Hermione Granger’s boot slapped loudly against the wet pavement of the Hogwarts train station. She stepped a few paces forward before looking back at the train they were just in. She sighed deeply as her two best friends, Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasley, caught up with her. That trip was the most boring ride she had ever experienced in her whole seventeen years of life. Through out the whole train ride, she could not think of anything to help her pass the time. Hermione couldn’t even read the book she brought. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She did read it, but her mind was somewhere else. Hermione couldn’t focus on anything and it bugged her the whole trip. At one point, she had even tried to listen in on Harry and Ron’s conversation, but they were babbling on about Quidditch and Hermione really didn’t understand a thing they were saying. So, she gave up and decided to just stare out the window.
It was rather bizarre, really. This was the first time, ever, that she had had an unpleasant ride to Hogwarts. Usually, she would be bubbling with excitement at being that much closer to the wizarding school that had quickly became her home after her first year there. But, everything had changed. Now, they weren‘t as excited. Now, they weren’t as happy. Because now, they were in the middle of a war and people were dying.
Plus, she was sort of sad in a way. Once she had gotten on the train, she had noticed that this was the last time she would ever be on it. This was the last time that the sweets lady would pass by and ask, “Anything off of the trolley, dears?”
Hermione couldn’t help but sigh again at her memory from before as they walked across the grass to the carriages that would take them to the castle. She glanced over at her boyfriend, Ron, and noticed that he was looked very handsome in the moonlight. His hands were in his pockets and his face was pointed up as he gazed at the stars in the sky. She smiled slightly at how relaxed he looked but she was distracted by another voice.
“Hey, Hermione?”
She turned her gaze to Harry, who was on the other side of her, and gave him a questioning look, “Yes?”
“Are you alright? You’ve seemed a bit down ever since we’ve gotten off the train,” Harry asked, concerned. On the train, Hermione was restless. Harry hadn’t said anything because she would’ve gotten uptight about it, but he had noticed.
Hermione gave him a small smile, “I’m fine, Harry.”
“Are you sure?” He asked.
She nodded and kept the smile on her face, “Yes, I’m sure. Just tired…”
Harry wasn’t really convinced but he dropped it. If she didn’t want to tell him, that was her choice.
Hermione then turned to her other side as Ron slipped his arm around her shoulders and held her close to him, smiling. “She’ll be feeling much better after she has some food in her stomach. All she needs is a chicken leg and a nice, tall glass of pumpkin juice,” He said, kissing her forehead sweetly.
She couldn’t help but smile at his actions. After her and Ron got together, she was so excited and she was never bored when he was around. But lately, their relationship had gotten boring and she kept seeing things about Ron that she found utterly annoying. Like, how he talks with his mouth full, even to her. And how he groped at her, like she actually enjoyed it. Okay, maybe on some days, she didn’t mind him touching her. But when he felt like he had to grope at her at every moment, it really started to piss her off. But, when he acted sweet and held her, without trying to reach for something else, it was nice.
She sighed as they got closer to the carriage. If she was honest with herself, Hermione knew that their relationship was going no where. They barely did anything anymore. Ron didn’t surprise her with gifts. He didn’t take her anywhere. And they hadn’t had a good snog session in weeks. Well, that was mostly her fault, because she tried to avoid it as much as possible. Another thing she found particular irking about Ron was that he was a terrible kisser. She knew it wasn’t his fault, seeing as he hadn’t had any real practice. But, at least Hermione knew the basics.
One: You don’t just stick your tongue in the other person’s mouth without warning. Hermione absolutely hated that.
Two: If you do reach the point where you are ’tonguing’ the other, do not just lay your tongue in the person’s mouth like a dead trout. You have to flick it a little.
Three: And finally, keep your tongue in between our mouths, no all over our lips.
Ronald actually managed to break all of these simple rules. It was too bad that she never had the heart to tell Ron what he was doing wrong. She just didn’t want to hurt him or his ego. Yes, Hermione wasn’t all that experienced, either. Well, other than Krum and a few muggle boys from home but at least she knew how to make a kiss pleasant. Or was she being a little bit conceited? No, she wasn’t. Ron really was a horrible kisser.
“Well, well. Would you look at that. Weasel-bee and the mudblood together? Aw, what a disgustingly cute little couple.”
Ron, Harry, and Hermione stopped and turned to see the smirk of Draco Malfoy, followed by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Ron wore a scowl on his face, “Sod off, Malfoy.”
Hermione frowned at Malfoy as his smirk grew, “Why should I? This is too much fun,” He said, turning to look at Hermione. She scowled at him but froze inside as he looked at her with those cold, steel eyes. When did he get so…handsome? She asked herself as she studied him as he smirked at her. He had grown very tall over the years and he looked much older than he did. His jaw line looked more chiseled and she saw that he had stubble on his chin and cheeks. He was very built and the black silk shirt he wore beneath his robes was unbuttoned slightly so you could see his collarbone. Wow, summer must have done him good. Or did he always look like that. Thoughts were running through her mind at such a rapid pace that she hadn’t even realize that Malfoy was done talking and was walking directly to her with a look on his face that she couldn‘t read.
He stood right in front of her, too close for comfort and said in a deadly, low voice, “What are you staring at, mudblood.”
With that, he pushed past her and she immediately snapped out of her daze and scowled at his back as he walked off.
“Bloody prick…,” Harry mumbled as they continued walking to the carriages.
Ron shook his head and mumbled some incoherent curses under his breath before wrapping his arm around Hermione again, “Don’t let the ferret get to you, Hermione,” He said, smiling and trying to be comforting.
But, the truth was, she didn’t need any comfort because she had no idea what he had said. Maybe she didn’t want to know. And furthermore, she really didn’t want Ron’s comfort at the moment. But she just nodded and tolerated it so she didn’t hurt his feelings if she stepped out of his grasp.
As they rode in the carriage, Hermione couldn’t stop her mind from reeling.
‘Why was I staring at Malfoy? Staring, pssh, more like gawking. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Gosh, I bet that was awkward. Did anyone else notice? I hope not. Oh, Merlin! I was admiring Malfoy! Draco Malfoy! What is wrong with me? Am I ill? I must be…Why else would I admire Malfoy?…’
Was he always that handsome?
‘Oh no, what the hell is wrong with me. Draco Malfoy is not handsome! Now, stop thinking that.’
But he was very good looking. Why hadn’t I realized that before?
‘I don’t need to realize it. I need to stop thinking about him period.’
Then what was that look he gave me before he got so close to me?
‘That look was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was, obviously, just trying to intimidate me. That’s all it was.’
I’d beg to differ.
Hermione sighed. She wasn’t going to argue with herself anymore. It was just plain ridiculous. She didn’t think Draco Malfoy was attractive and that’s final.
Yes, I do.
She mentally rolled her eyes at the annoying little voice in her head and pushed it to the back of her thoughts. Hermione would not think about this now. Sometime during her row within her own mind, they had reached Hogwarts and had entered the Great Hall. Well, there’s another first. That was the first time she had walked though the huge double doors of Hogwarts and had not been amazed by the magnificence of the castle. Yet again, she sighed deeply and saw that they had already sat down at the Gryffindor table. Wow, she was out of it. What was wrong with her?
Then she saw his eyes. His cold, gray, stormy eyes staring right back at her. He wore no expression on his features. His face was a cold, dark mask. Right when it actually clicked in her head that he had actually been looking at her, he turned away and put his full attention on Snape as he made the announcements for the evening.
She flushed and returned her gaze to her food in front of her. Hermione didn’t even listen to what Snape had to say. His words went though one ear and out the other. Besides, she had more important things on her mind. Like how Malfoy had been staring at her, for instance. It may have only been about two seconds time but it felt like hours. And now, she was trying to figure out why he had been looking at her in the first place. Had he been talking about her? Or had he just been staring off into space and his gaze just happened to land on her. It could have been either choice but what was that look in his eye about, then? When he glanced at her for those really long two seconds, there was certain shine or twinkle in his eye that was impossible for her to read. And then he had turned away.
Hermione dared to lift her head and look over to the Slytherin table once again. This time, Malfoy was not looking at her. No, actually all his attention was on Pansy, his little slut girlfriend who was hanging all over him. Hermione usually wasn’t that harsh on people because whatever a person did in their spare time was their business. But it seemed that Pansy wanted it to be everyone’s business that she slept with all the Slytherin males, actually any male, over the age of sixteen in the school.
Hermione shook her head as she saw Malfoy try to pry Pansy’s hands off of him. It was actually quite amusing. So amusing that she let a tiny smile creep on her face as she watched the display. Having seen enough she looked to the right of Malfoy and saw that Blaise Zabini was looking directly at her with a smirk and look that basically said, ‘I saw you.’
She almost gasped in shock at having been ‘caught’ and she returned her gaze to her plate, flushing lightly in her face. Hermione couldn’t help but look back up to see if Blaise was still looking at her but was relieved to see that he had returned to his indifferent disposition and was now taking a healthy drink from his pumpkin juice. Most likely mixed with vodka, she presumed. Hermione smirked slightly at the thought of what would happen if they found out that some of the students were lacing their drinks with alcohol right in front of the professors. She scoffed at the image in her head and returned to her dinner, temporarily forgetting about Malfoy, or Zabini.
After dinner, they all made their way up to the common rooms. In the Great Hall, Hermione had been informed that, as prefect, she would have to lead the first years to the common rooms tonight. She understood perfectly and had gotten the password before walking out of the Great Hall. Hermione had gathered up all of the Gryffindor first years and started to lead them upstairs to the Gryffindor common rooms. Then she heard a deep chuckle from below.
“Aye, Granger! You got all your ducks in a row?” Malfoy said with a smirk, indicating to all the anxious first years behind her.
Hermione didn’t want to make a fool out of herself but she also didn’t want to be a bad example to the first years, “I would ask you the same thing,” She responded, seeing how he was prefect as well and had to lead all the Slytherin first years down to the dungeons where their common room was. Malfoy looked behind him and then scoffed as he looked back up at Hermione, “Suppose so.” With that, he walked off, not even waiting or caring if the first years followed him. But from their little ‘conversation’, they understood where he was leading them too. She sighed as she walked up the tall flights of stairs. Her calf muscles in her legs easily flexed and allowed her to take another step with complete ease. Hermione remembered when she first climbed these stairs and her legs absolutely hated her after that. But, after seven years of constantly climbing up and down stairs, your body gets used to it.
After a few moments, she bet it seemed like forever for the first years, they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady smiled down at Hermione, “Hello, Ms. Granger. Welcome back.”
Hermione smiled back pleasantly, “Thank you so much.”
The Fat Lady smiled and messed a little with the bun in her hair, “You are welcome, Ms. Granger. Oh yes, password please.”
“Hopscotch.”
The Fat Lady nodded and waved as her portrait swung aside to reveal the opening to the Gryffindor common room. She entered and waited for all the other first years to enter. Hermione then put on a fake smile and pointed to where the girls and boys dormitories were. After that, she walked over to her favorite armchair and plopped on it. She sighed in contentment as her body relaxed into the squishiness of the overstuffed chair. Her muscles tingled slightly as she calmed. Then she let out a yawn. Oh man, she was tired. Hermione unconsciously rubbed at her droopy eyes before she jumped nearly an inch off of the chair at the feel of someone’s hand on her shoulder.
Then she heard Ron laugh. “Jeez, Hermione. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Hermione rolled her eyes and exhaled deeply as she tried to calm down again while Ron pulled up a foot stool and sat next to Hermione in the chair.
“How are you feeling, Hermione?” He asked, caressing her arm gently. Hermione ignored the urge to pull her arm away and looked to him with a small smile, “I’m a little tired.” Actually, she was very tired but she had too much on her mind.
“Well,” He leaned in closer, whispering in her ear, “You can always come up to-”
“So, now that all the first years are in place, it’ll be a little less hectic up here, don’t you think, Hermione?” Harry said as he sat down on one of the couches.
Hermione wanted to kiss Harry for his excellent timing but decided against it. She really didn’t want to answer Ron. She knew what he was about to say and didn’t feel like telling him again that that would be highly inappropriate.
“Yes, it’s calmed down for now. But just wait until the morning when they all have to find their classes.” She said, groaning as she pictured the next morning and all the questions that the first years would ask.
Harry chuckled, “It’ll be okay, Hermione. At least you’ll have an excuse for being late to class.”
She scoffed, “Yeah right. I have Snape first period. It doesn’t matter if I was helping a first year, saving the world, or picking my nose. Either way, he will mark me tardy.”
“Ew, picking your nose?” Ron teased.
“Oh, shut it,” She said, playfully pushing Ron aside. They all chuckled. After awhile, Harry got up and stretched, “Well, I’m going to go to bed. Ron you coming up?” He asked.
Ron didn’t look at Harry when he spoke. He just kept his gaze on Hermione, “Good night. Uh, actually no. I’m going to stay down here a little while longer.”
Harry saw how Ron didn’t even glance at him and how Hermione looked at him almost in a pleading way. He shrugged, “Oh okay then. Good night, Hermione.”
She fought the urge to tell him to stay so she wouldn’t have to be alone with Ron but instead, she just sighed, “Good night, Harry.”
Harry smiled apologetically at her before jogging up the staircase and going into the boys dormitories. Hermione turned to see Ron looking very happy to finally have her alone. Well, at least one of us is happy, she thought. While she was musing, Ron actually squeezed himself next to Hermione on the huge armchair and wrapped his arm around her, gently kissing her neck. Okay, now she was starting to feel uncomfortable. She glanced around quickly to see if anyone else was down stairs with them, but they were completely alone. Good, she thought. Now, I can tell him to get the hell off of me with out embarrassing him.
“Ron…,” She said quietly, putting her hands on his chest, ready to push him off.
“Yes, Hermione,” He said, breathing a little bit faster now that she was touching him back, when she was actually trying to get him off. He moved his hands down to her arms as he kissed up her neck to her cheek.
She began to push harder.
“Please stop.” Hermione said, a little louder this time.
But Ron wasn’t really paying attention. His lips reached hers and he plunged his tongue deep into her mouth. Exactly what she hated about his stupid kisses.
Hermione then pushed him as hard as she could that he almost fell off the chair. She stood up and looked to him, “I told you to stop.”
Ron sat there, half on the floor, half on the chair, looking dumbfounded, “Hermione, I-”
“No, don’t say anything,” She said a bit too harshly, “I’m really tired, Ron. I’m going to bed.” With that said, she stomped up the stairs to the girls dormitory and went inside. Once inside, she shut the door and slid down to the floor, burying her face in her hands. She was too harsh and now she had probably hurt his feelings. Hermione looked up to see that everyone was in bed and sleeping soundly. She sighed as she got up and started to walk to the door at the end of the room. Being prefect, she had the privilege of her own room in the dormitory. Much like Head Girl but you didn’t get a whole common room to yourself.
When she reached her own room, she changed into her pajamas and slipped under the covers. Hermione rolled over on to her back and looked up at the ceiling above her. Honestly, she didn’t care that she probably hurt Ron’s feelings. She had told him to stop and he didn’t listen. Maybe this relationship isn’t good for us, she thought and sighed. Maybe I should just end it now before I really hurt him…It’s better sooner than later. She growled slightly at her overactive mind as she rolled over on her right side, closing her eyes.
And maybe Draco will look at me again tomorrow morning.
Oh dear, this is was going to be an interesting year. |
