Chapter Two: A Foolish Boy Who Never Saw Until Now


The carriage came to an abrupt stop and Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Neville hopped out. They then entered the enormous, candle-lit hall, knowing it would be their last time starting a new year at Hogwarts. They took their seats at the Gryffindor table, and Ron was still glowering about the train ride. Hermione could not figure out why that upset him so much, but she admit to herself that it was quite strange. They sat, still silent through the sorting, and finally Dumbledore stood up, his long green robes with silver stars and moons swept the floor. His light blue eyes twinkled as he began his welcoming speech.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. For some of you this will be the end of your journey here, and you will begin a new one when you leave." His eyes looked towards Harry as he beamed down on him. "For others, you journey has just begun and I would like to welcome you into this school and I wish you well on your way. Now before we eat, Mr. Filch would like to inform you that the list of forbidden objects, places, and all other aspects of rule breaking has now been updated to 1093 things and is posted right outside of his office, if any of you care to check it." Harry and Ron looked at each other, each about burst out in laughter, knowing that they had broken more than half that already existed. They quickly looked away knowing that laughing hysterically right now wouldn't be the best idea. Lupin looked down at Harry, knowing what he was thinking, for he had once broken all the same rules, thanks to the Marauders Map, which he had created.

"Lastly, I would like to congratulate our new Head Boy and Head Girl, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Hermione blushed a violent shade of red and tried not to look too pleased with herself. Ron still looked quite angry, because he was jealous that his two best friends had been made Head Boy and Girl, and he had never even been made a prefect.

"Gryffindors come this way please," said Hermione leading the Gryffindors to their common room. Hermione turned the corner only to bump into someone. "Oh wonderful," she thought to herself, as she dusted off her robes and started to get up. A hand reached down to help her and she looked up into a pair of light grayish-blue eyes. She recognized them immediately and thought to herself, "MALFOY!!!" He smiled at her kindly as he looked at her puzzled face. She quickly picked herself up and brushed past him.

"Sorry about that Hermione, didn't see you coming, better watch where your going when you turn corners," Draco called after her. Hermione tried not to look back and she quickened her pace so she could get away from him as soon as possible. She had thought her eyes deceived her, but she realized that Malfoy had actually gotten very attractive over the summer. His eyes were not longer stared at her maliciously like she was some sort of vermin that was inferior to him. His hair was not slicked back as usual, and she couldn't help but notice how toned he had become. She shook her head as if to rid this vision from her, knowing that this was still the cruel, heartless boy that she had loathed all of these years.

The Gryffindors entered the familiar common room and everyone took their usual seats and began to talk. Harry saw Ginny sitting in a large comfortable chair in the corner, and he noticed that there was plenty of room for him.
"So, er, how are you?" Harry said, his cheeks going a pale shade of pink.

"Er, fine," she said also going a matching shade pink. She had deep feelings for Harry, even through his relationship with Cho. She had tried to rid herself of the longing she felt each and every moment she was with him, though the feelings would always prevail. Though, now she noticed a slight change in the way Harry looked into her deep hazel eyes, and she realized that every time he talked to her he was flustered for words.

* * * * * *


Hermione woke up early the next morning. She was very tired because she had been up a good part of the night thinking and debating with herself about Draco. Though she couldn't help but admit to herself he was very handsome indeed, she still hated the fact that it was Draco Malfoy, the pureblood obsessed son of death eater Lucius Malfoy. She went over to the mirror and tried to fix her puffy eyes, but gave up when she realized that it was time to go to breakfast. She walked down to the common room, expecting to see Ron and Harry waiting for her, but she realized that their stomachs had gotten the best of them and she headed down to the Great Hall alone.
She arrived in the Great Hall and sat down with Harry and Ron. Ron had seemed to get over yesterday's events and the three chatted happily about how Lupin had returned. He had been secretly fighting Voldemort for the past 3 years, but Harry was the only one who knew this, for the Order of the Phoenix was secretly kept between only those whose wands had a phoenix feather in their core.

"Oh look, the owl post has arrived," said Hermione as a letter dropped into her hands. She carefully opened it, for she was not expecting a letter, because her parents were not familiar with the owl post. "Who else could it possibly be?" she thought to herself as she opened the letter.

Hermione,

I saw you yesterday on the train and couldn't believe my eyes, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized how beautiful you truly are. I'd really like to meet you outside today for lunch on the bench in the garden. Please try and come, and don't run away when you see who I am. Give me a chance. Just one chance, that's all I'm asking for.

Sincerely,
A foolish boy who never saw until now.

Across the hall Draco was gazing at Hermione as she read the letter. It was him who sent it. He highly doubted the fact that she'd even show up though, and if she did and saw it was him then she'd run away with out even giving him a chance, but hey, it was worth a shot.

Hermione wondered who it could possibly and was slightly upset that they thought she would run away if she saw who sent the anonymous note. She was not as uptight as people thought she was.

"Hey, Hermione what have you got there?" asked Ron as he grabbed the letter waving it in air.

"Nothing! Give that back it's not yours!" Hermione said shrilly. The last person she wanted to see the letter was Ron because of their hard break up and interesting past that ended over the summer.

"Ooo, Harry it seems our little Hermione has herself a secret admirer!" said Ron putting the letter high in the air so
Hermione couldn't reach it.

"Oh shut up Ron, it's nothing!" said Hermione reaching for the letter. Harry then snatched the letter away from Ron and gave it back to Hermione. She looked grateful, yet deeply embarrassed.

"Leave her alone Ron, it's none of our business, besides what would it matter to us. Who could it possibly be? Malfoy? Ha that'd be splendid!" said Harry being the voice of reason. They continued to make jokes, not noticing the hurt look on Hermione's face.

"Yea, that would be quite funny," Hermione said finally trying not to seem so obvious. Ever since the train ride

she'd looked at Draco in a new light, and last night she had admitted to herself that she had passionate feelings for him. If Ron and Harry were ever to find out, they'd be absolutely furious with her. Hermione, their best friend, liked Draco Malfoy, their worst enemy who they had been rivals with since they had started at Hogwarts. Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked down to potions. Yet again for another year they had double potions with Slytherin. Hermione pretended like she was angry about it but she wasn't. She was actually excited, because Draco was a Slytherin.

All through potions Draco couldn't help but stair at Hermione, soon he'd be meeting her in the garden for lunch. It was weird. Draco never felt this way about a girl before, he never actually liked a girl for their personality. He went out with Pansy for almost six years, but he never had such intense feelings for her as he did for Hermione.
Potions came to a end sooner then they both thought. For they both were thinking of each other, and didn't even know it. Hermione's next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts and that to was over before she could even realize it. It was lunch time, and the time had come, to go to the garden.

"Let's go watch and see who it is," said Ron in a eager voice to Harry. Ron wanted to know who it was so that he could punch their lights out. He wasn't going to stand around and watch as Hermione has a fun time with this secret admirer. He wouldn't let it happen.

"No, you shouldn't, if Hermione wants to tell you later than she will. Let her tell you. Don't ruin this for her" said

Ginny trying to convince Ron and Harry not to go.

"Yeah, I think Gin has a point. Herm will tell us. Were her best friends and she has told us everything else before, why wouldn't she?" said Harry, smiling joyfully at Ginny. Harry looked into her sparkling hopeful brown eyes as he realized that the feelings were mutual. Right then and there he realized that he should do something about them.

"Whatever you say." said Ron looking a bit disappointed. Not only was he disappointed because he couldn't go ruin Hermione's new found love but because of the fact that he felt like Harry, his best friend was starting to develop feelings for his younger sister. He shot an intense look at him when Harry was not watching.

"Harry, do you think I could meet you at the library after dinner there's something I want to ask you." said Ginny. She decided upon asking him tonight, finally, after all these years of longing and pining for the green eyed raven haired boy.

"Sure Gin, I'll see you there." Harry said with excitement. He stared down at the ground, thinking of what was to come about tonight, but he quickly realized that Ron would be furious with him if he asked her before he asked permission from Ron first. He put these doubts out of his mind though because asking Ron just might ruin his chances with Ginny.


Hermione eagerly rushed to the garden with hopes of the mysterious secret admirer being Draco. As she turned the corner she saw a pair of grayish blue eyes staring right at her. Her heart melted when she say that he had laid out a blanket, for a picnic. He sat on the grass looking anxiously around for her. He wondered if she would show up but then he saw her beautiful face beaming at him from around the corner. She approached him, looking quite careful of her step as though not to trip.

"So, you showed? Surprised? Disappointed?" asked Draco in a nervous sort of voice as he looked down avoiding eye contact with her enormous chocolate brown eyes.