ocean eyes (dramione)

Chapter 2

At Hogsmeade Station, Hagrid was waiting for the first-years. I felt a rush of gratitude towards him as he called my name over the crowd of students marching towards the carriages along the platform, and smiled and waved up at him as me and Ginny passed.

"Oh, I can smell the Great Hall already," moaned Ginny hungrily, as her stomach gave a great rumble. I rolled my eyes.

"You're just as bad as Ron," I scoffed, and she laughed. Ron. After what Ginny had said on the train, I was wondering about our friendship. Did he consider me his girlfriend? Did I consider him my boyfriend?

No. I didn't. But what if he did? What if he was under the impression we were some sort of...couple? I shook my head. What did it matter? I liked Ron. He was funny, and kind, and brave, and smart. I looked over at Ginny and saw her gazing at me, her eyes shining.

"What?" I snapped, a little harsher than I'd expected. "What?" I repeated, my voice softer. Ginny smiled.

"You do like him," she said breathlessly.

"I do not," I corrected her sharply. "Just drop it, Gin! I'm still thinking about it, all right? Anyway, you can't talk, look at you and Harry!"

Ginny blushed, but she looked confident and proud as always. "At least I'm not hiding it like you!" She teased, punching my arm. "So what if I like Harry? So what if you like Ron? It doesn't matter, does it?"

"But you're sure, Gin," I reminded her. "You know you like Harry. I - I'm not sure about Ron."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ah, well. You'll come out with it eventually, I know you will." She winked at me annoyingly as she clambered into a carriage pulled by the thestrals that I could see now. The black, skeletal, horse-like creatures whinnied as we got into the carriage, and then began to pull us up the sloping hill towards the ever-familiar castle that I knew so well. It was the last time I'd be riding up to it, so I sat and watched the towers appear through the fog silently, taking every detail in.

We ran up the steps to the Great Hall with everybody else, chattering loudly and excitedly as the hall doors swung open and we were greeted by the familiar four house benches, the delicious platters of hot, steaming food and goblets of drink, and the shimmering floating candles. Me and Ginny exchanged smiles as we took our seats at the Gryffindor table, and talked with some familiar faces that had thankfully returned safely - Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Parvarti Patil, and Neville Longbottom.

"It's so good to be back," I told Ginny, tucking into steak and kidney pie under the light of the candles. Ginny nodded as she tore at her food hungrily. She swallowed and took a gulp of pumpkin juice.

"I know," she agreed, a huge grin on her face. She shook my arm excitedly. "McGonagall's going to talk about the head boy and girl, Hermione, I'm sure of it! We might find out who's head boy, maybe get you a potential boyfriend!"

I wrinkled my nose and almost hit her with my plate. "Don't be stupid, Ginny!" I half-yelped, causing Parvarti to look over at us curiously with the mention of boyfriends. "Anyway, we don't know who it is yet. It might be somebody horrible."

"You'll have to share a dormitory with them, too!" Sung Ginny, looking positively ecstatic. I rolled my eyes. I had a feeling that Ginny was much more excited about the head boy than I was. Secretly, however, I was rather excited. Who was it going to be? And Ginny's words were going around my head, too...'maybe get you a potential boyfriend'....

No. I was being silly. What did I want a boyfriend for anyway? I was letting Ginny and her constant fantasies about boys get into my head. I smiled to myself as our main courses disappeared and were replaced by chocolate puddings and ice creams. As I devoured my pudding, the thought of McGonagall announcing head boy and girl ran through my head, and suddenly I wasn't so hungry anymore.

After a few moments, the puddings disappeared and the golden plates were cleared and the goblets emptied. Professor McGonagall stood up to the front of the great hall holding a long roll of parchment, smiling down at us all. She looked the same as ever, and for a moment it was hard to believe I'd been gone.

She gave the usual welcome speech, announced Quidditch dates, times and fixtures, and then addressed Filch's usual annoyances about Fanged Frisbees in the corridors and Dungbombs in classrooms. 

Then she said, "And, of course, we have a new head girl and head boy selected for this year. They will look after you, keep your behaviour in check, and as always, if you have any questions about the running of the school, please come to them. Your head girl is Hermione Granger, of Gryffindor." There was loud applause, especially from Ginny and the other Gryffindors, and I blushed hard. My stomach did a flip as Professor McGonagall continued.

"And your head boy is...."