Their Room

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Chapter 1: Seating Arrangements

"Good morning class, I hope that you all had a nice summer," Professor Vector smiled widely at her students. "As you can see our class is a little larger this year when compared to previous years. For some reason, there isn't a very high demand for Arithmancy among most of your classmates. I have no idea why," she grinned wryly at her class. "But since the numbers were so low, Headmaster Dumbledore has decided to combine all the houses together to have their Arithmancy lesson at the same time."

Hermione sat at the front table smiling at Professor Vector, next to her sat Dean Thomas, they had worked together for the last two years. For the first time, Hermione actually noticed that the class was larger than it had been before, not much larger though. Dean and her were the only fifth year Gryffindors taking Arithmancy, they'd had it last year and the year before with the Ravenclaws while Hufflepuff and Slytherin were together on a separate day. But now that she looked around the classroom she was surprised to see Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley, two Hufflepuffs. She could also see Blaise Zambini, a Slytherin, out of the corner of her eye. Hermione had to admit that it was still a small class. She turned her attention back to the Professor who was still talking.

"I believe that you have all fallen into a rut of conformity and tradition. You all sit together, ready to work with the exact same people, your books are out and prepared, you even sit in the same seats as last year. You are young! You must seize life, you must experience new things, and I'm about to help you do it." She smiled at them again, ignoring their shocked faces.

Hermione turned to Dean with an eyebrow raised; this wasn't the Professor Vector that she knew. This wasn't the same quiet; shy Professor that they'd had in previous years. What Hermione didn't know was that over the summer Professor Vector had experienced a little unpleasantness with a banshee. She returned to Hogwarts a changed woman longing for adventure, and she had decided to help her students experience life to it's fullest, whether they wanted to or not.

"With this being said, I've decided to change some things around here. First off, all of your work will be done in pairs. We won't be using the books nearly as much as we have before. Arithmancy is a delightful and complicated magic, but you need to put it to use. So we will be having a more hands on year. I'm sure that we will all have fun." Professor Vector grinned triumphantly at their doubting faces.

"Oh yes, one more thing, I'm assigning you new partners." Hannah and Justin looked petrified around the room, they were the only Hufflepuffs there, and they also happened to be a couple. Professor Vector saw their distraught faces and laughed.

"Now, now Justin, Hannah, it won't harm either of you to spend a few hours apart." But from the looks on their faces, Hermione could tell that they greatly doubted this. "I've already broken you up into pairs that I believe will suit you all nicely." And with this the Professor pulled a list out of her book and started to read the new groupings.

"Ms. Abbot and Mr. Boot"

"Mr. Finch-Fletchley and Ms Perks"

"Mr. Thomas and Ms. Brocklehurst."

Hermione sighed as Dean stood up and collected his things. He smiled at her before walking over to where Mandy Brocklehurst., a Ravenclaw, was sitting. Hermione was sad to see him go, Dean was surprisingly good at Arithmancy, and they had worked very well together. She suddenly realized that almost everyone else had been paired up, had she missed her name?

"Oh yes, Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy." Professor Vector folded up her list and turned to put it away.

Hermione choked, Malfoy? "But Malfoy isn't even in this class, is he?" She wondered to herself. A sickening feeling was rising up inside of her, "He's not in this class, I heard wrong, he's not in this class," she repeated to herself. Slowly she turned around in her seat and sure enough, sitting in the last row was Draco Malfoy, glaring at her.

"Pr...Professor Vector?" She called out in a shaky voice, Professor Vector turned to look at her, "Professor, I don't think that Malfoy and I can work together." The Professor raised her eyebrows in amazement; Hermione never questioned a teacher.

"It's just that...that our views are so often...opposing," Hermione continued trying to give the professor a charming smile while that nauseous feeling swirled in her stomach.

"Nonsense Ms. Granger, my two best Arithmancy students paired together, I can't wait to see what the two of you can do. And besides, opposites attract." Hermione blanched at her teacher's words. She couldn't believe her luck, her favorite class. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Malfoy, he was giving her a dark look. Finally he spoke.

"Well," he drawled out, "I'm not coming to you Granger." Hermione sent him a cold glare before she started to gather her books. As she walked towards the back of the room Dean caught her eye and gave her a commiserating smile.

"Yeah, like he has any idea," grumbled Hermione, "he gets to work with a Ravenclaw, I have to work with a Slytherin, and not just any Slytherin." She thought angrily as she reached the table where Malfoy was sitting. With a deep sigh she placed her books as far from Malfoy as possible. She pulled out a quill and started to diligently take notes. After a few minutes she was able to forget that she was sitting next to her most hated adversary, that is, until a strong breeze from the open window blew a roll of parchment across the table coming to rest against Malfoy's arm. Not paying any attention, Hermione reached out for it, accidentally brushing Malfoy with her fingertips as she took back the parchment.

"Don't, touch me Mudblood," Malfoy hissed at her, moving farther down the table from her. Hermione looked up startled, with extreme dislike she glared at him.

"Malfoy, the day that I willingly touch you is the day that you can stick a bow on my head and ship me off to Voldemort to become a Death Eater." She snapped at him angrily, putting the misbehaving parchment back into her bag.

Draco was oddly impressed, not many people were brave enough to say the Dark Lord's name, he was sure that his father never said it if at all possible. He returned to his notes, his were almost as neat and orderly as Hermione's. Draco was beginning to get bored though; Professor Vector was now explaining something to that stupid Hufflepuff girl, something that Draco had figured out ages ago. Turning to look at Granger, he noticed that she too wasn't listening. "No time like the present to wreck some havoc," he thought with an evil grin.

"So Granger, where are Potty and the Weasel?" Hermione didn't look up. "I wouldn't think that you'd be able to stand being separated from your boyfriend for a whole class period. Which one is it again? Or do they just trade you amongst themselves?" Draco was pleased to see that Hermione was starting to flush with anger. "Not that it's your fault, you might be a dirty Mudblood, but I can understand how neither Potty or the Weasel would be enough of a man for any girl, if you can call yourself a gi..."

Before Malfoy could finish his sentence, Hermione had taken her Arithmancy book, which was four times larger than any of their other books, and soundly hit him in the shoulder with it. She hit him hard enough that Malfoy, who had certainly not expected an attack, was knocked right out of his chair.

"Ms. Granger!" Professor Vector was staring at her, the book still clenched in her hands daring Malfoy to keep talking. Hermione was suddenly aware of all eyes upon her.

"Umm...Professor, I'm so sorry, I slipped." Hermione started to count to ten under her breath as she put the book back down on the desk. Malfoy stood up, still rubbing his shoulder, and warily sat in his chair.

"Yes, well we'll try to avoid that in the future. Right Ms. Granger?" Professor Vector asked.

"Of course Professor, of course." Hermione gave her a sweet smile and tried to look innocent and turned once again to her notes. She kept her head down afraid that Professor Vector might notice the triumphant smile on her face. Dean certainly had, he turned and gave her a thumbs-up when Vector was looking away.

Hermione and Malfoy sat silently for the rest of the class, pointedly ignoring each other, although Malfoy did keep a wary eye on her. Professor Vector passed out a few Arithmancy charts for their homework. Hermione was surprised, they were more detailed than any previous chart that she had done before, and they were also much longer.

"Now don't be concerned class, I know this looks a little long, but you're supposed to be working with your partner now. I expect you to do this work together." Vector smiled at Hermione, obviously oblivious to the look of absolute disbelief that she was wearing.

"How can she possibly expect me to work with that...that self-centered, egotistical, malicious, evil..." Hermione probably would have continued muttering expletives at Malfoy under her breath if he hadn't reached over and plucked the chart out of her hands. "Hey, give that back, that's my homework!" She reached out angrily for it.

"It's my homework too you know," he snapped at her, "just let me do it."

"Oh of course Malfoy, I'm going to entrust my grade to the likes of you! Give it to me, I'll do it!" Hermione again lunged forward and tried to pluck the parchments from his hands.

"Yes, I'm dying to let my excellent grade rest in your ever so caring hands. There is no way that I'm going to let you do this." Malfoy stepped back dodging her hands as she grabbed for the charts.

"Fine, we'll have to do it together then." She muttered.

"Fine, we'll meet in the library," Malfoy agreed finally, spitting the words out as if they hurt him.

"Fine, seven o'clock tonight." Hermione spat back, and then seeing her opportunity, swept for forward and snatched several of the charts back out of his hands. "And I'll just keep these with me until then." And before he could even react she had plunged them deep into her bag and slipped down out into the corridor to be lost amid the bustle of the students.

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Draco silently closed the door to the boy's dormitory behind him, he wanted to slam it shut, but all of his years in the Malfoy manner had taught him to act coolly and hide strong emotions. His father had always told him that showing emotions only gave someone a means to control you, Draco let a small frown creep onto his features as he thought about Lucius. As much as he disliked thinking about his father it was slightly better than the alternative at the moment.

"That blasted Mudblood," Draco growled to no in particular since the room was empty.

Walking to his four-poster in the corner of the low ceiling room he drew back his dark green curtains and laid down on his bed. His arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed, he let his body drift peacefully into the meditative state that Lucius had ground into him at an early age. According to Lucius, one must be centered in order to be powerful. Draco continued to let his mind delve over thoughts of his parents, he hadn't heard from them in several weeks, which was fine as far as he was concerned. His father had been busy with business associates, although Draco highly doubted that any business that his father might be conducting with that lot was legal. Draco gave a small scornful laugh as he thought of Lucius and his friends, those death eaters. Draco had worshiped his father as a child, but with the return of Voldemort, Draco had seen how weak his father was. Draco could really care less about the plight of Mudbloods or those stupid Muggles. But to see his father prostrate himself to a man that had been reduced to a shattered wreck by a mere infant had made Draco sick. With the return of Voldemort, Lucius had talked of little else on the rare occasions when he came home. He had told Draco again and again how wonderful everything would be now that the Dark Lord had been returned to power. The Dark Lord, Lucius hadn't even been able to say his name. Draco had wondered how anyone that could invoke such terror from his own supporters could possibly be good for anybody. In his mind he could see the horrified expression on his father's face when he had told him that he had no intention of becoming a death eater, The horror had quickly turned to rage, Lucius had almost killed him that night, Draco had come back to Hogwarts a few days later without ever seeing his father, He could see in his mind the pale face, so similar to his own, suffused with anger. Draco could feel himself drifting slowly into sleep, the image of his father still infused on his mind when another, even more unwelcome visage appeared. An angry face surrounded by a cloud of bushy brown hair. Draco groaned and sat up.

"Stupid Mudblood," he muttered under his breath.

Draco couldn't believe that Professor Vector had paired him with one of Potter's merry sidekicks. He glanced at his watch, he would be leaving for dinner in a few minutes, and then he would have to go to the library and meet her. He made a face as he thought about the upcoming encounter. Draco wondered what Lucius would think if he found out that he was working with a Mudblood, Draco grinned to himself then, Lucius would be beside himself in fury, and that almost made working with Granger worthwhile.

The dormitory door crashed open and Draco could hear heavy footsteps approaching his bed.

"Draco, you there?" Pulling back his curtains, Draco looked into the dull faces of Crabbe and Goyle.

"It's time for dinner," Crabbe told him proudly, obviously impressed with his ability to tell time.

Draco dug through his pile of textbooks until he found the Arithmancy book. Crabbe and Goyle looked surprised as he slipped it into his pack and then pulled it up onto his shoulder. Draco sighed and wished yet again for smarter companions.

"I have to meet that Mudblood Granger in the library after dinner. We have to do our Arithmancy homework together." He told them this in a slow even voice, hoping that he wouldn't have to explain things to them.

"Well why do you want to go do a thing like that?" Goyle asked despite Draco's silent prayer that they would actually be able to comprehend something.

"It isn't as if I planned it, Professor Vector assigned us as partners, I don't have a choice. Now we had better hurry or we'll miss dinner." Draco switched topics quickly not really wanting to talk about Granger if he could help it.

His ploy worked as Crabbe and Goyle's eyes lit up at the mention of food and the trio made their way out of the dorms and up to the great hall.

Draco stood momentarily in front of the library doors. He studied their wood paneling then his eyes swept down, examining the large stone slabs that made up most of the floor in Hogwarts. He ruefully acknowledged that he had no real interest in the doors to the library. Draco felt a sliver of shame, Malfoy's did not stall, especially not when it came to insufferable Mudbloods, All eyes in the library rose to watch him when he swung the doors open more forcefully than he had intended. The thick wooden doors banged into the stonewalls with a resounding thud that drew a furious look from Madame Pince

Draco found Granger on the far side of the library hidden deep amongst the various shelves. She had obviously hoped that he wouldn't be able to find her, annoyance was plainly clear across her face. He gave her a sour look before pulling a chair back from the small table and sat down.

"You're late," she said looking back down at the charts that she had already started on.

"I would have been on time had you not wanted to find such a secluded spot for our rendezvous." Draco said calmly, a small smirk playing at the corners of his mouth

"Do you really want people to see us working together?" She hissed at him.

"Why should I care what other people think, you're the Mudblood, not me," Draco shuffled through the neat stack of charts on the table and began to work.

Granger started to speak, but seemed to think better of it and returned to the chart that she had been working on. Silence followed for quite some time and Draco soon lost himself in the chart. Arithmancy had always come easy to him, figuring out the long charts and scrolls of numbers had always been oddly comforting to him, He believed that it was the order that they represented that he liked. So much of the magical world was ruled by chance and odd occurrences, but Arithmancy had rules and structure. Finishing the chart, he let a smile of triumphant cross his face. It had always pleased him that he was so good at something that most people found so hard, He looked up from the chart and his gray eyes met brown ones. Granger was still sitting across from him; the other Arithmancy chart lay finished in front of her. Granger had her arms crossed over her chest and she was watching him, studying him.

"I know that I'm astonishingly handsome, but don't you have anything better to do with your time?" The smile left his face as he glared at her annoyed that she had been watching him, surprised that he hadn't noticed, and rather put out that she had finished her chart first.

"Have you always been so conceited? Does it just happen naturally or do you really have to work at it?" Her brown eyes hadn't left his yet and he was beginning to find her gaze rather disconcerting.

"Actually I can be quite the gentleman when the mood takes me. That's very rare of course." Draco was smiling at her sardonically now, enjoying the way that she seemed to fidget when he smiled, he liked that he could make know-it-all Granger nervous. Draco continued to smile at her, now he was the one forcing eye contact, her deep brown eyes widened and Draco felt a strange tingle in the pit of his stomach. Surprised, he blinked his eyes and allowed Granger the time to look away.

"Are you finished?" She asked, reaching for his chart. Her voice sounded slightly odd and her hand trembled ever so slightly as she picked up the chart.

Lucius had trained Draco to watch people; he had always claimed that if you knew what to look for, you would never have need of a truth potion. Most people cannot hide their true emotions and fears he had always told Draco. But as Draco studied the girl, he found that he didn't know what she was thinking. After another moments pause, he began to check her chart, looking for some mistake, praying for some small mistake. There were none though, he handed back her chart unmarked, and he wasn't surprised when his own came back untouched.

'You didn't mess up Granger, congratulations." He told her.

"Oh shut up Malfoy," She retorted as she shoved her Arithmancy book back into her sack. "We are going to be working together from now on, you could try to be a little less unpleasant."

"You could try to brush your hair, but I won't hold my breath," He smugly began to gather up his belongings.

"Oh go walk off a cliff Malfoy," Granger snapped at him as she struggled with the clasp on her bag.

Without thinking Draco reached across the table and easily twisted the strap to one side and slipped the snap closed. Granger was staring at him in surprise. Draco himself was feeling rather surprised. Without a single word to her he turned and walked away.

Draco walked out through the large library doors and found Crabbe and Goyle leaning against the wall across from him. They had been busy leering at a couple of first years that had nervously wandered by, but they snapped to attention when they noticed Draco.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked them.

"Well, we came to find you." Crabbe told him.

"Well yes, obviously, I'm surprised that you even knew where the library was. But what do you want?" Draco responded.

"I heard from a seventh year that the gamekeeper had some large crate arrive for him today. It was brought by a bunch of wizards too. He saw them carrying it around the lake in his Herbology class." Goyle was being much more informative than usual.

"We thought that it would be funny to sneak out and see what's in the crate, don't you think it would be funny Draco?" Crabbe asked him.

"Yes, actually, I think it could be very funny indeed." Draco felt someone's eyes upon him again and he turned to see Granger watching them from the doorway, He wondered what she had heard. It took Crabbe and Goyle a little longer to notice her, but when they did they started towards her menacingly. Granger just turned and walked away her head held high.