Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm not in any way affiliated with JKR. This is just me toying with the idea of DHr before Hogwarts.

A/N If a word is bold and underlined, it means beginning of new part, okay? Enjoy!

Draco would simply die, if anyone at Hogwarts found out. To backtrack a little, this is a story of before Hogwarts; of unexpected friendships, and how the most significant things can sometimes be invisible to our eyes.

Draco was seven, when he met Hermione Granger. They did not, in fact, meet in their first year at Hogwarts.

Narcissa Malfoy smiled at her son, his face glowing with happiness. He was at a beach. The place was close to Malfoy Manor, but somehow they never visited and this was Draco's first time. It could have something to do with Lucius not being in town, and the beach being a muggle one.

"Mummy, could I go swim in the ocean..?" Draco asked, pleading her.

"Of course, darling. Don't go too deep in, though."

She wasn't really worried; he couldn't drown for god's sake. He was a wizard.

Draco wandered off, smiling. He had really been an innocent little boy. Pity that he was never remembered as that. He came across a friendly man selling ice-cream, and took out two sickles to buy some. That was when he saw her; his first friend.

The same brown hair covered her petite head. It shone in the sun, as her chocolate eyes shimmered. She even had some chocolate ice-cream on her nose, and held a cone of just that in her hand.

"What's that?" the girl asked him.

"What's what?" said Draco, confused.

She pointed to the silver sickles in his hand.

"It's money, of course."

The girl seemed to find that funny and put on a know-it-all voice.

"He won't give you ice-cream if you pay with play money!"

"It's real money…"

"No, it isn't! Look, I'll just get my daddy to buy you some okay?"

"You will? Okay."

"What's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy. What's yours?"

"Hermione Granger."

He liked her name. It rather suited her.

He waited while she scampered off to her father, and came back with two notes. Draco didn't comment on how these looked more like fake money.

Once she bought him a strawberry cone, they walked along the beach, outlining the waves.

"I like reading," she put in randomly.

"I don't," said Draco, his nose crinkling up, "But father forces me, so I have to."

"I can't imagine being forced to read," she giggled.

Without warning, he pushed her into the waves. She gasped as she was pulled in deeper.

He suddenly regretted what he had done in the spur of the moment, and searched around for her. Her bushy brown head was no where in sight.

He anxiously went in, stepping deeper and deeper, his ice-cream forgotten behind.

He jumped, startled, as something tugged at his left leg. He went down, catching a glimpse of brown before surfacing. And she was there, laughing maniacally.

He smiled at her awkwardly.

"I'm sorry," he said, meaning it.

"That's okay. I wanted to go in anyway."

"Let's swim," he said simply.

"We already are," said Hermione, giggling.

She splashed him, and he tasted the salty water.

"And that," she said, with her chin up, "Was for pushing me in you meany."

Draco's mouth formed into an 'O' shape as he raised his eyebrows.

He pulled off his shirt. She was already in her bathing suit. And the next hour passed quickly.

"Hermione, dear, we should really be getting back now. Tell your friend goodbye."

Her parents stood patiently by the waters as the two bid each other farewell.

"I come here every week," Hermione said grinning.

"Oh," was all Draco could manage. He very much doubted he would see Hermione again.

"So, I'll see you, okay?" she said.

"Yeah. Bye," he smiled sadly.

"Mummy, I made a friend today," Draco said as soon as they were back in the Manor.

"Ooh, who is it?"

"Hermione Granger. She bought me ice-cream."

"That's nice, dear."

"Yeah. She even used some paper notes to pay for them."

Narcissa Malfoy froze.

"Draco," she said harshly, "What have I told you? She is muggle. Do you not realize that? Muggle!"

"No! No, mummy, please, she isn't!"

Narcissa sighed, and purposefully ignored her son. He would have to learn, she thought. Lucius would never have it. She had risked enough by taking Draco to muggle beach, but he had really wanted to, and she couldn't find it in her heart to deny the boy what he wanted. But really, making friends with one of them was unacceptable.

Draco dragged his feet up the stairs and threw himself on his bed.

"She is not a muggle," he said out loud.

What was wrong with being muggle anyway?

Draco was now eight years old… and a half, as he liked to add.

Narcissa was taking him and Blaise shopping in London. They would be entering through the Leaky Cauldron.

Draco and Blaise discussed the new levitating toy broom as they walked. It was then that he spotted her yet again.

She hadn't changed at all. Perhaps she was a little taller, but then, so was he. Her hair, bushy as always, was longer, and her teeth were slightly more forward than they should have been.

She was staring at the murky entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, giving the distinct impression that she could see it…

Draco dragged Blaise and left his mother to look at muggle pottery distastefully. He tapped Hermione's shoulder twice and she turned around.

"Hello…" she said, something nagging at the back of her mind.

"Hermione, did you forget me?"

It clicked.

"Draco!" she shrieked.

Draco simply smiled at her and she looked up into his warm, blue eyes. Ah yes, they were blue at the time.

"Who are you?" Blaise Zabini asked Hermione rudely.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Granger? I've never of the Grangers before. Never been to one of Daddy's parties, have you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Are you muggle?" Blaise asked bluntly.

Hermione did not know what a muggle was, so she just said she wasn't.

Draco noted this. He had known he was right. His friend couldn't be a muggle.

"Listen, Hermione, we need go. Mummy won't want me talking to you. Just take this. And I'll send you a letter some time," said Draco handing her a piece of parchment on which he wrote his address.

She wrote down hers for him.

"Oh, okay. Bye then."

And the boys left her to wonder why Draco's mother wouldn't want him talking to her.

They sent letters to each other for the next few years, without meeting once. Hermione sent them to him by muggle post. Draco picked it up from his neighbor. And Draco sent his letters through his eagle owl, which were dropped at the Granger doorstep, innocently hidden in between the other letters.

Hermione and Draco mailed each other because it kept them both going. Draco did not tell her much about his father or mother, but she did. Hermione wrote to Draco about everything; her friends, her problems, her bad habits, and even her stuffed polar bear; which nobody knew about.

He told her about Blaise Zabini. Hermione thought Blaise was mean, and Draco deserved better friends.

Draco said that he always had her.

A week before Draco turned eleven, his father spoke to him.

"Boy, you are almost eleven. You do know what that means?"

"I will be going to Hogwarts, father."

"Yes. Now, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I know you've been mailing that muggle girl. Narcissa told me about her. I have allowed it so far as I did not think it would cause you harm. Perhaps, I thought, she could show you how filthy people of her heritage could be."

Draco flinched involuntarily.

"I know you've become fond of her. You cannot allow muggles and mudbloods to become your weakness, Draco."

"She is not my weakness."

"She will soon become just that. Do not reply to her if she mails you, or you, and she, will suffer the consequences. You will not disappoint me, boy."

And Draco knew what he had to do.

Draco Malfoy did not send any more letters to Hermione, although his neighbor, Mrs. Harris, badgered him incessantly that multiple letters had arrived from Hermione.

As if he needed reminding of that. Draco told himself that he was doing it all for everyone's own good. Soon, Hermione would give up on him and stop trying to contact him. He would go off to Hogwarts and never see her again.

Oh, how very wrong he was.

After Draco got his Hogwarts letter, he went to Diagon Alley with his mother, to buy school books and robes and cauldrons.

Fate proposed this very day for the two to meet again, something Draco was not expecting, for they met in Diagon Alley, outside Ollivanders.

"Draco Malfoy…" her voice was heard behind him. He had not heard her voice since they were eight. It felt good.

He did not allow expression to show on his pale face and he turned around, facing her coolly. Inside him, however, a storm was brewing. She was a witch. She would be going to Hogwarts with him.

"Granger, you are a witch after all are you?"

"You knew? I mean, you are a wizard?"

"Of course. I am a Malfoy."

"Oh. I tried telling you before. I sent you many letters, Draco. What happened? Didn't you get them?"

"I simply chose not to reply."

"What? I mean, why?" she stuttered, "Did I do something wrong?"

Her eyes burned a whole in him.

"Nothing in particular. My father managed to convince me that muggles like you are below the Malfoy name."

"Draco," her eyes were sad. It took him all his courage not to comfort her, "When did you get like this?"

"I was always like this; deep down," he forced himself to say, "Thankfully my delusions are gone."

"What are you saying?" said Hermione, a feeling of loss in the pit of her stomach.

"I hate you, mudblood. You may be a witch but you are still below me, and I'm glad I realize that now. Go away, I don't need you."

All the pain that Draco felt was then reflected on Hermione's face and a lone tear slipped down her cheek.

If this were anyone else, she would have slapped them.

But this was him.

She turned violently, and ran away. She did not realize, that this parting would change their relationship forever.

Alas, they were never the same again.

At Hogwarts, she called him 'Malfoy' and he termed her 'Mudblood' and that was that. She made friends with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley and he was acquaintances with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. No one looked back on what had been or what could have been. But that was because both kept their past a secret, and no one noticed the glances stolen by the now silver eyes, or the way his cruel comments affected her most. They could never go back and their friendship was now just a distant memory.

They hardly ever spoke. Hermione let Ron and Harry do the talking when they clashed with Draco. She felt she would lose control if she ever spoke to him. Or maybe it would just hurt too much.

It was their third year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and they were at Hogsmeade.

Hermione Granger entered the book store. They were selling the new edition of Hogwarts- A History. Her eyes sparkled as she walked past shelves of books to reach the one whose release she had been anticipating.

But a tall figure blocked the stack of special editions. He had blond hair and grey eyes, almost blue. He was leaning against the book case and a definite smirk played with his lips. Draco Malfoy looked as though he had been waiting for someone, and that someone was quite possibly her, for he stood up straight when he saw her, the smirk still in place.

"Shove off, Malfoy."

"I don't think I will, Granger."

She continued to stare at him, her head held high and her arms folded. They hadn't had a proper conversation since Diagon Alley.

"Look, mudblood," he said tauntingly, "Want the book, do you? Sure you have enough to pay for it?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I do. Now, please do clear off, unless you want another slap" she said sarcastically.

He held both his hands up as a sign of resignation, and she stared, surprised. That was unexpected.

"I doubt they accept muggle money here, though. They won't sell the book for play money," he sniggered.

Now, where had she heard that before?

"Whatever, Malfoy. Just buy the book for me if you're so eager."

"Don't joke. It doesn't suit you."

"Why are you here anyway? I thought you didn't like reading."

His eyes bore into hers.

"I don't."

THE END

A/N Did you get the last part? It means Draco was waiting for Hermione there, obviously, since he hates reading. I kind of liked it, you know? And I rarely say that about my own fictions.

Pease do, review. I mean, I want you to review… You want to review…There's nothing stopping you!

Love you;

DracozMudblood