Chapter 3

Hermoine leaned against her door with her hands covering her eyes. She could still taste Draco on her lips. A shuddering breath struggled out of her.

Oh my God! What did I just do? He is going to think that I am a total tramp!

A strangled sob worked its way out of Hermoine. Slowly she straitened her body and walked to her bed. After laying down, she fell into a fitful sleep.

Draco, who was still leaning against the common room wall, ran a hand over his face. It was hard for him to accept that he had feelings for Hermoine Granger. Yes, he had been rude to her over the last six years but that had been something he had done to protect himself from his fathers cruel actions. If he had been nice or even polite to someone outside of Slytherin, he would have been beaten at the very least. In all of those years he had been teasing Granger and making her feel bad. He had actually only felt mild indifference towards the girl who was credited with being the smartest girl in the school. Harry, he didn't care for but that was because a lot of Potters actions had caused him to receive punishments that he didn't deserve. Ron and he would never get along. It just wasn't in them to understand each other and become buddies. Never had he expected the girl he shared a common room with to grow up and cause him to notice the changes in her.

"Oh man.." He said as he heard a soft sob come out of her room.

With strange feelings weighing on him, Draco moved himself into his own room for the night.

The next morning, Hermoine awoke with a sore neck and back. The tossing and turning of the night had really made her muscles form knots. After stepping into the bathroom for a quick shower, she went and sat at her vanity to take care of her hair. Hermoine pulled out a can of mousse and put a dollop into her hand to work through her hair. After pulling out a bit of gel and applying it to the underside of her short style, Hermoine used her wand to create a blow-dried effect. Running a comb through it, she shook her head to give it a bit more natural look. It had taken her all summer to learn what to do to avoid an afro. It just didn't look appealing on her that way.

The shower in the bathroom sounded and caused Hermoine to look towards the door.

Draco must be up. She thought with a sigh.

Hermoine made her way to the hall to have breakfast before she could see Draco that morning. After a while, Io and Perry came in and sat beside Hermoine.

"Hey there Hermoine!" Perry said with a bright smile covering her elfish features. "What's for breakfast?"

Io smiled a small smile and put some food on her plate to begin eating.

"You can eat whatever you can reach, here." Hermoine said with a returned smile.

"I wish." Perry said eyeing the boy who had just entered the room.

Hermoine looked up to see Harry coming towards them then glanced at the girl beside her. Harry sat down and gave all of the girls a fond good morning. He dug into the food that he put on his plate. Hermoine looked over to see that Perry had a wishful expression on her face. After a while, Ron came in and sat beside Harry.

"Morning." He said in between his bites of ham and eggs.

Io sat quietly during the greetings and continued to eat in silence. After about thirty minutes, Draco walked in and sat near the end of the table, away from everyone else. Ron looked up and over at him with fire in his eyes.

"I can't believe that the ferret has the balls to sit at the same table with all of the decent people. He should have been put into Azkaban with his father!" Ron said in a loud voice.

Io Looked up at Ron and threw her fork down into her plate. "I doubt that you even know Draco well enough to make that call. No wonder you don't pass your classes! You have no common sense." With that Io picked up her plate and went down to sit with her older brother.

"What was her problem?" Ron said in a surprised voice.

"Ron, I know that my brother and you will probably never get along but that was totally uncalled for. Unlike my sister, I am not as polite." With that said, Perry picked up her glass of milk and threw its contents across the table at Ron's head.

"Ron! Why did you have to be such an ass?" Hermoine yelled at the red headed boy.

"What?" Ron yelled back while wiping the milk off of his body. "We all know that he is just a filthy spy for the Death Eaters! Him not having the mark just means that he hasn't gotten around to it. He needs to learn that his place is as far away from good society as he can get. If I had my way, he would be banned from this society and made to live with muggles!" Ron had stood while yelling this.

Hermoine slowly stood and said in a quiet whisper. "Do you know that you just sounded like Malfoy did during the last six years? The only thing that you left out was calling me a mudblood. Congradulations, Ron. You just became what you have hated fro so long."

With that Hermoine turned and left the morning feast. Ron stood there with a shamed expression for a while. He, too, turned and walked away.

Harry just sat there for a while before getting to his feet. With slow steps he walked to the end of the table where Draco, Perry, and Io sat in silence.

"Malfoy... Meet me after classes on the Quidditch Pitch. The two of us need to get some things out of our systems and try to clear the air. If not for our sake... then for your sisters. I don't want the others to treat them like we have treated each other." Harry said in measured tones.

Draco stood and nodded his agreement. "Sure."

With that Harry walked away.