Author's note!: See, i told you I'd have this chappie up uber-soon. makes up for the last one, which was short. actually, this one is short too...oh well, i guess that's just how my chapters are. but i make up for it with rapid updates. ) So anyways, hope these chaps are good.

italics are character thoughts again, but now i'm introducling bold writing, which it remus's alter ego. pretty nifty, eh?


Chapter 7

The station was full of students, new and old alike, trying to load their bags onto the train and greet all of their friends.

Hermione stepped confidently out of the floo grate and over to where the Weasleys, Harry, and Remus were standing.

Ron saw her first

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" He exclaimed.

Remus turned along with the rest of the group to see what Ron was going on about and inhaled sharply.

It was Hermione, like he'd said, but she was…gorgeous. He watched her strut confidently to the group, ignoring the stares coming from all sides.

Remus was having a mental battle with himself.

-God she's gorgeous-

And a student

-Who cares? If she did, she wouldn't have fallen asleep with you-

That was an accident

-Whatever you old wolf-

Yes, I am a wolf, and I will never be good enough for her as I am. She deserves better, and I deserve no one.

His face hardened and he looked away as Hermione approached the group.

"Close your mouth, Ron" He heard Ginny say.

Remus turned and started loading trunks onto the train.


Hermione noticed him turn away and walk into the train with some of the bags. She sighed and looked over at Ron, who was glaring at his sister.

"Come on." Hermione said. "Let's go talk to everyone. We have half an hour."

She started walking over to where all of the other students were, eying a group of prefects she wanted to talk to, when a hand snaked around her waist from behind. She turned quickly in shock, realizing the arm belonged to a very good looking Draco Malfoy.

"Now why haven't I seen you at school before?" He asked slyly. "You can't possibly be a first year."

She decided to string him along a little, and smirked. "I am definitely not a first year, and believe me…you have seen me around."

His hand snuck under the back of her shirt, his fingers lightly caressing her back.

"Really? Well I'd like to see you more often." He kissed the crook of her neck lightly. "I'll see you around…Granger…" And he walked away, leaving a shocked Hermione in his wake.

Remus had watched everything…the caress, the kiss, the expressions. How her eyes had closed softly at his touch…in pleasure. His heart ached, but his head knew that even that ferret would be a better suitor than him.

He turned back to the Weasleys and began a conversation with Molly.


Hermione stood there, trying to figure out what went wrong. She was sure he didn't recognize her. 5 years of being called a mudblood and now he's hitting on me? Well She thought. it was nice. He may be a Malfoy, but he is cute, and his hands are magic. Hell, his lips are too. I guess we'll just see what happens…

She shook herself from her reverie and walked over to Ginny, who was talking to Luna Lovegood, who was sporting a rather ridiculous pumpkin headband.

"Hey Guys." Said Hermione. "Nice headband, Luna."

Luna smiled. "Thanks. They're good for warding off snorflatts. Want one?"

"No thanks, I think I'm ok." Hermione responded. "We should probably get on the train. We only have 5 minutes. Want to sit together?" She offered.

Ginny and Luna both nodded and the girls walked onto the train, searching for an open compartment.

They wandered past the Slytherin section, and were headed farther back when Hermione's eyes met a pair of silver eyes. Draco. He winked at her through his window and she smiled slightly and blew him a kiss, then hurrying to catch up with Ginny and Luna, who were waving her over to an empty compartment they'd found.

Ginny, who had seen the whole exchange, looked at Hermione, confused. She thought Hermione liked her brother, and she had a sneaking suspicion that a crush on Professor Lupin was somewhere in the mix, but Malfoy? The Prince of Slytherin? It didn't make sense.

The train lurched forward and then slowly started moving. Students were seen rushing around, looking for compartments and conversing with their friends, while the girls spent their time talking about their summers, reading, and being thankful that the boys were in a different compartment.

When the cart came by, the girls each bought something. Droobles for Luna, Chocolate for Ginny, and Hermione daringly bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every flavor Beans, which were soon discarded after Ginny ate a sardine flavored one.

Luna stood suddenly, declaring, "I'm going to go look for a nacklepuff. I thought I saw one on the train earlier."

Hermione and Ginny shared a look and wished her luck. Hermione went back to her book, but Ginny had other ideas.

"Hermione?" She asked.

"Hmmm?"

"What happened earlier?"

"When?"

"When we were looking for a compartment. The whole thing with Malfoy. Do you like that ferret?"

If Hermione was flustered by the question, it wasn't obvious.

"Of course not Ginny." She responded. "Honestly. What a stupid question. I have a prefects meeting I need to attend to, and you can think about how extraordinarily dim that question was while I'm gone." She said sternly, standing and walking out.

"Geez," Ginny said. "Don't have a cow or anything."