Strawberry Beatings Midnight
Disclaimer: I don't ownHarry Potter,yadda yadda yadda.
Chapter 2: The Introduction
A/N: 91 people have read this story, so why do I only have 2 reviews! Review people please, it's what keeps me going! Without reviews I will die, and the end of the story goes with me!
Hermione's POV
By the time they reached Blaise's compartment, Hermione was in tears. She hated her life and everyone in it. She just wanted to see Harry and Ron and she wasn't even allowed to do that. And on top of that was added the humiliation of taking orders from Draco. She couldn't take it anymore.
"I hate you Draco!" Hermione yelled as she turned and shoved him very violently in front of Blaise and Pansy. There were little red sparks flying from her hands as they made contact with Draco's chest. He flew down the aisle of the train. When he got up rather easily Hermione glared at him. She knew she needed to calm down. But she was angry as hell.
Draco walked fluidly towards her and grabbed the back of her neck, forcing her to look up at him. His face just inches from hers, he whispered, "I will not tolerate these outbursts." And leaning further down, until his mouth was nearly touching her cheek he whispered into her ear, "Nor will Lucius."
Hermione didn't know what to do. She felt so trapped. So she just went into the compartment and sat down. As soon as Pansy realized that Hermione was staying in the compartment and that Draco was doing nothing about it she stood up and began yelling obscenities at her. Obviously she didn't know about what had transpired that summer. Blaise just raised a rather well manicured eyebrow. Hermione sighed and looked out the window.
Draco told Pansy to calm down. She sat down rather heavily, crossed her arms, and glared at both Draco and Hermione. Hermione ignored them.
Draco quickly explained why Hermione was there. He told them all about how her parents had died and that the Malfoy's were her godparents. Hermione closed her eyes and wished with all her heart that her parents were back. And she wished that she could've met her real father. She felt a little guilty for it, like she was offending Mr. Granger, but she couldn't squash her desire. She suddenly understood what Harry felt like. Living with an awful family, not know his parents (or parent in Hermione's case). She felt a new understanding for him.
Glancing at the others in the compartment, she saw confusion on Pansy's face, and perhaps jealousy. Neither Blaise nor Draco showed any emotion. Hermione vaguely wondered how Pansy had made it in Slytherin this long with her emotion showing so plainly on her face. You could read her every thought. Hermione realized that she was acting the same way, what with her outburst a few minutes ago, and her crying. She was going to have to make some major changes if she was going to fit in here.
Not that she wanted to fit in. She didn't want to be in Slytherin, it's not where she belonged. Lucius had pulled some major strings to get her in here. And since Draco was head boy and the head boy and girl couldn't be from the same house, Hermione had been removed from her position as head girl. It was yet another reason for her to hate Draco and Lucius.
But she pushed that hate aside. She needed to save it for the person or people who had burned her house down. The fire is what killed both her parents and Crooshanks. She should have been there too, but she had snuck out to visit her friend Emily. Her parents didn't want her hanging out with Emily, because they felt she was a bad influence on Hermione. But Hermione hadn't seen anything wrong with the girl. Her parents hadn't even gotten to know Emily. They just assumed she was trouble because her hair was purple; she had a nose, tongue, and eyebrow piercing, and wore an awful lot of ripped black clothes. And after Hermione had been hanging out with her for a while, she had gotten her nose pierced and bought a few articles of clothing that were black. And she started sneaking out of the house.
Looking back Hermione wondered how she could have been so stupid. She had started acting like Emily. She would never have thought of sneaking out before that. And sneaking out is why she wasn't with her mother and father right now, and in the Malfoy's hellhole.
She thought about using her time-turner, but the problem with that was that once someone was dead, they were dead. Even if you went back in time they wouldn't be there.
So Hermione just continued to look out of the window in silence. The other three Slytherins had begun to tell of their summer, but Hermione stayed out of their conversation. Suddenly the thought came to her that she needed another cat. A girl this time. She needed a companion.
And she needed to go to the bathroom. She got up to leave, but Draco grabbed hold of her arm before she could take two steps.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked with authority.
"The bathroom. Are you going to let me go all by myself like a big girl, or do I need an escort?" Hermione asked, the devil in her eyes. She was so terribly annoyed with Draco right now.
He let go of her arm and returned to his conversation with Blaise and Pansy. When Hermione had left, Blaise commented, "She's going to do all right in Slytherin."
Hermione first went to the bathroom, then ducked down and crawled in the opposite direction towards Ron and Harry's compartment. The compartments had glass windows on the doors, so she had to stay low for a while so Draco wouldn't see her.
Reaching the correct compartment, Hermione stood up and fixed herself, then entered.
Ron and Harry both jumped up when they saw Hermione come in. "Can you talk?" Ron asked somewhat sarcastically.
Hermione sighed and sat down. "I'm sorry for what's been going on."
"And what exactly has been going on?" Harry asked.
"Harry…" and then Hermione just burst into tears. Harry immediately reached over and hugged her. After a few minutes Hermione had pulled herself back together and regaled her entire summer to them. She told them absolutely everything, and when she was done, they were ready to go off and find Lucius to "teach him a lesson."
Hermione immediately protested. She made them promise not to tell anyone and to leave Lucius alone. It took a LOT of persuading, but she finally managed a promise out of the both of them. Then they set a time when they were going to meet. After that Hermione got up to leave and took one look back at the two of them. Harry's eyes met her's and she knew he understood what she was going through.
As she walked back towards her compartment she saw Pansy coming towards her. Busted was her first thought, but when Pansy asked her what she was doing, Hermione came up with a quick lie and said she just needed to take a little walk. Pansy looked suspicious, but took her for her word and led her back to her compartment.
"Did you forget how to use the toilet or something?" Draco asked as soon as she entered with Pansy.
"She was just on a little walk." Pansy answered. Hermione knew that Pansy didn't believe her excuse, but she couldn't figure out why she would cover for her.
Pansy of course, was just out for herself. She would have ratted Hermione out, except that she figured that if she was off having her little love-affair with Potter, then she wouldn't be with Draco, leaving him all for Pansy.
After what seemed like forever to Hermione, they reached the school. Her first instinct was to go sit with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lavender, but Blaise discreetly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her with him towards the Slytherin table. She looked at Blaise and he gave her the tiniest of smirks before letting her go to sit down. She sat down next to him and across from Draco and Pansy.
She could feel the eyes of nearly the entire Slytherin table on her. They all knew her as Potter's sidekick and couldn't fathom what she was doing at their table in Slytherin robes. But they could see that she held the protection of their Royal Three, Draco, Pansy, and Blaise. So no one dared ask anything. In fact, many of them took pains to hide the fact that they were staring.
Hermione tried very hard to ignore them, opening a book that she had brought with her. After a while she realized Dumbledore had begun speaking. He was explaining the rules to the school. She knew most of them by heart now. But there was a new one: Basically all 6th and 7th years were allowed off the school grounds whenever they pleased as long as they were back by 11:00 and had no prior engagements (like class or detention). Normally they were only allowed to leave on the weekends. And even then, they were only allowed to go as far as Hogsmead.
She could now hear the excited chatter of the 6th and 7th years from all around her. She didn't care too much about it. But Pansy was talking up a storm, telling everyone what she was going to do during the school year.
Just as her stomach started growling her plate was filled and she was thankful for the diversion. She was getting very bored and a tad nervous. She didn't know what to expect from these people.
"Hermione, will you please pass the potatoes?" Pansy asked, extremely politely. Hermione didn't know what to think about it, so she just handed Pansy the potatoes.
"Thanks hun" was Pansy's cheery reply.
Hermione gave a small smile then went back to concentrating on her food. Soon Blaise leaned over and whispered in Hermione's ear, "You're a Slytherin now; you don't have anything to worry about."
Hermione turned toward him and said in an equally hushed tone, "I know, but these people have hated me for the past six years. I'm supposed to just assume they'll all wanna be my friends all of a sudden?" Hermione asked.
"Well, the younger years don't really know your history, and as for the rest of them, the guys will be all over you and the girls will all want to be your best friend but secretly envy you because you live with Draco."
"Well, that seems a bit over the top, doesn't it? Draco isn't all that hot." But as she said that she looked over at him and realized that he was extremely good looking. She figured she must not have noticed before, seeing as how she hated his guts, and still did come to think of it.
Draco's POV
Blaise just grinned at this comment and his smiling face induced a few giggles in Hermione. Meanwhile Draco was looking on in curiosity. Her and Blaise were getting along awfully well. Draco thought maybe he needed to put a stop to this. But just as he was about to open his mouth, Pansy started talking to him. Joking and laughing about something that wasn't all that amusing.
Draco just gave her an odd look and turned back to Hermione and Blaise. It appears Blaise had said something very funny and they were both really laughing now. Draco was dying to know what they were saying, but was too prideful to ask. So he just went back to eating, listening as hard as he could. But he couldn't pick up a word of what they were saying.
Soon dinner was over and they all headed back to the Slytherin common room. Hermione seemed hesitant to enter. But Blaise took her hand and she let him lead her inside.
"Blaise and Hermione seem to be getting on fairly well, don't they Draco?" Pansy said, batting her eyelashes.
What a retard.
As soon as Hermione had sat down she was bombarded by Slytherins demanding to know what she was doing there and looking to cause some trouble. Draco figured he had better get over there before someone tried to kill her, which was conceivable.
There was some punk kid who seemed to be the leader. He looked like maybe he was a 5th or 6th year. Draco was starting to remember the kid. He was a 6th year and thought he was big stuff because he was the richest of the house. But now that Hermione's wealth had been added to the Malfoy family, they were probably of equal rank money wise.
Draco stepped in front of the prat and his kid girlfriend.
"Good evening Mr. Malfoy." The kid was playing games with him. Draco decided to along with it.
"Good evening Perry." Draco said, deliberately using his first name. He gave off an aura of velvet-covered steel; his thin veneer of politeness ready to give way at any moment.
Perry gave a small scowl, and then put his fake civility back on. "You wouldn't happen to know what this mudblood scum is doing here, or why Zabini seems so ready to protect her." He said, hoping to win Draco over. Draco knew exactly what was going on inside Perry's brain. He was looking for power and he knew Draco could give it to him. But he'd just made a BIG mistake.
"Tsk tsk. You wouldn't happen to be referring to the newest member of my family now would you?" With that Draco wrapped his arm tight around Hermione's waist and pulled her to his side. Draco was a little proud of Hermione then, because she seemed to catch on quickly that she had to show who was in charge. She smiled sweetly at Perry and his girlfriend Emerald.
"May I introduce, Hermione Allouette Magienoir." Draco said with a flourish. Most became confused, a few of the more learned gasped. The name Magienoir hadn't been heard in a long time. The Magienoir's were once a powerful family in the Wizarding World. To find out that this once, mudblood was of the Magienoir family was something indeed.
Perry knew right away that he'd made a mistake and his face showed it. He reached out and took her hand in his and kissed the air above it. He was going to spend a lot of time making up for this blunder and all of Slytherin knew it.
Pansy yawned dramatically. "Well I'm exhausted." She grabbed Hermione's hand out of Perry's.
"It was an absolute pleasure to meet you." Hermione said, a sly smile playing on her lips. "But I fear I am terribly tired as well. Goodnight." And with that Pansy took Hermione with her upstairs.
"I think you all have figured out by now that it is not a good idea to mess with Hermione." Draco said, his voice cold.
"Now if you'll excuse me." He went into his Head room upstairs and left them all to ponder what had just transpired.
A/N: I know the story seems to be moving a bit slowly right now, but I'll pick up the pace soon, don't worry! Oh, and don't freak out becuase this IS a Draco/Hermione fic. There may seem like there's a little Harry/Hermione, Blaise/Hermione action going on, but it's all lies I tell you, all lies!
Anyway, I still got story starters if anyone wants them. Just leave a comment in your review. No two people will get the same story! Ooh! And I wanna do a shoutout to me me me me de de de de and Lip-Gloss-Reaplier for being my first two reviewers!