Chapter 3

In the end, they convinced Harry to go back to Hogwarts. It wasn't because of anything Hermione and Ron said (because all Hermione could do was repeat herself and all Ron could do was tell him he was being daft), but it was because Mr.Weasley got wind of something very interesting...

With all the attention of Snape being a Death Eater, there wasn't anyone who wanted to teach at Hogwarts for the, once again empty position, of Defense Against the Dark Arts for all the Galleons in the world. The only choice Headmistress McGonagall had, was bring someone she completely trusted.

Someone all the kids trusted, even if all the parents didn't.

Someone who knew about the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Someone like... Professor Lupin.

That somehow calmed Harry and made him want to go back to Hogwarts because he knew he had all the help he needed right there. Even if he wanted to do it all by himself, he needed their help, and he couldn't deny it.

Hermione heaved a great sigh of relief then. He cared about Harry like a brother. She didn't want to lose him in a battle where she wasn't able to be there to help. This almost insured she would be there to keep him out of trouble... or at least she liked to think so. She knew she had no control of Harry when he wanted to do something she thought of as reckless. But at least she could be there for him.

But that was almost a week ago.

Now, she was on the train that would take her back to Hogwarts. She was waiting in the compartment that would reveal the new Head Boy.

She had boarded the train full of excitement. She had immediately walked to the compartment that she had been instructed to go to. There she was told to wait for the Head Boy. She was supposed to be there and hour earlier than everybody else so that both the Head Boy and Girl could be told what to say to the new Prefects.

But the new Head Boy was late. She had been wondering who could possibly have gotten the position. She had a feeling it might be someone from Gryffindor just because Professor McGonagall had been one... but as Headmistress, she couldn't have favorites. So in the end, she concluded it must be someone like Ernie Macmillan who had been a good enough Prefect for Hufflepuff.

The compartment door suddenly opened and Hermione suddenly jumped up and sat up straight.

She didn't expect to see the person that walked in, though.

Remus Lupin.

"Hi Hermione," he said. "I see you made it here earlier than me."

"Professor Lupin! I didn't expect to see you... At least not until I got back to Hogwarts!" she said. It was great to see him again. He looked a little worn out. Of course he does, she thought. It had just been a full moon.

"Yes, well, I was sent to make an earlier appearance," he said. " I'm supposed to tell you a couple of things..."

"Like what Professor?" she asked. She expected to be told a couple of things concerning her newfound Head Girl position, but something told her it had nothing to do with that.

"I'm still not used to hearing that again," he said instead, chuckling. "But it's concerning you being Head Girl... and what your mission is."

"Mission?"

That had to be some sort of joke. Missions were not left to her. They were left to people of the Order... or at least to Harry who knew plenty about missions. He was the one who had to go and persuade Slughorn to teach at Hogwarts and he was the one who went on that last mission with Professor Dumbledore...

"Yes, Hermione. You have a mission," said Professor Lupin. "Now, if you don't want to do this, we all understand, but we're really counting on you."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I can do it," Hermione said confidently.

"Well, to start off, do you have any idea who the Head Boy is?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Erm... I've thought about it, but I'm still not sure," said Hermione, wondering why this was so important to her mission.

"Well, it's Draco Malfoy," said Professor Lupin.

"What?" she said, her eyes as big as saucers.

"We all thought it would be best if he was Head Boy this year."

"What? Why? He's a Death Eater!" said Hermione. They were all obviously under the Imperius curse if they actually thought Malfoy was the best candidate.

"We know that Hermione. But we also know that he didn't kill Dumbledore because Snape did it for him. Even if Voldemort's wishes were for him to kill Dumbledore. That says something to us. I know you probably don't understand this or you just don't want to believe it, but we have reason to think Draco Malfoy does not have the evil heart his father has. We have spoken to Dumbledore's portrait. We know enough to draw this conclusion.

"But enough of that," he said, starting to get a gloomy look on his face. "You're mission is to get close to Draco Malfoy."

Hermione just sat there.

For once, she was completely speechless. This was a joke, right?

"This is serious Hermione."

Well, there goes that theory, she thought.

"That is your mission," he said. He knew that if he were talking to any other "Golden-Trio" member, he'd be in trouble.

"Erm... How am I supposed to do this? And most importantly, why am I supposed to do this?" said Hermione in her calmest tone of voice. It sounded unbelievably strained, but what did they expect from her? She'd just been asked to tame a dragon. An evil, egotistical dragon.

"Fair enough questions," said Professor Lupin, a little relieved. It could have gone a lot worse. "We're not asking you to fall in love with him, that would be a little to much to ask from you, but we do want him to be a sort of friend to you. The kind of friend that he would trust with anything... You see where I'm going with this Hermione?"

"You want me to be his friend... so that he can tell me what he's up to?" she asked. Truth be told, she had no idea where he was going with this.

"Not just that, but if he's close to you, you can help stop him from doing certain things. We know he doesn't really want to do anything Voldemort tells him to do, so if you're there being his close friend and telling him not to do something horrible, he might not do it.

"And that takes care of the 'why' question. The 'how' will be up to you to figure out. All I can tell you is that a lot is riding on this, so try not give up if things get too hard on you. You have to realize, and I'm sure you already know this, but since you, Harry, and Ron have not exactly been good friends with Malfoy, it's not going to be easy convincing him he can trust you. It's going to be hard work, but we're all routing for you; Harry and Ron included, I'm sure."

Just then, the compartment door opened.

"Speak of the devil," Hermione mumbled.

"What was that Granger?" asked Draco Malfoy.

Draco knew he had to be at King's Cross early to get instructions on what to do, but half an hour earlier? All the prefects needed to know was that they had power. Not that much power, but enough where people looked up to them. Enough power where they could tell those little miscreants what to do.

But that wasn't on his mind right now.

All that he could think about was the fact that he needed to begin his mission as soon as possible and he didn't know where to begin. He had thought about it.

Oh, how he had thought about it. But still he had nothing.

For now he had to get to the train. Fashionably late, of course.

He didn't have any of his parents this time. He was instructed to apparate and get in the train. He was old enough to get by on his own now and he didn't need his parents around. They only came for show anyway, and no one would be there to see them today. It was too early.

He walked up to the train and down to the assigned compartment.

He vaguely thought about who the Head Girl would be when he opened the compartment door and all wonder went out the window.

"I said, I can't believe you're Head Boy, Malfoy," replied Hermione. "Didn't you clean your ears this morning?"

"Didn't you clean your blood this morning?" Draco fought back.

"Now, you two stop," said Professor Lupin, she gave a stern look at Hermione. She should know better now. "What kind of example are you two planning on setting on the students younger than yourselves?"

They both stayed quiet but looked at opposite directions.

"So why did we have to come here so early?" asked Draco. He didn't come here to sit in a quiet compartment with people he didn't like.

"Well, I'm filling in as your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher once again. Since I was going to be riding this train to Hogwarts, I was asked to give both of you instructions on your new Head Boy and Girl duties."

"You're joking, right?" said Draco. "They kick you out of Hogwarts and now you're back? McGonagall is gonna be loved for this."

"Lucky for you, whether she's liked or not, is none of your concern," said Professor Lupin firmly. He was trying to be nice to both of them because he didn't want to show favoritism, but this was harder than he thought.

Draco just stayed quiet. It was better to just stay quiet than to say something wrong to two people that weren't exactly fond of him. Plus, he was pretty sure his wand was inside his cloak... but wasn't completely positive. It could also be in the back pocket of his trousers...

"Now, as for what you two are supposed to do..."

Professor Lupin talked to them for a while about their duties until he was sure they had both settled down. It was a little amusing, though, how they each shot angry glares at one another every so often. Sure they disliked each other, but they had their issues because of Harry.

He talked and told them what to do and say to the Prefects until the train started to fill with students.

"Well, I think I've covered everything," said Professor Lupin. "Now I'll just let you two handle the rest. I'll see you at Hogwarts."

With that, he left the compartment, leaving Hermione and Draco by themselves.

"Well, it was horrible being here with you, so I'll just leave and let you take care of the Prefects..." said Draco starting to stand up.

"Oh no you don't," said Hermione standing up and grabbing his arm. "If I have to be tortured with this, you have to be tortured with this too."

He pulled his arm away, not because he was disgusted, but he was just a little taken aback.

Hermione seemed to realize he had even touched him and pulled her hand away.

"Fine. But I'm not going to say anything or answer any questions. And once this those stupid Prefects know what to do, I'm out of here," said Draco. He just wanted to be by himself. He had to think about a plan and how perfect it had been for Granger to become Head Girl. Well, not perfect, exactly, but it just seemed to work in his favor.

"Fine," said Hermione. She didn't fancy any extra time with Malfoy, either. She had to go and tell Harry and Ron about the mission as soon as possible to get their help. There would be a lot of arguing... but she had to get their opinion. Maybe they could come up with something, because she had nothing.

Their compartment slowly filled with eager students. They had to endure a couple of torturing minutes with each other, though, where Draco twirled his wand in one hand (which turned out to be in his secret hiding spot; up his sleeve) and Hermione fixed her school skirt every way possible.

When the train had finally filled with people, and had started to move, they finally introduced themselves. Draco did it against his will, but no one needed his introduction anyway. They all knew who he was and where he came from.

After that painful encounter, they went ahead and started talking about what the Prefects needed to do... Hermione told them, and Draco just agreed.

When all the instructions were given out and they all filed out, once again, Hermione and Draco were left in the compartment by themselves. They stopped for a moment, each knowing they had to stay with the other in order for their plans to take effect early, but they just couldn't stay.

Draco just stepped out of the compartment and didn't look back.

Hermione could only sit there and watch him walk out of the compartment.

She finally walked out and was surprised to see Ginny and Luna there leaning against the doorframe. They had made it as Prefects this year, and she had just finished talking to them.

"What are you guys doing here? You're supposed to be patrolling," said Hermione. Sure they were friends, but they couldn't neglect their duties... especially on their first day. She was absolutely not going to let that happen.

"Calm down, Hermione," said Ginny impatiently. "We know what we have to do. We were just waiting for you. You are the expert around here..."

"Oh, shut up," said Hermione smiling. She knew Ginny was teasing her, but she couldn't help but smile every time she was reminded that this year she was Head Girl.

They went on to patrol for a while until Hermione could no longer wait to tell Harry, Ron, and Ginny the news about her mission. There was more teasing from Ginny about how she was neglecting her duties as Head Girl, but she could not waste any more time.

She reached their compartment just to find them stuffing their faces.

She waited a while to tell them, she didn't want food thrown at her, but she could hardly contain herself.

She was starting to feel really important.

When she finally got around to telling them, though, it was time for them to do their patrolling again.

"I'm so glad I don't have to do any of that this year," said Ron. "All that running around and telling those little first years what to do, starts to take a toll on you."

"Ron, you didn't do anything," said Ginny. "You made Hermione do everything for you because you couldn't."

"I didn't make her do anything," said Ron. "She wanted to do everything for me because I couldn't do anything right."

They all laughed.

Soon the girls left to patrol the halls again. They did a couple of rounds and came to the compartment again.

The talk about her mission would just have to wait.

A/N: Well, here is the long awaited update! (At least I hope it's long awaited... lol). I hope you guys liked it. Please review and tell me!!

If I don't get any reviews, I don't know if anyone is reading it... and that kind of makes me want to stop writing. Plus, I want your opinions on what should happen next in the story. I don't want to write something no one wants to read. If that was the case, Draco and Hermione would have already been married. lol.

Cheers,

-Miss Lost in Time-