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Blinking his eyes to clear them of the fog that shrouded them so profusely, Draco wasn't sure what he more surprised of: the fact that it had worked, or that he was standing in the entrance to the Great Hall.

Of all the places…

Yet he couldn't complain. Not in the slightest. He was alive, he was safe. He wasn't about to be murdered by the evilest wizard to ever walk the earth.

But when was he? Looking around, he saw a flood of students rushing out of the Great Hall, the prefects leading many scared and excited first years to their new dorms. Behind him, Draco spotted a very agitated Potter nursing a horribly bloody nose, holding a cloth damp with his own blood up to it.

The night before his first day of sixth year. That's what today was.

So it really had worked. God bless Dumbledore, for the man had somehow saved his life. A twinge of guilt went through Draco; he had tried to kill the headmaster, yet once he was dead, he had looked upon the teenager with warmth and had acted kindly towards him, even though the boy had attempted to end his life. No matter what opinions he had had before, Draco knew that he was wrong, for Albus Dumbledore truly was as great as they all said he was.

Walking more confidently now, though undoubtedly still shaken up from his past—or rather, future—experiences, Draco headed off towards the Slytherin common room. Oh, how he looked forward to his four poster bed, loyally waiting for him as usual. And the crackling fire, that would be quite the sight to his sore eyes. All he wanted was to be somewhere familiar, somewhere that was a home to him.

Then again, Hogwarts had never been his home. Not really, at least.

Shaking these thoughts from his head, Draco took off towards the dungeons, listening to the incessant chattering of the other Slytherin students in front of him. He stayed back from them a bit, not wanting to have to take part in any conversation. He wasn't in the mood.

After saying the password, pigstool fortuna, Draco ducked under the low ceiling of the passageway into the common room, finally straightening up with a sigh of relief when the sight of the room greeted him.

But his relief didn't last long. He was barely able to stifle his groan of irritation before a pair of arms were flung around his shoulders and a head full of black hair was shoved into his neck.

"Draco!" Pansy whimpered. "Where have you been? You showed up for a bit of dinner and then left. You got me worried about you!"

"Yeah, well," Draco managed awkwardly as he finally managed to unlatch the parasite from around his neck. "it shouldn't matter to you where I go."

Her pug-like face fell, drowning her already unpleasant features in sadness. "But you know it does matter to me! I don't know what I would do if—"

"Save it, Parkinson," Draco drawled, shoving past her as he walked to his dorm. "I'm not in the mood. Nor am I ever, mind you."

The very hurt Pansy Parkinson huffed in disappointment, turning her own feet towards her room. Maybe she'd get lucky the next day.

. . . ….. . . .

On the other side of the campus, Hermione Granger climbed through the portrait hole, already emanating agitation and annoyance as usual despite the fact that they were hardly a day into the school year.

"Oh, come on, Harry!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air and letting them flop back to her side lifelessly. "Just tell us what happened! It's no small thing, having you show up during dinner with a blood-soaked scrap of cloth shoved to your face."

"Look," the black-haired boy sighed, doing his best to not lose his patience. "It's no big deal. Just forget about it."

But she was too adamant to be thrown off so easily. "If it's no big deal, I see no reason for you to not tell me."

Ron groaned. "Hermione, give the man a break. So what, he doesn't want to tell us, it's not the end of the world."

Hermione rolled eyes. "I never said it was, Ronald, I just think that best friends should tell each other when these sort of things happen."

"We all have our secrets," the redhead retorted. "Why should Harry be any different?"

"This isn't a secret! Everyone saw that his face got messed up, that was obvious! It's just why it happened that's getting to me." Hermione couldn't for the life of her understand how damn thick he could possibly be to not get it through his skull that this could be important.

As if reading her mind, Ron sighed. "Look, if it was important, Harry would tell us. Wouldn't you, mate?"

"Yes, I would," he responded, nodding. "Really, Hermione, it's nice that you care and all, but it doesn't matter."

She narrowed her eyes. This was just a great way to start the school year. "I repeat: if it doesn't matter, why withhold the information?"

"God, woman!" Ron yelled, earning the three teenagers some alarmed looks from others in the room. "Lay off him! You're being completely irrational and bossy! Let him be!"

Hermione frowned at him. "I don't think I—"

"Just shut it, would you?" Harry snapped, the loss of blood coupled with their bickering getting to his nerves, making his temper shorter than usual. "Forget it."

There was a moment of tense silence before Hermione finally spoke. "Fine," she said stiffly, anger radiating from her. "I'll see you both in the morning."

Leaving the two to roll their eyes at her back, Hermione went to her dorm, sighing as she sat on her bed.

Fantastic, she thought. Not even a full day into the school year and we're already in a fight.

Pushing aside her thoughts for the time being, the sixth year prefect got changed into her pajamas, deciding to head to bed early. The following day would be the first of a new year, with new tasks and new things to learn. Maybe in the morning, their fight would be gone from their memories and they'd be perfectly fine again.

But for now, she'd stare at the ceiling and wait, thinking of all that she hoped to accomplish this year. Get top marks in her classes, of course, perhaps make a few new friends.

And maybe even start a new relationship with a certain redheaded boy.

Turning on her side, Hermione drifted off to sleep, a small smile playing on her lips.

Wow 1116 words. Nice.

And don't worry, the chapters will start to get longer, eventually at least. Question, though: how long do you prefer chapters to be? The past two have been about 1000, so do you think that's a good length or should they be shorter or longer?

Thanks, lovelies! Please be sure to review, favorite, and follow! I hope you like the story! Love you lots!