Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and instances are the property of J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Set in the gang's seventh year. Draco is, of course, still an arrogant stuck-up bastard, but hopefully not for long. Hermione attempts to change him, but everyone knows you cannot change a person, they can only change themselves. I hope to concentrate on all characters and instances, as opposed to strictly Draco-Hermione instances. Rated R for adult content; swearing, sexual encounters and the like. My first attempt at a story, all reviews welcome, even if you don't like my story because all feed back will really help me to improve. Enjoy!

A Leaf Changes Colors-Chapter 1

~Where are They Now?

Harry James Potter just turned 17 years old. It was currently 12:01 A.M on July 31st, and though Harry should have been celebrating, he was of course stuck in his Aunt and Uncle's home who had strictly forbidden any happiness to even peek around a corner and look at Harry. Harry allowed himself a brief memory of his previous year; as it had been a very good one. Voldemort, very surprisingly, had kept mostly to himself throughout the year, only allowing his Death Eaters to make discreet attacks on Muggles throughout the year. Nothing too big that the Ministry bothered itself with, except of course to perform Memory Charms. This of course still angered Harry beyond belief, for he was strictly opposed to any death, even if it was a Muggle. In the interim, Harry allowed himself to have a generally carefree year, playing Captain and Seeker to the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team. He had led his team to victory against the Slytherins in the final match of the year, mush to the distaste of Draco Malfoy. Speaking of which, Harry thought, he hasn't really bothered the Famous Trio at all, aside from the unpleasant "Mudblood." "Weasel," and "Potty." Snape of course still disliked the Trio, but more so even now for all three had made it into his NEWT Potions class.
After the death of Sirius Black, Harry pushed himself as far as he could with his Occlumancy lessons, which, thankfully, Dumbledore had decided to take over in the managing of. Harry was now an expert in Occlumency, preventing Voldemort from ever entering his mind again, and, Harry gleefully noted, allowed him to read other people's minds on command; but Harry generally strayed form this because the guilt of invading another's privacy had overwhelmed him. Still, being able to read their minds enabled Harry to note if a person was being truthful or not, which seemed to always come in handy.* Ron had since given up with his crush on Hermione, and has been blissfully persuing Luna Lovegood for the better part of 8 months now. Luna was still quite the strange one, but Harry and Hermione looked past that for Ron's sake, and have come to appreciate Luna as a very good friend, whose loyalty was never to be doubted.
Back in the present, Harry sighed and rolled over, smiling to himself as he remembered all of the happy memories, save the deaths of many innocent people, he had experienced the previous year. Sleep was slowly approaching, but not before Harry put up his incredibly strong mind shield...

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy was also lying awake, thinking to himself about the day's events. Upon his father's request, no demand, Draco had gotten a job working for Scotland's Dragon Facility, cleaning up unpleasant things and feeding the magnificent beasts from afar. Apart from that though, Draco's mentor, as he had come to call him, Thaddeus James (or rather T.J.) was more than willing to show Draco the reigns, teaching him everything he knew about dragons, and allowing late night visits into the pens so Draco could get a close-up look. Draco never appreciated dragons as much as he did now, and was quite proud that his name meant "dragon." Sweeping up large amounts of dung 12 hours a day under the blazing sun let Draco acquire quite a lot of muscle and a very nice tan. Practically a 180 from the skinny, pale boy that left Hogwarts only months before. He couldn't wait for an opportunity to beat Potty and Weasel to a pulp...

It seems that more than one person was lying awake in the very early morning of July 31st. Ron Weasley was excitedly anticipating the arrival of his best friends and girlfriend in just a few hours. All were to be arriving via Floo Powder at around 6 o'clock. Together they would be going to Diagon Alley to buy all their school supplies, then spend the rest of the summer just hanging out at the Burrow. It was also Harry's Birthday, and Ron gleefully thought of the surprise party the Weasley's along with Hermione and Luna had planned for him. It was going to be a good day...

Unsurprisingly, Hermione Granger was also lying awake, contemplating which homework assignment she wished to attack first thing in the morning before going to the Weasley's. Hermione was slightly nervous about her visit this summer. She had again used Sleek-Easy's Hair potion on a whim this summer, but a new and improved permanent kind. Hermione was fearful of everyone's reaction, as she no longer had her bushy hair trademark. She herself was pleased, and she supposed that was all that mattered. She was never one for being concerned about her looks, but after applying the potion only once herself, she virtually never had to worry about her hair again, and this was what had pleased her. Hermione also had a part time job as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool, swimming being a secret passion of hers she never had the time to persue at Hogwarts, also given the fact there was no pool at Hogwarts. Hermione promised herself to ask Dumbledore about it though, vowing to make room in her busy schedule to keep up with her swimming. Though always the ever-conscience book worm, Hermione wanted to make it a point of not being so strict with her friends, fearing that they were slowly becoming estranged, and annoyed with her constant nagging. If they wanted to do poorly with their work, then that was their choice and she was powerless to stop it. Needless to say, Hermione had a lot of promises to keep up with this year...

A/N: There you go kids. Short, I know but it's just the beginning! I'm working to get another chapter up and running soon to follow through with everything. I really hope that this chapter doesn't lead you to believe that this story is just like every other Draco/Hermione story, where Hermione becomes beautiful, catches the eye of the oh-so-sexy Draco, and they live to be happy together, much to the dislike of Harry and Ron. Yeah, now that that's off my chest... Please review, even if you don't like it. I need your suggestions!

*~ I distinctly remember reading an AU story where Harry was an Auror and had to simply look into one's eyes to tell if they were lying or not. I do not remember the title nor the author, so if anyone does, could you please tell me? When I was writing this I had no intention of copying or anything, but after reading it through I realized how similar it sounded to another's story. So yeah, again I don't mean to copy! I hope to slightly change Harry's ability to tell between lie and truth, but just the same I would like to e-mail the author of the other story to say what's going on. Okay that was probably longer than necessary, but oh well.

Ciao!