draco's p.o.v
I gazed out of the window at the silver crescent moon surrounded by a thousand crystal stars. Everything seemed so surreal in the shadows cast at night. In the dark, a lurking shadow could be anything, and something innocent and harmless like a small animal or a tree could look terribly menacing at first glance. Anything or anyone could be hidden or disguised by the dark to the point of being unrecognizable to any eye; I included. My thoughts may seem dismal and depressing to another, but to me they are nothing except cold, harsh reality. Years ago, I had to make a choice. However, it wasn't the right decision. Fearing rejection of any kind, I chose to cast away society before it could have a chance to turn me away. I chose to hide in the protection of the shadows so that no one could see me, the real me. They would only see the illusion created by the night. Now, I regret that I chose to follow in the steps of the darkness, not because it wasn't the prevailing side, but because of where it led me. On the outside, it seems my heart is empty and my soul devoid of feeling, and I now bitterly curse the name I was once so proud to uphold: Malfoy.
The sight of Hogwarts was a welcome one. Regardless of how I had been treated by my peers throughout the years, it still felt like a true home, unlike the Manor. I had just changed into my school robes on the train when a young Ravenclaw came up to my compartment.
"Yes?" I looked at her expectantly.
"They need you in the Heads' compartment immediately. You're to tend with the new prefects," she said haughtily. Someone definitely had an attitude, didn't they? Well, two could play at that game.
"Too bad I don't have enough time to deal with bratty little upstarts like you. Tell them I'll be there shortly." That took care of the smirk on her face. Yes, it was more than just harsh, but I couldn't care less if her feelings got injured. However, I really wanted to see who got Head Girl this year.
There hadn't been many candidates for the position in my opinion, except for one: Hermione Granger. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of sharing an entire wing of the castle with her for a whole school year. She was intelligent, funny, beautiful, and she had an air about her that suggested she could be a wild one when she wanted to be. She was completely out of my league for one very simple reason and one very un-doable reason. First, I am in Slytherin whereas she is in Gryffindor. Second, I have relentlessly tormented her and her two best friends from day one for no other reason than prejudice and spite. Therefore, how could she ever return any sort of affection for a pathetic bully like I had been? Had been. Since the end of the war, no…..more like since I had realized what being evil truly meant sometime in fifth or sixth year, I had begun to change. I saw things in a whole different perspective that made me change my mind about some very deeply rooted beliefs.
As I entered the compartment, I looked around to see who all was where. I was right, Hermione did get Head Girl. Just then, her honey colored eyes met mine with a piercing gaze that had me frozen where I stood. This was going to be a highly interesting year.
hermione's p.o.v.
It was going to be completely odd to go back to school as if nothing had ever happened, as if a number of my classmates weren't lying cold in their graves beside friends and family. But there was no way in Hades I was not going to complete my education. After all, who else would be Head Girl after such a tragedy linked with the last one? I'm not even going to begin to explain that one; there were just too many rumors to be able to sort out the fact from the fiction, but no matter what went down, it was still bloody awful.
I walked into the Heads' compartment on the last car of the train. We were about 30 minutes from Hogwarts, having just caught a glimpse of it as we rounded a bend in the river feeding into the Black Lake. I sat down waiting for the rest to arrive for the traditional 'get-to-know-each-other' meeting. One by one, they all filed in, except for the Head Boy. I didn't have a clue who held the title and was quite curious to see who I would be sharing a wing of the castle with for the next 10 months. A few moments later, a tall boy with shining, platinum hair opened the compartment door. My heart sank and then skipped a few beats as in stepped, guess who? Malfoy.
For a moment that felt like forever, our gazes met. I nearly stopped breathing as I stared into the bottomless pools of crystal in his eyes. Yet, there seemed to be a slow burning fire behind the fragile seeming crystal that made it appear as if his eyes were two bright stars someone had plucked out of the sky. His skin was that same pale ivory, making him look like he bathed in bleach. However, there were bruise-colored bags under his eyes that gave him a haunted look.
If I had to go through what he did, do what he did, I doubt I would look much different.
At that thought, my skin crawled. I didn't even want to imagine everything he had done or gone through. I had seen enough tragedy to last a few hundred lifetimes.
I turned my attention back to the meeting at hand, collecting my façade and storing my thoughts in the back of my mind to be reviewed at a more convenient time. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn't calm the pandemonium of feelings that surged up within me, like a raging wildfire.