Duty Calls

September 1st.

- Draco's Story -

I was right, this year is going to be brilliant! From the moment I arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4, everything was perfect. First of all, the first years are under the impression that I'm some kind of god, they were all staring up at me in awe and calling me 'Mister Malfoy'; even Father had to smile at that! He'd never admit it, but I think he's actually proud of my achievement. I mean for all his strutting, he never managed to be made head boy, he wasn't even a prefect, although he did play Beater on the Slytherin quidditch team and he's got a cabinet full of trophies for it, so he must have been pretty good.

Being quidditch captain again this year will be excellent, even better if we can win the Quidditch Cup - that'd certainly wipe the smile off Weasley's dumb mug! Speaking of Weasley, I had to give the youngest one a fortnight's worth of detention today for hexing Goyle on the train. (Being head boy certainly does have its perks and being able to hand out detentions to anyone whenever I like is one of them...) You'd think a sixth year would know better than to perform dangerous magic on another student. *smirk.* All Goyle did was run his hand up her skirt. It's not as if she wouldn't be used to it, for some strange reason, boys seem to pant after her all the time, God knows why, she's not even pretty. She's easy, I know that, Crabbe says she'll sleep with anybody, so that must be why. Granger gave Goyle some kind of boring cleaning job to do for HIS detention. He ranted at me about it and told me to 'fix it' so that he wouldn't have to do it but, quite frankly, I can't be bothered.

And while I'm on the subject of girls who are easy, Granger had the audacity to come up to me today and congratulate me on my (OUR....) new position, she even held out her hand! Surely she didn't actually think I'd shake it? I just glared at her and walked away, leaving her standing there looking stupid! I flatly refused to go into the head's private train compartment with her too. I'll have to spend enough time in her company this year as it is without doing it when it's not necessary.

I'm not sure what I expected the Head Boy's private suite of rooms to look like but I certainly didn't expect them to be as awesome as they are! The last five occupants have all been Gryffindors so I gritted my teeth before I went in, expecting it to be all 'homey' and 'cosy' and, well,... RED. What I FOUND was just amazing. The whole room had been transformed into a Slytherin student's idea of paradise - green and silver floor coverings, drapes, bed linen and wall hangings. There were even exquisite jade miniatures on the coffee table and mantelpiece and a brilliant clock, carved like a snake, that hisses the time every fifteen minutes. By far the coolest thing though was a tapestry on the wall with talking photos, listing all the famous Slytherins to go through Hogwarts in chronological order, starting with Salazar Slytherin himself - even my name was on it!

Malfoy, Draco L.

Prefect, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy.
And then my picture - impressive!

The bathroom is enormous and also decked out in green and silver. Very soothing. The bath itself is large enough to hold swimming races in and the water that comes out of the taps (carved in the shape of serpent's heads) runs green (cold) and silver (hot). Crabbe and Goyle will go ballistic when I tell them about THAT little detail.

Just as I was wondering who had done all this for me, I found a note next to the hand basin.

Mr. Malfoy,

I hope your quarters are to your liking. I took the liberty of decorating them in preparation for your arrival but of course, if you wish to change anything, feel free to do so.

Severus Snape.

Change it? Is he kidding? It's perfect, nearly as good as my room at home. I'll have to thank him first thing in the morning. There was a note from Dumbledore too but I just crushed it and threw it in the fire, (green and silver flames, of course) the day has been too perfect to spoil it by reading any crap from him.

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September 1st.

- Hermione's Story -

What a day, what a week! I need to crawl into bed and sleep for six months! Even the trip on the train was exhausting. What with having to give last minute instructions to the prefects and helping first years find their way into the correct compartments etc., we were half way to Hogsmeade before I had a chance to breath!

Draco Malfoy is an evil, arrogant toad! Not only did he refuse to shake my hand when I tried to congratulate him, but he gave Ginny detention after she hexed Goyle for fondling her leg! She was so upset after Goyle mauled her, she couldn't stop crying, especially after Malfoy marched down the corridor and started throwing his weight around. I dare not tell Ron what happened because if I do, Goyle will be dead. Ron is quite rightly very protective of Ginny, she may have seen a lot of unpleasant things in her 16 1/2 years but she's still pretty unwordly when it comes to boys, especially oafs like Goyle. The worst part is that while I have the authority to hand out detentions myself ,(Goyle now has to clean the Slytherin common room alone, without magic and without house-elf assistance, for two weeks.) so does Malfoy and I know he'll abuse the privilege. I would have liked to have expelled Goyle on the spot but that's one power I DON'T have, unfortunately.

I can't lift the absurd detention that Malfoy gave Ginny either - restocking the potion ingredients cupboard in Snape's dungeon and scrubbing all the dirty cauldrons after classes finish each day - but at least by giving Goyle a similar punishment, I can make sure that Ginny isn't the only one to suffer. I just hope that the Slytherins are as big a bunch of messy slobs as my own housemates!

All in all, I was very much looking forward to the sanctuary of the head girl's rooms. What a wonderful place! Everything was pure Gryffindor, from the life-sized lion statues to the beautiful red and gold decore and the magnificent hand-sewn, Muggle -made quilt (also in Gryffindor colours) which was a surprise gift from the Weasleys after I had received my good news. Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went shopping in Muggle London (much to Mr. Weasley's delight, I'm sure!) and bought it for me - it's absolutely divine and SO warm!

There was a lovely note of welcome from Professor Dumbledore on the table when I arrived and a congratulatory scroll signed by every Gryffindor (and former Gryffindor) in the school, from the headmaster himself down to the second years. I was so overwhelmed at the gesture, I cried... There was a bunch of roses from Ron too with a card that just said 'I love you'.

What more could a girl want?

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