The Harbinger of Death

Chapter 6

Hermione's POV

Everyone wore worried and frightened expressions on their face. It was a disturbing thought that there might be another war that endangered many innocent lives. Hogwarts was just being rebuilt, and everyone was still recovering from the traumatic experience from the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry stared, outraged, clenching his fist angrily.

"Calm down, Harry. Don't worry, his grandchildren can't be much worse than Voldemort, can they?" I wondered aloud. "We'll defeat them. We defeated their grandfather, we'll defeat them as well." Ron exclaimed. "But what if they are just as bad as Voldemort? What if..." He paused, grimacing in pain. "What if they're worse than Voldemort?" He asked. We stayed silent, unable to imagine such a possibility.

"Let's get to class. We're going to be late, anyway." I reminded them. We stood up in silence and headed for the Serpentine hallway, on the third floor. "Who do you think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is? We hadn't seen her at the Start-of-Term banquet." Ron asked. I shrugged.

As we walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts' room, and a surprisingly young professor sat behind the wooden desk, a blinding smile glued to her face. She had faint, blonde waves, and her eyes were a wicked green, like ivy. Her smile never faltered as we walked into class, almost late. She wore a thick, dark green, long-sleeved cloak that covered her arms and dangled at her ankles. Despite the heat, she didn't seem bothered by her attire.

We took a seat in the last few empty tables and quickly got out our textbooks and quills. I looked up as I slammed my textbook onto the table, opening it to page 546. On the board, there was a name printed in neat handwriting. Professor Bell.

~•~

We struggled to haul our homework and textbooks upstairs to the dormitories in our arms, which felt like lead. "Why does there have to be so much homework on the first day?" complained Ron. We finally stood in front of the Fat Lady, where she was sipping a cup of tea. "Password?" She asked, not bothering to look at us. "Banana Boomerangs," Ron exclaimed. The Fat Lady finally turned to face us, before she denied the passcode. We stared at each other in confusion. Did someone change it without telling us? The Fat Lady sighed in exasperation. "Did nobody tell you that the eighth years have their own tower?" She asked, annoyed. "Um... Where exactly is the eighth year tower?" I asked.

"In the left wing, of course." She sighed.

~•~

(Still Hermione's POV)

As we walked through the door, we were introduced to the common room, which was four times as large as the Gryffindor common room. The ceiling was almost as tall as the great hall, with grand glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There were four windows, shaped like large semicircles. Each window was tinted a different color: Red, for Gryffindor; Blue, for Ravenclaw; Green, for Slytherin; and yellow, for Hufflepuff. The windows also had the house mascots designed with the house colors. There were multiple sofas and chairs, with a large fireplace at the opposite end of the doorway.

To the left, a sign read: Girl's Dormitories. To the right, a sign read: Boy's Dormitories. I headed for the Girl's dormitories, as Harry and Ron walked towards the Boy's dormitories. As I walked inside, I could see that the corridor was split into four ways. Each path had a sign above it, which either read: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Hufflepuff. I walked down the path that read Gryffindor, and on either side of the hallway, there were doors with a golden plate, screwed into the door. I scanned the plates for my name. Hannah Hudson and Jackie Malloy; Kaitlyn Hunter and Gabriella Farriot; Melody McHugh and Lavender Brown.

Finally, I saw a plate that read: Hermione Granger and Fiona Malderalli

I turned the doorknob, which I found unlocked, and opened the door. There were two beds, each one at the opposite end of the room. There were red curtains that were pulled aside to let the sun shone through the windows, and two chairs with a fireplace at the other end of the beds, facing a round, wooden table. There were two doors on either side of the room, which I assumed were the bathrooms and a closet for both of us.

I saw a girl with straight, reddish-orangish hair that was pulled into a messy bun. She had sparkling chestnut brown eyes, with freckles dotting her face. She wore dark brown, square glasses that matched her eye color. She was laying on the bed located on the right side of the room, reading a book that I recognized immediately. Hogwarts, A History. "You must be Fiona," I greeted. She looked away from her book and smiled at me. "Hello," She waved. She pointed to a door on the left side of the room. She returned to her book without another glance, and I decided to explore this place. It turns out that the doors were indeed the bathroom and a closet.

I realized that all my stuff was already in my closet, and I placed my homework on the table. I slowly started to get settled into the room, observing all the new shower features and the bed controls, which allowed the bed to move up and down, turn the mattress softer or harder, and even had a heating and cooling system for chilly and hot nights. The bed was a queen sized bed, which was much bigger than any other bed I'd had at home. The closet was about triple the size of my bed, and since I didn't have that many clothes, much of the space was empty. "Hey, Hermione! It's time for dinner!" Fiona called. I hurried out of the closet and found Fiona waiting for me patiently by the doorway. "Thanks," I said gratefully. I hadn't completely memorized the way.

We walked to dinner together, talking and laughing the whole way. It turns out that she was very similar to me. She was from a muggle family as well, but she's never been bullied much at Hogwarts. She was also really smart, and she loved to read for fun. I knew that we were going to get along just fine.