Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, they are the brilliant works of the marvelous J.K.Rowling. I also do not own Coldplay or To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

CHAPTER 2

The next morning Hermione woke up early to get everything ready for the day ahead. On her way to breakfast, she stopped off at the Gryffindor common room to see if Harry and Ron were up yet. She found Harry sitting on the couches in front of the long burnt out fireplace.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked.

"He should be on his way down. Slept in again." Harry replied rolling his eyes.

At that exact moment there was a large crash and Ron came tumbling down the stairs. He landed in a heap at the bottom, spent a few seconds staring at the ceiling, regained himself, and stood up. He brushed off his robe sleeves and greeted everyone good morning as though nothing had happened. This behavior was so typical of Ron, the others barely looked up before proceeding to breakfast.

The Great Hall was surprisingly full for that time of the morning. It must have been the thought of making a good first impression at their first day of classes; either to make up for time lost last year, or in the first year's case, to be able to survive this one.

They made their way over to the Gryffindor Table and sat down. By the time they had finished eating, it seemed as though the whole of the school had arrived...all except one. While Hermione was talking to her friends at her table, her mind wandered to her new responsibilities this year, and whom she would have to share them with. She glanced over to the Slytherin table and scanned it up and down, but there was no sign of Malfoy. 'Must have already eaten something and left' she thought. She was distracted from her thoughts by a familiar looking red head bounding toward her.

"Hermione! Good morning! Pinch and a slap...for the first day of...the year? Is that it? Hmm… that doesn't quite fit…"

This was an old Muggle tradition carried out by little children. Ginny looked a little embarrassed.

"It was in a Muggle book I read in the holidays. Thought I'd surprise you with it, but I forgot how it went exactly..."

Hermione smiled, flattered that her friend would try to remember something to surprise her.

"Close enough. It's actually 'pinch and a punch for the first day of the month' so you'll have to wait a few more weeks for that one. I was just heading back to my room to get my books, wanna come?"

Ginny beamed, and the two walked off together to Hermione's room. The password ('Fix You', Hermione's favourite Coldplay song,) was spoken to a small wizard statue. He then opened a small door in the bottom of the wall just big enough for him to fit through, and opened the door on the other side; amazingly fast for a statue of his size. The door swung open and Ginny stared wide-eyed at the finery of the carpet and the enormity of the room. It was almost as big as the Gryffindor Common Room, only that was shared by many students, this one was only shared by two.

Hermione raced up to her room, grabbed her books, and on her way out remembered Draco. Hermione was determined to try and get along with him somewhat this year, and so raced up his stairs and knocked on his bedroom door. There was no answer, so she quickly opened the door and looked inside. There was no sign of him, though she noticed the tidiness of his room. Hers was already covered in clothes and books, yet his was impeccable. Books neatly on shelves, cloaks hanging neatly in the open wardrobe, bed made neatly. She shut the door quietly and left the common room.

"What were you doing up there?" Ginny asked.

"Looking for Malfoy; he must have already left. I've got potions with him next, maybe I'll find him then."

The two girls parted in the corridor outside her room; Ginny had Care of Magical Creatures with HufflePuff. In the dungeons Hermione met up with Harry and Ron, and walked in just in time for Snape to arrive. Draco was nowhere to be seen, and ended up walking in 5 minutes late for class, not that Snape cared. Had it been anyone else of course, it would have been a different story.

After class, Hermione separated from Harry and Ron and went to catch up with Malfoy. She had made a decision to try and get along with him, and she may as well start now.

"Where were you this morning?"

He looked at her with disgust.

"Are you talking to me?" he spat at her.

"Umm yeah. I didn't see you at breakfast and you weren't in our common room either."

"What, so I can't go somewhere without you knowing it Mudblood? Are you going to try to be in control of me this year? Is that it?"

She had approached him with the idea that this year would be different. That because they would be working so closely together that he might be nice to her, or at least call her by her last name. She was deeply hurt by this; she just wanted to know if he was ok, and here he was overreacting. He had seen the look of hurt on her face at calling her Mudblood, and while he enjoyed making her miserable, he did feel a little guilty this time. He had looked her over the day before, and noticed that she was no longer the flat-chested, buffy haired child she used to be, but a beautiful woman, who could look after herself and though very patient, would not take crap from anyone this year.

She glared at him, but decided to contain her anger for their public image, and instead of exploding in his face, walked away as though the comment never happened. Though he had seen the look in her eyes. She stormed between Harry and Ron who were waiting for her, exclaiming,

"He'll never change."

Draco smirked at her last remark he had overheard, that he had upset her so, but still felt that small pinprick of regret at what he had said. But he was a Malfoy. It didn't bother him long.