Although he didn't quite show it, he was surprised to see him. Who would have thought Draco Malfoy would come back for the eighth year at Hogwarts? Definitely not Harry. However, Ron couldn't rein his thoughts. As soon as he saw Malfoy, he widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Harry! Can you believe it? Malfoy has actually returned!" Harry had just shrugged in reply.

The battle with Voldemort was over and here they were, back to Hogwarts for their eighth year. They had lost some lives and Hogwarts was almost destroyed in the battle, but the teachers and the older students had helped in reconstructing it. They had realised it was no use mulling over what was gone.

Harry sighed. Professor McGonagall was speaking and they were supposed to listen attentively but anyway Harry had zoned out most of it. It didn't matter if he listened now or not. Ron nudged him. "Harry I can't believe she's doing this to us!"

"You can't believe she's doing what to us?"

"Weren't you listening? All the eighth years are going to share one common room and even in the dorms the students will be mixed up!"

"This is SO not going to work out," Harry commented idly.

"Well, it can, if we try. If we take the chance to know more about others, it won't seem so bad," Hermione joined in.

"Mione! But what about Slytherins?" Ron protested.

"I include Slytherins too Ron," Hermione replied, "Now, no need to look like that. No one is asking you to go buddy-buddy over them. We just have to leave the animosity behind."

Ron looked like he wanted to protest but thought the better of it.

"_ and yes, all the eighth years will also have lunch and dinner without any house barriers at one table. Is that clear?" McGonagall added.

Ron widened his eyes in shock. "No way mate!"

Harry looked at the Slytherin table to see how Malfoy was taking this news. The Slytherin's face was as usual unreadable. This is going to be a difficult year, he decided. But anyway he stood up along with all other eighth years as moved towards another table set for them.

This was just his typical luck. It was bad enough that he had a crush on Harry Potter, not he even had to share a dorm with him. Draco was seriously regretting his decision to come back. He sighed. He placed his trunk under the only bed that was empty and went down to the Great hall.

He sat down beside Blaise who was laughing so hard it was a wonder he still had his bits and pieces. Draco drawled on, "Well, Blaise... do you mind telling me what you exactly find so funny?" "God... Draco... Pan-Pansy was kissing Nott in the hallway and McGonagall caught them! I was walking by and you should have seen their faces!" Blaise was rewarded with a punch from Pansy. "Oww! Don't hit me. I didn't do anything!" He continued. "And you know what her punishment is? She is paired with Granger on every assignment for the whole year!"

Draco smirked. "Now now, Pansy... let's look at the bright side of this. Being paired with Granger, you get the opportunity to piss her off any time you want. And you might after all get better grades this year." Pansy who was scowling at Blaise, looked at Draco and replied, "Perhaps you are right Drake." She smirked at Blaise and stuck a tongue at him. Draco glanced at the Golden Trio who sat at the other end of the table. Granger wasn't in a better mood either. Harry was sympathizing with her and the Weasel was looking furious. His gaze lingered a bit longer on Harry's face. He loved how his dark messy hair fell around his face... how his eyes shone when he found something amusing ... how-

"DRACO MALFOY IF YOU DON'T FREAKING LISTEN TO ME RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO POUR PUMPKIN JUICE ON YOUR HAIR!"

He snapped out of his reverie and glared at Pansy. "You are not touching my hair."

She ignored his glare. "So, I was asking, have you taken Arithmancy and Ancient Runes this time?"

"Err, yeah."

"That means Blaisey-," Blaise scowled at the nickname, " and I, will have 2 more free periods than you."

Draco just shrugged. They were done with dinner anyway and Blaise and Pansy were chattering animatedly about something when Draco stood up. "If you two don't mind, I am going to sleep. I feel tired."

"Sure. You go on, I'll be there in a minute," Blaise replied.

Draco stood up, looked at Harry's face once again, and walked out of the Great hall. He was still vaguely conscious when others came back, though they didn't know that. In his half-asleep state his mind registered the fact that Harry was just to his left. He seemed to be arguing over something with Weasley. Before he could think about anything else, his mind decided it was enough and he fell asleep completely.

Draco always woke up early in the morning, irrespective of weekends or weekdays. It was Sunday,(they had came back to Hogwarts on Saturday), so he knew he was going to get bored on his own. Blaise and Pansy never woke up before midday on a weekend. Half an hour had passed since he had come to the eighth year common room with his transfiguration book, but he was still on the same page. Heck, even the same line. He sighed and was actually going to read for real, if that voice hadn't called out to him.

"Malfoy."