The crowd was gone and the carriages were beginning to make their way up to the castle. Hermione and Draco finally realized that they were the only ones left standing on the platform and the pulled completely away from each other. They looked around and thankfully spotted an empty carriage waiting off to the side of the road. They ran over to it through the newly forming puddles and the rain. Draco, being the gentleman that he is, opened the door and held out his hand for Hermione to help her in. She was amazed at this small act but loved it.

Once both were in, the carriage began the slow trek up to school. The two sat in silence once again, not knowing what to say. Whether or not what just happened was a dream or reality. Hoping that it wasn't a dream, Hermione slid closer to Draco on the bench. He responded by wrapping his arm around her shoulders and her resting her head on his shoulder. It was a perfect sight, the two were in love and anyone who saw them together would know from first glance.

That's when Hermione began thinking about how the rest of the school would react when they found out that Granger was going out with Malfoy. None of them would believe it, most would probably think along the lines that Ron did that he did something to her to make her love him.

Draco was thinking the same exact things except that he could have cared less about what the rest of the school would think, unlike what he said earlier.

The carriage jerked to a stop and Hermione and Draco stepped out. The stone gargoyles flanking the entrance looked daunting and unwelcome. He took her hand in his and made their way up the steps. Before reaching the entrance to the Great Hall, Draco stopped and pulled Hermione into one final kiss before they would have to go in. When the kiss was broken, Draco and Hermione just stared at one another again, not wanting to move.

"I think we should keep us a secret, you know, until we have time to talk," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I agree, I mean who wants social rejection?" Draco said slightly hurt.

"Draco," Hermione began and Draco looked up stunned at hearing his first name come out of her mouth. "I have feelings for you, I want to be with you but I just think that we need to talk before letting the whole world in on our personal lives."

Draco nodded. He brought his hand up and rested it on her cheek while looking her in the eyes. "Hermione, I…I …think I love you," Draco said very fast.

Her eyes began to tear up as she brought her hand up to meet his. "I love you too."

With one last look they headed for the doors. Once they were in the doorway, Hermione and Draco switched back to their usual enemy state.

"Shove off Malfoy." "Get out of my way Granger." And with that they headed off to their own tables.

As soon as they entered the hall, they knew that everyone was watching them. As they walked to their tables, stares followed them. Once seated, they stole glances with one another. Sometimes ones of pure loathing and others were smiles of their new relationship.

'This is going to be the best year ever,' Draco thought to himself as Dumbledore stood to make his usual beginning of the year speech.

The feast was amazing as usual, but Draco was more than happy when Dumbledore told them it was time for bed. He had just started this new relationship, if you could call it that, but it had already been too long since he and Hermione had last touched. Draco stood with the rest of the school and looked over to the Gryffindor table to see if he could spot Hermione. He did. She was walking toward the doors with tears in her eyes. He looked back to where she had walked from and saw Harry and Ron looking at her retreating back.

He dashed through the crowd and tried to reach her but when he made it to the doors, he lost sight of her. He then remembered that would be living together so he made his way to the portrait that guarded their common room. He ran up three flights of stairs and dashed threw all the students making their way to their own common rooms.

When he finally made it to the picture of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. A thought than struck him; he had no idea what the new password was. Lucky for him he heard a faint sob from around the corner and went to investigate. Draco found Hermione sitting on the floor with her knees to her chin and her head resting on her knees.

"Gra…Hermione? What's wrong?" Draco asked as he knelt down beside her.

She looked up at him and then let another sob out and put her head back down. "Brain Stew," was all she said.

"What!" he asked, baffled and thinking he had heard Hermione say brain stew.

"Brain Stew," she said as she lifted her head to look him in the eye, tears leaking out of her own.

So he had heard right. "What the bloody hell does 'brain stew' mean?" Draco asked holding back a laugh.

Hermione let a small and chocked chuckle out, "it's the password."

Draco mouth formed a small 'O' before he bust out laughing. Hermione began to laugh as well.

Draco stood and held out his hand to help her up. 'Such a gentleman.'

He walked back to the portrait with Hermione on his arm and confirmed that the password was indeed 'brain stew' and both entered, marveling at their new surroundings. The room before them was easily twice the size of the regular common rooms and there was a small kitchen off to the right of the room. Straight in front of them was one spiraling staircase that they guessed lead to their bedrooms and the bathrooms. Hermione was already on her way to the stairs when Draco called out to her.

"So, who named it brain stew?" he asked with a smirk.

She hadn't seen that smirk in a while but loved it all the same. "Dumbledore," Hermione said with a smile.

"What ever possessed him to name it that?"

"Not a clue."

Hermione began to make her way back up the stairs when Draco ran up to her and grabbed her upper arm. "What did Ron and Harry do?"

Her face fell, "Some other time, maybe."

"Please?"

"Not right now, okay"

"Okay," and he let the matter drop.

They settled comfortably into their new rooms and then classes started and the homework began to pile up. Hermione, like always, was ahead in hers but had to keep on Draco to do his. They had kept up on their Head Boy and Girl responsibilities, occasionally being found by the troublemakers kissing in a secluded corner of the castle. She had spoken to Harry and Ron like nothing was wrong but everyone could tell that there was something different between the trio. It seemed that for the most part, the boys were somewhat accepting Hermione's new relation with Draco. They had stopped the constant insulting but continued with the evil glares while Hermione wasn't looking. Draco wasn't going to forgive them easily for hurting her even if he didn't know why he was truly mad at them.

It was the fourth week of school and everyone was in the great hall for lunch on a Monday. Dumbledore stood, raised his arms for silence and the hall fell quiet.

"There is something I must say and I need you to listen carefully. We are getting a new student today. There are a few things that you need to know about her. Emerald is her name. She also likes to be called Emerald the Evil. She will try to instill fear in each one of you, which is her whole point of existence. She knows what your weaknesses are and how to defeat you and she will." The entire student body was silent as the professor finished with his speech. The silence almost asking why Hogwarts would ever accept a student that like to be called evil, but before anyone could question this, someone spoke from the doorway.

"Ah yes, thank you Albus for that marvelous introduction," the person said, eyes widening as she put emphasis on the word marvelous. There was a great deal of rustling as every head in the Great Hall turned to the "new student."

She was a very odd looking girl, but she wasn't a girl. She looked like she was 16 but in her face, her eyes she looked much older, more mature. She was very pretty, long flowing, wavy chestnut hair that almost reached her waist. As she was smiling up at the headmaster, her wide, beautiful smile was shown. Her clothing was the oddest thing about this new girl. She had on a long dark green dress that reached the middle of her calf with black and white striped stockings and black high-heeled boots that came to a point. (Think of Winifred on Hocus Pocus without the bad teeth and hair.) The fact that she called the headmaster by his first name hadn't even registered with the school as they were still trying to take in her strange attire.

Her smile, which one too many boys had already fallen for, especially a certain blond haired one, covered to truth and horrors about Emerald. But maybe it was that her smile didn't cover who she really was, but was the gateway into the fears.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Emerald said.

She looked around the hall as if looking for a lost child but never rested on one face until she made it to the Slytherin table. She caught Draco Malfoy's eye and smirked.

"Young Draco I see is here. How's your father these days? I do hope well. He owes me dinner." Draco sat speechless for the longest time until he nodded silently, looking completely terrified at the though that his family associated with this kind of … thing.

"What, your not scared are you? and of me? I'm insulted," she said feigning being hurt and smirking all the while.

"No, I'm not scared of a little girl like yourself."

She paused in answering, studying his face. "Hum, not sure I like that attitude. I think I need to fix it."

"Emerald!" Dumbledore began before Emerald had done anything. She reluctantly tore her eyes from Draco to the headmaster. "We are allowing you to be here under the condition that you, well, you don't repeat your past."

"Your no fun. And besides, who's going to stop me. Not you, your too scared of 'my past'," she rolled her eyes and continued. "Pathetic. I can't see how Tom's scared of you." She was smiling sweetly up at the main table.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with the rest of the great hall, where closely following the conversation. Even from the opposite side of the hall, the trio could tell that Dumbledore was dead scared of this Emerald girl. At the mention of Tom's name Harry's attention was completely on Emerald and not trying to read the headmaster.

Her smile grew wider as a few people gasped from her use of Voldemorts real name. These few people would be Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, about half the Slytherin table, and pretty much all the teachers.

Emerald turned her gaze from Dumbledore to the Gryffindor table and instantly made contact with Harry Potter's.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't The-Boy-Who-Lived. Amazing how you think that hiding behind Mr. Wrinkles here is going to save you," she said, pointing up at the staff table not holding in a small laugh. "There are things in this world that aren't scared of an old man with a stick."

Harry was still eye-to-eye with Emerald and never broke it once when as said, "thing."

"What?"

Harry stood before he began. "Thing. You said there are things that aren't scared. Does that mean you're a thing?"

"My my, aren't you the perceptive one. And to answer you question, yes. One wouldn't exactly call someone as myself human."

The hall went eerily quiet in the seconds following Emeralds last sentence. Harry sat back down slowly, mouth hanging open, and never once taking his eyes off of her. Emerald shrugged with her hands on her hips and looked back to Dumbledore. It was quite evident that even he was scared of this non-human thing.

She let her hands drop back to her sides and began to walk to the high table. She took long, purposeful strides and when she made it to the front, she paused and put her hands back on her hips before speaking to the professors.

"Now, you all understand my rules about being here and at any point when I feel like leaving, I will." She stopped and looked into each one of the teacher's faces and once making sure each understood this, continued. "You know, I've had a long trip and I would like to get a nap in before dinner so would someone kindly show me where I'll be staying?" It wasn't a request; it was more of a demand.

"You'll be staying in the Heads room with Mr. Malfoy."

Emerald smirked at the sound of his name. "Great. We'll have a chance to reacquaint with one another."

Draco and Hermione were still sitting at their tables, jaws dropped as they looked to each other and then up at the professors to make sure that had not heard wrong.

'This is great,' Hermione thought to herself. 'Harry and Ron are furious with me and now I'm losing my room and position to some freak. Could this day get any worse?'

Little did Hermione know that her day was about to get worse. About twenty times worse.