"I'll see you three tomorrow morning," she said to them, smiling.
"Yeah...good luck surviving the night with Malfoy," Ron replied, cringing slightly. "Tell us if he does anything during the night. We'll curse him for you."
Hermione laughed, and punched the tall redhead playfully. "He wouldn't dare."
"Give us all the details!" Ginny piped up, brushing her long auburn hair back.
"I will," replied Hermione. With that, she turned away and began the long walk to the place where she would be spending the rest of her school year with a boy who hated her as much, if not more, as she hated him.
When she finally reached the portrait that hung over the entrance to the room after climbing up two flights of spiraling staircases, she halted. What if he's in there? she thought to herself nervously. I really don't want to face him right now...
She was just about to turn around and go ask her friends if she could stay with them in their common room, when someone behind her coughed. Hermione jumped and spun around.
"Oh...its you," she said, her momentary fright disappearing. "You know, you don't have to scare me like that."
"Whatever. Are you going to go in or not?" Draco Malfoy replied. He was leaning against the marble wall across from her, and was surveying her lightly.
She shrugged, and said the password ("Acromantula"). The portrait, which was of a young boy holding a little girl's hand, swung open. Hermione gasped as she crawled through the circular gap that was left in place of the painting. The dormitory in which they were staying in was beautiful. The room she had walked into appeared to be the lounge, and was furnished with Gryffindor and Slytherin colours. The walls were painted a vivid crimson colour, and had intricate gold designs etched into it. All of the furniture was either silver or hunter green, and a round oak table lay in the middle room. Straight ahead of her was a door, which read "Bathroom" on it. A painting of a lion's head with a snake curled up on it hung there. To the left was an arched door with Gryffindor's lion symbol painted onto it, and to the right was a similar-looking door with Slytherin's snake on it. Underneath each of the pictures, the name of the occupant was written in elegant white script.
Hermione let out a sigh of happiness, and ran to the nearest couch, upon which she settled herself comfortably. "I love this place," she murmured to herself.
"It's rather bland," Draco's voice interrupted from behind her. She inwardly groaned. The fact that she would be sharing it with Draco brought a downfall to her happiness as she flipped herself around to face the Slytherin.
"Yeah? I suppose the Slytherin common room must be so much better than this, huh?"
"Actually, it's not. But my room at home was better."
"Well good for your room," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Not being in the mood to argue with him, she got off the couch and walked into her room. In it lay a large, four-poster bed with gold hangings. A small desk sat in one corner, and in the other corner, a highly-polished oak dresser.
As she lay down on her bed, she yawned. It was late and she was tired. Not bothering to undress and change into something more comfortable, she promptly got snuggly under the covers and fell asleep. I suppose I can always deal with him tomorrow morning.... were her last thoughts before she drifted off. She did not, however, notice a tall, blonde Slytherin standing in the doorway, gazing at her with what - for the first time ever - was not a look of contempt, but rather a gentle and caring look...much like that of which they had witnessed the older Draco give his wife.
Early next morning found Hermione quietly heading towards the Hogwarts library. She had not been able to sleep the previous night; the thought of the wrapper and what she and Draco had witnessed had lingered on her mind and kept her awake.
When she had gotten up, the dormitory was quiet. As she smoothed out her clothes and applied touches of makeup, she had noticed the door to Draco's room open. Her curiosity overtook her, and she walked over to it quietly. Looking in, she had seen him in a state that was unfamiliar to her - he looked like an angel, rather than a beautiful marble carving. His face had been calm and peaceful, and his hair, instead of being gelled, fluttered gently around his face every time he exhaled.
Hermione found herself smiling as she recalled this, and immediately frowned. What's wrong with me, she thought. Maybe I'm thinking about that whole wrapper deal too much...
Nevertheless, she continued on her trip to the library. Once she reached it and found a book called Magical Items and Their Properties, she sat down at a table and began to read.
The sun rose high in the sky as Hermione read on. It cast its glow on her, causing her light brown hair to shine like copper. A pair of watching eyes saw this, and the heart that came with these eyes melted - just a little bit. The person shuffled slightly, causing their robes to rustle. Hermione looked up sharply. "Ron?" she asked quietly. Silence answered her.
"Who's there," she asked out loud, looking around.
"Me," a low voice responded. Draco stepped out from behind the bookshelf with a sneer fixed on his face. "I was passing by and saw you in here, and came to see what in Merlin's name you could be studying when classes hasn't even started yet."
"What's with you and hiding in the shadows?" Hermione asked with a slight frown. "You always surprise me like that."
"I guess it's just a special talent," Draco replied with a smirk.
Shrugging, she looked back down and resumed her reading. After a few minutes of silence, she looked back up again. She noticed him looking at her with a penetrating gaze, and squirmed uncomfortably.
"What do you want?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"I'm waiting for you to find something on that wrapper," he replied matter-of-factly.
Hermione sighed. "Why don't you help me look then, Malfoy?"
"Because," he said lazily, "Malfoys don't do work. We let dirty little Mudbloods like you do it for us."
Gritting her teeth at this remark, Hermione responded angrily, "Well you're out of luck, sir Malfoy. I'm not going to do anything for you if you don't help me." With that said, she shot him a glare, grabbed her book, and stalked out of the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, gave a quiet tut-tut at this, and looked over at Draco.
"Sorry," he said, rolling his eyes.
What's her goddamn problem, he thought to himself as he followed her trail out of the library. Maybe you should have been a little bit nicer to her. Perhaps helped her look too? a tiny voice argued back. Go away, he angrily thought to the voice.
With this, Draco sighed and began walking towards the Great Hall