Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 22 The First Night

The sorting hat's song once again told the school that they must unite to overcome their differences, only this year it was a bit more strenuous in the message. Once again Harry and Ron scoffed at the idea of getting along with the Slytherins. A look around the room showed just how many parents were scared to send their children away to school now that Dumbledore was gone; perhaps a sixth of the student body from the year before had not returned. There were only twenty five new students to be sorted; 7 Gryffindor, 8 Slytherin (Ron was most adamant in booing all eight of the eleven year-olds), 6 Ravenclaw, and 4 Hufflepuff.

Seamus was talking of how his mother had tried to keep him away, but he told her that going to school and showing that they weren't so scared as to throw away his future was a better way to go about things; there were quite a few students who had similar stories.

The staff table showed only one new teacher; a man in his late twenties or early thirties with dirty blond hair neatly trimmed, bright blue eyes, and pouty lips. At least half the girls (and some of the guys) were staring up at him, entranced at the hotness of their newest teacher as they waited for McGonagall to introduce him. When she finally did, they learned that he was Professor Davis, their new Tranfiguration professor.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were shocked. That meant that Snape, who was also at the front table, was still DADA. This was especially interesting due to the fact that the previous year Dumbledore had confirmed the curse that was said to be on the position. The other announcement of importance was that the new Deputy Headmaster was Professor Flitwick.

When the feast was over Hermione made sure that the prefects were taking the first years to the dorms when she went over to the front and met Zabini and Professor Flitwick, who was going to show them to their dorm. The small man led them to a suit of armor on the second floor, halfway between the Slytherin dorm and the one for Gryffindor. He told the suit the password (lollygag) and it walked away from the wall, leaving an opening that wasn't previously there.

They followed him through the opening, both of them having to bend over a bit, Zabini moreso than Hermione to get through. They were in a common room. It had two plush chairs and a matching loveseat in royal blue in front of the black marble fireplace. The floor was white marble with black throw rugs scattered about haphazardly, the bottom half of the walls were the same royal blue, the top white with a black stripe dividing the two. One of the walls was filled with black laquer bookcases, the wall opposite having two extremely large matching desks with chairs in blue. The fourth wall had two black doors, one on either side with a large white mirror in between them. "I though we only shared a bath," Hermione said to the Professor in a questioning manner.

"No. Well, you do, but there's also this common room. Hermione, you're bedroom is the door to the left, and Blaise, yours is the door to the right. Just like the house dorms, Hermione, your room is enchanted to not let any males up the stairs, so let them know not to try."

"I don't know, I think I'd like to watch that," she joked.

"I'll just leave you two to get acquainted with your rooms, and perhaps you can stop glaring at each other and have a decent conversation. After all, you will be working together through the year." They both nodded and the Deputy Headmaster left. Before Zabini could say anything to Hermione she went to her door and climbed the stairs to her room.

It was done entirely in lilac and white, from the bed to the floors to the cupboard. Quite soothing, really, especially the way the air was charmed to continuously smell like lilacs, her favorite flower. She walked through the other door in the room and found herself in the bathroom. It was completely covered in small black, white and blue tiles. The floor and walls were a continuous flow of the three colors, while the shower was white, the large double sink blue and the toilet black. It was a decent sized bathroom, but it was still small enough that she hoped it wouldn't be too hard to redo the wards.

She was in the room sitting on the toilet for about three minutes trying to get a feel of the wards there before the door on the other side opened and Zabini walked in. "Nice bath," he commented. She nodded her head in response, otherwise ignoring him. "Am I interrupting?"

"No," she sighed. "I'm going to go off to Gryffindor now. But I suppose you should know that for a while I'll probably be spending a decent amount of time in here. Girl stuff."

"Girl stuff my ass."

"If that's how you feel, just thought I'd let you know." After that sentance she left, going to Gryffindor like she had said. When she arrived at the common room she found her friends there waiting there for her. They bombarded her with question after question as to what her rooms were like and commenting on how horrible it was that she had to share with that prat Zabini. Which then got Harry and Ron on a tangent wondering whether or not he had taken the Dark Mark and she should look for it on him whenever she got the chance.

She deftly guided tham away from the topic by asking Harry when he was planning on having tryouts for the quidditch team. Most people would realize that she was blatantly changing the subject due to the way she had never cared for the sport, but the two boys were oblivious. Ginny thought she was flirting.

She returned to her rooms shortly before curfew and about ten minutes before Zabini returned from his visit to Slytherin. When he walked into the room to see her at the desk she had obviously claimed for herself. He rolled his eyes at her, not knowing that she was writing a letter to the Dark Lord that was to be left in Malfoy's room to be delivered when she completed her mission. She just wanted to be sure that it would be ready when she needed it.

He sat down in front of the fire on the chair that faced the wall with the desks. She had changed into her pajamas (a red lace tank and black silk boxers) before he had returned, and he was staring at her long legs, one crossed over the other, her foot bouncing. When she finished her letter, she scrolled it, spelled it, and started one similar to Malfoy to tell him to make sure that their master revieved it. She also scrolled and sealed this one as Malfoy's name appeared across the front of the tube of paper.

When she picked up the two letters, she got up to transfer them to her room. Turning around she saw for the first time that Blaise was there; he had not spoken and she hadn't heard him come in and sit down. Seeing that he was once again staring at her she got annoyed. "What, Zabini?"

"I was just wondering if you would give me the same treatment Draco's gotten from you."

She stared hard into his eyes. "You can go fuck yourself... and all of Hogwarts for that matter, but I'm not an option." With that she went to her room for the night.