Summary: This is the story of what happens after the war, when Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts after defeating Voldemort. After becoming friends, Harry begins an unexpected romance with Draco Malfoy.

Author's note: This is my second try at fanfiction, and I'm really hoping you all like it. I'll try to update as frequently as possible, which, now that uni has finished and I have a four month break other than work, should hopefully be fairly often. Btw, J. K. my story won't work if Harry dies in 'Deathly Hallows', so I'm really hoping you keep him alive, lol.

Harry Potter was going back to Hogwarts. It had only been a year and yet he felt strangely nervous. Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry had been Harry's home for the best six years of his life and it was the only place he had really felt like he belonged. After the death of the headmaster, his mentor professor Dumbledore, he left Hogwarts to go on the most dangerous journey of his life. Now, after defeating Lord Voldemort he was ready to go back to Hogwarts to finish his last year and begin his life as a normal human being, or at least as normal as one could be, considering he was a wizard.

Harry, Ron and Hermione traveled to platform 9 and ¾ together. They were also going back to Hogwarts for one more year. In fact most of their year, those that had survived the war, were returning. While the school had reopened briefly the previous year with professor McGonagall as headmistress as the war boasted more and more casualties students were sent home to be with whatever family they had left.

When the three had boarded the Hogwarts Express, they grabbed what they suspected was the last free compartment. Since there were actually eight years of students this year, the train was unusually packed.

Harry could hear the younger students around him laughing and chattering excitedly, as though the war had never happened. After what they had been through, Harry and his friends were rarely so gleeful, though they had become a lot closer and a lot more comfortable around each other. They had just started playing a good game of exploding snap when Harry spotted a familiar face pass by their compartment for the third time, looking for somewhere to sit.

"Malfoy!" he yelled down the hallway, not entirely sure why even as he said it.

The boy turned and glared at Harry before replying "What do you want Potter?"

"If you don't have anywhere else to sit…umm…well, there's some space in here" Harry looked down as he said it, sure his offer would be declined.

Malfoy looked confused and then as though he might burst into laughter. "Why on earth would I want to sit with you?" he asked, his voice full of disdain. "We may have been on the same side of the war, but since when have you and I been friends?"

"Nevermind, I just thought you might not have anyone else to sit with" Harry answered back, furious with both with himself for offering and with Malfoy for being the same stuck up prick he had always been. He really shouldn't have been surprised. Malfoy had hit the nail on the nose when he said they had never been friends. In fact, they had been arch rivals at Hogwarts for their entire stay there.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, confused. "Why the bloody hell did you just invite Malfoy to sit here?"

"I don't know Ron, I just figured that he wouldn't have any one to sit with. I mean all of his friends were Death Eaters and were either killed or arrested." Harry tried to explain, "I just wanted to be nice". He looked to Hermione for help.

"Well….I suppose your right Harry" she began, much more calmly than Ron. "I mean, while he is the most annoying prat I've ever met, he did help defeat Voldemort, so I guess we could stand to be a bit nicer to him."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"But!" She added "as soon as he calls me mudblood I'm going right back to hating him"

Harry and Ron laughed and agreed emphatically. In truth, Harry wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to be friendly to Malfoy. Perhaps it was because he now realized how trivial their childish rivalry was. He was really just grateful to be alive. He wanted to use this chance to start over and Malfoy was a good place to start.

Harry actually owed him a lot. Draco had never embraced his role as a Death Eater as whole-hearted as his father would have hoped. After he failed to kill Dumbledore, the Dark Lord had killed Draco's family as punishment. Draco, no longer having anyone to protect, had gone straight to the Ministry of magic. He traded death eater secrets for amnesty. Draco's information had helped Harry a lot in his search for Voldemort's horcruxes.

Meanwhile, one the other side of the train, Draco Malfoy was still looking for a compartment to sit in. Every compartment he passed was teaming full of annoying younger students squealing about how excited they were to be going back, play quiditch and so on. While Draco was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, he was also dreading it. Now that he had no friends to be with, he felt more alone than ever. He didn't need to be reminded of that further by sitting with any of these pathetic kids.

Furious as he was to admit it, his best option was to go back and sit with Potter and his friends. To be perfectly honest, he had no real problem with them, he just disliked them on principle. Granger was a mudblood, but after the war he realized it was probably in his best interest to overlook this and discard his past prejudices.

Grudgingly, he made his way back to their compartment. He hesitated before pushing the door open.

"I've changed my mind" he said, coolly, "I think I'll sit here. It seems you lot are my best option"

"I thought we might be" Harry replied, smiling slightly.

"Listen Potter, I don't need your pity!" he scowled, mistaking Harry's smile for a smirk.

"It's not pity Malfoy" Harry said with a sigh, "I just figured it was about time we put this petty rivalry behind us."

"But just because were being nicer to you now, doesn't mean you can insult our families and get away with it, got that?" Ron said aggressively.

"Relax." Malfoy replied, "Even I'm not about to blow my only chance an somewhat intelligent conversation at this school"

"Really? I never thought intelligent conversation was something you looked for in your friends" said Hermione, cheekily, remembering the two massive troll-like cronies that used to follow Draco everywhere.

"Ha. Ha. Hilarious, that is" Draco replied, but the smile on his face made it clear he was not offended by the comment.

The four off them continued to talk for the remainder or the trip and sometimes it almost seemed like Draco had been a part of their group for ages. By the end of the train ride, they were all thinking the same thing. "That was not as bad as I thought".