Chapter 1
The summer between Harry Potter's fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the best in his short life. He had only had to stay at the Dursley's for about two weeks before the Weasley's had offered to let him spend the rest of the summer with them. To top it off, he had just turned sixteen.
But summer was over now, and Harry, his friends Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Ron's younger sister Ginny and were boarding the Hogwarts Express. They searched the train for an empty compartment with no luck. As they came to the last compartment, it was empty except for one person. Harry shot a quick glance at his friends, but none of them seemed to be sure what to do either.
"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to sit down?" Draco Malfoy asked.
"Well it is the only compartment on the train," Ginny said reasonably.
Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry all walked into the compartment and Harry shut the door behind them.
Draco Malfoy was the last person Harry wanted to see. The young blond Slytherin had always been an impossible prat, and Harry was positive that he would be even worse now that Harry had practically sent his father to jail. Besides, he had actually sounded almost nice, and since when was Malfoy ever nice?
The sound of Draco's voice brought Harry out of his reverie. "What's the matter, Potter, shocked?"
Harry was even more surprised that Draco had read his expression correctly.
"I can be a decent guy sometimes, you know," Malfoy continued.
"Since when?" Ron asked, almost choking on the chocolate frog he was eating.
"Since now." Malfoy glared at him, daring Ron to question it.
"So, where are Crabbe and Goyle?" Ginny asked.
"Don't know, don't care," Malfoy said. "Besides, why do you want to know?"
"I was just wondering," Ginny mumbled.
"Can we please just have a nice quiet ride to school?" Hermione said.
"That's the best idea you've ever had, Granger," Malfoy said.
They rode the rest of the way to school in silence. Ginny watched as Draco sat looking out the window and she felt her face get hot as she blushed. She quickly looked around to make sure no one noticed, but she shouldn't have worried. Ron and Hermione who had been dating for a few weeks were busy cuddling and Harry seemed to be absorbed in a school book, though Ginny suspected that it was hiding a Quidditch book, and the school book was only so Hermione wouldn't nag him. Ginny chuckled to herself at the thought.
The silence that followed and the motion of the train was too much for Ginny; she drifted off to sleep and didn't wake up until Hermione shook her so they could get their robes on. As she dressed Ginny started thinking about Draco again. Even though he had always been nasty to her and her friends, she couldn't help it. Draco had gotten taller over the summer, and he had let his blond hair grow a little longer. The shirt he had been wearing showed off arms that were nicely toned from playing Quidditch. She shook the thoughts from her head and finished dressing.
Draco was still staring out the window when Ginny returned from putting on her robes. He smirked to himself. Of course, he had noticed Ginny staring at him before she fell asleep and he wasn't sure what to think. He had noticed that the youngest Weasley was growing up nicely, her thick red hair was a little bit longer than usual and she had gotten taller. There were also certain other assets that shouldn't be mentioned here. Through the window he noticed Ginny staring at him again, this time he looked her in the eyes and smiled. Ginny blushed again and having had the exact effect he wanted, Draco turned back to the window.
Ron, Harry and Hermione had returned to the compartment too and the train began to slow down. A few moments later the train stopped completely and they all gathered up their things. The four Gryffindors walked towards the carriages that awaited them, quickly found an empty one and got in. Draco got off the train but instead of heading for the carriages, he looked around for some of his fellow Slytherins. When he spotted Goyle, he walked over to him.
"Goyle," Draco said.
"Oh, hi, Draco," Goyle said.
They got into one of the carriages and settled in before Draco spoke again.
"Where's Crabbe?" he asked.
"He is going to Durmstrang this year, his father got a job near there," Goyle said.
Before the carriage could move, a familiar girl with short dark hair got in and sat next to Draco
Draco groaned almost inaudibly, he had grown to despise Pansy Parkinson over the last year.
"Hi, Pansy," Goyle said.
Draco didn't bother to say anything.
"Hi, boys," Pansy said, smiling flirtatiously.
A moment later, they were heading for the school.