New Beginnings

Chapter 7: Girl Talk

A/N: Not got much to say, except the obvious: I don't own HP, enjoy, and review!

"Hey girl!" cried Pansy as Hermione entered their cabin. She responded, happily hugging her friend as all the guys patted her on the back, smiling. Once everyone had sat down and the train had left the platform, the questions started; "how've you been?", "how's your brother?", "what did you get up to?" All was going well as the trolley lady came and the Slytherins paid her for their Bertie Bott's boxes, the dozen Chocolate Frogs and the other assortments of goodies now in their possession.

There was a silent spell as they each tucked into their goodies, when Harry Potter walked by the lass doorway. Hermione smiled and waved as he went past, with a group of third year girls trailing behind him. "Trust Potter to have a fan club before the first day of term even starts," smirked Blaise Zabini from his seat next to Pansy.

"Well, you can't blame them for being interested; especially after what happened at the Ministry," said Hermione nonchalantly grabbing an Every-Flavour Bean and soon regretting it: cold custard flavoured.

"Yeah, but still! You don't see guys following you around, do you?! And you were there as much as he was!" exclaimed Pansy between bites of liquorice.

"Well he was the main guy! I'm irrelevant," replied Hermione, reaching up onto the overhead shelf to grab a book from her bag, innocently and unknowingly giving Blaise a good view of her rear and Draco a flash of her flat stomach.

"You're not exactly irrelevant, you still managed to know out my Dad!" huffed Theodore Nott from the other side of Draco.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that, Theo…" said Hermione guiltily. As Theo shrugged it off, Draco was momentarily distracted. If Hermione was off killing other Death Eaters, what would happen when she found out that…? He shook his head, trying to clear it as he pulled his sleeves down firmly. She would never know; he was worrying about nothing! He just had to be careful, especially now that she was beautiful. Okay, so she'd always been pretty, but now she was just…stunning! And she had no idea. Cute.

The teenagers began to change into their school robes, preparing for another year at Hogwarts when chatter turned to the importance of the upcoming year. None of them felt ready, not even Hermione, although they all knew that she'd been reading their new subject textbooks all summer. Draco, however, seemed once again distracted. "Drake, you've been staring out that window for the last half an hour!" teased Pansy, coming up to stand in front of him, quite close, which was excusable due to size of the compartment, but still. She picked up a sherbet lemon from Blaise's seat, causing him to frown more than he had been before. It was obvious to Hermione what was going on in Blaise's head, but she wouldn't spill his secret; they were best friends after all. Draco on the other hand had much more pressing matters to deal with than Pansy's attention seeking, and school work. The entire Death Eater clan were relying on him, all of them doubting his abilities, because he was the youngest Death Eater ever. But he could do it; he'd have to be able to! If he didn't his entire family would be brutally murdered. And no matter how much he despised them most of the time, he didn't want that.

The group of friends made their way off the train together when it came into Hogsmeade Station a quarter of an hour later, all dressed and smiling, excited for the food more than anything. Sitting at their table, a few people looked in Hermione's direction and started whispering, especially the younger ones who were too dumb to realise that a bad word said about Hermione Granger, if heard by almost anyone in the school, would be severely dealt with. "Leave it, Draco, its fine!" Hermione found herself saying several times to the blonde haired boy next to her, the boy who'd always been there to protect her. She loved her best friend, but sometimes his protectiveness over her became too much and she had to rein him in. She didn't catch the jealous look Pansy gave the two of them as she turned away from Draco and waved at her friends over at the Gryffindor table eagerly, pulling funny faces across the room. Of course, Ron was the most successful with this; he'd always had the knack of making her laugh the most. He'd definitely grown, for what she could see. She'd missed him this summer; the last few days of last term had run their course too quickly for her liking.

Dumbledore's speech began after the delicious food had been devoured, but all the while Hermione noticed that Draco had his head down, sat next to her. She nudged him, and he looked up, startled. "What are you doing?" she mouthed. "Nothing," he mimed back, smiling slightly. She held her thumb up at him, smiling back at him more cheerily and switching her attention back to the Headmaster.

"And on that note, I think you should all go up to bed, your term starts right here, so let's make sure it starts well!" And with that, all of the students were ushered out of the Great Hall.

Sitting in bed an hour later, the Slytherin girls began chatting; you know, the usual stuff: holidays, make up, boys, nails, romance, boys, clothes, boys, bras, boys! "So, 'Mione, who's on the scene this year? No Viktor Krums' to keep you company!" giggled Pansy from behind Hermione, plaiting her long brown hair on Hermione's bed.

"No, not really, I've not been on the lookout," she shrugged, looking down at her plaid pyjamas.

"What, no one?! But you're so pretty! If you don't have guys falling for you, where's the hope for his lot?" joked Acacia Dolohov, inspecting her spotty forehead in a hand mirror. The dorm mates giggled, chilling on their poster beds.

Before Hermione had time to deny the compliment, Pansy moved in: "Well, I think this might be my year; with Draco I mean," she gushed, finished with Hermione's hair style and moving to her own bed.

"Oh, really? How come?" asked Maida Greyback; Fenrir Greyback's cousin, who began to file her nails.

"Well, he sat opposite me in the Great Hall, and he kept catching my eye and…" Pansy went on, but Hermione tuned out quickly, used to her friend going on and on about how she would marry the Malfoy one day. However, as she lost track of the conversation, an owl began tapping at the window by her bed. She got up to receive the letter gripped between its talons. She smiled as she recognised Ron's handwriting. "Who's that from?" asked Pansy, who had run out of reasons why it was obvious that Draco Malfoy was in love with her.

"Gryffindor," sighed Hermione, collapsing onto her stomach on her bed, beginning to open it.

"It's Weasley, isn't it?" smiled Acacia. Hermione nodded, looking down at his parchment. The letter was only very short: 'You okay?' He obviously wanted a reply, so she let him have one. She reached down to get my new quill and ink pot, resting the glass container on bed end, and scratched a simple: 'Adequate, you?' and sent it flying with the owl that had waited. Then she re-joined the conversation as Acacia said: "I think it's cute! Shut up, Greyback."

"But it is weird!" exclaimed Maida. "A Gryffindor and a Slytherin, together? I mean, you two being as close as friends is weird enough but, as a couple? The founders would turn in their graves!"

"We aren't the founders though, are we!" replied Acacia. "We…I mean, they can do whatever they want! Just like any of us could go get with a Ravenclaw…or something."

The two squabbled over Hermione's love life for a good five minutes before she intervened. "Hey, you two… HEY! Both of you! Shut up! Right, so…yeah. You both know I don't like him, so…don't even try to interrupt me Dolohov! Or I'll spill what I heard this summer, yes, you know what I'm talking about, so I suggest you zip it about Ron! We're just friends, and you all know that!"

After a two second silence, Pansy started up the conversation again: "So when do you reckon he'll ask you out?" she smirked from her bed, painting her toenails a base coat.

"Pans!" Hermione spun around so fast that she cracked her neck.

"What? Oh come on, 'Mione! It is so obvious you fancy each other's pants off! Personally, I don't see it; I like my men platinum in hair and monetary value," said Pansy, now routing through her nail polish colours for her toes.

"Don't….that's….That is utterly ridiculous! Me and… Ron and I…we're just good friends! Best friends! He doesn't like me, and I certainly don't like him…in that way. We just have a good friendship! And you have no right to comment on his 'monetary value'; it shouldn't matter, not in the grand scheme of things!"

"Bollocks! Even I can see it, Hermione! He dotes on you, behind your back anyway. He's only mean to your face because it's what you've always done and it's easier than admitting to anyone, let alone himself, that he fancies you!" came an outburst from Daphne Greengrass on the other side of the room; a girl who hardly spoke to anyone outside of her little sister at school, ever since she embarrassed herself when she told Draco Malfoy she thought she loved him back n second year. Everyone turned to look at her, absolutely flabbergasted. "I'm just saying….sorry," she finished as she caught the glare Pansy was giving her. She'd never forgiven her for liking Draco; in her mind, Draco Malfoy was perfect for Pansy Parkinson, and if anyone tried to change that or disrupt them, she would shoot them a death glare that would Petrify a Basilisk! Daphne returned to her copy of Witch Weekly as if nothing had happened.

Once she'd cooled Pansy down and everyone had settled down again, Hermione saw the own return with Ron's reply. She got up to receive it when Pansy beat her to it, reading aloud the response from Gryffindor tower. "'Ultra bored, already missing summer. Speaking (or writing actually) of missing things, what happened with you this summer? Loads happened! Wasn't the same without you there though, Mum missed you too, which is quite weird but there you go' Oh how exciting," said Pansy sarcastically, passing the note to back so she could reply. Hermione read it through before writing: 'Breakfast tomorrow, tell me all about it' and sending the parchment back to Gryffindor Tower.

By this point, everyone was getting tired, and within 5 minutes everyone was tucked up in bed, winding down from the busy day. Ron's reply came just as Hermione was getting comfy: typical. She got up and retrieved the note, not bothering to go back to bed. 'Perfect, see you then! Night!' She smiled and replied with a quick 'Night Ron' before shutting the window and falling onto her bed, not long before sleep over took her.

A/N: So, what do you think? Longer than most of my chapters I think, so I hope you enjoyed it. I would have added more, but my back is absolutely killing me sat at this computer! So, hope you've had some good holidays, and feel free to PM/ review me on anything, be it ideas, character names, inter-chapter relationships, chapter titles, or if you just want a good natter. Once again, I implore you to follow me on twitter: Miss_Bee_xx and tweet me, because apparently that's what I should be doing constantly, because I am a teenager and…well yeah, I prefer to write than tweet…can you tell that I'm cool? Anyway, review please, grazie mille