There was something to be said for returning to Hogwarts, knowing this year would be somewhat normal again. But normal also meant having to listen to Granger show off every day again, and that wasn't going to be any easier now that he had to be around her all the time. He had barely had any tolerance for her before. He did not know how he would make it through this year, not even being able to avoid her. He groaned again.
"Don't blame her, you must realise how much she missed this last year," Zabini commented, exaggerating a concerned tone that was thick with sarcasm.
"Mr Zabini, Mr Malfoy, boys, please pay attention," Flitwick called out. "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, please pass it on, 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 gradually zoned out, not particularly interested in the Concealment charm. Zabini seemed to have zoned out too, 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 at 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?" Draco asked begrudgingly, motioning his head at the parchment, and Nott sighed, placing the notes between them with some disapproval.
"No, I have a better idea," Zabini interrupted them, a mischievous smirk on his face. He scribbled something on his parchment and pushed it towards Draco, who glanced down at it, unable to fully suppress his curiosity. The words spelt Caesaries Incrementa, and Draco couldn't suppress a smirk as well, though he didn't move to cast the spell.
There had been five glorious moments in which he had pretended that things were normal again, but Zabini's idea was a quick reminder that pretending wasn't going to make it true. The badge attached to the front of his robes was only one of the things that prevented him from behaving the way he would under actual normal circumstances. Taunting his classmates, as much as he longed for it, was no longer an option for him.
Draco sighed a little dejectedly, shook his head and pointed at the Head Boy badge.
"Don't be such a wimp." Zabini sneered. "It's not like you want to be here."
"Neither do you," he hissed back. "But here you are, making sure you will not cut off from the family fortune. Do it yourself, then!"
They glared at each other, each non-verbally challenging the other to do it. With an exaggerated sigh, Zabini whipped out his wand. Once Flitwick turned his back on the class to write 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 to the door and disappeared out of the room.
Once Flitwick had climbed back up, he urged the class to be silent as he scanned the room. The Slytherins were roaring with laughter, Zabini the loudest of all. Draco couldn't help himself as he clapped his classmate on the shoulder and grinned, allowing himself one moment of normality with his friends.
"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. I will make sure you will both serve detention later this week. Off you go, and be quick about it!"
Just like that, the moment was gone, and regret spread through him as he gathered up his things and hurried to the door. He shouldn't have allowed Zabini to goad him. It was expected of him to be responsible. Dumbledore was counting on him. His mother was counting on him… McGonagall likely wouldn't show him any mercy and expel him immediately…
As much as he wished it had, seeing Granger run out of the classroom with embarrassment had not quite been worth the trouble he would surely face later.