Disclaimer: None of these characters or settings are mine.

Chapter 1: Nightmarish Confrontations

"Draco Malfoy," a shrill hissing voice called his name and he walked to the spot in front of his master. He slowly got to his knees and bowed his head, waiting for his orders.

"It is time Draco, for you to follow in your father's footsteps and become a Death Eater." Draco felt his heart jump. Finally, after all this time, he was going to become a Death eater, like so many Malfoys before him. His master continued.

"But first Draco, you must complete one final task." This time Draco felt his heart sink. He felt that he had done enough to receive the Dark Mark, but yet again, his master was asking more. However, Draco knew there was no point in arguing.

"What must I do master?" Draco asked.

"You know the prophecy Draco. 'Dirty Blood will defeat pure evil to become clean.' I assume you know the Dirty Blood I speak of."

"Granger, Master."

"Yes Draco. Your task is to befriend the Mudblood. Earn her trust so that in the end, pure will triumph once again." Draco nodded his head. He hated Granger. Sometimes even more than Potter and Weasley. At least when it came down to it, he could beat those two in brains, but not Granger, She had always beaten him in every class. Except for Potions, but that was only because Snape was the teacher and Snape always swung the favour to Slytherins.

Draco begun thinking of how he was going to complete the task. There wasn't any way that he could think of to get Granger to trust him. She had loathed him for 6 years now. Then his master spoke again.

"Draco, I believe you and the Mudblood are Head Boy and Girl this year?" Draco simply nodded his head, but his mind was racing a mile a minute. 'Of course!' He thought. 'Granger and I will be sharing the same common room as Head Boy and Girl. We will also have to spend a lot of time together.' All of a sudden the plan seemed much easier. And this is what his master referred to.

"Your task should be simple then. This is very important Draco. The future of darkness is in your hands. You can not fail!"

"No Master. I will not let you down." With that Draco kissed both of his master's feet and took his place in the circle of Death Eaters. Lord Voldemort turned to the rest of his Death Eaters.

"You all know what you must do." All of a sudden Voldemort Apparated and this was the cue for the Death Eaters to leave.

At that split second, Hermione Granger woke up in her bed at home.

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The next morning Hermione couldn't remember one thing about her dream All she remembered was waking up in the middle of the night sweating, but she wasn't worried about it. She'd had nightmares before and they were never anything to stress about. All she was worried about now was getting to Diagon Alley to meet her friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and also to buy all her supplies for her final year of school. She was so excited. She was Head Girl. She had worked so hard to get there and damned if anyone was going to muck it up. It was going to be the best year at Hogwarts yet.

The only bad thing was that her enemy, Draco Malfoy, was to be Head Boy and she would be sharing a common room, bathroom and a whole lot of her precious time with him. But this was only a minor setback. She was still determined to have the best year of her life.

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After quickly getting ready Hermione found herself at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour waiting for her friends. After waiting at least 10 minutes she found herself starting to worry. 'Where can they be?' She thought to herself. 'Perhaps something happened to them on the way? No that can't be right, they'd be travelling by Floo Powder. So where are they then?'

As if right on cue she heard someone call her name. She turned around to find herself almost nose to nose with Harry. She screamed and almost fell backwards, but managed to stop herself on a nearby chair. Then Ron came up. Hermione couldn't help notice how much he had grown over the summer. He now made her feel very short and she has a sudden urge to go out and buy a pair of high-heeled shoes. As all this had been going through her mind she hadn't realised that Ron had been laughing at her.

"Haha! You should have seen your face when you turned around. You looked so scared. Oh, I'll never forget that."

"Yeah, very funny Ron. Just remember, you may have grown a few inches over the holidays, but you not so tall that I can't hit you over the back of your head when you piss me off." And with that she reached up and hit Ron on the back of his head.

"Hey! Come off it! What did you do that for?" Hermione just looked at Ron as if to say 'You've been warned.' She then said hello to Mr and Mrs Weasley and Ginny, who she noticed had become very mature looking and confident.

"Wow, you look great Ginny! New hair, new make-up? What is it?" Hermione asked. Ginny beamed.

"I met someone. We've been going out for almost a month. He's really great," Ginny replied.

"Oh my god Ginny, that's great! You make me feel like I should get off my ass and find someone."

"Well I still think you and Ron should start dating."

"Ginny, we've been through this only about a million times. I am not dating Ron!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Hermione took this as an end to the conversation and started to talk with Ron and Harry about the holidays as they walked into Flourish and Blotts to get their new books.

Ron and Harry suddenly stopped talking and were glaring at something in the shop. Or should I say someone.

"Oh great," Harry sighed.

As soon as Draco heard this he turned around with his smirk on his face. He gave the two boys a once over and then laid his eyes on Hermione, just the person he wanted to see. He then turned his attention back to Harry.

"Oh, what's wrong Potter? I thought you'd be happy to be back with your friends. Even if they are a Weasel and a Mudblood." At this Ron jumped at Draco, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jumper.

"Don't worry about it Ron, It doesn't matter, I don't care anymore," said Hermione.

"Oh my Granger," said Draco moving towards her. "You don't care about my insults anymore? I'm so surprised and almost proud of you." He said this last part with his mouth only an inch from her ear. Draco couldn't help noticing that she smelled very nice. He also noticed that her hair wasn't as bushy anymore. It was sleek and smooth; it looked good on her. 'Snap out of it Draco! You have a job to do!' He took this opportunity of closeness to slip a note in her jacket pocket, and then pulled away.

"Looks like I'm going to have to find new insults for you Granger." He then sneezed. "Oh Granger what is that perfume your wearing? It smells disgusting!" He then turned around and walked out.

Hermione turned around and watched him walk away. 'That was different. He hardly insulted us at all'. And one thought crossed her mind that took her by surprise. 'He smelled nice. I wonder what he was wearing?' But she dismissed the thought and totally forgot about it.