CHAPTER ONE
Hermione Granger felt nostalgic and sentimental as she sat on a bench at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. She was reading the second edition of Hogwarts: A History which covered not only everything from the first edition, but also all of the events since she'd started there with Harry and Ron.
But she was having trouble paying attention to the book; all she could see where the children hugging their parents goodbye and bursting in through the walls of the Muggle train station. She closed her book, and sighed.
I should probably go get on the train and find Ginny and Luna and anyone else who's come back. She stood up, stuffed her book into her purse. She then started to push her cart toward the train, lugging one clunky suitcase that wouldn't fit behind her. Somehow, her foot got caught in the cart's wheels and she accidentally kicked the suitcase on her way down. It went spiraling over her and she cringed. It was rushing straight toward her head.
A hand seemed to pop out of nowhere and catch the suitcase. Hermione looked up toward her savior, mouth slightly open.
"You should really be more careful," Draco Malfoy said.
Blushing furiously, Hermione pushed herself up. "I'll take my suitcase back, thank you very much." She snatched it, and busied herself setting it back down on the ground. When she came back up, Draco Malfoy was staring at her, head tilted slightly.
"Um," she said. "Hi?"
"Hi. Your hair doesn't look like a broomstick anymore."
"Um..." This was probably the most awkward conversation of her life. "Was that a compliment?"
"I think so." He circled around her (Hermione was reminded of a snake of prowling predator) and took control of her luggage cart. "Allow me."
"No thanks, I'm good." But Draco started pushing the cart towards the train, whistling a cheery tune.
"Wait up!" Hermione called, and chased after him, because there was no way she would let him leave with her bags. "Don't you have any stuff to push?"
"Nope. My mother's the type who over prepares."
"Er... okay. What does that mean?"
"She sent it all to the castle ahead of time."
"Okay." Hermione pulled her suitcase up onto the train. "Just so you know, I really don't trust you with my bags."
"Yeah, I figured." Draco lifted the bags out of the cart and made them float up after Hermione. "I'll just leave the cart here."
"Well, um, thank you for your help, it was... random... seeing you, but I really must be going." Hermione used her own wand to make the bags float. She turned to walk away, but glanced back to see Malfoy following her.
"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" she snapped.
Malfoy looked almost hurt for a moment, and Hermione felt a guilty for a second, and then they both recovered.
"As a matter of fact, I don't."
"I guess it's my lucky day," Hermione said sarcastically.
"Or mine," Malfoy flashed her a remarkably charming grin.
Hermione had no idea how to reply, so she just kept pulling her suitcase. Of course she had to trip again, and this time backwards. And of course Malfoy had to catch her.
"You really could kill yourself just by walking down a sidewalk," he said without righting her. Hermione turned red again, too embarrassed to move. And Malfoy just kept smiling at her.
"No, Trevor!" She jerked away at the familiar voice. If it weren't humiliating enough that Malfoy had kept her from falling, it would be if one of her friends caught her in his arms.
A toad hopped by, and Malfoy bent down to pick it up. "I think this is the first time I've actually seen this notorious toad," he said with a perplexed frown.
Neville rounded the corner, looking out of breath. "Trevor, come ba- Oh, hi Hermione." His eyes darted over to Malfoy, then back to her, and he took a step backward. Hermione felt a twinge of relief that she and Malfoy wouldn't be the only people repeating their seventh year of Hogwarts. "Hello, Neville. How was your summer?"
"Pretty good. I have some more wrappers for my wall. Yours?"
Hermione realized that Neville must actually put the wrappers his mum gave him on his walls. "Lousy," she said with a snort, thinking about some of the tough things she'd dealt with- most specifically Ron. But she didn't want to talk about that in front of Malfoy. Neville reached forward, grabbed Hermione by the wrist, and yanked her over.
"Keep calm," he whispered. "He can smell fear."
This seemed to amuse Malfoy. "I have your toad," he said, sticking out his hand, which housed a furious looking Trevor.
"Oh. Er. Thanks." Neville took Trevor, who croaked reproachfully as he was stuffed into a pocket of his owner's coat.
"Out of curiosity," Malfoy said with another head-tilt. "How is that toad even still alive?"
"What?" Neville looked surprised and a bit scared.
"I mean, he was practically poisoned once, but Hermione saved him-"
Hermione started. He'd called her by her first name.
"- and he always runs away, and I'm pretty sure Crabbe tried to squash him a few times, and he was here during the whole siege thing, plus toads all have random lifespans... and how come he never ran into the basilisk during our second year?" Draco (if he would call her by her first name, Hermione was determined to call him by his) was now staring intently at the pocket where Trevor was trapped. "Is he an Animagnus?"
Neville's jaw dropped, almost like he'd just realized he was there, and not just because of his sudden rant. "I, er, really don't think... I'm leaving now. To Ginny and Luna's apartment. Coming, Hermione?"
Hermione followed him, and Malfoy- Draco- trailed after her. She was put in mind of a lost puppy.
"You really don't have to come, Mal- Draco." she told him. He smiled slightly when she said his first name.
"Ah, but you need masculine protection to save you from the perils of your suitcases."
Neville coughed loudly, not sure if this was a joke and or if Draco was serious.
"Of course," Hermione nodded. "Silly me. I'm in danger, aren't I?"
"Constantly." Neville's coughing now sounded like choking. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, fine." Neville said. "I'm allergic... er... to... er... luggage."
It as Draco's turn to cough, but Hermione didn't disguise her small giggle.
"Um, here's our compartment," Neville shrugged, but looked very pointedly at Draco. Hermione followed him in, and of course Draco followed her. Ginny was sitting next to Luna on one side and Cormac McLaggen on the other. Beside Luna was a boy she'd never seen before.
"Hey, Mione." Ginny said without looking up from her copy of Witch Weekly.
"Hello, Draco." Luna said a bit dreamily from behind the Quibbler. Ginny snapped straight forward, eyes reflecting surprise and fury.
"What is he doing here?" she demanded.
"He followed me." Hermione said.
"Is he spying on us or something?"
"I'm right here, you know." Draco finished putting Hermione's luggage onto one of the racks and sat down. He appeared not to have any issues with reaching into Hermione's bigger-than-it-looked purse, taking out a book, and reading it.
"Isn't he a Death Eater?" Cormac narrowed his eyes. Draco twitched, but kept reading. "Well? Aren't you?"
Draco didn't reply.
"Show me your arm!"
"I really don't think that's necessary," Neville said shakily.
Cormac harrumphed, and settled back into his seat, wearing a scowl identical to Ginny's.
"So, um... how's life?" Hermione asked.
"Okay." Ginny said without looking at her. Draco turned the page of his book.
"I just learned the Godric Gryffindor had a mustache," he said to no one in particular.
"Yes," Luna said. "But he shaved it after he was attacked by Blast Ended Screwts."
"You mean Hagrid didn't breed those illegally?" Draco furrowed his brow.
"Well, he did, but he was assaulted by something remarkably like one. Some say Hagrid was directed to breed them by goblins."
"What would goblins do with Screwts?" Neville asked, eyes wide.
Draco looked deep in thought, as if this was the most important question in the world. "They could guard vaults pretty well." He glanced toward Hermione and gave her a small smirk. "You know, since the dragon escaped."
Hermione stuck her tongue out at him, then grabbed her purse and started rifling around for Hogwarts: A History, the second edition. To her horror, she tilted her head to see that that was the book Draco was reading.
She really hoped he didn't read the part about how Albus Dumbledore died, or Snape for that matter.
And she really, really hoped he didn't read the part about Voldemort's time at Hogwarts.
And she really, really, really, really hoped he didn't read all about how Harry Potter had gone to Hogwarts and saved the world.
But Draco was patiently reading the book, looking fascinated. Hermione sighed and found a new book. Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling. She started reading, and handed Neville a book about Herbology.
Not long after, the compartment door slid open. A shy looking first year with pale skin and floppy brown hair, and shadows under his eyes, peeped in.
"Er..." he said. "Erm... I was wondering... if someone could tell me... what to do with my, erm... ticket?" He held up a shiny ticket to the Hogwarts express. Hermione put down her book.
"I would keep it, if I were you." she pushed some hair out of her eyes. "No one really collects them."
"Oh..." The boy squinted at her, then lit up with recognition. "You're Hermione Granger! I thought you graduated! Is... is Harry Potter here too?" Now he was positively bouncing. "Can I get his autograph?"
Draco put down his book for a moment, looked quizzically at the first year, and then started laughing. Ginny cast him a dirty look.
"No, Harry's not here." Luna said. "He's training to be an Auror in Russia." Draco seemed to think this was the funniest thing in the world.
The little boy looked disappointed. then he pointed to Draco. "Um... who is he, and what's so funny?"
"Nothing," Cormac snarled, and joined Ginny in glowering at Draco.
"Yup... yup... nothing." Draco wiped a few tears out of his eyes and hid his eyes behind Hermione's book, still beaming. "And of course she didn't graduate," he added on. "She wasn't even here for her seventh year."
The first year nodded, then closed the door and slunk away.
"I don't get it," the boy by Luna said. "What was so funny?"
Draco was now humming a song Hermione didn't know, and once again not paying any attention to them.
"I'm sorry," Hermione turned toward the boy she didn't recognize. "I don't think I caught your name."
"I'm Rolf Scamander." he said with a nod. "Hufflepuff."
"Pleasure to meet you." Hermione smiled at him, then went back to Magical Theory.
"Dearies, would you like something from the cart?" Hermione looked up to see that it was now three o' clock, and the trolley-pushing witch was standing in the doorframe, glancing around.
Hermione shook her head, and buried herself in Magical Theory. Her stomach growled loudly, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. She had no money on her.
Draco stood up, spoke with the witch for a few minutes, and came back carrying quite a lot of food. He dumped the majority of it on her lap. She stared up at him, openmouthed.
"You are very clearly starving," he shrugged, and plucked Magical Theory from her hands. "Eat."
"Uh... thank... you?"
He shrugged again and sat back down, reading more of Hermione's book. Hermione unwrapped a Chocolate Frog and gulped.
It was a picture of Voldemort. He sneered up at her. Hermione did not want this card. "Take a card!" she threw it to Luna. It bounced off of her head, and she picked it up before anyone could see it and tucked it away.
Hermione didn't want to be full before the fantastic Hogwarts feast, but was starving, so she ate her way through the pile of food Draco (of all people!) had bought for her.
He probably poisoned it, she realized. I'm going to die in a few minutes. She shrugged and opened another box of Every Flavored Beans and popped one into her mouth. She kept glancing over at Draco, and she felt a bit strange inside when she went to change her robes.