The first day back at Hogwarts was a Monday and Draco was thankful that he didn't have to wait too much longer to see Hermione. As soon as supper was over, he headed to their classroom to wait for her. He didn't have to wait long. Hermione must have had the same idea as him and opened the door moments after he closed it. She rushed over to him and engulfed him in a hug.

Her hair tickled his face and he smiled in spite of it. He returned her hug, for as long as she was willing to touch him. When she pulled away, he plastered a smile onto his face and asked about her Christmas break.

"Oh Draco, it was wonderful. Except for the parts when I remembered what hell you were probably going through, which was all the time. My parents were so confused. I was happy one minute, sad the next."

Draco chuckled and led her over to their usual spot. "No need to worry about me, as you can see I'm in perfect health."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Now."

He opened his mouth to contradict her and then thought better of it. "Yes, I'm in perfect health now. No need to worry."

"I'm going to Draco, every time. We have a lot of breaks to get through between now and the end of school." She paused and looked thoughtful. "Assuming that you will be ready to protect your mother by the time we are done school."

Draco muttered under his breath and glanced at her. "Hopefully before."

Hermione nodded once and then reached into her bag. "I hope you don't mind, I figured since we were almost done with studying for our first year, we could discuss which subjects we would like to get better at." She held up a scroll and a quill. "We can debate and then I'll sign out some harder materials."

He shot a quick and easy smile at this wonderful girl. "Sounds like a well thought out plan. I think that advanced Defense would be a good idea, don't you?" Hermione nodded and jotted that idea down. "And perhaps Potions?" Draco looked thoughtful. "Right now, it really is my best subject."

"That's perfect." Hermione wrote down Potions on the scroll and then looked up at him. "Transfiguration. I want to become an animagus." Draco's eyebrows rose. "Professor McGonagall is one and I think that it'll be incredibly hard, but very useful."

Draco nodded his head slowly, "Especially if we break the rules a little and not register."

Hermione looked scandalized for a minute, but then remembered herself. "Right, of course. If people knew we were an animagus, they would know what to look for. You're right."

"Hermione, how are we going to do this?" Draco looked concerned and Hermione stared back, confused. "We're only first years, after all."

She laughed and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "It's not going to happen overnight! Honestly, Draco. If we are in agreement with these three subjects, we are going to study them obsessively until we are able to master them. Whenever that may be."

She grinned at him and he felt his whole world snap into place around her. Where would he be without this amazing girl? Draco found himself nodding along with everything she said. "Of course, Hermione."

"Perfect. Thank you for agreeing so quickly." Hermione smiled at Draco, before filing her scroll back into her pack. "I'm surprised we didn't even have to discuss which subjects we should attempt to master."

Draco cleared his throat. "Well, the three that we picked are the most important. I mean, who would need divination, after all?"

Hermione looked quizzically at him, "Divination?"

"Seeing the future. Tarot cards. Reading tea leaves."

Hermione grimaced. "Yes, you're right, who would need that nonsense?"

Draco laughed and Hermione joined in, allowing themselves to forget the outside world for the rest of their time together.

The rest of the year flew by quickly. Draco continued to act like a complete and utter prat whenever he was outside their special room. He attempted to get them in trouble for the dragon that Hagrid had. He continued to say snide things both under his breath and very much out loud whenever the three Gryffindors were around.

He also continued to apologize at the beginning of their meetings. Hermione, by the time Easter rolled around, was sick and tired of hearing Draco apologize. However, she continued to brush it off. She knew that Draco hated the role he was playing and that apologizing to her was his way of clearing his conscious.

Draco was also clearing his conscious by helping Hermione, Harry, and Ron with their quest to stop Snape from getting at the Philosopher's Stone. Although, he did tell Hermione that he was 90 percent sure that it wasn't Snape who was trying to steal it. But whoever was trying to steal it must be stopped, after all. He gave good ideas and was able to suggest things that she then casually brought up around Harry and Ron, or, more often than not, lectured Harry and Ron into agreeing with whatever Draco had suggested.

After the actual battle between Harry and Quirrell, Draco had nearly gone mad. The trio had gone to save the stone and to stop whoever it was that was planning on stealing it on a night that Draco and Hermione normally met. That meant, for the first time all year, he was stood up. He paced their classroom for an hour before storming out, angry and upset. A few steps out of their classroom and suddenly he thought of a reason for Hermione to have missed meeting him.

He darted back to the classroom and sank down to the floor. Hanging his head in his hands, Draco took a couple of deep breaths, trying to will his tears to remain in his eyes and not fall. It was, of course, a futile effort. Draco sat in the classroom another hour, feeling guilty about getting so mad about Hermione not meeting with him. He knew, however, that only something incredibly important could have kept her away. And he knew about the potential theft of the Philosopher's Stone. However, he had jumped to the first conclusion he saw, thought she had stood him up and became angry instead! How similar to his father was he? How could he get so angry, so quickly?

Surely, there would be many more times that either one of them would have to miss a meeting. He couldn't react so negatively when things didn't go as he planned. Draco remained in his position, head in his hands, berating himself for quite some time. Draco decided to stay in the classroom, not wanting to leave the safety of the one place he could be himself. He also stayed so that the worry he felt for Hermione would not be seen and noticed by anyone else.

A couple of hours after curfew, he heard yelling in the hallways. Draco wanted to open the door and investigate, but didn't want to lose his house any more points. He pressed up against the door, listening for sounds of crying or something that would suggest that the trio's mission had ended badly.

Eventually, Draco fell asleep, leaning against the door.

The next morning, the door opened quickly, and Draco flew backward, jolted awake by the sudden movement. Hermione closed the door and threw herself into his arms. "Oh Draco, I'm sorry for missing our meeting last night."

Draco sighed and hugged her back, glad to see she was in one piece. "It's alright, Hermione. I figured it out." He pulled back and searched her face. "Are you okay?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, Ron and I don't even have a scratch. Harry does, of course, but he'll be fine. He's in the hospital wing right now."

"Good. I'm glad you are all alright." Draco pulled her back in for another long hug. "Who was actually trying to steal the stone?"

Hermione mumbled something against his shoulder and he pulled away again to hear what it was. "It wasn't Snape, you were right." At Draco's smirk, Hermione sighed. "I know. Harry and Ron were really convincing though." Draco's eyebrow lifted, signaling that he wanted an answer to his original question. "It was Quirrell."

"What?" Astonished, Draco shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. He had Voldemort on the back of his head. A man possessed by Voldemort has been teaching us Defense all year long!" Hermione shrieked, having just come to this realization now with Draco present.

"Well, he didn't really do a good job of actually teaching defense, now did he?" Draco chuckled at the look on Hermione's face.

"You are impossible." Hermione shook her head and then proceeded to fill Draco in on the rest of their adventure.

"I can't believe that Harry faced the Dark Lord again and got away. It's incredible." Draco mused, after Hermione's story.

"I agree." She fell silent for a minute, then made eye contact with Draco. "Tomorrow is the leaving feast, yesterday was supposed to be our last meeting until September."

Draco's mood suddenly plummeted again. "I know."

Hermione sighed. "I don't think that I'll be able to get away from Harry and Ron tonight."

Draco nodded his head. "I understand."

"Listen," Hermione hugged Draco again. "You can last the summer. It'll be done before you even know it. Maybe we can write to each other?" She pulled away and looked up at him.

He thought it over. "It's possible. We would have to be very general with our wording. I don't know if my father would bother to read through my mail, but just in case…" Draco trailed off, realizing it would be best if they don't communicate at all.

Hermione, of course, came to the same conclusion. "If there's a chance that he could read something, get angry and then take it out on you… I don't want to be responsible for him hurting you."

"You never would be, Hermione." Draco took both of her hands with his. "It would never be your fault if Lucius decides to do something awful." She pressed her lips into a thin line. "It's true. He's an awful, evil man. If I didn't have my mother to care about, there's no way I would be heading back there. But," he paused, to make sure she was listening. "No matter what he does, no matter what happens, it is no one else's fault but his."

Hermione's eyes filled and she hugged him close once again. "I'm sorry in advance, Draco."

He nodded and returned the hug. "September 1st is a Tuesday. I'll see you in this classroom the day after we get back, alright?"

She nodded and hugged him tighter. "Be safe." With that, she made eye contact one final time, eyes filled with tears, and turned to leave.

Draco waited a couple of minutes before emerging from the classroom. He headed to the dungeons, to his dorm room, and slowly started packing his life away. The boys in his room around him were boisterous and carefree. He glanced around. Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, all had fathers like his. How did they cope? He looked back to his things, all neatly piled into his trunk. He glanced once more at the boys around him. Maybe their fathers weren't like Lucius, after all.