Chapter 3

The feast was as boring as it always was, except that this year there were more new students than the last. Hermione sat whispering with Ginny whilst Harry and Ron tried not to laugh at what Fred and George were doing. When finally the sorting ended and the feast began, Hermione had lost all hope of trying to calm Harry and Ron down, they began to eat.

The feast was, as usual, delicious and by the end everyone was tired and wanted more than anything to just collapse in there seats and go to sleep. As the final announcements were made, Hermione and Draco were told to follow their heads of house to their new common room. When the first years were taken to their houses by the prefects, Ginny and Blaise would then join them.

"Miss Granger, this is to be your dorming room. All you have to do is think of a password for it and you, and only you, will have access! Is there anything you need?" Professor McGonagle asked politely as Hermione looked around hers and Draco's cosy common room. Hermione shook her head thoughtfully. And they bade their goodbyes.

Hermione whispered close to the lion portraits ear,

"Shimmer blue." The two words that reminded her of Draco. His eyes that is. They were a deep blue colour and every time she looked at them they seemed to shimmer.

The lion slightly nodded its head and the portrait swung open to reveal a magnificent room of the colours green and blue. Pictures of her family and friends hung on the walls and posters of her favourite muggle bands. Her four-poster bed was more comfortable than anything she had ever felt and it wasn't long before she drifted of into an easy sleep.

Meanwhile…

Draco stared around his room. Not much different to the one he had at home, same comfortable bed, same pictures, the only difference really was that he preferred it here. Away from his sobbing mother, away from the memories of his hateful father. Away from being a Malfoy.

He got changed into some baggy track pants and took off his school shirt revealing his well-toned stomach. Then he went to find a bathroom were he could brush his teeth and freshen up. He passed many rooms all of which he guessed to be prefects dorms, until he came to one with the picture of a lion. It had been left open so Draco silently peered inside. His stomach did a somersault when he saw Hermione stripping her clothes off carelessly and throwing them to the floor before climbing into bed, fully naked. She went to sleep faster than he could have thought, and only when he closed the portrait did he breath again.

He went back to his dorm, and went into a dreamless sleep…