Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just the plot. And I love J.K. Rowling!

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Chapter 2

~ Second Year Part 1 ~

The trio is now back for their second year in Hogwarts. After last year's events, people have been calling them 'The Golden Trio' and they have become very famous among the rest of the students, especially Harry.

At the end of the year, the three friends didn't want to separate because they knew that they wouldn't be seeing each other for 2 months. Ron and Hermione also didn't want to let Harry go back to his Uncle's house because they knew how bad he was treated there. But at the end, the three of them went to their own houses to spend summer vacation with their family and they promised each other that they would write letters.

Now finally, they're back together for their Second Year at Hogwarts.

Hermione thought that she has forgotten about her little crush towards Draco during the vacation since she didn't see him for two months. But, oh, she was so wrong. She used her very bushy hair to hide her obvious blush every time their eyes meet and try to calm down her thumping heart. Little did she know that the blond boy was also trying to hide his crush towards the beautiful witch.

Hermione ran away from the Quidditch pitch as fast as she could. She could feel warm tears running down her face. She arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room and darted towards her room. She threw herself on her bed and cried her heart out. She was heartbroken. He had called her a mudblood. It hurt her to hear it coming from him. She knew that Slytherins hated her for being a muggle born and for being so smart, but she has never heard Draco say anything bad about her from his mouth. Hearing it from him hurt her a thousand more than hearing it from others.

Hermione's cries died out a while later. She stayed in her bed looking at the window, trying to stop new tears from coming out. Some minutes later she heard her room door open and felt someone sitting on her bed.

"'Mione are you okay?" she heard Harry asking her.

"I told you he wasn't a nice person,"

"Not helping Ron!" the raven-haired hissed at his friend.

Ron simply shrugged and bent down to be face to face with Hermione, "Look 'Mione, don't worry about it. It doesn't really mean anything anymore. Just because he said that doesn't mean you're lower than him."

"But I am!" Hermione said with a cracked voice.

"Of course, not! I mean you're a muggle born but you're the smartest witch of our age!"

"Yeah 'Mione. Who cares if they call you names. You still have friends. Real friends. And we'll always stick by you no matter what you are."

"Thanks, guys…"

"Well… Are you feeling better? Because it's time for dinner, and I'm starved!" Ron patted his belly and exited the room. His two other friends just chuckled at him and Hermione shook her head.

"Are you really okay?" Harry asked with a concerned look.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It just hurts hearing it from him. I mean you know… hearing it from your crush…"

"Don't worry. If he doesn't feel the same, then it's clearly his lost," Hermione smiled at her best friend. "Come on let's go, I'm also quite hungry."

The trio went down to the Great Hall together with Hermione in the middle and her arms locked with Harry and Ron's. When they entered the dining place they saw people looking at them but they didn't mind it. Hermione sat next to Ginny, who just started her first year and the two boys sat across the girls.

They ate, talked and laugh together and Hermione completely forgot about what happened earlier that day. Before they served the dessert, a school owl came flying inside the room. It stopped in front of Hermione. It had a letter tied to its foot and a white rose on his beak. Hermione took the flower and untied the message.

There was no name on the letter but after reading the two words that were written inside, she had a good guess who it was from. A simple, but lovely 'I'm sorry' was what written. Hermione blushed and smelled the rose. Her best friends raised an eyebrow at her and she simply shrugged and showed them the letter.

The boys also knew who it was from of course. Harry slightly chuckled while Ron's eyes widen, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "He's weird, I tell you! Very weird!"

"Oh, stop it, Ronald! And don't go on telling people! I don't want the whole school to know!" Ron just gave her the letter back and muttered something that the rest didn't hear and just continued with his food.

Hermione took a small piece of paper and wrote back her response: 'Thank you for the beautiful rose. And you are forgiven.' She tied it to the owl's foot and it took off after she gave it a treat.

Today was the first Quidditch match of the year and it was Gryffindor vs Slytherin. It's also Draco's first time playing as a seeker. The other students think it's unfair that he got the spot because of his name and money, so they were betting Gryffindor would win this game.

Sometime during the game, one of the bludgers became out of control and somehow started to follow Harry around. It was as if it was bewitched to hurt him. At the end, Harry caught the snitch but broke his arm that became boneless because of Gregory Lockhart, their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers who appears to know nothing about the subject. Draco also hurt himself when he fell off his broom and was sent to the hospital wing along with Harry.

At night when Hermione left Harry's hospital bed, she went over to get a glimpse at Draco. She saw that he had already fallen asleep so she put a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans on his desk as well as an anonymous 'Get well soon' card.

Some days later the Quidditch accident, Hermione went to the girls' lavatory situated on the first floor of Hogwarts, just above the Great Hall and is more commonly known as Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom which is now the Trio's meeting place. When she entered the place, she heard light sniffles behind one of the toilet door. She knew it wasn't Myrtle because of the ghost wails, not sniffle. Since the door was unlocked, she opened it slowly. What she saw surprised her a bit. There, sitting on the closed toilet bowl was Draco Malfoy, his face in his hands trying to block his tears away.

"Malfoy?" Draco looked up and was surprised to see the auburn-haired girl. He was ashamed that she of all people was the one who found him crying in a girls' bathroom.

He tried to be mean and push her away. He went to the sink and washed his face. "What are you doing here, Granger?" He asked with a cracked voice.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "I think I should be asking you that, Malfoy. I mean you are in a girls' bathroom after all." She answered emphasizing on some words.

"Well, I thought nobody comes here since its Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom…"

"Oh… Well since we knew that nobody comes here, it became our meeting place." Her voice softened, a little bit.

Draco looked at her with a puzzled look, "'Our meeting place'?"

"Yeah… Harry, Ron and mine's.'

"And since when did you three get to own a place in Hogwarts?"

"I never said we owned it! I just said it was our meeting place!" she retorted, getting more and more annoyed.

"Whatever…" Draco turned his back on her again and stopped talking, hoping that she will get annoyed and leave him, but she didn't, she stayed there. Sometime later he got warm, he removed his cloak and rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt, forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding something. When he remembered, it was too late, Hermione had already seen the big red wound on his arm covered with dried blood.

"Oh, my god, Draco! What happened?" She asked, concerned while looking at the red mark.

Despite the situation, Draco still blushed because the beautiful witch just called him by his first name for the second time. He slowly took his arm out of Hermione's grasp and looked at the floor. "It's nothing…" he lied.

"Oh, come on! I'm far away from being stupid and both of us know that. That," pointing at his arm, "is not 'nothing'!"

"I-I just got hurt that's all," he stammered.

"And by what?" she crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly.

Draco knew that he couldn't avoid her or lie to her. He sighed and show her his arm which she took carefully, trying not to touch it, "My father… My father hit me with his walking stick and I got scratched by the snake head, which was the handle."

Hermione's eyes widened, "What? Why?" Hermione knew that his father is a Death Eater but she never thought that he was that bad to hurt his own child.

"He told me that I embarrassed him and that I'm a disappointment to the Malfoy family," he took a deep breath and continued, "just because I failed to catch the snitch."

"What?! That's it?! He said that and did this horrible thing to you just because you didn't catch that small, stupid snitch?" Hermione shouted.

'And because I don't have the best scores at school and only second with some points behind you.' He thought, but he didn't want to tell her that. "It's not the first time he did this to me. The first time was last year, during Christmas break when I told him that I didn't become Potter's friend."

Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm her down, "Wait for me here."

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Just wait here, I'll be back," she left him alone the bathroom and ran as fast as she could to the Gryffindor Common Room.

When she entered the room she quickly found Harry and Ron in front of the fire playing Wizard's Chess and Ron was clearly winning. "Guys you need to come!"

"Wait Hermione! Let us finish! I'm winning!"

"We're coming Hermione…"

"But..." she looked around and made sure that nobody was looking, "It's about Malfoy" she whispered. This got the boys' attentions.

"What about him?" Ron asked, trying not to look concerned.

"Just follow me!" Hermione turned around and walked quickly back to the first-floor girls' bathroom.

When the trio entered, they found Malfoy sitting on the floor, clutching his arm. He heard their footsteps and when he saw who was in the entrance he glared at the two boys. "What the hell are you two doing here?!" he tried to sound vicious, but the boys' didn't buy it.

"We should be asking you that, Malfoy. What are you doing in a girls' bathroom?" Ron asked the blond wizard snickering, clearly amused to find him in this kind of place.

Draco looked away and stared at the wall in front of him, "It's none of your business…"

"What happened to your arm?" Harry pointed.

"Nothing…" Draco tried to hide his arm but he was too slow. Hermione went in front of him and took his arm and showed it to her friends. She explained what happened and how he got his injuries. After telling the boys everything, their expressions were the same as Hermione's.

"Malfoy…"

"Save it, Potter. I don't need your pity!" he turned around and glared at Hermione, "Why the hell did you tell them!" The witch just shrugged.

"Look, Malfoy. I'm not trying to pity you. I know how you feel…"

"How the hell should you know how I feel?! You don't know anything!" Draco shouted.

"Of course, I know! If you don't remember, I told you before going to Hogwarts that I was living with my wicked Aunt and Uncle. So I know!" Harry was shouting too which shocked his other two friends his they've never seen Harry lose his temper.

Draco's eyes softened and suddenly felt ashamed for shouting at the boy. "Sorry… I- I didn't… Sorry…" he apologized since he didn't know what to say.

"Does he do that to you often?" the red-haired ask the blond, pointing at his arm.

"Um… No, actually. My Father… My father loves his family very much,"

"He has a nice showing his love!" Ron said sarcastically.

"I swear, my father is not a bad guy! I don't know what happened. But he started to change just before I left for Hogwarts. And he started to abuse me last year at Christmas when I told him that I failed to befriend Harry Potter. He slapped me. Since then he didn't touch me until now but he just kept on telling me how I'm a disgrace to Malfoy family and all that."

"I'm sorry." Draco quirked an eyebrow at the redhead, "What? I don't know what to say in this kind of situation. My parents… Well, more my mother actually, can be harsh and scary, like when she sent me a Howler on the first day of school, but she has never hit us. My parents never laid a hand on us."

"Well, then I guess you're lucky?" Draco said it as a question, since, he too, didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. Draco only had two real friends in Slytherin, Theo and Blaise, but he doesn't want to tell them what happened since their fathers are quite close to Lucius Malfoy.

"I need to clean your wound Draco. Take the dry blood off and close your cut." Hermione started to look for her wand but Draco stopped her.

"It's fine. You don't have to." Hermione glared at him.

"Draco Malfoy! If you don't let me tend your cut this instance, then I'll bind you and bring you to Madam Pomfrey and tell her everything!"

"Geez! Fine! No need to shout woman!" the pale boy shoved back his light-toned arm to Hermione. 'Geez! I think nobody should try to mess with her!"

"She doesn't take a no for an answer." Harry smiled sympathetically at the blond.

"Yeah, no kidding!" he answered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

The four students were silent. Ron sat down on the floor, clearly annoyed of the silence. "So…" he trailed, "What now?" he looked at Draco, waiting for an answer.

Draco looked back at him, "Don't look at me like that! Just because you found out something about me, doesn't mean we're already best friends!"

"Well, if you want you're always welcome to come back here and hang out with us," Suggested Harry.

"What…" Draco looked at Hermione and saw that she was done with his wound. He quickly stood up and put his robes, "Don't be ridiculous! I'd never come back here! It's a girls' bathroom! And plus, Slytherins can't be friends with Gryffindor!" with that, he stormed to the door of the lavatory but stopped just before he was completely out, "Thanks, Gra- Hermione…" he said quickly and quietly.

The trio heard his last words and smiled slightly. "He'll be back. Not today, but maybe another day." Said Harry.

"Yup!" agreed Ron, "I never thought I could be friends with Malfoy." They all chuckled and thought about the fact that they were going to have a new friend.

As the Golden Trio predicted, Draco Malfoy did come back to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. A week after their encounter with the blond, they found him back in their meeting place. They all smiled at each other and to not make things awkward, the Trio instantly sat down on the floor taking Draco with them and began a card game.

Draco looked at the cards with a confused look, "What are those?"

"These are playing cards," explained Harry.

"Why are they not moving?"

"Because they're Muggle cards, Draco." Said Hermione.

"Hermione taught us a game called Go Boom last week and it's fun! You should play with us," said the redhead.

Hermione started serving the right number of cards to the each of them and put the rest of the pack in the middle. She quickly explained the blond boy the rules and how to win. After a try-out round, Draco finally understood how to play. They started their official first round and to their surprise, Draco was the winner.

"BOOM!" he shouted, jumping up and down to celebrate his first victory and they all ended up laughing. The four students played some more rounds until finally, it was time for dinner. The Trio said a quick goodbye to Draco, who promised to come back and see them the next day since it will be Saturday.

While walking towards the Great Hall, Draco couldn't help the smile forming on his face while he thought about how much fun he had with the three Gryffindors. The only time that he laughed as much as he did today is when he's alone with his best friends Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. He was still thinking if he would introduce his new friends to them and hope that they all would get along well.

For the next few weeks, the Trio and Malfoy have been spending their spare time together, in their meeting place, talking or playing. Sometimes they would meet at the end of the library, where no one would find them, and do their homework together. Harry and Ron were surprised how smart Draco was until they found out that he was second place of their year just behind Hermione by some points. During the weeks of their meeting, they found out some more things about each other and Draco learned about Hermione, Harry and Ron, about their likes, dislikes, fears and past. They also learned about Draco's past and how his life before was completely different than the one he has now. They kept their friendship a secret because Draco didn't want his father to know and since his father has ways knowing things, they didn't let anyone know about their friendship. The three Gryffindors didn't mind this, in fact, they accepted it since they knew how their friend felt.

A/N: And that was it! Tell me what you think! Sorry for any mistakes.

Hope you liked it and please Follow/Favorite and Review. I'll put the next chapter when I can and maybe perhaps when I get more reviews.

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