Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Rating: R

Warning: Eventual slash, meaning a relationship between two characters of the same sex.

A/N: This takes place right after Hermione and Ron have left for Hogwarts to start training to be prefects, leaving Ginny and Harry behind. Enjoy and Review!!

Chapter Two

Two weeks later at the Burrows

The faint echo of Ron's voice was all that was left amid the green swirl of smoke as he flooed to the school. Harry and Ginny stared at the empty fireplace desolately, the house seeming much larger despite the fact that only two people had gone from it's original nine.

"Well."

"Well then."

A dull boom shook the ceiling, the result of the twin's now passionate experiments into trick magic. Harry shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly. "Want to go for a walk on the heath? We can take a picnic and enjoy the weather."

Ginny's blush had managed to be tamed down to a slight coloring of her cheeks, and she nodded. "I'll get Mum to pack us a lunch."

"Fantastic." Harry returned her smile, feeling slightly better. His eyes strayed to the fireplace, wondering what his friends were up to without him.

-in-

"Welcome!" Albus Dumbledore, feared among the Deatheaters as one of the most powerful wizards on the planet greeted the windblown Ron and Hermione with a wide smile and a plate of toffees that he held out to them. "You two are the first to arrive, the others should be coming over the course of the next two hours or so."

"Thank you Professor." Hermione said primly, her prefect button already pinned to her shirt. To everyone that knew the girl, her position as prefect had not come as any surprise. Despite her assured appearance, her right hand constantly clenched and let go, the only sign of her nervousness.

"Yeah, thanks." Ron chimed in, following his friend, albeit slightly more disheveled and relaxed. "How was your summer, sir?"

"Well, thanks for asking." Dumbledore looked enormously pleased. "There was a brilliant cookout at the lake. Even the lake monster, I believe her name is Sally..." A discreet cough interrupted his train of thought, and he turned to Professor McGonagal with a smile. "I was just telling them about the picnic we had. If I remember correctly you were quite a picture in your red..."

"I'm sure that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley have much to do in order to get ready for the meeting this afternoon. Come children, let me show you the prefect's lounge and bathroom while we wait for the others." Without waiting for a reply she swept out of the room, creating a vacuum that begged to be filled in her wake.

Looking slightly uncertain, the two teenagers trotted after their teacher. It was going to be a long day.

-in-

It wasn't until much later in the afternoon that prefects had started to arrive, leaving Hermione and Ron time to acquaint themselves with the massive quarters of prefect's lounge. It overlooked the Quidditch fields and was outfitted with massive, overstuffed chairs scattered haphazardly around the room. A huge fireplace dominated one side of the room, around which curled a staircase that led to a second level overlooking the first. On the second floor where various books made up a library that consisted of contributions made by previous prefects over the decades. "I can't believe the selection here!" Hermione fingered one of the books lovingly, making a mental note to read it as soon as she got the chance. Her gaze lingered over the room. "My parents were so proud when they found out I was going to be a prefect."

Ron looked up at Hermione from his perch at the window seat. "My mum cried, she was so happy." He paused, a look of doubt crossing his face. "To be honest I figured Harry would be a prefect, everyone else did."

Shafts of light flooded the room as Hermione came down the stairs, her fluffy hair floating gently around her head. "I never thought that Harry would be chosen to be a prefect." She sat beside him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He's broken the rules more than anyone around here, and even though most of the time it's for a good reason, it still doesn't excuse the fact. Ever since you've come to Hogwarts you've made sure that Harry has been safe, backed him up no matter the cost and in the end I think that's what being a prefect is about. It's looking after others despite the cost to yourself." "How touching, keep it up and you'll have Weasley crying."

The two teenagers looked at the tapestry that concealed the entrance to the lounge. Even if the cool, sophisticated drawl wasn't enough to identify the person, the pale blond hair, sharp blue eyes and pointed noise was.

"Hello Draco." Hermione replied, looking unsurprised. "How was your summer?"

"Extremely well. Enjoy trotting around the mundane lands of the Muggles?" Draco cast an approving gaze at the room, selecting a red velvet chair to sit down in.

"Yes, in fact." The girl's face was expressionless, and she shook her head in an abortive gesture to Ron who was growing more and more red.

"Relax Weasley. If Granger and I can pretend to be civilized, so can you." A raised eyebrow was enough to calm Ron enough to the point where he lost some of the red around his ears. "How is the family, if you can remember all of their names....I know there are a number of them."

Hermione grabbed Ron's collar just in time, dragging his head back to hiss in his ear, "You hit him and you loose this chance. If he wants to pretend nice, then let's do it."

Ron looked at her incredulously. "You can't seriously believe that act after everything that he's done to us."

Leading the irate boy away, she shook her head. "Of course not, but it's better than all out war."

"I'd take her advice Weasley. I'm willing to call a truce this year and forget about the little accident of last semester. Deal?" Draco heaved a sigh at Ron's disbelieving face and got up, holding out his hand. "Deal?"

"Why?" Ron refused to take his hand, just looking at the slim fingers and carefully manicured nails. "Why do you want to do this?"

"Because we need to have at least a show of unity as prefects and apparently I'm the only one willing to make a mature gesture. Accept it or not, but I suggest that you follow Granger's example." Draco shrugged when his hand remained empty. "Fine."

Draco watched the two teenagers walk off, arguing fiercely as they absently pushed aside the tapestry in front of the entrance. Its twin was on the other side of the wall, a tapestry reaching up to the ceiling bearing the coat of arms of each of the four houses.

His appointment to prefect came as no surprise, Snape's loyalty to his father demanded nothing less. A glint of light caught his eye as a stray beam hit his pin, and he touched it briefly, ignoring the shrill pain coursing down his back. His father had driven home his last few points the night before Draco was to leave for training, and he would have to change his shirt before too much longer. Deatheaters were men of courage, men of power and men that knew strength according to Lucius Malfoy and no son of his would stoop to the level of using magic to heal a hurt that has been given in battle or training.

The unflawed perfection of Lucius' was limited to his face, while the rest of his body held a testament to his devotion to his master. When he trained Draco, he wore pants and little else, showing off his scars as a matter of pride, assuring his son that he, too would have such marks of honor as time progressed.

Draco's face was showed no emotion as he flexed his shoulders. That summer had earned him many of his scars. Unfortunately, they weren't enough.

-in-

Dear Harry,

Training is so exciting! The new headboy is from Ravenclaw, his name is Quincy and Germaine (the headgirl) is from Slytherin. To be honest, there is a lot of work to prepare for the students arrival and we are kept busy all the time. Most of the teachers seem rather distracted, however, and it's left up to us to fill in the gaps. Don't worry Harry we haven forgotten your birthday! Hedwig was kind enough to carry my present and Ron borrowed a school . Hang on just a few more days and we'll all see each other again soon. How about we meet up in Diagon Alley a few days before school starts. Tell Ginny we say hello!

Hermione

"Well, she seems to be having fun." Ginny remarked as she looked up from the letter that Harry had passed to her. "I wonder how Ron is doing."

Harry shrugged. "I bet they're both doing fine." His fifteenth birthday had arrived with the quiet celebration that it always had, except this year he watched the clock turn to midnight in Ron's room. There had been a small party that day at lunch with Mrs. Weasley giving him numerous weepy kisses and hugs, while loading his plate with his favorite dishes. Fred and George had taken it upon themselves to outfit Harry with every kind of joke paraphernalia that they had, including some of the more experimental ones that "still had a few bugs to be worked out" according to George.

Ginny, although having mostly gotten over her predicament of blushing in front of Harry, had still turned a beet red when she gave him her present, replica of a snitch that hovered a few centimeters off of any surface.

Along with Hermione's letter was a rather bulky package that revealed a book. Turning it over curiously in his hands he traced the gold lettering. "Quidditch tactics and maneuvers; the coach's Guide to Playing." He read aloud.

Ginny peered over his shoulder at the book, gasping as it fell open to show weaving letters acting out different plays on the page. "Wow, I hadn't heard that you were voted quidditch captain this year?"

A red heat made its way up Harry's neck and ears. "I haven't been. The team is getting together first thing this year and deciding. We also need some new players, a goal keeper and a few alternates." He looked at her appraisingly. "You're not too bad when we all play together. You should try out."

An almost identical blush traveled up Ginny's face. "I'm not that good."

"Yeah you are." Harry said sincerely. The few times the entire family had gotten together to play the game, she had always been quick and packed a hell of a punch anytime she was a Beater.

Ginny grinned and ducked behind the couch to pull out a messily wrapped package. "This is from Ron, he got it before they left because, well," she shot a sympathetic look at the family's pet owl who was hanging limply from its perch.

"Is Errol all right?" Harry peered at the cage in concern when the owl failed to make any sound or movement, other than drooping even further down.

"Oh sure." Ginny prodded the sick looking bird with her finger, earning a small hoot of protest. "He's still breathing at least." she added cheerfully, dropping the present in Harry's lap.

Among Ron's usual assortment of sweets and novelty candy, he had also included a worn tarot deck. Harry handled the pack with bemusement, turning it over in his hands. "I didn't think wizards believed in this sort of stuff."

"Most don't." Ginny agreed. "Divination is more of a gift than anything else. I bet you're studying it this year in class. Ron probably found a few spare decks in the attic and figured you could use one."

Harry's thumb traced over the almost completely faded cover. That was most likely it, although a year of flipping over cards didn't sound any better than reading lumps of wet tea leaves at the bottom of a cup. A thought struck him and he smiled at her sheepishly. "I never asked what classes you were taking."

The red-haired girl shoved aside some of Mrs. Weasley's knitting to sit down across from him. "It took me forever to decide because everyone was suggesting something different. Dad wanted me to take Muggle Studies, Mum wanted me to take up Arithmancy because Percy did, Fred, George and Ron kept on suggesting Divination since it was so easy and Bill said that Care of Magical Creatures was fantastic."

Laughing Harry pulled the cards out and started shuffling them. "So what did you end up choosing?" "I'm took Care of Magical Creatures because Hagrid is so nice, Ancient Literature, Divination and I'm taking the new class that they've started." she scrambled around in the pile of papers on the table to find her class list. "It's called Magic Cultures."

"Sounds like another boring history class." Fred commented, poking his head in the living room.

"It is not!" Ginny replied hotly. "Just because everyone thinks that being a wizard or witch is so great and none of the other creatures get their fair turn."

Fred took a bite of massive sandwich that he had been making in the kitchen, ignoring the great drops of mayonnaise dripping from the bread. "Been talking to Hermione?"

"Well yes." Ginny's cheeks flushed. "The house elves are sentient creatures, probably more powerful then we give them credit for. Besides I think it'll be interesting so lay off."

"Fine!" Fred shook his head at what he obviously thought was a girl thing. "Whatever."

"It doesn't sound that bad." Harry defended her, although he was glad that the class had come up too late for him to sign up for because he had the feeling Hermione might have bullied him and Ron into it.

"Right." Little bits of sandwich flew across the room as Fred spoke around his bite. "Next you'll be handing out buttons that say 'Free the Elf"." Chuckling, Fred ducked out of the room as Ginny heaved a pillow at his head.

Harry hid a grin as Ginny looked at him accusingly. "What?"

"Nothing." Ginny set down the other throw pillow looking a bit put out. "They never take me seriously."

"You're the baby." Harry pointed out realistically. "You'll just have to make them take you seriously."

-in-

Diagon Alley was, as usual, bursting with people the last few days before the term started. Mrs. Weasley had accompanied Ginny and Harry to the crowded streets, maneuvering them with expertise through the mass of witches and wizards intent on shopping for last minute item for the upcoming school term. It was only after the two students had gotten their books that they had finally seen Hermione and Ron, both dressed in prefect robes.

"Hello Harry! Ginny!" Hermione gave both of them a hug, her wild hair more vibrant against the dark robe.

Ron and Harry grinned at each other, as Hermione dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. "How's everything been Ron?"

Ron shot a meaningful glance at Ginny, and then shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine, nothing's been happening." When Ginny continued to stay Ron sighed explosively and glared at her. "Sod off, Gin. We've got to talk."

The red-haired girl merely rolled her eyes. "Whatever Ron." She then turned to Harry and pointed to where a couple of her friends were waving to her. "There's Maria and Beth, I'll catch up with you later."

Harry's two best friends watch him in interest as he watched her go. Ron scowled. "What's that about?"

"She's fun to talk to and it's not as if I've had anyone else these past two weeks." Harry pointed out. "You don't give her enough credit."

"Whatever." Ron dismissed the idea, missing Hermione's look of interest and Harry's of annoyance. "Let's go to the café and get some butterbeer, we need to talk."

Although the café was crowded, the trio managed to find a table in the corner where there was relative privacy. After ordering three butterbeers from the waitress, Harry regarded his two best friends. "So what's up?"

"Well we wanted to know if you've heard from Snuffles in awhile." Hermione asked so casually that it made Harry's heart twist.

"No, he said not expect anything for awhile. Why?"

"We think we've seen him around the school."

A lump formed in Harry's throat, making him choke on his drink. After he could finally breathe again, Harry frowned at them. "How do you know for sure?"

Ron shrugged. "It's either him or the Grim...ow!!" He glared at Hermione who had kicked him under the table.

The girl peered at him intensely. "All of the teachers have been on edge and we think that something is happening. What makes it worse is that they're going on as if Ron and I know nothing about what happened. Nobody will tell us anything."

Worry once more twisted in his stomach, making the butterbeer churn inside. Harry forced himself to smile reassuringly. "I'm sure that Snuffles will contact me when it's safe. He sent me a couple of letters this summer and said that he would be spending time with a wolfy friend of ours for awhile. I wouldn't worry."

"O-kay." Hermione didn't looked convinced but obviously didn't want to press the matter. She looked around the room in a desperate bid for conversation, her eyes landing on the pile of books at her feet. "Did you hear about that new class? I can't believe they offered it to everyone but us, it's so unfair."

Ron rolled his eyes in a gesture almost identical to Ginny's. "Us, and all the classes above us. Bloody lucky is more like it. Didn't you learn last time?"

"Yes." Hermione set down her empty bottle with a little more force then necessary. "I think it would be interesting, that's all."

"I'm sure Ginny can give you all the details, she's taking the class." Harry said, finishing off the last of his drink. He sat and listened to his friends talk about the duties involved with being a prefect, his mind wandering back to the fact that his godfather was almost certainly in danger again.

-end chapter two- A/N: I know that in the world of Harry Potter I am a mere drop in the ocean of writers, but if you do read it please put some small comment letting me know what you thought of it. Thanks!