If I Fall

"WATCH IT!"

Hermione was daydreaming about finally starting her N.E.W.T.S when she almost pushed her suitcase into a rather big middle aged man in the middle of Kings Cross Station.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," Hermione mumbled as she kept on walking past him.

"You alright Hermione?" Harry looked over at her as they made their way to the entrance to Platform 9 3/4.

"Yeah, yeah...I'm fine," In all honesty Hermione wasn't alright. She was thrilled to be going back to Hogwarts and even though everyone had decided it was the safest place for them to be for now, she had a feeling that things at Hogwarts would be very different this year.

"Are you nervous?" Asked Ron. Hermione was fleetingly confused until she saw his eyes flicker down to the new badge pinned to her robes.

"Yeah, I guess so," She was slightly nervous about being Head Girl, but she decided it was best to let the boys believe that was the cause of her worry. This wasn't the place to continue their discussion about Order's choice to send them back to school, and they already had too much to worry about with Dumbledore gone and only two horcruxes left to find.

They neared the entrance of the platform and she watched Harry and Ron run through. She glanced round nervously. She knew that nobody would see her run in, but every year she double checked that no-one was watching. Muggles missed so much, and Hermione sometimes wondered what her life would have been like if she wasn't a witch - the thought had been crossing her mind more and more over the summer. She knew she needed to go, the train would be leaving soon, and the boys probably wondered where she was, however Hermione had to take a few minutes to prepare herself.

Staring at the brick wall, she thought about the year ahead. This was the last time she would make this journey; she couldn't believe it was her final year. In a way she felt regret more than sadness. Her final year was going to be filled with danger and the Order and the war. She wouldn't admit it to Harry and Ron, but as much as she loved the thrill of adventure, she would have liked to have focused on her studies this year and to make sure she had a career waiting for her after Hogwarts.

With her grades Hermione could probably do anything, but she just didn't know what she wanted to do. She knew it seemed silly with everything that was going on that one of her main concerns was what job she wanted to do. It just seemed as though everyone around her had their whole life planned out - Harry would be an Auror, Ron would copy both his Father and Harry and work for the Ministry, Neville would be a Herbologist and Ginny still had another year at school. Where was her life headed? What if she didn't even survive the war? The uncertainty of everything was eating at her.

Bringing herself back to reality, Hermione looked up and realised that it was almost 11 o'clock - the train would be leaving any minute. She took a deep breath and ran through the wall...and straight into someone else.

"Ooof!" A flash of blonde hair, two trunks falling over and Hogwarts robes tangled together. Hermione fell straight onto her bum.

She hastily began picking herself up until she realised she was staring directly into a pair of fiery, silver eyes. For the briefest of moments they both just stared at one another, until Draco Malfoy gleefully began another year of insulting Hermione Granger.

"Watch where you're going, and keep your vile hands off my new robes, you dirty mudblood," He sneered. Hermione began collecting her dropped belongings, silently reprimanding herself for flinching at the final word.

"I was coming through the entrance Malfoy, I couldn't even see you!" She tried to reply, yet by the time she was finished he was already gone.

"Inconsiderate asshole" She quietly muttered to herself, as she picked up the last of her things - her cloak, a few books...and a her Head Girl badge. She pinned it back onto her robes, and glanced down to check she had everything.

Momentarily confused she stared at a small badge lying on the floor. Hadn't she just put her badge back on? Bewildered, she bent down and picked it up, turning it over in her hands. Hermione wasn't going mad though, for as she turned it over she realised that this badge was silver rather than gold, and instead of saying 'Head Girl' it said 'Head Boy'. Hermione stared at it for few moments, wondering who the owner was, until she remembered who she had just run into.

Malfoy.