Chapter One

Hermione Granger was proud to say that she was an outstanding student; her OWL results had been exemplary and she was well known for being the first to raise her hand in each class. There had even been a rumour that at one point Professor McGonagall had given her a time turner to enable her to take even more subjects. Yes, it was safe to say that Hermione Granger was an exceptional student, but her academic achievements were only one side of her great accomplishments. She was also one third of the golden trio and had helped the great Harry Potter to defeat the Dark Lord on his return. She was a very skilled and talented witch for her age and was admired by many.

So when the 18 year old received her Hogwarts letter informing her that all students had the option to repeat the year if they wanted to, it came as no surprise to many that a shiny red badge had also been enclosed in the envelope. The whole student body of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had known ever since 1st year than this prestigious honour would eventually go to Miss Granger. What did surprise them however, was the new owner of the title of Head Boy.

Draco Malfoy was seen by most as a rude, insufferable know it all. Of course there was no doubting his intelligence, but as his family were loyal followers of Voldemort, his appointment to this position had come as a great shock to most of the wizarding community. Many wondered why the great Harry Potter had not been given the role, of course, Harry was perfectly happy with his job as Gryffindor quidditch captain. Others had their money on Ron Weasley, although not the brightest tool in the box, he had been a prefect and 1/3 of the golden trio. That would have been a combination to make the Gryffindor house proud - Head Boy, Head Girl and Quidditch captain. Most surprising of all however, was that this decision lay in the hands of the new Headmistress, Minevera McGonagall, former Gryffindor head of house. Upon receiving his letter, Draco himself had wondered the same thing as many - why had their new head not brought ultimate prestige on her house and appointed Potter or Weasley to the position instead. However, a small note attached to the parchment informing him to come to the heads office immediately upon arriving at Hogwarts would hopefully explain his surprise appointment to the role. Of course, he would first have to get though the prefects welcoming speeches and find out whom the head girl was; unfortunately he had no doubt in his mind that it would be Granger...

...

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione called, slipping into the carriage where her two best friends were currently lounging across the seats. "I've missed you guys so much!" The brunette quickly scanned the other occupants of the compartment and greeted Neville, Ginny and Luna as well.

"You too Hermione! We hardly saw you over the summer what with the trip to Australia. How are you parents?" Harry asked brightly.

The brunette slumped down into a seat next to Ron and smiled warmly at Harry.

"They are fine! They've settled right back into their normal lives, but they are still furious at me for not telling them that I was going to wipe their memories..."

Harry nodded understandingly and it suddenly dawned on Hermione how little she had seen of her friends over the holidays. What with all her travelling to find Mr and Mrs Granger and trying to recuperate after the war, Hermione had hardly seen them. The final battle had obviously had a huge effect on all of them, not just the brunette; however it had also pushed the group even closer together. The witch smiled fondly as she watched Ginny entwine her fingers with Harry's and leant her head onto his shoulder. Of course, they were not the only couple to finally realise their feelings for each other during that difficult time. It was then that Hermione noticed how quiet Ron had been since her arrival in the carriage. She had felt most guilty about neglecting this particular Weasley during the holidays. They had only just started their relationship when Hermione had to leave to track her parents down in Australia, and after a good few weeks of searching, she had only managed to return home in time to get ready for her return to school.

Hermione flashed a wide smile at Ron; however the red head seemed to have a lot on his mind and meekly turned up the corners of his mouth in response. The head girl felt it best to leave him to whatever he was trying to figure out and instead engaged in some much missed girl talk with Ginny.

...

Draco Malfoy found himself arriving at platform 9 3/4 alone for the first time since beginning his magical education. Mr and Mrs Malfoy had always been there to see him off and sneer at the muggle parents who had no idea how to reach the platform. This year however, was very different than usual. Lucius was locked way in Azkaban with the rest of the death eaters and Narcissa was currently residing in St Mungos. The death of her sister, the arrest of her husband and the fall of Voldemort had been altogether too much for the woman to take and she had eventually tried and failed to take her own life. Draco had called the hospital immediately and watched as his insane mother was dragged away for therapy and counselling. Of course, this would not be the only thing different about this academic year. Draco had spent most of his summer with The Order of the Phoenix trying to prove his new alliance to the light. Although he would never admit it, the war had been a terrifying time for the youngest Malfoy and he had ultimately realised that the ideas that had been taught to him from a young age might not be right after all. However, that still did not explain the reasoning behind the shiny badge that was pinned to his muggle jacket. Yes he no longer supported Voldemort and had been helping the order to round up death eaters all summer, but he still didn't feel that this was enough to warrant his appointment to Head Boy. Draco had actually considered handing the badge back, however his Malfoy pride had swiftly stopped him from doing anything so drastic. Besides, he couldn't think of a better way to wind up Granger. The trio had been informed that Draco was reformed and had been working for the light side, however, both parties knew that the teasing towards the Gryffindor's wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

Stepping onto the train, it suddenly dawned on Draco that he hadn't checked to see how many, if any, Slytherin's were returning to Hogwarts. He knew that most of his house wouldn't be attending, but he still hadn't checked to see if any of his old friends would be. Stowing his trunk away, Draco set about finding his closest and most trustworthy friend - Blaise Zabini. Although the Slytherin had appeared to be a loyal follower of Voldemort, it had turned out that Zabini's widowed mother was only a death eater as she was too afraid to change sides. Now that Draco came to think about it, he had never heard his friend use the word 'mudblood' or talk of blood purity any time that he wasn't around other supporters of Voldemort. Of course, he had engaged in the constant teasing of the other houses, but never anything past that. Despite this, Draco had in fact been as shocked as most to find out that Mrs Zabini had only joined the dark side as she feared that Blaise would be killed if she refused.

Carrying on down the passageway, Draco soon spotted his best friend alone in a carriage and slipped inside to join him.

"My, my, Malfoy, they let you come back?" his friend teased, moving up to let the blonde sit down.

"very funny Zabini, but not only that..." he smirked, flashing his badge at the Slytherin "they also gave me this."

Draco wished he had one of those muggle contraptions, what were they called...a camera... to document the look on his friends face.

"What!? They made you head boy!?" Blaise spluttered "or did you just steal it from Potter?"

Draco glared at his friend.

"If I'm honest, I was shocked as well, but McGonagall has asked me to visit her when we arrive so there must be a reason behind it."

This seemed to satisfy the Slytherin and the two boys immediately launched into conversation about Draco's main concern.

"So have you got any idea who's back?" the blonde asked.

"About 1/3 of the house up to 7th year, however there is only us in this new 8th year." Blaise answered, opening the most recent addition of the prophet.

"Seriously? Only us?"

Blaise nodded in response and Draco slumped back into his chair. He had known that hardly any Slytherin's in his year would be returning, but he had hoped at least a few more would be.

"What about pansy?

"I'm not sure, I haven't had any contact with her all summer but after she suggested we practically throw Potter to the death eaters to save our own skin, I doubt it."

Draco could only mumble an agreement to this. Although Pansy had been a loyal supporter of the Dark Lord, she had also been a reliable friend at one point. Checking his watch, he realised that the prefects meeting would be starting soon.

"Well, I'll see you later Zabini, I've got a meeting to run." He winked, before leaving the carriage.

...

Hermione was the first to arrive in the prefect's carriage. It wasn't that she wanted to be there before everyone else, it was just that the strange tension between her and the youngest Weasley brother was starting to become altogether too much to bear and she had told her friends that she would leave them early to attend to some 'head girl' business. Slumping down into an empty seat, the brunette sighed heavily to herself. She knew that the war had taken a huge toll on all of them, Ron especially what with the death of Fred, but his distant attitude was starting to put a huge strain on their relationship. She knew that not being around during the holidays couldn't have helped, but she had at least tried to make the effort to keep in touch. Harry and the others had always responded frequently and enthusiastically to her letters, but Ron had kept his replies short and would only take the time to write every few weeks. Maybe he was unhappy in their relationship? Hermione bit her lip. Maybe it would be better if she just broke it off...

"Stop it Hermione!" The Gryffindor whispered to herself, "Ron needs you right now, he's vulnerable, you shouldn't be thinking like this!"

"Talking to ourselves again now, are we Granger?" A voice spoke from behind her. The brunette rolled her eyes; she knew who that familiar drawl belonged to.

"Malfoy..." she hissed, standing up to face the ferret "well I guess I was wrong then, I didn't actually think the order were actually stupid enough to let you help them."

"What's this? The great Hermione Granger was wrong about something? Oh but that's not all..." he smirked, flashing his badge in the same way he had done to Blaise. "I guess we will be working together a lot this year."

Hermione Granger had always thought of Professor McGonagall as a very wise woman, so why on earth had she given Draco bloody Malfoy the job of Head Boy?

"You look shocked Granger, has that mangy cat if yours got your tongue?" the blonde teased, slipping into the seat opposite the brunette.

"Oh shut up Malfoy." She snapped, also taking a seat and pulling out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "If this isn't some sort of sick joke then you will need to read this, it's the itinerary for today's meeting, and I've already drawn up the patrolling rota, the prefects just have to sign their name next to the time and day when they want to do their duties."

The blonde quickly scanned the sheet, before passing it back to the head girl. "But more importantly, when do I get to spend some quality time with you?" he teased, leaning across the table.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "We both have to patrol on Saturday nights together as we are obviously the most responsible and because curfew is later that night."

Draco rolled his eyes. Typical, he had to work with Granger and had now landed himself with the worst duty, what else could go wrong?

"Right, well here is the list of things I want you to address in this meeting, so hurry up and read it, the prefects are arriving."

Oh yes, if he was going to be stuck with this bossy brunette all year, things were definitely going to get worse.