Hermione Granger stepped carefully onto one of the cars of the Hogwarts Express. Her long, dark curls, up in a high ponytail, swished back and forth as she walked down the halls of the long train with Harry and Ron in her wake.

The train this year seemed jam-packed, even with all missing students from last year's war. So far Hermione had only seen a couple of her returning 7th year classmates: Dean Thomas, Pavati and Padma Patil, Hannah Abbott and Seamus Finnigan.

She felt relieved that some of the students decided to return and redo their 7th year. After the war it seemed like not too many people felt that they should return to Hogwarts, that all their time should be spent to morn with their relatives and friends.

"We'll just have to sit in here." Hermione said to the two boys behind her.

She opened the nearly empty compartment door and stepped inside. Shock spurred within her as she looked at the white-blonde haired, boy fast asleep against the window, already dressed in his school robes. She placed her small bag on the shelf above her and sat down across from the boy. Harry and Ron followed her lead and sat down in the other unoccupied seats. Both boys' eyes kept sneaking peaks at the sleeping figure while Hermione read her book quietly.

"Why do you reckon he's back? Think McGonagall's finally lost her marbles?" Ron whispered in Harry's direction, but Harry just shrugged. Hermione looked up from Transfiguration: Year Seven and glared at Ron.

"The Headmistress has not lost her marbles, Ronald," Hermione proclaimed, "and it is none of your business as to why he is back." She averted her eyes back to the pages of her book, but her attention was still on the boys' conversation.

"I heard that his mum moved to Belgium after her hearing," Harry stated, as he risked a glance at the blonde. "Saying she needed time to gather her thoughts or something."

Ron snorted at Harry's comment and Hermione just switched her attention back to her book.

Hours later, when the train finally arrived in Hogsmeade station the trio grabbed their bags and started to head off the train. Hermione glanced back at the still sleeping figure. She sighed and walked over to him, reaching out to tap him on the shoulder, she quietly said,

"Malfoy...Malfoy." She heard a groan slip from his mouth, saw the slight flutter of
his blonde eyelashes and she was staring into Draco Malfoy's steely grey eyes. He
jumped back in surprise, but Hermione, still looking into his eyes, couldn't help
but notice that even though his actions expressed` what he was feeling, his eyes
were completely emotionless. Empty.

"I...I just wanted to say that we've arrived." She let out, feeling a bit flustered.
Malfoy just nodded once and she turned on her heel and walked out of the
compartment.

The great hall was filled with joy and excitement. Headmistress McGonagall sat in Dumbledore's old chair with a smile on her aging face. Hermione sat on the far end of the Gryffindor table, in-between Ginny and Neville. She saw that at the end of each table sat all the other returning 7th years.

"This year is going to be so different," she heard Neville say. "What, with no Voldemort to worry about anymore."

Hermione nodded slowly, but she felt no need to join into the conversation. She heard Ron chuckle,

"Yeah, plus we don't have to worry about the Slytherin's this year," he replied sounding smug. Hermione looked across the table at Ron. His mouth, now full of mashed potatoes. He has changed so much, she thought as she stared at her ex-boyfriend.

Something then caught her eye. A head of silvery blonde hair crouched over a large book. Draco Malfoy was sitting at the very deserted end of the Slytherin table. His face was covered by his thin bangs, and his long pale looking fingers held one page of the book. Down the rest of the table she saw Pansy, Blaise, and Theodore Nott shooting glares and insults in the blondes direction.

Hermione felt sympathy for the outcasted Slytherin but never the less, returned her eyes to her own dinner.

She couldn't sleep. Even as tired as she was, she just couldn't fall asleep. Hermione pulled back the covers of her four-poster bed and slid her legs over the edge of the mattress and into her fuzzy slippers. She stood up slowly and made way for the door trying to be as silent as possible, so as not to wake her roommates. She traipsed down the stairs and out through the portrait hole. She knew it was after hours, but she just needed something to do.

Letting her feet take her where they may, Hermione eventually ended up in the astronomy tower. She felt the cold night air against her bare skin, as she was only wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The cold, metal, railing surrounding the perimeter of the tower, sent a chill through Hermione as she leant into it. Her eyes scanned the surrounding grounds of Hogwarts. The glass like lake sparkled in the moonlight.

Hermione's eyes darted towards a lone figure standing by the bank of the lake. The silvery blonde hair, that looked as though it glowed in the darkness, was a dead giveaway as to who it was. She was curious though. Why was he out after hours? Surely he would rather want be inside sleeping.

Hermione shifted her position as a gust of wind sent shivers down her spine. She crossed her arms in an attempt to warm herself. It didn't work. So she decided it would be better if she went back to bed. She took one glance back out onto the grounds, but found there to be nobody there. He had left. She blinked several times, as she wound her way back to Gryffindor tower, wondering where Malfoy could have gone.