A/N: Thank-you to everyone who noticed that they should have actually gone through the barrier to see the Hogwarts Express! I won't forget next time!!

It sounded strange to Hermione when she and Draco boarded the train. Usually, the train was filled to the brim with sounds; kids shrieking, owls hooting, you name it. It was very different to walk down the aisle of the train hearing only the click of shoes against the floor. The silence was so loud it was deafening.

They eventually chose a compartment and seated opposite each other. Hermione reached deep inside her bag and slid out an enormous, thick book called; Strange Coincidences of Muggle Magic by Clive Otter, with afterword by Mary J. Blige (A/N: Haha, as if, I just couldn't think of another name). She proceeded to read it.

Meanwhile, Draco looked at her scornfully and tapped his fingers on the windowsill, something Hermione found incredibly infuriating but was determined not to let him know how much it irritated her. Draco had only brought the latest Daily Prophet to read and finished it rather quickly (he was tired, anyway, of reading about "Saint Potter" and his heroic endeavors).

So he slept the rest of the way. Hermione accidentally glanced up at him and was captured by the adorable way his blonde hair fell lazily into his eyes and how he looked much better when he wasn't smirking or sneering. After scolding herself sternly on these thoughts, she tried to continue reading, but couldn't stop thinking about him.

After a well needed nap, Draco awoke to find that they had arrived at Hogwarts. Feeling crisp and refreshed the way one usually does after a nap (unless, of course, they'd been having bad dreams or lying in an uncomfortable position and had a crick in their neck) he strolled out behind Hermione quite happily and was surprised to find that it was already in around dinnertime – so he had slept for a while, then.

He caught Hermione staring at him again and shot her his trademark sexy smile.

They were led into the Great Hall by Professor McGonagall, while the rest of the school was starting dinner. As soon as they stepped foot into the hall, however, a silence washed over it and heads flicked towards them. Soon, all that could be heard was the clicking of Professor McGonagall's shoes as she walked in front of them. Hermione and Draco stood next to each other, staring around at their peers. Draco was pleased at the sudden attention – Hermione, on the other hand, was mortified.

'Well!' snapped McGonagall. 'So go sit in your houses already!'

Clearly, she was not in a good mood.

'I'll see you later,' Draco whispered to her and he swiftly bent down to kiss her cheek. The whole hall was still staring at them, and his breath upon her ear made her shiver.

'Huh?' she said cleverly. She thought she'd be seeing him at their next class, the following morning.

'We share a common room,' he reminded her.

Her heart pummeled. 'Oh. I forgot.' Sure, Draco was nice (okay, more than nice) to kiss but he wasn't the best person to actually live with. In fact, would she ever survive?

He was about to say something else, but broke off from a particularly fierce look from McGonagall.

'See you later, sweetheart,' he said, perfectly audibly as he walked away. Hermione's cheeks turned the color of strawberries. She was sure everyone had heard – because it was still deadly silent. A few eyebrows were even raised – Hermione could understand why. She would have been astounded too, if say Harry turned out to be a pureblood and he was betrothed to Pansy, and he seemed to love her even though they were enemies. She shuddered and quickly scurried over to the Gryffindor table, her head down. Pansy and Harry did not go together.

As she slid into her seat, the chatter rose again, to her relief.

'Welcome back,' said Harry, with lacking enthusiasm. 'I can't believe he kissed you in front of everyone like that – '

'Of course he would,' said Dean, who had been listening intently. 'Hello, Harry, they're in love.' He gave Harry a weird look.

Harry coughed significantly, but said nothing. Dean turned away to chat once more with Seamus.

'So that's what everyone's thinking,' said Ron gloomily. 'That you guys are in love.' He gagged. 'God, I retch at the thought.'

Hermione said nothing. Actually, she could see herself one day falling in love with Draco. In the past few days, she found that they could actually get along. Maybe in time.

Feeling ravenous all of a sudden, she helped herself to some shepherds pie and potatoes.

'Well?' said Harry, jolting her out of her thoughts.

'Sorry, didn't catch that,' she said apologetically.

'Has Malfoy... er... tried anything?'

'No,' said Hermione automatically. Okay, maybe Draco had "tried" a few things on her, but they didn't need to know about it. It would just make them upset. She tried to back her answer. 'See, he still looks at me as though I'm a muggleborn.'

'He still calls you Mudblood?!' cried Ron.

'No!' she said hastily, not quite sure why she was defending him all of a sudden. 'He calls me Hermione and I call him Draco – '

'Progressed to first names already?' said Harry coldly, a faint aggression in his voice.

'Well, what else would we call each other?'

'True,' said Ron, helping himself to more gravy. Harry shrugged, seeing the point himself. The talk switched the Quidditch, then to homework then back again before dinner was done.

They parted at the exit, each going separate ways. Just as she got to the hallway where her common room was, she spotted Draco already there. To her utter horror, he arranged the password with the portrait and stepped inside it.

Furious, Hermione rushed up to the portrait.

'Draco!' she shrieked. 'You come out here and tell me the password right this instant or – or I'll – I'll – '

'You'll what?' came his answer from inside the portrait.

Nostrils flaring not unlike Professor McGonagall's (only less ugly of course) she turned to speak with the portrait of an old man playing cards with another old man. 'Er – excuse me – '

They glanced up and gave jolly laughs. 'Ah, we're sorry, our hearing's not what it used to be.'

Hermione raised an eyebrow. How could they not have heard her shouting just then?

'Um, I'm Head Girl and I, um, forgot the password, so could you please – '

'No, no,' one old man shook his head. 'No password, no entry.'

She gaped. 'Draco! I swear to god, if you don't get your motherfucking ass out here this very fucking instant, by god I will rip your head off and hang it on our stupid friggon four-poster bed as an example to anyone who ever tries to cross me again!'

There was another laugh. 'Alright, don't throw a spaz at me, I'll come out.'

The portrait door opened, and a smirking (though irresistibly handsome) face appeared. 'Come in.'

She strode past him without a word, still angry at him.

He watched her walk past. 'Aw, c'mon I was just joking, okay?'

She slammed the door into their bedroom, annoyed at herself because she felt her anger fading at his pleading voice.

He stubbornly followed her. 'Let's discuss our sleeping arrangement, eh?'

'Alright,' Hermione sighed, sizing up the bed. 'It looks big enough for both of us.'

'Ah, you're not whining.' He slid his arms around he waist, his breath tickling her neck. 'So you do want to sleep with me.' He chuckled.

Angry again, she pulled away. 'Hello, darling, we're in love, remember?' her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Shooting her an annoyed look, he started unpacking and she followed suit. Soon, the sleepiness grew too heavy for Hermione to cope with and she knew she had to get to bed, even though it was early.

'Well, goodnight Draco,' she gave a jaw-cracking yawn. 'I'm off already.' She got changed into her pyjamas, and slipped under the soft, heavy covers.

A few hours later, she felt him do the same. A shiver racked through her – it was the most exciting yet terrifying feeling to know that Draco Malfoy, her worst enemy, was in the same bed as her. It took a while for her to cast her mind of him, then she nodded off to sleep.

To be awaken by a certain male shrieking your name is not exactly pleasant. Hermione discovered this the next morning, when she heard Draco roar at her.

She struggled out from under the covers were she had been having a perfectly pleasant dream. About him, but she'd never tell him that. 'Wha- what?'

Draco pointed furiously to something on the window, which resembled a large pillow. Feeling slightly apprehensive, for she had never seen Draco this mad (his eyes were practically scorching her) she took a better look.

It was an owl. An eagle-owl to be exact.

Draco's owl.

The one she recalled, that always brought him candy from home.

An it appeared to be dead. Well, it wasn't moving.

'Draco,' she stammered. 'Is it – it, um, sick?'

'I'll tell you what happened to Salmond,' he growled, walking next to the bed, trembling in his rage.

Hermione shrunk. He looked angry enough to hit her – would he? Was he that type of person? Her eyes followed him, large with fear.

'He was poisoned,' Draco said in a voice that was just over a whisper and quivered and dripped with anger. There was a pause. 'It was you, wasn't it? You were pissed at me last night, and you decided to get back at me and poison my owl.'

Hermione's mouth dropped. So this why he was so angry at her!

'No!' she cried. 'You should know I'd never sink so low as to kill an innocent creature for revenge! It wasn't me!'

'No one else can get into this room,' Draco said, his blazing eyes flashing. 'And Salmond was perfectly fine last night... don't deny it Hermione, it was you.'

'It was most certainly not me!' she shrieked, petrified now. Draco was definitely angry enough to hit her – and she was trembling from fear. 'I would never kill, um, Salmon.'

'Salmond,' he corrected, crawling onto the bed so he was next to her. 'Do you even have the slightest idea of what that bird meant to me? She was always there for me, ever since I was a child. And – you – killed – her!!'

For a moment, he looked as though he was about to hit her, then he controlled himself.

'I – did – not!' she shrieked back.

He crawled off the bed. 'I swear to God, Hermione, from now on, I'm going to make your life hell. You're going to be wishing you had never killed her.'

Tears were streaming down her cheeks. 'Draco, please, I swear to you it wasn't me. Would I really ever do something like that? Please, believe me.'

Ignoring her, he swept out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him.

Draco blandly ignored her at breakfast. A tear-stricken Hermione had examined the already rotting corpse of Salmond, for any evidence that it wasn't her. There were no bite or claw marks anywhere on her, so that ruled out Crookshanks. She had sighed. At least her cat wasn't to blame. And the possibility that Salmond had died of old age was out of the question. The bird was young and strong, and not sick. Draco was right – the bird had been poisoned. When exclaiming her water bowl, Hermione detected some sort of oil floating on the top that smelled ominous. It was poison. The question was – who killed Salmond? And why?

At breakfast, her eyes were still a little swollen, and Harry and Ron picked up on this at once.

'What did Malfoy do?' they demanded at once.

'It wasn't him,' she sobbed, thinking up an excuse. 'Uh – Crookshanks is sick and I'm not sure what's wrong with him.'

Ron seemed to buy this story, but it took a little more convincing for Harry.

And it wasn't only them who had picked up on this fact. As she was leaving the Great Hall, Ginny stopped her. Though the swollenness had long faded, Ginny remembered seeing it at the beginning of breakfast.

'Hermione, what's wrong?' she asked, her eyes full of concern.

Hermione let a weak smile out. 'It's nothing.'

'Did Malfoy do something?' she asked sharply.

'Well – no,' she stammered, but finding it hard to lie to her best girlfriend she'd ever have. If she was going to tell someone, it was going to be Ginny. Ron and Harry were good friends and all, but they certainly wouldn't understand about this.

'Okay, come here,' Hermione pulled on Ginny's robes and they snuck into a nearby spare classroom. She told Ginny about Salmond's mysterious death and how Draco thought it was her that had killed him.

Ginny nodded understandably. 'I know you wouldn't do that, Mya. Draco'll get over it soon enough – just wait.'

'He won't,' Hermione replied grimly. 'Gin, you should have seen him. I've never seen him so angry before – I thought he might – you know, hit me or something!'

Ginny's eyes widened. 'He didn't, though, did he?'

'Course not,' Hermione said impatiently. 'But what should I do?'

'Well...' Ginny said thoughtfully. 'You can't prove it was you, so... try to convince him. I think it's the only way.'

'Right. I will, and – ' she broke off suddenly. 'Damn him! He forgot to tell me the password to our dormitories! And I need to get my books.' She snatched her bag off of the ground. 'Sorry, Gin, got to go!'

And with that she raced out of the classroom.

Swearing colorfully to herself, Hermione strode to the Great Hall, hoping to catch him before he and his mates left. She was in luck. They were just leaving, and she almost barreled into them.

Draco's eyes narrowed and the death look he sent her send unpleasant shivers through her, but she bravely carried on. She knew he couldn't show that he was angry at her – most of his mates thought that they'd married for love. Except Blaise, his best mate, and perhaps Crabbe and Goyle.

'What is it?' he snapped at her.

'Oh. Um, Draco, dear, can I speak with you for a quick moment?' Hermione stammered, quailing under his furious gaze.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded to his friends. 'I'll see you in class.'

Whistling and laughing, they walked away.

'I don't want to talk about Salmond,' he hissed.

'Okay, it's not about Salmond,' Hermione whispered, wringing her hands nervously. It made her the tiniest bit scared when Draco was in a rage like this. 'I just need to know the password to our dormitory.'

'You can sleep outside for all I care.' He turned and strode out of the Great Hall.

'Wait!' Hermione quickly raced after him, catching up and panting. 'Look, Draco, please, listen to me. I swear to you that I did not touch that Salmond, you've got to believe me, does it seem like something I would do to get revenge?'

He ignored her, and quickened his step, but Hermione got the faint idea that he was listening so she plunged on.

'Draco, it could have easily been someone else – '

She stopped suddenly when he stopped dead and turned to face her, anger outlined in his blazing eyes. She had accidentally walked into him; as a result she was standing close to him and she could swear she could almost feel the heat radiating from his eyes. The heat that was anger.

Fuck, he must have loved that bloody bird, she thought to herself.

'Gran – Hermione. It could have been someone else, you're right, but I think it's you. You had the motive, the opportunity and the – ' he struggled to think of the last reason. ' – well, you did it. So drop it – and quit following me.'

'I will once we're at the – ' she looked behind him and saw that they were already at the common room. 'Oh.'

He turned roughly to the portrait and muttered the password, the intention so that Hermione would not hear it. She caught it anyway; the password was Mudblood.

That fucking bastard, she thought, striding into the common room after him. She grabbed her books which she had left by the fireplace, and saw him coming out of their room, towards the door. Recklessly and without any plan, she rushed over to the door and blocked his way just before he reached it.

'Hermione move.'

'Just hear me out,' she said, gasping for breath (her sudden, audacious run had left her puffing slightly).

He folded his arms, and she took that as a sign that he was listening.

'Do you think I'm the type of person to slaughter an innocent, beautiful creature just because my dearest husband was kidding around with me?' she looked at him desperately. 'I petitioned for house-elves for fuck's sake, you know I would never hurt a living creature.'

She noticed a spark of forgiveness in his eyes and felt hope.

There was a long, awkward pause then he spoke.

'I'll forget it for now. But until we find the person who did the deed – '

She screamed and hugged him.

He peeled her arms off him and stepped back, his eyes still cold, if not angry. ' – I'm still angry with you and hold you responsible for her death.'

'Oh,' Hermione felt disappointed and embarrassed. 'Well, I understand you actions.' Don't push it, she thought.

Nodding, he strode past her.

'But I'll make you like me again!' she called after him. 'After all, you still have to pretend to everyone that we're in love!'

She didn't catch his answer but she was sure it was something malevolent. She didn't care and laughed, long and loud.