CHAPTER 2
Draco Malfoy was sitting in his room at the Malfoy Manor. He was pretty excited, for the school year started in two days. All summer had been wasted away in the fear of his father. It was silly of course. He was only thinking about her, yet he was afraid his father could hear his thoughts. He was afraid of what his father would do if he got to know. His mother was completely different from his father. He kept thinking about her so much, that it troubled him now. All Draco wanted was to see her, at least once. And tomorrow there was much possibility of her coming to Diagon Alley.
But Draco thought that there was no future to them. He was unsure whether she liked him too. But it didn't matter. Of course, if she liked him the way Draco liked her then it would've been Christmas day for Draco! But it was his father that Draco was afraid of. Not for himself, but for her. If anything serious ever happened between them and his father learnt about it, he would surely do something or the other to either Hermione or her family. Even if it hurt Draco. That was how much he despised mud bloods. But Hermione was everything to Draco. He could give up everything for her. He couldn't bear it. Pretending to loathe her when he loved her. Something gave him the courage of deciding to say it aloud, tell her about his feelings, tomorrow itself.
After dinner, they all played wizard chess. Harry, Ginny and Fred against the rest. When after two hours, Ron won for the fifth time in arrow, they went to bed. Hermione was lying in bed, next to no one. Ginny was already with Harry upstairs. They could talk for hours together. She thought back to how everybody seeing someone, made her think about Draco. Looking back, she realized that she had been noticing Draco a lot all last year and had somehow wanted to see him over the summer. Tomorrow finally she would. She got so excited at the thought. She loved the way his eyes regarded her. Whenever he looked her, she found him lost, like in a trance except for the fact that he'd keep staring at her like she was a princess, a jewel, something so important to him that he won't survive if not for her. And she loved it. It made her feel important and loved. She loved the fact that he unknowingly showed her how much she meant to him.
Draco was thinking of someone and it was Hermione. He was very happy as he slept and that night, he dreamt about her.
It was a dewy morning. He and Hermione were walking down the Hogwarts grounds, hand in hand. Suddenly the scenes changed and he saw that they were under a tree at the lake. Hermione asleep in his arms, Harry and Ron playing Wizard chess, Ginny messing with Harry's hair. It could've been going sometime, had Draco's mother not shaken him.
"Up Draco," she said. "We need to go to the Diagon Alley."
Draco woke up, smilingly inwardly at his dream. It might have showed on his face for his mother asked,
"What is it Draco? You seem happy."
"It's nothing mum," he said, "nothing."
Draco couldn't contain his excitement as he readied for his trip to Diagon Alley. He so longed to see her. All summer he'd dreamed and only dreamed. It was just moments before Draco was all ready and they were off to Diagon Alley.