3

Draco noted that Hermione had stuttered when trying to talk to him, she had actually stuttered. This brought a small smirk onto his face. How many people could say that they made Hermione Granger stutter? She was probably the smartest which he had ever met, and he knew she wasn't easy to make baffle. "Well, yes I suppose at the time we were similar." He agreed with a nod as he tilted his head in his hands. Draco caught the intensity in Hermione's eyes as she stared him in the eye, as if to solve a riddle. He stared right back into hers, but not to try and solve anything. For a moment he actually got lost in those honey brown eyes, they told such a story. They were round, light, and playful. At the same time, though, they were hard, serious, and old. He knew she had been through so much and seen so many things that her eyes would have had to look different, and little did he know his had that same look.

The moment Draco's gaze dropped from her eyes it fell to her lips, her full red lips. It took him a moment to realize they were moving and words were coming out of them. He gave himself a mental shake and let his mind register to what it was she was saying.

"The Prefects will be here any moment, you do know all the rules I hope?"

"Yes, Granger, I have read through this ridiculously thick packet." Draco responded with a slight smirk. Of course, she would ask something like that. He was Head Boy after all, obviously Hermione still had her doubts.

As if on cue eight people walked through the door(two from each house), and if the Head's Compartment wasn't magically enchanted it definitely would have been a tight squeeze. When Draco saw the familiar redhead, Weasley, his slight smile turned into a full scowl. Of course, Ron didn't seem to happy to see Draco in the compartment with them either.

"What the bloody hell do you think your doing here, Malfoy, your not a prefect!" Ron scowled with a look of pure disgust.

"Well, if you must know, Weasley, I just happen to be your boss." Draco informed him with a smirk on his face that dared Weasley to say something else, and of course he did as always.

"McGonnagols gone mad she has!" Ron all but yelled.

"Ronald Weasley, do not talk about the headmistress like that!" Hermione scowled him and pointed to a seat, "now sit down so we can get started, will you?" Ron's face had a look of shock, but he obeyed her. He still wasn't happy though, you could tell by the way he glared at Draco the whole time, who had a smug look on his face, "and you, Malfoy, would you please not act superior, I know your used to it but things have changed and you will not speak to the prefects like that!"

Draco's eyes widened in surprise, but of course all of the prefects were in the compartment with them and he should have known she would let being Head Girl go to her head, but honestly he didn't mind it at all. His face turned to a scowl, but that was merely out of habit. Hermione stood up, and Draco copied her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around at everyone. The looks that people gave him were almost enough to make him flinch. The Slytherin prefects looked up at him with envy mixed with admiration, the Hufflepuff looked scared as did Ravenclaw, but the two Gryffindors looked at him with nothing but hatred in their eyes. Thankfully, he didn't have to start talking.

"Hello everyone," Hermione greeted them, "welcome back to Hogwarts, and let me be one to say I am over joyed to be here. Voldemort is gone and not coming back, so this year we might actually have a peaceful year here at Hogwarts." Hermione paused for a moment with a wide smile on her face and beamed when everyone(even the Slytherins) cheered. "Yes, well we do need to go over some things." Hermione went over all the basics. Who was to escort the first years to the common room, what time the curfews was, and all that fun stuff. "Are there any questions?"

A Hufflepuff raised their hand and Hermione nodded at him to continue, "do prefects have any special privileges?"

Hermione bit her lip and thought for a moment, "well not exactly. You get to stay out a little bit later with whoever we(she pointed to herself and Draco) assign you to patrol with, but that is only to patrol with. If we find out you were doing anything else there will be consequences."

Draco stared at Hermione the entire time, he had opened his mouth a few times to add something because he felt he needed to as Head Boy, but every time he opened his mouth Hermione kept on talking. He didn't mind this, though, it was a little amusing actually. He just shoved his hands in his pockets and let her deal with everything. When she mentioned something about patrolling the halls this brightened up his face, remembering he got to patrol the halls every night with Hermione. Being Head Boy did have its advantages apparently.

Checking his watch, Draco realized it was a mere fifteen minutes before they arrived at Hogwarts, he informed Hermione of this and they dismissed the prefects. He grabbed his robes and stepped out of the compartment for Hermione to change and he walked to the loo and changed in there. Hermione noted this was very gentleman like of him.

Finally, they had arrived at Hogwarts. A place that felt like home to all of them.