janus ~ hermione granger

xiii

"im surprised i managed to remember to write you back each time."

"well im glad you did."

"me too," maddy smiled back. "i stayed in contact with harry and draco too, but only harry answered," she frowned at the fact that her best friend didn't send any letters all summer.

"m-maybe he was busy? o-or he didn't get them?" hermione attempted to cheer up madison, who just hummed in response.

"i'll ask him on the train," she mumbled, finally dropping the cat.

                                           𓆉

"d!" maddy exclaimed, running into the blonde boy's embrace. "why didn't you answer my letters?"

"father didn't let me," draco answered.

"you're lying," the girl mumbled, sliding her hands down from his neck to his forearms, making him wince. "you have got to be kidding me."

maddy let go of his arms and grabbed one of his hands, dragging him backwards, letting the rest of the students pass by.

"i tried to tell you, to get help," draco choked out after his scarred arms were revealed by the only person he cared about. "b-but he would read all the letters i sent. i didn't want him to know."

"i am so sorry," maddy instantly replied, letting go of his sleeves and engulfing him in another hug.

"it's not your fault-"

"but i should've visited you when something felt off."

"you were in egypt," draco smiled. maddy raised an eyebrow before continuing.

"that's a fake smile. i know those too damn well."

"look-"

the malfoy boy was interrupted by crabbe, who was yelling at the two to hurry up.

"im trusting my instincts next time," maddy informed, interlacing their hands once more.

"where were you?" goyle asked the girl after they had helped her get onto the boat.

"i was sitting with the golden trio."

"did pottah actually faint?" draco asked, sounding a bit worried.

"i don't know. i fell asleep and when hermione woke me up to change, i was dragged into a compartment by ginny. some of these younger kids are annoying-"

"okay, we get it, you speak now," draco teased, receiving a slight shove from the rambling girl.

the four spent the rest of the short boat ride catching up, talking about their summer.

they kept their conversation until hagrid walked up to them.

"snape would like to see ya before the feast."

"what'd you do now?" crabbe and goyle asked at the same time.

"shoo," the giant didn't let her answer, pushing her towards snape's classroom.

on her way there, she saw mcgonagall talking to harry and hermione.

she'll just ask them later.

"you wanted to see me?" maddy called out, lightly knocking on his classroom door.

"ah, yes. dumbledore would have been the one to inform you of this but he had to be there for the sorting."

"did i do something wrong?" she immediately asked. she was trying to be better this year, and if she was already in trouble, well then she wasn't off to a great start.

"no, ms taylor. far from it. the professors and i had a talk, and we came to the conclusion that you were put into my house because of your ancestor, salazar. we talked to the sorting hat," he raised an eyebrow at his own sentence. "it has seen your improvement and too believes you are in the wrong house. we came to the decision of which house to put you in because of many things. you are willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good, you helped hogwarts these past two years, and you are quite frankly, a very good student, which would be surprising for a slytherin."

if you are wondering why snape is nice to maddy, it's because of something that won't be revealed until later on.

secrets, yay!

also he actually enjoys her presence, which is why he's more than okay to help train her.

"what's that?" maddy pointed to a uniform.

"your new wardrobe. you can go change and then head to the great hall for the feast."

word count- 1206
date written- september 27, 2020

before you read the next chapter...what house do you think she got changed to?