A/N: Hey look! It's a semi-early chapter!!! Well, Christmas Break is here and because of that, more time for writing! YAYYY :) I'm going to stick to my weekend deadline, as I have a few things planned here and there, so don't get your hopes up too high. As for the movie reference in this chapter, I looked it out and I'm pretty sure I got the timing right. If I didn't, let me know and I'll fix it.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine, nor are his rippling pectorals.
Enjoy!
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Do You Believe in Karma? I Do.
I felt consciousness wash over me slowly as the blackness faded from behind my closed eyes into a warm orange glow. My eyes fluttered open and I had to blink a few times to adjust my heavy eyelids. I rolled from my position on my side to look up at the ceiling. Only, it wasn't a ceiling, it was a layer of red fabric draped over the four posts of my new canopy. I let a tired smile stretch on my lips as I propped myself on my elbows. Looking around my new bedroom I let the events of last night flash back into my memory out of habit.
My feast freak-out had eventually died down after a few minutes. I had literally stuffed my face with steak and potato pie afterwards, though, so it wasn't a proud moment. Only after Dumbledore had dismissed us had things began to look up, if only for a short amount of time. I hadn't seen Potter my whole walk to McGonagall's office, which made me hopeful that maybe normality had been restored and he had realized that there was no way that he could ever hold the position of Head Boy. But when I had entered her office, I almost had a heart attack. He had beaten me there. Before I could even think of wiping the look of shock from my face, he turned around and shot me a triumphant grin, a grin that screamed a five-year-old's chant of "Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I beat you!" in that annoying sing-song voice.
McGonagall had gone over the responsibilities that were printed on our letters and informed us that since the ball had been announced, it was our responsibility to plan it. Seeing as how I was actually going to benefit from the amount of time I was supposed to put into this task, I didn't have that much of a problem. I even wondered vacantly if that was the whole reason I was handed the position in the first place-so a member of the pen-pal system could arrange the reward-type ball. But I discarded the thought as ridiculous. If it was true for me, it had to be true for Potter as well.
Potter needing even more groupies. Hah, that was a laugh.
But it wasn't until after our meeting that things got even more personal. I swear, for a good hour I wanted to kill my favorite professor. No incoming Heads ever know what the arrangements are for sleeping quarters. Do you get your own or stay in the same dormitory as you had been the past six years? Since I never saw my preceding Heads around in general, I had no idea going in. But when McGonagall began leading Potter and I into a completely different corridor, my mind went into overdrive. I had always hoped to get rid of those annoying gossip queens I called roommates. Honestly, if I had to hear one more opinion on which sex position was the best, I would puke.
We arrived at a portrait that reminded me vaguely of Marie Antoinette. The woman was wearing a powder blue gown that was poufy beyond normal capacity. Her hair was a fair shade of blonde and styled atop her head in a loose bun with a white feather sticking haphazardly out of it. She turned her head and smiled sweetly down at us.
"Password?" She had asked.
I looked at McGonagall and she said calmly, "Aide-mémoire"
The portrait opened and I followed McGonagall into the expansive living area I would now call my common room. I soaked up the gorgeous setting with wide eyes that I had only sported at a book signing when I met James Patterson.
The room was so warm in décor I thought I might suffer from a heat stroke. The wooden floors made no creaking sounds as we traveled further into the room, which was a welcome relief, and were almost fully covered in ornately woven rugs. The walls were dark grey stone covered in portraits and tapestries of famous witches and wizards throughout history. I bet I could name each and every one, but I'll save that for later. In the corner was a fireplace about as large as the one in Gryffindor tower with flames already covering the wood. Surrounding it was a large sofa and single over-stuffed chair, both a dark shade of crimson and had matching wool blankets atop them. There was a table placed dead center with the latest edition of the daily prophet, a vase filled with extra quills (which I had full intent on using later), and single table lamp covering it. But my favorite part of the room by far was the wall solely covered in bookshelves. I couldn't contain the urge to run over to it and begin skimming the titles.
I heard a chuckle behind me and turned to see Potter covering his mouth with a hand as McGonagall gave him a distasteful look. I thanked her and glared at the immature boy.
"This" McGonagall said as she motioned to the room around us, "will be your common room for the remainder of the school year."
My stomach dropped as something hit me. It hit me hard. "You… you mean to share?"
She nodded, "Well yes, Miss Granger, to share."
I turned from her to hide my distaste. The last thing I wanted was to show her or Potter how disgusted this made me feel. I think I would rather go back to my old roommates.
But I didn't have time to put up a proper argument, as McGonagall lead us up the single set of stone steps that lead up to what I assumed to be our separate rooms. Thankfully, they were. McGonagall left after showing us the hallway and Potter and I were left alone. Now I don't know about him, but I sprinted to the door marked Head Girl and shut it behind me without a single look back. What awaited me there was a sight too gorgeous for words. I thought the common room was fantastic-but my private quarters trumped it all.
The carpet was an orange and black ornate design that covered the entire perimeter of the room. The wallpaper was a simpler pattern that highlighted the small amount of green I could make out of the carpet if I narrow my eyes. There was a wooden molding that separated the green wallpaper to an orange one of similar taste. The bed was a gorgeous dark chocolate wooden base with such detailed canopy posts that I thought I was in a medieval castle rather than my new bedroom. There was a white fireplace, a fair degree smaller than the one downstairs against the far wall with a high-backed crimson chair sewn with satin fabric. There was a painting of Hogwarts hung above it that looks as though it was well over five-hundred years old. That alone was enough to complete the room. But, of course, the thing that sold me was the nearly empty bookcase (that I was most definitely going to fill up later) as large as a doorway snug between two busts of Hogwarts founders Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor. I remember reading something about the two founders before, but chose not to think too much on it. I was tired and wanted to give my new silk sheets and feather-stuffed pillows a try.
And so here I was, fully rested and ready to start my first day back at Hogwarts.
I made my way down the hall to the single bathroom in-between both mine and Potter's. It wasn't so much that we had to share a single bathroom that bothered me-it was the fact that we had to share the same shower. I had my own bathroom at home and I like it that way. I knew where I had been and where everything was. But with Potter it was a whole other story. I had no idea where he'd been, if he puts he cap back on the toothpaste, or if he spits and misses the sink. Oh Gods, I had to keep some cleaning supplies handy if I was ever going to make it through this. Thankfully, I knew I was going to be the first one in there since I always woke up earlier than anyone else at this school, most of the time without an alarm. If that's not talent, I don't know what is.
I pushed open the door and the lights turned on to greet me. I muttered a locking charm to guarantee I would not be disturbed as I turned on the shower so that it could warm up. It didn't take long for me to be in and out without any incident. I never take long in the bathroom, unlike my former roommates. And I take pride in that. Why waste time in the bathroom when there are a billion other things that I could be doing? Studying, reading, cleaning, sewing… the list goes on. The world would be a much better place if people didn't waste time in the bathroom. Things would get done faster, we would save energy.
Unfortunately for me, the only one who would even think of listening to my views was tucked asleep in her bed.
I gave up mentally rambling about something I knew would never be spoken and went downstairs. The fire from last night was down to a dull smoke and I adjusted it so that the warm orange flames enveloped the stone fireplace once more. As I was backing away, I felt my backside hit something and heard a loud crash that made me nearly jump out of my shoes. I quickly turned around and saw that I had knocked over the fireplace accessories. I gingerly bent down to readjust the iron tools and wiped off my hands after I moved them a little more to the left to prevent this from happening again. Only I would knock over a ten pound set of tools at six in the morning.
As I turned around to make my way out of the common room, I had to put a hand over my mouth to prevent from screaming, but that didn't help a small squeal coming out of my mouth. There, in all of his morning glory, was Potter, scratching his messier-than-usual mane and looking as though he could use a few more hours of sleep. He was clad in only green boxers. And when I say only, I mean only. His tanned, trim abdominals were out for me to see and-hesitantly-admire. Just because I hated him doesn't mean I can't admire how his Quidditch career had whipped him into shape.
"Do you always get up this early?" He asked, completely ignoring how he scared me half to death and observing how I was already fully dressed.
"Yes." I replied simply, the hand that had been atop my moth now hanging limp at my side.
He groaned. "Good God, Granger."
"Some of us like to get an early start."
"Yeah, and some of us like sleep!"
I scoffed and picked up my book bag, which I had already stuffed with books, quill, and parchment the night before. I knew I might have forgotten it, so I had placed it on the couch in plain sight just in case. I think it added to the picture I was drawing for my new roomie. Early riser versus someone who enjoys sleeping in-take one.
"Don't worry, Sleeping Beauty, I won't knock over any more fireplace tools to disturb you."
He placed a hand over his chest as he spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh that's ever so kind of you. Really, I'm touched."
"As you should be."
"You know what, Granger? You need to unwind a little."
"Unwind?"
"Yes, unwind."
"I'm not a knit scarf!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, you're right." I nodded, "You're just a shrew. A wound up shrew who insists on getting up in the wee hours in the morning to ruin normal people's sleeping habits."
My smugness soon turned to rage as I took a few steps towards him. "Is something the matter with your legs? You and your rippling pectorals could just walk back up to your room and go straight to sleep instead of bothering me down here."
He remained silent for a moment and I assumed I had made an impact on his pea brain. But as he arched an eyebrow, the little hope I had in my chest died away. "Rippling pectorals?"
Shit. I hadn't meant to say that. It just sort of… came out. "Er… yes?"
Wrong answer. He smirked and took a step towards me. I could feel his ego pressing against me, even though he was a good three feet away. "Last time I checked, you thought I was repulsive."
I tried to cook up with a way to get me out of this. It was proving more difficult than I originally planned. There was only one way I could possibly talk my way out of this. "Of course I think you're repulsive. I was just quoting a movie."
"Really? And what movie were you borrowing rippling pectorals from?"
I bit my lip. "Hercules."
"The cartoon?"
"Of course the cartoon, what other Hercules film is there?"
He remained silent for a moment and I began to relax. Maybe my trip to the cinema one hot June day had actually paid off… "Alright, Granger, I'll let you off the hook." I let out a visible breath, but he continued talking. "But if you ever wake me up this early again. My rippling pectorals and me will have something more to say about it."
"My rippling pectorals and I." I corrected.
He rolled his eyes and retreated back to his room. I waited until he was out of hearing distance before letting out a gigantic groan. Imagine what that could have turned into if I hadn't had my wits. I would have turned into a babbling teenager with nothing but his chest on my mind. Not that I was even thinking about his chest in the first place. Honestly, it was just a slip of the tongue. I was taking in his appearance and happened to notice he was shirtless and by being shirtless, was exposing his pectoral muscles. His rippling pectoral muscles. Oh that Megara and her quick quips. That girl was my idol. Even if the movie was a horrible representation of the actual Greek myth, it was still an entertaining watch. And, as of now, a great excuse to explain a simple slip of the tongue.
Adjusting my book bag on my shoulder, I exited the portrait hole and tried my best not to wake her, either. The last thing I needed was another person criticizing the time which I chose to get up. Thankfully, she was peacefully snoring against the headrest of her chair. I gently closed the portrait and continued on my way on the balls of my feet. When I reached a carpeted hall, I let my steps become normal heel-to-toe in motion as I continued on my way to the Great Hall. All around me I heard snores of portraits and tried hard not to wake any of them. My accident prone morning left me feeling more conscious of my movements then I'd been in a while.
A vacant hall awaited me as I set my book bag down and piled food onto my plate. The smell of freshly baked blueberry muffins called to me as I took two and waited patiently for McGonagall to arrive with the timetables for the week. It took a while, as I was up a good hour before anyone else. I used the time to my advantage and took out my copy of Mastering Magical Theory: Your Guide to Advanced Charms. I was reading up on the more advanced version of the levitation charm when I heard the soft hum of voices behind me. I raised my head from the pages just in time to accept my schedule from Professor McGonagall and skimmed it right away.
I had Defense Against the Dark Arts first period. Wait… who was the new teacher? Bollocks. I had been so focused on my own personal breakdown that I didn't even pay attention to the new teacher announcement. How was I to prepare myself when I had no background information on the teacher? Granted, I never really did, but at least I knew what they looked like! I sighed and gathered up my stuff to walk to class. I would be a good fifteen minutes early so that would give me plenty of time to catch up with the new teacher and make up for lost time. Suck-up you say? I call it proper planning.
But as I reached the Defense room, no one was there. It was as vacant as one of my S.P.E.W meetings. Well, at least I would be able to have my regular seat without anyone saying otherwise. Finder's keepers. Not that anyone ever chose the front-center seat anyway-but one person always got stuck sitting next to me more times than not. I just hoped that karma wasn't going to play a big role in something as small as who I was going to sit next to for the remainder of the year. But, by the way my morning was going, I wouldn't put money on that.
As I did in the Great Hall, I pulled out a book and began reading. Might as well be prepared if I couldn't rub elbows with the new teacher.
The minutes passed quickly, as they always do when I'm reading. I didn't feel anyone sit next to me, and let myself relax. Thank Merlin. I didn't lift my head from my book until I heard the authoritative voice of my new teacher. It was a female voice, one I hadn't heard before. I quickly put away my book and turned around to see a young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties walking to the front of the room. She had long blonde curly hair and dark and twinkling eyes that decorated her pale, heart-shaped face. Beneath her teaching robes, she had on black slacks and a hot pink blazer. She struck me as a poised woman as she walked with her shoulders held high. Oh, how I wished I could walk like that without incident. It must be nice to be accident proof.
Wait, scratch that.
She made it all the way to her desk before tripping over a stack of books.
The class burst out into laughter and I'm pretty sure I was the only one who wasn't finding any sort of amusement in her fall. I knew what it felt like to be the clumsy one and have people laugh at you for it. It sucked. But as she turned around and straightened her composure, she was sporting a wide smile. Well what do you know; it was possible to laugh at your own misfortune. I'll have to write that down.
She smiled charmingly at the class as the laughter died down. "Hello everyone. My name is Professor Tonks. Sorry I'm late but I had a bit of a-ahem-late start."
I heard a familiar chuckle beside me and nearly shrieked for the second time that morning. "Christ." I let slip out softly.
Potter turned to look at me with a slight smirk. "Well good morning to you, too, sunshine."
I growled and turned back to the teacher, who was going over the curriculum for this year. I quickly pulled out some parchment and a quill and began scribbling down her key points. It was very similar to past years except for one teeny thing.
"We are going to be doing a lot of physical practices in this class. Now, the only reason I'm making you do this is because when I was in school we never really covered any of that and you can see where that's lead me." The class nodded and a few let out noises of amusement. "You will be graded on your performance accordingly. Now I'm a pretty observant person. When we complete our first day here, I'll know what your limits are and I will push you to them. All tests will be half written, including multiple choice and essay, and half physical where you will demonstrate the given hex, jinx, etc cetera. Any questions?"
No one raised their hands and I was too busy inching my chair away from my least favorite person to think of any. All in all, it was looking to be a pretty sucky day. And if my luck had anything else to say about it, it was only going to get worse.
Oh, and it did.
It turned out that I had every class with Potter. But, thankfully, Defense Against the Dark Arts was the only one where we sat next to each other. I was beginning to refer to this year as the year of unneeded annoyances.
Right as classes for the day ended, I found it necessary to return to my dormitory before dinner. Summer homework had nothing on what the teachers had been loading on us throughout the day. Plus, I still had the Prefect's meeting and rounds to plan. Seventh year was proving to be very interesting. Very interesting indeed. It was nothing I couldn't handle, though. I mean, I wasn't called a know-it-all for nothing. I remember a few years back I used to think of it was an insult. Now, I took the "insult" with pride. I would rather know it all than nothing. The name gave me confidence-made me feel like I could accomplish anything. So thank you, immature children from years past. It's your loss.
I climbed the stone steps to my room and put my book bag on the chair by my fireplace. I would start working on the assignments after dinner. I had finished most of them in the breaks between classes and lunch, but I still needed to get a start on two essays due by Friday. Thanks a heap, Snape.
I took my robe off and tossed it on my bed to fold and put away later. I turned around the room for a brief moment to see if I forgot anything. Nope. It's not like I needed to dress up for dinner. I started to walk towards the door when something caught my eye. Outside of my window that lead to the small balcony (I know, a balcony?) I saw a small movement. Before thinking anything else of it, I opened up the window-door-thing and let a small breeze flow pass over me. There, on the very edge of the small stone fence that aligned the edges of the balcony, was an envelope. I narrowed my eyes and walked over to grab it before the wind blew it away. There wasn't anything on the back, so I chose to open it. Maybe someone's letter got lost?
I felt really stupid as I opened up the letter to read it.
There, in blue ink, were the two words that could make my day a million times better.
Dear Anonymous
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