Chapter one.

I woke up this morning with a feeling that something was going to change, big time. And every time I got these feelings I was always right, but right now I was feeling a little worried about what was going to happen today. After showering and brushing my teeth, I grabbed my wand and use a glamour spell to turn my hair into messy 'sex hair' look that would've taken hours of blow drying and straightening to achieve.

I looked at myself in my full length mirror and had to admit I'd come a long way since my first year at Hogwarts. My chest filled out more to accompany the slim curves I had from jogging every morning this summer, my frizzy hair was- well, not frizzy anymore, and my attitude changed along with it. My frame was still a small one, 5' 3", but I was no longer the little book-worm I was known for. And soon I'll show everyone that, I thought as I pulled out a loose v-neck top, my dark, denim jeans and a pair of black heels, (magically charmed to keep my feet from hurting,) from my luggage to change into on the train and packed the rest of my luggage and shrunk it to pocket size via wand. Currently wearing faded blue jeans, flats, and a black t, I walked out of the room I spent the last 17 years in.

I was leaving for my last year at Hogwarts, and though I was excited for it, my scars were far from healed. The war left me in ruins as it did with many others. The only one seeming to be able to cope perfectly fine was Harry. Over the summer he was in denial, he acted as though the war never happened but the evidence was almost overwhelming. The physical scars on all our bodies were evidence, the emotional scars, the graves, all evidence of a world successfully shattered, but he denied it all, and it seemed to be an effective way to cope.

As I sat in the backseat of my father's car on my way to the train, ignoring his useless chatter, I thought about the badge in my front left pocket carrying the weight of the responsibility I now withheld. I was made head girl along with someone I would meet with in our private compartment on the train, and I had no doubt who'd it be considering the only person with grades as good as mine have been was none other than Malfoy, who I hadn't seen since the war. I wonder what it did to him, I thought as I said goodbye to my father and made my way to the throng of red heads just outside platform 9 3/4.

"HARRY! RON!" I shouted, grabbing their attention. By the looks of it, it seemed like they'd never seen me before.

"Herms, you look amazing!" Ron said, a blush creeping up in his cheeks, Harry nodding with agreement. No doubt Ron had always had feelings for me and he made that perfectly evident in fourth year at the Yule Ball. At some point I did have feelings for him as well but his jealously was something I didn't want to deal with and two years ago he seemed perfectly content with snogging a certain Lavender Brown every day in the halls.

"Ron, you know I hate that nickname," I said, directing the conversation to Harry, "how have you been, love?" Harry and I were close friends, best friends in fact, and though I'd never seen him as more than a friend, his dashing looks were hard to ignore.

"I've been good Hermione," he said as we made our way to an empty compartment across from Luna's who was in a deep conversation with Neville and Ginny. One hand through his messy black hair and a stolen glance at Ginny didn't make its way passed me or Ron and the blush on Harry's cheeks told us he saw he had been caught.

Ron tossed his head to the side getting his long red hair out of his eyes, hair that desperately needed a cut, and sighed deeply.

"Harry, man, if you like her just ask her out," he said, though it came out more as 'hammy an ike sk er tt' due to the abundance of food he'd managed to shove in his mouth. With a look of disgust I took my place across from him and looked at my watch. 10 more minutes until my meeting with McGonagall…

"I know, I know." Harry said, effectively ending the conversation. They both did that often, ending conversations that were steering towards deep topics. Boys and their emotions, I thought.

"How have you been Hermione?" knowing he didn't want to hear how I'd really been doing I gave them my head girl news.

"That's great, Herms!" Ron said, successfully ignoring my earlier comment stating that I hated that name. Harry congratulated me as well though it was obvious his mind was elsewhere, perhaps in a compartment very close to us…

Soon enough I couldn't take Ron's annoying chewing sounds anymore, where he even GOT all that food was a mystery to me. The trolley hadn't even done one round and he already had a good three bags of chocolate frogs and three butter beers safely in his stomach.

I got up, told the boys I'd see them at the feast and went to my compartment, throwing my school robes and the rest of my clothing over my arm in preparation to change as I went.

I made my way to where the headmistress wanted to meet me. As I gripped the handle of compartment 14, the door suddenly whipped open forcing me to stumble and land on top of someone already inside, pinning them to the floor as well as acquiring some new bruises.

"Hello, Granger, falling for me already?"

"Fuck-" I whispered.

"Such profanity, Granger. Did you learn that word from one of your books?" He said with a sneer on his face, though the cruelty somehow didn't reach his eyes, his sneer faltered and he knew I caught it. From what I could see- and feel, as I was on top of him I couldn't help but admit that he'd definitely changed over the summer. His broad shoulders filled out more, and his boyish features in his face now had a manly distinction in them. As I lifted myself off of his torso I felt his chest muscles under my hands and was impressed by what Quidditch had done to his body. I wiped the dirt off my jeans and picked up my fallen clothing.

"Get out, I need to change. I would have asked you nicely but your comment pissed me off. Leave." I said, dismissively, not truly caring if he left or not. I began taking off my clothing as I heard his footsteps indicate that he had left the room.

As I pulled on my v-neck I heard the door reopen.

"Gra-" Malfoy cut off.

"What." I snapped, pulling my shirt down and turning around to look at him.

His look had changed just as much as mine had. His hair was no longer greased back but messy and it looked good on him. His eyes were a deep grey with hints of vibrant blue around the edges but that wasn't was kept me staring, it was his expression as he took in my more mature look. He had quickly regained his postured and attitude from when he faltered but this was different. His nasty exterior lessoned, if only a bit, as I realized he saw the scar that ran down the length of my back diagonally. He twitched as if wanted to see it closer but I pulled on my robes before he could do anything. Then he slowly lifted his hand and rubbed his left shoulder. His eyes snapped up back to mine and his face suddenly lost the tender emotion he had and his features turned hard once again.

"What?" I repeated, sitting down across from him and stretching out my legs across the seats, giving him a view, noticing he did not fail to take in my chest as well as my scar. "Like what you see, Malfoy?"

"Haha, you wish, Granger. Though I couldn't help but notice how you seemed to admire my gorgeous body." I scoffed, not bothering to give him a response.

McGonagall walked in that moment, giving us two books and informed us on what we already knew. We were to share a dormitory, act civil toward one another...blah blah blah. Typical protocol as usual. She hurried out mumbling something about meddling second years and fire whiskey. I opened the book to read, though everything was information I'd read ahead of time, and intended to wait out the rest of the train ride to my second home.

Where did she get that scar? I thought as I inconspicuously watched Granger from where I sat. I sat for a good two hours contemplating what had happened to her. Was it the war? Did another person do this to her? The sudden anger that flared up in me was astonishing; an overwhelming hatred for anyone who'd done that to her filled me up. I didn't understand this feeling; I shook my head as if to rid myself of these ludicrous thoughts, deciding to focus on her looks. Her hair was in curls, having lost its frizziness many years ago, her chest, no doubt, was slightly bigger and her body was slimmer. She was no longer the book worm I'd thought her to be; she was an elegant woman now. She wasn't the person I thought of as part of the famous golden trio, book worm, kiss ass extraordinaire. She was now someone I intended to figure out. I ran a hand through my tangled hair and rubbed my shoulder again; subconsciously aware that my scar was there as well.

The war left remnants of its effects on me in ways I didn't want to admit. I lifted the sleeves of my white button up shirt absent mindedly and heard the sharp intake of breath across from me. I looked up to see Hermione looking at my left arm with a look of absolute curiosity etched on her face.

"What-?"

"I don't have it Hermione…" I said hesitantly, testing out her reaction to the use of her first name. I wanted to show her I wasn't such a bad guy anymore, though old habits do die hard. I wanted to tell her everything right then and there, everything I had to go through to protect the people I loved. I wanted to trust her with everything I had never told another soul. I think, for a moment, she saw it too.

The train had stopped then and Hermione made her way off almost too quickly, but I took my time. I made my way to Blaise with my head swirling with thoughts of Hermione and her reaction to her realization that I wasn't who she thought I was. I successfully averted annoying as fuck, Pansy, and Blaise and I made our way to the feast content to be together in silence.

Blaise was my closest friend, and though I didn't trust anyone, he was someone who knew some, if very few, of my minor secrets. I loosened my stupid green and silver tie and took my seat, noticing a certain brown haired girl was nowhere to be seen.