Chapter 3
She’s been here before.
She’s swimming in an ocean of silver and light blue, all shiny and mixing together around her.
Her hair feels different, weightless. Everything feels weightless.
This sea of blue and silver should drown her, should have her gasping for breath and searching for the surface.
But no, she’s right where she’s meant to be. She’s home.
The water around her begins to ripple around her. Right as she turns her head towards the source…
Her wand vibrating jolts her awake. Of course, no one was in her dream. Nothing causes the ripple, it was just her hippocampus becoming aware of the vibrations near her head and compensating in her dream.
Just her hippocampus… but she could have sworn there was something familiar about that shade of silver.
She begins to do a mental catalog of anywhere it could be from.
The moon? No.
The English pound? No.
Hogwarts uniforms? No.
What about magic, surely there’s a spell…
Right as she is about to consider possible spells that can come out in that particular shade of silver, she hears commotion outside her bedroom door. After dozing off in the Gryffindor common room, Harry woke her up at the end of the festivities and she slugged her way up to her room, only to fall right back asleep.
Immediately, she reaches for her wand to remove the wards on her door, force of habit, and wraps a blanket around her before shuffling out of bed and peaking her head out the door.
Just Ginny… doing a walk of shame.
“Morning Ginny,” she taunts. Ginny, who has never been a morning person, flips her off half asleep mumbling under her breath and heading into the room she shares with Padma across the way.
She has time before she plans to go down to the Great Hall before classes and decided to start her morning routine, beginning with a piping hot shower. Having her own bathroom is one of the many perks of being in the Head Girl. While all the other Seventh and Eighth Years have gone back to sharing rooms, and she hopes Harry at least used a privacy charm last night, as Head Girl she is given her own private room and bathroom, along with a small kitchenette at the very top of Gryfinndor tower.
While thinking of the perks of her situation and basking in hot water her mind slips back to who the other student may be who is living in this luxury. She never did figure out who the Head Boy would be this year, but she has a meeting scheduled with McGonagall in an hour.
Stepping out of the shower and wrapping her fluffy cream bathrobe around herself, she begins to towel dry her hair and then moisturize. She applies her curl cream, Sleakeazys and uses a drying charm on her curls. Finally, after years of struggle, she figured out how to tame her curls this past summer with the help of Ginny while staying at Grimmauld Place.
Padding on over to her kitchenette, a quick charm has the kettle boiling and she takes her tea, with milk and one sugar of course, and begin to plan out her day.
First, meet with McGonagall. Then, breakfast in the Great Hall, Arithmancy, Potions and DADA. She also schedules herself for some time in the library after classes. She shares a secret little smile with herself, finally becoming excited to be back at Hogwarts.
After cozying up and starting her re-read of Pride and Prejudice, she realizes she’s running behind and puts together her uniform and heads down to meet McGonagall.
Walking through Hogwarts alone, she grounds herself with her mantra. You are safe. You are safe. You are safe.
While she knows that there is no one at Hogwarts who would threaten her, part of her can’t help but experience a touch of anxiety walking through the halls to the Headmistresses office. With time, she calms and begins to notice her surroundings. The castle really has healed itself, and while the restoration is slightly disorienting, it also reminds her that this place is her home.
Walking into McGonagall's office, she grins.
“Hermione dear, how are you settling in,” McGonagall has always been her favorite professor. She is always quick to engage fast-pace conversation with her, and the pair grew close even before the war with McGonagall helping her with her research on animagi.
“The room is wonderful Headmistress, it’s rather odd to be back but I think it’s a good odd,”.
“Hermione, I’ve told you time and time again you may call me Minerva. I’d like to think at this point we have no need for formality between us.”
“Alright, Minerva” she retorts back and Miverva shoots her a smile.
Minerva ushers her into a chair and then sits down behind a desk. After pouring her a cup of tea, she sets her own down and then gets right into business mode.
“Lets get right into it. Obviously you are Head Girl this year and our Head Boy will be joining us soon. I am sure you are curious about who the young man may be but I wanted to tell you in private before conducting our joint meeting out of respect for the both of you.”
Hermione feels apprehension begin to build in her stomach, but nods to Miverva for her to continue.
“As you know by now, I am working to increase inter-house unity but also to help support those students who were on the other side of the conflict. I know we have had many conversations about this and that we are on the same page that you were all much too young, and none of you deserved what was put on your shoulders. In the spirit of forgiveness, but also keeping with the tradition of Head Boy going to the top male student in your year, I have awarded the position of Head Boy to Draco Malfoy.”
Her mind went blank. She held no ill will towards Malfoy for anything from the past year, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have complicated feelings towards him. He was still cruel to her for years, even if he was innocent in his actions during the war. Regardless, he has always been behind her in class and she can’t argue with Miverva that it sends a strong tone for the rest of the school year towards fostering unity and forgiveness. Still… it was a bold choice.
Right as she opens her mouth to respond, she hears a knock at the door and Minvera calls the man himself in.
Malfoy looks good, as much as she loathes to admit it. Turns out the removal of Voldemort from your home can do wonders for your health, who knew. He filled out over the summer, looking taller than ever with broad shoulders that fit under his uniform just right. He looks almost tan, despite his typically pale complexion, and it makes his almost white-blonde hair stand out all the more.
Not wanting to be caught staring, she tries to avert her eyes but Malfoy looks shocked to see her. His expression is schooled into a look of complete calm but, when he walked in his steps faltered for just a moment before they continued at a leisurely gate.
“Mr. Malfoy, right on time. Please take a seat, I was just about to begin discussion the duties of the Heads with Ms. Granger,”.
He approaches the chair next to her, and to her shock, gives her a slight nod of acknowledgement before sliding into his seat.
The Headmistress wastes no time before delving into their responsibilities as Heads. They are expected to create the rounds schedule, perform rounds once a week and hold weekly meetings with the other Prefects. While this is nothing new, she is surprised to learn they are also expected to help plan the Halloween Ball together.
Apparently, Minerva is not at all concerned by the awkwardness coating the air between Hermione and Malfoy and acts as if they are just two totally normal Heads, with no sort of past history between them.
Well then, in the spirit of forgiveness, Hermione may as well act the same.
When Minerva dismisses them and Hermione bids her goodbye, her and Malfoy begin to head out of her office at the same time.
Immediately, she takes control of the situation and ends the tense silence. “Congratulations on Head Boy Malfoy. When it comes to our rounds I really have no preference on which day of the week it’s done but I would like to get started on the schedule as soon as possible. I am planning to be in the library after third block and dinner today if you wanted to start planning it out?”
Malfoy looks like he’s about to throw up, some of that slight yet beautiful tan fading from his face. Well that’s a great start to a working relationship. Wait, beautiful tan?
She keeps prattling on as they walk down the hall, as they’re both heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast. “Unless of course you have plans tonight in which case I can get started on it myself, or we could work on it tomorrow or we-”
“Granger.” He cuts her off, and it comes out a bit strangled. “Tonight is fine, I will see you there.”
And with that he takes an unexpected turn down the hall and apparently, while her scheduling matters may be sorted, her opinion of Draco Malfoy is very much not.