Hello, nice to see you again. As I've promised, I've been updating this story once a week, but I think I'm getting slower in producing new chapters lately because of job and all; hopefully I'll still be able to keep up with my promise. Anyway, again thanks for all reading, reviewing, subscribing, favoriting and all :). I accept critics, inputs, questions or anything (unless some very cruel comments perhaps :P), so don't hesitate to leave any remarks if you feel there's something you need to say.

And fyi, as I've told NessaWayMalfoy (thx for reviewing again :D), I want to make this a light story, that's why in the world of this story, I made Voldemort die before he was able to create dark times and miseries for the characters; otherwise it wouldn't do.

Happy reading! :)

CHAPTER V

Weeks had passed since the eventful night. The Gryffindors went through them eerily at peace, mainly because unlike in the previous six years, the Slytherins, weird as it was, decided to stop picking on them and leave them unscathed. Instead the snakes had started to divert their favorite hobby of assaulting others toward the annoyed Ravenclaws and the poor, unsuspecting Hufflepuffs. Although members of the last two houses were not as fun to annoy as the easily-provoked Gryffindors, it was better than no fun at all.

The Gryffindors were of course aware that these changes had something to do with the presence of the young Malfoy heiress among them. Apparently Draco Malfoy did have undisputed power over his peers. What else could be the reason why the Slytherins avoided the Gryffindors other than because the Slytherin Prince told them to? Surely he did not want the Gryffindors to try to get him and his peers back using his sister.

And this, well, made the Gryffindors couldn't help but feeling a little grateful and thus also a little more friendly toward said sister, although they mostly remained cautious whenever she was around.

Not that they were fear of the Slytherins, but, still, who would want to pass a very good opportunity for a peaceful year of study? This was especially true for the seventh years, who were having their last year in Hogwarts and wanted to make the most out of it. The lower years seemed to be copying their seniors.

Oh, yes, they most definitely could enjoy the peace, although they pitied the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and still found it creepy that whenever they had braced themselves for an attack from some Slytherins -especially Malfoy and his cronies- that they had the misfortune to encounter, the latter only threw them some brief glance, if not completely ignoring them, which was quite disconcerting for some Gryffindors. It was also utterly creepy that whenever the sullen Potions master passed by their table in the Great Hall during meal times, he would every now and then throw his glance over the table and curved his mouth a little around the corners in a pathetic, horrifying attempt to smile! -which was apparently directed at the younger Malfoy, whom they had quickly learned to be his goddaughter. Thank Merlin he still acted his usual biased acts in classes, or wherever she was not around, otherwise the Gryffindors would surely go mad! There were only so many changes that one could handle at a time.

To the Slytherin Prince himself, however, the fact that his sister was in the den of the enemies and that he had to treat them nicely to avoid getting troubles when he needed to reach her and all were strangely barely the reason why he didn't feel like tormenting them, as he had done for years.

Neither did the matter with his father, which had been thank Merlin settled as soon as he had been able to drag his sister to the Slytherin common room, where their father finally managed to talk to her through the flames. Predictably, Lucius lost his wrath or whatever that was as soon as he was presented with the delicate figure of his daughter and the glitters of excitement in her innocent eyes as she excitedly told him about her exploration of the halls and chambers of Hogwarts, about the funny way the Gryffindors treated her -their apprehension and cautiousness and all, exciting books she had found in the library, and quite many other things … that Lucius, simply put, forgot what had made him enraged earlier and didn't feel like barking anymore. Instead, he stared fondly and lovingly at his daughter, smiling proudly at her, and addressing her with a very fatherly tone which sounded just ridiculous and impossible coming from him! Anyway, his fury had ended now that Draco could enjoy peace again.

But, then came another problem. And it was this problem that had been preoccupying his mind quite heavily recently that he didn't bother about tormenting people nor doing any other things but thinking about … said problem. He often found himself staring emptily at nothing, which actually drew the attention of his closest friends whom he told to go to hell and mind their own business whenever they started to question his unusual behavior. Gladly, no one noticed (oh, he's a Slytherin all right, and the prince, too, at that! So he could be very stealthy if he wanted to) that his eyes would immediately become alert again whenever he was in her presence. His heart would beat exceedingly faster, and he would find it very hard to fight the urges to turn his head around and stare blatantly at her to take in her beauty, which drew him like a magnet now.

Draco seemed to be hopelessly addicted to her. He just could no longer pass his days without staring at her passionate eyes, or the mirth there whenever she laughed, and without listening to her bossy tone when she addressed her friends, or her know-it-all one when she answered the professors' questions in classes.

This was something completely new to Draco Malfoy. He had never felt these kinds of things toward anyone before, thus his quite many contemplating and stargazing since that night, the night he had seen Hermione Granger in a new light.

He couldn't possibly be falling for the muggleborn witch, could he? That was impossible! There was no such thing as falling in love at first sight! Oh, well, okay, it wasn't exactly the first sight, but … well, that was beside the point! The point was he did not and could never fall in love with Hermione Granger. That was just … revolting.

He admitted that she did look good. Oh, hell, he would even admit that he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen face-to-face, which was quite weird, actually, given that he had seen her for the past six years and only recently he had started to think so. Okay, he would admit again that since the first time he had seen her inside Hogwarts Express during their first year, he had actually thought she was kind of pretty despite her bushy nest hair and rather large front teeth. And, sometimes, such as during the Yule Ball in fourth year and somewhere during fifth and sixth years, she had stunned him with her beautified appearances.

But, this was different. He had never been awestruck like that night, and up till then she had never made his heart beat exceedingly faster every time she had graced him with her presence, and she had never been a constant presence in his mind as of lately. Looked like she had changed much during last summer.

Draco felt miserable. He couldn't, and shouldn't fall for her. She was a muggleborn witch, for Merlin's sake! What would his father say? Oh, hell, why should he think about his father? It's not like he was going to marry her. Oh, so did that mean he wanted her to be his girlfriend or something? Merlin, he was really going mad! Why couldn't it be any other girl? Anyone but her. They had been enemies for too long to drastically change their relationship into an affectionate one; not to mention what his friends would say and her friends would do to him if they ever entered a relationship (let's skip here the part concerning her feelings on the matter). Oh, so he started to think about a relationship now? And with her, of all people? He was utterly hopeless.

"Draco, Draco," he was snapped out of his thoughts by shakes of his arm, which was apparently his sister's doing.

He was still in a daze, though, so other than glancing briefly toward her and mumbling, "Hmmm…?" he made no effort to change his position where he was lying flat on his back under a shady tree by the Black Lake. His two arms were folded under his head, supporting it, and one of his legs was crossed over his raised up thigh. He was somewhat facing the lake. It was in the afternoon, he had just finished his classes for the day, and still had not changed from his school robe.

Crystabelle dropped herself beside her brother, studying his dazed expression before asking, "What are you doing here, Draco? Aren't you feeling cold?"

Her brother only answered shortly, "Nothing. No," this time without even glancing her way.

Although befuddled with his lack of responsiveness, which was quite uncommon for him, Crystabelle grinned. It was actually when she liked her brother at most, because only then she could do things quite freely in front of him, or to him at that, without having to risk any of his annoying rants.

So she lazily dropped her head over his vest-covered flat stomach, which, to her delight, still barely invited any response from him. He must be quite preoccupied with something, whatever that was, she thought. Well, let him be, it was not often he was this 'pleasant'.

Crystabelle copied his brother's pose, crossing her leg over her raised up thigh, before opening the book she brought with her and started to read it. The early autumn breeze blew softly upon her, but she barely felt the chill. Draco must have cast a warming charm over his body because she could quite feel the effect.

"Draco…" she said after some time, during which she thought her brother should have been sleeping.

He muttered in response, so apparently he was still awake.

"Are the basilisks extinct?"

He didn't answer.

She huffed, and used her elbow to support her head so that she could look up at him without having to leave his warm, although rather hard stomach.

"Are the basilisks extinct?" she asked it more loudly, putting some pressure on his stomach using her elbow, which finally drew his attention although he was scowling at her now.

"Basilisks could kill people only by looking at their eyes, or petrify them if they didn't look at them directly. Now if they can do that, killing and petrifying, so easily, why are there no longer reports on anyone being petrified or murdered by basilisks? Does that mean they're extinct now?"

He only grumbled, which made her getting more impatient.

"Draco!"

"I don't know, all right? How would I know?"

"Okay, so I guess they're extinct," she threw her head back on his stomach, planning to resume her reading, but her brother then interrupted.

"I don't think they're extinct. If they are, they should be included in the book 'Extinct and Ancient Magical Creatures', but they're not. So I guess they're still there somewhere."

She shivered upon hearing that. "Then, why are there no more reports on the killing and petrifying after that time when the Chamber of Secret was opened? You were in second year, right? And Father gave the diary to Ginevra Weasley. Good for him the snake didn't kill Hermione Granger and … what's the boy's name again?"

She felt him flinch a little when she was saying the last part, but he answered to her quickly she did not have a time to analyze what it was.

"Maybe some people manage to tame them."

"But that's impossible! Only Salazar Slytherin, Voldemort and Harry Potter can speak Parseltongue, and Harry Potter is the only one who's still alive and I don't think he's taming some basilisks somewhere."

"You just don't know; there could be some other Parseltongues out there who may be living in exile with their cute little Basilisks to tame. They're just not as hungry for fame as the Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Die," he sneered, finally really waking up from his trance upon mentioning his arch enemy.

And that was when the Head Girl passed by. Apparently she was just returning from Hagrid's hut, paying the half giant some visit, and was now walking down the lane which came across where Crystabelle and her brother sprawled lazily. She was tightening her robe before looking up, and that was when she met a very uncommon sight which drew her to a halt.

Draco caught her eyes, and couldn't take his off hers. His heart skipped a beat, as it always had now whenever she was around. He noticed she quickly fixed her stare at his sister, so he freely took in her rather nice appearance, enjoying the sight of her, which had inevitably become one of his hobbies despite his internal struggle to resist it.

"Good day, Hermione! Fancy seeing you here! Care to join me and Draco?" Crystabelle broke the silence with her cheerful greeting, her hand waved excitedly, as she was finally aware of the elder girl's presence. She lazily stayed glued on Draco's stomach, though, as she was now grinning stupidly at the muggleborn witch.

Draco's eyes bulged upon catching his sister's silly offer, but he lay still and decided to remain silent and watch the interaction between the two girls. He noticed the elder Gryffindor looked rather uncomfortable.

He could see she was trying to respond nicely to his sister, and to control her reaction although he was sure she felt an itch to just lash out on the offer as it was simply preposterous anyone in their right mind would suggest such thing as Hermione Granger hanging around him. Even he found the idea to be as ridiculous. But, well, his sister was never in her right mind, and the muggleborn witch did not seem to have a heart to inform Crystabelle of her long bad history with him. He, meanwhile, was just not in the mood to raise up the issue.

Anyway, Draco made a mental note that it looked like Hermione had befriended his sister and didn't want to disrupt said friendship or whatever that was.

He noticed she tried to compromise the situation by pretending he was not there, as she only addressed and looked at Crystabelle and completely ignored him, which felt not only insulting, but somehow also rather sting. To his delight, however, he also noticed how the brunette was as a matter of fact completely aware of his presence. Look at how she looked nervous and all. Surely she wouldn't be like this if it were only between her and his sister. He smirked at the realization, but quickly wiped the smirk off his face for one could only be too careful when being around his annoyingly too perceptive sister.

"Thank you, Crystabelle, but, uhm… I'm not sure I want to interrupt your … family moment, with your brother."

"Of course you're not interrupting us. She's not, right, Draco?" Crystabelle grinned and glanced briefly at him, didn't really wait for his response (she was positively insane if she really expected him to respond to such silly question).

"Come Hermione, we were just discussing about basilisks, if they're already extinct or not. You must know more about it than me and Draco," she went on.

Draco narrowed his eyes at his sister, never liking it that she sometimes belittled his intelligence, but saw that the Head Girl didn't seem to know what to say to the offer. She looked tempted enough, surely she did not want to miss the opportunity to brag about her broad knowledge on every single subject learnable from books, and it seemed that she really felt bad about rejecting his sister. But, hell would surely freeze over the day she willingly hung around him.

Good for her right just then her two goons came and saved her from the uncomfortable situation.

"Hermione, what are you doing here? I thought you said you needed to return to the castle immediately," said Weasley, who was tailed by the Boy-Who-Unfortunately-Still-Lived.

And that was when they both saw him and his sister, and immediately came to a halt as well. Their eyes widened, and the two oafs didn't seem to be able to move nor say anything. They seemed to be ridiculously amazed with the sight of him and his sister.

Draco really didn't like being stared at like that, let alone by his arch enemies. He was very itchy to say something awful just to make himself feel better. But, he was actually also a little bit curious on how exactly his sister would address the two Gryffindors now he knew she was on the Head Girl's good page. So, he kept silent.

And, of course, what else should he expect from the spoilt brat's overly-ridiculous head?

"Hello, Harry Potter! Hello, Ron Weasley! Care to join us too? Me and Draco are talking about basilisks here when Hermione came … " she greeted them as cheerfully, as if they had been the best friends of her brother instead of his arch enemies, and went on with her rambling, completely ignorant of the two oafs' dumbfounded stare and obvious discomfort.

It was then he heard her beautiful, ringing laughter, before she spoke up.

"Now I don't think the three of us wouldn't interrupt you and your brother, Crystabelle. Thanks for the offer, but, really, I guess it'll be much better next time. Besides, it'll be dark soon. As for the basilisks, I remember reading it somewhere that traces of a very few of them have been found somewhere in Africa and Asia a few years ago, so I guess most probably they're not extinct yet," Hermione smiled, and Draco thought it made her look even more beautiful that his heart beat even much faster and his stomach now made a flip flop movement. It was the first time she directed her smile toward his direction (yeah, well, not exactly his direction, but still…).

He kept staring at her as she walked away with her two best friends after bidding them farewell (again she didn't exactly address him, but the way she said it made him think she actually did too, albeit subtly), and thus failed to notice that her sister caught what he was doing and was now smirking knowingly at him again.

"You fancy her," she said simply.

"What?" he stiffened, and glared at her.

"You fancy Hermione Granger. It's so obvious."

"I do not!"

"You can't take your eyes off her, and you're very nervous whenever she's around that you become completely speechless, which is very unlike you. Don't you think I don't know, Draco," she smiled smugly as she lowered her tone upon saying the last part, with mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I. Do. Not. Fancy. Her!" he woke up suddenly, standing up and almost sending Crystabelle toppled if not for her fast reaction.

"Hey!" She protested, pouting her lips and sitting upright, but Draco ignored her as he angrily brushed dirt and grasses off his robe and pants before bending down toward her and saying in threatening tone, eyes narrowing,

"Get that stupid idea off your head, and don't, I said don't even think about doing anything stupid like sharing it with anyone."

He then stood upright and turned around sharply, heading back toward the castle and leaving Crystabelle alone with her book.

Crystabelle stared at his back for a moment, and then her smirk came back, feeling satisfied she had found another of his brother's secrets. His defensive reaction, if anything, only confirmed her suspicion.

She decided to follow up on the newly-found interesting fact later on, though, and to continue at the moment her relaxed, reading time, although regrettably she lost a pillow now. It might not be comfy enough, but still better than nothing at all. She lay down at her back under the tree, right at the spot where her brother just left, after casting a warming charm over her body. Then she continued her peaceful reading with more or less the same pose she had been in before the interruption.