Mistaken Chapter 3: Curiosity

Hermione's day just gets weirder.

I made it to the prefect compartment before Draco caught up with me. When I looked at Ron I could tell that he had already heard the bad news. He mouthed a "Sorry" at me when he noticed my frustrated stance.

Malfoy came into the compartment cool and collected as if nothing negative had passed between us. The Ravenclaw prefects looked at him with disapproving expressions. The Hufflepuffs held looks of confusion. The prefects of Slytherin held smug looks. The new Gryffindor perfect looked at Ron for a cue to follow. Ron's smoke-filled ears, flaming eyes and beat-red face held possible murder towards Draco. I felt the same urge to kill him when he sat in between the Slytherin prefects with that awful smirk he's so famous for. I had to restrain myself from repeating the slap I gave him in our third year at Hogwarts.

During my reminiscing, I remembered what all the people in the compartment were gathered for.

I cleared my throat. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. As prefects you will be in charge of patrolling the train corridors until we get to the castle."

I looked to see of Malfoy wanted to add anything to the speech. He just sat lazily in his seat looking at the cloudy sky outside.

I continued. "You will walk up and down the isles every now and then to make sure that no one is fighting. If anyone is fighting make sure to break it up peacefully if possible. Also, if you notice anyone carrying any of the objects that the caretaker, Mr. Filch, has banned, do not hesitate to confiscate it. That will help lessen your load when you get to the school."

My eyes glanced towards Draco in hopes that he started paying attention, but I hoped in vain.

"Malfoy is there anything you want to add."

He jumped as if he had forgotten that there were others around him.

"What?"

"Is there anything you wanted to say to the prefects?"

"Hmm, did you tell them to patrol?"

I was right. He wasn't listening.

"Yes, I told them to patrol."

"Then I guess you covered it all." He stood up. "Since we're done I'm headed back to the compartment."

Malfoy walked out and headed to the Head's compartment without another word. As I dismissed the prefects I started to wonder at what had him distracted.

"Mione…Hermione."

I snapped out of my thoughts to find Ron waving his hands in front of me.

"Hey, where were you just now?"

"I'm sorry Ron. I was just wondering about Malfoy's strange behavior."

Ron's looked turned puzzled.

"Strange? I didn't notice anything strange. He came in here wearing that stupid smirk of his and paid absolutely no attention. He acted like a rude and pretentious jerk." Ron's face lightened. "No, there was nothing strange there."

"Well, maybe I was just seeing more than was there."

"You do think too much."

I wanted to rebuke Ron for his statement but he was wearing that grin that always made me laugh even when I did not want to.

"Maybe I do think too much."

"Of course that's what makes you our Hermione." Ron headed to the door. "Come on. Let's get our first round of patrolling over with so we can hang with Harry."

"Ronald Weasley is putting his responsibilities first? I think I am rubbing off on you."

Ron looked horror-struck. "You're rubbing off on me?" He started brushing off his cloths. "Oh no, I'm diseased."

"Oh, shut up Ronald."

I grabbed him and started dragging him down the hallway.


The rain was pouring down when we finally pulled into the station. I was reminded of my first arrival to Hogwart's. The memory of the rocky boats that transported the first years to the castle caused a shiver to run down my spine. I was grateful for the covered carriages that waited to take the rest of the students to the castle.

As I exited my carriage outside the castle's entryway I noticed that Malfoy walked separately from his usual gang of Slytherin friends. My curiosity peaked in the Great Hall when I noticed that he did not sit in his customary seat flanked between Crabbe and Goyle. As I continued to study him I received a nudge in my side.

"Hermione", I turned to my left to find Ginny studying my face.

"Why are you staring at him?" She nodded towards Malfoy's direction.

I shrugged. "I was just wondering why he was sitting by himself."

"He probably needed more space to contain that enormous ego of is", suggested Ron.

Harry took a more serious approach. "Maybe he's been out-casted since he failed to kill Dumbledore."

"Hmm, I didn't think of that", I confessed.

"Anyway, it serves him good", Ron stated. "Now he'll know what it's like to be shunned".

"That might do him some good", Ginny added.

"I doubt it", Ron said matter-of-factly. "He thinks too highly of himself to let anything affect him like a normal person. He thinks he's the big-man-on-campus. Probably doesn't help that all the girls in Slytherin fond over him."

"I've heard girls from other houses fond over him too", Harry added.

Ron shook his head disgustedly.

"I've over-heard some girls gushing about how sexy his smirk is", chimed in Neville.

Ron and Harry looked at him disbelievingly. Luckily they were too stunned to turn and see Ginny's face redden.

After the welcoming feast was over a second year approached me to announce that I needed to meet McGonagall in her office. I made the trek to the Headmistress's office that used to belong to Dumbledore not more than a few months ago. I figured that she wanted to give me my new assignments as Head Girl. I probably should not have been surprised to find Draco there but the sight of him in the office still caught me off-guard.

Draco stood a few feet away from McGonagall's desk, his expression blank while the Head-mistress looked relieved to see me enter.

"Ms. Granger I thank you for coming." She gave a quick glance to Malfoy. "Hermione you have been chosen to be Head Girl and Malfoy, you have somehow been chosen to be Head Boy. The two of you must head the prefect meetings. At these meetings you will decide the patrolling schedule, organize the Hogsmeade outings. This year we are going to be trying something new. I want to see how Hogwart's does with a Halloween ball."

"A Halloween ball", I asked.

"Yes, Ms. Granger. I believe that the school deserves some good times this year." She lowered her head a little for a split second and then addressed us again.

"I trust I do not have to remind you two of the importance of working efficiently together."

She stood up and headed towards the door.

"The two of you will follow me to your rooms."

Malfoy's expressionless face molded into a look of confusion.

"Can we not walk to our rooms alone?"

"I would assume not since you have never been to them before."

I was also confused.

"Are we not going to our common rooms?"

"No, the two of you will be sharing a private common area."

Draco and I looked incredulously at each other and then at Professor McGonagall.

"What?"