New York, New York.

It was late April when Hermione, Draco and Snape left for New York. With plans to be back in June when exams began. Snape and Draco waited patiently at the foot of the stairs leading into the castle while Hermione said her goodbyes.

"It's only for two months." Hermione had just pulled out of a hug with Ginny who was crying her eyes out in the doorway of the castle. "I'll owl you everyday." Hermione tugged Ginny's hands away from her face. Her friend was steeped in worry. Her bold summer dress made her look paler than she was.

"No you won't Miss Granger. You'll be having too much fun." Ron grabbed his friend in a bear hug. Over the years Ron had grown from little first year to stocky sixth. A world on the brink of war would do that to a person.

"Ron. The hair." She smiled fixing her poker-straight hair, the warm April sun hi-lighting her face. "Harry. Take care of these two for me yea?" She hugged her third friend who had remained eerily silent over the past few weeks leading up to her holiday. He wasn't too pleased at her company on the trip and had even stopped talking to her for accepting when he first found out.

"What am I going to do without you H?" He whispered shakily in her ear. "I love you. Take care," He said out loud. "Professor?" Harry shouted, all the warmth he could manage in his voice. Snape turned and coldly acknowledged Harry. "Take care of our girl. We can't get in trouble without her." He winked at Hermione.

"She is quite capable of taking care of herself Potter. It's you I worry about." Snape snarled returning to his conversation with Draco.

"Aw, I didn't realise he cared." Harry muttered to Hermione. Who laughed a little too loudly.

"I don't. I just wouldn't want your death on Miss Granger's conscience." Snape had apparently heard Harry. "Miss Granger. Do hurry up. We don't have all day." Snape retorted, a little irritated. Hermione made her way down the stoned stairs. She was wearing a cherry-red pleated skirt with a white blouse. Her hair was straight, kept in place by a thin headband in matching cherry-red.

"Couldn't you have had that display of affection in your room." Draco spat harshly, knowing the trio left on the stairs could hear.

"Just jealous no-one had come to see you off Malfoy?" Hermione replied as they made their way down to the path to the main gate were they would apparate to a international port key.

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Truth be told Ginny was there to see Draco off as much as she was there for Hermione. It had been heartbreaking watching them leave. Ginny thought as she sieved through the pensive. Checking the time and her location watch told her she had plenty of time, her mum was still at the Burrow. Snape and his wife were probably having their first dance about now. Thank god she only had to make an appearance. She had finally reached the bit she wanted. They had arrived at the hotel. A muggle hotel by Central Park. Twenty-Five floors of lush Manhattan apartments. The top two floors dedicated to Wizards on business trips....

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Snape pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't take it anymore, he really couldn't. His blood was boiling and he was about to make a scene in the middle of the busy foyer.

"One more time. Just one, and I will hex you both to oblivion. You are in your sixth year. You're adults, behave like it." Both Hermione and Draco fell silent, forgetting what they were arguing about. "Her- Miss Granger, room 1145. Top floor. Draco-"

"Why do you called him by his first name?" Hermione questioned, hand on hip. Regretting agreeing to the trip. He saw her as nothing but a child, while he saw Draco as an equal.

"-Mr Malfoy." He corrected sourly, feeling a headache coming on. "1156, top floor. I have to talk to that lady over there. You will meet me here in twenty minutes, and I will show you the sites. Get unpacked." He handed them each their key. Their clothes had been sent up, it was simply a case of unpacking.

Both Hermione and Draco made for the lift which had just opened a few feet from the main desk. Along with them came three slightly younger looking girls, who were also on the top floor. All dressed in shocking pink.

"Look Draco. Were spending two months together. Can't we at least be civil?" Hermione asked as the lift started its assent. The girls twittering in front of them. Draco scoffed at the thought. "Please Draco. For Snape's sake, do you really want him blowing up like that ever- What's happened?" There was a sudden jolt and a loud thud. Draco pressed the button for the top floor again. Then looked at the light displaying the floor they were on; third.

"We're stuck." He shrugged returning to Hermione's side. The girls began screaming. One of the girls, the tallest of the three, reached inside her muggle outfit for her wand and was about to perform a spell on the buttons. Hermione reacted quickly pinning the girls arm to the lift wall, snapping her wand in two.

"And what you do that for?" The girl sneered, her pale green eyes flashing with anger.

"We are in a closed area? A three foot square. You get that spell wrong, you'll kill us all-" Hermione explained to the blonde girl.

"You owe me a wand!" She said through gritted teeth invading Hermione's personal space. She hated it when people did that.

"I'll fix it once we're off the this lift." Hermione reasoned as her two friends came up for their say. One with long brown hair the other with short black hair.

"Don't we know you?" The second girl asked. She instantly remembered, her eyes glowing with recognition. "Your the famous Hermione Granger." A soft American accent came out. Draco rolled his eyes at this. Even Granger was internationally famous.

"You're nothing but a filthy mudblood." The third English voice answered. Closing in on Hermione. Draco was between them in an instant.

"She may be a mudblood.... But she's my mudblood! You want her, you go through me!" Draco puffed out his chest. The three girls giggled.

"And who are you, Ronald Weasley?!" The first girl sang out.

"No. I'm Draco Malfoy." He said with pride. The girls giggled further still.

"Never heard of you mate." The English girl said, which shocked both Hermione and Draco. "Anyway, I say we still do what Alisha planed."

"I don't want to die!" Hermione said forcefully pressing the buzzer above the panel of buttons. "Hello?!" Hermione said as the static became clear. "We are stuck in car 2."

"Ok, we'll send someone to sort it out now." The voice said through the small amount of static that remained. "We don't know how long so you'll just have to sit tight."

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Ginny felt guilty as she began fast forwarding through Hermione and Draco's time in the lift, but after five minutes of hearing what the three A's (Alisha, Ashley and Alice) had packed in their suitcases and what they intended to buy, she was starting to feel nauseous and claustrophobic herself. Ginny began to wonder. Was she to obliterate Hermione's entire memory of New York or just those that contain Snape and her alone. Her memory would recreate events to fill up the holes once her memory was restored. Well she would just have to see what happened through the rest of the holiday.....

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An hour and a half later, Hermione and Draco appeared from the lift on the ground floor. Still wearing the same clothes, the three girls went off in search of the stairs. Snape was unaware of the situation as once he had spoken to the women she had showed him the apartment they were sleeping in.

"I said twenty minutes!" Snape growled. Hermione was too stunned at his appearance as a muggle to hear what he was saying. He was dress in blue faded jeans and a plain black t-shirt.

"Professor." The meek clerk came over as he heard the racket Snape was making. "These people have been trapped in the lift for the last two hours." Snape's anger faded.

"Are you alright?" He asked with genuine concern once he realised they were both wearing petrified expressions. "Draco?" He asked once no response was gained from either party.

"We are fine uncle." Draco replied in a moment of weakness. Hermione's head shot up at this remark. "Sorry professor." Draco blushed slightly.

"It's ok." Snape said, irritation evident in his voice. "I'm sure we can trust Hermione to keep our secret... I am his Godfather." Snape explained.

"That's very interesting, but I want nothing more than to have a shower and a change of clothes... I didn't mean to be rude." She added realising what she had said was a little harsh. Snape just laughed.

"It's ok. I think we'll call it a night. You look wrecked." His hand instantly reached for her face. He hesitated once he realised what he was doing. "Well, I suppose you'll be taking the stair then." He blushed, hoping Draco didn't see.

Ten minutes later, Hermione had reached the top floor panting. Followed by an equally out of breath Draco. He collapsed on her shoulder. Snape had left them to climb the stairs while he took the lift.

"You know what?" Draco said between gasps. "I'm going risk the lift tomorrow." He smiled at her. Ginny's green eyes flared.

"Me too." Hermione laughed. "Well, I'm going to check out my apartment and have a good long soak in the tub. I'll speak to you later yea?" Hermione question reaching for her key. Her room was just opposite the stairwell.

"Yes... Just pop round when your ready." He said going down the corridor and to the right. Ginny felt like she had missed something, why was Draco being nice? Something must have been said in the lift. Hermione put the key into the lock, her home for the next two months. Was filled with triple A's. Hermione groaned. Of all the girl she had to be sharing with, it had to be the ones she'd picked the fight with. It was nice of Snape to have warned her she was sharing at any rate. She had excepted an apartment to herself, or if she was to share, to be with Snape and Draco. As far as she could gather there weren't that many people staying for the convention. Snape had said it was a convention for student at a New York school and there were spare places that were auctioned across the globe. "The Rise and Fall of Dark Lords" was what the two month convention was entitled. Each continent had one, as did each generation. The convention was to cover each one.

"Oh well, if it isn't the little mudblood." Alice cooed. Fresh out the shower.

"I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. It's just I've had enough near-death experiences to last me a life-"

"Enough." Ashley spat. "We don't want excuses from a mudblood like you. Now we're having the bedroom, so you have to sleep on the couch." Ashley went into the bathroom and slammed the door as the other to A's went into the bedroom.

Hermione took one look at the couch. She was having to spend two months on that? It didn't even fold out. It reminded her of the sorting hat. How she missed Hogwarts already. Hermione waited patiently for her turn in the bathroom.

Hermione knocked at Draco's door half an hour later, happily clean and dressed into her pink pyjamas. Her face flush with anger. The girls had taken hours in the bathroom, getting ready to go out with their schools, from the loud conversation it appeared that Ashley and Alisha went to the same school in Chicago and Alice was from LA, but had travelled from Kent in England five years previous. The moment the water had hit Hermione's skin they had banged on the door wanting use of the hotel hairdryer that was mounted beside the mirror.

"Can I stay here for half an hour till the girls in my apartment leave?" Hermione questioned as Draco opened the door. "It's the girls from the lift." She explained.

"Of course." He opened the door wide to allow her room to come in. Inside there was a main living space and three doors that led to two different bedrooms and a bathroom. "Guys this is Hermione. Hermione this is Richard, he's from Texas. And Julian and Kyle are from Spain." Draco introduced her to the three boys he was to live with for the next two months. "Me and Herm need to talk so we're gonnna go-" Draco pointed to the left door. The boys just winked and nudged each other. This was something else Hermione hadn't told Ginny.

Once the door close Draco sat on the bed a motioned for Hermione to do the same.

"Why are you being like this?" Hermione asked. "What nasty little plan have you got up your sleeve?" She wasn't sitting down if he had a plan.

"None what so ever." He sighed. "You know who my father is. I have a reputation to uphold-"

"One that doesn't seem to add up to much." Hermione referring to the lift.

"I care don't care about that kind of reputation. And that's why I have to act like I do. I'm not friends with Crabbe and Goyle, they've been told to keep an eye on me." Hermione saw that he was being honest.

"But Harry?" Hermione sat in front of him on the bed. "You don't need to be so harsh."

"I still hate him. He has my wanted life. Fame, friends. I resent that." One single tear fell down his face. Hermione realised how much her remark must have hurt this morning.

"Well. There was one person seeing you off this morning who does want to be your friend." Ginny's stomach dropped. This is why Draco started paying her attention. This is why he was waiting at the party for her. "Ginny Weasley is in love with you." Draco scoffed.

"She fancies Potter. Surly I'm a come down. Or does she think he's out of her league." Draco spat sharply, the attack being on Harry.

"Or maybe she's realised you have something Harry hasn't got... Or maybe she's seen the real you, and like what she sees." Hermione paused. "If you don't like her. don't let her know that you know. She had five years of Harry knowing she liked him and him not doing anything about it."

"Don't fear Hermione. I like your friend dearly, I just didn't realise she could like me. After what my father has said and done to her family-"

"-Romeo and Juliet. Perhaps you could bring this feud to an end"? Hermione questioned.

"I wouldn't want to. I'd marry her and take her name, I'd renounce my family." He added instantly. He'd been putting thought into this. Ginny flushed at his response. "But she isn't to know how I feel until we leave school. I just hope she still feels the same by then." Draco flopped down on his bed. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" Hermione questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Who do you like?" Draco questioned, sitting up to watch the girl blush. "ME?!" He smiled broadly.

"God no!" Hermione laughed heartily. "Just. Someone."

"Harry." She shook her head. "Ron?" Negative. "Neville? It's Neville isn't it." He pinched her sides, which resulted her to double up in laughter.

"No it isn't Neville and I'm not telling you. Ginny and I have made a packed not to tell anyone else. If either of us do their face will go bright blue." Hermione explained lying through her teeth. There was no way she was telling Draco she was in love with his Godfather.

"Ok. I'll just have to keep my eyes out for who you stare at." He smiled reaching over Hermione to get the remote for the TV. His eyes caught hers. A slight attraction between them.

"Ginny!" Hermione reminded, like a gallant friend.

"Your in love with Ginny?" He questioned turning on the TV. She realised what that stunt was for, he was trying to catch her off guard. It wasn't working.

"No you fool." Hermione lightly hit him. "I'll be able to go in a bit. I'd like to get the apartment to myself so I can get my stuff sorted. Why are we sharing with people?"

"Ok." Draco said not even listening to what she was saying. Completely absorbed into an ice hockey game.

Hermione didn't go back to her apartment that night. Once she had explained the rules of Ice Hockey she had fallen asleep with Draco. Her head an arms resting upon his chest.

If only Hermione had told Ginny. She could then have believed that nothing did actually happen.

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A/N I'm not too fused on this chapter, but at least it gets my characters into New York and sets up some new characters who will be vital in a few chapters. Sorry about Draco's rushed change in attitude. I think once I've finished the whole story I will go back and redo this chapter and chapter one.

Shout outs-

Cianna Greenwood: Nope, I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen. Mainly because I've only thought of getting out of New York and the reason why they leave early (There's a little spoiler for you. lol) Also I kept the character reference in the first chapter low as there is going to be a death in later chapters.

That's all I'm giving you for today, guess your just going to keep on reading. Glad you are enjoying it though.

Daintress: it is working for me well. I'm just trying not to fall into the trap of having Ginny POV/ Hermione in the Pensive/ Ginny POV in each chapter. It's also tricky when I'm having Ginny in the memory and watching the action, and I hope it's clear which one is which. I'm going to look at your stories when I'm next online as I'm offline right now.