Disclaimer: Not mine, as the whole of the Harry Potter universe belongs to JKR. Only in my dreams…

Ch. 1 A Late Arrival and a Bet

The students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry knew that this year would be a life-changing one amongst the wizarding community. Voldemort was back with a vengeance and had gained many followers willing to service their Lord to the death. Among these followers, Lucius Malfoy was considered to be the most loyal by Voldemort himself, so it follows that the senior Malfoy would expect the same from his only heir and son, Draco. At the age of seventeen, Draco was considered an adult wizard, and therefore old enough to take the dark mark and join the Deatheaters' forces. The problem was that Draco was not sure that he was willing to do so.

The boy in question sat in the Great Hall during the sorting of the first years preceding the welcoming feast, signifying the start of his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. He was brooding a bit and pondering his most assuredly doomed future, when he was brought out of his haze when he heard his fellow Slytherins discussing the aptly named "Golden Trio." At this he snapped to attention and turned to find his friend, Blaise Zabini.

"What about the Golden Trio?" he asked Blaise, trying to sound bored with the topic at hand.

"It looks like they're missing the fairer, brainier third of the trio." Blaise replied. "Potter and Weasley seem to be concerned about it. "

"Who cares where Granger is?" Draco spat back. "Hopefully she discovered that mudbloods don't belong at wizarding schools and decided to resume her life among the rest of the worthless muggles of the world."

"I see your extremely narrow-minded viewpoints haven't changed over the summer," Blaise said, raising an eyebrow and smirking in amusement.

"Of course my opinions haven't changed. Why would they? You seem to have forgotten that unlike you, I don't have the luxury of forming my own opinions and making my own life choices. I've been raised for 17 years to despise mudbloods, and just because I don't follow Voldemort around and lick his boots for him doesn't mean that I won't continue to hate who I have hated for years." After this outburst, Draco looked away from Blaise to glare down at his dinner plate.

Blaise was surprised and pleased to hear that Draco didn't want to follow Voldemort and also that he seemed to know that his opinions were not his own. He had to admit that Draco was right regarding his luxury of making choices. Although purebloods, his parents had never chosen to follow Voldemort and they also trusted him to make important decisions regarding his future on his own. Lucius Malfoy on the other hand, seemed to want to brainwash Draco and turn him into a carbon-copy of himself.

"Well, Malfoy, since Granger is head girl and all this year and what with you being head boy, I just wondered if you were going to be able to handle being in such close quarters with her all year." Blaise stated casually. "Speaking of which, I wonder where she is. It's not like Granger to miss the sorting, especially if she's head girl."

Just then, the head girl herself hurried into the Great Hall, holding the hand of a young raven-haired girl who appeared to be a first year. She pulled the young girl over to where Professor McGonagall was standing and spoke quietly to her. After a brief whispered conversation, Hermione Granger patted the girl's shoulder encouragingly and walked over to the Gryffindor table to sit between Harry and Ron who were looking at her with concerned, worried expressions.

Draco had been watching Granger from the second she set foot in the Great Hall and was slightly blown away by the strange feelings he had experienced when he first saw her. She looked about the same, maybe a little bit taller and slightly more filled out. Granger had always been pretty, even for a mudblood, despite all of the tortuous comments he made regarding her appearance, but this year she had something else going for her. It was the way she now carried herself that made her that much more physically appealing to Draco. She seemed sure of herself, in a confident, womanly sort of manner. She held her head high, her posture was straight and she bestowed a dazzling smile at her fellow students as she walked past to them sit at her house table.

"Damn, Granger looks good this year, "Blaise commented. Many male Slytherins sitting nearby agreed out loud with him.

"As a matter of fact, I'd say that she's looking extremely fuckable," said Theo Nott, another Slytherin, with a glint in his eyes and a typical Slytherin smirk. More noises of agreement came from the Slytherin males, excluding Draco.

Draco felt a sudden surge of…something…possibly annoyance, he thought, and he had to fight the urge to snap at both Blaise and Theo. Instead he rolled his eyes and sneered at them, hoping they figured his reaction was due to his pureblooded snobbery.

"I'd fuck her for sure," Blaise said, sneaking a look at Draco from the corner of his eye.

"Not if I get to her first," Theo retorted.

"How about a bet then? We both have until the Halloween Ball to get into the Head girl's knickers. With Draco being the Head boy, she'll be even more accessible to us nasty Slytherins," Blaise drawled with a smirk.

"You're on, said Theo. "Whoever gets her first wins, and the loser owes the winner 100 galleons."

Draco rolled his eyes again. "You two can't be serious. First of all, it's Granger. She'll hex your balls off for even looking at her. Second of all, my being Head boy has nothing to do with this. I refuse to help either one of you dirty up your dicks with the mudblood," he said disgustedly. In truth, he was disgusted but not for the reason he was trying to convey. Thanks to his father and his…associates…Draco had seen enough mistreatment of women throughout his lifetime to scar him forever. Save for Pansy, he had never used a woman for sex, or for any other purpose. The idea of either Blaise or Theo using Granger to fulfill a bet made him feel a burning pain in his chest and stomach that he couldn't quite put a name to. Mudblood or not, Granger deserved to be treated better.

'Well,' he thought to himself, 'This year is going to be a strange one indeed.'

A.N: Next chapter, we see Hermione's POV and find out why she was late to the sorting.