Ch.1 A Rather Ticklish Dream

There are two kinds of surprises in the world. One of them is the good surprise, the pleasant surprise, like a hug when you least expect it or winning a huge lot of money in a raffle. The other one is the bad, dreaded surprise. An example is like the news of a death of a person when they seemed perfectly fine, or your face being spot-free the day before prom, and then when you wake up the day of the prom, your face has had a surprising acne attack. A seventeen-year-old witch named Hermoine Granger has received a good surprise and a bad surprise.

The good surprise, well, it hardly came as a surprise to her when an owl came flying through the Weasley's (fortunately, for the large, brown tawny bird) open window, hauling supply lists for Ron and Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermoine, and a Head Girl badge for Hermoine. She was the perfect model for the noble and dignified role as Head Girl. Intellectual, honest, studious and the cleverest witch in her year, receiving the Head Girl badge was simply inevitable.

Hermoine received a very unpleasant surprise the very moment she slid open the Head Boy and Head Girl compartment door on the Hogwarts Express.

"MALFOY!" she screeched when she saw the pale, white-blond haired Slytherin sitting down on one of the seats, looking up at her with an equal amount of disgust.

"Damn it, I have to work with this Mudblood for a whole year?" Draco spat, his face contorted with repulsion. "Dear Lord, what have I done to deserve this?"

Hermoine stepped into the compartment and shoved Draco's heavy trunk with all the strength she could muster off the seat across from him and onto the floor to make room for herself on the now-vacant seat. She crossed one leg over the other and glared at her enemy.

"No, I think the real question is, how the hell did you become Head Boy? I think there has been a mistake, because I've never heard of a ferret patrolling the halls with a Head Boy badge pinned to his furry little chest."

Draco leered at the girl but crossed his arms without letting his gaze wander away from Hermoine. Obviously, he couldn't come up with a good riposte, and the humiliating ferret-bouncing incident with "Mad-Eye" Moody in their fourth year has scarred his life for eternity. So the two sat in silence, glaring at each other with pure hatred.

Nearly ten minutes later, Hermoine became restless and her face grew sore from frowning at Malfoy with furrowed brows for too long. The staring contest ended three minutes ago when Malfoy's eyelids became heavy and fluttered shut. But Hermoine stayed awake, because she thought it was risky to doze off in the presence of an enemy. An enemy armed with a wand who has had six years of magical knowledge.

He looks so peaceful when he's asleep, Hermoine reflected, almost human. Before she could stop herself, a small smile played on her lips as she watched Draco's chest rise and fall with each breath he took. He no longer looked like the boy Hermoine remembered from their first year. Draco went thought a wonderful transformation during the summer hols. Instead of gelling his hair back like he used to, Draco let his platinum-blond hair fall just above his steel eyes. His face was still pale but his teenage-face was converted into a very handsome man's.Hermoine's eyes traveled down to his tight dark-blue shirt, which accentuated his six-pack and pecs (Must be from Quidditch practice, Hermoine mused.), and then to his long and lean legs. She never looked it, but she, for the first time, thought he looked like… he was a sex god. But the girl prayed that she would never let that thought cross her mind ever again.

Draco gave a small stir in his sleep and murmured, "Stop it, Mudblood, that tickles."

Hermoine felt her face grow hot. What the hell did he just say? And just what were the two doing in his slumber? She rose from her seat angrily and shook him as hard as she could.

"Nnnngh--ahhhh!" Draco shouted. His eyelids flew open and his stormy gray eyes reflected confusion. A moment later his mind became focused and he saw a glaring witch staring down at him. A split second later Hermoine gave off a frightened squeak and unclasped her hands from his shoulders quickly as though scalded; she took a step back.

Taking advantage of this moment, Draco lifted himself off of his seat to face Hermoine eye-to-eye, even though she was a couple inches shorter than he was.

"What the bloody hell did you think you were doing?" Draco snarled, putting on his most intimidating voice. "Why were you harassing me?" He was pleased to see Hermoine trembling slightly, and he inwardly chuckled.

"I - er - I had to wake you up because we need to patrol the corridors," Hermoine half-lied. Really, the truth was that she couldn't stand to hear anymore of Draco's sleepy mumbles, and him using the words "Mudblood" and "tickles" in the same sentence was just too much, even though he wasn't conscious of it. She gave off a small shudder.

Draco evidently noticed her action, because then he said, "Something the matter, Granger?" He wore a faint smile, appearing amused. Hermoine shook her head vigorously and made for the exit, but Draco quick-stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"Move," Hermoine commanded, glowering up at the Head Boy. Draco tutted softly.

"Now, now, Granger," he said, as if he were patiently trying to tell a stubborn student that two plus two did equal four, "where are your manners? Move, please, Mr. Malfoy, sir, is the correct response."

Hermoine scoffed. "Kiss my ass."

Draco's eyebrows flew up in surprise, but then he bowed and said, "With relish."

The Gryffindor girl seemed scandalized by this response. She dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out her wand.

"Move it, Malfoy," she growled. "Though I would gladly enjoy cursing you, I am generous enough to give you this fair warning." She pointed her wand at Draco in a threatening way.

Draco didn't seem to be unnerved by this. "Granger, must we always do this the hard way? All I'm asking of you is to ask me politely to move; I'm not asking you to drop down and grovel at my feet, but now since that notion has crossed my mind, I--"

"Rictusempra!" Hermoine bellowed, cutting Draco off, and a silvery flash of light shot out of the end of her wand, hitting Draco in the abdomen. He keeled forward, clutching his stomach and wheezed with laughter.

"Bastard," Hermoine said under her breath as she watched Draco rolling around on the floor, laughing, with tears in the corners of his eyes.

"St-stop it, Mu-Mudblood that t-tickles!" Draco finally choked out.

Hermoine's eyes widened in shock as her mind registered what he just said. He muttered that when he was dreaming, Hermoine thought.

She raised her wand once more and muttered, "Finite"; the laughing ceased. Lifting himself off the ground, Draco Malfoy brushed the front and the back of his clothes and smirked at Hermoine.

"The Tickling Charm, Granger?" Draco said. "Did Potter teach you that? He set that curse on me in our second year."

Hermoine slid the compartment door open and stepped out; her hand rested on the door for a moment, but then she took her hand off. The door slid slowly but Draco stopped it from closing.

"Come on, we got corridors to patrol," Hermoine said and turned around. She walked down the corridors at last, and Draco had no choice but to follow her.

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"Hey, Hermoine, you're back!" Ron greeted as Hermoine slid down onto a vacant seat across from Ron and next to Harry. Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, who usually occupied this compartment with Harry and Ron, weren't here. Hermoine questioned there whereabouts but the two boys only shrugged in response.

"So, how's the new Head Girl?" Harry said, grinning. When Harry and Ron found out of her position, they weren't surprised, but they gave heart-felt congrats. Something that would really surprise them, they discussed 15 minutes before Hermoine walked in the compartment, was someone else in their year that becoming Head Girl instead of Hermoine… or Harry becoming Snape's favorite student… or Neville not destroying anything in Potions… or in any of his classes, for the matter… or Malfoy becoming Head Boy.

Hermoine frowned and said, "I was doing fine until I had to hang around with the new Head Boy…." She sighed and leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

Harry and Ron's mouths dropped down. Surprise, surprise, Harry thought to himself bitterly.

"No freakin' way," Harry said, awestruck. Ron looked equally bewildered, but then his expression quickly changed to rage.

"If you thought Malfoy was bad as a Prefect, he'll be worse as Head Boy," Ron scowled. "Detentions everyday… shit. How could Dumbledore do this!"

Hermoine's eyes snapped back open. Dumbledore! The girl felt a small surge of annoyance and betrayal towards her Headmaster. The question was not how, but why? Why did Dumbledore pair her up with the odious Death Eater's son? The Headmaster usually has a good reason for his actions, so what was it this time?

"This is so unfair! Spending my last year with the Mudblood-hater…. I don't want to get hurt…." said Hermoine, her lips trembling. Harry got up and pulled Hermoine into an embrace.

"Don't worry, Hermoine; if he even lays a finger on you, Ron and I will make him wish he never crawled up here from Hell."

Hermoine giggled softly from his shoulder and returned a hug. At that moment, the compartment door was pulled open from outside and Draco the Head Boy stepped inside.

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(a/n) Oh wowzers, I finished my first chappie of my first fan-ficcie! I'm sorry if it was short…. It was only the beginning and the new chapters will be much more interesting and longer. Hopefully I can complete at least three chapters before school starts (August 29). Hehe… I wanna go to school….

I'd really appreciate comments, either uplifting or how I can improve. Absolutely no flamers…. they hurt…. (flinches)

So… (whips out notebook and pencil) I'll write and you comment. K ! M !
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