The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Chapter 1: The Beginning
He sat on the Express, waiting, his head was resting on the cool window of the train. His hands were holding onto the book that he was reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. He knew that is a muggle book but the title had intrigued him... Behind his blond hair were two tired eyes that have experienced hate, sorrow and pain for 17 years, from the day of his birth. Even though his eyelids were falling, he would not sleep; he could not sleep, because his very life depended on it.
Draco Malfoy turned his head. One ear now rest upon the window. He listened to the beating of the wheels against the tracks; the sound was list a smooth drum. He took heed of his breathing, the beating of his heart, for he released from Saint Mungo's just the day before, his father and him had been in a duel. In the background he could hear the soft talking, laughing and the silence in the background and he cold feel it all press upon his ears. A throbbing twinge came from his left arm; he opened his eyes and lifted his head.
Looking out the carriage window, into the small hallway he saw several people pass by. Only one dared to look in at him, he gave them a dirty look. Pulling down the shade, he tried to rest in discomfort; the twinge on his arm was like a heartbeat, it never stopped now that the Dark Lord was newly raised. Running a hand through his hair he got up, he had to walk around.
Hermione Granger sat with her friends, relaxing. She was enjoying the Daily Prophet that she had received that morning just before she left. In front of her sat Harry and Ron who were cramming in some last minute reading that they felt that they didn't need to do over the Summer. Unlike herself, who had bought all of her books and started reading the after she had bought them, then finished the books in about a week. She was a fast reader, she had always been. Before Hogwarts, she was bullied because her classmates did not believe that she could read a 600-page book in 2.5 days for her classmates a 600-page book would take them over a week to read.
Folding up the newspaper she folded it neatly and put it back in her trunk…which was neatly pack, as per usual, everything it together with everything else. She was just a little bit obsessive compulsive, from her mother. Now she was bored and a little tired, yet school had not started Hermione was over worked from her babysitting (hey, a girl has got to make a living) jobs and staying up all the night before worries about Harry. He still was having nightmares about Voldemort.
He had sent her a letter saying that he was staying at the Burrow because he ran away from his Aunts and Uncles. Apparently, he could not take it anymore, he could not take the yelling, the fighting, the threats, and the grinding of the teeth and the constant work that Dudley never did or never will do…ever. Hermione looked at him and catching his eye, smiled, he returned hers with a grin then he returned to his reading. Then she looked at Ron, he was concerting on what he was reading. Which surprised her because he really didn't concentrate on anything unless he knew that she wasn't going to help him with it.
Looking out the window, the sun was still up; she did the math in her head…another five hours until the train would arrive in Hogsmeade.
'Great…' she thought.
Laying her head down on the armrest, she put her feet up on the opposite rest and being only 5'5", she fit perfectly on the seat. Using her coat as a blanket and Ron's sweater as pillow, Harry didn't have a coat, she fell into sweet Morpheus's embrace. That is what the two men in front of her; they have never known her to be bored or to sleep on the train.
Draco's walk proved to be pointless. He had to shake himself loose of Pansy, who almost hugged the breath out of him. Then Blaise and Theodore caught up with him and they wanted to know why he had not joined them in their compartment and he had a good reason, "Piss off." Is all that he said to them, they knew that he was angry and tired because they were also, they were also branded, and they felt the pain of the call.
Blaise and Theodore were followed him back to his apartment until two pretty girls passed them and they immediately turned and followed them, buttering them up. Draco smirked and walked the rest of the length to his "prison." Opening the door he stepped in, instantly he blocked his thoughts because he was not alone. He could sense that the person was not going to harm him because it was a whole ten seconds before he sat down. If someone wanted to hurt him, they would have done it already.
Then he saw that air shimmer in front of him and from under an invisibility cloak, a beautiful woman emerged. It was his mother; her blue eyes were gleaming with tears, her golden hair was disheveled, and he could see a purple bruise start on her face, neck, and shoulders. Draco knew immediately what this meant, his father was back home. He was only away for a few months and this is how he repaid her, with a beating.
"Mother…I…What happened? What did he do?" Draco moved to sit next to his mother, the coldness and the hatred that his father taught him at a young age was forgotten and remembered at the same time. All his blood was pounding through his veins to his heart that wanted to destroy his father.
"H-He is back Draco. H-He-." She made motions with her hands to her bruises. He knew that his father was a brutal man.
When Lucius came home, he came home even more of a changed man. Azkaban had hardened him to a point of such evil that he was almost in human but he could hide it well...
Draco had once came home from a late night at Blaise's house. It was when Draco was in his 15 year. He came home around noon-he had been out for close to 24 hours- Lucius was furious at him. Draco was tired but his father challenged him to a duel.
It was simple: Draco lost, he was no match to a man that had been a killer since the age of 16. Draco was so badly injured that his mother had to call healers so he could go to Saint Mungo's to recover.
What his mother meant that by back, Lucius was back to his old self, his old Death Eater self. He was in a bad mood and probably will be for the rest of his life until something strikes him that scares him enough to act like there is no life tomorrow and live life in the now not the future or the past…
Placing a comforting arm around his mother's shoulders, he felt uncomfortable around crying woman, but it as his job to bring joy to her when she needed it. That was the main thing that he had to do right without delay. After a few minutes, she wiped her tears on his silk handkerchief. She righted the wrong and she stood, Draco also stood.
"I must be going now, he thinks I am in the gardens…" And with a soft kiss on his forehead and a small pop his mother was gone, probably forever if Lucius got wind that she had seen Draco before he had. Sitting back down, Draco waited until it was a half an hour until he had to change.
Hermione woke to the sound of talking and laughter and the thought of how long had see been asleep? Sitting up and taking a quick glance out the window she noticed that the sun had set. Checking her watch the time read 7.30 P.M. She had slept for four and a half hours.
"Sleeping beauty is up." She heard Harry say, turning to look at him she was greeted with a warm smile that always cheered her up. She ran a hand through her hair, just to get all the knots out of it. She looked at her best friends, over the years nothing had really changed about their eating habits other then they ate more. They were sitting next to each other with a neatly stacked pile of chocolate frog packages in-between them.
"Hello Sunshine…" Ron said while unwrapping a chocolate frog and stuffing it into his mouth. Gulping it down rather quickly he added. "I am glad to see that you are alive and kicking. Harry and I were worried, you never get bored on the train and you never sleep on one either."
It was true, Hermione never slept on the train and she rarely close to never got bored on the train. She always had something to read, or draw, or even color if she was desperate for something. However, she never, never, slept on the train it freaks her out and would makes her sick.
"Well, you have nothing to worry about, either of you. I am fine don't worry. I just had nothing to do." It was the end of that conversation.
If only that were true, then Harry and Ron wouldn't have to worry about her and they could worry about everything else. They now have to worry about her and everything else.
Hermione glanced out the window again, she could see Hogwarts in the distance, each light shining like it was a star. Getting changed, quickly she had to redo her make-up, this surprised Ron the most. He really never thought of Hermione as the make-up wearing kind. Well, he guessed that he knew that from their fourth year when Hermione told him off for not noticing that she was a girl until the very last minute, and then tried to as her out at the same time.
This was only the beginning of her greatest year, her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. She would not let anyone screw it up for her. 'Not Malfoy, not anyone…'she thought to herself and grinning. She was looking as Hogsmeade Station loomed closer and closer to them.
