Hi all! (Reviewers: I love you more than anyone else!)

Well...because too many people have been telling me to do it lately, I finally read Cassandra Claire's trilogy...and I am in awe. Wow.

But the thing is that one of my ideas which I was very proud of was also one her ideas. (And I thought it was so original! I thought it was new!)

So I'm not going to say which idea, but though there are many differences, anyone who has read it (and if you haven't, don't waste time on my fic, go to schnoogle and read it NOW!) will notice. So I give Cassandra Claire all due credit for having the idea first. Lucky, lucky girl.

I swear someday I will post something personally acknowledging reviewers (I fall down before you!) but for now I am busy basking in all the glory.

Chapter 5: Arrival at Hogwarts and we all knew this truce was too good to last anyways. Feel the anger in the air. (p.s. I apologize in advance for this chapter. I will be hated. But you knew it was coming, didn't you? Nobody said life was fair.)

*****

Last Chapter: Draco felt a little faint.

"Is that a *Head Girl* badge?" he asked urgently.

"Yeah," said Hermione proudly.

"Um," Draco said. "Okay, this freaky coincidence deal needs to stop, and soon."

Hermione looked confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Draco pulled out his shiny new Head Boy badge and showed it to her.

Hermione stared at him.

Somewhere in the background of this tableau, another shard of glass splintered with a tinkling smash.

Yep, thought Draco. I don't know why I'm suprised. My life just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

*****

Disclaimer: No, not mine, but I will not rest until I have at the very least, a Draco look-alike.

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"...But softly

As the tune comes from his throat

Trouble

Mellows to a golden note."

-Langston Hughes

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Chapter 5

"Hermione, calm down," said Harry anxiously. "You're, um...glowing."

It was true. Hermione was bathed in a faint red light.

"I am not," she said, staring at Draco.

"Er.." said Ron. "Look at yourself."

"I'm not glowing," she insisted.

Then she looked down at her arm.

"Oh," she said forlornly, and burst into tears.

It's not that bad, she thought, maybe he'll be nice like he was yesterday. I don't know why I'm so upset about this! Oh, but it was so horrible when they were fighting.

But what's wrong with me? Why am I glowing? Did I really make the windows explode?

"Look," Ron snapped at Draco. "Now you've made her cry!"

Ginny was trying to comfort her, patting her back and making soothing noises. Hermione just cried harder.

I wish he'd go away and none of this would have happened!

"Well would you rather have had her find this out during dinner?" Draco was saying angrily. "That would be a fine scene, wouldn't it? Head Girl bursting into tears at the thought of the Head Boy! It'd fit right in with the Dream Team tradition of kicking off the year miserably."

Hermione glanced up at him. He really did look angry, and just a bit uncomfortable; his brow was furrowed over drawn eyebrows and his gleaming hair was whipping violently in the wind.

Wait a second, wind?

"Malfoy," she interrupted tentatively, sniffing. "Look at your hair."

Which of course he tried to do.

When he discovered that it was impossible to watch his own hair, he gave up and snarled at her.

"What the hell are you talking about? And do a charm on the windows or something, I can't stand this bloody wind in here!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" she said. "There *is* no wind in here!"

"What do you mean, no-" he peered at her, then Ron, Harry, and Ginny in turn. Their clothes lay flat and their hair was still. "Oh."

"Whatever's happening to me," she whispered, a sob catching in her throat, "is happening to you."

She saw comprehension dawn on his face, and then, suddenly, it darkened with rage and...fear?

"This is *not* happening to me," he hissed. "This is your fault. You must be doing something to me, I don't know what! I wish I had never tried to be civil to you, or made that stupid promise."

She stood up to face him, tears forgotten for the moment. "I'm not doing *anything* to you, Malfoy!" she yelled. " This is *all* your fault. I wish you would just stay away! In fact, I don't want to hear from you or speak to you ever again!"

He glared at her. He was tall and straight; his school tie flapped, loosened at the neck, and his hair was blown around his head like a furious halo. His face was all high cheekbones and lean lines.

Glaring back at him, Hermione caught herself in the silvery depths of his eyes, and for a split second stretched to a moment, she forgot everything: forgot to be angry, forgot to be scared, forgot that she despised this boy. She was suspended, trapped by the dark, wild beauty of his gaze.

Suddenly she was jolted back to reality by his voice.

"Fine," he said venomously. "I shouldn't even be talking to a Mudblood like you anyways. Don't expect me to be any more accepting just because Dumbledore made his favorite charity case the Head Girl."

He turned to leave, then spun on his heel.

"Till dinner, Granger," he said coldly. And slammed the door on the way out.

As if the crash of the door was a cue, Hermione's face crumpled into tears, and she sank into her seat sobbing.

She cried, real deep sobs this time, not just in I-can't-believe-this-is- happening shock.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny, said nothing, but she felt their unspoken approval and sympathy all around her.

She cried until she felt empty, then dried her eyes on her shirt, and lifted her gaze to her friends.

"If you make one remark about it being that time of the month," she said to Harry and Ron, "I'm going to kill you."

They laughed, and hugged her fiercely.

"Well, I can't say it's a pleasure, but it's something of a relief that Malfoy's back to himself again," Ron told her. "The world is once again dependable."

"You were right," Hermione told him and Harry. "He'll never change. He'll always be what he acts like...scum."

She wished desperately that she could go back to believing it.

"Note to self:" Ginny said to the ceiling, "Don't mess with Hermione when it's that time of month."

She tried to look innocent when Hermione turned on her. "What? That whole killing remark was definitely addressed to Harry and Ron. I was not included."

Hermione gave her a watery grin. "You know what? I love saying this. Draco is a prat and, guess what? I told you so! I told you so." She shook her finger at Ginny. "I. Told. You. So."

Ginny started laughing. "Fine, you were right; I was wrong. Just stop doing that creepy little dance." Her face sobered. "It's not like it was all Malfoy's fault though. You did say that you never wanted to see or hear from him again."

"Shhhh," Ron told her as Hermione set her jaw.

"He started it," she said stubbornly. "And I don't want to hear another word about the whole deal. Not about the windows, not about the glowing, and especially not about Draco Malfoy."

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Draco stalked back to the train compartment he shared with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson.

His mind was reeling with the events of the last half-hour.

First there was that weird dream...then in Granger's compartment the windows *exploded*...and there was something really strange going on, something evident in the little gusts and whirlwinds that tore at his clothing as he walked.

It seemed as if this Likaelor thing was going to manifest itself in very visble ways.

Or maybe it wasn't that, maybe it had something to do with that dream. He shivered, just remembering it.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid.

He felt like he wasn't in control, and he hated it. Hated not knowing what was happening. He hated that Granger had power over him, the power to upset him like this.

Granger. His head filled with self-righteous fury at the thought.

He should have never come near her. Maybe he wasn't exactly going to follow in his father's footsteps, but that didn't mean that he should associate with, with *Mudbloods* like her.

But the memory of that last sight of her, tears glistening on her cheeks, looking up at him hopelessly, made his anger soften, and the unnatural wind that stroked his cheeks died down.

That's what Granger did to him; she softened him, seemed to tear at his defenses somewhere deep down, and make him forget the rest of the world.

For a split second he regretted what he'd done.

Then he shook the thoughts off and slid through the door to the waiting Crabbe, Pansy, and Goyle.

Pansy let out a squeal at his arrival and would have thrown herself at him, but one furious look from under his long lashes made her subside. Reluctantly.

Crabbe and Goyle might not have been the brightest minions in the world, but they had known Draco long enough to be able to guess the times when he would tolerate them and the times when he would send them flying.

This was not a tolerant time.

Draco flopped into a seat next to the windows, and was preparing to get his sulky brooding face on, when the train rumbled to a halt, and the peaks and pinnacles of a familiar castle filled the view.

They were at Hogwarts.

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*****

Okay, I know that was way too short, and I guess I could have condensed that and the next part into the same chapter, but then it would have been a little long.

*****

Next chapter: Tune in to finally find out what a Likaelor is! Hermione explores her new living quarters, and Draco relaxes in the garden. (yes, I said garden) It's a wonder what a good night's sleep can do for anyone, so be prepared for a truce! (yay...)