Chapter 2

It feels so good to feel the weight on my shoulder. It feels good to have a girl that needs you. I can tell Draco has ruffled her feathers. I can tell she is upset. She is my best friend, I always know. But I also know she is too stubborn to admit she has been upset by him. So I let her lay her head on my shoulder and I know she will feel better just by being with her friends.

I feel something on my shirt. I think it's a tear. There is no way I will say anything in front of everyone. I am not going to embarrass her. "Mione, wanna walk with me to the bathroom?" I thought it would make her feel better to talk about it. Everyone else will just assume we want to be alone to kiss. Whatever. I don't care.

I slide the door open and let her out in front of me. We walk down the corridor down to the wash rooms and I open the door and allow her to go inside with me. "What's wrong?" I ask her with concern in my eyes. Her eyes are brimming with tears. She can be herself with me. She can cry with me. She knows I won't make her feel bad.

"Oh Harry" she begins in a shaky voice, "I don't want to deal with Malfoy. I don't want to go through with this. I. . don't. . .want. . .this!" she managed to get out between sobs. Quickly I put a silencing charm on the small room. She sits on the toilet and puts her head in her hands. Tears continue to stream down her face and I intend to catch every one of them. I wipe her eyes with my rough hands.

"Hermione, don't cry" I beg her. "You know you won't have to be with him all the time. And you know me and Ron will always be around for you. This is nothing to worry about" I try to explain to her. "You know we will never let him do anything to you at all" I tell her. I would say anything to make her beautiful face look happy again. "Someone so beautiful should never look so sad".

"Oh Harry, I'm not beautiful. Bushy hair, buck teeth, short, that's all I am" she screams at me. She's really upset and I am certain it's not just the Malfoy thing. "Harry I don't know what to say" she gushes.

I'm confused. I don't know what's going on anymore. She looks like a wreck all of the sudden. "Harry, I need to go" she says hurriedly. She opens the door and walks down the corridor and back into her compartment with Draco.

"What the hell just happened" I ask myself out loud. "What was that?"

****Hermione's POV****

I don't know what just came over me. I don't know what just happened. I just left Harry. Why did I do that? I have no idea. I have no answers anymore. Why am I acting crazy?

I think it's too much. I think I love him so much, because he's a friend. I don't want it to be true. I want Harry to be the one. I am soon to be eighteen years old, and I feel like I need to make up my mind. I want Harry in my mind, but does my heart want him too?

I will turn it over in my mind. I will let this go for a while. Because I know when I do see Harry I will fall for him all over again. I always do. So why this doubt today? Who knows? I'm a complex girl sometimes.

So I return to my seat. I wipe my eyes and I put up my front, my façade. I will face Draco with strength and he will not bring me down today. I slide open the door and there he is. Staring out the window with an expressionless face. He hears the door. He knows I'm there. But for once he doesn't say anything. At least not right away.

"I heard you" he says simply. Nothing less and nothing more. He doesn't even look me in the eye.

"What" I ask him as though I have no idea what he could be talking about. 'How could he have heard. Harry did the silencing charm'.

"I heard you" he said again just as he said it the first time. He head slowly turns to look at me.

I can't take it. How can he just look at me like that. How can he just act like that. Obviously he knows I'm upset. He is such a bastard. I can't stand him. I sit down on the seat across from him, and look out the window at the world we are so quickly passing by.

"You really love him, don't you? So much that you don't know how to handle it" he says. It's almost as though he isn't really talking directly to me. But since I am the only other occupant of the compartment I know it is me he is speaking to.

"What's it to you?" I ask him with attitude. Why does he suddenly think he can just talk to me. Why does he think that after years of ridicule I am suddenly going to tell him my life story. No. I don't think so.

"Fine. Just thought I would give you someone to talk to. Obviously you can't talk to your other little friends about this. But hey, I will just continue to be the asshole you think I am" he said just looking through me. Is he serious? I have no idea. Why would he even want to give me a chance? Why would he be nice to me? No. It's a trap. That's all there is to it. He wants me to open up so he can rub it in my face.

"I'm sorry" I say somberly. Well there is no reason for me to lash out at him. "Look, let's just get through this and be civil. We are head boy and girl. We are what the kids have to look up to. We get along in public. We are not friends, just civil. Is that a deal?"

"Deal" he replied simply. "Oh and call me Draco. I'm getting tired of being called Malfoy. I would of course pay you the same respect, Hermione". He returned to the window. The conversation was clearly over.

We arrived at Hogwarts after the sun had gone down. The so called horseless carriages awaited us to take us up to the castle. I walked up to the first carriage that Draco and I were to share. He walked up behind me and offered me a hand to get in. "Civil in public" he reminded me. I took his hand and got up into the carriage.

"Thank you, Draco" I replied to him as though shocked that he could actually be a gentleman. He came into the carriage behind me.

"You know I was trained as a Malfoy to act a certain way. I was raised to be a gentleman. I just don't show it to many people around here. It's mainly for when my father. . ." he stopped. "would have company" he resumed. His eyes hit the floor. I looked into his face in confusion.

"Are you okay" I ask him. I don't want to get too personal. After all, we aren't in public right now, and I don't want him to think we are friends.

"Fine" he replied. "He's dead". And that was it. No more was said. I had no idea. The ride was a bumpy one, and a silent one at that. Not a word was breathed in the chilly weather. "Cold?" he asked me. I shivered a bit, but I was not about to let him think I was weak. He shook off his cloak and handed it to me.

"Who are you?" I muttered under my breath. I really didn't think he would hear me.

"I'm Draco Malfoy. I have no father. I am no one" he finished. The ride was over. He stepped out of the carriage and helped me out as well before heading up to the castle. He left me behind to ponder what had just occurred.

I could see my breath in the cool air. Odd because it didn't seem that cold out. Suddenly a pair of hands find their way around my waist. "Whose cloak?" I could feel Harry's breath on my neck.

"Oh it's Draco's" I answer him. "I was cold, and I made him give it to me". I didn't want him to know that Draco was being odd in any way. It would just give them more ammunition against him, and for some reason I didn't want that. I put my hand in his, and it feels warm, but rough. We walk up to the castle together and go straight for the feast. I'm famished, and I always do enjoy a good sorting.

The first years look petrified. I smile when I think about it, but then I remember what it was like when I was sorted. Scared out of my mind. Those are the only words that describe it. I give the kids a smile, and try to let them know without words that it really isn't so bad. It's hard to believe I was so small, and that I looked like them so many years ago. But it's true. I was the same runty little bushy haired girl I am now. Except now I'm a little older. I've filled out a little bit more, but I suppose I am still the little girl I was when I came here the first time.

I turn my attention away from them. I notice Draco at his table. He is surrounded of course due to the full capacity of the hall, but he is really alone if you think about it. No one talks to him. Without Voldemort there are no Death Eaters. Without his dad he has no connections. He is unwanted. He is discarded. Unneeded. I start to feel bad for him. But I stop myself. After years of torment and torture I will not give in. I will not let this get to me. I will let him suffer. I want him to know how it feels.

The sorting proceeds. Many kids go into Gryffindor, and a few go into the other houses as well. I hear the buzz of talking all around me. I want desperately to feel like this is a normal year back at Hogwarts. But it isn't. It won't be the same again. This year is my last. Not only is it my last but I am Head Girl too. So much responsibility there, that I am concerned that my life will not be the same. No more sneaking out, I am now the warden against that. So I will play it day by day. Soon I will get into the groove, I am convinced. So I go to eating my chicken and pie, and anything else you can imagine.

Soon the feast is over. A couple of hours of laughing with my friends and I am feeling like myself again. I am truly happy at this moment. I take Harry's hand and he walks me up to my room. I now have a new room all to myself and across the hall is Draco's room. A single stairway is in the middle leading down into my new common room which houses two large fireplaces and is decorated in no specific colors. In two words, it's beautiful. I kiss Harry goodnight and I watch him descend the stairs. He turns around and blows me a kiss before leaving through my portrait hole.

I decide to get out my books and sit by the fire for a while. I get some hot cocoa and settle down when suddenly Draco enters the common room.

"Hot cocoa? Where did you get that?" he asks me simply. I point. We have a small little area to prepare drinks and small snacks. By no means a kitchen, but for hot cocoa it's perfect. "Oh" he replies simply. He proceeds to his bedroom and shuts the door behind him. He doesn't come out for the rest of the night.

****Draco's POV****

Sadness? No I am not that weak. Confusion? No, I am always confident and sure of myself. Must be anger. Anger towards my father. Anger for living. Anger for dying. Where do I fit in now? He screwed up my life so much that I don't know which way is up anymore.

I boarded that train with my head held high. No one would know I am troubled inside. No one would know what I am going through. I would be strong. I sat down in front of Granger. No, Hermione. She's by no means a looker, but she's alright. I know she is a good person at heart. I know she is someone I will never be.

I can tell she is upset. It's me. She hates me. She has good reason. I don't blame her in the least. She runs away. I don't know why, and I pretend not to care. I tell myself it's a mudblood, and I am purer than that. I can hear her shouting after a while. She is only a few feet away in the lavatory. I hear Potter's feeble attempts at a silencing charm. She's crying. . . .about me. She doesn't want to be stuck with me. Just look at the affects one person can have on another. But something is different here. She distances herself from him. I can tell. I can tell she doesn't know what to do with him. She loves him, she knows she loves him. But he is her best friend. Why am I even bothering to pay attention to this worthless crap. I go back to my gazing out the window.

We travel through beautiful country on our way to the school. No one ever notices. No one can stop chatting to see the beauty. But I do. Soon she comes back. I can tell it is only to escape Potter's company. I try to talk to her but she doesn't want me. Who can blame her? I give up on my feeble attempts. She will talk to me if she really wants to.

We make an agreement to be civil to each other. Why not? I have no reason to bully her anymore. Father is dead. He is dead. He is dead. I have to believe that. It's too good to be true. Awful thoughts run through my head like this. It shouldn't be good when someone dies but in this case it is.

Everyone ignores me at the feast. My name is of no value to them anymore. No one needs me. I was nothing more than a connection before. Now I am nothing. I was just a name, and now I no longer have that. I sit alone. Sure people sit around me, but in reality I am alone. Maybe I am destined to be alone. The thought makes me sick. I hate to think I will forever be on my own. But I have burned my bridges. I don't hold high expectations for my life anymore.

I go straight to my room. I don't notice much about the common room, except for the girl sitting in it. Hermione is cracking her books open. Big surprise. She's a hard worker. It's no wonder she beats my ass with grades. Her cat is curled up beside her. It's almost cute. No Malfoy, don't say cute.

It will definitely be an interesting year. It will be challenging. It will be like none of my other six years in this hell. Maybe it won't even be hell this year. We will see.