Hermione progressed to the front of the train towards the heads compartment, pondering whether her fellow head would be joining her for this journey, and who the elusive male could be. Her first thought was Ernie Macmillan, as he was very smart and had never been known to be too disruptive in lessons, or maybe a Ravenclaw like Terry Boot or Michael Corner as they were both also notoriously clever. What she wasn't expecting to see as she slid the door to the heads compartment was a dark skinned, brown eyed Slytherin staring back into her amber eyes. She blinked a few times, still frozen in the doorway wondering if she had come into the wrong compartment, she considered going back into the corridor to check but she knew deep down that she almost certainly was. After staring at each other for quite a while Blaise Zabini stood to his full height (which was almost a foot above her 5' 4" frame) and moved towards her with a smile tugging at his lips.
"You alright there Granger, or do you need me to pinch you? You are certainly not dreaming, or maybe you are, I don't know what you dream about." He said with a wink. Subconsciously she took a step back as he moved towards her only to find that the door to the compartment had closed when she walked in. Looking a bit put out Blaise stepped towards her again and stretched out his hand. Hermione automatically flinched; the war had changed her instincts and an internal battle was raging between her inner warrior who told her to stun now and ask questions later, and her conscious telling her that he would never hurt her, especially not if he was Head boy.
"Good lord Granger, I'm not going to hurt you." Blaise grumbled as his palm flattened and he offered her his hand to shake. Hermione was bought out of her thoughts to see Blaise still stood in front of her, knowing that she had been staring at him like a deer caught in headlights for too long she was about to move when he spoke again more softly. "I thought that as we would be working together this year you should be the first to know how much has changed in my life after the war. Although I never truly believed in all of that Pureblood nonsense, I said what I had to to fit in and I am sorry for what happened. There was no excuse but I am hoping I can make it up to you and one day we can be friends."
The look on Hermione's face softened and she unpeeled herself from the door, reaching out her hand to meet his, shaking it firmly.
"I'm sorry Zabini; I just wasn't expecting to see you in here." She paused letting go of his hand and reaching unknowingly to scratch the scar on her arm that was partly uncovered by her rolled up jumper. "I'm sure that all everyone wants to do is put the past behind them and to start again. I look forward to working with you."
She moved forward and took a seat on the bench opposite Zabini's things and pulled a large tome from her beaded bag, not seeing the look of awe then amusement cross Zabini's face. Neither did she hear him murmur, "This is going to be an interesting year", before he too settled himself down on his bench.
Hermione however wasn't reading the book lay open in front of her, even though she was pining to do so; her head was just swimming with thoughts. Of course Blaise Zabini was an equally good choice for head boy as the other candidates that she had first imagined, he was very smart, good at potions, and was even in the Slug-club with her in 6th year. He associated with Malfoy and his cronies but was never exceptionally mean or made a public scene in front of the teachers, additionally he had been neutral during the time of the war when his mother had taken him back to Italy to stay out of the Dark Lord's way. She decided that maybe having a Slytherin Head Boy wouldn't be so bad; they didn't even have to spend that much time together. Contempt in her thoughts, she was able to turn back to her very interesting book on the properties of common algae and their uses in the wizarding world which she would have to discuss fully with Neville when he returned to Hogwarts as well.
Suddenly the train jolted and began moving off; the long journey to Hogsmeade had begun.