Chapter 3- Sharing A Dorm
After the usual sorting ceremony and beginning of the year feast, the students were escorted back to their dormitories by their respective house perfects. Professor McGonagall had instructed the new Head Boy and Girl to meet her outside the Great Hall after the feast so that she could show them their dormitory.
Hermione stood quietly at one end of the huge, oak doors of the Great Hall, with Draco standing at the other end. She did not want to initiate a conversation because she was certain it would not be much of a discussion. They would probably end up arguing and hurling insults. No, wait, they would probably start out arguing. She was in no mood for that right now. After the magnificent feast, all she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and sleep.
She cast Draco a sideway glance and caught a brief glimpse of his profile. There was no denying that Draco Malfoy was good-looking, from his platinum blonde hair that hang loosely at the side of his head to his cold, gray eyes, from his pale, pointed face to tall and lean stature. He exuded raw sexuality and he undoubtedly had sex appeal. If he was not such a self-involved jerk, and if he were not a Slytherin, Hermione may have almost considered having a crush on him. Almost.
Sighing slightly, she looked around the Entrance Hall and continued waiting patiently for Professor McGonagall to show up.
Draco leaned against the door of the Great Hall and folded his arms. He was growing impatient and bored from waiting. What was worse was that he was stuck with Hermione. He was thankful that she hadn’t started talking to him. He would have told her to shut up if she did anyway.
Try to be nice to Granger, his father’s words echoed through his head.
Sorry father, but that isn’t going to happen, Draco thought to himself. He gagged from the mere thought of it. He turned his head ever so slightly to get a better view of Hermione. He watched her tuck a stray strand of bushy brown hair behind her ear and bite the bottom of her soft, pink lips. Her coffee brown eyes darted all around the Entrance Hall, apparently searching for someone. Her cheeks were ever so slightly pink, giving her a healthy glow. Her fair complexion complimented her looks and features perfectly.
His eyes strayed over her body and even through the Hogwarts’ robes, he could tell that she had developed curves all at the right places. She was of average height, not too short, but not too tall either.
However, Draco would rather eat a Grindylow raw than admit, even to himself, that Hermione was exceptionally pretty. He turned his attention away from her and tapped his foot impatiently.
After a few more moments of waiting, Professor McGonagall finally appeared at the entrance of the Great Hall.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I had some things to settle,” she said, sounding a bit out of breath. “Now, if you would follow me, I’ll lead you to the Heads’ dorm.” She started walking, with Draco and Hermione a few steps behind her.
Professor McGonagall looked exactly as she did the previous year and the year before; the same tight bun, glasses placed in front of her eyes and a ‘no-nonsense’ look set on her face. In many ways, Hermione had always admired the Deputy Headmistress. She was intelligent, fair and had a high regard for rules, much like Hermione.
“Now, Miss Granger,” Professor McGonagall said as they walked, “as you may have already known, Mr. Smithers is no longer the Head Boy. He met with an accident during the summer holidays, due to which he will not be able to attend school for the next two months.”
Hermione felt sorry for poor Terry Smithers. She shuddered slightly at the thought of what Lucius Malfoy might have done to him. She turned to face Draco and deliberately said out loud, “I wonder what happened to him. Maybe it wasn’t an accident.”
“Maybe you should mind your own business, Granger,” Draco said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.
“Maybe you should learn how to be more polite, Malfoy,” Hermione replied crossly.
“Maybe you should shut up, Granger.”
“Maybe you should shut up, Malfoy.”
“That’s enough!” Professor McGonagall barked, shutting them up at once. The two of them had almost forgotten that she was right in front of them. “You should be more civil towards one another. Do not forget that you are now Head Boy and Girl. I want the two of you to try and get along. You have to set an example for the rest of the students, a good example. I will not have unnecessary bickering between you two. I expect you to behave like mature individuals.”
Man, it seems like the whole world wants me to get along with the pesky Mudblood, Draco thought with a groan.
“Any problems, Mr. Malfoy?” Professor McGonagall asked, not sounding too happy upon hearing the groan.
“No,” Draco said quietly.
“Good.”
They continued walking along corridors and up staircases as Professor McGonagall explained to them their duties and tasks for the school year. They came to a halt in front of a portrait of a man dressed in jodhpurs and a white shirt with a high collar and big gold buttons. His feet were clad in boots and he wore a fancy hat on his head. He looked all set to go horseback riding, except that he was missing a horse. “Password?” he asked as he saw the group arriving.
“Abyssinian shrivelfig,” Professor McGonagall told the portrait, which swung open immediately.
She pointed to the room that had been hidden behind. “This is the Heads’ dormitory. Walk straight in and you’ll see two flights of stairs, one heading to the right, the other to the left. The one on the right belongs to Mr. Malfoy, and the one on the left to Miss Granger.”
Clasping her hands in front of her, she fixed the two Heads with a firm stare. “This is where I leave you. Have a good night’s rest, you’ll need it for your first day of lessons.” She was about to turn to leave, but stopped and faced Hermione and Draco again. “And remember, I want you two to cooperate,” she added before leaving them.
“Yeah right,” Draco muttered under his breath once Professor McGonagall was out of earshot, “I'm sure I’ll cooperate with Granger.”
“Well, I'm not very keen about cooperation with you either, Malfoy,” Hermione shot back, having caught every word Draco had said.
Draco chose not to say anything and headed straight for the entrance of the dorm. At the same time, Hermione proceeded into it as well. As a result, both of them got stuck at the doorway.
“Get lost and let me enter first!” Draco exclaimed.
Hermione tried shoving him out of the way. “Why don’t you move out of the way! You're occupying much more space than me!”
It was quite a scene. Both of them had their backs against each other, one foot in the dorm and the other still outside. Hermione was squirming to try to get into the room, while it was Draco’s turn to shove her away. She had to keep moving her head away to prevent Draco from stuffing his elbow into her head. They refused to budge, refused to let the other one through first.
“Shove off Malfoy!”
“You shove off, Granger!”
“This is ridiculous!” Hermione huffed.
Finally, the two of them managed to push themselves through the door, but they lost their footing and fell on top of each other in the process, Draco on Hermione.
Hermione let out a yelp of surprise. “Get off me!” she cried. Her legs were pinned down by Draco’s and his hands rested at the side of her head. His face was inches away from hers. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. She could smell his wood spice aftershave. She prayed that he could not hear her heart drumming hard against her chest.
“My father would be overjoyed to see us in this position,” Draco stated matter-of-factly.
“I said get off me!” she shrieked, willing herself not to go red in the face. “And I really do not want to know how overjoyed your father would be seeing us like that!”
“For Christ’s sake woman, will you quit shouting in my ear?” Draco said as he got himself off her.
Hermione pulled herself up from the floor and dusted her robes. “I wouldn't have been shouting if you could have just let me enter the room first,” she pointed out. “Haven’t you heard of the phrase ‘Ladies first’, Malfoy?”
Draco feigned a look of astonishment. “Lady? What lady? I don’t see no lady here,” he said.
Hermione gritted her teeth. “Then you're obviously blind or really thick,” she scoffed. “I'm thinking it’s the latter.”
“Why you little””
“Will you two keep it down?” a voice spoke, startling Draco and Hermione. “I'm trying to sleep.”
They had been so caught up in arguing that they had not even taken notice their surroundings. They surveyed the common room quickly. It seemed very cozy. A large, dark blue sofa filled with matching cushions occupied the middle of the room, with a coffee table in front of it.
To the right of the room, there were two wooden chairs placed on each side of a round, teak table, which was covered by a very ancient looking tablecloth. More artifacts lay scattered on tables around that side of the room. An open window from the far corner of the room blew in a gentle breeze.
To the left of the room, a fire crackled merrily in the stone hearth. Two big, squishy armchairs were placed right in front of the fireplace, with a dark blue rug in the middle. Hermione realized that the voice had come from the one of the two portraits hanging above the fireplace, one of Godric Gryffindor and the other of Salazar Slytherin.
“We’re sorry,” Hermione said to both of them, not knowing which one of them had spoken.
“You should be,” Slazar Slytherin said gruffly, clearly exasperated from being awakened from his slumber. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you shut up.”
“Salazar, you don’t have to be so mean to them,” Godric Gryffindor said, shaking his head. “Ignore him, he’s always moody.” He smiled down at Hermione and Draco. “Now, which one of you are from Gryffindor?”
“I am,” Hermione replied.
“Oh, so you're the Mudblood,” Slytherin growled.
“Salazar! How dare you!” Gryffindor shouted. Hermione heard Malfoy snicker beside her.
“What? It’s the truth,” Slytherin said wryly. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I need to get some sleep.” He nestled against the armchair he was sitting on and closed his eyes.
“I'm sorry,” Gryffindor apologized on Slytherin’s behalf. “He’s got his principles all messed up. I also think he’s a little tired and cranky.”
Hermione forced a small smile. “No worries. I know all about Salazar Slytherin and his warped, pureblood beliefs,” she said. “Besides, he’s not the only one like that,” she added, turning to look at Draco, who was staring up at Salazar Slytherin’s portrait in complete awe. She snorted in disgust. “I'm going to turn in for the night.”
Hermione left Draco staring at his idol as she dragged her feet up the left staircase, her legs feeling heavier with each step. She was in desperate need of sleep. She did not want to look like a raccoon on her first day of school. Upon reaching the last step, she opened her room door and trudged in.
The room composed of entirely Gryffindor colors, but all Hermione focused on was the four-poster bed hanging with crimson curtains. It looked so inviting. She opened her trunk, which had been brought up for her and laid at the foot of the bed, and pulled out her favorite nightgown: a cotton, white one with large dancing sheep and big red hearts. It had large pink pompoms for buttons. After putting it on, she jumped into bed and extinguished the candles that lit her room using her wand.
Placing her wand on the bedside table, Hermione felt the tension slowly leave her body as she snuggled under the warmth of the comforter. She closed her eyes and sleep came almost immediately. Just as she was on the brink of slumber, her room door flung open and she was startled awake.
Hermione grabbed the wand from beside her. “Lumos,” she muttered irritably and the room was illuminated with a bright glow from her wand. She saw Draco standing near the door with his hands on his hips, surveying the room.
“What in the world are you doing in my room?!” she demanded as she sat up.
“I was just making sure that your room was not bigger than mine,” Draco replied as though inspecting someone’s room in the middle of the night was the most natural thing to do. “I'm glad to see it isn’t. I definitely would not want your room to be bigger than mine.”
“Malfoy, get out!”
“You don’t tell me what to do, Granger!”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, will you just let me sleep?!” Hermione said, her patience running thin. “Is that too much to ask?”
Draco cut her a look and started towards the door. “By the way, nice nightie you got there Granger,” he said with a snicker as he shut the door.
Hermione looked down at the nightgown and groaned. She threw herself onto the pillow, willing herself not to scream. What a way to start the school year. Draco had just seen her in her ugliest (but most comfortable) nightie. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to hear the end of it. It was going to be a long year.
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