A/N: Hi again! *waves* Sorry for the extremely long wait! I've just been busy with some other stuff, but no doubt I'm still a Harry Potter fan and a DM/HG one at that! Well, here's chapter five of my long-anticipated story. Cheers, and enjoy!





Chapter Five: Hello Again

"BRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGG!" "Freaking shit!" A hand felt through the small bedside cabinet and groped around for the alarm clock, and finally finding it, shoved it off the table and made it fly to the floor in pieces, batteries and all. Draco rose from the bed, his silvery-blue eyes sleepy and annoyed and his platinum-blond hair tousled. How he resented the Ministry's agreement to allow battery-operated objects in Hogwarts, what with all the magic floating around in the air. The stupid things did nothing but trouble, and now that idiot Crabbe set his alarm way too loud, and it wasn't even supposed to be on since its master had gone home for the holiday. Merlin's beard, that bastard and his clock were annoying him to hell. Oh well, he thought to himself. Might as well get this day over with. He looked out the window, and for some strange reason, grinned. Not so bad for the first day after Christmas, he thought to himself. The grounds were still powdery-white with snow, but some of it had cleared, revealing the cheerful green of the bushes and the blood red color of the Winter's Blossom. Maybe he would go outside and fly around a little. Still a little drowsy, he popped out of his four-poster in his rich black silk robes, covering them, picked out a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans he had picked up at a Muggle sale out of sheer boredom last year, and went upstairs to the prefect's bathroom.

That was when he started thinking. About Granger-wait a minute, no, cancel that-Hermione. That was a weird conversation they had had yesterday. I mean, not that often that a pure-blood actually compliments a Mudblood-er, Muggle-born (what did I just think?)-about her singing voice or thanks her for finding a little lost kitten. The though of it was just really weird. But he couldn't help thinking that Granger wasn't so bad, after all. He'd even said it to her face. And Draco Malfoy would never do that-would he?

Oh, never mind. He might as well just say hello to her when they passed in the corridors, perhaps nothing more. He stepped out the shower and wrapped a towel around himself and walked over to a mirror stall to dress himself up.

There was another thing that surprised him. He was smiling. Non, not a sarcastic smile like the ones he always gave for free or the sick smile of a third year who'd just drank a little too much eggnog on Christmas morning. It was a real one, and because of it, he was actually feeling- cheerful. Only one thing popped into his mind as he pulled on his jeans, shirt and combed back his hair-Draco Malfoy, you sure are weird.

As soon as he was finished with his morning grooming, he pulled on a pair of shoes and walked back to the Slytherin sixth year dorms, where he figured the little kitten he had gotten yesterday, Sapphire, was just about awake from her peaceful slumber among his robes in his trunk.

He was right. Prowling around the cleaned-out dormitory amidst five empty four-poster beds was a tiny ball of gray and black with blue eyes, looking for its handsome master. IT was hard for Draco to imagine himself picking up the kitten and staring at it, but that was exactly what he did. Sapphire stared back, and mewed in a voice as soft as a whisper. "OK," he said uneasily. In his mind, he thought, what the hell am I doing with an adorable little kitten in my hands? Sounds like something some six- year-old girl in a pink dress would do. Why do I have a kitten again? Oh yeah. Mackenzie. "Um.good morning, Sapphire." "Mew," Sapphire responded, with milk-curdling cuteness. "Uh.I've got to go outside and attend to a couple of things, alright?" "Meow." "O-K. So I'm going to leave you here for a few minutes while I eat breakfast and get some for you. Agreed?" "Meow." "Right. But after that, you're going to have to stay here and wait for me until I come back, OK?" "Meow (hey)!" Draco sighed. Sapphire was staring at him again, blue eyes all watery like a kid about to cry. For some strange reason besides the fact that she'd meow to hell until he came running back, he didn't like the idea of leaving her alone, but then again, Draco Malfoy carrying a kitty all around the school? "Relax, kitty! The House-Elves will take care of you-I hope. Besides, it's a holiday, how long do you expect me to be out?" Silence. "Hey, you should know that I don't go to parties anymore!" "Mew (but still!)." "Well, I'm going to go eat breakfast anyway," he told her. "I'll be back in a while with some kippers for you." The kitty scowled (well, sort of), but nonetheless stayed on the pile of clothes Draco set her on. One last dig into his trunk and he pulled out a black Hogwarts robe, and pinned a sleek silver prefect badge onto it. Then, very quietly, he left the room, and made his way out of the Slytherin dungeons.

Breakfast wasn't a huge ordeal. Since he was early and it was still vacation, after all, he managed to get some good time alone to himself at the House table. The porridge and treacle were good, as usual. After helping himself to a glass of pumpkin juice, he scooped up a kipper and a piece of toast into a napkin, not too pleased about their smell, and went back down to his House dorms to deliver the fish and toast to Sapphire. He hoped the House-Elves would get rid of the smell.

Once he got up from the dungeons again, he decided to go to the library. Well, he needed to do some studying anyway, and although no one knew it, he loved to read. He hated Muggle television, as he thought it was for brain- dead losers, but reading was another thing. Whenever he got back home to the Malfoy Manor, he never talked to anyone, and always shut himself in the family's library, feeding himself with the thick history volumes and thin statistical folders.

On his way up the stairs, however, whom should he meet but Hermione Granger, carrying an armload of books, papers, and books. He gave a small smile, knowing that she would've wanted to pack the whole library into her Gryffindor dorm. She didn't really notice him, or else he figured she would ignore him, as she wouldn't really know what else to do after yesterday. But suddenly, her foot gave way on the fifth step. Draco winced as a scream echoed very loudly in his ears, but instinctively held out his arms, shutting his eyes. Books tumbled down the steps and scattered onto the floor below, pages torn, but he didn't catch one. As for Hermione.Draco looked around concernedly, looking for her, when he faced front, he found himself staring into hazel eyes, looking just as surprised as he was. Instead of any of the books, he found himself with another fairly light load in his arms. He blushed furiously, and so did Hermione. "Whoa," he muttered. "Easy there, Granger." "Um." Hermione's cheeks turned from flamingo pink to cherry red at this remark. "Uh, Draco.OK if you put me down now?" "Oh!" Draco almost dropped her like a sack of beans. "Right! Really sorry about that." He gently put her down and traveled down the steps to retrieve her books, wishing he could just shoot himself-well, if he could work one of those bang-thingies those Muggles used to kill each other. "Oh, no, that's all right, I'll pick them up," said Hermione, following him down. "You don't have to do that-( Nevertheless, being the heartless gentleman he was, Draco picked up half the books lying around on the red carpet and handed them to Hermione. He didn't really feel like looking at her, right now, and as she took the books away, neither did she. "Oh, um.do you need any help with those?" "Er, no thanks, I think I can manage on my own.but thanks anyway, OK?" "Hey, no problem." Draco gave her an easy sort of grin. "And, um, thanks for catching me on the steps." Before Draco could say 'you're welcome', he suddenly felt Hermione peck his cheek. That made him turn from pale pink to the reddest shade he had ever blushed too. Hermione, too, drew back, bright crimson, and from the look on her face, she had absolutely no idea why she had just done that. "'Cha do that for?" Draco mumbled, shocked. "I-I'm sorry.I don't know what's wrong with me." Hermione hid her head, and it looked like she was going to cry. Circe's pigs, he'd never seen her do something so strange since the time in third year when she had slapped the hell out of him. "I'm really sorry, Malfoy, it's just that whenever Harry or Ron helps me like that, I-( "Yeah, I get it," said Draco, feeling his ears going a little red and getting the slightest bit annoyed. Who was she to compare him with some other Gryffindor shit? "But hell, don't get any ideas that I'm as special as your precious Potter and Weasley, 'cause in the little world I live in, kisses on the cheek like that don't exist." She couldn't find anything to say to such a cold remark. The silence hit Draco and gave him the impact of what he had said, and to have said that in front of Granger-no, Hermione-was just really bad. "God, Granger, I'm really sorry for that. I don't know where that came from." Hermione was still very quiet before answering, "Oh. That's OK." "No, seriously, I didn't feel sarcastic at all today," he insisted. "Listen," she said softly. "I think it's best if we part ways now. I got some stuff to do, and you probably have something to study at the library." She said this in a sincere tone, not snotty or boastful. "Is it all right if I leave you now?" Draco swallowed. "Yeah. Sure. You probably do have a lot to be done, and yeah, I was just heading for the library." He jammed his thumb in its direction. "Well.goodbye, then." "Goodbye, Malfoy." "Hermione." She turned around, and saw that Draco was smiling. "My name is Draco." "Oh-alright. Well then, see you. And if I might mention, Muggle clothes don't look so bad on you." Draco stared inside his black robes while Hermione gave a soft, shy giggle and continued down on her way to Gryffindor Tower.

Before she was completely out of sight, however, Draco heard her mutter, "Beautiful day."