Chapter 2

Hermione

Throughout the whole ceremony and part of the feast, I can't keep my eyes off Draco Malfoy. I can't stop watching him, observing his every move, the way he interacts with people, the way he plays with his food absentmindedly, taking a bite every now and then. He's sitting at the Slytherin table between Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson, his usual smirk still gone. Pansy is holding his hand and playing with his hair while Malfoy silently picks at his food, seemingly oblivious to everyone around him.

Then Zabini, noticing how his friend is acting, taps Malfoy's arm gently, snapping the blond out of his trance-like state. The darker boy gives Malfoy a worried look before starting a new conversation with him and Theodore Nott, who is sitting across from them, stuck between Crabbe and Goyle. I see Zabini say something which makes everyone laugh, but I can tell the amusement never reaches Malfoy's eyes.

"Hermione!" a voice yells suddenly in my ear, making me jump and turn away from the Slytherin table, to face an annoyed Ron and a confused looking Harry.

"What the bloody hell is going on with you?" Ron demands, glaring at me. "I've said your name like five bloody times. You've been in a weird mood since the train."

"Yeah and why were you staring at the Slytherin table?" Harry adds, sending a nasty look in Malfoy's direction.

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just daydreaming," I reply coolly, taking a bite from my pumpkin pie.

"Hermione," Harry begins, unconvinced.

"No, really, Harry," I insist. "It's nothing."

The rest of the feast I spend talking to my friends, eating, laughing, and debating about what kinds of crazy experiences this school year will hold. And, of course, I can't help glancing over at Malfoy every few minutes. I need to find out what's going on with him, and, after the feast, when we go to the Head dorms, I plan to do some investigating.

--

"Malfoy, what's going on?" I ask as the two of us sit in silence in the Head common room. Malfoy hasn't said a word to me since we were on the train, and he's barely even looked at me once. We've been in the common room, alone together, for about twenty minutes now, and still, no word.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy mutters finally, looking up at me from the fireplace, which he's been gazing at intently for a while now.

"I mean … you've been … different. You seem kind of … worried, I guess … sad. You've been really quiet. And you haven't insulted me once."

"And you're complaining?" Malfoy laughs, staring at me curiously.

"I'm not complaining," I persist. "It's just … not like you. You're acting weird. I want to know what's going on."

There's a short silence in which Malfoy looks away from me again at his hands, and I see his jaw clench as he grits his teeth uncomfortably.

"Why do you even care?" he challenges after a minute, still keeping his eyes focused on his hands.

"I don't …" I begin, then pause to think about what I'm going to say. "I mean, we're going to be living together for a whole year. We should really try to get along … try to get to know each other. And I think I have a right to know if there's something you're worried about, because you're making me worry too. So it's not just affecting you."

"Don't worry, Granger," Malfoy snarls, his face growing hard, like he's closing himself off from me. "There's nothing you should worry about."

And with that, he stands up and starts walking away, heading for his room.

"Malfoy!" I call, jumping up as well to go after him.

"Just leave me alone, Mudblood," Malfoy snaps, before slamming the door shut.

I stand there for a while, staring at Malfoy's closed door in shock. I can't believe how quickly he changed and returned to his normal self. Sighing, I sit back down and look into the fireplace, the same way Malfoy had just a few minutes ago.

Then, there's a loud knock on the portrait door. When there's no sign from Malfoy's room that he's going to get it, I get up and head to the door, praying it's Harry or Ron and not one of Malfoy's disgusting friends.

Unfortunately for me, though, I open the door to find Blaise Zabini standing there, a smirk quickly forming on his face when he sees me.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" he sneers, reminding me so much of Malfoy, but just a tanned, black haired version of the pale blond. "Looking good, Mudblood, looking good," he adds, looking me up and down.

Still smirking, he pushes his way past me into the common room, looking around for his friend.

"So where is the Head Boy, Mudblood?" he asks, turning back to me, his green eyes twinkling with laughter. I roll my eyes, motioning to Malfoy's closed door.

"He's a pain in the arse, you know that?" I snap as Zabini turns to head to Malfoy's room.

"You're telling me?" he laughs, coming so close to me, I can feel his breath hitting me face. "You haven't seen anything yet, trust me. He's way more complicated than he lets on. You'll see, you'll grow to like him, then he'll bloody turn on you, just like that." He snaps his fingers in my face, making me jump and step back. "And he's bloody good at it."

"Then why are you friends with him?" I retort. "If he's so horrible like that?"

"He's not like that with me," Zabini explains, and I notice that the humor is now completely gone from his eyes. He's totally serious. "I mean, he used to be. But then he learned to trust me. He tells me everything now."

"Blaise, what the bloody hell are you doing?" a voice growls suddenly, and Zabini and I look over to see Malfoy standing outside his open door, his face contorted in rage, hurt, and … fear, I think.

"It's alright, mate," Zabini says quickly, giving me a look that clearly says, 'I'll deal with this.' Then he turns away from me again and goes over to Malfoy, hauling the blond back into his room. "Come on, we gotta talk," I hear him say as the door closes behind the two Slytherins.

I go back to the couch and sit down, groaning in frustration. I try to tell myself that it's only the first day, that I still have plenty of time to figure out what's going on with him, but it doesn't help much. I get up and go to Malfoy's door, pressing my ear against it to see if I can hear anything. Nothing.

Trying not to think about the Slytherins, I walk out of the dorm and head to the Gryffindor common room.