Noticeable Changes

Chapter 3

On the ride up to the castle, Draco thought about how much his life would probably change now that he had finally realized how stupid his father was.

"God, I'm not going to have any friends this year. I wish I could be normal," he thought.

"Ah well, you can't have everything you want. If I had stayed on my father's side, I might be dead by now. I guess having nobody to talk to is the price I'm going to have to pay," he said to himself, "Hmm, I guess it could be worse; there isn't exactly anyone worth talking to in this school anyway.

"Besides Granger…Now, why do I always have to do that?" he thought, "Maybe things won't be all that bad this year after all, perhaps Granger will believe me. I think that might be too much to ask of her, after all I did torment her through all these years here at Hogwarts. But maybe there is still a chance, we'll see.

All of a sudden the carriage came to a stop and Draco realized that he was at the castle already.

"Hmm, we got here rather quickly, I guess I was just too busy thinking to notice," he said.

Hermione got out of her carriage with Harry and Ron and headed up to the castle. She couldn't get Draco's note off of her mind.

"Perhaps he is telling me the truth," she wondered, "But why would he do that? Malfoy has never showed any interest in me unless it involved insulting or trying to hex me."

Hermione tried to forget about it for now and decided to wait until after dinner to make her decision. She jogged to catch up to Harry and Ron who were already up to castle doors by now.

"Hermione we wondered where you were. Why did you take so long?" said Harry.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how this is our last year at Hogwarts. You know, just taking in the scenery," she laughed.

They all took a minute to look up at the castle and express their thoughts about what this year would have in toll for them and then headed into the Great Hall for dinner.

Once inside they walked up to the Gryffindor table and sat down to greet their old housemates and talk about how everyone's summers were.

Hermione did not notice when a certain Slytherin walked in, looking at her as he walked over to his usual spot at his table.

Draco walked into the Great Hall and looked immediately over at Hermione. He couldn't help it, he had been spending an awful lot of time thinking about her in the carriage and she was still on his mind. Or at least that's what he told himself.

He walked over to the Slytherin table and took his usual spot next to Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle. They all just looked at him and then continued on with their conversation. He sighed as he realized that his predictions about having no friends became the truth as his housemates ignored him.

It seemed like as soon as the great feast started it was almost time to get to bed. It was as if no time had passed at all for Draco. He had spent the entire time thinking about his note, Granger, and how stupid he must look right now, eating by himself at one corner of the Slytherin table.

Dumbledore soon got up to give his famous speech after dinner. After that, everyone got up to go to their dormitories. Draco almost forgot that he would now be living in the same quarters as Hermione. He was actually interested to see what would happen when he saw her. Would she be angry? Or would she be happy to know that he was not on the dark side anymore? He would find out later.

Draco got up from his seat and headed over to Dumbledore to find out where their dorms were and what the password was.

"Um, Professor?" said Draco.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore replied.

"Well, I was just wondering where our new dormitory is, sir, and whether I could find out what the password is."

"Ah, Draco, your dormitory is next to the Prefect's bathroom and the password is whatever you and Ms. Granger would like it to be. The portrait on the wall will take note of what you say and will remember it until you would like to change it. Have fun Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said, and with that he left.

With that in order, Draco headed in the direction of the Prefect's bathroom.

Hermione got up after Dumbledore finished his speech and noticed Draco get up to go and talk to him.

"He must be asking where our dormitory is," Hermione thought.

She decided to wait for Draco to finish and then she would go and ask him what he had said.

Dumbledore finished with Draco and walked away, leaving Draco to walk towards the doors exiting the Great Hall.

"Malfoy! Wait up!" Hermione yelled at him once they were both out of the Hall.

"What, Granger?" he replied and turned around to wait for her.

"Did you ask Dumbledore where our dormitories were?"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid Granger, to not ask where we are going to be sleeping tonight?"

"Um…well, no. I just-"

"Forget it Granger, follow me," he said to her.

"Ok," she replied and they both started off.

Hermione followed Draco and didn't say anything more to him. She didn't want to start any more arguments with him, especially when he was being so surprisingly…kind...to her lately.

To her astonishment Draco had led her to where the Prefect's bathrooms were and then stopped suddenly.

"We have to decide on what our password is going to be before we get there," he said, "the portrait is programmed to use whatever we say as the password."

"Oh, well, how about we use the meaning of one of our names? Let's see, yours means dragon, right?"

"Well, yes, but how did you-,"

"It's quite obvious really. Anyway, my name is derived from the name of the Greek god Hermes, who was the god of speed and good luck. Hmm, how about we combine the two meanings of our names and come up with something? Lucky dragon?" she said thoughtfully.

"Oh hell, I guess so, although it's kind of cheesy," he said.

"Well, it doesn't matter; we're the only people who are going to know it anyway."

"I suppose so."

Draco continued walking again and Hermione followed, surprised that he hadn't argued with her over the corny password. They soon found themselves in front of a large portrait of a basilisk and a huge lion. The painting was extremely impressive.

"I'm guessing this is it," he said, "seeing the meaning of it."

"Yes, I think so," Hermione replied.

Draco walked straight up to the painting and as soon as he was in front of it he said, "Lucky dragon".

The portrait swung open to reveal a very extraordinary looking room. Draco and Hermione both walked in to take a closer look.

Hermione's jaw dropped, she had never seen anything so beautiful.

"It's ok…I've seen better," Draco said.

"What?! This is one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, well Granger, you seem to have forgotten that I live in one of the most extravagant manors in England," Draco retorted.

"Oh, yes, how could I have forgotten?" Hermione said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

She turned her back on Draco and continued to look around at the gorgeous room. The walls were divided into wide stripes of two different colors, a lovely green and a metallic gold. The trims and borders of everything were painted in red and silver. The colors of Gryffindor and Slytherin had been combined into a perfect harmony. The furniture was all made of the highest quality mahogany and the polish shined so bright you could see a little of your reflection in it. The chairs and sofas were all leather and very comfortable, Hermione determined as she sat down in one of the chairs.

Hermione saw that to the left of her was a room labeled Head Girl and to the right there was one labeled Head Boy. She walked over to the left and opened the door. When she got inside she gasped. Her room looked like it had been decorated by a true Gryffindor. Everything was a brilliant red and gold, it was amazing. Hermione wondered whether she should go over and ask Draco what his room looked like, she shrugged and decided it could do no harm.

Hermione went back out into the common room and saw that Draco had finished looking at his room too.

"Malfoy, what does your room look like?" she asked him.

"Why don't you go in there and see for yourself, Granger," he told her, "I was actually curious as to what your room looked like as well," and he headed over to the left.

"Um, ok," Hermione replied, even though nobody was there, and headed over to his side of the room.

When Hermione entered Draco's room she was even more astonished. His entire room was covered in green and silver, but it looked absolutely brilliant. She stared at the room for a minute longer and then headed back to the common room to see if she could have her room back yet.

"I wonder why he was so willing to let me look at his private room, what the hell is going on?," she thought to herself while walking.

"Wow Malfoy, your room is brilliant," Hermione came out of his room and told him.

"Yeah, yours isn't bad either," he replied.

"Well, I guess we should discuss the matters on the train before bed. Would you like to?" she asked him.

"Yeah, sure," Draco replied.

"Ok, well...Malfoy, I'm not exactly sure whether I can trust you like this all of a sudden…but I think I'll try. I just really hope I'm not making the wrong decision here, after all it is in my nature to see the good in people and I don't know whether that's a good thing or not.." she said with a flicker of a smile.

"I'm glad to see she will actually give me a chance," he thought, "and boy do I wish she smiled at me more often."

He gave her a friendly smirk and said, "Okay, Granger. I understand that it's hard for you, just let me make it clear to you that if you decide to trust me, you won't regret it. Oh and...do you think it would be alright if I called you Hermione?"

"I think that would be lovely...Draco. Now, maybe we could discuss what you wanted to say from the note in the morning? I'm awfully tired and I still want to look over some of the books we have this year," said Hermione.

"Of course, wouldn't want our favorite know-it-all to be deprived of her knowlege now, would we?" he stated.

"Haha, very funny," and with that Hermione headed to her room.

"My gosh! This is honestly the oddest thing that has ever happened to me. What happened to him over the summer? Not just anything could force him to change like that. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait until morning," Hermione thought to herself.

With that said, she settled under the covers of her gorgeous bed and started to fall asleep, only to be woken at the sight of some stormy gray eyes later that night. Hermione jumped out of bed only to realize that it was just a dream.

"Merlin! His eyes really are breath taking...NO! Hermione what are you thinking? You don't even trust him yet so don't even start with his devilishly good looks...Oh no...I'm in it now, already having dreams about him," she thought.

"Wonder what's gonna happen tomorrow...," she whispered, before falling back on to her pillow.

In the morning Draco woke up to find Hermione in the bathroom so he had to wait until she was finished. He heard the shower turn off so he waited outside the door in the common room for her to come out. To his surprise, she was only wearing a towel and he was utterly astonished at the phenomenal body he saw underneath it.

"Wow, Hermione! I mean...who would of thought that body was under all those baggy robes?," he announced, obviously impressed.

"Urgh! Malfoy! You're disgusting! No wonder you don't have any friends!," Hermione started, but then after seeing the look on his face she decided to fix her mistake, "I mean...you are a...lovely...charming boy. Honestly, I don't know why you aren't more popular...ha."

"It's alright, Granger, you don't have to cover up the truth. I know i'm dispicable," he said looking a little hurt although trying not to show it.

"Oh Draco, I'm sorry. I forgot about the first name basis deal. It's just that comment took me by surprise...and you're not dispicable. Don't think that." she said.

"I'm sorry too Hermione. I shouldn't of said anything, I was out of place. Let's just forget anything ever happened. Anyways, after I'm done showering I'd really like to talk to you...please." Draco said, looking proud of himself for showing his manners.

"Sure thing, I'd like that," she smiled.

Draco attempted to smile back but all that came out was a sort of happy smirk, so instead he headed to the bathroom. He immediately got in the shower and slammed his fist into the wall.

"Damn it, Draco. Control yourself! Just because she has a breath taking body...oh, fuck it. Alright, calm down...just calm down," he thought to himself.

"Well, that went wonderful," he said to himself, "the perfect start to the morning.

"At least she seems to be forgiving, maybe she really will believe me," he sighed.

Draco got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and headed off to his room to prepare himself for the explanation he was going to have to give in a few minutes time.

Meanwhile Hermione had gone unnoticed on the couch, reading a book, but she had got a glimpse of Draco when he went by. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him.

"No wonder all the girls have been after him all these years," she thought to herself.

Just replaying the image in her mind was enough to make her dizzy. Draco was quite fit from Merlin knows what activities but whatever he did, he must be good at. Hermione sighed. The way the droplets of water had run down his muscular chest was just too much for her.

All of a sudden Hermione was brought from her thoughts by Draco walking out of his room and sitting down on the couch opposite her.

"Alright, Hermione. I'm just gonna let this all out. Over the summer my father made it clear to me that I had to become a death eater, even though You-Know-Who has already been defeated. You see, the death eaters are still at large, which I'm sure you know. I...refused and upon hearing this my father disowned me, banishing me from ever coming back. So you see, when I was boasting about the manor earlier, I really shouldn't have been saying anything as I don't even live there anymore," Draco sighed.

"What made you refuse?" Hermione questioned, looking interested.

"My father has spent almost his whole life serving the Dark Lord and what has it done? Almost gotten him and his family killed. I cannot serve someone like that, even if he is dead, just the memory of him is enough. The small taste that I had of him last year was enough. If you can just go by what I've said so far, Hermione, you know I could've never been the one to kill Dumbledore. I...I just don't have it in me," he managed to say before he started to shake with emotion.

"Draco...I...don't know what to say. I never knew that your family had this many problems. I mean anyone who isn't close to you would just look and say 'Oh, there goes Draco Malfoy, son of Voldemort's right hand man, he must have a bloody good life. How could Malfoy honestly have any problems to worry about?' I'm sorry to say I've been one of the many to judge you, but it was just so hard to think anything different when all you've done is torment me and my friends for the past several years. I'm willing to put it past me and trust you though, everyone deserves a second chance," Hermione said, and put her hand on Draco's, which was still kind of shaking.

"Hermione, you don't know what this means to me. If you hadn't of decided to give me a chance, I would be so totally alone this year. I'm SO sorry about all those times...I never meant to hurt you, it's just I was so wrapped up in my own problems I didn't care what was happening to anyone else. I can't even express my gratitude to you right now," Draco said honestly, while squeezing Hermione's hand.

"Wow, you really are a person, after all," Hermione started to say but was interuppted by Draco abruptly standing and holding out his arms.

Hermione needed no encouragement and stood to greet him in this invitation. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and squeezed, silently saying everything was going to be okay.

Draco was surprised that Hermione had actually stood up to greet him in his offer, but it was a pleasant surprise none the less. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so happy.

He rested his chin on her shoulder and let out a sigh.

"Maybe everything is going to be okay," he thought to himself.

"Draco, it's going to be alright you know, I'm here for you," he heard Hermione say.

Draco just smiled and said, "Yeah, and I'm here for you too."

Funny, the last thing on his mind was that he was holding a mudblood in his arms, embracing her friendliness.