Tamaira Lune - thanks for the review, my first ever! Well, Hermione is friends more with girls, because of what Ron is doing, and Ron is friends with Harry .

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Hermione woke up with a floppy feeling in the bottom of her stomach the next day. It took her a moment to realise that it was because today was her first day in lessons this year. She woke up and had a shower, before she realised it was only 6 am. There was so point in going back to sleep now that she had got up and showered, so she went down to the common room, thinking she would add the finishing touches to her potions essay she had done over the holidays. Thankfully Malfoy wasn't up yet, as she was only wearing her towel. She read over it again, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was nothing else she COULD add to it. It was only 6:15, so Hermione decided to finish getting ready for class. She went into her bedroom, selected some cosmetics, and walked into the bathroom. She peered into the mirror, checking out her skin to see if she had any spots. There was one small one starting to come, so she pointed her wand at it, and it disappeared again. She smiled at herself in the mirror and got to work. First she put on a small amount of brown eye shadow on her upper eye lid, then eyeliner and mascara. She finished by putting on some brown lip gloss - not too dark, but just a hint of colour. Next she got to work getting dressed, she put on her school skirt, shirt and tie, then added a few touches of her own, like a small silver ring. She decided to fix her hair in soft curls, really more like waves - and it only took a second, because she had her wand handy. All of this had taken about 45 minutes, so she put away her towels and make up, and headed down into the common room, to check that she had all of her books. She was just checking through her bag when a noise behind her made her turn around,

"You've changed a lot since last year, Granger," said Malfoy, in what sounded like an approving voice"

"He looks so cute when he's just woken up!" Thought Hermione, but instead she said, "So have you Draco." This was the first time she had used his first name to his face, and somehow it made him seem like he was on the same level as her.

"For better or worse Hermione?" He asked, also using her first name, "you've defiantly changed for the better." He moved closer to her, and their faces came closer together. Hermione could feel his breath on her cheek. This was the closest she had ever been to him before. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Draco jumped away, and answered the door, looking calm, while Hermione returned to checking all of her books, blushing.

"Malfoy, we have to talk," muttered someone at the door, Hermione couldn't see who it was though, because he (or she - it sounded more like a guy though) was around the corner. Draco looked back at Hermione, before saying,

"Fine, but make it quick."

Hermione caught a glimpse of orange hair, "Ron!" she thought to herself, "but what could he be doing with Draco, no Malfoy, again?" Then she remembered that Malfoy had said something about having a secret. They had only been gone for about 30 seconds, so she stuffed her hat and other things in her bag, chucked on some robes and shoes, and ran out of the common room to find them. She didn't have to look very far, they were just around the corner, in an empty classroom. Just as she crept up to the door, it shut, but she didn't worry, she had thought this might happen. She opened her bag, grabbed a set of Fred and George's extendable ears, and listened carefully, The ears were a bit faulty, and some words were missed out, but this is what she heard,

"Here is . Money Draco," she heard the clink of a moneybag being handed over, "now make sure you keep quiet about . Don't want . The Quibbler . If you dare . Pansy today in classes, I'll . You."

"I don't want . Money Weasly." She heard another clink of money being handed back, "Take it, but don't mention to Herm. How I feel about . or I'll ."

She heard footsteps coming to the door, so she stuffed the ears away, and pretended that she was just walking to breakfast,

"Hermione?" Asked Ron, suspiciously, "What did you hear?"

"N-nothing" stutted Hermione, "I w-was going to breakfast." Ron looked at her disbelievingly,

"Come for a walk 'Mione," he said. Hermione didn't like the way he said it, and protested. Ron put his arm under her armpit, and almost dragged her along. He dragged her down more and more flights of stairs, down into the dungeons,

"Where are we going Ron?" she asked, but got no response, "Ron! Put me down. Let me go right now!" She was yelling very loudly now. He just held on tighter, and she had a sudden thought, she spun around and slapped the side of Ron's face as hard as she could. Then she started to run as fast as she could, back up all of the steps again, she was glad that she had done so much exercise in the holidays. It had taken Ron a while to start running after her, so she had got ahead of him, but now his long legs were coming in useful, he could go up two steps at a time, and he was gaining on her. She turned a corner, with him just a few steps behind her, and ran into Malfoy,

"Draco! Help, he's after me!" She cried.

"I heard," he sighed, and stepped in front of Hermione, causing Ron to run into him. Ron stared at him, and muttered

"Let me at her, she heard."

"No Ron, think about my half of the deal, who I have to protect. Do not mention this to anyone, and you will not be harmed," replied Draco "now go, and pretend nothing happened." Ron ran up the remaining sets of stairs, not looking back once.

"Draco, what was that all about? Why did you save me?" She asked.

"I have to protect someone. Please don't ask me any more, you, I mean, no one is supposed to know, but I guess you will find out in the end," he held out his arm to Hermione, she gratefully took it, and they started walking back up to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Hermione ." He said, using her first name again, "you, you are so different than I thought you would be," he put a hand on her cheek, and pulled her close into a warm hug, "I am sorry for everything that is going to happen 'Mione, I will look after you the best I can, I swear ."

"What? What is going to happen Draco?" Draco didn't say anything else, just offered to carry her bag up to the top of the steps for her. She handed it to him, but took it back at the top of the stairs. Even though she couldn't get the memory of those strong arms holding her, she realised that they couldn't be seen together like this. She told Draco to go in first, so she could go to the bathrooms and straighten out her hair again. She didn't go there, of course, instead she waited outside the door, thinking about everything that had happened that morning. Did Draco like her? Who was he protecting her from? And why was Ron acting so strange all of a sudden? She checked her watch, and decided that she should go in for breakfast - her friends should be there by now. She went in, and was going to sit with Harry, to ask him if he had noticed anything strange about Ron recently, but he was having a muttered conversation with Ron himself.

"Don't tell me they're in it together?" She thought aloud.

"In what together?" Asked Ginny, so Hermione told them everything that had happened this morning. Once she had finished, Ginny said that she had noticed Ron behaving strangely for a while, but she thought it was just his crush on Pansy.

Lavender looked thoughtful, "But Malfoy said something about protecting you? And he wasn't being stupid?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, I am pretty sure he wasn't, it didn't look like it, or feel like it when he hugged me . I think I am starting to realise why you said I was lucky to have him as the head boy ." All her friends exchanged satisfied looks, and Parvati looked at her watch, and said "We'd better get to classes. What do we have first? Potions? Well we'll discuss everything, and tell you later Gin," Ginny looked a bit sad, because she was in the year below the others, so she wasn't in any of their classes. Hermione noticed this, and said "We'll wait for you outside the great Hall after the first set of lessons, we'll talk then, okay?" Ginny nodded, and smiled happily.

"Come on guys, Snape won't be happy if we're late to his first lesson!" Exclaimed Lavender, so they all hurried away, Lavender, Parvati and Hermione back down into the dungeons, and Ginny out to the greenhouses.

*Please review! I hope you like this chapter, it's taken ages to write!*