Quite a Pair

Chapter 1

** For this story, Voldemort was defeated during second year, with the destruction of Tom Riddles Diary. Regulus Black was successful in his quest to find and destroy the other Horcruxes. Dobby was still freed from the Malfoys that year and has been working at Hogwarts ever since. Lucius was sentenced to 3 years in Azkaban and has since been released and is back running the family business. The Ministry Aurors went on a large Death Eater raid the 2 years before and ended up losing a great deal of them. Because of this, they opened up the option for 7th years to join the Auror Training program instead of doing their last year at Hogwarts. Harry and Ron were among those who decided to do it. The 4 houses at Hogwarts still had issues getting along, especially the Gryffindors and Slytherins, but it is nowhere near as bad. Of course, Draco, Harry and Ron have always hated each other, especially Ron and Draco.**

Hermione was rushing down the corridor to get to the Heads office. She was late for a meeting with Dumbledore because some 3rd years asked for help capturing their magical creatures monster book. It took longer than expected, due to the fact that said 3rd years had already angered the book into a frenzy by attempting to jinx it. Hermione rushed down another corridor before finally arriving at her office. 

"Im so sorry i'm late! I was helping some 3rd years with Hagrid's monster book. Honestly I don't know what he was thinking assigning that book to such a young age group!" 

Hermione hunched over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She could hear chuckling and raised her head to glare at the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy. Dumbledore was watching with a small smile and that usual twinkle in his eye. 

"Not to worry, Miss. Granger. Draco and I have just been discussing the upcoming quidditch match. Draco assures me that Slytherin is going to win the House Cup this year." 

"We will," Draco agrees with a nod. "Slytherin team is far better than the other houses. You'll see during the match next weekend." 

Hermione rolled her eyes. 

"You say that every year, Draco. Odd though, I can't remember Slytherin winning the House Cup once." Hermione replied with a smirk. Draco glared at her which caused her to laugh. She walked by him to sit at her desk and he moved to sit at his, facing her. He was still glaring, so she smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. He couldn't hide the small smile twitch on his lips as he shook his head at her. 

"So what did you need to talk to us about, Professor? Is there something wrong with the patrol schedule?" 

"No, Miss.Granger, nothing like that. I wanted to inform you both that we will be having guest here at Hogwarts over the course of next week." 

"Guest?" Draco asked, his eyebrow raised in question. 

"Yes. There will be a small group from the Auror Training Program that will be sitting in on a few advanced classes and doing some training in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. They will be arriving Sunday early afternoon and leave the following Sunday." 

Hermione could feel Draco's eyes on her but she ignored it. Instead she focused on Dumbledore, trying to ignore the spark of sadness she felt at the mention of the Aurors.

"How many? Do we need to do anything to prepare?" 

Dumbledore looked at her for a moment, seeming to be surprised that she wasn't excited about the idea, or asking if her friends were among the few coming. 

"It will be 4 young trainees and a supervisor. They will be staying in a tent down by Hagrid's hut. I was hoping they could have an escort, at least for the first 2 days, to make sure they found the classrooms. Any prefect is fine to do it, it doesn't need to be either of you. I brought a list of the classes they will be attending. The professors are already aware and will be expecting them. I would appreciate if you two would be available should they need any further assistance while here, but I don't expect any complications."