A MATE FOR LIFE

Chapter Three

The train came to a stop, as they heard the students hustling out the door. They heard Hagrid calling out to the first years to gather around so they could take the boats across the lake, as the other students climbed into the carriages.

Hermione was about to climb in with Harry and the others, but noticed with the four of them it was quite crowded already. “I’ll go find another carriage. Make sure you save me a seat at the table okay guys.” They all nodded and replied that they would save her a seat.

She looked in the windows of the carriages looking for an empty seat. The last one had only on person in it, so she climbed in and sat down looking across from her. “Malfoy. We seem to be stuck together again.” Hermione said smirking as she looked out the window when she felt the carriage start to roll.

“Just stay on your side Granger.” He said as he picked up his book again.

“What are you reading anyway?” She leaned down to read the cover. “‘Lord of the Rings’ huh. I’ve read that. Good book. You’ll have to read the other two also, they get better as you read on.”

He looked up from his book and gave her a silencing look. “Okay, I’ll shut up. Pretend I’m not even here.” She said as she looked out the window.

Draco looked across at her wondering when the skirts had shortened on the girls uniforms. She crossed her legs, swinged her one foot back and forth, making the hem of the skirt ride up her thigh a couple of inches. ‘Yeah right, pretend she’s not here’ , he thought to himself in frustration.

The carriage all of a sudden lurched forward as it hit a large crack in the road. Hermoine fell forward landing on Draco’s lap. His hand came out to ward her off as he saw her coming toward him. When she landed, his hand ended up on her bare leg under the hem of her skirt. He looked up into the brown of her eyes in surprise, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I think so.” As she struggled to sit up.

His hand was still on her leg, and she wasn’t if if she wanted him to move it or not. She looked down and Draco realized his hand was still on her. He moved it off and smoothed her skirt down.

“Thanks.” She said as she finally was able to move back to her seat, still feeling the imprint of his warm hand on her leg.

The rest of the carriage ride was done in silence, each thinking their own thoughts, which happened to be close to the same. ‘What would have happened if he had moved his hand higher instead of taking his hand right off.’


In the Great Hall the students and professors watched the sorting of the first years, who were all looking nervously towards the stool centred in the middle of the raised platform with the old looking frayed hat waiting for them. The sorting went by fairly quickly. At the end there was seven new Gryffindors, four new Hufflepuffs, five new Ravenclaw and four more in the Slytherin house.

Dumbledore stood up where the students all fell silent. “Welcome first years to Hogwarts. First of all we would like to welcome back Professor Lupin for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class.” The majority of the students applauded loudly at this announcement. “A few first of term notices. To all students, the forest is strictly forbidden, as there can be great dangers that lurk in the shadows. Also, our caretaker Mr. Filch has posted a list of items that are not acceptable on school grounds, which include quite a few things from ‘Weasley’s rdinrding Wheezies’”. He said his eyes twinkling as he looked to Ginny and Ron. “Also for the hard work and dedication to their studies, the Head Boy and Head Girl this year are Draco Malfoy from Slytherin and Hermione Granger from Gryffindor. Congratulations you two, please stay after the feast so we can show you to your dormitory. And finally....let the feast begin!” As he clapped the tables were laden with food and drink.

All the students immediately dove into the food and filled their plates. In between bits, they reacquainted themselves with friends, while the students closer to the first years tried to make them feel welcome.

“So who was this guy you were seeing over the summer Hermione?” Ginny asked.

“His name was Jim. He’s a muggle that I met at a concert. We both hit it off right away and agreed that it was just going to be a summer thing, as he knew that I would be going away to school.” She replied as she took a bit of her kidney pie.

“What did he look like?” Lavender asked.

“He had short dark hair with very kissable lips. Broad shoulders and a firm flat stomach. He had a bar code tattoo on the back of his neck and a few piercings.” She answered thinking about the previous night.

“What kind of piercings?” Lavender asked.

“He had both nipples pierced with hoops through them and his tongue was also pierced with a metal ball.” Thinking on how that tongue fon hon her skin and some other sensitive parts of her body.

“His tongue?” Ron asked. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

Hermione still had a dreamy look on her face when she answered. “It’s amazing what a little stud on the tongue can do for you.” She smirked suggestively.

Lavender and Ginny didn’t quite grasp the concept right away, then it seemed to click in place a the same time. “Ohhhhh!” They both said.

“Anyway, enough of that thought. What say we check out that club soon, there’s an abandoned store right next to it that has a fireplace in the back. We cofloofloo our way there with no muggles seeing us. Jim and I had seen the fireplace when we snuck in out of curiosity to check it out.” Hermione said also remembering what else they had done in that back room. “The backdoor to the club is pretell ell right next to it.” She added.

“Sounds okay to me, what’s the best night to go?” Harry asked as he looked to the others who nodded in confirmation.

“Friday or Saturday. Saturday I would say is the best night though.” She replied. “How about next weekend?”

The four of them looked at each other and agreed that next Saturday would be great and started to make their plans to sneak out that night.

Dumbledore then stood up to address the students. “As I see that most of you are done eating, the prefects of each house will escort the first years to their dormitories, and let the other students know where their rooms are. Thank you and have a good night.”

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Lavender got up to go. “We’ll see you tomorrow ‘Mione.” Harry said as he grasped her shoulder. They walked off holding hands with their significant others, leaving Hermione to walk to where Dumbledore was waiting.

Dumbledore led them up several flights of stairs which brought them to a floor that seemed to be between the sixth and seventh floor. They approached a large portrait of a woman with long white flowing robes with a snowy white unicorn on one side and a large orange striped tiger laying down at her feet. He greeted the woman “Hello, this is Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, they will be with you for the year. Their password will be....Panthera Tigris.”

The portrait swung open to reveal a large common room area done in burgundy and green colours. By the window stood a large desk big enough for two to three people. In centcentre of the room was a large couch with matching chairs that looked like you could sink in very comfortably. Situated in front of the couch there was a large stone fireplace where the house elves already lit it to keep the room warm.

“Miss Granger, your rooms are to the left, as yours, Mr. Malfoy are to the right. You will be sharing a bathroom between the two of you. The door to the right of the bathroom is your fitness room, where you will probably find all that you should need.” Dumbledore instructed. “There is also an anti-hex spell surrounding these walls so as you cannot inflict harm on each other. I would also like to mention as Head Boy and Head Girl you need to set an example to the other students, so try to get along with each other.” He finished as he looked over his half moon spectacles. “Sleep well, and see you tomorrow morning at breakfast.”

Dumbledore walked out leaving the two of them alone. They went to check out their rooms still can’t believing that this would be theirs for the year.

Hermione walked into her room to see a large four poster bed made out of a light coloured wood. Covering the bed was a quilt done in a deep maroon colour with black trimming, the top corner already turned down for the night. There was also a desk and a matching bookcase in here where her books were already placed neatly. At the one side of the room stood a large armoire, opened revealing that her clothes were folded and hung neatly for her. She decided to change out of her uniform into something a little more comfortable, and sit in front of the fire to write her parents a letter letting them know that she arrived safely.

Draco stepped into his rooms and was pleasantly surprised. The large four poster bed took up most of the room and was made out of a darker wood. Covering the bed was a quilt that was done in dark green colours with black trimming. He looked around, ‘ this is so much better than the dungeons.’ He thought to himself. He decided to change out of his uniform into his jeans and black shirt that he was wearing earlier, and continue to read his book.

When he came out to the common room he noticed that Hermione was already out there, curled into the one corner of the couch, writing what appeared to be a letter. He sat on the other end of the couch and opened his book.

Hermione looked upm hem her letter to notice that he was looking at her. “What?!”

“Nothing. Couldn’t wait to talk to your boyfriends Potter and Weasley till tomorrow, so you’d thought to owl them a goodnight.” He sneered.

“You know Malfoy, you can be such a bloody git sometimes, do you know that. For your information, I am writing to my parents, and as for Harry and Ron they have their own girlfriends.” She yelled out as she grabbed her quill and parchment and stalked out of the room.

He sat there stunned by her outburst. Thinking of how good she looked when she was mad, even in baggy sweatpants and t-shirt. He picked up his book and slowly got involved with the characters of the book.