A/n: This is my first attempt at publishing my writing – normally I just take up countless amounts of memory on hard drives and memory sticks without really doing anything with them. This is a slow burner but hopefully you guys enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and all of this was made possible by JK allowing us to play around in her universe. Enjoy!

Draco stalked the dark halls, his footfalls echoing around the deserted corridors. It was late, and no one was around to get in his way. Students weren't allowed out of their beds after hours but he didn't care, no one was going to challenge him. The dark encroached in on his eyes and he felt comforted. The shadows stretched across the cold stone floor creating odd shapes and hiding him from any wondering prefects.

It had been a stressful day and Draco didn't really know how to process it all. He had taken a step towards the destiny that came along with being a Malfoy. He wasn't sure that he was quite ready for the responsibility; after all, he was still in school. His father was so proud that the Dark Lord had chosen him over all others and his father saw it as their duty. Draco knew that behind closed doors they felt very differently. Narcissa knew that this task was going to test Draco to the limits and if his efforts didn't meet the Dark Lords exacting expectations then his life was very much in danger; all of their lives. Lucius had very different motives for wanting Draco to successfully carry out His bidding, a success would catapult the Malfoys back into the chosen circle where they could reap the benefits once again of being onside with one of the greatest wizards ever to live.

Draco however, just wanted it all to be over. He didn't care about the war; he didn't want to pick sides. Before all of this had happened he had had his run of this school; everyone was scared of him, everyone knew the name Draco Malfoy. He was a living legend and really enjoyed the notoriety. That would all change soon, soon they would know his name for a very different reason. He made out that he couldn't care less about this place but it had become his home. He knew it like the back of his hand and the castle gave its secrets over to him. Hogwarts was a constant in his life, something that had stood the test of time, and somewhere he could return to no matter what was going on at home. Not that he would ever tell anyone how much it meant to him.

Lost in thought Malfoy made his way around yet another corner not really sure where he was going or what he was looking for. All of a sudden he became aware of a second set of footstep echoing around him. Stopping suddenly, he pressed himself into a dark alcove behind one of the many coats of armour and strained his senses waiting for the shadowy figure to step into the light. Out of the dark stepped Hannah Abbott, she was a Hufflepuff Prefect with long mousey brown hair. Draco could have dealt with her no problem but he didn't really feel like getting into an argument so decided to stay in the shadows until she had passed by. Hannah looked uncomfortable as if she could feel his eyes watching her but shrouded in darkness he was invisible to her. Uneasily Hannah walked round the next corner and her footsteps faded into the deafening silence.

After the brief distraction and with the silence encroaching in upon him, Draco's thoughts returned to the matter at hand and the task that he had been given. He had managed to find the cupboard easily enough but the difficult part was how to go about fixing it. Draco was a proficient wizard but this wasn't really something that they had covered in DDA or any of the other more pointless classes. He just had to try his best to figure it out on his own. No one else could know what it was that he was doing when he stalked away on his own after dinner in the Great Hall. Many times Crabb, Goyle and even Pansy had tried to follow him and he had cut off any attempts to try and follow him. Pansy was sure that he was secretly going off to meet a girl and she was very jealous. Just the thought of it brought a sly smile to the corner of his mouth. Maybe it was time to have a little bit of fun for a change and make her even more jealous.

With his mind far away Draco walked until he was aware of the fact that he had made his way back to the dungeons. Conceding, Draco shrugged and made his way back up to his bedroom. He changed out of his robes, the wooden floorboards cold against his bare feet urging him to climb into bed. Draco lay staring up at the canopy of his four-poster bed, his mind was still racing and he couldn't settle. He needed something to take his mind off all the madness that was surrounding him. Gradually, his thoughts drifted back to his plan to make Pansy jealous. He needed to find the one person that would annoy her most, someone that he could flirt with and give Pasty all the wrong ideas.

Suddenly the perfect idea popped into his head.

Hermione sat bolt upright in bed. Something had woken her but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it could possibly have been. Her hands were firmly gripping the sheets and she had the horrible feeling that someone was watching her. Quickly scanning the room she realised that all the other girls were still sound asleep; she could hear their slow breathing. Relaxing a little she settled down in bed again and tried to find the gentle embrace of sleep. But it never came. She tossed and turned and tried to find a comfortable position, nothing seemed to be right. Before long she found herself staring up at the ceiling or at least the darkness just below it. Her mind was racing, there was so much she needed to do and there wasn't long left for her and the life that she had become accustomed to. Everything was changing. A war was coming whether people wanted to acknowledge it or not.

Resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't going to get back to sleep any time soon she grabbed the Ancient Runes book that was balanced on top of the large pile next to her bed along with a blank sheet of parchment and headed down to the common room. As Hermione had expected it was completely deserted and the large fire was dwindling to ash. The fire still gave out a warm glow so picking a comfy chair near the final embers glowing in the hearth, she settled down to read. Soon she became aware of the subtle changes in the light coming from the large window to her left. The dawn was breaking and she had spent a large portion of the night with her nose buried in her book. There was no way she was going to get back to sleep now. Deciding to take advantage of this early start she ran back up to her room, quietly crept over to her bed, dropped the book back on the pile and grabbed her towel. At least she would be able to have a hot shower this morning.

Walking into the girls' bathrooms she looked in one of the mirrors hanging above the sinks, there were dark circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep and her hair was as unruly as it often was. With one last glance at her reflection she dropped her robe on the floor and headed to the first cubical turning the water on and letting the soothing heat wash over her. It felt so good to feel the water running over her skin. It felt like the water was washing away all of her worries. She felt human again and she could once again think clearly. After what felt like an eternity she reluctantly turned off the water and grabbed her towel, wrapping it firmly around her petite frame. Pausing only to pick up her robe she made her way out of the girls bathrooms back to the dormitories.

When she entered the room everyone was still asleep so she hurriedly got dressed into her favourite woolly jumper and a pair of old denim jeans and headed down to the Great Hall with her book. The corridors were deserted as she made her way down to breakfast; maybe it was earlier than she had thought. As she turned the final corner that lead to the Great Hall she heard two voices drifting down the corridor from a side room. The first was timid, barely more than a whisper and she strained to try and make out what they were saying "...it can't be done. It just can't. " The second was much more forceful and there was no mistaking who it belonged to

"It can and it will. I don't care who you have to bribe to do it I want this done. And soon!" With that Draco Malfoy stormed out of the room and almost ran straight into her. His bright white hair in stark contrast to his black suit with green and silver pocket-handkerchief. He always looked so well put together and important. His eyes glistened with mischief, as he looked her up and down, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. He was the last person that she wanted to bump into this morning in a deserted corridor. "Well, look what the cat dragged in. Does that hair of yours ever calm down?" he said snidely as he ran a hand absentmindedly through his own perfectly styled hair. "What are you doing up so early stalking the corridors? Looking for some secret time alone with me?" He let out a warm laugh and the smile stretched across his face making his eyes twinkle. She didn't understand it; normally he would completely ignore her or otherwise throw tirades of abuse at her. He was actually being nice. She was so confused. What angle was he playing? What did he want from her? She couldn't figure it out. After a while she realised that he was looking at her expectantly. Did he really want to have a proper conversation?

"Um. Couldn't sleep. Came to do some studying before breakfast" she said still confused but holding up the book like a shield in front of her.

"You need to get a life you know Granger. There's much more exciting things you could be doing while everyone else sleeps" His eyes twinkled once again and gave her a quick wink. She really couldn't get her bearings. What was going on here? Just then there was a noise from the room that Draco had just exited and the two of them turned to face the door. After a minute nothing happened and Malfoy turned to her, an unusually cheery smile on his face "Catch you around sometime maybe" and he stepped around her walking back the way she had just come.

She was so confused. He was normally so horrible to her; she had been the butt of his jokes since their first year at Hogwarts. Although, now that she thought about it that's how he treated everyone, no one was particularly close to him. He had Crabb and Goyle who followed him around like his bodyguards but there didn't really seem to be any real friendship between them. She suddenly felt sorry for him; it must have been so horrible to be alone with so many people around you.

Playing the whole scenario over and over again in her head, trying to make sense of what happened she made her way to the Great Hall where the smell of freshly cooked bacon was just beginning to waft up from the kitchens. The Great Hall was vast, its high ceiling reflecting the clear blue sky of a cool autumn morning. She was in a really good mood after the warm morning shower and the encounter with Malfoy wasn't going to change that. Settling down in her usual spot she filled her plate with bacon and eggs and buried her nose back in the book.

A/n: Me again – hope you enjoyed my first chapter; any comments and reviews will be greatly received, as I'd love to find out what other people actually think of my writing. Go gentle on me; it is my first attempt remember. Thanks guys

B3cs