Disclaimer: I asked my stepdad to buy me Harry Potter for Christmas... He said no. So, I guess that means that all characters, locations and references belong to Mrs J.K Rowling (*Bows down*) and I am nothing but a poor person who hasn't got enough creativity in them to come up with their own story. However, I am pleased to say that I do own the plot and ideas and I have come up with it with the help of my friend, who I am co-writing this story with. Any questions, please leave a review or PM me.

Prologue

The box stood on the polished, wooden table. Innocent. Beautiful. Draco looked at it. Then at his mother. She was sat in one of the oak chairs that lined the drawing room at Malfoy Manor, clutching at a lace handkerchief. Her head was down and her blonde hair was draped across her shoulder. Lucius was standing behind his wife, a protective hand resting upon the back of the chair, a grave look carved into his pale face. A frown crept onto Draco's own face. It wasn't often he was called into the drawing room. In fact, the last time he had been in there had been two years ago. Turning his gaze back onto the box, he questioned, "Father? What is that?"
"That's for us to know and for you never to find out." He replied curtly. Draco's frown deepened.
"Just don't worry about it, Draco. But make sure that whatever happens, what's in the box stays in the box. Don't open it. Please, Draco. Don't." Narcissa pleaded. Draco nodded and looked at his father, who only looked back at him.
"Go get ready for school, Draco. And don't forget, the Dark Lord will be calling you at Christmas." Lucius said.
Draco made for the door. He opened it but before leaving, turned back to his parents. "What is that?" He repeated.
"It's the very first Malfoy's box; it's Pandora's Box." He responded solemnly.

Chapter 1

Hermione stepped off the Hogwarts Express and onto the platform in Hogsmead. Ron was already halfway down the platform and joining the queue for one of the thestral-drawn carriages. Where was Harry? He had left for Slughorn's meeting an hour ago and Ginny had returned within half an hour with no news of him. She set off to catch up with Ron, moving out of the way of a group of giggling third years and two seventh years wrapped in tight lip-lock, scowling at them disgustedly.
The end carriage's blinds were drawn as she passed the train and she caught a glimpse of the white-blonde hair and pale, pointed face of Draco Malfoy pulling the final shade down. Fear trickled down her spine as she walked past but she shook it off and joined Ron and Ginny in the queue.

"What were you doing up there? Eavesdropping? Thieving?" Draco's hoarse voice echoed around the final carriage on the Hogwarts express. He had just caught Harry Potter lying on the luggage rack of his compartment. Draco wouldn't have minded so much if the box hadn't been dangerously near Harry's foot when he swung it up. Although the box was locked, he didn't want the others knowing about it. Draco gave up interrogating Harry, stamped in his nose and strode out the compartment.

"Why are you always covered in blood?" Ginny asked Harry when he walked towards them in the great hall with a bleeding nose. He shrugged and thanked her when she passed him a cloth. Hermione cast a glance around the hall, wondering why Malfoy had just stormed out.

Draco walked quickly. He wasn't going anywhere, he just roamed the halls. Placing a trembling hand on his forehead, which had now clammed up with sweat, he began to shake. Pansy just had to mention something about that blasted box, asking him what it was and what was in it.
Oh, Draco! You know that our families are very close! Surely you could tell me?" She pouted at him, and his face screwed up in horror at the closeness of her. He would've shouted at her about how even he didn't know, and even if he did, he wouldn't tell the likes of her anyway, but it would've caused too much attention, something which he didn't want this year, so he just shrugged of her pathetic grip on his arm and stormed out of the Great Hall, not before catching eyes with Granger. Then he scowled even more at her curious face, knowing that it will mean trouble later this year. As he continued to march out, he allowed himself to celebrate over Potter's broken nose. He'll never admit it, but it was his revenge on Granger after she had punched him in their third. As much as he hated her, he was still a gentleman and would not allow himself to hit a girl, regardless of her blood purity or what she had done.
A ghost of a smile graced Draco's lips when he thought of that punch that Granger threw at him. He had begun to see her in a different light after that; she was no longer the know-it-all bookworm always by Scarhead's side, but the independent Mudblood, who he liked to annoy just to see her angry. He smirked at this, and plopped down on the ground thinking about it.

Hermione awoke to the sun coming through her blinds. She groaned and flipped over in bed, pulling her pillow over her head. It was too early, in her thoughts. But her internal alarm clock decided to be as stubborn as always and wouldn't stop ringing until she was out of bed and the cold stone paving the floor had woken her up. She let out a small whimper; why'd it have to be so bloody freezing? Hugging herself, Hermione trudged along into the bathroom, at least grateful that she hadn't had to wait for Lavender to finish applying her make-up. Smiling at the thought of how big a queue she had missed, she let the warm water run over her body, erasing any trace of coldness and making her feel fresh and ready to go. After pulling on her uniform and adding the last of her books to the already bulging bag, she hurried off to the Great Hall, aware that Ginny (who was one of the few early down for breakfast) would be there.
"Hermione! You're early!" Ginny exclaimed as Hermione slipped onto the bench next to her. She merely nodded as a reply and pulled a few pancakes onto her plate, spreading strawberry jam thickly onto them. Ginny frowned and poured some more milk into her bowl full of cereal.
"What's up with you?" She asked pointedly. Hermione shrugged, swallowed and opened her mouth to speak.
"Nothing. I'm just surprised that you're not with Dean, that's all," She lied easily. She was actually thinking about Malfoy and why he had stormed out of the Hall last night. It had just occurred to her that she had seen him pushing a small, rectangular box inside his robes. It looked to her that it had been shrunk, what with what looked like very detailed carvings on the lid. She saw Ginny raise an eyebrow from the corner of her eye and then turned to look at her friend again.
"Really?" Ginny asked disbelievingly. Hermione hesitated.
"Yeah, really. I mean, you looked like you had spent an hour crying last night."
"It's not too much to worry about… He's just always late down in the mornings," Ginny replied smoothly, shrugging her off. Hermione sighed.
"Okay then… If you're sure," Ginny nodded franticly. "I'm going to Potions now, see you at lunch," She said to the redhead as she stood to gather her things. The Great Hall had become more and more crowded during their conversation, and now there was only seven minutes left until the start of the first lesson.

Draco walked down to breakfast in a very deep conversation with Blaise. They were arguing over how to pick at the up-coming trials for a place on the Quidditch team. Draco had been honoured to be the captain this year, but he had got Blaise to help him make the strongest team they possibly could.
As he stepped into the Great Hall, he felt someone staring at him. Glancing round, he noticed Granger looking at him with a deep frown on her face as she walked in the opposite direction. He smirked, turning his head so that their gaze lasted until she rounded the corner.
So she thought he was up to something, huh? He focused on his friend again and dropped in a few suggestions.

Hermione bumped into Harry and Ron on the way down to Potions. Harry had decided to skip breakfast, claiming that he felt ill and didn't want to eat, much to Ron's disappointment. She could hear his belly growling from a mile away. Giggling, she approached them.
"You should've had breakfast, Ron!" Hermione smiled. Ron gave Harry a look which even Voldemort would recoil at and go find a quiet corner to cry in. He grunted. Harry sniggered.
"I thought you were ill," Ron snapped, clearly annoyed that he hadn't had a chance to eat that morning. Harry and Hermione exchanged looks of amusement, Hermione especially trying to stifle her laughter.
"I am," Harry said, trying to sound weak. "Ohh, I'm so ill! I'm so ill!" Hermione giggled.
"So what's wrong? Another dream?" She asked, knowing that she should've been harder on Harry about keeping Voldemort out of his head. He gave her a sheepish look.
"I'm sorry, 'Mione. I didn't want to worry you." Harry looked at his feet and suddenly Ron wasn't hungry anymore. Instead, he was rather willing to go down to potions all of a sudden, and it seemed to Hermione that he was trying to change the subject. She tried her luck.
"So what was it about this time?" She asked in a careless voice, though her insides turned when she saw Ron's panicky expression.
"Nothing! It was nothing, was it, Harry?" He replied quickly. Hermione frowned.
"Boys… What are you hiding?" She questioned with her hands on her hips and a very Mrs Weasley-ish look on her face. The boys shook their heads quickly, well Ron did, Harry was just staring blankly at him. Hermione sighed and took her hand off her hips looked defeated.
"Why aren't you telling me? We're best friends, right? Right? Shouldn't you tell me then?" She asked softly, looking down at her feet.
"You wouldn't want to know. And of course we're best friends!" Ron told her and her head snapped up.
"Of course I want to know! And you not telling me just means that you don't trust me enough!" She shouted at him, before turning to face Harry. "And you? What about you? What do you think?"
"Hermione… I…" Harry looked torn. He really didn't know what to do. Hermione looked at him with wide eyes.
"You too, Harry?" She asked. Then she clicked her tongue and walked off, heading to potions.
Hermione had been quiet during the lesson, not glancing up when Harry and Ron had made an appearance. She had answered the questions Professor Slughorn had asked, noting that all the girls of the class had started to inch forward when she had mentioned the love potion. She scowled at their foolishness, wondering why anyone would want to be in a fake relationship. She had found it embarrassing when she had to say what she smelt in the potion… She bit her lip as she watched Harry do things differently in his potion than the text book said to do, and didn't want to point anything out because she was still feeling hurt, but eventually, she found herself inquiring the misuse of his knife. He merely shrugged and said that that's what his text book told him to so. She had scowled. Now, half an hour later, they were all gathered to watch Harry claim his award for brewing the best potion. Hermione was scowling so much that Harry almost felt guilty. And her hair had frizzed so much that Malfoy had made an unpleasant comment on the way out of class. Merlin! It wasn't even lunch and already her day was a mess! Bloody Malfoy, that ferret would pay… She stormed out of the classroom with her fists in balls by her sides and angered look on her face; angry tears were threatening to spill and soon she'd be a mess on the floor, so she kept walking until she reached the Gryffindor common room. Hiding herself away on her first day of school wasn't the way to start the year, but she'd had enough and for once, she didn't care about her school work. All she cared about was staying away from Malfoy, Ron and Harry, who'd already hurt her about denying their friendship. And Malfoy… Well that was sort of expected, but he just had to go and rub it in, didn't he? And as she put her head down and sobbed, she wondered what Harry's dream really was about…

I know it's short and stuff... But it's just to get you started! Chapter 2 and 3 are much longer, I promise... And I know that it's not all that interesting, either, but the plot progresses! Aww, please be nice and review for me? *bats eyelashes and pouts* You'll get a biscuit!