Tutoring A Dragon

Five

New Quarters, New Roommates, New Rules

They arrived in the Hospital Wing in five minutes. Usually it wouldn't have taken that long, but Hermione slowed the pace so Draco wouldn't collapse.

As Madam Pomfrey checked Draco, Hermione told him stories about when she was younger, and had gone to her parents' practice.

He laughed aloud when she told him of Mr. Johnson, who tended to swear when drilled upon.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, they only thing wrong with you is an over-balance of stress and too much coffee. It's a good thing Ms. Granger was there to perform mouth-to-mouth. Otherwise, you could be paying a visit to the Reaper right now," Madame Pomfrey announced in a caring-ish way.

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"Well, erm," said Draco, outside of the Hospital.

"Yes, well..." trailed Hermione.

Draco looked around the corridor, making sure it was empty. Then, he swiftly leaned over and kissed Hermione before running down the opposite end of the corridor.

Hermione touched her lips, still feeling his upon hers. Then she turned towards the Gryffindor Tower, dazed.

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Hermione drifted into the common room some four hours later, having missed two classes and dinner. She was frowning slightly, and her brow was furrowed. She plopped down on a couch next to Ron and spoke to him and Harry for the first time in three days.

"Interesting day, wasn't it?" she said absently.

"Ye-es," said Ron, looking Harry like 'Go on, talk to her'.

"So how are you Herms?" asked Harry.

"Oh, me?" said Hermione snapping back to reality. "I'm wonderful, really brilliant."

"You missed two classes and dinner," pointed out Harry. "Why?"

"Oh, I was fine. I had to go to the Hospital Wing because I had to...."

They looked at her. "Go on," prompted Harry.

"Get some medicine to relieve cramps. And I stopped at the kitchen on my way up to the Tower."

Ron and Harry flinched at 'cramps', but said nothing.

"So....You aren't mad at us anymore?" asked Ron.

"No. You've learned your lesson and your grades have made a very rapid decline since I stopped talking to you. So, if you promise to stop being complete asses, I'll forgive you," said Hermione smartly.

"We promise," said Harry and Ron quickly.

"Ron," said Hermione, checking her watch. "We have a senior prefects meeting in fifteen minutes. And it's at the other side of the castle. We had better leave now."

"Ok," agreed Ron. "Shouldn't you get your bag?"

"I have it here," said Hermione, looking around. "Oh, no," she moaned, seeing whose bag she'd taken. "I'll just get it back at the meeting," she muttered. "Come on, Ron!" she said, crawling out the portrait hole, bag in hand.

"Bye, Harry!" called Ron as he followed Hermione.

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Hermione jogged to the Heads' quarters. Hannah Abbot and Anthony Goldstein were the chosen Head Girl and Boy this year, and they had graciously suggested holding the meeting there.

"Hodgepodge," said a cool voice before Hermione could gasp it out. She turned and there was Draco, leaning against a pillar, smiling faintly. "Hello, Granger," he said, still smiling. "I believe you have something of mine," he said, gesturing towards the bag.

"Oh," said Hermione, "yes. I must've picked it up when we had to rush off."

"Likewise," replied Draco. He handed her her bag and took his. "Thank you for not looking in it," he said simply. "Now, lets go in before the Weasel shows his sorry face."

As soon as he said this the corridor was filled with footsteps. It was Ron. Hermione hopped into the Heads' rooms, Draco behind her. The portrait closed and they took seat next to each other, grinning slightly.

Ron fell into the room headfirst, swearing. Couldn't they put in stairs for Merlin's sake?

He looked around the table at which sat Hannah, Anthony, Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Draco, Hermione, and Pansy. He took the last seat, beside Pansy.

"To open this meeting," said Hannah, hiding a giggle from Ron's disheveled look, "Anthony and I would like to announce that Hogwarts is going to have a Halloween Ball, and we--the Head's and senior prefects--have been entrusted with planning."

"But," said Anthony, clearly enjoying what he was going to say next, "we regret to inform you that we--Hannah and I--will be unable to help in the planning, as we have something else to do."

"Why?" asked Padma, clearly annoyed.

"Because the Headmaster has informed Hannah and me that we will be doing something more important than that. Now for the assignments." He pulled his wand out, pointed it at a paper and muttered a spell. Six identical papers to his appeared in front of the seniors:

Ron Weasley and Padma Patil will be redoing the garden terrace, and will report to Professors Sprout and Snape for instruction.

Pansy Parkinson and Ernie Macmillan will be working with the House Elves in the kitchens to prepare the menu. They will report to Professors Vector and McGonagall, as well as to the House-Elf Dobby for instruction.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger will be working out the design for the Great Hall during the ball and the theme. They will report to Professor Dumbledore for guidance.

ALL SENIOR PREFECT PARTNERS WILL RECIEVE THEIR OWN ROOMS WITH A ADJACENT COMMON ROOM AND BATHROOM. UNTIL THE BALL IS OVER, YOU WILL STAY IN THESE ROOMS, AS PER THE REQUEST OF HEADMASTER DUMBLEDORE.

Hermione looked down at her paper and smiled. Halloween was two months away. Her year looked a lot better now. Two whole months with a quiet common room!

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Draco grinned because he would have two months to be away from that horrible chit, Pansy.

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Ron just groaned. Two whole months with Padma Patil. She'd never forgiven him for dumping her at the Yule Ball in his fourth year. His year now looked like it was going down the tubes....

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"Your respective supervisors will be here momentarily to show you to you new quarters and to inform you of your passwords and how to change them. And to tell you the rules," said Hannah, over the chatter and groaning. "Your belongings have been transferred already"

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Five minutes later, a door opened in the wall and Professors Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall filed in.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Patil, follow me, please," said Severus Snape in a voice that said that he thought he was very put-upon by this task.

"Ms. Parkinson, Mr. Macmillan follow me," said McGonagall briskly.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger," said Dumbledore, sunnily, "come with me if you please."

Hermione and Draco followed him to a place that Hermione was sure must be close to a tower. Dumbledore stopped in front of a portrait of a lion, lying asleep next to a dragon. "Hakuna Matata," he stated plainly.

Hermione giggled. "Sir, where ever did you get that phrase?"

Dumbledore smiled widely. "From the time I ventured into the Muggle cinema, Ms. Granger. I saw a wonder film called 'The Lion King'. I saw it so many times, that I had to put it into a pensieve." The portrait swung open. "Well, go on in," he said waving them ahead.

The common room a perfect blend of Gryffindor and Slytherin. As Hermione thought, they were in a tower, so the room was quite round. All of the stone walls were covered by tapestries of the Gryffindor lion and the Slytherin snakes and dragons. The carpet was obviously magical, because it shifted patterns every few minutes. And the furniture was silver with red embroidery and gold with emerald or just plain House colors. There were two armchairs and ottomans by the huge fireplace. They were silver and emerald, and gold and ruby. Two blankets hung over the backs of the chairs. One resembled the Slytherin banner, the other the Gryffindor.

There was a section of the wall that didn't have tapestry due to the fact it was all windows. A set of French doors swung out onto a balcony that had a few tables and chairs on it. Beneath the windows were window seats. For indeed, the windows were a fourth of the room and the French doors were in the middle of them. The window seats were also House colors, but in parts they blended together beautifully.

On opposite sides of the room were two spiral staircases. One had a Gryffindor banner hanging all around it as a curtain, the other a Slytherin banner.

Hermione stood in the middle of the room, gasping at everything she saw. A tear escaped her eye. "It's...it's so beautiful!" she gasped.

"Yes," said Dumbledore, lounging on a multi-House sofa. "This has been used to house Gryffindors and Slytherins that can get along for centuries. I hope you will enjoy it." He motioned for them to sit down on a couch opposite his. "You can go into each other's room, but only when openly invited. Your rooms don't require passwords, as no one is allowed except those you invite, and professors of this school. I trust that you wouldn't do anything....expected of teenagers." His message was clear: No nocturnal visitors. Period. "You can change the password of your rooms if you wish, but after a few days the portrait will open up to you without a password. That is all. Any questions?" he looked at them.

"Yes," said Hermione. "Which tower are we in?"

Dumbledore's smile widened. "The Astronomy Tower, of course, Ms. Granger. Now, I must be going." He got up and left them.

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Hermione went over to her staircase and parted the banner that hung over the entrance to the stairs. As she ducked inside it, she gasped again. The steps were beautiful carved mahogany, with Gryffindor patterns etched out on them. She walked up them, treading carefully, and opened her door.

Her mouth dropped open. This room was heavenly. The room was not half a tower, and yet it would have held two of her old dormitory. The bed was king size at least, and decorated with a gold-and-scarlet checkered quilt. It had a scarlet canopy that was trimmed with gold velvet. She opened an armoire that was a few feet away from her bed and found all of her clothes in it, with room to spare. There was another fireplace, with her own armchair, ottoman, and table. And an oaken door that must lead to the bathroom.

She decided to explore the bathroom later and to go to the terrace. Hermione's and Draco's room's also had a joint terrace, with French doors for each of them. Hermione's door had heavy scarlet drapes on them. She flung the doors open and stepped onto the terrace to look over her balcony.....

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Draco went to his staircase at the same time as Hermione went to hers. He parted his to see a staircase hand-carved out of pine and etched with Slytherin patterns. He grinned at them, knowing that they were better than then all the stairs at his home.

He climbed to the top of his staircase and opened his chamber door. His room was almost exactly like Hermione's, except in Slytherin colors, everything in emerald and trimmed in silver. Knowing full well that everything was safely put away in armoires and bureaus, he went into the bathroom.

If wasn't as big as the prefect's bathroom, but almost. There was a large golden bathtub at one end and a shower at the other. In between, there were sinks on the opposite sides of the room, one next to each door. He decided to be mischievous and went to Hermione's door. As he was reaching for the handle, some invisible force stopped him about a foot away from the door, as if to say "You haven't been invited". He snorted and went out his own door to fling open his French doors. Granger was standing on her balcony, overlooking the lake and Quidditch pitch.

He went to stand behind her.

"Hey," he said softly. She turned around sharply.

"Hello, Malfoy," she replied.

"Now, now," he said, smiling slightly, "we're going to be living together for God knows how long, so why don't you use my proper name? I'll use yours."

"All right, Draco," she said, his name feeling strange on her tongue.

"Right then, Hermione," he said. He walked to the spot on the balcony besides her and leaned on it.

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It was seven o'clock and Harry was annoyed. Ron and Hermione had been gone an hour and neither had come back. He was about to go get his map, when Ron tumbled through the portrait hole.

"Hey mate," said Ron.

"Where've you been?" asked Harry.

"Looking around in my new quarters."

"NEW QUARTERS!" yelled Harry. The other Gryffindor's looked over at him, a bit stunned.

"Yes, Harry, new quarters. Hogwarts is going to have a Halloween ball, so Professor Dumbledore assigned the Senior Prefects new quarters with their partners," he said. "I'm partnered with Padma," he said as an afterthought.

"Oh," said Harry.

"Ernie's partnered with Pansy, poor man. Hermione had the bad luck to get Malfoy, though. She'll go nuts spending the next two months with him. Though the quarters are rather nicely sized, so it's not like she won't be able to avoid him."

"Ron," said Harry, "we've got Quiddtch practice in five. Let's go." Harry ran up to get his broom and Ron shouted up the he'd 'meet him there'.

Ron reached his rooms, ran up his stairs, and grabbed his broomstick. Kicking open his balcony doors, he mounted his broom, and took off. He'd got around the Astronomy Tower to save time. As he flew by the tower, he saw a tall blond man with a shorter brunette standing next to each other, engaged in a lively discussion. He didn't recognize them, and forgot all about them by the time he reached the pitch.

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Draco finished his statement, "...and that's why House Elves were originally bound to owners of large homes." He smiled down at Hermione amused. "Do you still object?"

"Yes," she said stubbornly. "It's wrong. It's slavery for heavens' sake!"

"I know," he said. "But they want to be slaves."

Hermione glanced down at her watch. "Oh my gosh! I have to go to the pitch to see Harry and Ron! I've been here for an hour! They'll be worrying," she said, "We can finish this later."

"I'll fly you there," he offered.

"OK," she said absentmindedly. "Let me go get a few things."

She ran into her room and Draco fetched his broomstick, the latest Nimbus, a Nimbus 5000, from his room.

"Hop on," he said to Hermione, who got on behind him. "Hold on tight, Hermione."

He kicked off and they whizzed through the air at top speed, Hermione forgetting that she hated flying. He landed on a Gryffindor bleacher as Team Gryffindor swooped down on them.

"Hermione!" said Harry, astounded. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, Draco gave me a ride from our rooms, since I never would have made it otherwise," she said, swaying from the dizziness.

"Draco?" said Ginny, amused.

"You're calling him bloody 'DRACO'!" roared Ron.

Draco rolled his eyes drolly. "Honestly, Weasley, I'm going to be living with Hermione for the next two months. I might as well call her by her first name. It'd be a bit awkward, yelling each others surnames at one another all the time, don't you agree?" He turned to Hermione and told her something in a low voice, she nodded and he took off, flying back to their room.

Harry went pale and took off, yelling for the team to follow. Ginny gave Hermione a reassuring smile and followed Harry.

Hermione sighed and sat down. It was going to be a long evening.