Chapter 3

A prefect! She, Hermione Granger, was a prefect! Of course this wasn't really surprising, after all she was top of the year. Still though, the thought of it made her giddy. That was, until she remembered that it was OWL year and prefect duties would just get in the way of studying. Not to mention, Voldemort's return- that was bound to cause some matter of disturbance. But despite all of that, Hermione was determined to make her 5th year a good one. Keeping that thought in mind she walked, with her head held high, into the prefect's cabin… and that was where things started to go downhill.

Leaning casually against the window was none other than Draco Malfoy, his signature sneer perfectly in place.

"Aah, look who it is, Muddy and the Weasel… frankly I'm quite surprised, who in their right mind would make you a prefect Weasel? Surely there must be a mistake, no?" Malfoy drawled, earning a laugh from Pansy Parkinson who had draped herself over him.

"Oh I'm guessing it was probably the same person who thought Pansy would make a good prefect- tell me Parkinson, do you even know what the word 'prefect' means?" Hermione retorted, holding Ron- his face had taken on the colour of his hair.

"You dare speak to me! You filthy Mudblood!" Pansy screeched, her tantrum however was cut short as the head boy and girl entered and began giving out rosters.

"Alright newbies," Angelina Johnson, the new head girl began, "as I'm sure you all know we're not allowed to pair you up with anyone from your own house for rounds, this is just the way things are and so don't bother trying to contest it. Each of you has been handed a roster, on there you'll find your partner as well as your patrol times. That's pretty much it for now, the next meeting will be tomorrow evening at 7 in the prefects common room, so yeah, see you all then." Finished Angelina, before she got up and headed out leaving the prefects to find their partners and begin patrols.

Looking down, Hermione groaned as she saw who her partner would be.

"Hey there Muddy, I see we'll be covering the last lot of compartments." A cold sneer came from behind her.

Turning around, Hermione plastered a brilliantly fake smile on her face before saying- rather sarcastically, "Oh wonderful." Pushing past Malfoy she made her way out of the compartment and headed towards their section knowing that he was right behind her.

It had become an unspoken rule between the two to never mention or make reference to their encounters in the past, ever since 3rd year. The only thing that ever gave away their occasional truces was the stolen glances they threw at each other when the other wasn't looking.

Hermione tried to let out a shriek as she was yanked into a tiny broom cupboard, the shriek, however, came out muffled as there was a hand which shot out to cover her mouth.

It was nearing Christmas break and Hermione was on her way back to the Gryffindor common room. Rounds had just ended and since she had been paired with Anthony Goldstein for that week, she was now headed back alone, the Ravenclaw tower being in the complete opposite direction.

She was almost at the common room when she heard the sound, it was a pair of footsteps, having been on high alert she knew exactly who's foots steps they were- Umbridge. That's when she was unceremoniously yanked into the nearest broom cupboard.

After much of a struggle she finally managed to get out of whoever's grasp it was that held her. Turning around with her wand, which she quickly drew, she had a sharp intake of breath. It was Draco Bloody Malfoy! Being in the broom cupboard meant she didn't have much place to move, there was barely 5 inches between her and Malfoy. Quickly shoving her wand away she looked up to glare at him.

"What the bloody hell Malfoy?" she whisper yelled.

"Will you be quite Granger!" he shouted back, in much the same way before moving to quickly cup his hand over her mouth again before she could reply.

She was about to push him off and give him a piece of her mind when she heard the footsteps coming closer. Automatically she froze while her hand went immediately to her wand which she clenched tightly. It seemed like forever that they stood that way, Malfoy with his one hand around her mouth while the other instinctively went around her waist when he first reached out, and Hermione with her one hand clutching onto her wand and the other which had somehow found its way to Malfoy's waist. It was like that, that the pair stood, in an awkward embrace, looking into each other's eyes in panic for what seemed like eternity.

When the footsteps were finally gone Malfoy slowly let his hand, which was blocking her mouth, drop while the other stayed in place around her waist.

"What the hell Granger? I thought you would know better than to get caught by the bitch after curfew!" he shouted at her, although still in a whisper.

"I happened to be on patrol Malfoy! So it wouldn't have bloody mattered!" she whisper yelled back. Neither of them shifting their positions.

"Bloody hell, that idiot didn't tell you did he?" he replied, his voice taking on an angry tone.

"Who Anthony? Tell me what?" She asked, clearly baffled.

"No not bloody Goldstein! The Weasel! He was there when Umbridge made that announcement- Weasel was supposed to let the 5th year prefects know! I should have known… incompetent fool." He answered, muttering the end bit so low she didn't even hear.

Finally noticing the position they were in, Hermione awkwardly took a step back and cleared her throat, she tried to hide the deep blush that was passing over her cheeks.

"What announcement Malfoy? I have no idea what you're talking about." She said to him, her tone normal after she cast a quick silencing spell at the door.

"Of course you don't know, bloody Weasel," he muttered darkly, "the bitch cancelled all patrols, she's only given the Slytherin's permission to continue."

Hermione let out a snort before saying, "What does she think we're going to rally the student body in their pyjamas?"

"Classy, Granger," he said with an eye roll, referring to her snort. "but yes, that's sort of it. Now will you just get back to your tower without getting caught?"

Slightly taken aback by his clear concern for her, Hermione quickly muttered her thanks to which he merely nodded, before she made haste towards the Gryffindor tower- making sure Umbridge was nowhere in sight first.

…

As she laid in bed that night she couldn't help but ponder over her encounter with Malfoy. She was used to all their odd moments of truce by now, but this was something new. He had never before expressed any concern for her before tonight. As she drifted off into sleep his face lingered in her mind, his voice ringing out the same words over and over 'be careful, Granger'.