A/N: First of all I have to say that this IS my first attempt at a fan fiction of any kind, and flames are looked at as creative criticism. Feel free to flame me! I can't get much more depressed than this anyway..Second: I realize that both Hermione and Draco are EXTREMELY out of character, especially Draco..and all I can say to make that more understandable is that they ARE in 7th year, and have gotten more mature than they were. People change, and that's why Draco isn't vicious and mean anymore.when in reality the reason is I'm not really that obsessed with Harry Potter, I just like this whole D/Hr romance thing..::swoon:: in my mind's eye, Draco is like the hottest guy ever, and I think he gets a bad rep, ;o) SORRY about the messed up spacing, it was either this or all clumped up together..



ATTENTION:: I am looking for a beta reader! I will send you everything before posting it, and you can give me your thoughts. If anyone reads this and really likes it, or really hates it, and thinks they qualify for the job, e-mail me at DisenchantedSoul@antisocial.com. Thanx for reading!

Also, bold italics are thoughts, bold is talking, and italics are used in the normal sense, j/fyi ~Mandy





CHAPTER ONE: Beauty and the Beast

Draco lay awake in bed, thinking. He was thinking of his late father,

and how the death of Lord Voldemort led to his death. He thought about where he was, Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Draco truly loved Hogwarts, and looking back, he could safely say it was the best thing

that had ever happened to him. His whole life was spent, day in and day out, with his father prior to Hogwarts. Although his father wasn't abusive, as some people believed, he was not a loving man. Lucius (AN: I don't know how to spell that man's name!) was very strict, and Draco was glad for that. It kept him from going soft...But, Draco thought, it was too much.



Not only was he not soft, he was hard and cruel, unable to express emotions outwardly and not allowing himself to get attached to anything. That was what his father had taught him, and that is what Draco grew up believing. His seven years at Hogwarts, however, had changed that. His father hadn't wanted him to attend Hogwarts, but his mother had insisted he

be close by. Draco had come to Hogwarts full of hatred for anyone and anything that wouldn't join him and take over his ways. Potter hadn't done that. His father had punished him greatly when he was informed of Draco's failure to pull Potter into his gang, and he had warned Draco not to make friends with Potter after he had given up his opportunity.

"That Potter," his father had said to him, "missed his chance at becoming something more than a lucky little worm. Don't go near him, Draco. That boy doesn't deserve a second chance! Make his life hell. make him rue the day he turned his back on a Malfoy!"



Draco wasn't really afraid of his father, just intimidated by him. Draco did not want to think of his father, he hated him. Well, he hated him

as much as a person could hate their father. He was, after all, just that, his reason for life. In his heart, Draco knew that he did love his father, but as a father and nothing more. Not as a friend, not really as even a relative, just because it was his father who gave him life. But, as a person, Draco hated him. He continued thinking about him, reminiscing, of his childhood, remembering the days in Malfoy Manor when his only cares were to not spill or break anything, and to not let his father catch him doing anything

"Un-Malfoy" like.



* * * * * * * * * *





Draco turned his head to read the blue digital numbers of his alarm.

2:32Am. Draco turned his gave back to the ceiling. "This night is wasted!" He whispered into the night, "Sleeping now would only mean waking up as tired, if not more tired, than I would be staying up." Draco was a little angry at himself for allowing his mind to slip away into thoughts and not into dreams. Not that Draco was one to dream, or at least not usually. When he did dream, however, it was not dreams filled with happy children laughing and singing, or fairytale lands filled with imaginative beasts. Which, he thought, could be real and in the

forbidden forest right now.maybe I should ask Hermione, ha.



One may wonder exactly why Draco would randomly think of someone like Hermione Grange and not ask himself why, but he did just that. Draco opened the lush forest green curtains that surrounded his green

and silver bed, and peered into the room. It was dark; the house elves hadn't lit the fires yet. Draco considered doing it himself, but decided against it. They would know he had been up, he didn't want that. Instead, he pulled off

his plush, snake engraved, green bedspread and sat up. Shivering slightly in his think silk pajamas, he got out of bed. Draco walked, feeling the way, to the trunk at the foot of his bed. Draco slowly undid the latch, hoping to not wake the other boys in the dorm, then opened the lid. Suddenly, he paused. There were no other boys in the room, he laughed. He was Head Boy of his year, and had been honored by a room of his own, as did the Head Girl. Their rooms were joined through a common room of their own, which of course led to the halls of Hogwarts.

Draco sifted through the various things in the trunk, and finally held up his wand victoriously. He muttered a lumos and his wand shown brightly. He stood, pausing to look around before heading for the door. His hand graced the cool door know lightly, and he felt the hairs on the back of his

neck stand up. He could almost hear his father yelling, Malfoys fear nothing. Things like that were all he ever heard from his father.

Draco brushed the thoughts of his father away and grabbed a robe from the chair near the door before opening it. He donned the robe while gliding into the common room. What he saw there stopped him in his tracks, not in fear, but in surprise. His eyes fell first upon the fire place, where a slow fire was dieing down. The house elves haven't lit the fires yet. Draco

thought, confused. His gaze then drifted around the room until it fell on a

lonely figure in a plush armchair. It was Hermione Granger, Head Girl. She was curled up, knees below her chin, head rested on a book. Draco looked at

her; she looked so helpless, so frail, when she was asleep. Draco stared at

her, sizing her up. She was dressed in short read pajama bottoms and a black cotton tank top. Her dark brown waves fell over her eyes and framed her face. Draco noticed she was shivering, and realized himself that he too was

cold. The floor was like ice, numbing his feet. Again surveying the sleeping girl, Draco noticed a red blanket gathered around the base of her chair. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Draco walked to her. He set his wand, facing away from her, on the small table next to the chair, as not to wake her. Draco knelt and picked up the blanket, draping it around the sleeping Head Girl. He then slowly took the book from under her chin, marked the page, and placed the book next to his wand on the small end table.

Draco turned back to Hermione, examining her face in the dull firelight. He gently brushed aside the tendrils of lush brown curls that had fallen over her face. Draco just looked at her, she really was beautiful. Her hair had gained more control since they had met seven years ago, and it framed her face perfectly. Her skin was pale and smooth, ruby lips on a porcelain face. She had small, elegant features, usually lit with the shine of big brown, honey shaded eyes, which matched her hair attractively. Thin, arched eyebrows accented her eyes, and long, flowing lashes fell below the lids in a long fan.

Years ago, Draco would have been punished for thoughts such as these. Somehow, his father always seemed to know what he was thinking, particularly when it was something Draco knew he would not approve of. Now, Draco didn't slap himself for these thoughts, just let them flow. His eyes had wandered from the face of the sleeping girl to the face of the dieing fire as he crouched on the cold floor.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a slight increase in speed of breath. Hermione's heart rate jumped and she began to take short, ragged

breaths. Taken off guard, Draco fell back. Hermione shifted in her chair and stared to slow her breathing. Draco sighed, and adjusted her blanket again.

The dream had caused Hermione to come near consciousness, and at the touch of Draco's hands, her eyes began to flutter open. She looked at Draco, and felt surprisingly calm. She smiled before closing her eyes and drifting

back into her warm state of darkness. Draco smiled back and watched her a moment before standing. He reached for his wand on the table and his eyes fell upon the book Hermione had been reading. He cast a little wand light over it, enough to read the cover. It was a muggle fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Draco smiled again as he thought of the story, and the similarities between it and the relationship between himself and Hermione. Hermione... He had been much nicer to her, and everyone else, since his father's death,

but he was sure she still despised him. Knowing her, she probably thought his niceness was some sort of cover for grief, or a disguise, but he knew different. She, the beauty, and he, the beast who would never change in her

eyes, never be loved. A flash of emotion shown in his silver - grey eyes, perhaps regret, perhaps sorrow. A frown crossed his lips and he turned back

to the sleeping beauty. "In the end," he whispered, "the beast loves only the beauty." He picked up his wand and turned back to the door of his room. Hermione waited for him to close the door behind him before she opened her eyes, and said, in a voice full of longing, "I know, and the beauty loves only the beast."





A/N: End of chapter one! I'm not one of those people who are like " I have to get 15 reviews before I post the second chapter" duh, that's not fair to the people who actually WANT to read your story. So I'll post up the second one as soon as I get it typed up. I have like the first 6 or 7 done, some are pretty short though, but they're all hand written..meaning I have to type them. Just review ok? Flames welcome.





Disclaimer: No, I do not own Draco, Lucius, Hermione, Hogwarts, the terms Head Girl and Head Boy, the word muggle, house elves, wands, or the story beauty and the beast. I know you all knew that, but they make you say it anyway, so wth.