"Are you all right?"
Harry watched as an annoyed, disguised Hermione Granger walked inside the room. She had sent him a distressed letter, asking him to meet her in the Room of Requirement. And though, tired on the first day of school, Harry had dragged his exhausted body inside their meeting room, ready for any complaints from his best friend.
"All right?" Hermione's almost hysterical reply, plopping down beside the comfortable couch Harry had conjured. "Do you think I look all right?"
Her hair, which Harry fixed before she was introduced as Hermes Austen, was disheveled. Her eyes were big and almost bulging and her teeth were worrying her bottom lip.
"Hermione?" was his worried question as the brunette completely looked at him.
"Oh Merlin, Harry!" she cried. "Hide me instead. I'd rather be accompanying dolphins and birds instead of that... that..."
"Calm down, yes that's a good girl." He tried to suppress a humored smile. "Breathe, Hermione. Calm down. Very good."
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, glaring at her best friend. Harry released a laugh and patted her head.
"Relax," he said. "Tell me what exactly happened."
Hermione's eyes showed horror. "Well, I was sorted in Slytherin, right?" she said. "I accomplished only the first part of my plan. And so, I was in my new room, waiting to meet my three new roommates." She took a deep breath and turned serious. "You know Theodore Nott?"
"Yeah," Harry said, knitting his eyebrows in deep thought. "The black-haired, blue-eyed bastard? The one who always insulted us whenever we are near him or something? Is he making your life miserable already?"
She shook her head, disagreeing. "Barely," she said, allowing herself to smile a little while thinking of the Slytherin. "He was... okay, I guess. Adorable, even. He acts like he's my best friend ever since he laid eyes on me. Do you know that he insisted on throwing a party for me?"
Harry only answered with a surprised look on his face.
"And then, Blaise Zabini, you remember him?"
"Tall, dark, and jerk? The Italian, right?"
Hermione once again nodded, absentmindedly running a hand through her short hair, ruffling it more. "Yes and I think he is okay too. He was polite all the time. Eh, he barely insulted us before, you know. He just stands and watches as the others do that for him."
"Okay, so your two roommates were tolerable," Harry said. "So, what's the problem?"
"Malfoy's my roommate," she said, scowling at every word.
"What?" came Harry's indignant cry.
"Exactly," Hermione said, looking hysterical once more. "I cannot live with that... that..."
"Ferret," Harry helped.
"Yes, that ferret for the rest of the school-year," she said. "I had to deal with Voldemort, for goodness' sake! I don't want to deal with Malfoy, too."
Harry was silent for a while. She expected him to agree with her but the next words he uttered shocked her to no end. "This might sound very impossible to you, Hermione, but I think the arrangement is bloody brilliant," he exclaimed, his face scrunched up as if he smelled something foul.
"Brilliant? What's so brilliant with living with Draco Malfoy? Harry, we are talking about Draco Malfoy, remember?"
"Hear me out before jumping into conclusions," he grumbled, looking at her pointedly. "Hermione, did you forget what Dumbledore told us last summer? Malfoy's a Death Eater."
"What's so good about that?" Hermione asked, frowning. She did remember Dumbledore telling them this revelation. And truthfully, she was not surprised at all. Having Lucius Malfoy as his father already sealed his fate - to be a Death Eater and served Voldemort for a lifetime.
"Hermione, Malfoy's on our side," Harry expanded. "He'sa spy for the Order. And I know it's close to impossible. But Dumbledore trusted him. He can help you, you know."
Hermione made a face. Asking help from Draco Malfoy was like asking help from an Acromantula. But as she thought about Harry's words, she begrudgingly agreed. Harry was right. If she wanted to be a Death Eater, she could somehow ask help from Malfoy. Especially with him being a spy fro the Order of the Phoenix.
"You know, I always feel accomplished every time I say the right things to the one and only Hermione Granger," Harry butted in, a cheeky grin visible on his face.
"Oh honestly," she said with an annoyed voice, though, she couldn't help but show a smile. Harry always had the ability to comfort her, even in her most frenzied moments.
It was enough to thank Merlin she had a friend like Harry Potter.
