As Hermione and her motley crew that she liked to call her friends got off the train, they met up with none other than Draco Malfoy. He stared, dumbfounded, at the badge on Ron’s robes.
“Weasley’s Head Boy? God, this school is worse off than I thought!” he exclaimed to no one in particular. His friends seemed to have deserted him.
“Wouldn’t Malfoy already know you were Head Boy?” Harry questioned as they made their way toward an empty carriage to take them to Hogwarts. “Wouldn’t he have seen at the Prefect meeting?”
“Oh, I forgot to mention, Malfoy didn’t come. I don’t know why and I don’t really want to,” Hermione said quickly dismissing the matter.
Harry looked like he wanted to talk more about this startling piece of news, but Hermione shot him a ‘be quiet before I have to tell you something I don’t want to’ look and Harry desisted.
As they entered the Great Hall, they saw familiar faces already sitting at the tables. Most people either congratulated Hermione and Ron or else stared at Ron’s badge.
Malfoy was not the only one shocked at Dumbledore’s appointment of Head Boy. The rest of the school were whispering to each other or else staring at Dumbledore thinking this must be a joke. The name Ron Weasley never crossed their minds when they thought of Head Boy.
As they settled themselves into their respective tables, Dumbledore rose and quiet filled the hall.
“I noticed that many of you were discussing my appointment of Head Boy. I would just like to assure you that there has been no mistake. If Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley would come up here after the feast, I will give you the information about your dormitories and your duties.” Dumbledore said. “But for now, let the feast begin.” he said as he sat down to the mounds of food that had just appeared on the golden plates.
Although Ron had turned a brilliant shade of red at Dumbledore’s first words, he didn’t seem to care now that there was food to be eaten. He helped himself to more food than could fit on one plate, just as usual.
“At least he’s not taking it too badly. He could not eat at all,” Hermione whispered to Harry as she watched Ron stuff as much food into his mouth as humanly possible. Harry sniggered and helped himself to some chicken.
After dinner, Hermione dragged Ron up to the teachers’ table to find out the finer details. Dumbledore had told them there was a list of their duties in their dormitory, which was located behind the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls the ballet. The password was ‘Gillywater.’
They trekked up many flights of staircases with Harry until they had reached Gryffindor Tower.
“Wow, this is a little odd. You not sleeping in the same room as me. And I don’t mean that in a dirty way,” Harry said quickly.
“Yeah, it is weird. Well, goodnight!” Ron said and he and Hermione journeyed towards their dormitory.
Some one’s a little to eager to leave their best friend behind Hermione thought in her head as they reached the tapestry and Ron uttered the password.
The common room was painted a faint and pale gold. There were red silk curtains on the windows. The windows themselves had a remarkable view of the lake. There were comfortable armchairs and a long couch at one end of the room. Many tables were spread across the room, the largest of which had two pieces of parchment on them. On either side of the room, there were great mahogany doors with polished golden names plates, the one on the left reading Hermione Granger and the one on the right saying Ronald Weasley.
“This place is nice,” Ron said in awe. Hermione nodded. “Well, see you tomorrow!”
“Goodnight,” Hermione said and she went towards her room.
Her new dormitory reminded her greatly of her regular dormitory in Gryffindor Tower, except that there was only one bed. Exhausted, she changed into her nightclothes and settled down on her bed with the extensive list of duties.
*************
When Hermione awoke the next day, it took her a few seconds to register where she was. She was so used to waking up to the sound of others, the silence of her room scared her slightly. Then remembering she was now Head Girl, she headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
She went into the Common Room to find Ron sitting in one of the armchairs, staring at the dwindling fire. “I can’t believe I’m Head Boy,” he said to the fire.
“You seemed fine with it last night,” Hermione replied quite shortly.
“Well, I guess I am then,” Ron said, accepting defeat rather readily, and he went to go change.
Thinking he could make it down to breakfast without help, Hermione walked to the Great Hall without Ron. She quickly spotted Harry eating his breakfast at the Gryffindor table while talking with Dean Thomas. She quickly hurried towards them. Spotting Hermione coming, Harry made some space on the bench next to him.
“Good morning. Where’s Ron?” he asked cheerfully.
“He’s getting ready. I decided to leave without him.” Hermione answered quickly.
“Did he realize he’s Head Boy, or is he still fooling around?”
“I think he did. I hope so. It’ll be rather difficult doing both the Head Girl and the Head Boy duties at once.” Hermione spotted the pile of 7th year schedules near Harry’s plate. Grabbing one, she examined it, noticing she had only 10 minutes before her N.E.W.T. level Arithmancy started which Transfiguration followed. Quickly, she dug into her porridge.
Arithmancy passed fast enough, although she had received a fair amount of homework. She headed to Transfiguration, hoping that the boys had not forgotten to go. But, fortunately, they were there.
“Another year of things I won’t be able to understand or do.” Ron muttered under his breath. He seemed to have gone back to his normal irritating self, which made Hermione slightly happier. It seemed to make Harry happier as well, seeing the small smile on his face at Ron’s remark.
Transfiguration had gotten considerably harder from last year, but by asking Professor McGonagall to repeat the instructions again, Hermione achieved changing the shape of her nose. Ron had made a grave mistake when he made his entire face look like a badger’s, at which everyone laughed.
At the end of class, McGonagall asked Hermione to stay behind. She wondered if she had done something wrong and walked up to the Professor’s desk, wringing her hands nervously.
Seeing the look on her face, she said calmly, “Do not worry Miss Granger. You are not in trouble. I would just like to ask you a favor.”
A look of great relief passed over Hermione’s face as she said, “Oh, alright.”
“You are one of the best students this school has ever seen. (Here Hermione blushed) It’s true. So that is why I am asking you if you would like to tutor Draco Malfoy.”
Hermione was stunned. Draco Malfoy? The person who thought she was lower than dirt? “I don’t know Professor. Draco Malfoy doesn’t really see me in the best of light.” she stated cautiously.
“I will see to it that he will not attack you with his words. I know he has a great soul with a great mind somewhere down deep, I just don’t know how to get out that goodness in him. So I thought perhaps you could help me. I understand if you do not want to. But just if.”
There was a begging look in Professor McGonagall’s eyes that Hermione feared to turn down. “Of course I will.”
Teaching the Dark by BittersweetLove
Chapter Notes: See, it did take a long time! Be prepared to wait this long, unless its the summer. Here, you go!