Hermione lay in her bed looking at the various things that she had gotten for her 17th birthday. Chocolate from Ron, a wonderful book from Harry, and tea cakes from Hagrid. She knew that Hagrid tried hard and for that reason only, she decided not to throw them away.
She looked up at the ceiling and saw her cat walking around, suspended in the air. Crookshanks had been doing this for a while and still Hermione hadn't understood why. She had spent the entire day working on her packing and she was ready to head out the door. There was only one thing haunting her memory. This was going to be the last summer that she spent with her parents before going into the Ministry.
Hermione reluctantly got out of the warm bed and walked down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before she had to take her things down to the car. Her father was there, hunched behind a paper. She could feel in the air that he had been upset that morning. Who could blame him, this was the last time that year that he would see is only child. Hermione wasn't going to be able to see her parents over the breaks since the aurors tests would take place then as well as the training.
Her father lifted his head over the paper and Hermione looked into his red eyes. He was proud and she knew it but she knew that he hurt inside.
"I'm proud of you, baby girl. Your mother and I always knew that you would do great things. Now go get your things or we will be late." It seemed like he had to change the subject, before he started crying again. Hermione nodded, expecting there to be more feeling of happiness in the situation, instead only sadness loomed in the air. Hermione levitated her bags from her room since she was now of legal age. Her father watched from the distance and grabbed the keys to his car, the entire time wishing that he had his old little girl back, the little girl that would giggle as he pushed her on the swings and cry when it came time for primary school.
The two of them walked in silence on their way to the car. The ride to King's Cross was a bit more cheerful, however, it was fake. Her parents tried to make the last trip as comfortable as they could since it was going to be the most painful on all of them. The time drew for Hermione to get her things and get into the station. Her parents followed behind her until they got to the dividing where they were forced to say goodbye for the last time. She would see them again in a little over two years since the heavy training required her to stay refrain from any contact of them. These days were very dangerous especially with the dark lord back in power. There was a chance that they could be killed.
Hermione emerged from the wall on the other side to see many happy faces surrounding her. She wanted to be apart of the joy but found the emotions inside of her keeping her from smiling. Hermione just walked past and onto the train that was awaiting the other students. She continued to the middle part of the train knowing that neither Harry or Ron would be on the train just yet, not that she would want to talk to them in her present situation anyway.
She sat down onto the bench just wondering if she wanted to go through with the life that she had planned for herself in her 3rd year at Hogwarts. She was thinking back on the years when the hallways filled with students and the once peaceful quiet was overwhelmed with the happy chatter from the students. The walls began to rumble, as the train jolted from it's stop and started to pick up speed. Hermione let out a breath of air as she realized that the boys must have found a different compartment.
The halls outside grew quiet as all of the students had finally settled into their own places. A couple of students had looked into her compartment to see if it was empty but walked off, so now she was alone. She sat there for a while before the door flung open to show a flustered kid.
"Are you Hermione Granger? Good they've been looking for you. You are supposed to report to carriage number 214." The kid left as he tried to catch his breath. Hermione stood up, levitating her luggage behind her, and left the compartment behind to look for number 214.
"231… 227… 218… 214." Hermione said to herself as she found the compartment. She opened the door to find Dumbledore sitting there.
"How odd," she thought as she sat along next to him.
He acknowledged her but said nothing as if he was waiting for someone else to enter. A minute went by until the door opened again to show a boy with light blonde hair in a black shirt leaning against the door.
Hermione's jaw dropped as she tried to get up and leave but Dumbledore stopped her before she reached the door. Draco sat and so did a reluctant Hermione, both awaiting an explanation.
"I am certain that you both are confused as to why you are sitting here before me in the presence of each other. As comes every new generation of 7th years there must be 2 students from different houses that are set far above the rest. That is where you two have been placed. Before the start of this school year all of the Heads of House got together and generated a list of students that they thought eligible to represent our school. It was then my job to select two of them and present them with these badges." He held out two badges for them to see, one of them said Head Girl and the other said Head Boy.
Hermione gasped and Draco just smirked. From a list of more that 30 students they had been picked. Hermione just looked at the boy that sat across from her and shook her head. Since the summer that she had read Hogwarts: A History she had wanted to be Head Girl but not it she was to be paired with the dimwit that sat with her.
The headmaster gave them the badges and left the room before any protests were made. Upon leaving he conjured a sign on the door that told any passerby's that this was the Head Student's compartment. He walked the length of the train and back into the staff compartment. Hermione despised Dumbledore now. How could he have paired her with Draco, the one person in Hogwarts that she truly hated? She glared at him as she reached for a book to read. Hermione was not in the mood to deal with him right now and had she been willing to look for Harry and Ron, she would have left him there alone. Too bad she was not in the mood to go gallivanting off around the halls.
Hermione began to read but was stopped by the snickering of Draco.
"What the hell are you laughing about?" Hermione snapped.
"Ow she bites," he laughed again, "What has your knickers in a bunch? It just funny how he's up to his tricks again, the mudblood lover."
Hermione was already having a bad day and the comment about muggle-borns sent her over the edge. She jumped up off the seat and ran over to him, ready to punch him into next Tuesday.
"Why you little ferret arse, oily faced, son of a bitch. I've had it up to hear with your stupid attitude. I HATE YOU." Hermione took a swing at his face but he caught her fist with a hand but she thought quick enough and hit im hard with the other. Stunned, Draco grabbed her other hand and twisted her around so that she was sitting where he was and now he was over her, pinning her down with his weight.
"Stop swinging at me and calm down. I haven't done anything to you." Hermione laughed at how ironic the statement was.
"What about the years of mental agony, or the physical pain that you have caused Harry and Ron," Hermione paused, "Draco what about what you did to me last year in potions." After the words were said Draco had no clue what she was talking about until he saw the long burn on her forearm.
"So you remember when you sabotaged the potion and poured it on me that day. Madame Pomfrey told me that I almost lost my arm, 3 WEEKS LATER WHEN I CAME OUT OF THE COMA!" Draco remembered, he remembered really well. It was the only time when he felt sorry for what he had done. It turned out that the potion was deadly had it been mishandled and when Harry confronted him a week later telling him that he killed her Draco went into his room and begged for forgiveness to no one in particular. The one thing he feared was turning into his ruthless father, the bloodthirsty killer.
Draco opened his mouth to apologize but reality set in and he realized that Malfoy's don't apologize. He simply let her go and sat as far away from the girl as he could get.
Draco's mind whirled and the only thing written in stone was the fact that they were going to have to get along, the Slytherin boy and Gryffindor girl were going to have to live with each other.
Hermione sighed as she realized that in a way Draco had helped her, the hate that she felt for him had taken away the pain of leaving her parents. The only thing she needed to be worrying about now was school, but how wrong she was.