- Sorry this chapter is a bit weird, but because I didn't update for so long, it was really hard to get back into the story and write this chapter. I hope you enjoy it anyway, and please review!!! Also, I am sorry it is so short!!

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The next few hours were probably the most enjoyable that Draco had experienced since his father had been sent to Azkaban. At first, thinking that Hermione was going to be just as cold towards him as she had always been, Draco had settled into the compartment, seriously dreading the next year. How could he possibly spend the next year working closely with the one witch who hated him, and who was, ironically, the one witch who he couldn't seem to stop thinking about. It would be hell. Draco turned his head to face the window – trying desperately to concentrate on the cows outside grazing in the fields, and not how he was sure he had seen Hermione's hazel eyes light up as he sat next to her, or how beautiful she looked in a simple t shirt and jeans. Merlin, he thought, he was such an idiot. Why had he even brought up the whole Potter subject? It was clear that Hermione still liked Harry, he was a fool to think she could ever have a crush on someone like himself, at least after the way he had treated her for the past six years. Hermione's voice suddenly interrupted Draco's thoughts.

Once the prefect scheduling was out of the way, the two head students talked for the rest of the train ride, stopping only to change into their robes (Hermione used the empty carriage next door). By the time they got to school, they had discovered that they had a lot more in common than they thought. Both Hermione and Draco wanted to pursue careers in the ministry after Hogwarts and were therefore taking advanced Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and D.A.D.A this year, and Hermione was both shocked and pleased to discover that Draco, unlike Harry and Ron, had actually read the entire Hogwarts: A History. Draco, however, was not surprised to discover that Hermione was truly the smartest witch he had ever encountered in his life, her intellect coming close to only his own.

As the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, the compartment door opened and Harry, Ginny, Lavender Brown and Ron walked in, pulling their trunks behind them.

"Hey Mione," Ron said breathlessly, struggling to pull his heavy trunk through the door while also hanging onto Pig's cage, "We thought we'd come to get you before we went up to the castle. You know," Ron whispered with a dark look towards Draco, "Didn't want you to have to share a carriage with him"

As Hermione nodded in agreement with Ron and busied herself trying to get her things together, Draco's heart sank. It wasn't as though he had expected Hermione to suddenly become best friends with him or anything, but, he had hoped that she would at least acknowledge their friendship to the other Gryffindors. After all, he thought that the two of them had really bonded during the journey. Their conversation had been, to him, at least, quite refreshing – being friends with Crabbe and Goyle ensured that he wasn't often able to have a conversation with someone who could keep up with him intellectually.

As Hermione pulled her trunk out of the door with some assistance from Harry and Ron, she turned around and gave Draco a small smile.

"I guess I'll see you later then…" She said in a small voice, closing the compartment door, and leaving a very happy Draco behind.