Disclaimer: In one word: nope.

Warnings: The usual: AU, light language, bad writing, weirdness, possibility of me not keeping to characters…

ACT 1: Chapter 2

Hermione woke up feeling scrumptiously warm and refreshed. She stretched and smiled contentedly. Getting up, she put on a robe and felt that a cup of coffee was just what she needed. Looking at the clock she saw that classes didn't start for about two hours. She loved waking up early.

She walked out of her room and headed towards the kitchen. After fixing the coffee and some breakfast, she grabbed a book from the newly created bookcase and sat down on the couch to relax before getting ready.

Halfway into breakfast she heard voices coming from Malfoy's room. She heard Malfoy's drawling voice, and another voice that she didn't recognize.

"Who is he talking to?"

She put the book down and got up from the couch. She began walking towards Draco's door but before she could reach it, the door swung open and she changed course quickly.

He had come out in nothing but boxers and his hair was messed from sleep.

"Morning Granger," he yawned as he stretched and scratched his head.

She looked at him and chuckled. He looked adorable.

"Morning," she chuckled a reply.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," she shook her head with a slight smile. He was doing it again! He was being…nice.

He shrugged his shoulders and headed towards the kitchen.

There was a small and cranky meow coming from behind Hermione. She turned around and saw Crookshanks yawning. She walked over to him and picked him up, much to his displeasure.

"What is going on with him?" she asked the grumpy animal and then she rolled her eyes, "listen to me! I am asking a cat to figure out what makes Malfoy tick!"

She walked to her room to get ready for the day.

As the weeks went on, Hermione noticed subtle things that had changed in Draco. He seemed to be more…relaxed was the only way that Hermione could describe it. It was as though he had done a fair bit of growing up.

She also noticed that he seemed a bit happy in the mornings. He would hum to himself while waiting for something in the kitchen or even while reading a book. She also noticed that before he showered, a lightly spiced scent hung around him that was more feminine than masculine.

One day while contemplating his strange behavior, a thought had come to her.

"If I didn't know any better, he seems to be…no," she mentally shook her head.

The more obvious changes were he didn't sneer at other people as much and he left her alone. He had even cut down on jeering Harry. Ron was a different story. It seemed that there was too much bad blood between their families for him to change towards Ron.

The bad thing was that Ron had noticed that he was getting the brunt of Malfoy's cutting, forked tongue and was complaining to Hermione and Harry; a lot. After a particularly nasty spat during Potions, Ron was being whiny.

"Why is he always having a go at me? He doesn't take the micky out on any of you."

"Maybe he fancies you," Harry said with a cheeky smile plastered on his face. Hermione laughed.

The tips of Ron's ears burned with anger and embarrassment.

"You'll just have to let him down gently," she joked.

"Shut up both of you," Ron said sourly.

"Ron, we don't know what is going on, but just ignore it," Hermione spoke with a bit of a laugh as she laced her fingers through his.

His sour expression brightened a bit and he pulled her into a side embrace with his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Yeah, it's just bloody annoying."

Hermione smiled to herself. She and Ron had gotten close over the past few weeks. She thought that things might have been strange between the three of them but, oddly enough, it seemed to strengthen the bond that they shared. Harry was very supportive of them and seemed to be delighted that they had finally gotten together.

Later that night, Hermione had finished her homework early and decided that reading was a lovely idea. She walked up to the bookcase and was about ready to pick one out when the door to the common room flung open.

She walked quickly to where the noise was and saw a furious Malfoy storming into in his room. There was a mighty bang that rang throughout the room when he slammed the door.

Hermione was so curious that for the second time, she walked quietly to his door. This time uninterrupted, she placed her ear to the door and listened.

She heard voices and she was sure that they were the same she had heard the first morning back. She listened harder to try to understand what was being said, but all she could hear was Draco's agitated voice and another that was trying to calm him down.

That was it. He had another student in there and it was obvious to her that he had not gotten permission for anyone to be up here because she hadn't seen anyone come in.

About ready to knock on the door, she heard the voices stop and she held her breath. The door opened quickly and out came Malfoy's cat with her tail in the air. She watched the cat climb up to a window ledge that led to the balcony and disappear into the night.

Hermione was too busy watching the cat leaving in an obvious huff that she didn't notice Draco standing in the doorway staring at her with intense eyes full of hate and disgust.

"What the hell are you doing?" he snapped.

She turned her neck quickly and jumped a little when she saw him so close to her. What made her really frightened was the look in his eyes. He was about ready to kill her.

"I-I-I'm sorry I just…" she stuttered.

He pushed her to the ground and bent down, grabbing the hair on the back of her head. She yelped in pain and instinctively reached for his hand to remove it. This only made him grip harder.

He pulled her head up so that she was forced to look him in the face.

"If I ever catch you listening in again, you will regret it," he said coldly.

He didn't yell, but she could feel all of the hatred and animosity he held for her radiating from him. She had never seen him so fierce and angry, and she hoped to never see it again.

He gave her hair one last yank before he let go harshly and got up. He stormed out of the room.

Hermione sat up in her elbows and rubbed her head, his grip hurt and her back was sore from landing on hard ground.

"Bastard," she said as she gingerly got up.

After that incident, Hermione decided to stay out of Malfoy's way. She wasn't afraid of him; she just didn't want to deal with him. He had been in a bad mood since their last encounter. But her curiosity was still working on overtime. During her spare time, she had taken to trying to figure out what was going on.

So far she knew that he had been smuggling in a student, and by the sound of it a girl. But she didn't know much more than that. It was all baffling. When an idea came to her, it would just slip her mind because something would always come up that needed her attention. It was frustrating. If Hermione hadn't been more preoccupied with school, she may have figured it out.

A few more weeks passed and schoolwork was being piled on. While the students were busy going about their lives, Hermione was thinking about life after Hogwarts; not just about what she was going to do, but also what was Harry going to do. There had been reports of Death Eater attacks all over the country and the Ministry was bumbling up investigations. There were rumors that the Minister was a former Death Eater and that he was still in league with Voldemort. To say that she was worried was an understatement.

After a horrible night's sleep, Hermione looked at her alarm clock and saw that it was four in the morning. She decided to go visit the Gryffindor Common Room. She felt as though a good walk would clear her mind.

She walked down stair after stair before she had finally arrived to the portrait of the fat lady. She said the password and the door swung open.

When she walked in, she found Harry sitting in his favorite large chair beside the fire wrapped up in a warm blanket. He turned to look at her and smiled.

"Hello, we haven't seen you around here for awhile. Ron's still asleep." he said as he scooted over.

She walked over to the chair and sat down beside him. He peeled some of his blanket off of him and covered her with it, so they were snuggled warmly underneath it.

"I am sorry, I just have been so busy with Head duties and school," she replied.

"Ah don't be, we know you're busy. How is being a Head going?"

"It's a lot of fun actually. I only wish that you could see the room. It is too beautiful for words. I haven't seen Malfoy around so I've been having to do rounds by myself, but I don't mind."

He knitted his brows in thinly veiled anger.

"Have you told a teacher that he's been slacking off?"

"No. He's changed somehow and besides, I honestly don't mind it. He's been really odd lately, always humming to himself and acting civil towards people. It's rather nice to not have as many fights with him, but he's acting like he's in love or something."

She decided to not to mention the other night when Malfoy pushed her. It would only make Harry angrier and that wouldn't do anything good.

Harry nodded and was about to reply when there was a tap at the window. He looked to see a large owl with a thick roll of parchment that said The Daily Prophet in its beak. He went up to the window and relieved the owl of its burden then sat back down to read.

Hermione stared into the glowing fire as he read silently. Her mind was wandering around with different thoughts, mostly of where Malfoy had been the past few nights. Harry's voice broke the silence.

"Listen to this," Harry said holding the paper, "an attack on muggles in Sussex yesterday has been blamed on You-Know-Who's followers. The Ministry has chosen to keep silent and not to comment on the number and the severity of these attacks, fueling rumors that something is not right within the Ministry. Citizens of the wizarding world are stating that they do not feel safe and even more rumors of the Minister's loyalty have been spreading."

He put the paper down and looked Hermione.

Something horrible was churning in her stomach. Something awful was going to happen and she felt so useless.

"Harry, I have a bad feeling. I know you are supposed to fight but, I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen," she said quietly.

Harry put his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Hermione, listen. No matter what happens, I believe that we are going to win this. I don't know when the war is coming, but I feel it isn't far off. Just know that I will always be here for you, and so will Ron. We're your friendsHermione, we'd never leave you."

A tear fell from her eye. He had grown up so much over the past year. His words brought a small amount of comfort to her, but there was still this nagging feeling in her mind and heart that this was the end of their childhood, and it was time to be an adult. They had seen so much since their first year and now it seemed to be coming to an end. It was a painful thought, but it was very real. There was this sense of staring at the edge of something unknown, and if she was frightened of anything, it was the unknown.

She felt him hug her a little tighter.

"I'm just worried, that's all," she said before she pulled out of their embrace.

"How are you and Ron getting on?"

"We're fine I guess. I miss him though and I miss being here with the both of you, with the Gryffindors."

Harry nodded.

"The whole dorm just isn't the same without the most brilliant witch to occupy it," he teased. She slapped his arm playfully.

They stared into the fire until the first rays of light on the horizon appeared signaling the beginning of the day.

Harry felt her head gently fall on his shoulder. He looked at her and saw that she had dozed off. There were fairly loud footsteps coming from the boys' dormitory.

"Harry?" Ron yawned.

Harry looked at Ron and put a finger to his mouth as a sign of silence.

Ron raised an eyebrow as he walked over to the chair where he saw the sleeping form of his girlfriend.

"What's she doing here?" Ron whispered.

"She couldn't sleep and she just came to talk. I would have woken you, but you needed the sleep."

Ron walked up to Hermione and picked her up with great ease.

Slightly aware that strong arms were holding her close to a warm chest, Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and buried her face in his shoulder before nodding off to sleep.

"Ron, you haven't seen Malfoy lately have you?"

"No, why?"

"Hermione said that she hasn't seen him in a while and he's missed rounds."

Ron shook his head and an indignant look was evident.

"Rat bastard, leaving her to do all the work," he sighed, "I'll take her back to The Heads' dorm.

Harry nodded as he conjured up a soft carpet and put a weightless and moving charm on it.

Ron placed her on the rug and it followed him up the long walk to the Heads' dorm.

He eventually got to the portrait of Scarlet and realized that he didn't have the password.

He looked at the blank canvas.

"Hello?" he asked the portrait.

As soon as the word left his mouth, he saw two rows of teeth stretched into a wide yawn.

"Bloody hell!" he said loudly.

Scarlet growled at being awoken by such a loud person.

"Password!" the mouth snarled lowly as the body of a cat formed.

"I don't know the password."

He saw the cat's eyes burn with annoyance. But when she got a good look at him, a slow smile graced the feminine feline façade.

"I am very sorry," she said slowly and seductively, "but without the password, you can't get in pet."

"Now look here, this is the Head Girl!" He motioned to Hermione while trying to keep his voice down, "You don't have to tell me the password just open the door. I am only dropping her off."

The grin never faltered.

"You aren't getting in unless I hear the password," she said in a singsong voice that would have charmed him if he weren't freezing and Hermione wasn't unconscious with sleep.

At that moment, the door swung open and out came a disheveled looking Malfoy. When he saw Ron and Hermione outside he stopped and stared.

"Ah a welcoming committee. I am flattered, but aren't you supposed to be having your little slumber party in your own dorm room?" he sneered gracefully.

Ron balled up his fist but made no comeback. He didn't want Hermione waking up to a fistfight.

"Malfoy, I only came to drop Hermione off," Ron grounded through his teeth, "and the bloody cat won't let me. It's too early to bicker, just let me in and I'll be out of your stupidly blond hair."

The portrait hissed and spat at Ron for calling her names.

Draco smirked at the cat. He was really starting to like her.

"What if I don't?" he said with his stylistically annoying confidence.

Ron got an evil smile.

"I'll tell a teacher that you have been missing for the past few nights and left Hermione to do all of the rounds alone."

Draco's confident face melted into a pool on the cold stone floor.

"How the hell did he know that? Oh yes, Granger."

Draco looked at the sleeping figure on the rug and remembered what he had done to her a few weeks ago; but he put the thought out of his mind.

He rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Fine come in. Hurry, I don't want to be in trouble because of your sorry ass."

"About time," Ron said, and then he added to himself, "stupid moron."

"What was that?" Draco asked sternly.

"Nothing Malfoy just move out of the way," he replied as the carpet followed him into the common room.

He looked around. It was a very beautiful place indeed. He had been in this wing before but he had never set foot in the dorms.

"Which room's Hermione's?" he asked.

"The one at the top of the stairs."

"There's two Malfoy! Which one?" Ron said aggravated.

"Well spotted," Malfoy said sarcastically, "it's the one that isn't mine."

He knew he was being stupid, but he really, really didn't like the redhead.

"Whatever!" Ron said. He was really getting pissed off.

He chose a staircase and ascended it. He opened the door and to his relief, it was feminine. He felt something brush against his leg and saw a large, exotic cat with white fur and black stripes scuttling towards her bed. It jumped up on the bed and curled into a ball.

"Bugger off," he shooed at the wild animal. But it didn't budge.

"Malfoy, is this your mangy beast?"

He heard the stomping footsteps of Draco climbing the stairs.

When he saw that Ron was pointing at his cat, he immediately flew into a silent rage.

"That cat is not a mangy beast," he said as he walked over to the bed and called the sleeping animal, "you are the only mangy beast in this wing you ape."

The animal perked up its ears and jumped off the bed lazily. It stretched and yawned, and then finally, after taking all the time in the world, it headed towards the door.

Draco chuckled at the stalling cat.

"Just get it out of here." Ron said tiredly.

The cat looked at Ron as it growled a low and dangerous growl. It was so deep and wild that it just didn't belong to a domestic cat.

When Malfoy left in a snobbish huff, Ron picked up Hermione and laid her on the bed. As he pulled the blankets over her, he gave her a tender kiss on the forehead.

"I love you," he whispered softly.

He turned around, walked out, and shut the door. He had missed the barely noticeable smile on her face and the barely audible whisper of,

"I love you too."

A/N: Ah! They love each other!

Well, another day, another chapter. How did you love it or how did you hate it? Even though I am having a tough time, I am enjoying writing this. Expect a lot of updates, as there is a lot of this story written. You'll probably get two chapters at a time for a bit.

There's that damn portrait again! Why, why, why!

What is with Draco's cat? Wait and see. I am sure that you've figured it out. Oh well, I love mysteries, but I am no Agatha Christie or Edgar Allen Poe.

If you hadn't noticed, I adore cats!

Please tell me what you guys think about it so far.