A/N: Just a quick note. Characters that J. K. Rowling killed off may or may not be dead in this series.

Chapter 13

Hermione woke up to the sound of her wand ringing; feeling a bit sore from her previous tossing and turning from her nightmare. But luckily for her, she had managed to get in a good amount of sleep. Thanks to Draco comforting her, there were no more nightmares.

As she rolled over, she saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. It was the time she normally got up during the school year. However, she couldn't help but feel like going back under the covers and sleeping for a couple more hours until the sun was at least up. It was far too dark for her liking. She had gotten into the habit of sleeping in over the break, and it would take her a while to get out of it. Hopefully it would be sooner over later.

She made her way towards the bathroom to begin getting ready for the morning. Once she managed to tiredly stumble her way over, she found that it was otherwise occupied. She and Draco shared a bathroom so she assumed that he must have been in there.

She knocked on the door, "Draco, how much longer do you need?" she called out to him.

A hasty voice replied back, "Not too much longer Hermione. Just a couple more minutes," he said from inside the bathroom. She waited outside the door for him to finish up.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Hermione found herself staring at Draco Malfoy's naked chest. He still had a couple of water droplets scattered among his nicely toned chest and arms. She found herself trying to pry her eyes away from his body, which was only covered by a small towel around his legs. He was definitely good looking. To say that he wasn't would be an enormous understatement and a huge insult to the man who stood in front of her.

To her great thankfulness, he hadn't caught her staring at him. Merlin, if he did, it would be beyond embarrassing. What would she say to him, "Uh sorry you caught me staring, but I can't help that you have an amazing body?" Draco had a large enough of an ego to begin with, and she did not need to inflate it any further than it already was.

He gave her a smile, "All yours Hermione. Take your time, breakfast isn't for another hour or so," he said sweetly to her.

She felt herself smile back at him as she looked into his grey eyes, "Thanks," she said. "And thank you for last night," she told him genuinely.

He looked concerned. "Did you sleep well afterwards?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I didn't wake up until this morning. Thankfully there were no more nightmares," she said.

"Are you going to tell Potter or Blaise about this?" he questioned.

She shook her head rapidly. "No. They would only worry more if I did. I would rather just be able to get them to stop on my own without worrying them about it."

He gave her a deep look for a couple of moments. Once he realised that there would be no changing his mind, he sighed.

"Alright, but if they get worse, I'm going to tell them myself Hermione," he said dejectedly.

She gave him a smile. Hermione knew that he was only looking out for her and for her sanity, but no one should be worrying about it. They would all drive themselves crazy with guilt, and that was the last thing that she wanted to do with them.

"Okay," she said to soothe him.

He walked back into his room, while she entered the bathroom and prepared for her first day.

Hermione and Draco exited their room together. They decided that since they were both going down to breakfast, that they might as well go down together. It didn't bother Hermione of course. While in the past she would have gone out of her way to avoid him, now she didn't mind his presence.

"So what are you taking then Hermione?" Draco asked as they stepped onto one of the moving staircases, which was thankfully stationary at the moment.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, and History of Magic," she told him.

He looked a bit surprised at this. "You're taking seven courses?" he asked her stunned. Most seventh years only took about five or six.

They walked past several pictures that were ranting on to each other about some of the latest house gossip. Hermione had long stopped listening to it, for they were almost always rumours, and she just couldn't care about them.

"I wanted to be able to have courses to spare in case I change my mind in the future," she said worriedly. Her future was a topic that she always feared. What happened if she failed miserably because she didn't have a course she needed? She knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help but worry about it nonetheless.

He laughed. "I expect no less from you," he teased. "You would take all of those subjects. Besides, no one even pays attention in History of Magic anyway. People use that class as a time to catch up on sleep. The Ravenclaws use that as a chance to catch up on sleep."

She huffed. "I know! And it's such an important class after all. I have no idea what's wrong with these people. But what are you taking?"

"The same, minus the History of Magic, I figure for sleeping through that class I can sleep in my own bed," he teased.

"Very funny," she said with a look of displeasure.

He laughed again as they entered the Great Hall. Draco went his way to sit by Blaise and the other Slytherins as Hermione sat by her fellow Gryffindors.

"Hey Hermione," Ginny greeted her with a smile. She grabbed her orange juice and took a sip from the goblet in front of her.

"Morning Ginny," Hermione said as she reached for a bagel and some cheese.

"What's your new room like?" Ginny asked her. "Is it wonderfully large?"

"It's amazing," she said truthfully. "There's so much space for just the two of us."

"You're so lucky," the ginger girl said enviously. "I would love to have a room that large.

"Why don't you sleep over after this week's classes?" Hermione asked her friend.

Ginny's face immediately lit up. "Oh Hermione, that would be amazing. Are you sure Draco wouldn't mind though?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "I doubt he would care, but I can always ask him and make sure."

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown walked in and sat across from Hermione and Ginny.

"Hermione do tell us," Parvati gushed. "How has your new life been?"

Hermione looked at the pair confused. "What do you mean?"

They looked impatient. "Duh, do you live in a manor, do you have a lot of clothes, is Draco Malfoy your boyfriend, what are the Zabinis like," the both asked, one after the other.

"Well, my house is a manor and it is rather large I suppose. And I do assume that I have a lot of clothes that my mum picked out for me," Hermione told the two of them

Lavender gushed at this. "And Draco Malfoy? What's he like? Have you seen him naked yet? I mean you are sharing a dorm room," she pried eagerly.

"He's well," she paused. She felt herself start to blush as she thought of the incidents of the morning; although he wasn't exactly naked. "He's changed a lot since the war. He's passionate and caring. He's very intelligent and fun to have an intellectual conversation with," she said truthfully, trying not to say too much.

Parvati looked impatient. "But is he your boyfriend? And more importantly, have you seen him naked?"

"He's just a friend at this moment. And NO, I have not seen him naked, nor do I plan to," she said pointedly to the two gossips. Although he was half-naked, telling that much to them would be like telling the entire school. And while nothing had happened, she still preferred that the entire Hogwarts population didn't find out.

They looked disappointed, and as Hermione looked over at Ginny, she saw a similar look on her face. The gossips said their good byes and headed off to find out more gossip.

"So nothing happened?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean the Slytherin Prince is your roommate and you have no good stories?"

"Well, a few things happened," Hermione confessed once Lavender and Parvati were out of sight.

Ginny squealed. "Hermione you have to tell me!" she practically yelled out.

"Well last night I had a nightmare," Hermione said and saw Ginny's face fill with worry. "Don't worry about it though Gin. But he came into my room to check on me and see if I was alright. And he sat on my bed, holding me until I stopped crying, and let me fall asleep in his arms."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Was he with you all night?" she asked her, while taking her word for the nightmares being irrelevant.

"I'm not sure how long he stayed, but he was gone by the morning," Hermione told her friend.

"And what else happened?" Ginny asked her.

"Well this morning, when he got out of the shower, he was wearing nothing but a towel. There were water drops on his body Ginny! I've never been one to notice such things, but I couldn't turn away from him. He was just so muscular and so well built," she said with a blush.

Ginny gave her a wide grin. "I think you have a crush on Draco Malfoy."

Hermione looked at her in shock. "What? No! I do not think of him that way. He's my brother's best friend, and now I stopped seeing him as an arrogant prick and as a decent human being. But there is no way I see him any other way," she said tensely.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Alright then 'Mione. You don't like him. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

She nodded. "Yup; besides, I already knew I didn't feel for him that way. But thanks for reinforcing my belief that I didn't."

Ginny shook her head and returned to the eggs on her plate. "Whatever you say."

Harry and Ron walked in, and Harry took his spot beside his girlfriend. Ron however, chose to sit as far away from her as he could possibly, while still sitting near Harry. He immediately engaged in a conversation with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan about some Quidditch game that had occurred over the break.

She tried to catch his eye, or even get a sense whether he was still angry or not. But he chose to simply not look her way. So he was still mad at her.

She felt anger rush through her. He had no right to stay angry at her because of who her family was. But she knew better than to act upon her anger. After all, she was Head Girl. And starting an argument in the Great Hall, on the first day of school, did not say responsible at all. The last thing she wanted was to have her new privileged revoked or even lose her position as Head Girl.

Harry saw her and leaned in closely. "I am sorry about him Hermione. Mrs. Weasley gave him an enormous lecture on his behaviour, but his stubbornness prevents him from apologising. But I know he wants to. He regrets what he did and he says it sometimes. I know you don't deserve this, and he deserves to apologise, but he will, just give him time," he told her.

Somehow Hermione doubted that he would. But she knew that she needed to keep an open mind. With any luck he would try and apologise and things would be able to go back to how they were.

The bell rang at that moment, causing the students to go off to where they needed to be. Hermione stood up and joined Blaise and Draco to go get their schedules for the year from Professor McGonagall.