It's been an interesting couple of weeks. First of all, I found this in Hermione's trunk when I went to go get a book for her! She must have found it when I left it on the mantel a few weeks ago! Thankfully, she must have not seen anything, and she hasn't written in it either. I hope she doesn’t go looking for it…
Second of all, there have been more articles in the Daily Prophet about You-Know-Who and what they say he's been up to. There have been many muggle torturing incidents, and Dad says that the Ministry has been swamped with work. The Ministry and the Order both have been sending out wizards to perform mind-wipes on the muggles and witnesses. There have also been a couple muggle deaths in Southern England. I hope this isn't his idea of 'warming up'; the idea of that is disgusting.
Third of all this week has been interesting, on a happier note, because I had two surprising classes of Muggle Studies this week. During the first class this week, the professor told us about the special lesson we'd be having next session.
“Class?” she called. “Class! May I have your attention now?” she said in a commanding tone as she stood at her podium.
Everyone fell silent as she paused. Malfoy sat across the room, not looking or talking to me as usual. He stared past me and I looked down at my books.
“Since our subject lately has been that of everyday muggle schools, in our next session we will be having a special guest speak to us about muggle schools and the kinds of things that go on there everyday.” She paused again as she adjusted her glasses.
Students began to titter around me. A guest speaker is always a good thing. A guest speaker means no homework.
“To add to this, we will be dressing up in muggle clothing for a bit of added fun. It will be basically a free grade. All you have to do is show up next session wearing muggle clothes,” Professor Channing said as she looked at us over the top of her glasses. To me this sounded like a good idea. The only time I’ve really worn muggle clothes was to go to the Quidditch World Cup. “I do have several articles of clothing you may borrow if you do not happen to own muggle attire, but don't worry," she said after she noticed a pair of girls looking sullen, “it's nothing muggles would consider ‘unstylish.’”
All of us knew what was ‘in’ or ‘out’ in muggle standards after reading up on their culture. I recall a previous lesson when the girls next to me flipped through a muggle catalogue and laughed at all of the silly muggle styles that were currently in fashion. Some of them didn’t look so bad to me.
I took another glance at Malfoy, who wore a slight look of disgust on his face after hearing about the clothes.
“Won’t you be wearing muggle clothes too?” someone called out to the professor.
Professor Channing laughed and said, “Oh, no, I will let all of you have the fun.”
After the lesson was over, everyone who didn’t have muggle clothes flocked to the back of the room where the closet was. I noticed that Malfoy wasn’t among the lot of us. Was it possible that he actually owned muggle clothing? Maybe he wasn’t going to participate at all…but then he would get a failing grade. I know he wouldn’t do that without a reason, and that is not a valid reason. Well, I’d find out soon enough. With a murmur of ‘alohomora’ from Professor Channing, the door unlocked and creaked open. Boxes upon boxes were stacked on each other against the wall. In the center of the room were various muggle inventions with layers of dust covering them. They looked pretty odd. Knobs, levers, and buttons poked out everywhere. I wonder how muggles think up these things. Professor Channing scanned the box labels searching for the right one. Then she came to a fairly high stack, read the label, and got behind the boxes and with one big heave, she pushed them over.
“Is she mad?” a younger boy next to me whispered to his friend.
“All professors at Hogwarts are,” his friend whispered back.
The clothes had all spilled out, completely covering the floor in all types of fabric and designs. A Ravenclaw girl picked up a large hat with an enormous feather on it and looked at the professor with a cocked eyebrow.
“As you can see,” Professor Channing said, still trying to catch her breath, “most of these aren’t from current times. But it is your job to find the clothes that belong to this time period.”
A few students groaned as we trudged through the flood of clothes. I had to admit, it was fun going through the clothes. The first thing I picked up was a long brown dress with a white apron on the front. From what I had seen in my book, it was probably an American pioneer dress. Then I picked up a red silk dress with a beautiful design of flowers on it. Pink and blue flowers intertwined at the hems and along the sleeves. I then realized it must have been a Japanese kimono. The flower pattern would have been really pretty on some dress robes. After a few centuries of clothing, I finally grabbed what seemed like a safe choice. It was simply a pair of blue jeans and a white cotton t-shirt with the words: ‘Australia: It’s Bettah Down Undah’ in green writing with a picture of a kangaroo. I thought it was quite funny. I hoped that the clothes would fit, because if they didn’t, then I would have to hunt Hermione down and see if there was any spells to make it fit. I brought it back to the Gryffindor common room and left it in my trunk until the next session.
On the morning of the next session, I nearly forgot about the muggle clothes I had stashed in my trunk. I had only realized after I got out my robes to change into after I finished my shower. After realizing what had happened I opened my trunk and I pulled on my clothes. I turned to look in the mirror of the girls’ dormitory. I looked just like the muggle girls in my book! It was amazing what a simple change of clothes could do. I pulled my hair into a loose ponytail and slipped into a pair of flop-flaps that I had grabbed on the way out of Muggle Studies. …oh wait! They are called flip-flops, sorry. I just asked Hermione about that, and she says that they’re called flip-flops. That’s a funny name for a shoe if you ask me. And a rather odd design as well, now that I think about it. According to the information in my book, I looked normal. Ha…normal; what they call normal is what we call strange and vice versa. I then flip-flopped my way down to the common room where a few students gave me an odd look. Of course, there were also a few other Gryffindors dressed as muggles too, so I didn’t feel completely stupid.
I was about to leave for class when I noticed Hermione come down as I reached for my bag. Surprise, surprise! She was dressed as a muggle as well! She was wearing a grey Oxford shirt with a pressed white linen collar. The cuffs of her shirt were like that as well. She also wore a black pleated skirt and some kind of shiny black muggle shoes…I don’t know what they’re called, so I won’t even bother giving them a name.
“Hermione?” I said, shocked.
“Whoa,” someone else said from behind her. It was Harry, and he hung his mouth open.
“Yes?” she said as she turned around to look at him. Her hair was half pulled back, and looked very neat and tidy. From her half-ponytail, her brown hair curled neatly downwards.
Harry shut his mouth and looked flustered. “Er, nice clothes Hermione,” he said. “You make the best looking muggle I’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks.” Hermione’s cheeks tinged pink as she grinned. “Hey Ginny,” she said to me.
“I thought you didn’t have Muggle Studies anymore,” I said. “You look great, by the way.”
“Well I’m not supposed to tell you this,” she said as she dropped her voice, “but I’m the mysterious guest speaker. You look good yourself,” she added.
That made sense. “Oh okay. Are those your own clothes?” I asked.
Hermione nodded. “It was my uniform at the private school my parents sent me to before coming here. This pair was a bit big when I was younger, but it fits fine now.”
I looked at her hair, and she consciously touched it. “They had a thing for cleanliness and hygiene,” she said. “They didn’t like messy anything. Not even messy hair. Maybe I’ve done a bit too much,” she said thoughtfully. “After all, it’s only a lesson.”
“No, it’s not too much at all,” Harry said, jumping back into the conversation. “It’s perfect.”
Hermione grinned and her cheeks flushed pink. Why can’t my cheeks go pink when I blush? When I blush, they turn red, just like my hair. But anyways, back to the subject.
“Thanks,” she replied quietly.
They are so cute, but they are going to drive me mad if they don’t stop beating around the bush. I know that Harry definitely has a thing for Hermione, but Hermione obviously hasn’t realized it yet. Or at least, that’s what it looks like and Ron agrees with me.
After breakfast, Hermione and I picked up our schoolbags and made our way to Muggle Studies.
“We probably shouldn’t walk in together,” Hermione whispered to me as we neared the classroom. “I was supposed to keep my arrival in your class a secret.”
I nodded. “Okay, sure. I’ll go in first and you can wait a few moments before you come in,” I said, as I was about to walk into the classroom.
“One more thing,” Hermione said. “Try and act surprised, okay?”
I grinned. “Yeah, I will.”
I took my seat and looked at everyone around me. A few students were dressed like me with blue jeans and a cotton t-shirt. A couple wore athletic jerseys and someone wore a pair of overalls and a plaid shirt like a farmer. I noticed that Malfoy wasn’t there yet and made me wonder if he even planned on coming. Just as that thought crossed my mind, Malfoy himself entered the room looking particularly unhappy about his wardrobe selection. I didn’t see what was wrong though. He looked very, erm, handsome as he strode through the door and set his schoolbag down. He wore a trim black suit and under his suit jacket, he wore a dark blue shirt and a black tie around his neck. He looked like a young, sophisticated businessman in what looked like an Armani suit (well…that’s the only kind I know, but they look similar) and black loafers. That’s what he is, though, isn’t it? Or at least, that’s how his family is; sophisticated and businesslike. I could definitely imagine his pale pianist’s finger wrapped around the stem of a wine glass as his other hand signed an important business contract. His grey eyes fastened on mine as he noticed me looking at him. I turned away, embarrassed about staring. Malfoy’s cool manner shrugged it off as he stared at a wall. I wondered if he was ever going to talk to me again. I still felt plenty guilty about asking him that question, and he obviously hasn’t forgiven me yet. I feel torn because part of me thinks it would be best to forget about him, but my heart thinks that I should just wait for him to come around, if he ever does.
Hermione apparently looked surprised at Malfoy when she walked in right behind him. They were the only two in the class that took the private school route for choice of clothes. I noticed Professor Channing look at Hermione and smile apprehensively.
“Wow, Hermione!” I said loudly with a faux surprised tone. “Whatever could you be doing here?” Obviously acting wasn’t my strong point as Hermione giggled and Anthony Goldstein looked at me peculiarly because of my over-dramatic tone.
“Well I’m the surprise guest speaker,” Hermione said nudging me with a grin.
“What class did you get out of?” I asked.
“Herbology,” she replied. “I was afraid I’d miss something important,” she said, concerned, “but Professor Sprout says that I’ll be fine. I hope she’s right.”
Professor Channing then took her stand at her podium, but not before knocking over a globe off of its stand and sending it rolling wildly under her desk.
“Good morning students. I see that you have all succeeded in the fun part of our lesson; dressing up as muggles,” she said with a smile. “But before I waste anymore time, I would like to introduce the mystery guest speaker today, Miss Hermione Granger.”
Hermione smiled and took her stand at the podium. Professor Channing smiled and cleaned her glasses on her robes. With a sickening crunch, her glasses snapped in half as Hermione cleared her throat. Professor Channing waved her wand and said, ‘reparo’ as she quickly put her glasses back on and sat at her desk with her hands folded, probably to prevent any more accidents.
Hermione’s speech started out with a summary of all of the technology they use everyday to help teach and run the school. There are light bulbs, air conditioning/heating utilities, and computers (a subject that none of us could fathom no matter how many times Hermione tried explaining them to us).
The last subject she spoke about was the most interesting to us. She must have saved the best part for the end.
“In most of the muggle schools, not everyone is friendly to each other. Some know more people than others and are considered elite and popular. But those popular people usually exclude people from their group and act rather snobby. There can be several different groups, or cliques, of people in a school. There can be groups for the popular, the athletic, the clever, and the normal. Some are even cast out by their peers and live through their academic life without any friends. The groups almost never mingle except in class, but other than that, they mostly ignore each other and stick with members of their own group.”
“That’s horrible!” someone said, interrupting her. Several other people murmured in agreement. Hermione made muggle teenagers sound terrible and cruel.
Hermione nodded and smiled a sad, knowing smile. “Would you like to know the worst part?” she asked us.
All of us nodded, looking at each other in horror. We were all thinking the same thing, “What could be worse than that?”
“Well,” Hermione began carefully, “the worst part is that the exclusion and cliques do not end at muggle boundaries. We have them in our own school.”
“Huh?” said a confused Terry Boot. “I’ve never seen us cast each other out and stay in defined groups.”
Several students nodded their heads.
“It may not be on such a large scale, but we do indeed have four main cliques at this school, though we refer to them as houses,” she voiced. She received a few surprised looks, even from me. “Yes,” she stated, “many of you have not realized how much we socialize with only our houses and no one else.”
“Well what does that matter?” someone quipped. “It’s not like we’re hurting anyone. It’s not a problem.”
“Oh but it is,” Hermione answered. “And it could be quite deadly if we don’t do anything about it. As we all know, Lord Voldemort is back and quickly gaining power.” I gave a shudder as well as most of the class did. “I personally cannot see how our side will survive if we cannot even unite a school under one roof,” she said with intense emotion. “Can you imagine the magical world practically controlled by Voldemort again? Can you picture this school in shambles thanks to him? What if Voldemort goes after your family next? Or he might head for us. We won’t be ready as we are. We could never stop him like this. What all of us really need to do is come together as one and try to stop Voldemort before he can hurt another person.”
Each time she said his name, she said it forcefully, almost sending us all into shock. I never knew that Hermione had such good public speaking skills. She was very convincing. Some students shot dodgy looks at Malfoy and Hermione noticed them.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re all friends or all enemies. We have to realize that we must cooperate with each other and know that we must help each other to help get rid of Voldemort. We must work with each other despite some of our differences and realize that we’ll be protecting the ones we love.” When Hermione said this, her eyes shone with tears, and I knew she was thinking about Harry. I also noticed that for the one of the first times in a month, Malfoy’s grey eyes settled on me intently and I did not break his gaze.
Professor Channing was the first to say something in the long silence. She clapped her hands quietly and blinked a few times. “Thank you, Hermione,” she said softly. She was obviously touched by Hermione’s speech, just as everyone in the class was. I should have known that Hermione wouldn’t have missed a class without a reason. Missing class to promote the school unification was a good excuse to me. It was clever of her to mix it in with her original speech about muggle schools.
As Hermione stepped down, Malfoy and I still held gazes and it wasn’t because we both looked odd in muggle clothes…or at least I don’t think that’s the reason. He didn’t show much emotion on his face, and I felt that I didn’t either. But I find out from looking at him that he would indeed talk to me soon. I would just wait until then. What Hermione said made a lot of sense; protecting the ones we love. That was the best motive for working with each other. As Malfoy and I watched each other I found a revelation in his eyes. It surprised me that it became quite obvious that along with all of my other friends and family, Draco Malfoy is someone who I’d die protecting because he is among the ones I love.