Disclaimer: As everyone knows, I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Thank you very much to all my wonderful reviewers. You guys are awesome! It makes me so happy to hear how much you guys are enjoying my story and my writing!!
Cargarbinx, Ginny-W13, Kara Black, FalconWing, fieryred20, ilovetom88, JessicaDracoMalfoy, shadow-n-the-dark, aurora black, Jaezi, Macking, melovedraco, Jessie, zuvalupa – Thank you so much for the review!
Echo Levano – Thanks! I'm glad you liked the first story, and are liking this one as well. I am trying to make this story different from the first one, but like the first one I hope that it's not too obvious what's going to happen in the end, so we'll see how I do.
Phoebe Telumetar – lol interesting mixture of emotions, but I'm sure you have succeeded in confusing Ron with your sympathetic kick. J Thanks for the review!
sad-soulz – interesting observation how people often forget to write magic into the fics. I'll try to remember that! Thanks!
HarryPotterFan670 – Thank you so much! Draco and Hermione will be back together in this chapter, but I can guarantee that they will have a ton of problems along the way!
Siria – lol kill Ron? Hmmmm . . . it is very possible that someone will die, who it will be I'm not saying.
Kyra Malfoy – lol interesting idea, if Ron manages to break them up I'll see what I can do about setting you up with Draco, granted you may have to help him mend a broken heart if that were to happen. ;o)
Kacie – thanks for the correction, I don't know why I kept putting an 'm' in Zabini (silly me!) Thanks for the review!
jesska-14 – Very interesting idea, that's not quite what I have planned, but that's a great idea to keep in mind for future fics! Thanks!
BleedingHeart14 – trust me, I do feel special, lol. Ron may go psycho again, but I don't think he'll go 'sico killer dude' so you won't have to worry about that. Thanks!
elektra30 – Thanks, and I will do my best to keep both Hermione and Draco in character as much as possible when they meet (and throughout the entire story as well).
Cold-eyes-for-you – Yay! You caught up! Thank you so much for your reviews, thay all made me happy. I hope you like this fic as much as the last one! Thanks!
Also, there were a lot of comments about Ron, some people want me to kill him, some don't want me to torture him anymore, so obviously I can't please everyone. So let me just say a bit about him. I like Ron in the HP books, however he is my least favorite of the trio. I'm not sure why I've made him so annoying, I guess just to add conflict. I just think he's temperamental, stubborn and immature so that's how I've tried to portray him.
And one more thing before the chapter begins, for those who are wondering why the updates are taking longer, there are a few reasons. 1) I'm trying to make this fic more complex than the last one. 2) I am getting lots of ideas for the middle and end of the fic, but not for the beginning. So I have been writing what's going to happen later, but getting there I'm suffering from a bit of writers block. 3) I have a cold, so I'm practically asleep at the computer right now.
Anyway, now that everyone is asleep at their keyboards from all my talking, on with chapter 3!
Chapter 3: Journey to Hogwarts
They had 10 minutes until the scarlet Hogwarts Express would leave the station on its journey to Hogwarts. The four Gryffindors stood on the platform, their things were already loaded onto the train, and they were saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and saying hello to their school friends. Hermione was so excited, her fellow Gryffindors were all coming up to her and congratulating her for being named Head Girl. Her badge was pinned proudly on her robes, on the opposite side of the scarlet and gold Gryffindor crest. She beamed at everyone, thrilled to finally be returning to Hogwarts, her true home.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had apparated away, and it was nearly time to board the train. Hermione was scanning the platform entrance desperately searching for Draco, for she hadn't seen him yet. She was beginning to think that perhaps her had arranged a different way to get to school without telling her. She was a bit annoyed when Ginny, who was looking in the opposite direction, tugged on her robes and interrupted her search, "umm, Hermione . . ."
"What?" Hermione asked irritably, but then she heard another voice, a voice she had been dying to hear since the last time she had set foot on this platform going home for the summer.
"I must say, who is this beautiful creature I see before me?" the voice asked smoothly, addressing Hermione of course.
Hermione's heart stopped and she whipped around, beaming brighter than the sun, "Draco!" she ran to him and leapt into his arms, giving him a huge kiss on the lips as he held her.
He lifted her seemingly effortlessly, thrilled to be holding her in his arms once more, and loving the feeling of her lips pressed up against his own again. Draco broke the kiss, and then set Hermione on the floor once more, "miss me did you?" Draco smiled, brushing her hair behind her ear with his hand.
"Oh, I suppose I did a little, not very much though," Hermione smiled, unable to keep a straight face, for they both knew that she was lying through her teeth.
Just then, the whistle sounded, warning those still on the platform that it was time to board. "Shall we go to the Heads compartment?" offered Draco.
"We get our own compartment?" asked Hermione, truly happy at the idea.
"Naturally, the Heads get the best of everything," smiled Draco. He then swept Hermione off her feet (literally) and carried her onto the train to the compartment reserved for the Head Boy and Girl.
- - - - - - - - - -
Hermione's friends watched the entire scene with different thoughts running through their mind. Ginny, who had been the first to spot Draco, viewed the whole thing with a smile, thinking how incredibly romantic it was. She knew how much Hermione had missed Draco over the summer, and she was thrilled to finally see her friend truly happy, glowing even, finally being back together with the man she loved.
Harry had a mixed reaction. He knew Hermione loved Draco, and that she had been missing him, and he did view Draco differently ever since he had saved Hermione's life last year. He couldn't bring himself to completely hate someone who saved one of his best friends. But still, Draco was a Slytherin, Harry's arch rival in Hogwarts, and Harry still didn't trust him. Though he never let Hermione know that, he didn't want to be in the way of Hermione's wrath.
Ron however, was not as understanding as Harry. He viewed the scene with a look over revulsion that even surpassed what he looked like second year when he was burping up slugs (which happened to be an incident caused by Draco himself). He looked ready to kill Malfoy, but amazingly enough he didn't even utter a sound. He frowned with anger and jealousy when Draco lifted Hermione and carried her onto the train, and glared in the direction Draco had carried Hermione as Harry led him on to the train as well. This was not the way he had planned on beginning the year.
Once inside the train, Draco was forced to put Hermione down due to the cramped hallway, and the fact that students were still milling around searching for their friends, and for empty compartments. "Our compartment is up front, come on," Draco took Hermione's hand, and led her to the very front, where a lavishly decorated compartment was set up for them. Once they were inside, and the door was closed, they began kissing again. Once they were out of breath, and both gasping for air, they settled for holding each other instead. Hermione leaned her head on Draco's shoulder, "I missed you so much!" she cried, hugging him tighter, as if she were afraid he would disappear if she let go.
"I missed you too, but now we'll be together all the time, with nothing to worry about except teachers, classes, and homework."
"Yeah," smiled Hermione, "It's going to be a wonderful year."
- - - - - - - - -
If only they knew how wrong they were.
- - - - - - - - -
Just as they began kissing again, the door to their compartment slid open and the voice of the conductor grunted to get their attention. They pulled apart, Hermione blushing furiously, and flustered, kept her head towards the ground to hide her embarrassment. Draco, meanwhile, was as calm and collected as ever, he was amused at Hermione's embarrassment, but he didn't say anything about it, "yes?" he asked the conductor.
"Not to interrupt, er . . anything," he raised his eyebrows with interest, as Draco pulled Hermione closer to him, and she hid her face in his robes, "but I believe it's time you addressed the prefects to explain to them their duties for the upcoming year."
"Of course, we'll do that right now, thank you," responded Draco.
Once the conductor exited and closed the door behind him, Hermione burst into a fit of giggles, "oh Merlin! That was so embarrassing!!" she cried, her face still bright red, "how do you stay so calm like that all the time?"
"It's a gift," sighed Draco with mock haughtiness (well maybe not all of the haughtiness was mocking), "would you like to call the prefects or shall I?"
"You better do it Mr. Gifted," retorted Hermione sarcastically, kissing him once more before he turned around.
Draco lifted a magical microphone and tapped it with his wand to turn it on, "Attention please," he called, suddenly his voice was deeper and more authoritative than it was whenever he spoke to Hermione, "will all house prefects please report to the Heads compartment at the front of the train for a brief informational meeting? Thank you." He then tapped the microphone again to turn it off.
"You sound so different when you're giving orders, you know that?" questioned Hermione.
Draco smiled self-assuredly, but didn't comment, he instead moved to the window, and stood in wait for the prefects to arrive. Within five minutes everyone was present and accounted for, and the meeting began. Each of the prefects smiled at Hermione, but looked upon Draco with fear; it seems he had not lost the intimidating image he had built up for himself the past six years among the rest of the school. Hermione did her best to suppress a chuckle that the man she loved more than anyone inspired so much fear in the hearts and minds of the rest of the school, 'that's my dragon,' she thought happily.
"Well" Draco began, addressing the group, "welcome to a new school year, and congratulations on being chosen as prefects for your given houses. As you already know, I am Draco Malfoy, and I am Head Boy this year, the Head Girl," he motioned to Hermione, "is Hermione Granger."
The meeting was over quickly, Draco did most of the talking, as he seemed to enjoy being in charge and ordering other people around. Once the prefects were out patrolling the train, and the food trolley had come by, Draco and Hermione were finally alone in their compartment once more. Draco sat with his back against the wall, with Hermione lying against his chest. She closed her eyes and just listened to his heart beat, feeling the rise and fall of his chest against her head. He stroked her brown hair softly, smiling at her beautiful form lying against him. After sitting like that for a few moments and after Hermione had recovered from the embarrassment of being interrupted, she looked up at Draco and slowly moved her lips up to him. In no time they were snogging, each completely oblivious to everything except each other.
- - - - - - - - - -
Ron was growing restless sitting in a compartment in the middle of the train, "where is she? That prefects meeting should have ended hours ago!" he whined.
"Hmm, let's see Ron, my guess would that she's in the Heads compartment with Malfoy, catching up as one might say."
"Ugh! Ginny!" cried Ron, covering his face with his hands, "a mental picture of Malfoy snogging Hermione is not what I needed. It was bad enough seeing them kissing on the platform!" He huffed and turned toward the window for a moment. "That's it I'm going to find her, and bring her back here where she belongs, with her friends!"
"Ron you will not!" shouted Ginny, racing after Ron.
"Ron, why don't you leave Hermione and Malfoy alone?" suggested Harry, not at all attempting to stop Ron's progress through the corridor. He may not have a crush on Hermione like Ron did, but he didn't particularly enjoy the mental picture Ginny's comment had put in his head either.
"No!" shouted Ron, as he sped up.
Ginny raced after him, and Harry grudgingly followed, but due to the cramped conditions of the train, they were unable to stop him. When Ron reached the compartment, he threw open the door with a loud bang, causing Draco and Hermione to pull apart with a start. Hermione yelped, and fell onto the floor, while Draco hit his head hard against the wall.
"Shit Weasley!" Draco yelled, as he held his hands to his throbbing head, he was furious at being interrupted so rudely by a Weasley when he had been enjoying himself so much.
"We're so sorry," panted Ginny, "we were trying to stop him, but we couldn't catch up."
Hermione stood up, glaring furiously at Ron, "Ronald Weasley!" when she shouted she sounded so much like Mrs. Weasley, that it caused Ron to cower in fear, "what on Earth did you think you were doing barging in here like that?"
Ron turned his gaze to the floor, knowing that he had no good reason for what he did, "I, um . . .well, I just."
"You just what? Thought you would terrify me half to death, and at the same time interrupt something that until a few seconds ago was incredibly enjoyable?"
Ron's face grew red with anger and embarrassment, when he finally spoke, he was mumbling and his head was to the ground, "I just didn't like the idea of you being here with him all day," he spat, gesturing toward Draco. "You haven't even come to see us once since we got on the train."
Draco stood angrily when Ron spoke, and moved towards him, but Hermione moved next to Draco first. She looped her arms around Draco's waist, he stopped advancing on Ron, and snaked his arms around her, yet he continued to glare daggers into Ron's face, as if challenging him to say one word. When Hermione spoke the sadness in her tone was unmistakable. "Ron," she breathed, trying not to sound angry, "for one, I just spent an entire week with you guys, so I'm sure you can live without me for a train ride. Two, I haven't seen Draco all summer and I've missed him terribly. Three, Draco and I are dating, if you can't cope with that fact, then I'm sorry, but it won't change anything. Now, please, just leave us alone."
Ron stood in shock at Hermione's words, he watched as Hermione turned her back towards him, and move over to the window. He looked pitifully at Draco, who was still eyeing him with intense hatred, and then allowed Harry and Ginny to lead him back to their compartment.
"Sorry again," Ginny mumbled before closing the door behind them.
Draco turned, ready to begin a rant about Weasley, but found he didn't have the heart when he saw Hermione. A single tear rolled slowly down her cheek, and he wiped it away for her. "I just don't know what to do about him," she began. "It was horrible all week at his house; I had to keep finding places to hide to get away from him. He just won't accept the fact that I love you. I'd hate to lose him as a friend, but I can't keep going like this, not if this is how he's going to be every single day."
Draco did all he could to choke back the string of insults he had lined up in his mind about Weasley, and he couldn't think of anything supportive to say. He would never tell her to stop being friends with anyone she was friends with, but at the same time, he hated her friends.
She looked into his eyes, as if she could read his mind, "and I know that you hate Ron, and Harry too, so thank you for never asking me to choose between you and them, because I wouldn't know what to do. But now with the way Ron's acting I'm still lost."
Draco sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. Into her ear he whispered, "it's okay, just know that I will always be there for you. And I will never ask you to leave your friends for me." She smiled at him, "but I'm not volunteering to hang out in Hogsmeade with them either."
Hermione sighed with a smile on her face. "I would never ask you to." She chuckled a bit before moving away, gazing into his deep beautiful silver eyes and kissing him.
I hope you all enjoyed Draco and Hermione's reunion! I will try my best to get the next chapter up faster, but in the meantime please review cause they make me so happy!