Chapter Three

Hermione

The sun shines into my eyes as a wake up call. I throw my legs over the bed and stretch out my arms. Within five minutes, I am dressed and groomed, ready to head down to the first breakfast of the year. I leave the dormitory and enter the common room where everyone is conversing. I wave at Harry, Ron, and Ginny as I slowly walk down the stairs. I'm still a bit groggy.

"Good morning, Hermione!" Ron exclaims, kissing my cheek. I smile at him.

"I'm heading down to breakfast," I tell them, "Do any of you want to come with me?" Ron and Harry nod their heads, but Ginny says she's going to go back to the dormitory to get situated and she'll meet up with us.

Harry, Ron, and I step through the portrait hole and into the corridor. Ron and I walk hand-in-hand.

"How do you like being Head Girl?" Harry asks me. I look to make sure the badge is on my chest, and it is.

"I like it. It's very fascinating. And we get our own common room, and-" I begin, but Ron cuts me off.

"Who's we?" He asks.

"Well, Malfoy and I-"

"You and Malfoy get your own That'sI mean, I could possibly be more lenient about it if it was someone else, but it's !" He shouts too loudly.

"Ron, he's not as bad as you think." I answer calmly.

It's true. I thought that spending time with Malfoy would be complete torture, but he hasn't insulted me once. He's actually quite agreeable and sometimes funny. It's funny how my opinion of him has changed in less than a day.

However, I find it hard to believe that he has changed. Sure, there's a behavioral difference, but that doesn't take away what he's always been. It's hard for a person to stray from the path they've been led down all of their life.

"Not as bad as you think?!" Ron mocks. "He's Malfoy! The despicable, terrible, evil-" Ron rambles on with a bunch of nasty adjectives, and as he does, Harry and I talk.

"I know what Ron means, Hermione. He Malfoy, the boy who called you a, well, Mudblood multiple times. He's never treated any of us kindly." Harry says.

"Harry, that's not what you thought when you saved his life. You must think at least a little well of him, or you wouldn't have done it. He would be dead." I retort. Harry purses his lips, trying to think of a retaliation.

After a short hesitation, Harry replies, "You know, I suppose you're right, Hermione. Everyone deserves a chance. It's just going to be hard to try and erase everything that he's done. But if you, of all people, say he's changed, then it has to be true."

Beside us, Ron just finished listing words to describe Malfoy. He seems out of breath.

"Ron, let it go." Harry tells him. Ron opens his mouth to reply, but he shuts it.

"You know," I begin, trying to change the subject, "Aberforth Dumbledore is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Really?" Harry asks, shocked, "Well, that should be interesting."

"I know. I can hardly picture him as a teacher. Especially here. I didn't think he wanted much to do with Hogwarts."

"I can only imagine what class will be like." Ron scoffs.

We talk about Aberforth until we reach the Great Hall. We walk inside and sit down at the Gryffindor table. Random students wave at me, wanting to get in good with the Head Girl I suppose. I smile and wave back at them.

We sit down at the part of the table that is closest to where the staff sits. Ron sits beside me, and Harry sits in front of me. There are already many people eating breakfast, and we join them.

"Who's that?" Ron asks with a mouthful of food, pointing to the staff table.

I look to where he is pointing, and I find a young man sitting in the place where Snape used to sit. He looks too young to be a teacher, but that must be why he is here. He has short dark brown hair and eyes of the same color.

"Perhaps the new Potions master?" I suggest. The mysterious person looks down at us and I look away. We continue eating our breakfast.

"So, Hermione, where is this new common room of yours, anyway?" Ron asks.

Oh no. Not this again.

"Well, I suppose I could show you after breakfast, if we have time." I respond.

Just in time to distract us from the subject, the mail comes in. Owls fly everywhere, but none come to any of us. Eventually, Ginny comes in and sits beside Harry.

"Hello," She greets, "What's your first class today? Mine is Potions."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," I answer, "It's theirs, too." I point to Harry and Ron. "You know the teacher is Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth?"

"Really? I thought he looked familiar." She looks at him.

"Do you know the Potions teacher?" I ask her, and she switches her gaze to him.

"No. I've never seen him before. He doesn't look teacher-y." She responds. I laugh at her imaginary word.

Fifteen minutes later, we're finished with our breakfast. We rise from our seats and head towards the door. Ginny tells us that she accidentally left her books in the dormitory and leaves to go retrieve them.

"Are you still going to show us the common room?" Ron inquires, putting his arm around me.

"Sure," I sigh, "I suppose so. I guess we have enough time."

I lead them through the corridors to where the Head Girl's and Boy's common room resides. On our way, we talk about our elective subjects. Mine are Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

When we reach the common room, I draw the design on the wall and the door appears. I walk through it first and go to sit on the couch... only I can't, because Draco's still asleep. He lays there quietly without a blanket and, for that matter, a shirt. I make myself look for a blanket to cover him with. Ron and Harry can't know he's in here, or they'll have a conniption. I cover him up swiftly just before they walk in the door.

"Nice place you've got here," Harry says, looking around.

"It is pretty nice," I reply in a whisper, trying not to wake Draco. Ron picks up a paper from the desk in the corner and scoffs.

"Lucius Malfoy's in Azkaban," He announces, "Why am I not surprised?"

I go over to him and take the paper, acting like I'm reading the article, just to get it away from him. From what I read, Lucius has been imprisoned, and Narcissa and Draco never leave their manor. Perhaps that's what's wrong with him. I sit the paper back down and look at the clock on the wall.

"Blimey," I exclaim, "Look at the time! We need to be heading for class. You two get a head start. I'll meet up with you momentarily." I smile like their worst enemy isn't secretly sleeping on the couch. They give me a strange look before they exit. Hurriedly, I rush to the couch and pull of the blanket, sitting by Draco. I gently touch his shoulder.