A/N - This is my first HP fic and although I have a plot kind figured out, I'm not entirely sure how it will pan out or how to end this story. It will be multi chaptered so I can worry about that at a later date. So read and enjoy. Some of the characters in the books and the films that were killed off, will be making appearences here and they are very much alive.

I also want to thank all the people who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story before its republish. I admire your patience in me and your love is like ice cream on a hot summers day.

Chapter 1 - A Red Blur Hurtling It's Way To The Scottish Highlands.

It was Wednesday, September 1st and a refreshing change coming back to Hogwarts and knowing that danger wasn't lurking around every corner, or hidden in every nook and cranny. But for some they had decided to not come back and instead chose to pursue a career. Including Harry and Ron who had accepted offers of internships in the auror office at the Ministry.

For some it was their first time on the Hogwarts Express and for the rest it was just another journey to back to the historical castle they all knew as school and home for the majority of the year. As per their letter both heads were to carry on the tradition and spend the majority of the train ride in the heads compartment. Little did head girl, Hermione Granger know she would be sharing some of the nine hour journey with Draco Malfoy.

Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Seamus, Dean and Neville ambled onto the train with the luggage in tow and found an empty compartment. They quickly entered and took their seat. Hermione, sat by the window, just stared onto the platform, thinking about the events of the last twenty or so months. Malfoy letting the Death Eaters into the castle, the entire school year she spent running up and down the country with Harry and Ron looking for horcruxes, the battle at the school that lost a lot of her friends their lives. Absent-mindedly she twiddled the necklace her parents had bought for her before she wiped their memories and sent them to Australia for their safety, before she was brought out of her reverie by Ginny saying her name.

"Hermione, Hermione, HERMIONE!"

"What, oh yeah, we're there already, that was quick." Hermione piped up, looking out of the window for any sign of the famous castle.

"Ermmm Hermione we've not long left Kings Cross, but don't you need to be heading down to the heads compartment and meet the head boy."

"I guess you're right Gin, I'm so sorry I haven't said a word to you since we boarded the train, I was just thinking about everyone not coming back." She said as she ruffled through her bag, she found the shiny gold badge with the red 'H' in the middle and pinned it onto her jacket for safe keeping.

"I'll try and come back later on for the last bit of the ride, if not I'll just pop in when I can." She said with a smile she gathered her things and turned and walked out of the door, letting it slide shut behind her."

"I really worry about her lately, she doesn't seem the same. You know she broke it off with Ron not long after they got together." Ginny said to Neville and Luna who weren't listening, but were staring into each others eyes.

"I really wish Harry had decided to come back as well, or I wouldn't have to put up with another 8 1/2 hours of this," she grumbled to herself.

"You could always join our game of exploding snap," Dean said wiggling his eyebrows her way.

Hermione made her way through the now empty train corridors to the head of the magnificent train, where it housed the heads compartment. She had heard many rumours over the years about the heads part of the train, but after the shenanigans her, Ron and Harry got up to, the year she took out and the war, she never thought she would be allowed back to school much less being offered the role of head girl as well. She opened the door and found many of the rumours to be true. It was the width and possibly with a touch of magic, wider that then train, and about half a carriage in length. The Hogwarts crest was painted onto the ceiling with each of the four corners, the colours of each house. As she had a good look around, she found that the room was empty so she decided to take a seat to the right of the door. She plucked her current favourite book out of her bag and stared at the cover for a few seconds, before turning to the recently folded page to continue reading.

About fifteen pages in, she noticed that the door had slid open, but she didn't bother to lift her head to see who had invaded the the peace that she was secretly loving. She read another page, then wondered why her intruder hadn't bothered to say anything. She lifted her head and the first thing that caught her eye was the silver badge with the green 'H' pinned to the chest of what was obviously a Slytherin. She didn't even have to lift her head any further up to know that, that badge belonged to Draco Malfoy. Her stomach dropped but knew that Headmistress McGonagall must have her reasons for making Malfoy head boy.

"Umm hi Granger," he muttered to her.

Hermione noted the page number and closed her book. She lifted her head and studied his face for a few seconds and did well to hide the beaming smile that nearly plastered her face. To say he looked ill and sullen in his sixth year when he was under the control of Voldemort, he looked like he had just stepped out of a chippendales ad, she thought to herself. His face had filled out nicely, his skin was still pale but had a glow to it. Her eyes turned to his lips as they curled upwards into that cocky smirk that she hated that she had come to miss. She couldn't deny that he was attractive, even more so now the war had ended and he was free.

"Um Granger, do you want to stop staring at me before you fill the carriage with drool?" He started, making her jump.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Um you look good. How have you been? Do you know who any of the prefects are? Do we really have to have to share quarters? If so do we have separate bathrooms?" She garbled all at once, without pausing for breath.

"Thanks, not bad. Not a clue. Yes and I'm not sure" he replied smoothly.

"Are you always this flustered around guys or it just me?" He inquired smugly.

She blushed beetroot red but it soon vanished when the pair of them heard "DRAKEY" being shouted down the corridors by the pug faced Pansy Parkinson.

"I'm not here" as he dived behind the two benches in the middle of the room.

All too soon the door slide open and Pansy stuck her overly made up face into room.

"Oh mud-, errm Granger its you. Have you seen Draco, he said he would be back soon but he's been gone ages." She said with a slight agitation in her voice.

"Nopes, he should have been here ages ago and the prefects will be here soon as well, so if you see him, tell him he needs to be here." Hermione put smoothly and returned to her book, which was still in her hands.

She heard a 'urghhh' as the door slid shut, and she smirked to herself. Never did she ever think she would be lying to Pansy for the benefit of someone other than herself and her friends, much less someone who she had despised since she was eleven years old. There was a hesitation in the air for a few seconds then a muffled "has she gone yet" came from between the benches.

"Yes, she's gone and hopefully she won't be back either. How on earth have you put up with her all these years at school?"

"I think you mean since we were children. My mum and her mum Cassandra have been trying to marry us off since we were in nappies, but it will never happen. I want a wife who has her own career..." But he was cut off by Ginny and Luna walking in with their prefect badges pinned to their chest.

"Hi Hermione, Draco" Luna said airily."

"You kept that quiet, Ginny. How long have you known?"

"When we received our letters saying I could come back if I wanted to and if I should accept would I take one of the prefect roles. So it was a no brainer really. I got an offer to play for the Chudley Cannons and the Wiltshire Wasps but I told them both that I wanted to do my N.E.W.T.s first, they said they would get back to me then." Ginny said with a smile.

The rest of the compartment filled with the rest of the fifth, sixth and seventh year prefects. Draco and Hermione exchanged looks, as they hadn't prepared anything to say to their audience. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Hi. We haven't any sort of plan in place for the journey for you for patrolling the train. I know from previous year that every hour or so a few students would have a quick walk up and down the train, but after the events of the last few months and from what I've heard of last years train journey, I don't think anyone is up for any mischief. So just every couple of hours or so just have a glance in the the five or six compartments either side of the one you're in." She turned to face Draco. "Anything you would like to add?"

"Nope I think you covered everything, um just chill out for the rest of the journey and please know that this year is going to be much better than the others" he mumbled."

Thankfully for Draco the room quickly emptied, leaving him, Hermione and Ginny.

"I'll see you down at the compartment soon. I just want to have a proper heads chat with Malfoy, seeing as we didn't get one before you all came in."

"Alright, see you soon." Ginny emphasised the soon a little too much for Hermiones liking but she left it go as the door clicked closed.

"So you were saying" Hermione started.

As the train steamed past the Scottish border, Ginny got more and more exasperated at the fact that Hermione had still not returned and she had already done two 'patrols'. So she took it upon herself to go and seek out her best friend. Edging closer to the heads compartment, she heard a low throaty chuckle, so she crept up to the small window in the door. Looking in she saw Malfoy sat on the bench in the middle and Hermione sat on one of the benches to her right and they were both laughing. Relieved that Hermione was not in any trouble, she decided it was best not to bother them as they seemed to be getting on, she turned around and muttered to herself 'the times are a changing around here'.

As the sun began to set, and the lighting in the train became much darker Draco suggested that they should get changed into their robes as they were only about half an hour away from the castle.

As the trained slowed down into Hogsmeade station the two heads decided that Hermione would take care of getting the first years into the boats with Hagrid and Draco would get the rest of the school into the Threstral drawn carriages, and then they would take the last one up to the castle together.

Hermione cast a sonorous spell on herself and addressed the crowd.

"First years follow Hagrid towards the boats, you will make your forty minute trip to the castle with him." Hagrid waved to get their attention, not that he needed to of course being eleven feet four inches made you stand out from the crowd pretty easily.

"As for the rest of you follow Malfoy to the carriages, you will go in ascending order second years first and seventh and the returning eighth years will go last.


The Sorting Ceremony had just finished, slightly earlier than normal, as parents will still wary about sending their precious children to a former war zone, despite the fact that it looked like nothing had ever happened. Professor McGonagall started giving out the usual start of term notices, something usually done by the recently departed Albus Dumbledore.

"Please note that the forest is forbidden to ALL students, Professor Slughorn is staying with us to carry on teaching Potions, Professor Snape is staying in his post of Defence Against the Dark Arts and we would like to welcome Kingsley Shacklebolt as your new Transfiguration teacher and Charlie Weasley as your new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Also please note could all 7th year students stay behind after the feast as you will be updated on some important goings on for this up coming year. Prefects you should have had your new common room passwords mailed to you with your badges, lessons will start on Monday and you will get your timetables mailed to you over the next couple of days. As there is nothing else I need to tell you, let the feast begin."

Sounds of awe and excitement came from the new first years as the tables in the Great Hall became weighted with food.

"I kinda miss Ron trying to tell us something with a face full of food" Ginny said to the few around her.

"I can tell you I don't miss being sprayed with mashed potatoes every few seconds though" Seamus said making everyone around him laugh loudly.

After desert had been cleared away, the fifth year prefects stood at the head of their respective tables, ushering all the students to follow them to their common rooms, whilst the 6th and 7th years, remained in their seats.

"This year," McGonagall began, "we are starting a new class. It is called Life Lessons. It is just as important as all your other classes and is compulsory. Your teacher will be Professor Arista Bumble, but you won't get to meet her until Monday. In your first lesson you will all be paired off and then Professor Bumble will discuss with you all what will happen in this class.

Professor McGonagall then came forward to say.

"You all have tomorrow, Friday and the weekend away from lessons but please make sure you come down for breakfast tomorrow as your timetables with this added lesson will be available to you. Tonight you will be sleeping in your dormitories but I do not recommend unpacking as you will soon be moving into new quarters in your pairs.

"Goodnight, sleep well and I shall see you in the morning when you come to receive your timetables.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, before you leave I would like a word with you." She paused to let the others file out of the Great Hall before continuing. "I know this probably isn't what you want to hear but you have already been paired up for your Life Lessons class, you were sharing the heads dormitories anyway so there is no need to shift you about now. It is all about interhouse unity and moving forwards into better times after the war. Now I can't tell you anymore than what I already have, but please keep this under wraps and act naturally when you are told you are paired together."

"You have your own wing on the fourth floor to the east, the entrance is behind a portrait of the Mona Lisa next to the giant statue. You can create your own password. Goodnight you two I'm sure that you'll prove to be the example I think you will be."

As they made their way up to their dormitory, they got into a heated discussion about creating a password.

"I think it should be one of our pets' names." Hermione put forward.

"What's wrong with Orion as our password?" Draco whined.

"There's nothing personal about a constellation, well to me anyway. Everyone knows that Draco is one of the most famous constellations ever." Hermione quipped.

Then an idea popped into Dracos head, like a light bulb being switched on.

"What's your horoscope Hermione?" Draco asked her as she blushed at his use of her first name.

"Virgo" she replied with a small smile gracing her lips.

"Mines Gemini, why don't we combine them for Gemigo or Vermini?"

"Thats a really good idea, but I think we should go with Gemigo because Vermini sounds a little too much like vermin and all that reminds me of is Peter Pettigrew disguised as Rons rat Scabbers." She shivered at that thought.

They approached the portrait and gave their newly formed password. After climbing in through the hole behind the portrait, they ignored the vast common room and both headed for the stairs that would lead them to their bedrooms for the year. Hermiones was on the left with a plaque similar to her head girls badge, gold with red writing and Dracos to the right similar to his badge, silver with green writing. They both entered their rooms, an awkward silence hung in the air only interrupted by the doors shutting and the locks clicking.

A/N Thank you for you patience. I know that I started this story over two years ago now, and I have no excuses for not updating until now but I hope you enjoy the new first chapter.

I can't promise that every chapter will have titles like that but I'll try my best to give it a good go.

For anyone wondering what book Hermione is reading in the heads compartment, it's Matched by Ally Condie. If you haven't read it yet, you really should its really good. It's got nothing on our amazing J K Rowlings Harry Potter but its still really good.

Much love mwah x