2.

He was desperate for a talk. He was pacing the floor of his room, trying to decide weather to write to her. Who would have thought that Draco Malfoy's summers were boring. Once again he found himself stuck in his mansion, occasionally going to Quidditch matches or visiting his parents friends for dinners. Besides that, there was nothing to do. He was too old to play with toys, too young to go places by himself. Besides his Slytherin friends he had no one to spend time with. And Crabbe and Goyle weren't very interesting companions. They just followed his orders. It wasn't that enjoyable as it was at the beginning. He wanted to talk about books, discuss school subjects, talk about what would the next year be like or even argue about something. And Hermione seemed to be the only one suited for that. But he couldn't write to her. He was too proud for that. So every time he found himself in her at neighbourhood he went under the willow. But she wasn't there. Until the third week.

She was sitting on the grass, her back against the tree, her face buried in a book. Se he didn't notice him at first, or she simply pretended not to. He deserved that kind of treatment.

"What are you reading?" he finally asked.

"A book." she answered not even bothering to raise her eyes.

"What is it about?"

"A girl."

"What kind of girl?"

"An angry one."

She could be so infuriating sometimes. Draco tried not to let his emotions effect his actions. He sat down next to her, not daring to ask another question.

"What do you want Draco?" she asked after few minutes of silence. "You made it clear that we can't be friends, yet here you are again."

"I was bored." he said shrugging his arms. Hermione shut her book and begun to get up. "No, no! That's not what I meant... I just..."

"You just what?"

"I like talking to you. I like spending time with you. It's just..."

"No one can know."

"Yeah." Draco felt relief. Maybe she will understand.

"What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to do something about it?" She pierced him with her eyes, that weird thing she did that made him feel under some kind of pressure.

"Yeah." he whispered.

She smiled at him. He wondered if she had thought about him. If she was also alone and desperate for a companion.

"How was your summer so far?"

"We went to the seaside. It was okay. Our car broke down though and we had to stay two more days. I wasn't complaining." She saw the mixed expression on his face. "You know what a car is don't you?"

"Of course I do. I just never knew anyone who used it." Hermione just laughed at him. She wanted to tell him that she haven't heard from Harry, but she decided it wasn't a good idea to mention her friends.

"It's weird to be away from school after all that months." she said instead.

"Yeah. You had so many adventures." His tone isn't unpleasant.

"Do you want me to tell you?" she asks carefully.

"Yeah."

And unlike the last summer it was her who finally had all those magical stories. And finally she was the one to talk. And Draco found it to be very enjoyable. Just to listen.

After weeks of waiting Ron finally wrote her a letter informing that Harry is safe at the Burrow. After she and Draco made amends, it was easier to forget her troubles, fill her days with doing homework together and discussing how the next year would be. They played magical chess and Hermione even got him to play scrabble with her. That was something she wouldn't be able to do with Harry and Ron. They just wouldn't be interested.

Days went by and the more time she spent under the Weeping Willow, the more she thought about how things would be in school. She didn't get her hopes high. Draco would probably still insult Ron and be mean to Harry. But maybe at least he would just ignore her. Or maybe they can even talk sometimes if they can find a way to be alone. Maybe, just maybe, it would be better.

As for now she was eating her breakfast, ready to leave for shopping. She couldn't wait to see the boys and for her parents to meet them. Finally she could introduce them to her real friends.

"Mum, I'm ready to leave." she shouted finishing her toast.

They went by car and through the Leaky Cauldron. She was looking around like crazy trying to spot Harry or Ron.

"Honey, we have to change the money. Calm down, I'm sure they will be here soon." said her father as they were entering Gringotts.

And just when they left she saw Harry, his clothes dirty like he just cleaned a fireplace.

"Harry! Harry! Over here!"

Harry looked up and she ran to him.

"What happened to your glasses? Hello, Hagrid – Oh, it's wonderful to see you two again -Are you coming into Gringotts, Harry?"

"As soon as I've found the Weasleys," said Harry.

"Yeah won't have long ter wait," Hagrid said with a grin.

Harry and Hermione looked around: Sprinting up the crowded street were Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley.

"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" said Harry after Hagrid left. "Malfoy and his father."

Hermione frowned hearing her friends name. But she didn't say anything.

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" said Mr. Weasley sharply behind them.

"No, he was selling"

"So he's worried," said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something..."

Hermione agreed with him in her head. Regarding all her sympathy to Draco, she wouldn't like him to suffer. Even if sometimes he caused her pain. But maybe if Lucius Malfoy was out of his life Draco would change his way of thinking.

But those informations weren't the end of the trouble. Just after Gilderoy Lockhart finished his announcement and forced Harry to take a picture with him she heard a familiar voice.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said Draco Malfoy standing face to face with Harry.

"Famous Harry Potter, can't even go into a bookshop without making the front

page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny suddenly. Hermione didn't think she heard her voice before.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy.

"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry is here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy ignoring Hermione's look.

"I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron too, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George."What are you doing? It's too

crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well – Arthur Weasley."

And there was Lucius Malfoy himself. It was weird for Hermione to finally match the face to that cruel personality she's heard stories about. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guideto Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of

wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Hermione's parents, who were watching

apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower"

This time Hermione's face went red. Not from shame but from anger. Who was this man to judge her and her family? Who was he to see himself as a better one? She looked at Draco but he looked away.

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of,

"Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over;

"Gentlemen, please- please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all "Break it up, there, gents, break it up -"

After they finished the fight Lucius Malfoy thrown Ginny's book back into her cauldron.

"Here, girl – take your book – it's the best your father can give you -" Pulled himself out of

Hagrid's grip, beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

Hermione took a deep breath. She couldn't let anyone see that it effected her in anyway. And she was going to deal with Draco later.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked as soon as he arrived under the willow. It was the last day of summer vacation.

"What do you think?" Hermione raised her voice. "If you didn't provoke Harry and just ignore our presence none of it would happen and..."

"I'm sorry about what my father said. About your parents." Draco interrupted her.

"Oh, and you're not sorry about what he said about the Weasleys?"

"No, I... I don't..."

"You don't like Ron. So you're fine with insulting people you don't like even if they did nothing to deserve it! You are so childish, Draco!"

"I am a child." he said. He didn't have anything else to defend himself.

"Then grow up." she said and came back to her book. She always had a book to come back to when they had a fight. She would just read and ignore him, making him think about the things to say to make things better.

"Why are you reading this rubbish?" he asked noticing it's one of Lockhart's books.

"This is homework." she grunted. "And I happen to think they are brilliant."

"No kidding." Draco laughed. "This guy is a total fraud. Do you fancy him?"

"Don't you dare laugh at me."

"I wasn't going to." he shrugged. "I just don't agree with you opinion. I mean, you can fancy him all you like, he is said to be handsome. But you can't believe all those things he wrote?"

"You didn't even read them." she remarked.

"I red one of them. Voyages with Vampires or some nonsense like that. I don't believe a word."

"So you say he made that all up?"

"I don't know if he did. I just know he doesn't look like someone who defeats Vampires. He is a person who wouldn't dare to mess his hair. But like him all you want."

"I am going to." said Hermione promising herself she would read Voyages with Vampires next.

"Listen Hermione, we are going to Hogwarts tomorrow and..." he started tapping his hands.

"Don't worry I'm not gonna talk to you in public or anything..." she said with a cold voice.

"That's not about that. But, yeah, I would appreciate that."

"I knew it!" she yelled. "You just need me to kill your boredom during summer and then you would pretend I don't exist. Even better, you would throw insults at my friends and me and..."

"Calm down, I wanted to tell you something important. This year at Hogwarts..." he tried again.

"Have a good year Malfoy." she said and turn her back to him. She walked away red in her face.

Draco took out a page ripped from a book at the Flourish and Blotts. He overheard this father talk about dangerous things that are to happen this year in their school. And he had this exact book opened on this page. Informations about Basilisk. Draco had no idea what it all meant but if someone was to figure it out if was Hermione. He would have to think about other way to give it to her.

She couldn't believe it but Draco actually tried to talk to her few times. He tried to come up to her in a train but she could see him resign quickly after he saw Pansy walking through the corridor. He saw her reading Voyages with Vampires during breakfast and smirked at her from the Slytherin table. He even tried to make eye contact few times but she turned her head away quickly. He even tried to follow her once but she quickly started a conversation with Justin Finch-Fletchey. He finally gave up and was sending her hateful looks.

She knew it would be like this. She was aware he wouldn't like to talk to her openly during school. Yet there was some small shred of hope and she found herself feeling very hurt when her predictions turned out to be right. So she tried to show it wasn't bothering her. But like a year before, it finally had to come to a confrontation between him and her friends.

She went to the Quidditch field with Ron both expecting Harry's practice to be done. It wasn't so they decided to stay and watch. As soon as they saw Slytherin's team, along with Draco Malfoy, they decided to see what was going on.

"What's happening?" Ron asked Harry. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?"

He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly."Everyone's just been admiring the

brooms my father's bought our team.

Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him.

"Good, aren't they?" said Malfoy smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise

some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a

museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team howled with laughter. Hermione couldn't take that any longer. He could ignore her, he could be ashamed of who she was but she wouldn't let him insult her friends.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," she said sharply. "They got

in on pure talent."

The smug look on Draco's face flickered.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat.

Hermione didn't expect that. She wasn't sure what that word meant but she could immediately tell it was very bad. She felt tears coming to her eyes but she did everything in her power to stop them. Flint had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George jumping on him,

Alicia shrieked, "How dare you!"; and Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoy's face.

A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's

wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and

several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap.

The Slytherin team were paralysed with laughter. Flint was doubled up, hanging onto his new broomstick for support. Malfoy was on all fours, banging the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors were gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs. Nobody seemed to want to touch him.

As they went to Hagrid's for help she held Ron tightly and tried to focus on helping him. But all she could think was how Draco could do that. Was it some kind of punishment for ignoring him? Or was it the truth, what he really thought of her? As soon as Ron explained her what it exactly meant she choose the second option. He didn't hurt her out of anger, which would be probably just as bad, but he just expressed his despise for her kind.

All she could do in that situation was to be thankful for the friends she had, always ready to defeat her. And maybe it was all that should have mattered.

He started to feel awful about half an hour after he said it. Mudblood. How did this word come up from his mouth? He heard his father use it plenty of times, he remembered all the talks they had. Mudbloods are no wizards- they are to be erased from this world. Yet Hermione was probably the best witch on the year. It made Draco question the statement.

But in that moment, when she said that he had bought his way into the team, he was so furious. After all that talks with her, she surely knew it was his dream. And he did went through trial and was accepted, the brooms were just his father way to make sure they will win the cup. It felt so unfair of her to say that, he had to fight back. And he felt so satisfied for a second, seeing that it had hit her, seeing Weasley vomit with snails that he just laughed. But as soon as he cooled off, up in the air he wanted to run to her and apologize. But that had to wait.

He waited for the opportunity. He waited for days and was so desperate that soon he would come up to her on the corridor. But one morning he saw her missing at the Griffindor table at breakfast so he ran to the library. It was empty to his relief. He found her in the back between the bookshelves.

"Hermione I am so sorry!" he said quickly and it made her jump. "I shouldn't have said..."

"I have nothing to say to you, Malfoy." she answered coldly and quickly went to another shelf.

"Listen this all was very wrong and I..." he continued as he was following her.

"I agree." she said sharply and turned to him to look him in the eyes. "This was all very wrong and I intend not to continue it. Ever again. So if you may, don't write to me during summer and don't show up under my tree and..."

"It's not your tree." he interrupted her but she already started to walk away. He caught her by her wrist.

"If you don't want to forgive me just listen to me, it's very important..."

"Nothing." she said freeing herself from his grip. "Nothing that you say is important to me anymore."

Draco did not expect that. He was so sure she would forgive him, appreciate that he went through all that trouble to talk to her, to make things right. That he risked talking to her in school. But once again she made him realize he would not always get what he wants. And that was something Draco's parents never thought him.

Not long after that the writing on the wall appeared and he said that word again. This time he's done it on purpose, to punish her for the way she treated him.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" he said. And he didn't feel bad this time. Until he realized it wasn't just a word anymore. Hermione was really in danger and all of those stuff he overheard during summer were true. He had to deliver the page to her no matter how mad they were at each other.

Things were tense at Hogwarts. Ever after the writing on the wall many people thought that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. It was all absurd but something bad was going on. It made the three of them wonder a lot.

"Who can it be, though?" she asked boys in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are

scum?"

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy -" she said thinking this couldn't be true.

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him - `You'll be next, Mudbloods!'- come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -"

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione sceptically. It made her think about how Draco tried to tell her something at the end of the summer and later in the library.

"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot of them have been in

Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough." With that Hermione had to agree.

"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!"said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son...

"Well," said Hermione cautiously. Maybe that was the thing Draco tried to tell her. Maybe his father made him do it and he tried to warn her. "I suppose it's possible..."

"But how do we prove it?" said Harry darkly.

"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect -"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."

She knew that trying to just talk to him now was pointless. He probably didn't even care now whether she is well or not.

"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.

"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."

As time went by she was more eager to believe that Draco was actually the heir. Dobby's visit made it even more clear. When the potion was ready she felt excited. How weird it would be to talk to him when he sees her as an equal? As a fellow Slytherin. After The Duel Club she already had her hair and this odd feeling about Draco was growing more and more. She knew that he was staying in school for Christmas so they decided they will go with the plan during the break.

When she drunk her share of the potion and looked at her hairy hands she realized how big mistake she has made.

"I – I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me" she told the boys. She has never been as angry with herself as that day.

School went on and more people have been attacked. Draco felt uneasy about everything that was going on. He knew his father was involved. He knew he was supposed to support all this. He knew he was safe. But a certain girl wasn't. Maybe he was too afraid to tell his father he didn't really agree with him in most matters. But he could do something to make things right. Even if it probably meant helping Harry Potter. Draco didn't really wanted to be seen as an evil person, he didn't wanted his family name to be marked. So he had to stop his father. In a very, very discrete way.

So during potions lesson he asked Crabbe and Goyle to make some mess. They didn't ask why, simply followed his orders. He managed to place the page in Hermione's book. He felt so relieved when he saw her later rushing to the library. He could peacefully see a Quidditch match. He felt like his trouble was over. But not even an hour later he found out Hermione was petrified and it was like a punch in the stomach. He felt all those weird things at once- concern, anger, helplessness. He felt like he's just lost something priceless. He's never lost anything that couldn't be replaced. And it that moment he knew that Hermione was important. That she wasn't to be toss around, she didn't deserved to be called names. She was a good person, who didn't deserve this fate just because her parents were muggles. And he knew for sure his father was all wrong.

After few days he sneaked from his dorms at night and went to tell her all that. Maybe because she couldn't hear him and he wasn't sure he could admit all this when she is awake. He even tried to hold her hand but a piece of paper stopped him. He figured it's the page she found. He tried to make it more visible for those two moronic friends of hers. He couldn't save her but maybe they could.

Hermione couldn't be more overjoyed when she woke up. Harry and Ron solved everything and became heroes again. Exams were cancelled and that made her a bit angry but she let it go quickly. The school was peaceful now, well if you're not counting people celebrating for the rest of the term.

She knew it was Draco who slipped informations about Basilisk into her book. She meant to thank him. So as soon as she caught his eye in the corridor she smiled at him and waved her head. He followed her just as she expected.

"Hermione, you have to know that..."

"Thank you for helping us, Draco..." they said together as soon as they were safe in an empty classroom.

"You first. Tell me everything." said Hermione.

"So you've already guessed what I did." Hermione smiled at him and nodded. "Listen, I wanted to tell you back in summer but we had this fight. I didn't know exactly what is suppose to happen but I overheard my father talking about cleaning the castle from muggle-borns, some notebook and basilisks. I saw this book opened at this page so I found it in Flourish and Blotts and ripped it out to give it to you. And then I tried to tell you but so much happened and I called you a mudblood witch I am so sorry for and..."

"Draco." said Hermione firmly. "Calm down. It's okay."

"No, It's not." he mumbled. "I hate my father for doing this. You have to know that I am not like him. I don't want to be."

"I know." she replied. "I just think you should let him know that."

"I wouldn't be able to do that for a long time, believe me."

"Well, you made your first step. You helped us stop him."

"I hardly did anything." He shrugged. "And he can never know."

"Let's not talk about it anymore." she said happily.

Maybe she was making some change in him. Maybe she was making him realize things. She decided not to be angry with him from now on. Not to fight the fact that he is not able to acknowledge her publicly yet. Just be friends with him on his terms, see how it goes.

"So you wanna talk about how I was right about Lockhart?" he teased.

She laughed. She actually missed this bastard.