Just A Dream

The Experiment

The doors to the dining hall were wide open, and let off an illuminating light. Hermione smiled slightly at the warm feeling she got when she saw the hall and all the buzzing students that were ready for another year. She practically ran down the Gryffindor table to envelop Fred and George in a hug, who she hadn't seen since the beginning of summer. She took her seat next to them and Harry and Ron proceeded to take their seats opposite them. Ginny, Neville and Luna all came and sat down too. All was well as dinner appeared on the table, piping hot and perfectly presented. She dug in, hungrier than she thought she was.
Whilst eating she took another look round. Dusk was beginning to settle in on the Autumn evening, and several stars had started to shine as she could see in the ceiling. Then again, that may not be the case, Dumbledore could've easily made it an illusion. Speaking of Dumbledore, the old yet still sturdy man made his way from his seat to the stand at the front of the hall. Without having to say anything, the school lapsed into silence and waited for him to give his usual 'welcome back' speech.

First though, the new first years had to be sorted, in which it turned out it seemed the majority were put in Hufflepuff, however many also got into Gryffindor so Hermione couldn't exactly complain. Then Dumbledore gave his speech, much the same as usual, with that wise sort of twinkle in his eyes. Whilst listening to his speech, Hermione's attention was quite suddenly drawn to Malfoy, who she could see sitting at his table across the hall. He was staring at her. And it was very uncomfortable. Shuffling in her seat slightly she tried to pull away her gaze from him, but she found she couldn't. She hadn't noticed before but she spotted a small scar on the left of his forehead, and was that... A bruise on his chin?

As she squinted to see a little better, Draco suddenly snapped out of the trance he was in when it finally dawned on him who he was staring at. He really hadn't meant to, he was just trying to distract himself from having to listen to the drag of the bumbling old fool who was currently speaking to school, and found that his eyes had rested on Hermione.
Rather self-consciously, he lightly stroked over his chin where the bruise was and looked away swiftly, turning back at the old man at the front just in time to hear the end of his speech.

"...all in all though, I hope you all have a splendid year here, and that for all you new-comers you make yourselves very much at home."
People started to clap, assuming that he'd finished, however he quickly raised a hand.
"And might I ask," he continued," that all the sixth years stay behind after the feast, we have an announcement for you all."
Then he stood down, accepted his applause and returned to his seat gracefully.
Then the talking broke out amongst everyone.

"I wonder what the announcement is," said Neville, "I hope it's something good."
"Well I'm sure whether it's bad or good Dumbledore will find a way to make it sound comforting," said Hermione, smiling at him. Neville still looked unsure but then Fred and George spoke up.
"Look Dumbledore may be getting a little old..." started George.
"Borderline loopy," Fred inputed.
"But not to worry my young friend..."
"The Weasley Twins will protect you all from what's to come!" They did a minute long hand shake then Fred thumped Neville on the back heartily, trying to be reassuring. It didn't really work though.

Gradually, the feast came to a close and honestly Draco couldn't be more relieved. He used to love the idea of taking new Slytherins under his wing, and leading them down the dark and rather brilliant path of how to prank other students and get away with it. But it seemed a lot of his old preferences meant nothing to him anymore, and the noise of the whole ordeal had resulted in him gaining a head ache, so he was pleased when everyone but sixth years had vacated the hall; and for once, he was also very intrigued to hear what Dumbledore had to say.
But it was Professor McGonagall who spoke to the students, Dumbledore merely overlooked.

"Well first off, welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you all had a pleasant summer. Now, this year we have decided to set up a sort of experiment." Her features darkened as she continued, "As I'm sure you're all aware of the growing threat from the dark side, Dumbledore, several of the staff and myself have decided that as part of your Defence Against The Dark Arts class, you ought to be able to practically prepare yourselves for what may come. The others will be going through similiar processes, however not quite as vigourous as your own. After all, you have been targeted as the most vulnerable year group for..." she coughed and lay her gaze unsubtly on Harry, "obvious reasons."
Draco was getting a bit hot at this stage, not really knowing how to feel about technically being a part of the dark side they were talking about protecting themselves from.

"So, we have sorted you all into pairs, with whom you will be partnered with for the next 5 weeks. You will both be put through a series of different tests with each other to test your knowledge of defence and attack, and hopefully create a bond of trust between each other. You will be partnered with someone from a different house, as this also contributes to our increasing attempt at improving inter-house relations."
Several Slytherins groaned at this however McGonagall ignored them, clearing her throat and begin to list off the pairs.
"Potter and Lovegood," Harry gave Luna a quick smile.
"Longbottom and Parkinson," Neville went pink with sudden fear as he felt Pansy's death stare from across the room. Draco tried his best to contain a laugh, whilst Hermione felt absolutely awful for her friend.
"Weasley and Zabini," and Ron could've sworn he saw McGonagall smirk at that.
"Bloody hell," he whispered under his breath, going nearly as pink as Neville had.

As the list got shorter and shorter, Hermione's name still hadn't been called, and as she looked round at the remaining few people left to be called, she simply crossed her fingers and silently prayed that it would be anyone but Malfoy.
Of course though, her prayers weren't answered as the last pairing McGonagall called off, "Malfoy and Granger."
Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin when Malfoy turned to her with such anger she wanted to run. But she stayed composed and turned to her friends. Harry was trying his best to repress a smirk. Of course the bloody chosen one got a perfectly fine pairing.
Hermione mentally kicked herself for saying that-obviously that wasn't the reason.
"I feel worst for Hermione to be honest," Ron piped up. "I don't even want to imagine it. I swear though if he does anything to hurt you..." He went a bit red with rage at just the thought but Hermione managed to calm him just as McGonagall continued to speak.

"I want you all to know, some of these tasks will push you to your limit, physically and emotionally. It's very important you and your partner are able to rely on each other. Some of the tasks will require team work."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"There are some rules of course, firstly, and I'll only say this once, you mustn't forget that whatever you see, whatever you face, it's not real, no matter how much it feels like you're in danger, you're really not. These missions are very immersive, so be careful.
Should you fail a task, you shall instantly fall unconcious and be taken out from the mission, we will be monitoring you one way or another, so we can see your progress. Also the alternative that if you feel you can't continue on with the task, the code word is violet. Shout this and aid will come to you, however it will result in deduction of house points and may give you a lower grade."
Murmurs rose from the tables.
"Oh yes, you'll be graded on this, make sure you put the effort in."

In honesty, Hermione felt quite scared. Obviously she knew it was all set ups and that there was no way she could get seriously hurt. But a part of her mind was nagging that it wasn't going to end well. And to go through all this with Malfoy? Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
"You will receive further instructions when your next DATDA class is scheduled, go to your classroom and you'll see there. You are dismissed, off to bed!" She finished with a clap and students buzzed into a chat as they got up and walked back to their dormitories.

Blaise approached Draco and thumped him on the back sympathetically.
"Looks like we've drawn a short straw here mate," he said jokingly.
"You can say that again," Draco smirked. He was not looking forward to this at all. He didn't want to get in too deep with Granger, he'd try and make sure there was the smallest emotional connection between them as possible. These 5 weeks will fly by he told himself. However that thought immediately flew out his head the second he got into his bed in his dorm, and the nightmares flooded in instead.
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A/N; apologies for how much dialogue there was! I tried to explain the tasks thing as well as possible but if you still have any questions feel free to ask, though you will find out a bit more later.