Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, JK Rowling has full rights. But I myself wish to give them my own twist. Reviews are most loved and appreciated. I hope you enjoy.

In the passing weeks, Voldemort had required his presence a lot, which lead Draco into exhaustion. It was necessary to close his mind. The thoughts that filled it would surely result in the extermination of him. Draco's true intentions, which could end up leading to his whole family's demise. He had to make full sure that didn't happen.

When he was alone he spent most of his time resting, and thinking of how he would get the wittiest witch to befriend him, it seemed such an impossible task. It seemed even more impossible, when he thought of how to do this on top of getting away from the most horrid wizard of all time. The jobs that were set in front of him were difficult, but he didn't dare give up. His surrender may lead to some pain that he himself may have been able to prevent. From now on he vowed that he would no longer cause heart ache to anyone.

Voldemort and Lucius had gone over and over it with him again and again. He would befriend her, and slowly turn her by lies, well planned lies, and when she was seduced and well convinced, he would bring her to him. Then he would have his way with her, she would be wandering blindly in to a trap, a trap in which he would be leading her.

It was the night before his departure, when Lucius pulled him off to the side to have a word.

"Draco," he started, "you must do exceedingly well at what the Dark Lord has sent you to do. If you do well our family may again be put in his good graces. Our family has been accustomed to this for a long time. We are not used to the unliked side of him, as you yourself have seen. I will expect nothing less from you then you're utmost effort in this task." He finished by glancing behind his shoulder.

"Yes, father, my greatest effort shall be put forth." Draco nodded at him, as an understanding.

Hermione smiled, as she boarded Hogwarts Express with her best friends. Her summer had been absolutely wonderful. There had been marriages, and babies had been born. A summer with games of Quidditch and large meals. Constant business with common household tasks that all the Weasleys had grumbled about. Yet they all knew what dark cloud lay ahead of them. Most tried to ignore the misery to come, and just basked in the wonders that were knocking at the door at this very moment. Harry of coarse hadn't taken much liking to this at first, but as the festivities had worn on, accepted whole heartedly.

The three of them found their way to the compartment that held the presences of Neville, Ginny, and Luna, who were talking frantically about their summers. Ginny was in the middle of explaining how Aunt Muriel, ended the reception by puking on the bride at Bill and Fleur's wedding. Neville was in a teary laughter now and Luna, though she had been there when it happened, was clutching the stitch in her side. They sat down across from the three and at once Harry and Ron, began to throw in their input to make the story more real. Then Ron even pulled the picture of it out of his trunk and more laughter exploded in the compartment.

Hermione who herself had not found the incident a bit funny in the first place, took no part in the retelling of the story. She instead pulled out her book 'Hogwarts, A History' and began reading it for what seemed to be the hundredth time but she was sure that it had been plenty more than that. She had just finished reading the second chapter when Dennis Creevey had quietly pulled open the compartment door, "Hermione," he said barely a whisper. "You're needed at the front of the train for a Head Girl, umm thing, shoot what did they call it? Oh, I forget. You won't tell will you? I wasn't supposed to forget." He looked frantic.

"No, of course I won't tell, it'll be our secret." She smiled at him as she stood up and went off to the front of the train. On her journey she continually had to resist the urge not to stop and confiscate things, or keep older students from picking on the younger ones. She instead wondered who had got the Head Boy position instead. She went through all of the possible candidates and weighed them in her head. She couldn't imagine who would have gotten it. A few Ravenclaw boys she thought would be the best candidates. rnie Macmillan, he was good too, and she had almost come to a guess when out of a compartment, stepped Draco Malfoy.

She stopped as if an invisible wall had appeared right in front of her. She blinked hard a couple of times to try to wiped his image from her mind, as if he were only an illusion created by her mind. But still there he stood looking at her. The look on his face made it even harder for her to imagine he was real. Instead of the arrogant smile, or the 'I'm better then you' grimace that usually painted his face, there was a look of worry, a look of concern and hurt, and maybe even wanting. As she looked closer she noticed that he may have even looked sad.

She turned her gaze from his and carried on down the hall of the train to the very front compartment on the left. Inside stood Professor McGonagall, her hair was in its usual tight bun at the top of her head, but Hermione could see the dark circles beneath her eyes and the tired look about her face. "Good afternoon, Professor." Hermione stated just as Draco enter the compartment behind her. She felt her heart drop, he would be Head Boy. She would have to stay in the same room with the boy who had come so close to murdering innocent Dumbledore. She would have to share a room with a death eater, someone who constantly shot the word 'mudblood' around, like it was the word 'hello'. With someone who hated her as much as she hated him. How had this happened, how had he been allowed to come back to school, and how had he become Head Boy? The questions swam through her mind as McGonagall began giving them directions as to their duties. As a result Hermione was required to pull herself to the present task at hand.

"Now, patrolling duties can be shared or you may split them up. However you feel will best suit you. You will be sharing a room. There are separate bedrooms, but you will have to share a common room and a bath. It's not difficult, as soon as we pull in to Hogsmeade station, you both will be required to give the prefects their passwords, so they can administer them to the students. After the feast is over you will need to stay behind and make sure there aren't any students who were left out on getting their passwords. Ravenclaw you needn't worry about, they do not have passwords. There is no patrolling tonight, so you will need to discuss it for tomorrow." She spoke to them both directly and handed them the passwords for the prefects. "I believe that's it. Do you have any questions?"

They both shook their heads at her and went to leave the compartment. They bumped into each other as they both tried to leave through the door at the same time.

"Sorry." Malfoy muttered. Hermione blinked hard again.

"Excuse me?" She asked rather loudly, more loudly then she had intended.

"I said I'm sorry." He reinstated and fell through the door and up the hall of the train.

He had quite left her baffled, as well as impressed to see that a Pureblood could ever lower himself enough to say 'I'm sorry' to a mere Mudblood. She wandered up the hall, the path Malfoy had taken only moments ago. She thought of him the whole way to her compartment. The questions from before still flitting through her mind as well as new ones, about his polite gestures, the absence of his rude comments, and only now the look that had been plastered on his face. It was similar to his look last year but now it was more prominent, like he had finally been broken. Hermione wasn't sure, but she probably would be figuring it out, after all she had to spend a whole year with him. Those were her last thoughts as she stepped into the loud compartment where her friends were seated setting off tiny Weasley's Wizard Wheezes fireworks, which were making an amazing display in the car. She sat down, she would start her duties as soon as they pulled up to the station, until then she was going to enjoy herself, with her closest friends.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. The thoughts just keep coming to me so I keep writing. Please review.

Love.