Hermione woke with a start the next morning. She looked to her left where her alarm clock read 4:07am. She sighed and flopped back down. After trying to get back to sleep for half an hour with no success, she decided to get up. It was the day the Hogwarts express left for Hogwarts, she would have plenty to keep her occupied until 11 o' clock.
It was 10:49 and Hermione was already sitting in the eigth year's booth on the train reading the latest Quibbler. She had found the magazine rather amusing ever since Luna had begun handing them out on the train, she had even subscribed. She was halfway through an article about wrackspurts when the booth door flew open to reveal none other than tall, pale faced Draco Malfoy. "You have got to be joking!" she exclaimed. He threw his gaze up from his luggage.
"Granger?, i guess i shouldn't be suprised" said malfoy acidy.
"On the other hand I am!" said hermionie "This is ridiculous, i'm not sharing a compartment with someone like you" she got up, but before she could leave Draco stopped her
"There's no other compartments so don't bother!"
She huffed and sat back where she had begun
"so is this the ministries doing? Sending you back to school to punish you for your comradeship with voldemort, that's preposturous why don't they just lock you up in azkaban, that's where you belong, how dare you think you can show your face here..."
"I just got released from azkaban" draco yelled over hermione's whigning.
"What?" hermione stopped
"They did put me in there!" Draco yelled at her "and my parents! Of course they put us in there. Where else do you put a family that have dedicated their lives to helping the most famous dark wizard of all time, Giving him a place to hide, being forced to become things we never wanted" and this point draco pulled up his sleve to show a dark mark forever etched into his skin, it had scabs and dried blood covering it, he had obviously tried to scratch it off but to no sucess. "The whole summer i was locked away! never to see the sunlight!" Malfoy looked down uncomfotably, tears falling to the carpet "You don't know what it's like in there Hermione" he sobbed "I was only in there for three months...imagine what will happen to my parents after their life sentence" He looked up to hermione with his pale eyes bloodshot and said quietly "It changes people" and with that he pulled open the compartment door and walked away from the boggled hermione.
Draco shoved people out the way as he made his way down to the last carrige on the train, the bathroom. He pulled off his tie and threw it to the ground. He felt as though he was choking. He grasped the edge of the sink and stared hard into the mirror before him.
i should have never come back, this was my worst idea ever, how will i be able to walk down the halls of hogwarts while everyone knows who i am and what i have done! He thought to himself "AHHHHHRGGHHH! and he punched the mirror with a closed fist and the whole vanity shook. From behind him he heard a squeal. A small first year boy was frozen in horror. "Get out of here!" Yelled Draco, but immediatly regretted it as the small boy ran out crying. he turned back to the sink, washed off his face and headed back to the eighth year compartment, back to hermione.
When Draco returned Hermione was reading 'Great Magical Creatures: The history of the Centaur'. Draco slid open the door and Hermione threw her book down and jumped up. To Draco she looked as if she was going to say something, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Shaking her head she sat back down and continued to read. Draco sat across from her and pulled out the latest copy of the 'Daily Prophet' and begun flicking through. After looking through a couple of articles, there was nothing of interest and he felt his lids become heavy. soon enough he was asleep. Across from him hermione had already nodded off with her book laid neatly across her lap. It wouldn't be long before they reached Hogwarts.