Clairvoyance and its Consequences

Chapter 2_______________________________________________________________

"I'm moving into private quarters with Potter and the Weasleys?" Draco repeated in a horrified voice.

"It'll be only for the rest of the school year," Hermione assured him. "What's a few months going to do? Besides, you're not even likely to see any of them much. Ginny's the only one who hasn't got NEWTs coming up and we, along with Harry and Ron will separately be studying for them. And Ginny has the sense to keep her distance and not tease the tension that's between you all."

"The Weasley girl doesn't bother me in the slightest," Draco said reluctantly. "I can handle her around. I just can't handle Potter and Weasley's existence."

"Well we're moving in today, so you should hurry up and pack," Hermione said, standing up and straightening her robes.

"Today?" Draco repeated. "You never said anything about this happening so soon!"

"I didn't?" Hermione said carelessly. "Well, you know now, so hurry along."

With that, she expressed a smirk that was usually worthy to curve his lips and left the room swiftly, Draco glaring after her.

> * <

Hermione and Draco headed along the fourth floor corridor with Dumbledore ahead of them, leading the way towards their new dormitories. Harry and Ron had apparently arrived there already and been shown their new living quarters.

"The entrance is guarded by a portrait of Lady Isabella Martin who was once a teacher here at Hogwarts over a hundred years ago. She was a co-author of one of the past editions of Hogwarts: A History," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "The password is Ligare uniqué."

They headed through a black velvet tapestry on the right hand side of the corridor and entered a much shorter and much narrower one with a large painting hanging upon the stone at the far end. When they walked towards it they found the lady in the painting, a woman around Professor McGonagall's age, was wearing a long, flowing red gown, her thin brown and grey hair in a single braid down the back of her neck. She smiled politely as they came to a stop in front of her.

"Good evening, Isabella," Dumbledore said lightly, giving a short bow and smiling.

"I wish you the same, Albus," she said, doing a small curtsy as her smile broadened. She turned her blue gaze towards Draco and Hermione. "I gather these are the second pair of students entering these quarters, Albus? They certainly look a smart couple. Remind me very much of Ivan and I when we were in seventh year. Young and innocent and full of love."

Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "I dearly wouldn't call young Mr. Malfoy here innocent, Isabella. He has quite a past ... though not an evil one as such."

Isabella nodded in understanding. "I shall let you through now shall I, Albus," she said. "But first, password?"

"Ligare uniqué," Dumbledore said and Isabella smiled at them pleasantly before the picture frame swung forward on its hinges, revealing a spiral staircase, revolving upwards exactly like the one that led up to Dumbledore's office. The surrounding walls of the staircase were lined with several more portraits, smaller than Isabella's but seemingly painted around the same era. Several of the paintings' occupants watched Dumbledore lead Draco and Hermione with curiosity, some even murmuring words under their breaths to their neighbouring paintings.

At the head of the stairs was a narrow archway, leading into what appeared to be a small common room. Dumbledore led the way in, a black couch and three armchairs coming into view. Sitting in one of the armchairs, his Firebolt sitting in his lap and a bottle of broomstick polish in his hand, was Harry, who looked around as they entered.

"Good evening, Harry," Dumbledore said pleasantly as Draco and Hermione looked around.

The walls were a rich plum colour and like the walls of the staircase, had paintings hung upon them. Several oil lamps were lit around the circular walls and a single archway was cut out of the wall opposite to them, leading to what seemed to be more stairs, though not revolving. A large, magnificent marble fireplace was on the wall on the right hand side with ancient gold instruments decorating the mantelpiece and a large heath rug sat in front of it. The couch and armchairs, made of black dragonhide, sat randomly throughout the room, the couch being placed directly on front of a lightly stained, wooden coffee table.

Dumbledore smiled. "Make yourself at home," he said and with that he left through the archway and down the revolving staircase.

Hermione stepped further into the room and made around the couch and Harry to the other archway and headed on through it. To the left was another, much more ornate staircase, curving up to the upper floor and to her right was two doors sitting next to each other. The right door had Wizards written upon it in gold and the left door had Witches in the same writing. Before heading up the stairs, she made towards the door leading to what she gathered was the girls' bathroom and opened it.

A room of spotless white tiles engulfed Hermione's vision and she headed into the room. The first half of the room was narrow, lined with three cubicles on each side: toilets on the left and showers on the right, all of which were white. The second half of the room, at the end of the hall of cubicles, was wider and much larger. A large, spa-sized bath sat empty in the middle of the room, gold in colour amongst all the white tiles and the edges were lined with several different gold taps. As Hermione made to turn around, the door to the bathroom creaked open and Ginny appeared, her red hair in pigtails.

"It's wicked isn't it, Hermione?" she said happily.

"Wicked?" Hermione repeated. "Ginny, you're starting to sound like Ron!"

Ginny looked at Hermione scandalously before standing aside, holding open the door so Hermione could exit. "Come on, Hermione, I'll show you our room," she said as they made towards the staircase. "Our room's the best. There's three at the moment. Harry and Ron are sharing one and then Malfoy will be alone in the other. Harry wouldn't stand for you sharing the same room with Malfoy alone and besides, it'll be good, just us girls in the same room together. It'll be like we're back at the Burrow or Grimmauld Place!"

Hermione smiled as they reached the landing. The balcony was circular and ran around the whole of the landing. Four doors stood closed at equal intervals along the balcony and even more portraits broke the plum paintwork on the walls.

Ginny, grinning broadly, headed quickly towards the door directly in front of them.

"This is the study," she said happily, opening the door to reveal a medium-sized room lined with nothing but bookshelves stacked high with books of different sizes and colours. A large table sat in the centre of the room with a large oil lamp in the centre. Hermione gazed open-mouthed at the surroundings, her eyes skimming along the rows upon rows of books with some sort of controlled excitement within her eyes' brown depths.

Ginny, noticing Hermione was trying to force herself not to run straight to the closest shelf and search through the many books for one she hadn't read, turned her around and persuaded her out of the room and closed the door.

"You can go back there later and read for endless hours, Hermione," she said. "But first I have to show you the boys' rooms and then ours!"

Ginny led Hermione around the balcony hurriedly and they stopped in front of a second door. "This is Harry and Ron's room and theirs isn't much different from ours really ... but ours is better because it's - well - ours!"

She opened the door to reveal a room quite larger than the study. The room, like the rest, had plum-coloured walls, only instead of the ancient portraits, three posters of the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team had been magically stuck to the wall. Two four-poster beds with scarlet coverings and curtains, identical to those in Gryffindor Tower sat within the room, along with a large mahogany wardrobe that sat in a left-hand corner, two separate bedside tables, and Harry and Ron's trunks.

"Ours is almost the same as this?" Hermione questioned curiously.

Ginny grinned. "Yes, except ours is neater and there are no Quidditch posters. It's next to Malfoy's, which I'll show you now."

Ginny closed the door and led the way around the balcony until they came to a stop in front of the next door. "Malfoy, of course, has just arrived so he wouldn't have had much time to arrange his the way he wants it," she said before knocking.

"Hold on!" Draco called and a moment of hurried scrambling within the room sounded before the door swung open to reveal Draco, his silver-blonde hair tousled. He ignored Ginny and let Hermione head in and look around at the room. It was identical to Harry and Ron's, only it had only one bed, its curtains were emerald green rather than scarlet and there were no Quidditch posters stuck to the walls.

"Our trunks arrived," Draco said softly, nodding his head towards his open trunk, a set of robes and pair of dark green boxer shorts hanging out. "They appeared about five minutes ago."

Hermione sat on the bed and tested the softness. "I've been given a room with Ginny," she said. "I'm yet to see it though. It's next door."

Draco looked at her with a strange twinkle in his grey eyes. She smiled and stood again. "I'll come and see you soon," she whispered and kissed his cheek, causing Ginny, who stood silently and awkwardly at the door, to grimace.

Hermione headed out the door, feeling Draco's eyes on her back. Ginny looked at Hermione with an odd expression, causing Hermione to frown.

"What?"

"Well," Ginny replied, "I guess I just can't get used to the idea you're Draco Malfoy's girlfriend. I see you kiss him or hug him and it ... it just seems and feels strange to me. I mean, I believe that there's really a good side of him and that he's no longer really hiding it but it just seems strange, that after everything he used to do and say to you... I just never imagined..."

Hermione smiled and nodded. "I know what you mean, Ginny," she said. "I used to feel the same way about the whole situation. But he really isn't like that anymore." They were standing in front of the next door now. "So this is our room?"

Ginny nodded, momentarily forgetting their conversation and opening the door in excitement.

It was indeed like Harry and Ron's room. It had plum-coloured walls, but a single, large portrait of a lady in a periwinkle ballroom gown was hung on the wall. The lady looked up as Hermione entered, looking around at the magnificent room surrounding her, her mouth open in awe.

"Good evening, dears," she said in a rich British accent, most of her attention on Hermione. "A lovely room isn't it?"

"Oh, yes," Hermione said breathlessly. It was amazing how much this room, so similar to Harry and Ron's seemed so much more elegant. The two four-poster beds in the room had scarlet coverings and curtains like Harry and Ron's and yet they looked more graceful in their neat surroundings in Hermione's opinion. Each bed had it's own bedside table, Hermione's with a small bookshelf upon it. And a large mahogany wardrobe, identical to the one they'd seen in Harry and Ron's room sat in the corner, a full-length mirror on one of the doors. "It's beautiful."

"I told you our room was the best," Ginny said happily.

Hermione sat on her bed, her trunk sitting at the foot and looked around, a smile on her lips. She could do nothing but agree with Ginny's words. She already felt at home and somehow she felt that the fact Draco now slept in the room right next to her and not several floors below her had something to do with the way she was feeling.

Her happiness didn't last overly long, though, as later that night when she let her head fall back on her pillows, she was haunted by the vision of another innocent victim being tortured to death by a gang of dark-hooded Death Eaters. The sight of the gruesome Dark Mark hanging in the sky was one she knew she'd never get used to. Never.

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