A/N This is my first fanfic! I'll welcome any reviews, but be nice please! Enjoy...
Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K Rowling's characters or ideas.
"No! This is NOT happening! I can't do it!" Hermione collapsed down into the chair in the corner of the kitchen.
"Of course you can, love. He's only a boy, you haven't got to know him properly yet, that's all," Mrs Granger tried to comfort her daughter. She was concentrating on watering the plants over the kitchen sink, but she looked over at Hermione. She bit her lip anxiously. She knew she was going to have difficulty making her feel better, but she wasn't going to give up yet.
"Mum! He's awful, and he's a Slytherin. How am I supposed to live with him? In the same dormitory! It's impossible, he'll do anything he can to get me into trouble, and get Head Girl taken away from me! That would absolutely make his life," Hermione said bitterly. After reading her letter from Hogwarts, she had been made Head Girl, which had excited her for half a second, until she read on and found out that the Head Boy was going to be none other than Draco Malfoy. Her mother had been trying to console her for almost an hour, and wasn't getting anywhere at all still.
"Look, Hermione. I can't make him not be Head Boy. But, please try and accept it. It will be fine, you'll see," Mrs Granger turned the tap on and washed her hands. Hermione sat up on her chair, brought her legs up and hid her face in her knees. Mrs Granger went to sit down beside her. She felt so bad that she couldn't help.
"Please, Hermione, give him a chance. I know you'll be fine," she sighed.
There was a small grunt from next to her. The corners of Mrs Granger's mouth twitched.
Hermione gave a little wave and turned her back on the window. She was going to have to find Draco; they had to give the prefects their instructions. She was not looking forward to this year, especially as she wouldn't even have Harry and Ron to cheer her up. She had thought about running away to try and find them, but she wasn't brave enough, and they could be anywhere in the world.
She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared about this journey. She had never travelled to Hogwarts with no friends to sit with. Even in her first year, she had befriended Neville and helped to look for his toad. Now all she had was Draco Malfoy. She slid the door open and slipped through it, almost knocking into Malfoy himself.
"Oh, look! I've been looking for you, you know, we have to go to the front of the train to get our instructions about instructing the prefects! If that makes sense..." Malfoy frowned as he said it.
Hermione didn't understand. Why was he speaking to her as if she were a normal person? She had never heard him speak to any Gryffindor like that before. However, she didn't have time to contemplate this mystery, as he was running down the aisle as fast as he could, as it was full of people, and he was beckoning for her to follow. She jogged after him, narrowly missing hitting the
trolley lady starting to travel up and down the train. When they both arrived at the front of the train, there was Professor McGonagall waiting for them. She gave both of them a pack of information, which apparently had everything they would need for the whole year. She told them that the instructions they needed were on the back of the pack she had given them. When she was sure they knew what they were doing, she left them to start reading.
"Oh, I'm rubbish at reading... I can't be bothered now," Malfoy moaned. Hermione could think of plenty of insults, but she really didn't want to annoy this new, civilised Malfoy, so she just stayed quiet. While she was reading her instructions, she didn't notice Malfoy gazing at her, but once she had finished, he was too slow to look away.
"What?" she asked, sounding more annoyed than she had intended.
"Nothing," he said quickly. He picked up his instruction pack and looked at the back. Neither of them spoke until Malfoy said, "Come on, let's go and see the prefects now. Then we can come back here and relax."
"Malfoy! We haven't done anything yet, you don't need to relax!" Hermione laughed. Malfoy rolled his eyes and smiled at her.
As they walked down the train corridor together, Hermione saw Ginny, Luna, and Neville sitting together in a compartment. She waved and smiled sadly, wishing more than anything that she could go and sit with them, and not have to worry about being Head Girl at all.
"...and this is where you will be staying for the whole year." Professor McGonagall said, with a small smile. She wished them good luck, and left the two of them to explore their new common room and dormitory. The Gryffindor common room was in the next tower, so they were very close. Their new common room was a small round room, with a fireplace and four armchairs sat round it. There was a notice board which was already covered with notices, and there was a staircase going upstairs opposite the entrance to the room.
Hermione watched as Malfoy collapsed into an armchair, and then she climbed the steps to look at her dormitory. When she reached the top of the staircase there were two doors, one saying Head Boy and the other Head Girl. She opened the door to her room. It was red, with a huge four poster bed against the wall opposite where she was standing. It had a lovely view of the front grounds of Hogwarts, and she could see Hagrid's hut if she stood to the right of the window.
At this moment Hermione couldn't believe that she had been worried at all about sharing a dormitory with Draco Malfoy. She wouldn't have to spend any time with him if she didn't want to- she still had her other friends. She walked back out of the door and saw that Malfoy was in his room. She looked round the door. His was exactly the same as hers, except that it was green instead of red. Malfoy was looking out of the window, and when he turned round he saw Hermione and beckoned her to come in.
"It's great, isn't it? I never knew that the Head Boy and Girl got all this! This year is going to be amazing..." Malfoy said brightly.
"Yeah, it's really good," Hermione said absentmindedly. She was thinking about Harry and Ron, and how much she missed them. She tried not to think about them, because it made her feel selfish.
They were going to save the whole wizarding world, and she wished that they weren't, just so she could see them.
"I'm going to bed now... Goodnight," Hermione said as she walked out of his room.
"Night, Hermione! See you in the morning," Malfoy called after her.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Hermione hardly saw Malfoy at all when they weren't in their common room. She saw him in the corridor once with Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle, but Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be not as friendly with Malfoy anymore. They always walked around on their own; Hermione often saw them near the lake together.
One evening, Malfoy told Hermione that there was a Hogsmeade trip on a week on Saturday.
"Do you want to come with me?" he had asked her.
"Er yeah, ok," she had replied, surprised.
On the morning of the trip, Hermione woke up quite early, got dressed and went down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast. It was quite empty; nobody liked waking up early on a Saturday, even if there was a trip to Hogsmeade. However, she spotted Neville sitting alone on the Gryffindor table and went to sit with him. He looked miserable.
"Are you ok, Neville?" Hermione asked kindly.
"Yeah, thanks Hermione. It's just ... Luna asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her," Neville said quietly.
"Um ... Neville? What's wrong with that? I thought you liked Luna?" Hermione said cautiously. She was sure she was missing something that Neville was trying to say.
"Well, yeah, it's good. But," Neville mumbled, "I like someone else."
"But who do you prefer? As more than a friend?"
"I think it might be the other person, but I don't know what to say to Luna," Neville bit his lip.
"Listen, Neville. She only asked you to go to Hogsmeade. She didn't say 'This is a date' or anything, did she?"
"No, I suppose not. Thanks, Hermione. Do you want to come with us?" Neville looked more cheerful, and helped himself to some toast.
"No thanks Neville. I'm going with Malfoy. Even though I'm not sure whether he really wants to go with me, or whether he just doesn't want to look like a loner!" Hermione smiled. Neville widened his eyes.
"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" he asked, frowning at Hermione. "Wasn't he really horrible to us?"
"Well, yeah he was, but I don't know now. He seems nice to me now. I might just go and see what happens," Hermione shrugged her shoulders.
Neville nodded. He lowered his voice, "Have you heard from Harry and Ron?"
"No, I haven't. They said they would try and get in contact, but I don't know how they would, now that I'm back at school. An owl would be too risky; it could be intercepted, or lost. But, they are Harry and Ron, they'll be fine, I don't think we need to worry, really," Hermione tried to sound cheerful.
Neville looked at the door; Hermione copied him and saw Draco Malfoy entering with Pansy Parkinson. Malfoy looked over at the Gryffindor table but did not show any sign of recognition towards Hermione. He sat down facing away from her, while Pansy was giggling and talking to him quietly. Hermione was annoyed. She had to go to Hogsmeade with him today, and he was pretending that she didn't exist. She left the Great Hall with Neville and went back up to her dormitory. She sat on the bed, facing the window. What if Draco brought Pansy with him? Would she have to put up with her, or could she give them the slip?
Hermione didn't know how long she had been sitting there when the door opened behind her. Malfoy tiptoed into the room and came and sat down beside her.
"It's not what you think," he said sincerely.
"What? What isn't what I think?" Hermione looked into his eyes.
"Me and Pansy. I finished with her ages ago, you know,"
"Why should I be bothered whether you're with Pansy?" Hermione said truthfully. He never said he wanted to go out with Hermione after all, he only asked to go to Hogsmeade together. Anyway, even if he did want to go out with her, she wasn't sure what she would think. Maybe she didn't like him in that way, but it was so difficult to work out what she felt anyway.
"I don't know... I'm just telling you, that's all,"
"Is she coming to Hogsmeade with you?" Hermione asked , worried about what the answer could be.
"No, she's got detention with McGonagall this morning," Hermione was relieved; she would have hated to be with Pansy. She was not even sure she wanted to be with Malfoy, but she had already said yes, and he was being nice to her now.
"Let's go down now, or we'll be late."