September first; the day that Draco had been losing sleeps to for the past two weeks. Several 'what if's' ran through his head every time Hermione came into his thoughts . . . Which was extremely often indeed.
What if she regretted kissing him?
What if she hated him again?
What if she told Potter and Weasley?
What if she thought the kiss didn't mean anything?
What if she-
"Draco! Come child, we have to leave if you want to catch the train in time," came the high voice of Narcissa Malfoy, who was waiting in the kitchen of the manor for her son to arrive. When he did, she lightly tucked him under her arm and Apparated to a dark alley-way that was just to the side of the Kings Cross train station.
Draco dragged his trunk behind him as they made their way to platform 9 ¾. Once they were on the other side he was surprised to find the air full of the buzz of excitement. He turned to his mother to find her staring at him with a wide smile.
"Have fun this year Draco," she implied, winking. His face became confused.
"Mother, what do you"-
"Now, now, Draco, we don't want to ruin the surprise," she giggled, lightly kissing her son on the cheek before turning on the spot and disappearing with a loud 'pop'.
Draco stared perplexed at the stop his mother had been, before shaking his head and climbing on the train. Dragging his trunk to an empty compartment, he sat down but it wasn't long before he was interrupted.
". . . and I'm hoping we find out why Mum was as excited of as soon as we- oh."
Draco looked up to find the youngest Weasley crowding the door, a blonde girl just behind her. Something close to fear crossed over the girls face and he felt a hint of self loathing spread through him; was he really that viol?
"Err, I'm sorry, there's no more empty cabins," the Weasley, Ginny, stumbled out. She quickly continued as he made to open his mouth and reply. "But it's okay, we'll just go and find another one."
Ginny shut the door hurriedly, but Draco stuck his foot out at the last second. Pushing the door open, he grabbed at his trunk.
"Don't worry about it, I'll move. I have to find my friends anyway," he smiled at the gaping girls, before walking out of the compartment to find his friends.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hermione Granger, Third Person.
Hermione mentally groaned as the subject of Quidditch came up again, and mumbled a lame excuse before rushing out of the compartment. She knew that her two best friends were worried about her, not quiet believing that the night Draco Malfoy had saved her she had just 'got lost along the way'. But, knowing not to push her, the two boys switched the conversation to Quidditch every time the subject of the World Cup came up. Which was far too often for Hermione.
Sighing quietly to herself, she wandered around the train, hoping to find a friend or two to sit with instead of boring her ears off with Quidditch talk. Luckily she quickly found Ginny Weasley and a friend of hers huddled in a compartment, whispering to each other frantically. Hermione slide through the door.
"I'm terribly sorry for I interrupting, but do you mind if I sit with you? The boys are going on about Quidditch again," she asked, addressing Ginny with a sour face, to which Ginny giggled at. She knew all about Hermione's aversion to Quidditch and had also noticed the increase in the subject. Although, unlike Hermione, she had no clue as to why that was happening.
"Of course. Hermione, this is my friend Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is Hermione Granger," Ginny introduced, smiling kindly at her friend.
"Hello Hermione," Luna said in a dreamy voice, seeming to look above her head instead of at Hermione's face. Hermione nodded to her with a smile.
"So, what were the two of you talking about before I rudely interrupted?" Hermione asked casually. Luna and Ginny glanced at each other with serious faces before turning to face Hermione and announcing the one thing that she did not expect.
"Draco Malfoy."
Sitting down cautiously on and empty seat that was covered slightly by a large black coat, Hermione stared at the girls, obviously telling them to keep talking. Ginny sighed.
"Luna and I were trying to find an empty compartment, and we thought this one was. But it turned out that Draco Malfoy was sitting in the corner and we just didn't notice him. I got really jumpy, because I had heard all the things our family has said about him. Anyway, I was just about to leave when he stopped me and told me I could sit here and that he needed to find his friends anyway, he smiled! Like, actually smiled- not a smirk or anything! So we were trying to figure out exactly what it meant," Ginny explain hurriedly, and Luna nodded her part. Hermione was surprised. She was certain that when school commenced, Draco would turn back into his horrible self, but this contradicted her theory.
Suddenly the door opened and in stepped the blonde haired boy that Hermione had spent all summer dreaming about. He paused when he spotted Hermione.
"Err, I'm sorry. I just forgot my coat. . ." Draco wandered off, never taking his eyes off Hermione but pointing to the coat next to her.
Lifting it up, Hermione handed it to him slowly, not braking eye contact. He took it from her smiling slightly.
"Thanks, Hermione." She smiled back at him.
"Your welcome, Draco," she replied softly before he left the cabin. Ginny and Luna stared at Hermione, wide-mouthed.
"What in God's name was that?" Ginny all but screamed, and then looked down when Hermione hushed her. Leaning towards the two girls, she glanced around swiftly.
"Can you two keep a secret?" she asked the in a whisper and both girls nodded their heads viciously. "Over the Summer holidays, when we went to the World Cup, I"- loud voices suddenly sounded from outside the compartment, and Harry Potter and Ron Weasley waltzed into the cabin, completely unaware that a secretive conversation was being held between the two girls.
"Something fishy is going on with Malfoy," Ron told the girls, ignoring the looks that they shared. "He just walked past us with a smile. I might of 'accidentally' walked into him and guess what! He said sorry!" Ron's face was so commercially confused that the girls burst out into hysterical laughter and Harry chuckled quietly, moving to sit beside Ginny.
"What? It was creepy okay!" he defended himself, upset that his friends would laugh at such a serious matter.
"So . . . Funny," choked out Ginny.
"Can't . . . Breath," Hermione giggled. Luna couldn't even speak and Harry just sat there shaking his head at his red haired friend.
The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was uneventful.