Chapter One- Platform 9 and Three Quarters
"Oh look, here comes the mudblood" Draco Malfoy muttered to Blaise Zabini cocking his head in her direction, as they leaned casually on the wall of Platform 9 and 3/4 running a hand through his blond hair, as Hermoine Granger passed them pulling a suitcase behind her, "Looks like she's looking for Pothead and Weasel." Blaise nodded in reply, a scowl on his face, but as Hermoine swept past him he couldn't help but noticing her long, luscious legs and her gorgeous chocolate colored hair, which for once, lay sleek and straight around her shoulders instead of the usual bush it was. Her perfectly white and straight teeth shone inside her stunning smile. She certainly had changed since their first year at Hogwarts. Her skirt was a few inches shorter than usual and a new found confidence radiated off her as she walked down the station platform like a model on a cat-walk, ... 'Snap out of it, she's a mudblood and a Gryffindor for Christ sake,' he thought to himself as forced himself to look away dropping his head to the floor. Soon after his face broke into a genuine smile as he looked up and saw Mel walking towards him, laden with bags, her smooth hair blowing slightly in the morning breeze.
Melanie Annare and Blaise had been best friends ever since their first year at Hogwarts and had loads in common. Both Slytherins and both lacking in brothers and sisters, they had taken salvage in each other, and now were so close they considered one another family.
Mel had been put up for adoption as a baby and never knew her parents. The Annare family who had adopted her was a pure-blood couple who loved her more than anything in the world and she felt the same about them. Though deep-down she secretly wished she had known her real parents, always wondering who they were and what they looked like. With black hair and bright blue eyes, she had the air of a Slytherin about her and was one of the prettiest girls in her year at Hogwarts, perhaps even in the whole school. Like many other boys, Draco had a crush on Mel from the moment he had set eyes on her and his subtle lust had developed into genuine love over the past two or three years though she hadn't a clue that he liked her more than a friend. He loved everything about her, from the way her blue eyes could make his heart jump in one single glance, to her famous playful smirk that she sometimes shot his way, though he hid all his feelings under his cold, heartless exterior. While Mel was a Slytherin by nature, by heart she was a genuinely loving, caring and thoughtful person though very few people were lucky enough to see that side of her.
Blaise, also one of Draco's best friends, was born into a pure-blood wizard family, the Zabini's, and spent most of his childhood alone. Both his parents working at St. Mungos, his father a Mediwizard and his mother a Surgeon, they spent hours away from home and left Blaise, their only child, with his Nanny, Sylvie Prochen, a French girl who kept Blaise under strict control and taught him French from a very young age. When his parents considered him old enough Sylvie left and he grew up to broken promises and lonely nights by himself. As a result he had only bitter feelings towards his parents who had made no effort to resolve Blaise's and their issues. After all this his whole world had changed once he started Hogwarts and met Mel. Both clicking instantly, he made her laugh and she made him feel loved and wanted. Being tall, dark and handsome with hazel eyes he like Mel had his fair share of admirers at Hogwarts.
Both of them had spent all the Christmas breaks so far together at the Hogwarts castle and stuck together through thick and thin and when they fought they couldn't stand not talking to each other for more than a few days. Friends regularly got jealous of how much time they spent together, especially Draco, and boyfriends and girlfriends of the duo often went through jealous twinges but throughout all this Blaise and Mel stayed together. If either got sick the other would stay at their bedside until they got better. They had an understanding of each other, way beyond friends, something deeper.
Breaking his train of thought Blaise smiled as Mel gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek, but could feel himself tense up as he saw the satisfied smirk on Draco's face as Mel hugged him next. He couldn't help but feeling a sense of protection over her, only wanting her to be safe and to keep her from getting hurt, and Draco had hurt his fair share of girls. Mel shot Blaise a smirk, sensing the tension and asked "Will we go get a compartment before all the good ones are gone?"
Even though Blaise and Draco had threatened a first year into saving one for them, they both nodded, following her onto the Hogwarts Express for their final year at Hogwarts.
Hermoine stepped onto Platform 9 and three quarters and searched the crowd for her two best friends, smiling at the amount of attention she was getting from members of the opposite sex.
She had spent the past three months in New Zealand on a student exchange trip and at the start of the summer she had broken up with Victor Krum and experienced the joy of being single among all the gorgeous New Zealander's. Because of her three month trip, she hadn't gotten a chance to see Harry and Ron all summer and couldn't wait to start her seventh and final year with them. She pushed her way through hoards of students, trolleys, bags and owls occasionally smiling and waving politely at her fellow seventh years, and suddenly her heart jumped when she saw a black haired boy among a group of red-heads. She discreetly fixed her hair and skirt, walked over behind Harry, put her hands over his eyes and asked "Guess Who?" "Hey Hermoine!" Ron blurted out, not realizing, causing Harry and the rest of the Weasley family to turn around. Smiling, Harry gave his friend of seven years a hug and asked "Hi Moine, how was your summer?" She giggled noticing how red Ron's ears had gone and said "Brilliant, New Zealand was great, the three of us should really go there together sometime, I'll tell you all about it later but enough about me, how are you two? I'm dying to hear how your summers were!" she finished giving Ron a hug noticing him tense up a bit as she did.
With the help of Ginny, Harry and Ron started giving Hermoine a detailed account of their days at the burrow and how great they had both become at Quidditich as she led them onto Hogwarts Express, finding an empty compartment. She laughed as Ron described one brilliant save he made which involved him falling off his broom, holding on for 'dear life' with one hand and miraculously managing to save the incoming Quaffle. "It was nothing really though" he added, with a smug look on his face as the train slowly pulled out of the station. As they chatted merrily, after waving goodbye to the Grangers and Weasleys, Hermoine noticed how much Harry had changed over the past three months. No longer weak and puney he had really filled out and gotten taller. While his hair was still the mess it had always been, it now suited him along with the permanent smirk plastered on his face. In her opinion, from the pictures Harry had shown her, he and James could have been mistaken for the same person. While it had taken Harry time to get over Sirius' death, Hermoine noticed how he was slowly, but surely moving on. No longer the lonely, parent-less attention seeking little boy he had been mad out to be he had now grown up to be an independent, strong-willed person. Ron too had changed over the summer, also after getting taller and indeed looked a lot older than the Ron she remembered from the start of the summer. All the days of playing Quidditich in the sun had given him extra freckles on his face, lightened his hair and given him a healthy glow. Still coping with the pressure of getting good N.E.W.T results like many Weasleys before him, he had really come out of himself over the past few months.
The three Gryffindor's shared an enjoyable journey to Hogwarts, laughing at memories from the past six years and Ron had been re-telling the story of when Gilderoy Lockhart's memory charm backfired when their compartment door slid open and Mel stood in the doorway in her Hogwarts robes. She smirked and apologized sarcastically, muttering "Sorry wrong compartment." "Ya just keep on moving" Ron suggested gesturing her out of their compartment. Harry met Mel's gaze for a moment but his attention was soon averted back to Ron when he let out a gasp as Mel left, "Yes! The last Collector Card I need!" as he opened a Chocolate frog wrapper and found the card he had been searching for the past two years. "That's all 200 of them!" he said proudly, slipping the card into his robe pocket. "Well boys, I think I'm going to go change into my Hogwarts robes" Hermoine announced as she stood and picked up her bag, leaving the compartment door close behind her.
The train corridor was full of people catching up with friends, exchanging holiday gifts and telling each other how their summers had gone. Hermoine pushed past a couple, looking very busy and bumped into someone, head on causing her to look at the floor and rub her head in agony. "Hey, watch where you're going will you?" a voice exclaimed, soon after adding spitefully "Oh it's you, the little mudblood" Hermoine didn't even have to guess who it was. "Blaise Zabini." She answered looking up. "The one and only" The cocky seventh year answered a scowl on his handsome face, "and if you wouldn't mind, you're in my way." Hermoine barely flinched at his rude comment and raising an eyebrow simply walked around him and down the corridor, without a glance back. What a bastard, well he certainly hasn't changed she thought to herself. Thinking back she could have sworn she had seen a badge on Blaise's expensive robes, which had looked a lot like her Head girl one... She shook the thought out of her head, thinking, as if and carried on making her way to the girls' bathroom.
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