Disclaimer: I own them all... I carry them around in my pocket…heh heh heh…

Rating: still T

Pairing: still Draco/Hermione

This is a kind of setting the plot chapter, so Draco/Hermione will ensue eventually. You gotta give it time to blossom! Be patient my ever adoring fans…I will appease your need for D/H. Trust me…I have the same need…

Chapter 2

Time decided to take its merry time that train ride, putting the five students through the absolute hell of being together in a confined space. Draco smirked, and decided to piss every off in an easy and seemingly innocent way.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The gazes of the three Gryffindors fell on Draco's black boot.

Tap. Tap.

Ron's anger slowly mounted as his reddening face betrayed him. Harry's fists clenched, while Hermione shut her eyes, flinching everytime the boot made contact with the carpeted floor.

"Hey, Malfoy?" Ron hissed through clenched teeth.

Tap.

"Yessssssssss, Weaselmuffin?" Draco drawled. Ron's eye twitched.

"Mind stopping?"

"Why yes…I believe I mind very much. I also mind you breathing my air. Mind stopping?" Draco smirked.

"Quit it, Malfoy," Hermione muttered.

"Like I'm going to listen to a little mudblood wench?"

Hermione opened one eye carefully, her wand slipping discreetly from her sleeve.

"How about a personal favor?"

Draco snorted loudly, eyeing the wand, but his feet stilled. He knew well enough that Hermione, no matter how much she'd changed, could easily hex him into next week. Shifting more comfortably, Draco began to doze off to the rocking of the compartment. Harry and Ron were the next ones to pass out, leaving only Seth and Hermione to entertain one another.

"So…" Seth began carefully, "you're muggleborn?" Hermione looked up from her incredibly thick book, Famously Vicious Murders Throughout the Ages, and was caught defenseless under Seth's gaze.

Her brows furrowed, "Yeah…" She trailed off, her head feeling muddled. She closed her book and balanced her elbow on Ron's back, while he slept in her lap, and held her head with her hand.

"A shame, really," Seth sighed. "You're quite beautiful, and from what I'm told, very intelligent."

Her eyes narrowed, as a haze seemed to swim over them. She fumbled for words under his heated gaze.

"Oh, really? And who told you that?" she managed to ask.

"I've known all of my life, and you have too," he murmured. She yawned, not paying attention to the conversation.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Tired?" he chuckled. I always get tired on long trips, she thought.

"But I know how tired you get on long trips," he said. Hermione snapped to attention, suddenly alert.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me," he replied.

"Oh, yeah? How would you know that?" she asked, feeling chilled.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Hermione fidgeted as he took her in. She was careful not to look directly into his violet eyes, for fear she'd lose herself. He seemed so damn familiar. Somehow she knew him. She traced his lips with her eyes; the familiar curve of a smirk. Her gaze followed the slope of his broad shoulders, and down his muscular arms, which were folded on his chest. She gasped and sat up, hugging herself. The feeling of a phantom embrace slowly faded, and her hand went to her earlobe. It was a nervous habit of hers that seemed happen as long as she could remember.

"Have we met before, or something?" Hemione asked. Seth's nonchalant façade flickered to surprise and back in a blink of an eye. Hermione wondered if she had even seen anything.

"What?" she asked, uncomfortable under his scrutinizing eyes.

"Interesting you should say that," he said softly. He smiled, but his eyes held an expression of their own. They were coldly predatory, as if he was finally cornering Hermione. He stood, taking a step in her direction. Hermione shrank back against the cushion of her seat, her eyes never leaving his. She pulled on Ron's shirt, trying to wake him up.

He leaned in and pushed her hair behind her ear. Hermione froze as Seth's fingers brushed her earlobe. An odd feeling shot through her causing her to shake. His eyes never leaving hers, his fingers traced their way softly down her jaw, and back up. They hesitated behind her ear, knowing curiosity marking Seth's face.

"How did you get this?" he asked, with a tone that seemed to say he knew something she didn't. Hermione fought through her shock, and slapped his hand away.

"What are you-," she began angrily. Then she felt it. Her fingers hovered above a crescent shaped scar, just behind her ear.

"What…how? This wasn't here before…" she started, astonished.

"You sure about that, Hermione?" The use of her first name startled her.

"It's MY body, so I would know what happened…to…it…" her voice trailed off to a whisper. Seth nose was nearly touching hers, and she was hypnotized by the depth the violet hue that bore into her.

"So…do you know what's happening to it now?" he murmured, a smile playing on his lips. Hermione found herself leaning towards him, arms limp at her sides. She blinked, drew in a shuddering breath, and tore herself away from the trance he had set on her. Her back collided with the seat.

Ron groaned, turning over and falling to the floor at the feet of Seth. He sat up blinking bleary-eyed at the tall youth standing over him.

"What are YOU doing?" Ron demanded, trying to sound menacing, but failing miserably.

"Gonna go take a leak," he stated bluntly, sauntering out.

"Thanks for sharing," Ron muttered. He turned around to find a bewildered Hermione nearly in tears.

"What did he do to you?" yelled Ron. Harry and Draco both started waking to the see a red-faced Weasly. They all stared at Hermione, curious.

She bit her lip and grabbed her earlobe, sighing in a frustrated manner.

"I don't remember," she answered truthfully.