Fight For a New Life

Disclaimer: I am not making any money. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters, settings and seemingly this entire wizarding world. I merely twist their fates. If I should include any original characters, those alone are mine.

Chapter 3: Home at Last (3/?)


The time to Hogwarts seemed like mere minutes to Hermione’s wandering mind. All too soon Hermione was putting on her robes and affixing her shiny new Head Girl badge to her breast. Things once again seemed normal. And maybe, if fate had played it’s cards right it would have remained so. As it was when Hermione went to the Heads’ car to get her assignments she managed to run head first into the bane of her existence. Literally. Hermione was looking up into the silver eyes of one Draco Malfoy. The ever present smirk wavered for a moment as he took in the small witch in front of him. The untrained eye would have never caught the falter in his demeanor, neither did Hermione. She was safe, she was going home, what fears did she have here. None, to her own mind; that may have been her first mistake.

The smirk reappeared within a second, Draco’s cool façade falling into place almost seamlessly. His shiny new Head Boy badge caught Hermione’s attention, and she openly gaped at it. She wanted to refute the evidence, yell about injustice, stamp her foot in annoyance. Any of these would have been valid options in her mind. Anything would was better than admitting that her year was ruined. There was no plausible way they could work together. Dumbledore had obviously made the appointments when he was suffering from a sugar induced delirium resulting from the ingestion of too many Lemon Drops. To say Hermione was furious might have been an understatement. To say that she was also now at the point of gawking at him, would also have been accurate.

If there was one thing Hermione was not exceptional good at, it was hiding her emotions. Draco calmly watched the play of emotions across her face, drinking them in before his quick and analytical mind dissected them and magnifying them until the reason for each one was blatantly obvious. Finally he settled on just two, surprise and absolute horror. He almost grinned… almost.

“Is it really that surprising Granger?” Draco asked at last. Hermione’s jaw snapped shut faster than you could say Quidditch. She would have been interested to know that she was clenching her jaw and grinding her perfect teeth. “I would also unclench your jaw before you break those oversized teeth of yours, although the idea of you unable to speak for any length of time is always appealing.” He added the suggestion merely as an afterthought.

“Sod off you ferret.” Hermione ground out.

“Not likely Granger. Tsk tsk, is that anyway for the Head Girl to behave. What happened to interhouse unity and all that drivel.” Draco’s gaze had drifted to a piece of imaginary lint on his immaculate robes. Blatant disregard had always been his specialty, why stop now.

Hermione had recovered from her irritation and was ready to go on a tirade. “For your information, I am a full supporter of interhouse unity. I am sure whoever thought up the concept never could have envisioned the likes of you. Therefore the concept does not apply to you. You are incapable of civilized human contact. Working with you is less appealing than sharing quarters with a blast ended skrewt!, ability to reason being more likely with the skrewt. Go spout your superior dictations elsewhere Malfoy. I’m in no mood to deal with your arrogant albeit misguided illusions today.” Hermione was pleased that she sounded sufficiently haughty and looked down her nose at him for good measure.

To her rising ire, this statement only seemed to amuse the blonde more. In mock hurt he clutched his chest and put his hand on one of the panels to keep his balance. “You wound me so… really Granger a blast ended skrewt? Of course your kind would be better suited to spending your time with such a useless and abominable creature. You have so much in common. Perhaps a few words with the Headmaster and it could be arranged. I’m sure that the man could see the logical points on the matter, and if not one could always bribe him with enough candy to make your wish a reality.”

She was furious. The implications and outright attack on her birth, while not a new argument was still something of a sore point. She was surprised he was not shouting Mudblood at the top of his lungs, although the look like he had something unpleasant smelling under his nose spoke volumes. The smug bastard. She was positively seething. Her hand reflexively went for the wand in her pocket. Ron’s hand was over hers. She hadn’t even heard him approach.

“It’s okay Hermione. Whatever he said it’s not worth it.” Hermione relaxed at Ron’s touch and nodded at him appreciatively. Draco watched the interchange with interest and the usual amount of contempt. “Hello Weasel. How was your summer, visit any new and exciting places… Oh, that’s right. Paupers don’t have the money to travel. Now I on the other hand went to sever…” Draco’s statement was cut short.

“I really don’t care what you did over the summer Malfoy. I imagine a you had the time of your life groveling at the Dark Lord’s feet. A fitting place for you. Sniffing after a Half-Blood maniac.’ Ron stated darkly.

Draco’s demeanor changed drastically. While he had been almost pleasantly bantering with Granger (whether she realized that or not) one couldn’t help but shiver as the ice returned to his voice. “I wouldn’t go around casting such slurs as to a persons’ character Weasel. You could find yourself at their mercy one of these days.”

“Mercy is not even a word in your vocabulary Malfoy. Why don’t you run along and torture first years with the rest of the Slytherins. You can all crucio flies on the wall till your black hearts content.” Ron managed while pulling Hermione behind him and backing away from the now furious Slytherin.

“We’re not through here Granger. We have business to discuss.” Malfoy bit out.

“No, I believe we’re through. We can get our assignments from our Heads of House tonight after the feast. Understand that I plan on being in your presence as little as possible. I imagine this arrangement will suit you better as well. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She was out the door before he could utter another word. Ron was right behind her glaring at Malfoy as they departed.

Her anger was almost tangible. Dumbledore or at least McGonagall was going to get an earful when they got to the school. The windows were now black as she glanced out upon returning to their compartment. Harry was now in his robes staring blankly into the darkness. He smiled as his friends entered but it faltered when he felt the anger radiating off the pair in waves.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked turning to face them.

“Malfoy that’s what. Dumbledore made him Head Boy. Don’t know what the old loon was thinking. Found Hermione ready to hex the ferret.” Ron looked at Harry who’s eyes were pinned to Hermione. She had curled up in the seat with Crookshanks on her lap. “Don’t let him get to you Mione. He’s not worth it. You’ve wanted this position, and you’ve earned it. If you let him ruin that for you he wins. It’s as simple as that.” Harry tried to appeal to her rational side.

Hermione sighed signally that her fuse had fizzled out. “I know Harry. The boy is just so bloody irritating. I don’t know how I’m expected to work with that pompous git.” The train was slowing down. Soon they would be back at Hogwarts. Somehow the encounter with Malfoy had left Hermione with nothing but apprehension about the coming school year. The boy was a pain at best and had the ability to suck happiness out of your life like a ruddy dementor. Maybe he had dementor blood in his lines. Could explain a lot. She dismissed the idea, that pureblooded ferret would shrivel up and die if one impure drop of blood ran through his perfect veins. They were all lost to their own thoughts, an invisible rift already forming. None could have been aware though as they had always been able to lapse into a comfortable silence. The train's whistle pierced through the silence signalling their return home.

A/N: still not a Hogwarts I know. Hope you liked the dialogue. See you in the next.

Carol: I will try to make the chapter's longer. I kinda vary the length on where the characters are. The next chapter should be longer as they are actually at Hogwarts.

CelticSass: Thanks for reviewing. It means so much coming from you. Hope you enjoy my fic :D