HOGWARTS, YEAR 3: FALL

Hermione glanced up from her book as the train carried her to Scotland for a third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry and Ron were involved in a raucous game of Exploding Snap. She was about to put down her book and join in when there was a sudden chill, and a feeling of dread washed over her.

"What's going on?" Ron said.

They looked at each other fearfully. The lights flickered and went out. Ice formed on every surface. Screams sounded throughout the train. Suddenly, the door was thrown open and Draco practically fell into Hermione's lap. Crabbe and Goyle huddled close to the window near Ron. Hermione hugged Malfoy to her, the cold receding as he melted into her arms. His warm exhale moved across her ear, making her whole body shiver in pleasure. His scent was an intoxicating blend of rich spice, leather and old books.

A skeletal hand, very faintly illuminated by the grey light pouring through the iced-over window, reached into their carriage. The sense of despair increased almost unbearably, and then the Dementors were gone as quickly as they'd come. There was an immediate shift felt throughout the train – the bone-chilling cold disappeared, and hopelessness was no longer thick upon the air.

Draco pushed himself carefully away from Hermione, one hand lingering on her arm before he, Crabbe and Goyle left.

The lights came back on and Hermione noticed the figure collapsed on the floor of their carriage. "Harry!" she yelled. She and Ron knelt next to him, relieved when his eyes opened. He blinked in confusion.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione said, flinging her arms around him.

"You scared us, mate," Ron said.

Harry hung his head. "I feel horrible," he shuddered. "What were those things?"

"Dementors," Hermione said, rifling through her bag. "Here, eat this." She thrust a chocolate frog at him.

"I'm not hungry," he said.

"Eat it, Harry. You'll feel better, I promise," Hermione insisted, giving one to Ron and opening another for herself.

Grumbling, Harry tore the wrapper and bit off a little piece. Warmth immediately flooded him.

"That does help. Thanks Hermione!"

"Mmmf," agreed Ron, stuffing the whole frog in his mouth and searching her bag for more.

"Did – did either of you faint?" Harry asked. "Did Malfoy?"

"Er, no," Hermione said. She gave him a sympathetic look. "I'll research more on Dementors when we're back at the castle, I promise Harry. I'm sure it's a very common reaction."

LATE FALL

Draco rolled on the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.

"Hagrid, he has to go to the Hospital Wing!" Hermione said.

"Right," Hagrid said, scooping the boy into his massive arms as Hermione ran to get the gate.

Draco saw her concern through a haze of pain. She cares, he thought. The agony in his arm lessened ever so slightly.

EARLY SPRING

The rest of the year resulted in an escalation of anger between Malfoy and Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hermione was not only livid that Draco had taken to making fun of Harry for his extreme reaction to the Dementors, but that he had also leveraged his father to get Buckbeak executed.

It all came to a head after Hermione quit Divination. She, Harry and Ron had just been to visit a heartbroken Hagrid. They paused at the top of the hill, Hermione's eyes filling with tears as she heard the *swish* *thwack* of the executioner's axe. They were walking dejectedly back to the castle when she spotted Malfoy snickering with Crabbe and Goyle.

Something in her snapped.

"You foul, LOATHSOME little cockroach!" she shouted, marching toward him in a cloud of fury. Draco backed up.

She whipped out her wand, holding it an inch from his nose, and his eyes widened.

"Hermione! He's not worth it," Ron said.

She lowered her wand, turning away from Malfoy's fearful face.

Relieved, Malfoy smirked from Crabbe to Goyle, chuckling mildly. That did it. Hermione whipped around and: *SLAP!* She connected with Malfoy's cheek, sending him staggering. Immediately a bright handprint bloomed on his shocked face. Malfoy looked both humiliated and pained before running back to the castle, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

"Merlin, Hermione! That was amazing!" Ron whooped.

"That felt good," she said sheepishly. "Come on, let's get back to the castle."

"What's gotten into her?" Harry asked Ron quietly.

"I don't know, mate," Ron said. "But whatever it is, I like it!"

END OF YEAR

"GRANGER!" Malfoy marched up to her as she walked toward the loo. They were headed back to London on the Hogwarts Express.

She sighed. "What, Malfoy?"

He scowled. "I know you're behind the disappearance of that murderous bloody chicken."

"Murderous? You tried to have poor Buckbeak executed simply because you were too stupid to listen to Hagrid's instructions!"

He flushed.

"That's not the – I didn't – damn it, Granger! It tried to kill me! So how in Salazar's name did you do it?"

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Magic," she said archly.

"Very funny," he said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Wait a minute… Snape mentioned that McGonagall gave you a Time Turner so you could take extra classes. You misused it, didn't you? That's illegal, you know."

"Going to turn me in?"

"Maybe I will!" he spat. "My father…"

"Oh come off it, Malfoy! 'My father this', 'My father that'…we get it, your father's a rich bastard and can make people do whatever he wants."

"How dare you disrespect my family?!" he hissed.

"How dare you disrespect mine? Just because they're Muggles, you think they aren't worthy of respect."

"They aren't!"

She fought the urge to slap him again.

"Do you even hear yourself? I know you've been brainwashed by your Death Eater daddy, but seriously Malfoy, you're intelligent enough. Learn how to think for yourself."

She pushed roughly past him.

"Hey! I'm not done," he said.

"I am."