Draco
Of all the other students he could have been seated with at this bloody feast, of course he had to be seated across from bloody Granger. Being forced to sit in her haughty, know-it-all presence had him questioning whether he would have been better off in Azkaban next to his father. The only saving grace at the moment was that she was being completely silent. If only MacDougal and Corner would do the same, he might not have such a splitting headache.
He just needed to get through the rest of the meal and McGonnagall’s meeting and then he had a stash of fire whisky waiting for him in his trunk. He watched the room around him searching for where Theo and Pansy had been seated. When he spotted Theo right next to Potter who appeared to be talking animatedly with several players he recognized from the Gryffindor quidditch team, he realized he might not have it so bad stuck here with Granger. Theo did seem to be at least partially attending to their conversation though.
Pansy was harder to find, her small frame hiding her among the bodies seated throughout the large space. Unsuccessful, he made a mental note to ask who she had been stuck with once this was over.
“So Granger, which NEWTs are you signed up for?” Blaise asked.
Draco couldn’t stop the shocked scoff of disgust that escaped his lips at his friend’s attempt to chat up the puffy-haired snob. Though, if he was honest, her hair hadn’t been truly puffy in years. It seemed that at some point she realized using a muggle brush on her curls did in fact look atrocious and caused her hair to become a functioning bird nest. The brunette curls were still large and voluminous, but they at least looked tamed and fell around her shoulders in a less offensive manner.
He realized he had been caught staring at her when she cleared her throat before responding, a brow lifted in a dare. “I’ll be taking Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Herbology, Defense, Ancient Runes, and Alchemy.”
“No Divination for you then? If I recall correctly you had a lot of opinions about Trelawney’s methodology,” Blaise snickered and Draco watched as Granger dramatically rolled her eyes at him.
“Divination is a load of bollocks and a huge waste of my time so to answer your question, no. If I’m going to be forced to be here and attend classes for an entire year, I will at the very least save myself the headache by not listening to Sybill drone on about tea leaves and premonitions.”
Draco couldn’t believe what he was hearing. No longer able to bite his tongue any longer, “Forced? What do you know about being forced to be here, Granger? Last I checked you were given an Order of Merlin First Class, not several years of probation forcing you to come back to this hellhole.” Draco was practically spitting with rage at her audacity. Forced? The swot knew nothing about being forced to be here against her will. He had asked his probation Auror several times if he could simply do his probation via house arrest at the manor and time and time again he had been denied. She did not know the first thing about being forced to be here.
He refused to break eye contact as he watched her cheeks bloom red. He knew they were likely drawing the attention of the tables around them but he could not find it in him to care.
“Guess what, Malfoy? Not all of us have our daddy’s galleons and a big creepy estate to live on. Some of us actually have to be productive members of this fucked up society and get jobs which we cannot do without our NEWTs. The Ministry won’t hire anyone from our year without attending seventh-year NEWT courses so if I’m going to burn the entire building down from the inside, I apparently have to suffer a year in your presence until they will let me take the bloody exams I am already capable of passing, so yes, I am being forced to be here. Trust me, I wouldn’t be sitting here listening to you whine about the fact that you have to deal with the consequences of your actions if I didn’t absolutely have to.”
Draco’s fingers clenched around the slender handle of his wand in the pocket of his robes. He narrowed his eyes at her, “You don’t know the first thing about what I have been forced to do and you had better hope you never find out.”
The water in the goblet in front of her had started to boil over. When the steaming fluid had begun to pour over the sides and off the sides of the table towards the gaping-mouthed Ravenclaws, he watched as she broke his stare and quickly cast a cooling charm on her cup with a muttered apology to the others sitting at their table.
He felt Blaise’s elbow sharp against his ribs, “Maybe don’t start a pissing match with the golden girl on the first night, mate?”
Draco decided this would be the perfect time to tuck himself into the folds of his occlumency until they were dismissed to their dormitories.
Another half an hour passed before the younger students had all been dismissed and led away towards their new rooms by the prefects. He looked around to see only the familiar faces of other eighth-year students left. Finally able to spot Pansy, he noted that she had been seated with Daph, Longbottom, and Abbott. Surely, that was an evening of riveting conversation he internally chuckled.
The headmistress stepped down from the faculty platform before addressing the group. “Now, I’d like to start by saying that we are all adults here and I would appreciate it if everyone behaved accordingly. I know that returning to school wasn’t how you all pictured this year of your lives, but we must be flexible and adapt to our circumstances. As you are all no longer minors, you’ll be pleased to know that you will have far more independence during your time here than you experienced years prior, however, should you take advantage of that, know that I will not hesitate to take it away. I expect every single one of you to help the faculty set an example for the younger students, which means putting your differences aside and showing a united front. The war is over. This is no longer a light vs dark; the Order vs the Death Eaters; or house against house. There is a reason that none of you will don house colors this year. For far too long we have allowed the derision and stereotypes of our houses to define and divide our young. This will be no more. You will all have your own dormitories to allow you some privacy. Most of you will have the freedom to come and go from the grounds at your leisure so long as you attend your classes and don’t stir up any trouble. There won’t be any detentions should you choose to have alcohol so long as it stays within the eighth-year dormitories. If I catch any of you supplying substances to the younger students, I will take away such privileges immediately and irrevocably. Privileges will also be revoked should any of you be found to be fighting or causing any additional problems on school grounds. The new Unity course will allow us all plenty of opportunities to learn about one another, spend some time in the shoes of someone different than us, and heal together. I know that this past year has been full of unspeakable tragedies for each and every one of you in this room, so please know that myself and the rest of the faculty are here for you and we will work together to get through each day. If no one has any questions, you are all dismissed. You will find your new accommodations in the west corridor, Sir Nicholas will lead you in the correct direction. Your password is ‘Concordia.’”
Draco stood and fell to the back of the group as they were led through the hallways to their new living quarters. It felt odd not to be in the dungeons. He watched as the phantom floated back the way they came as the students in front of him climbed through the portrait hole into their new space.
The first thing Draco noticed when he stood in the common room was how much the space reminded him of the library of the manor. Dark mahogany shelves lined each of the walls full of books. Instead of the green and black furniture he had been accustomed to, the room seemed to be filled with brown leather armchairs and several couches. Tables of varying sizes were spaced around the room for studying and socializing. The large stone hearth seemed to be the heart of the space as the glow of fire filled the room with a comforting aura. While it wasn’t to his particular taste, he had seen far worse. There was an academic ambiance to the space that he could appreciate.
All of the students seemed to stand in place, uncertain of what to do now that they were left alone. It felt awkward to suddenly be expected to spend so much time with people he had been instructed to murder on sight only six months ago. He swallowed down his nerves as he studied his surroundings for any source of a threat.
“So… who wants to get sloshed?” Theo shouted and the resounding nods and cheers of agreement seemed to tell him that he wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable with their new living situation. As he summoned his own firewhisky and tucked himself into an armchair in the corner of the room, his eyes couldn’t help but catch Granger as she stomped up the staircase toward the witches’ dormitories.