A/N: Hey there! This is Marissa's friend Julie and when I read this story I thought it was really, really good. But since she said she doesn't have any time to add anything to the story she let me edit and re-post her story! I tend to make this story up to your expectations and hers. Although I'm writing the story which, is still hers, I will be writing under her pen name and all reviews (bad or good) will be sent to her email where we can both read them. I'm changing this story to a more deeper one and it is rated R for a reason. I like writing stories that have ADULT situations so if you don't like it, leave. It's as simple as that. This story is also a Draco/ new girl story, it is not Hermione and Draco! So all those who are so closed minded can leave but you are missing out on a great story because Marissa ran by the idea with me and it is soooo good! So lets get writing shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters affiliated with the Harry Potter series. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and her brilliant mind. I only own the plot of this story... well actually Marissa does.

Summary: One big secret can change everything. Enemies since they were born, they both come together to defeat the Dark Lord all because of her. They both loved her. They still do. She brought them together in a way that she didn't even know.

Rating: R for adult situations and language.

When the Grinch's Heart Grew

Chapter 1: The Train Ride Home

It was dark as he stood on Hogsmeade Platform. 'Is it supposed to be this dark outside?' he thought to himself. He felt rain droplets hit his face as he stood there on the platform just looking. Looking at what? Nothing in particular. He didn't even know why he was just standing there in the rain, just looking. The rain fell wetting his hair, seeping into his cloak wetting his clothes making him shiver. He was actually cold. He hasn't felt anything since that night. He was numb. Neither his feelings nor his senses felt anything. He just stood there looking up into the sky as the storm clouds passed over head emitting their racket and flashes of light as they lit up the sky above. It hasn't struck him yet, his eyes saw it but his head didn't process it. He didn't even cry. He hasn't slept or eaten in two whole days. He hasn't spoken. He had no reason to. Maybe it wasn't that his head didn't process what his eyes saw. Maybe it was he didn't want to believe the truth. He heard talking somewhere in the back of his head, though distant and fuzzy. He just simply stood there as he looked around the crowd laughing, chatting, and walking with their friends. He looked around blankly, as if looking for something long lost. Smoke billowed out from the top of the red engine in front of him. 'Hogwarts Express' was written on it in gold lettering. He looked straight ahead of him at the train. He saw students climbing into it and thought he had better do the same. He took a few steps forward, turned, and looked up at the castle one last time with the dark storm clouds surrounding the highest tower. So many memories, yet so many nightmares. The place that had once brought him joy now brings him pain and discomfort. He looked back at the train and walked up the steps into the aisle. He ventured down to the last compartment ignoring invitations from the other students to sit with them. He slid open the compartment door, walked in, closed it and sat down. He looked out the window and watched as the few students still out there walked about before getting on the train. It wasn't fair. Why did he have to suffer? He wasn't suppose to. He was Draco Malfoy. Rich, snobby, got everything he wanted. He lied down on the seat as the train gave a jolt and started to move. He stared at the ceiling, as his eyes grew heavy. He knew all that loss of sleep would eventually catch up to him. As his eyes shut, he thought of her. It all started in this compartment. He felt a sense of security as he fell asleep in this compartment. He could sense her just sitting on the opposite side of the compartment just smiling and watching him. As his eyes grew smaller and smaller under his heavy eye lids surrounded by dark bags, he saw her. Just sitting there staring at him with that cute smile of hers. Was he dreaming? He wasn't asleep yet. It couldn't have been a dream. She looked so real, so angelic as she always did. Maybe it was wishful thinking. He knew she was gone. As his eyelids covered more than half his eyes, the picture of her across from him grew blurry. He tried to stay awake but it was so damn hard. "Don't go..." he whispered to the empty reality and all went dark before him.

"I love you," she said in a sweet whisper smiling while lying down on his bed in his dormitory with her brown, shiny hair fanning out behind her head.

"I love you too," he replied in that same whisper leaning down and kissing her gently on her soft, pink lips. As they broke apart they just looked into each other's eyes. "What would I do without you?" he asked her sincerely.

"I'll always be with you," and they shared a passionate kiss knowing they would always be together. Suddenly they were in the Great Hall. People surrounding them, as she lied on the floor and him kneeling next to her. "I...I love you Draco Malfoy," she managed to get out in between coughs while tears streamed down her paled face.

He looked at her from his spot on the floor next to her with wide eyes. As he sat there, he grabbed her hands and tightly grasped them in his. She was cold, freezing cold. 'This can't be it!' his thoughts screamed at him. "I love you too," he choked out. His throat was tight and he could barely breath.

"I'll always be with you," she whispered.

"I know." He leant down and planted one final kiss on her lips as she went limp beneath them. He moved his head upwards but didn't want to open his eyes. It was a dream! Yes a dream! 'She'll be right here lying next to me in my bed when I open my eyes,' he told himself. He pried apart his eyes as he looked down once again. Her eyes were shut, her face pale and cold as he lightly ran his fingers across her cheek. His eyes stung with tears as one single tear fell down his face and landed on her robes. He put her hands down on her chest as he hastily wiped away the tear. He looked up just as he heard a high, pitched cackle coming from behind him. He stood up with a wild look as he turned around, wand out and faced the person who had done this to her... and him.

He sat up suddenly in his compartment and looked around in a cold sweat as he grabbed for his wand. As he realized no one was in his compartment except for himself he put the wand back in his pocket, took in a deep breath and slumped back into his seat. Ever since that night, that's all he could ever think about. Dream about even. Everything reminded him of her. When he thought of her, he thought of that night. The images of her dying in his arms would never go away. They were burned into him, into his brain and he couldn't get them out. He felt so alone.

As he grabbed a handful of his robes and dabbed away the beads of sweat that were forming on his brow and dripping down his face, he slid over to the seat next to the window. He ignored the knock at the door as he sat in silence. Hogwarts castle disappeared behind a hill as the red train rounded a corner carrying hundreds of students back to Platform 9 ¾ at the end of the year. He sat there and stared up at the dark cloudy sky as the rain hit the glass interrupting his thoughts. He looked down at his hands, shaking slightly from the dream. He saw the ring on his pinkie finger. Her ring. The memories all flooded back again. The laughter, the smiles, the look on her face when she had found the ring at Christmas in a red box on her bedside table. He smiled slightly as he remembered the her look of surprise and confusion because he didn't leave a tag on the box. His smiled faltered as he remembered he would never see that smile again.

He turned towards the window once again and watched the rain hit the window as the train sped over a bridge as a single tear fell down his face. For the first time, he cried. He cried over her death. He put his hands over his face as he let all the emotions he kept bottled up go. He couldn't hold it back anymore. The once mighty and powerful Draco Malfoy was crying like a baby...and he didn't care. He wanted her back. He tried to forget those unpleasant happenings that just kept playing over and over again in his mind. She meant everything to him and him to her. They couldn't picture their lives without the other. Never did they think it would end up this way. The boy with the blonde-white hair that now fell freely around his face and blue-gray eyes that were once cold and harsh now sat in silence filled with pain, and anyone that saw him could tell he suffered greatly. Whenever the other kids passed him they just looked at him with sympathy. No one really tried talking to him in fear that he might snap. Not that he wanted any sympathy. There as no way they could understand what he was going through. He looked out of it as it was. He liked his solitude now more than ever. All he ever wanted to do was be alone for the past two days. No longer did he walk around as if he was superior to everyone else, and no longer did he call the muggle-borns and the less fortunate than him names. Never did he think she would change him, Draco Malfoy, the perfect pureblood with money that was heir to practically the whole wizarding world. But she touched a part of him that no one could before. And when she left this world, she brought with her his trust, love, heart, and soul. He felt empty now. Nothing in the world could affect him. Not after she died. He had no emotions anymore. He didn't want to. 'Trust no one,' his father had told him once. I guess this was one of the reasons why. He trusted her, and look what happened. "It wasn't her fault though," he cried into his hands. Was it his then? Maybe he could have seen this coming if he wasn't so into his own dream world. Maybe.

He felt as if he had nothing to live for. He was going back to an empty mansion. They spent long hours at night in his dorm just talking about what they were going to do when they got back to that mansion after the end of that year. Even if they just talked about it, it made him feel as if he had a purpose in life. Husband, lover, father, grandfather even. He couldn't wait. With his father in Azkaban and his mother gone he was free to pursue whatever life he wanted.

His memories are all he has now and he plans to keep those memories. As he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand he picked up his feet and placed them on the couch on the other side of the compartment getting comfortable for the journey home. Not that he wanted to go home, but he had to, for a little while atleast. He finished his last and final year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardy and is now a full time wizard. Freely using magic whenever he wants. But he must do it all without her, his beloved. The world just keeps spinning and there's nothing he can do to stop it. He turned his head back to the window and watched with red, blood- shot eyes as it passed through a field. He sat there thinking of how it all happened, when they first met in this very compartment.

This is his story, their story. How they're love began and grew. How it made it through the hate and the disapproving thoughts of others. Even if he does somehow find someone else to love, they would never share the same love that they shared. Their love went beyond words. This is how the Grinch's heart grew.