A/N: I do not own any of the characters or settings in this story, they all belong to J.K. Rowling. Please review when you're done reading, this is my first fan fic and I want to know what you guys think of it. Thanks a lot! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: All-Aboard the Hogwarts Express

It was that time of year again, September first. Time for young witches and wizards to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for yet another year of learning; Hermione Granger, a muggle born witch, was entering her 6th year at Hogwarts, and she was as excited as she had been on her first train ride to the school. This year she was to be beginning her NEWT level classes. She had received top marks on all of her OWLs, so she was ready to begin the more challenging classes and learn more difficult magic. She was also excited to be returning to Hogwarts to see her three best friends, Harry Potter, and Ron, and Ginny Weasley.

As Hermione approached the entrance to platform 9 ¾, she turned and smiled at her parents.
"By honey, have a great time at school" her dad said as he hugged her good-bye.
"We'll miss you!" her mom cried lovingly.

"I'll miss you both too, but don't worry I'll be just fine," Hermione assured them. They believed her because she had never told them all the activities she and her friends did at school. After all she didn't want her parents worrying about her. With the thought of what exciting adventure they would have this year, she leaned inconspicuously onto the brick wall leading to platform 9 ¾ and in an instant she had disappeared, and a busy platform had materialized in front of her.

Hermione glanced around and instantly spotted the red hair belonging to Ron. He stood head and shoulders above most of the other students. Hermione smiled to herself thinking 'it's good to be back.' "Ron! Harry!"

Harry and Ron turned at the sound of their names. They spotted Hermione heading toward them and they both smiled. They were very impressed with how she had changed over the summer, not only had she grown a little taller, but she seemed to have found a way to tame her hair so that it was no longer bushy, instead it had an elegant wave to it. "Hey Hermione!" they both called.

After greeting each other, the boys helped Hermione load her trunk onto the train, and then they all went to find a compartment. They settled into one along with Ginny, and quickly began telling each other about their summer vacations and how glad they were to be back at school.

Draco Malfoy was also entering his sixth year at Hogwarts. He was a pure-blood Slytherin and proud of it. He was glad to be returning to that he could again bury himself in his studies, he was always happiest when he was studying because he didn't have to think about anything else in the world. However, Draco was not as happy about returning to his house. Although he loved being a Slytherin, he did not count any of his housemates as friends, none of them came near to matching him intellectually nor in any other way, and because of this he spent most of his time alone. Crabbe and Goyle enjoyed following him everywhere, but he could never talk to them about anything important, and he could easily get rid of them, as he often did.

Draco walked along the platform with his mother and father, he sneered when he saw all the other students greeting their friends. Though he pretended he was above such nonsense emotions on the outside, deep down he wished he had friends like all his classmates seemed to have. As they approached the train, his father spoke to him for the first time all morning, "Now Draco, I expect you to not disappoint me this year," Lucius leaned in so that his face was centimeters away from Draco's. His stare bore into Draco's eyes like knives, "I will not accept one more year of you coming out second best against some filthy mudblood, do you understand?" Draco merely nodded, then without so much as a goodbye to either of his parents, he turned and loaded his things onto the train.

Draco entered the train and set off to find an empty compartment. No sooner had he found one than some first years opened the door and tried to come in, yet one look at Draco's angry face sent them running. Draco never had a problem getting the other students to obey him. He had been trained all his life to convey a confident and powerful demeanor, and by now it was second nature to him. It was for this reason that he was known as the Slytherin Prince. While that title was a compliment from his housemates, the rest of the school considered it to be an insult. Draco enjoyed the title; after all he did rule the school, so it was only fitting.

The Slytherin Prince was about to pull out his potions book and begin reading when Pansy Parkinson opened the door. "Draco!" Pansy was a pug- faced girl, and a fellow Slytherin. She jumped into the seat next to him and immediately began fawning all over him. "Oh Draco I missed you so much over the summer, didn't you miss me?" She looked at him with what she thought was a sweet face, but it really just repulsed Draco. He only hung out with Pansy because she was the smartest person in Slytherin besides him, and because there was really no way to avoid her, she was constantly all over him. Crabbe and Goyle then entered the compartment and sat down. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes he was not looking forward to this year at all.

Within seconds, Pansy was jabbering away about her summer vacation, and practically lying on top of Draco. When they had been younger, Draco enjoyed this attention, but over the years, he had become to dislike it more and more, and now he completely loathed it. Yet he let her do it anyway, all the while maintaining his closed and stony façade. Just after the train left the station and was chugging along, a voice spoke over a loudspeaker, "Attention, attention, would all house prefects please report to the front compartment for a brief meeting. Thank you."

Upon hearing the announcement, Draco and Pansy, being the Slytherin prefects, exited their compartment and walked the short distance to the very front compartment where the Head Boy and Girl were waiting. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione, the Gryffindor prefects also made their way through the train to the front compartment. Hermione was anxious and excited to attend the meeting, but Ron really couldn't care less, he didn't take the same pride in his prefect duties that Hermione did.

Hermione's joy and happiness about heading back to school were interrupted when she saw the Slytherin prefects. She had almost managed to forget how much she hated the Slytherins, but it was hard to ignore them when she had to work side by side with the worst of them. Hermione could deal with Pansy, after all her taunting was only about stupid stuff, and though it made Hermione angry for a second, the anger didn't last. Draco on the other hand, knew how to get underneath Hermione's skin; he was the first and only one who had ever had the audacity to call her a mudblood. Plus, he seemed to enjoy pissing her off and making her life miserable, which only served to make her angrier.

She tried not to look at him when she entered the room, but that platinum blond hair was nearly impossible to ignore, as was his piercing stare, which seemed to penetrate her very flesh. He never seemed to turn away until she looked at him, thereby acknowledging that he won, he got to her. This time was no exception, the moment she entered she could feel his cold uncaring eyes watching her, following her every move. After she took a seat next to Ron, she glared at Draco, staring him right in the eyes. Unlike most people who have been caught staring, Draco never turned away, he just looked deeper into her, and it scared her every time it happened. As soon as their eyes locked, she looked away again, and having won their little contest, Draco looked away as well, smiling smugly.

"Hermione, you alright?" asked Ron, who had noticed that she was suddenly tense and quiet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione quickly dismissed his concern; she had never told any of her friends just how much Draco bothered her, nor how often he managed to make her skin crawl.

The rest of the meeting passed without incident. They were merely reminded of their duties, and informed that they were all being examined closely for potentially becoming the next Head Boy and Girl. It was not guaranteed that the positions would go to prefects, but more often than not they did, so it was imperative that all who were interested be on their best behavior all year. Hermione was determined to get the position, being Head Girl had always been her ultimate goal at school next to earning top marks in all he classes.

Draco, more than wanting the position of Head Boy, was expected to get it by his father. He personally didn't see that there was anything he could do to get the position with saint Potter around, but his father wouldn't accept that excuse. Lucius didn't accept any excuses. It wasn't that Draco wouldn't have loved to get the position, he did want it, the power that came with it, the privileges, they all sounded wonderful to Draco. It was just that he had never been given a choice in anything, so he didn't know what he truly wanted, and he doubted he ever would.