A/N Ok this is my very first fan fiction story and so I have no idea if it's good or bad or if it just flat out sucks. I hope you all enjoy this story and aren't too tough on me. I am a rooky when it comes to fan fictions but I really am trying.
Chapter 1: A New Beginning and New Secrets
Draco sat in the head boy and head girl's compartment of the train. Staring out the window he let his mind go off into deep thought. It is time for a change, he thought to himself with complete certainty but then fear crept into those sure thoughts. He feared that he'd be seen as a joke, there's no way the prince of Slytherin could be seen as a joke but what if he was? All those thoughts scared him and agitated him because he even cared what others thought of him. He always said to himself that he could care less what others thought and here he is sitting alone in the compartment actually worried about what others would think.
"What are you doing here you mudblood? Aren't you a bit lost?" Malfoy scowled at Hermione. He snapped a bit too harshly but hell he was most definitely not in a good mood. What a wonderful way to start off his new and last year at Hogwarts, he thought to himself sarcastically. He was somewhat excited to have been chosen as head boy, not really for the title but because of the liberties. He would be in his own room shared only by one other person, the head girl. They'd have their own rooms, very spacious and private and they'd have their own bathrooms and of course he'd be allowed out much later without much questioning since of course he must be responsible to have earned the title of head boy.
"Shut up you ferret! And for your information I'm not lost! I'm the head girl and this is my compartment. You most certainly must be lost if you're sitting in here. Who in their right mind would ever make you head boy?" Hermione spat back. Even after the war Hermione couldn't stand him. No she absolutely loathed him. All he ever did was call her a mudblood and try to personally make her life a living hell and all because of her lineage. In the muggle realm he might as well be a racist.
"As far as I know I am the head boy and I was chosen by Dumbledore you disrespectful-" but he was cut off by Hermione who was probably resisting the urge to slap him as hard as she could.
"What are you going to call me? A mudblood? Get some new material you dick!" She was fuming. She hated him so much and the fact that she and him were to be sharing a dormitory together made her want to vomit and pray to God to allow her to die right then and there. If there was a God, Hermione thought to herself, he was a cruel and unjust one.
"Wow Granger I'm surprised, you've gotten quite…feisty. Where'd all this fight come from?" he gave her his signature smirk and just went back to reading his book. This just aggravated Hermione even more. She stood with her mouth open and completely taken aback by what he said.
She walked away from the compartment for a second not knowing what to say or do. She ignored his annoying snicker that he let out as she stormed off. Did he really call me feisty she thought to herself? She felt sick by the mere repetition of the situation in her head. Oh God please just kill me now, no, I won't let him get to me this year, she said to herself in a hushed tone so hopefully no one would see her talking to herself. With that final thought she decided to go back to the compartment and face the ferret head on. She arrived and he didn't even budge from his reading. She moved to the far side of the compartment pretending he wasn't even there keeping her composure and trying her very hardest to be calm, cool, and collected.
There was no way that she could have survived the trip from platform 9 ¾ in London to Hogwarts being in a compartment, with the git who sat only a few feet away from her, if it weren't for her iPod. Her parents had given it to her for Christmas last year and she wasted no time filling it with as mush music as possible. When she wasn't home and away at Hogwarts she would like to have little things that reminded her of home for example her iPod that was full of music she had discovered at home and it also held many pictures of her family that she could view all the time. She even brought her sketchbook and some books from home. Hopefully with these little home trinkets, she'll survive having to live with that ferret.
"Hermione! Could you wait a second?" She could hear Harry and Ron yelling out for her to slow down but she was just so angry at the situation. She was so happy at first when she was told she was going to be head girl but then of course Malfoy had to go ruining that for her by being head boy. She was holding back tears of complete anger and frustration. She could have kept walking at her quick pace but instead she wiped the tears away and put on her best smile. She never allowed her friends to see her cry she thought of herself as weak if she did and being a Gryffindor she couldn't be weak.
"Oh hi guys, I didn't hear you, I was listening to music." She acted as though she was putting her iPod away and hoped they didn't notice her red eyes. They looked at her and gave her a hug. "Guys this is nice and all but have you both gone absolutely bonkers?" she laughed but returned the hug.
"What we aren't allowed to hug our best mate? And besides we didn't see you at all on the train and you ran off when we arrived. Are you ok?" Harry broke up the hug and looked straight at her studying her face.
"Harry I'm fine I just thought you guys had left the train without me and were already headed towards dinner and so I was making my way to the Great Hall hoping to find you there but I guess you found me first." She laughed it off but Ron's frown said he wasn't very convinced. This made her heart beat quicken, she hated how they both became more intuitive this summer, she thought that maturity would be great for her boys. Well the boys…they seemed too mature to be labeled as boys, men was the better term.
"Hermione we heard about Malfoy being head boy and I can tell you're upset, I mean bloody hell Hermione your eyes are so blood shot, you've been crying haven't you? What did that ferret do to you Hermione?" Ron's hands were balled into fists and his knuckles were going white. Hermione took his fist and relaxed him.
"He didn't do anything, just being his usual annoying gitty self. I'm fine really just mentally exhausted from having to spend a train ride resisting the urge to strangle him. Let's forget about it please? I'm starving so let's go I can almost smell the delicious food." She smiled at her two best friends and walked with them to the Great Hall for dinner.
Once she was seated next to her friends she was able to smile and laugh again. She was laughing with the group as Neville became embarrassed at something Luna said. Ginny was laughing and Hermione missed her friends all of them. She ate and ate until she was so full and then her heart almost sunk when she heard Dumbledore dismiss everyone and ordered her and Malfoy to begin helping the prefects take the first years to their houses.
It was time for her to go to her dormitory and she was dreading it. She walked slowly to the portrait that hid the entrance to her new home for the year.
"Dragonvine…" her voice trailed off once she said the password as she realized she'd have to live with the person that she despised. As she walked into her new home's common room she saw him lying down on the couch reading a book. He didn't look away and was acting as if he didn't hear her enter. She stood there staring at him almost waiting for him to insult her but he merely looked up at her.
"I already chose my room." That's all he said as he got up and began walking up the staircase that led to the rooms. Hermione just stood there watching him. She was surprised really because he didn't call her a mudblood or bitch and really didn't even insult her at all, he was being…civil if that were even possible for someone like Malfoy. "Granger, are you going to move or just stare at me? I know you think I'm incredibly hot but you're just not my type." This made Hermione snap out of it.
"Oh shut it Malfoy, I can barely looking at you without feeling my stomach churn." She says back a bit irritated, you could hear it in her voice. She was embarrassed and tries to hide her embarrassment but she still blushed for being caught staring at that ferret. She was tired and really did not feel like dealing with the new bipolar Draco Malfoy. She looked at him and he looked pissed.
"You know what you're such a prude. I try to be civil and kid around with you and try and be somewhat friendly and playful with you and this is what I get? You're just naturally a bitch." Hermione felt the sting of those words. She felt like an idiot for even thinking Malfoy could be capable of being civil.
"Why the hell would I even be civil with you? All you've ever done was make my life a living hell. You've called me a mudblood since the moment I met you and you've threatened Ron, Harry, and I. You know what Malfoy, fuck off!" with that she ran up the stairs right past him. She felt that what she said could have been a bit excessive but she was just so angry at how he talks to her and insults her. How can he expect to her to react nicely to jokes like that, jokes that are meant for friends, when they were nothing close to friends? She didn't care that she he saw her crying she was just so angry and hurt by the words he had said that she wanted to get away as fast as possible. Once she entered her room she just collapsed with her back towards the door. She sat on the floor with the hot tears of anger streaming down her cheeks. Yes she had heard him utter those kinds of words many times over but that didn't mean it hurt any less. Being called a mudblood hurt her most, she felt disgusted at herself for even caring about it but also being called something that meant having dirty blood made her feel horrible. She couldn't help being muggle born but she was proud of her abilities and proud of being a muggle born witch. She just hated being defined as something so negative. She grabbed her iPod and began playing some music as she continued to cry. She hated to cry and wanted to stop so she went to her trunk and pulled out her silver cure.
Malfoy just stood at the foot of the stairs and was wondering why he even felt anything at the sight of seeing Hermione run up the stairs with tears streaming down her cheeks. I had every reason to say what I said, he thought to himself as he made his way up the stairs after a minute. She was being a complete bitch when I was trying to be civil and even friendly, he told himself and then he stopped right in front of her door. He could hear her crying and then she went silent. He heard her rustling through her sheets and then she muttered something. It was a spell but he wasn't sure what spell. After that he heard a little thud where she must of placed her wand down onto the nightstand and then there was silence.
Malfoy just continued passed her door and walked to his room. He knew he was trying to be different this year and realized that what happened with Hermione a minute ago and on the train didn't help. Harry Potter, the Wonder Boy himself, had destroyed the Dark Lord and now that he was gone Malfoy was able to be who he wanted to be. He didn't want to be a death eater he wanted to be a professional Quidditch player. In reality he didn't care about lineage at all but he just pretended to because of his father and because of the Dark Lord who wanted to recruit Malfoy into the death eater society. He no longer cared about appearance. He could care less what his father thought and no one would ever say anything against the prince of Slytherin. He had the money the looks and well he also had the brawn. He wanted to be friendlier and actually make new friends. Blaise was his only true friend and well Malfoy just wanted to expand his contacts list. But Malfoy did admit to himself that he had a bit of a temper and started to realize that if he were going to live with Hermione he needed to apologize, if not the atmosphere in the dormitory would be very thick and heavy. He stayed in bed and wrestled with the idea of getting out of his warm bed and apologize to Granger. His want for change won over and he got up and went to her door.
"Granger, are you awake?" she thought that to be a very stupid question but she responded anyway.
"What do you want?" her voice was so even and monotone but quivered a bit at the end.
"May I come in for a quick word?" he said in a kind voice. This surprised her, she never expected him to be capable of speaking that way. She took her wand and with a flick of her wrist she opened the door. She saw him standing against the doorframe and he was wearing his pajama pants that were black and white v-neck t-shirt. She must be delirious she thought to herself for she actually thought that Malfoy looked…attractive. He walked in slowly to her room as she placed her wand down onto her nightstand. She clutched her sheets tight around herself as he sat down onto the side of her bed. Hermione was very uncomfortable with the proximity between the two.
"Hermione…I'm sorry about today, all of it. I didn't mean to upset you. I want to change but I realize that my temper is a negative thing and I'll do my best to change it. I'm not asking you to be my friend or even expect that but I do want the two of us to be civil if we're going to be living together. You don't even have to acknowledge my existence but just be civil with me and I'll do the same." Hermione was in shock. Was this really Draco Malfoy the prince of Slytherin himself apologizing to her? She was speechless. "Hermione-"
"You expect me to just forgive you for what you say Malfoy? I find that to be almost ridiculous. And why would you want to change you seem pretty content being the Draco Malfoy we all know and love." She said sarcastically but Hermione looked into his cold grey eyes. She saw something in the icy grey orbs that almost resembled…feelings.
"Look I just want to be who I really am and the person I have been isn't the real me, it was the person I was forced to be by my father and Voldemort."
"Haven't you ever heard of a backbone Draco?" she almost spat the words but kept her voice even and calm.
"I have a backbone alright Granger, it's just a bit hard to show it when you risk death for just associating with a certain group of people. Natural human nature is to survive and if I were kind and sociable with everyone well my chance of survival would be very low to almost complete and certain death. So could you really blame me for acting the way I did? I wouldn't be alive if I acted the way I wanted to." Draco just stared back at her with pleading eyes. He didn't expect that he would tell Hermione what he did, he almost felt embarrassed. He waited for a response from her for what seemed to be an eternity.
Hermione lay in bed looking at the boy who she always thought to be completely vile and couldn't believe that he had actually said what he just said. She couldn't believe she believed him but she wasn't just going to let him get away with everything he's done in the past. Hermione wasn't one to hold grudges but what he had done and said to be it by force or what may have you was still horrible and he'd have to work for the friendship if he truly was sincere. She was going to put him to the test.
"Malfoy it's great that you want to change but you have to prove to me that you want to change or else I just can't take your words seriously." She extended her left hand out so that she could fix her pillow. He reached for her hand as soon as he noticed the white bandages on Hermione's left wrist.
"Hermione what is this?" Hermione retracted her hand quickly and sat up.
"It's nothing, when I was home over summer break I burned my wrist slightly on a stove top while helping with dinner at home. It's nothing and should heal soon. Why does it matter to you anyway?" She muttered and that upset him.
"Really Granger? I am trying to show you I care. I am trying to show you I've changed but how can I accomplish any of that when you don't even give me a chance? It's a lost cause trying to talk to you." Malfoy got up and just stormed out and slammed her door behind him. She lied back down in bed and could feel a tear escaping her eyes. Could anyone blame her for being this way toward Malfoy? She just can't all of a sudden accept him as a friend. He needs to work for it. She lay in bed thinking about all that's happened over the summer and years that past. She was thinking about what he had done and said to her but she also was thinking of what happened over the summer.
Hermione had not only matured physically coming into the body of a true woman but also had acquired new talents that a Gryffindor would never be have suspected to acquire. She didn't want to admit it but she had become more Slytherin than she ever thought she could be.
Hermione lay in bed staring at the top of the canopy of her bed and just let the neutral feeling of nothing take her as it led her to the realm of sleep and dreams. The last thing she saw before she fell into a deep sleep were Draco's eyes.