It's not that Hope didn't want to stay with her friends, it's just that she got so annoyed with them sometimes. Harry was hard to deal with most of the time, but sometimes he was just ridiculous. And Hermione was insufferable when it came to homework. She'd fill in all of Ron's work, because she fancied the pants off him. Ron wasn't actually so bad, but he came as a package with the other two. That's what made Hope feel so left out.

She made her way down to library, still having a bit of homework left to do. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered to do it, but it was Potions, and she'd only get into more detentions if she didn't do her homework. Snape was the worst, he actually hated her with a passion.

Not watching where she was going, she walked straight into someone.

'Sorry,' She muttered, not really glancing up at them.

'It's okay.' She recognised that voice. Staring back up at him, she saw the chiselled jaw line and smoky eyes of Draco Malfoy. He looked different in a Quidditch kit. She bit her lip.

He glanced her up and down. Hope guessed that wearing her own clothes, rather than a uniform, made her seem less like a Gryffindor – at heart, she wasn't. She knew that much.

'What's your name?' He asked her, his eyes suddenly changing from the cold, grey stormy look, to a more flirty kind of stare.

She couldn't help but smile. 'Hope.' She replied.

'Hang on…' He thought about it. 'Don't I know you?'

'Oh, yeah.' She smiled.

'Sorry, I didn't recognise you… Just run it past me, how exactly do I know you?' He asked her carefully.

She giggled. 'Don't worry, I'm not an ex-girlfriend.' She told him. He breathed a sigh of relief. That was the problem with Draco Malfoy, well, one of many. He was such a player. Girlfriends changed for him on a weekly basis. He smiled back at Hope.

There were footsteps down the corridor. They both turned to see who it was.

'You might want to re-think how you know me.' She added quickly, as Harry Potter stormed down the corridor towards them.

'Hope?' He repeated. 'Healey...' he glared at her, realising who she was. She'd not exactly been nice to him, it was one of the conditions of being friends with Harry Potter.

'Hey! Malfoy! What d'you think you're doing?' Harry yelled at him.

'Nothing. Just leaving,' He answered shortly. 'I'll see you around Healey.' He glanced back at Hope, eyed her up and then strolled off in the opposite direction.

Harry stared at her, trying to analyse what she was thinking. 'What's got you smiling?'

'Oh? Sorry, I forget we can't smile anymore.' She replied sourly.

'I didn't mean it like that,' He smiled warmly at her, which of course, completely melted the ice on her heart and she smiled back. 'See? Now we're smiling.' He grinned.

'Yeah, for now. But you're always so down.' Hope told him, as he slipped his arm around her.

'Can you blame me? Voldemort wants to kill me, I can hardly forget that.'

'True,' She sighed. It made Hope an easy person for Harry to talk to because she didn't wince at the sound of Voldemort's name, or refer to him as He Who Must Not Be Named. 'But at least try and cheer up… for me?' She pleaded.

He smiled. 'Okay. For you.'