A/N: Okay, so I have finally rewritten this! It took a while for me to do, but I finally did it! The whole thing was going in entirely the wrong direction, and a little too fast. I posted chapter one in July of 2006, and it's April of 2007 now and I've decided it needed revamping!

For this chapter, I've kept the regular skeletal structure of this chap, but made it longer, better (I hope) and added in bits here and there and chunks here and there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in the Harry Potter books; the only things I own are my wand, HP flannel, and my books. I respect that J.K.Rowling and Warner Bros. have full ownership and will not try to claim the characters or real storyline as my own. I do own two charms in this story ; abscondius – to conceal and aperius – the counter-charm of abscondius, to make something appear again.

The Prophecy of the Sphinx, the Phoenix, the Doe, the Stag, the Sun, and the Moon
Chapter One
In Understanding

Hermione sighed, making her way slowly through the crowded corridor, and hauled her heavy bag onto her other shoulder. Her thoughts lay with homework and the excessive amount she had. As she rounded the corner she sighed at the sound of his drawling voice. She didn't want to have to face him right now; she really didn't want to have a headache. She walked around the corner, coming across a first year and none other than the infamous Draco Malfoy.

"Why on earth would I help a mudblood like you?" Malfoy spat at a young girl. He was obviously in a very bad mood today, it wasn't like him to be this aggressive simply because someone wanted help. Hermione thought for a moment about how he had managed to change a little since what had happened.

"Sophie? Need help?" asked Hermione to the girl, raising an eyebrow at Malfoy.

"Hermione!" she said brightly, quickly moving away from the head boy.

"Piss off, Granger!" spat Malfoy maliciously.

"Thanks Hermione, he was getting really scary!" Sophie exclaimed. "Can you take me to my next lesson; I forgot how to get there… it is charms!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked spitefully at the head boy badge that glistened on Malfoy's jumper. Hermione shook her head, her eyes glinting slightly sorrowfully. She led the first year to her next lesson and laughed slightly as Harry came skidding around the corner, sliding to a heap on the floor.

"Hello Harry! Fall over your own feet again?" greeted Hermione, waving Sophie goodbye.

"Heya! Have you seen Luna?" Harry asked, slightly out of breath.

"She's in the common room with Ginny… why?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I'm playing matchmaker… you know… Ron?" he said.

Hermione smiled, shaking her head.

"I'll see you later! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"That wouldn't be much fun!" Harry laughed, dodging Hermione's hand which had gone to whack him around the head playfully.

Hermione entered the heads living room and lay down on the sofa, her bag slumping to the floor. Her heavy eyelids begged to close and it wasn't long before she was asleep.

She awoke to see that it was finally nighttime. She sat up and saw Malfoy facing the lit fire, his back to her. He sat cross-legged reading, engrossed in the page he was reading. Hermione stood up slowly; her emotions unclear even to herself. She felt some kind of weird feeling, watching him read, watching his gentle face as she moved on the sofa to look at him more.

"Malfoy?" she called to him and he jumped.

"Fucking hell!" he screamed, clutching his chest.

"Sorry…" Hermione growled, turning around and tearing her potions essay from her bag with some new parchment, her quill and ink. "Malfoy… have you done the potions essay?"

"It's on the table… why, wanted to copy it, Granger?" Malfoy said spitefully, turning around, however, his eyes told of different emotions.

"No, actually I wanted to know how long it had to be," she growled, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Four sides of parchment, that's all," Malfoy sighed frustrated, going back to his book.

"Oh, I did seven so that's okay, I suppose," smiled Hermione, putting it down slowly. "Malfoy, can I ask you something?"

"No!" Malfoy snapped. "Just go away!"

"Fuck you, Malfoy," Hermione said, her voice breaking slightly.

She walked up the stairs to the bathroom. Malfoy saw her retreating back and a shiver traveled up his spine. He carried on reading, then suddenly, shot up, taking the stairs two at a time. He pushed the handle to the bathroom down. The door was locked. It wasn't like Hermione to swear at him, it didn't matter how angry she was, she would always try not to swear, but to swear after he had rejected possibly helping her that was big. Malfoy got out his wand and whispered an incantation. The door clicked open and Malfoy knelt down into the blood. Her face was pale and pained, her eyes closed gently. He tore his shirt into shreds, wrapping them around her bloody wrists. He picked her up, cradling her to his chest, and took her to his room, placing her under the covers. He sat and looked at her face. He lifted a hand and placed it to her hair, running it through the brown curls. For that moment, he related to the girl and all past bicker was forgotten. He looked at her face and a wave of sorrow swept over him. He stood up and walked to the other side of the bed. He lay down on his side putting his arm around Hermione's head, carrying on stroking her hair gently.

The last summer holiday had been life changing for them all. Hermione had been through hell; Draco had been released from some of his hell.

Hermione awoke confused. She felt a hand on her face and turned to see Malfoy's sleeping form, his expression was so serious, carefree, and kind. His hair fell over his face. Hermione felt weak and so she laid still, his body brushing up against hers. After a while, Malfoy slowly stirred and pulled his hand away, sitting up.

"You'll need to stay here until you're strong again," he said, pushing his hair back.

Hermione sat herself up, pausing slightly, hoping that she was going to make the right decision next, god knew she needed it and so she hugged Malfoy from behind. He was shocked at first, and then he turned around and hugged her back, rocking her as she cried into his bare chest. It was a strange feeling for them; embracing their foe. Malfoy could feel her warm body against his cold skin, the rhythm of her heart in tune with his own. He put a hand to her head and stroked her hair calmingly. He rested his chin on her forehead and pulled her closer to him. A tear trickled down from Hermione's cheek onto his stomach and into his belly button. Hermione brushed it away and suddenly felt calmer. Her sobbing ceased and she dug her fingers into his back tightly, making him wince slightly.

"Granger?"

"Yes?" she replied, closing her eyes.

"Are you really that unhappy?" he soon regretted this.

She tore away from him and looked at her wrists. She wanted to know why he had saved her, why he had held her so gently, embraced her in such a friendly way.

"I have a right to know, I can help, I under…"

"No you don't!" Hermione screamed.

Malfoy shot up from her and grabbed his wand, pointing to his wrist, making Hermione scream. He muttered a charm, one Hermione recognized to be the charm to disarm a concealing charm, "aperius". A deep red scar became visible on his pale skin.

"Yes I do," he said solidly.

He did the same to his other wrist to reveal a scar equal in size. Hermione didn't know what to do.

"Three times," Malfoy muttered his expression hard to place. "Abscondius." He muttered and the scars faded away.

"Unhappy is a state of mind," Hermione started as he sat next to her, "I felt my sorrow as a state of body. I was rejecting myself, I wasn't happy or familiar with anything, and I didn't want to conflict my pain on the ones I love. With Harry I didn't think it would be fair to tell him, to bombard him with my trouble when it seems so little to his. With Ron, well I think you've guessed that he lacks compassion and understanding, and to be honest I don't feel as close to him as I do to Harry. My parents went through a rough time with my sister's therapy, she has leukemia, and I didn't want to stress them either. So, I just kept bottling it all up, making it worse by the day. I grew disgust with myself, detest, and revolt. I hated the way people just got on with their lives so freely, like it was easy, but for me it wasn't. And to think I'm a Mudblood…"

"Stop!" shouted Malfoy. "You're not," Hermione questioned him with a confused look, he sighed. "I'm ashamed of that, Granger; I'm ashamed that I am a Malfoy, and that I come from such a hideous family. The truth is that my mother and I was prisoner to Voldemort, prisoner to things we didn't believe. One night I heard screaming, so, I followed the sound. My mother lay naked on the floor, my father was cursing her, beating her, then… he… then he raped her. I saw my mother raped by my own father. At school I realized I had power, I was feared. I was led to believe that my life was Potter's fault; you were part of his life, which meant I hated you, and in my mind, the three of you had ruined my life. I thought people respected me, they didn't, they feared me. Then I started to realize that they were lies and so I kept living the lie to fool my father, to save my life. The first time I met Voldemort brought me out in… I can't even voice theses words-that was my first attempt. The second was when I caught my father punching my mother's stomach and shouting that he didn't want a child. The third was when I realized that I was expected to become a death eater… my past is pain and I regret ever being the way I was, all I can do is wait for the final battle, when I can show that I have been and always will be on a side where no wizard is more important that muggles or any other wizard for that matter," he said softly.

Hermione paused before wrapping her arms around him and stroking his hair as he cried into her neck.

Saturday morning it began to snow heavily and the castle became increasingly colder. Hermione and Malfoy lay asleep side-by-side. Stirring, Hermione sat up. She looked down at the blonde boy and a wave of confusion swept her. She laced her hand in his and they both flinched as her scab touched his scar, as though a spark of electricity had passed through them. His eyes shot open and he flung himself around, kneeling over Hermione, who he ended up pinning down. He took a while to awaken, his grip loosening on her. They looked into each other's eyes. Their gaze was held as each searched for something. Malfoy leant down, his lips brushing hers, but a loud screech parted them; a large owl flew in, perching on the end of his bed.

"My mother's owl!" Said Malfoy, "it's about time a got a letter from her!"

Dear Draco,

I hope school is treating you well. How are you getting on with the head girl? I heard many positive things of her. How are you? Are you getting through everything all right? Everything here is fine, we are getting on peacefully. Have you started revising for your exams yet? I'm sure if you're nice to the head girl you can do it together. Please tell me as much as you can.

I miss you and hope things aren't too bad. Tell me everything. Have you met a nice girl at all? How about the head girl? I need to get to dinner, so, I'll speak to you soon.

Love Mum

Xxx

P.S What is the head girl's name?

"Hermione?" Malfoy turned to look at her and chuckled as he caught her staring, and then he nodded slightly in understand as she winced upon hearing her first name from his lips. "My mum wants to know your name, so… never mind!" Malfoy said, colour hinting in his face.

"Draco?" Hermione said quickly. Draco seemed shocked by the use us his first name, hardly expecting it. "You can tell her, if that helps!" Draco Malfoy smiled, attaching a letter to the owl's leg.

He came to her and smiled almost sincerely, although his trademark smirk was hard to hide.

"Let's do some homework. I'll bring yours here…" Draco started walking from the room, Hermione watched him go and felt butterflies in her stomach.

She gasped and blushed as it occurred to her.

Later that day Draco announced his reluctance to work. He stood up and paced the room, stretching his stiff legs. Hermione suddenly put down her pen and got out of bed. Draco took no notice, but stared out of the window, watching the snow settle. His arms folded. Hermione crept back in, coming to stand next to him.

"You're dressed?" Draco asked puzzled, having jumped when he'd seen her, as he turned to look down at her.

"Well, what are you waiting for, get your coat!" Hermione brightly gestured.

"Alright," he said, laughing slightly.

They walked calmly along the edge of the lake, in a slightly uncomfortable silence. She looked up at his profile and her heart fluttered in her chest. His hair fell over his intense eyes as he looked across the crystal water. Before she knew it, she had reached across and taken his hand in her own. It was hard to read his reaction, but he did squeeze her hand tightly. Hermione wasn't surprised that Draco was hard to read. Unless he was happy it had always been that way. Draco looked at their laced hands and then at her pensive face. She wasn't that hard to read, not if you understood the format, sure her pages had some big words, but nearly everyone was like that in some way or other. He wondered what Ron would say if he saw them standing as they were, hand in hand.

"It's nice having a friend," he whispered, brushing snow from his hair with his free hand, making her grin in surprise.

"It's nice having you as a friend," Hermione whispered back, smiling genuinely.

The snow began to fall heavily, making Hermione giggle. She let go of Draco's hand and twirled in the huge flakes. He watched her as she elegantly danced; his heart beat slower as it dawned on him.

"To seem so happy," he whispered to himself.

He smiled at her as she stood facing him, out of breath, her chest rising and falling in time with the breath that puffed from her mouth. Then she grabbed his hand and tried to persuade him to follow in her footsteps. He blushed, nervously denying her that. She pulled him close, looking up at him with her begging eyes.

"I don't dance!" he exclaimed, but she smiled cheekily.

"Then… try and catch me!" she smiled, pushing him away to give herself a heads start.

"Oh no you don't!" he called after. He was quick footed, really fast in fact, so fast that it took no time at all to catch her, pulling her to the ground.

"Oh! Now I'm all covered in snow!" she growled.

For a moment he thought that she was serious, until she giggled, shoving a handful of snow in his face.

"You want to play that game do you?" he laughed, then he noticed how out if breath she was.

"I think that you should go back up into the room, you look exhausted. Come on," he stood up, putting his hand out to her.

"I'm fine!" she said breathily.

"Okay, but let's go in anyway, get a drink of something maybe?"

"Okay…" she sighed, taking his hand, letting him haul her up.

He picked up her empty glass and tapped it, sending it back to the kitchens. She was fast asleep on the sofa, a smile lingering in her lips. He picked her up and took her into her own room, pulling back the covers and placing her on the bed, tucking her in, kissing her lips lightly. Then he went into his own bed, stripping down to his underwear and slipping in exhausted, falling asleep almost instantly.

Hermione awoke confused as to why she was in a red room, until she realized that she was in her own room, still fully clothed. He must have taken her here. There was no other explanation to it. She slipped out of bed, stripping her clothes off, grabbing a large t-shirt, slipping that on, making sure she was wearing underwear, before slipping off her bra. She walked out of her room and slowly into his, slipping into the bed, suddenly the darkness seemed pathetic as she looked onto his face. She kissed his lips gently, before curling up, facing him.

He woke up with his chin rested on something. He pulled his head away to see the back of Hermione's head, brown curly hair and all. Then he looked at where his arm was resting. Somehow her t-shirt must have slipped up as his arm was wrapped tightly across her bare breasts. He blushed slightly, before pulling her closer to him, kissing her neck once gently, waiting for her to awaken. He wasn't going to be the only one to blush, that was for sure, and he wanted to make sure she did, almost as punishment for scaring him.

When she did wake up she didn't let him know for quite a while, he adjusted his arm slightly around her breast, loosening his grip slightly, sending a shiver through her whole body. She turned her body around, surprising him, not realizing she had awoken.

"You're awake?" he asked, slightly more embarrassed than she was.

"I've been awake for quite some time, but I though that you weren't. You knew that if I awoke I wouldn't be strong enough to resist your arm!" Hermione said, slowly pulling her top down, before flicking his nose lightly. "Draco… can you please cast that charm on my scars?"

"Of course," he said, sitting up, getting Hermione's attention on his chest. He reached for his wand, noticing her gaze falling upon his chest and he laughed to himself. "Hold out your wrist… abscondius…" he held up her wrist and kissed it lightly, signalling for her to give him the other, before repeating the same charm and action. She pushed him gently, laughing.

"You're such a big flirt, Draco!" she laughed, kissing his cheek. "Can we go outside again? I think I'm stronger now!" she said, still very close to him. He felt his pace quicken, her chocolate eyes hard to deny, and all he could do was nod.

"Thank you!" she grinned, hurtling into him, causing them to fall onto the bed. Hermione laughed, happy to be pinning him down. "I could do this all day…" she whispered, staring into his eyes.

"Trust me, so could I," he purred back.

They walked along the lake hand in hand, both rather full of energy, chatting excitably.

"Hermione!" shouted Harry, running over, hands on knees and he nodded a brief greeting to Draco. "Hermione, I've been looking all over for you, where have you been these past few days?"

"Well I… uh…" Hermione's face drained to a pearly white.

"She's been ill, from overworking no doubt, so she's been in bed resting," Draco said, standing close to Hermione.

A smile was shared between them as Hermione smiled thankfully and him as genuinely as he could.

"Right, I see, so… you've been looking after her?" asked Harry receiving a nod from Draco. "Thank you, I owe you one." Harry's face was full of seriousness, but no anger or bad feelings towards the Slytherin.

Both Hermione and Draco offered a confused and shocked look at Harry.

"Look I don't need it explained to me, Hermione looks happy, and I can only assume that you've been good to her… I'm not dwelling on the past, okay?"

Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around Harry in a hug, kissing his cheek. He smiled, hugging her back.

"Harry," said Ginny, arriving nearby, red cheeked and smiling. "Hey Hermione!" she smiled, and then she turned and forced as civilly as she could: "Malfoy" to Draco. "Hermione, how are you?"

"Much better thanks to Draco, he'd be a good nurse!" replied Hermione, smiling kindly.

"NO! Sorry, nursing really isn't my thing! I just happened to know what I was doing!" Draco mumbled and Hermione smiled at him knowingly.

Out of nowhere, a snowball hit Draco in the cheek and a tuft of red hair could be seen not far away, hiding behind a tree. Getting out his wand, Draco flicked it, murmuring something and four snowballs hit the red head from behind. Ron jumped out, slightly moody, covered in snow, closely followed by a happy looking Luna. They ran to the group and Hermione turned away. After a moment she turned sharply, hitting Ginny right in the face with a snowball.

"Three teams!" Hermione yelled, holding onto Draco's shoulders as she dodged behind him to avoid what Ginny had thrown.

The fight began. All of them were red-faced. Hermione and Draco seemed to be winning; only getting hit once each.

"Hermione?" said Draco, getting her attention and throwing snow in her face,

Hermione gasped, spitting the snow out.

"This, Draco, means war!" she screamed, running away. Draco ran after her and captured her, pushing her onto her back, and then they stared at each other for a moment.

Their lips joined in a warm kiss that Draco had initiated. The kiss was long and tender. They parted, staring into each other's eyes and Draco got up, holding his hand out to Hermione. She stood up and immediately hugged him, wrapping her warm body around his cold one. At first, he was taken by surprise, and then he hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. They let go, just in time as the others joined them, wet and red, and without breath.

A/N: What can I say? I have finally rewritten this chapter. Please review it will be much appreciated. There is a reason for all of this to go so fast and as I wrote in the previous version, it will be explained later, but for now thank you for reading this if you have!

Ellie

xxx