Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, sadly, as I would really like to own Draco...haha

Chapter 2

"Ocean blue." Draco pushed the portrait apart and sniffed out a really great aroma. He changed his direction and immediately went towards the min kitchen provided for them. The aroma got stronger as he walked and he was practically drooling by the time he reached the entrance of the kitchen. He found Hermione in an apron, cooking a feast up.

"Hi Draco! I was so bored today and I had nothing to do! How come you get to go to school and I don't? Anyway I found a cookbook in the closet in my dorm after flipping through everything and reading them along. I wonder how everything got there and how they all start to seem familiar too? I was still bored and so I decided to cook all the good stuff in the cookbook... you must give me your opinion, kay?" She flashed him a really wide grin, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling when she saw his opened mouth.

"Hermione... you... I..." Draco was at a loss for words. This new Hermione was really different from the old one! Since when did Hermione cook for him?

"Why? What's wrong? You know, my cooking's not that bad... you should taste it first before you give your opinion..." Hermione poured the food in the cooking pot onto a glass plate. Just looking at it made Draco drool. She took the plate out to the dining table outside the kitchen, where a lot of plates of food were already there, and removed the apron. "Ta-da! Time to eat!" She smiled childishly and led Draco to his seat the other side of the long rectangular mahogany table.

This was the first time in Draco's life that he was eating food not prepared by house elves. He took the first bite of the spaghetti and his taste buds were immediately screaming for more. "Hermione, this stuff is really great!" He managed in between mouthfuls of spaghetti. He could never have expected that the muggles' way of cooking food could be so delicious.

After gobbling everything down, Draco wiped his mouth and stared at Hermione. He had no idea of what to expect from her now. At least, in the past, it was just throwing insults and sneering. Now, though...

"Washitolas!" Hermione whipped out her wand and immediately all the plates were washed and cleaned and placed back at their rightful place. "Cool, right? I learned this from the book "Household chores made easy"!" she beamed proudly.

At least one thing still remained the same with Hermione – she was still a bookworm. Draco's lips curved. "Yeah, it is cool." He decided to tell Dumbledore that Hermione had definitely not forgotten anything about studies.

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He was coming after her. She couldn't think of anything. She was so drowsy, so drowsy. She should have known better than to leave her drink unattended. Now the devil was coming after her. She ordered her legs to move, just move away from the devil. Move to a place where he can't go. She moved blindly, fear seeping through the dazed haze in her mind. He was catching up. Oh my god, he was right behind. As he grabbed her clothes, she did the only thing she could think of. She screamed, and everything went black.

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The silence of the night was broken by a long scream. Draco was awoken by the shriek. His heart immediately pounded faster and faster. He knew that scream. He had almost ignored it once, and he wasn't going to hesitate in going to it again. He rushed blindly to Hermione's room, his mind full of her.

Hermione's nightgown was wet, and beads of perspiration trickled down her face. She turned blindly in her bed, her face showing pure fear. Draco did not think of anything else but to get her out of the nightmare. He laid down beside her, and hugged her close to him. "Hush, now, it's just a nightmare. You are safe now," he whispered, patting her arm. Soon Hermione's whimpers died down and she finally relaxed in Draco's arms. Seeing that the nightmare was over, he rose to go, but Hermione's hand struck out and grabbed his.

"Don't go! Don't leave me alone! He's going to come! Don't go!" Draco's heart broke for her. She had to go through such a horrible experience. He wished he had killed the guy who did this to her. He laid down beside her, and Hermione's unsteady breathing settled down to a calm and slow one.

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He opened his eyes and wondered groggily why Hermione was beside him. His mind cleared and he suddenly remembered the events of the night. Apparently Hermione's subconsciosness could still remember the incident. He looked at her face for a few seconds before rising and slipping out of her room back to his.

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Hermione bounced beside Draco, holding a pile of books and having a huge sparkling grin on her face. She had obviously forgotten about her nightmare, Draco thought. She was practically dancing in the corridors. She seemed completely oblivious to the students of Hogwarts starring at her and Draco, still trying to comprehend why Draco would tolerate a girl, a mudblood, whom he had loathed in the past.

"Yes! I am finally going to school! It's so cool! I am not going to be bored in my room and I am going to make new friends!" Hermione turned a 360ï‚ full turn, her hair swinging all around.

"There, your timetable. You will only be seeing me in Potions and Care for magical creatures as you are in Griffindor and I am in Slytherin, and of course during lunch time you can always go to the Slytherin table to see me," he explained to her.

Hermione's grin faltered. "You mean, I can only see you for two periods besides lunch? How am I going to cope? No, I've decided that I don't want to go to school after all." She changed her direction abruptly, marching her way back towards their room.

"No, wait! You will meet new friends, you see. There, see, two friends of yours are coming." Draco gripped her arm and she was forced to stop.

"Hi Hermione!" Two boys, one with messy black hair, and the other with carrot-red hair said together. They grinned at her warmly, as if they had been best of friends for a long time.

"Do I know you?" her brows were furrowed. "Oh, I get it. Dumb...Dumbydore? Oh, Dumbledore! He must have told you all my name and that I am new. Hi!" Hermione held out a hand for them to shake.

The two boys glanced at her strangely. She wondered whether anything was wrong with her. Was there anything on her face? Why were they looking at her with a puzzled expression? She smiled feebly at them.

"Hi..."the one with the ebony black hair and the piercing green eyes finally said. "I am Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley. We are both from Gryffindor, same as you, which means we are going to be in all your classes. Why don't we go to the Transfiguration classroom together?" the boy named Harry flashed her a quick smile.

Hermione glanced at Draco. She did not want to leave the only person she knew. Draco looked back at her, and sighed inwardly. "Bye, Hermione, I'll meet you in Potions!" He turned away reluctantly and started walking away, each step getting more difficult than the previous one.

She looked at his fading back, and then at Harry and Ron. She finally nodded glumly and followed them, at the same time looking forward to Potions where she could finally see Draco again.

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"Mr Malfoy? Are you dreaming of your girlfriend? Will you please do me a huge favour and answer this question before going back to your dream?" All around, smirks were directed at Draco.

Draco jerked out of his trance and blinked. "Um...To defend against Quixers?" He guessed.

"Right. So in order..." Draco fell back onto his trance again. He wondered when Defence against Dark Arts was going to end. He was worried about Hermione. Was she doing well with Harry and Ron? Would she be able to cope? His brows were furrowed. He couldn't wait for this lesson to end so that he could rush to Potions.

He suddenly realized what he was doing. What was he thinking of, worrying about a filthy mudblood? He must have been drugged or something. Why, Granger was probably already closer to Potter and Weasley than to him now. He didn't know why, but he felt a stab of jealousy at this. Of course he wasn't jealous of Potter and Weasley about Granger, he tried to convince himself.

The bell finally rang and Draco grabbed his bag. He was the first one out of the class, rushing towards the dungeons for Potions.

The moment he saw Hermione, all his thoughts about her being a mudblood were gone. Instead it was replaced by relief, relief that she had gotten through the day without breaking down. He knew exactly how it was like to be the new student. Wasn't he always changing kindergartens due to Voldermort? In his heart, he despised Voldermort with all his might. He had to endure four whole years of torture, always leaving and joining another school, so as not to let Voldermort find them. No, his father was like that. Once Voldermort had lost his power, there was no use in helping him at all. He didn't want Voldermort to locate them and get help from them. For four years, Draco's only steady person in his life was his mother. No friends, no attachments allowed. The pain was too huge to bear whenever he had to move if he even allowed himself to be attached. He shook himself out of his memories when Hermione ran forward to hug him with all her might.

"Hi Draco! I missed you! Though Harry and Ron were really nice to me, I still missed you! I don't know why, but whenever I said that I was looking forward to Potions, they looked at me strangly. But the lessons were all very interesting! The weird thing is that I seemed to have learned that before. And the good news is that I managed to be the first one to perform the Transfiguration charm! Isn't that weird?" Hermione rambled on like a steam train, automatically taking a seat beside him.

Harry and Ron glanced over at Hermione worriedly. Even though she had lost her memory, they had been certain that she would still be the same old Hermione in her heart. However, this Hermione had changed a lot. Why, she was even looking forward to Potions, which used to be their dreaded subject! And she was now automatically sitting beside Malfoy, their arch nemesis! At least there was one factor in her that hadn't changed. She was still the brightest and cleverest in class. They beamed proudly at her. Whatever changes came next, they would try to accept them as part of her.

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Author's note: There! My second chapter done. What do you all think? Help me review, please! :p and review honestly... :D