Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Except myself… but I own nothing else

A/N: This is another chapter that I have updated/edited. So far I've added over 1000 words to the first two chapters. Like I've said before, you are more than welcome to skip to the newest chapter, but I'm starting to think you might miss a bunch because I've added more to the story than I originally thought I would.

If you're wondering what's been changed – the entire compartment scene was re-written. I'm going more in-depth into Malfoy's head sooner than I was, and I was also bringing out some of Hermione's problems sooner, too.

I just want to say thank you to those that are reading this again, and those that are reading it for the first time. I promise to finally work on this story – I've got no job, no school, no kids – and I finally just found my information to log back on and update the story. Please review!

Previously: "Get out," spat Hermione, shooting the individual an frosty glare.

"Absolutely not, this is the last carriage that has any room and you're not all Miss High and Mighty, you must share this carriage," responded Draco. Hermione just sighed, lowered farther into her seat and tried to somewhat enjoy her trip up to Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, Malfoy used the time to further examine the girl. She looked like she had calmed down since the scare in compartment three. He also noted she looked really good this year – her hair draped gracefully around her shoulders and her body had the perfect amount of curves on it. If he didn't know better, he would assume that she was the happiest she could ever be. Her friend defeated Voldemort, the wizarding world was becoming safer for everyone, and she was the Head Girl – something he knew she had desperately craved since the second day of school. It wasn't until he really looked at her eyes, full of uncried tears and heartache, lids heavy and a faint outline of bags under them that he remembered – looks can be deceiving.

…

Upon arriving to Hogwarts, the very nervous first years were whisked into the main area while the rest of the students gathered in the Great Hall. One by one, the first years walked in, shy and awkward, unknowing of what they were about to endure. Hermione giggled and turned towards Harry and Ron.

"Remember when that was us, how scared we were?" She asked the pair, as one little boy wobbled by, swaddled in hand-me down robes that were two sizes too big. Ron did his usual shrug but Harry agreed with a smile.

"We were so scared, not knowing where we were going to be placed, or in my case, just learning about the wizarding world in general," he replied. The trio sat for a moment before Harry continued, "It does seem weird that this is our last year together. After this, who knows where we'll end up or where we'll go. If we will even see each other ever again! It's going to be a tough year, too, with NEWTS and all."

"Agreed," stated Hermione sadly, "But at least we don't have to constantly worry about being attacked by Voldemort." His name garnished few looks from others; they were used to his name by now, but an uneasy quietness fell over the group. With the table quiet, she thought about what Harry had just said, hoping he was incorrect. If we will even see each other ever again? She didn't really want to think about it. She vowed to herself that even with everything going on in her mind, she would not stray too far from the group this year. Don't want to be the one who ends up all alone – no friends, family, or someone to love me.

It went unsaid that the past six years were not any normal six years. The average first year does not battle a ogre, a three-headed dog, nor one of the most powerful and dark wizards and live to tell about it. But they had, they had done it all and much more. It saddened Hermione to think of how close the trio had grown, but that they would soon be parting ways. She looked around, noticing Ron's eyes on her, which darted away when hers neared and a rosy glow flushed his face. She smiled inside, He is so beautiful. I wish I could get him to love me the way I love him. At the same time, she knew deep down that she could never be totally open and honest with him, fearing that he will see her as damaged and leave her.

Ron noticed Hermione's glance and blushed. She's so amazing and beautiful and what would I give to just hold her in my arms. Just me and my 'mione. I guess I'll never know that feeling because she doesn't like me that way. To her, we're just friends and we'll always stay just friends.

Harry noticed his two friends glancing at each other and groaned, When are they ever going to realize how much they want each other. Ginny and I know it, why can't they figure it out? Oh well, maybe this year will be different? Their part of the table had grown too quiet, so he asked Hermione how her summer break went. For a split second, an emotion flashed across her eyes, foreign on her face but so familiar to him: fear. Hermione's face quickly became a mask; a plastered grin that Harry knew all too well was not how she was truly feeling. She politely gave them a few basic details about staying with her dad after her mom left, but, while she had a smile on her face, her voice was laced in sadness. Harry knew he should talk to her privately, try to help her in any way he could, but he didn't want to make her feel rushed or cornered. This isn't the time to talk, but I'll be sure to talk to her soon.

The trio looked around at the different tables. All had basically the same amount of people they started with, except Slytherin. They had lost a significant amount of people in the final battle and it could be seen that others had dropped out from embarrassment or injury. Harry wondered what would happen to the current Slytherins, now that the Dark Arts were very taboo and many, even Slytherin alumni, were professing their faith in the good magic. He didn't have to wonder too long though, because Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Ahem," he said, taping his glass with a fork. The entire hall got very quiet, save for a few quiet giggles from the Hufflepuff table. He slowly continued, "Welcome boys and girls to another exciting year at Hogwarts. We will begin sorting shortly, but I wanted to get a few things out of the way first. First, as usual, the forbidden forest is just that, forbidden. This is, as I say every year, for your own good. Secondly, I wanted to congratulate Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger on their acceptance as Head Boy and Girl." He paused for a moment as everyone began to clap. "Third, I wanted to point out that none of the staff have changed this current year; Lupin is still the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Snape loudly groaned as Dumbledore continued, "and Hagrid will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures again this year. Might I point out that this class does come with a certain risk, and students, I only advise taking it if you're willing to face these risks." Hermione, Harry and Ron all laughed while Draco huffed quietly in his corner of the Slytherin table. "Lastly, as many can see, the Slytherin house has been hurt greatly by the final battle. We cannot get rid of this house just because of lack of interest; Slytherin has been here from the beginning and will continue to be here. The only difference is that there is now going to be an added emphasis in teamwork and good magic," a few of the current Slytherins groaned and Dumbledore ignored them, "and hopefully it'll bring Hogwarts closer together. This is my main reasoning in choosing Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy as the Heads of the school; I believe they will help depolarize the school and bring us together. Let the sorting begin!"

Everyone began to cheer while the hat sang its song and sorted all the first years up. Most of the students were evenly split up among the three "good" houses, with only 7 new first years going to Slytherin. Hermione felt bad that the houses weren't equally staffed with students, and she sighed. Oh well, she thought, at least we have thirty new first years to continue our legacy.

Soon, the feast began and everyone was digging into their plates. Hermione glanced down at hers. It was almost empty, although she hadn't begun to eat. The food taunted her, willing her to take a large bite of its delicious gooeyness. Hermione knew she had to get to the library at some point soon to look up nutrition – she hadn't been allowed to leave the house all summer so she had just made up her own diet, which meant basically cutting almost everything out except the essentials. She knew that had worked when there were no worried eyes on her, but she needed to research and plan her meals now, so she wouldn't alert her friends to her plans. Ron glanced up at her between shovels of food in his mouth.

"Aren't you hungry, 'mione?" He asked, before shoveling another spoon of food into his mouth. Hermione's stomach turned, both because it was empty and because the thought of eating all the rich food at the table made her feel quite nauseous.

"Not particularly. I ate a lot on the train," she lied. "I think I'm going to go to the library to do a bit of research before I have to patrol tonight. See you guys later!" With that, she was up before anyone could protest, and they all went back to their delicious meals. Very few people noticed her leave, apart from one blonde Slytherin whose silver eyes bore into the back of her head before he too stood and followed her out of the Great Hall.

"Where do you think you're going, Ms. Granger?" A nosy ferret demanded. He knew he was just curious because he wanted to know everything that went on in the school. But, he struggled to accept that he wanted to know everything about this particular student.

"None of your business!" Spat Hermione, quickening her pace towards the library, trying to shake the annoyingly present Malfoy.

"No one is allowed to leave the feast without permission. Do I have to get Dumbledore? Might I point out that being Head Boy means I can give you detention for this?" He laughed, rubbing his power in her face.

"Don't forget, Malfoy, that we're both Heads and with that either of us could give enormous amounts of detention to the other to no avail. Just please, leave me alone. I need to be alone; I'll meet you out here in an hour to talk to Dumbledore." She began to walk quickly backwards before turning and running away, nearly stumbling over her feet in the process.

Where does that girl think she's going to? She didn't have my permission to leave yet. Oh she looks so beautiful, and yet so sad. Why didn't she want to eat? Something must be wrong, and I'm going to find out what it is, he promised himself, before reentering the Great Hall.

An hour later, Hermione washed her face off in the bathroom and walked back to the Great Hall. She never made it to the library; she collapsed, crying, in the bathroom on the way up there. Sighing, she pushed the doors open and walked up to the front table.

"You wanted to see us, Professor Dumbledore?" She asked, glancing around for Malfoy. He appeared at her side momentarily.

"We need to go over the duties and responsibilities of Head Boy and Girl. First, you need to go to your room, decide a password and set your stuff up. Second, each night, you must patrol the halls, together, from 10 pm till 1 am. Any students caught up and about will be given a mandatory detention with Snape or Filch and will lose 5 points from their house points, no exceptions. Third, you two may go to Hogsmeade whenever needed, as long as no other students find out, and will plan the Hogsmeade trips for the rest of the students. Finally, you two need to agree to get along, for my sake. I can't go running around the place, curing spells and giving detention to you two while also running the school. For my sake, make a truce," Dumbledore demanded, running his hand across his wearied face.

There's no way that ferret will ever agree to a truce, thought Hermione, although she confessed to herself that it wouldn't be that bad to be on speaking terms with Malfoy.

"Truce," said Malfoy quickly, shocking both the Professor and Hermione. He knew they expected him to protest, but he figured this would be a great way to be on speaking terms with Granger, so he could get to the bottom of her secret. Ever since the war ended, he was sick of being seen as the callous Death Eater in training, and wanted to use this opportunity to be seen as just another bright student, preparing to enter the magical world.

"Truce, I guess," stated Hermione, still in a bit of shock. She felt that Malfoy was up to one of his dirty tricks, so she refused to believe that he would really stick to the truce, but at least she had less to worry about.

"Okay, you two may leave now." Dumbledore said with a smile, ushering them towards the doors of the Great Hall.

Ten minutes later, with the help of Dobby, they found their room and agreed on a password. "Broken Enemies," said Hermione as the portrait swung open. Hermione took a deep breath in and stepped into the amazingly beautiful room. Never had she seen anything as marvelous, not even in the most magical places. Draco just ran his hand through his hair. His beautiful hair, Hermione thought, before pinching herself and demanding that she snap out of it.

Both went into their separate rooms and admired the decorations – Hermione's adorned in gold and red, while Malfoy's was a dark green and silver. Hermione had to admit the colors did look very good together. The main room had both houses' banners hung on the walls, along with seven bookshelves, overflowing with books, and two doors. One led to a personal kitchen the two would share, and the other to their joint bathroom, filled with a lavish bath, big enough to swim in, and two stalls. Hermione just smiled while Draco carefully caressed the marble walls.

"Never seen anything this nice?" She teased, breaking his concentration.

"Get real," he lashed back, "my house is twice as nice as this. I just never expected Hogwarts to contain anything this grand. This is pretty nice," he repeated, running his hand along the brick around the window.

"Well, I hate to break up your window admiration, but we need to start patrolling before Dumbledore finds out we aren't doing our duties," stated Hermione, heading towards the portrait.

"Agreed," Draco said, and followed Hermione out of the portrait and down the hall, noting how her hips swayed casually while she walked. She is going to be the death of me.

Walking down the hall, they heard noise coming from the Gryffindor common room. Hermione asked the Fat Lady to open up and she went inside. "Hey you guys, come on. Quite down – we can hear you all the way out in the hall!"

"Hermione, relax and live a little. Classes don't start until tomorrow, we were just enjoying the evening," stated Harry, who's hair was ruffled and shirt missing as he stood panting in front of her.

"Well, can you do it a bit more quietly?" Hermione asked, noting that Ginny was very lucky to have snagged him this year. If he wasn't her best friend, she might have been interested, but there was too much baggage. And besides, they looked happy together – they deserved each other.

"We can try," replied Harry, laughing, before he chased after Ginny who had just stolen his wand. He cried, "Come back here with that," and chased her up the stairs, before they turned into a slide and forced Harry to the bottom, leaving Hermione, Ron and Ginny rolling on the ground in fits of laughter. "Forgot about that," was all that Harry could manage to say before rubbing his hair and joining the other three in laughter. Suddenly Draco made his presence known.

"I thought you guys were told to shut up before I begin to take house points?" Draco demanded, glancing around the room with his threatening glare.

"It's … okay…" gasped Hermione through bouts of laughter. Her face was rouged from the laughing and lack of oxygen but she looked like she had expertly applied a blusher to her cheeks.

"What's so funny?" Malfoy demanded, flustered because he wasn't in on the joke.

"Harry… forgot that… the stairs… don't let … boys up," she managed to get out before cracking up again.

"Nice one, Harry," Draco spat. I told myself that I will get along with Granger this year, but that does not mean I need to become buddies with her group.

"Come on Hermione, we have actual things to do," he said before stomping out.

Hermione shrugged, said good bye to everyone and started to follow Draco out the portrait. Before she got there, Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Hermione?" He asked, looking deep into her eyes before blushing again.

"Yes, Ron?" She asked, noticing his blushing, and blushed herself.

"Just because you're Head Girl now doesn't mean we won't see you anymore, right? You'll still sit with us and hang out with us and help with our homework, right?" He asked, pleading with her, silently, to understand the context behind the words. That he wanted to spend time with her because he liked her, wanted to be with her.

Groaning, Hermione responded, "So this is all about me helping you guys with your homework?" She laughed, "You're going to have to figure it out on your own someday, Ron. I won't always be there for you guys to fall back on."

"I know, I know. It's not just that. I … I… don't want to lose our friendship. And I … I … want to see the same of you that um… I umm… saw last year. I mean, just please make sure you're over here a lot, or I will miss you." Ron blushed again, deeper than the last few times.

"Of course, Ron, of course. I won't forget you two just because I'm Head Girl now," she replied. "Plus, it'll give me something to look forward to when I have to do nightly rounds with him. I'll be around often, because I don't want to be stuck in the Head's chambers with just Malfoy every day."

"Promise?" Asked Ron, taking her hand and felling a bolt of electricity rush down into his stomach.

"I promise," she replied, smiling and feeling the same rush in her own stomach.

"You two lovebirds make me sick," said Draco, ruining the moment and pulling Hermione with him out of the portrait. Ron just stood there and shook his head. Maybe he would tell her tomorrow, he reasoned with himself.

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