Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of he characters.

Chapter 12

They stepped onto the platform of the station. Immediately, they heard the voice of a familiar person.

"ALL FIRST YEARS OVER HERE!" It was Hagrid.

He caught sight of them and gave a warming smiled. He waved one of his over-sized hands. They waved back. They wanted to talk to him but already people were getting into the carriages.

Harry paused at the sight of them. Hermione wondered why he stopped but soon figured it out. "Harry, it's alright. It wasn't your fault." She told him gently.

He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. "Sorry you guys." He told them. His voice was a little shaky.

Hermione and Ron gave a piteous look to Harry, which he didn't see. Hermione really felt sorry for Harry. He was blaming himself for both Cedric Diggory's and Sirius's death.

"Come on, we better find a carriage before they leave us all." Ron spoke out, breaking the uncomfortable silence they just experienced. Harry and Hermione nodded and quickly went into a carriage nearby.

It wasn't a long ride to the castle and they made the time go by talking to each other.

They were soon to the castle and once Harry stepped out of the carriage, he felt happier than he ever felt that summer. Today, he was finally home. There were students coming out of their carriages and walking up the entrance steps and the three teenagers soon followed them. They were welcomed by the warm aglow of the torches and candles lit in the Great Hall. As usual, the ceiling reflected the real sky. Tonight it was clear with very little clouds and stars that lit the night sky.

They took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Ron and Harry sat together and Hermione sat across from them, where she was able to see the Slytherin table, more specifically, Draco.

"Hey you guys. Good to see ya again." It was Neville who greeted them when they sat down. "Hello Neville," the three said in unison.

The Great hall was filling up very quickly. Soon, Hermione could see Draco walk in. He had a blank expression on his face, neither happy nor sad. He sat down and he and Hermione were facing each other. He didn't notice her because he was looking down. She waited patiently, hoping he would look up and see her. He kept his head down for a while, as if thinking about something. Hermione was starting to get worried. Something happened to him while on the way here.

He finally looked up and saw her. He gave a smirk and winked at her and looked back down. She wasn't convinced he was happy. Something happened and she was going to find out. She wanted to go over there and ask, but she didn't want to blow her cover. So instead, she watched him until she heard someone call her name. "Hermione!" It was Neville.

"Yes?"

"What's with you? I called you like a hundred times!"

"Oh sorry. I s'pose I was day dreaming."

She looked at them. Everyone was looking at her except for Harry. He was looking at the Slytherin table, staring at Draco. He finally turned around and looked at Hermione, then back at his empty plate. Hermione wondered if Harry saw her looking at Draco.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the Great Hall door swung open. McGonagall was ahead of a group of frightened first years. They followed her down the long aisle, every pair of eyes on them. McGonagall stopped and told them to wait right in the front of the stool, which the sorting hat was on. The sorting hat looked as ugly and rugged as it always did.

McGonagall started reading names from the scroll and the sorting was under-way. The sorting seemed to have been longer than anyone had remembered, for the sorting hat took a while for everyone to decide who belongs where. When it was over, everyone was surprised to see that there were more people in Slytherin than in the other three houses. When the sorting was over and everyone took his or her seats, Dumbledore started his usual speech.

"Welcome back old face and greeting new ones. I am please to see that you are all here on this fine, glorious night. First and foremost, I would like to go over the rules of the school to those who don't know it. The Forbidden forest is off-limits to every student. Also the caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me once more to remind you no magic is permitted in corridors between classes, neither are other list of things, which are posted on Mr. Filch's office door. We will be starting a dueling club once more and also a dueling class, to show you how to."

There were murmurs from the students. They were very excited about the new class. Slowly the murmurs died down and Dumbledore continued with his speech.

"I am also please to inform you that we will have two new staff members. Professor Perry, whom will be teaching the new dueling class and Professor Rielly, whom will be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts." There was a polite applauding and Tori and Rielly smiled.

Ron leaned over the table to whisper to Hermione. "Is that them?" he asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Wow. Rielly is hot." Harry interrupted. Ron nodded his head in agreement. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"We are also pleased to announce that we have a new Head boy and girl. Our new Head Girl is Hermione Granger." A roar of applauses came from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, which clapped the loudest. There were barely any applaud from Slytherin and the only ones who did were from the first years, but they quickly stopped after noticing no of the other Slytherin students were clapping.

It took a while for the clapping to die down but when it did, Dumbledore continued. "And our new Head boy is," he paused and looked at Draco. "Draco Malfoy." Immediately, whispers and murmurs were heard throughout Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

"What!" Everyone yelled around Hermione. Harry turned to Hermione. "Why didn't you tell us that Malfoy was Head Boy?"

Hermione put on her best-surprised face. "I didn't know." She lied to them.

There was a huge applaud coming from Slytherin. Draco knew that some of them were faking it, since some of their parents are death eaters and was told about him being a traitor. Draco never picked his head up, too busy thinking about what happen that night, trying not to cry in front of everyone.

It seemed that the talking and the sounds and whispers would last forever. Dumbledore finally calmed everyone down.

"A great shock, yes I know, but we have picked these two for a certain reason. We picked these two to define all odds of Gryffindor and Slytherin ever becoming friends. The time will come when this action is most needed, and surely it will happen soon."

Everyone sat silent, taking in Dumbledore's noble words. After a great pause, Dumbledore said something. "Come now. Lets not worry ourselves over this, let's eat." He clapped his hands and food magically appeared on the platters. Soon there were clatters of food and forks hitting plates and chatter of the students.

Mostly, the talking was about the situation about Hermione and Draco. Hermione tried to ignore it, but it wasn't too easy. Ron and Harry kept on bringing up the subject. "Uh-huh. I know. How could they? I dunno." She told them every time they bought up the subject.

The banquet was finally done and everyone was getting up to leave. "I guess I better go a bring these little kids to the common room." Ron said and got up.

"Alright see ya later," Harry said. Hermione waved to him.

"First years follow me." Ron called. A few seconds later frighten and nervous little kids were following Ron and they soon exited the Great Hall.

Harry turned to Hermione. "I'm not in a rush to get to the common room. How about I walk you to your dormitory?"

Hermione looked at him skeptically. "Are you only walking with me to make sure Malfoy doesn't mess with me?"

"Partially."

Hermione smiled and gave in. "Alright. I s'pose you can." They waited for the crowd to leave and soon, they left themselves.

They were silent for a while until Harry broke the silence. "Mione,"

"Yes?"

"Did anything else happen to you besides what you told us?"

Hermione's heart skipped a beat.

Does he know what happened? He couldn't have, I haven't told anyone and I didn't leave any clues they could lead on.

"Hermione?" Harry called her because she was taking too long to answer.

"No, I pretty sure I told you everything. Why do you ask?"

Harry put his head down and put on a gloomy face. "I had dreams about you."

Hermione looked at him. "Really. Like what?"

"Well the first dream was about a month ago. I saw that you were standing in front of a house; it looked like it was on fire. I saw tears come down your face. Then you ran away to what seemed like a park. That's when you ran into a death eater. I woke up after that."

"Oh yeah?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Then, a few days ago, you were in this pitch black room, and you were on the floor, crying and yelling for help."

Hermione heart started racing.

"Then the next night, in my the other dream, I saw you and you were being held by death eaters. They took you down this aisle, created by a row of other death eaters. At the end on the row, I saw... Voldemort."

"Harry, don't worry about it. None of that stuff happened to me." She told him, trying her best to keep her nervous tone hidden.

He sighed. "You're probably right. Must have just been my imagination."

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Hermione couldn't help but think about what happened.

How could his dreams let him now what I was doing and why was it at only the times I was in trouble?

They reached a portrait of a beautiful woman with blond hair and icy-blue eyes. She was wearing a long golden dress and she was sitting on the ground and she holding a red rose.

"Hello my dears, are you two the new Head Boy and Girl?" she asked with the most delicate and soothing voice.

Harry shook his head. "No I'm not the Head Boy but she is the Head Girl." Referring to Hermione.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The woman told them.

"The pleasure is all mine." Hermione replied.

"Well I wish I could talk to you all night, but I expect you're fatigued from your long trip him. So I'll let you in. Password please?"

"Just one second please." Hermione told her. She turned to Harry.

"I'll see you later, Harry." She said and embraced him in a friendly hug, which he returned. "You watch yourself with him." Harry whispered in her ear. Harry was taller than her, almost the height of Draco, so she had to stand on her toes to reach his ear. "I'll be fine. I know how to take care of my own." They separated and she gave a smile. He didn't smile back. "I'm serious. I don't trust him, no matter how much Dumbledore does. I would be really upset if anything happened to you."

Hermione felt disappointed, but didn't show it. "I understand. I'll make sure that he doesn't anything. If he does I'll go to Dumbledore."

"Alright. G'night."

"G'night."

With one more look at Hermione, Harry walked away. Hermione turned to the portrait.

"Troll club." She said and the portrait swung open.

Hermione was shocked at the dormitory. It a huge room, and it looked liked like the Gryffindor common room, except the color of the walls and furniture had a little silver, green, red and gold. There was a wonderful fireplace lit up, the flames dancing around. Two big, cushy armchairs were in front of it both were red and had silver designs on it. In the middle of both, there was a large sofa. It was green and had golden designs in them. In the back of the room, there was a large desk with four chairs on each side. There was a spiral staircase that led to the second floor.

Hermione walked up them and saw three doors. One had H.G. engraved in it. Another door had D.M. engraved in it. The last door in the middle of both had nothing on it. Hermione opened the door to see what was in it. It was a bathroom. It looked exactly like the prefect's bathroom.

She closed the door and went into her bedroom. It was just like her bed in the Gryffindor dormitory, except the bed was a queen size and there was a mirror standing right next to her dresser.

Hermione checked her watch, it was almost ten-thirty and she wasn't the least bit tired. She changed out of her robes and put on a blue wife beater and some white shorts. Then she went back downstairs. Something on the desk caught her eye. It was a letter.

Dear Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy,

First off, welcome back to Hogwarts. You have been selected because of your, behavior, intelligence and your ability of school spirit. Because of this, we have trusted you to assign and coordinate the following activities:

1)Hogsmeade trips

2)Halloween party

3)Yule Ball

4)Dueling Tournaments

When you are finished with your decisions, bring it to me, Professor Dumbledore, to be confirmed. It must be sent in one week. Also, you must walk the hall at night, during the times of 10:00pm to 11:30pm, starting tomorrow, to make sure no student is out his or her House. If need be you must go into another house dormitory, the passwords are:

Gryffindor- Hinkypunk

Hufflepuff- Unicorn mane

Ravenclaw- rose wisps

Slytherin- Hippogriff claw

I wish you a happy school year.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

Head master of Hogwarts

Hermione read the letter over. "This shouldn't be too bad." She thought to herself. As she was reading, someone came into the dormitory. It was Draco.

"Hey you." Hermione said and walked over to him. She gave a little peck on his check.

"Hey Mione," his voice was very dull. For some reason, Hermione thought something was wrong with him.

"Draco you okay?" she asked, trying to look straight in his eyes, but he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were fixed on something else."Yeah I'm fine." He told her, but she didn't believe him. Hermione decided to leave it alone at that. She would find out what the problem was soon.

"Dumbledore put this on the desk." She told him and showed him the letter.

"Alright, hold on lemme change." He said and ran upstairs to his room. Hermione lay down on the sofa, looking at the fireplace. She sat up when she heard Draco come down the stairs. She bunched her feet under her so that Draco could sit down. When he did, Hermione gave him the letter. He read it, and sighed. "This is going to be a lot of work," he told her.

Hermione smiled. "I'm sure if we work together, we'll do an awesome job."

Draco frowned. "That's what worries me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well if we do work together, won't that lead to suspicions?"

Hermione thought about it. He was right. Someone would think that.

"I guess we'll just have to lie." Hermione suggested. "Does anyone in Slytherin know about us?"

There was a long pause. It seemed Draco was thinking about something. "They're Slytherin, of course they know."

Hermione turned herself around and then laid her head on Draco's chest. He became incredibly tense. Hermione noticed this. He wasn't like this when I laid on him before. I wonder what's wrong with him? She thought to herself, but never asked.

"It'll be okay. We'll find a way to get through this." Hermione told him. He sat silent, still tense.

Hermione, you make me happy so much. I couldn't tell you that I...

He closed his eyes tightly, as if someone inflicted pain on him.

I wish I could tell you, but I can't. I don't want to hurt you, but if I don't tell you, I just might do that. I really don't know what to do.

It wasn't long before Draco started to feel sleepy. He would have moved Hermione, but he was just too tired. He relaxed himself and in a few minutes, he was sleep.


The next morning the sun shining through the window awaked Hermione. She sat her head up to look at where she was. She was still on the couch, with Draco. He had his arms wrapped around her. She smiled, looking at his sleeping face. He looks so adorable.

She slowly unwrapped his arms off her and got up. She looked at her watch. It was almost eight. She shook Draco gently. "C'mon. We have to go to breakfast." She said in a low voice.

He slowly opened his eyelids. "Go without me. I'm not hungry." He said and closed his eyes again.

"But you have to go and get your schedule." She told him.

He never answered. She sighed. "Fine. Go back to sleep, but if you don't get your schedule and you're late, don't blame me."

He grunted. She shook her head and went upstairs to take a quick shower. She brushed her teeth and combed her hair, and then she put on her robes and head girl badge, all in 20 minutes.

"See ya later," Hermione called to him while running to the portal. He didn't answer, already in a deep sleep. She didn't expect one.

Hermione raced down to the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville were already down there. Ginny waved furiously to Hermione. She waved back.

"G'morning, Hermione." Ginny said. "Morning." She replied.

Everyone was looking at her.

"What?"

They sat silent, still looking at her. Harry was finally the one who broke the silence. "So... how as your night?" he asked.

"If you want to know what Malfoy was doing, don't worry about it. He didn't touch me at all. He didn't even speak to me." She lied and then sat down.

Everyone let out a heavy sigh.

"That's good." Ron said. "But Hermione seriously, you need to watch yourself around him."

"Why does every keep telling me that? I think I know how to take care of myself you know."

"We know but we're only trying to look out for you." Harry added.

"What am I, a damn child?" she asked, raising her voice a bit.

"You sure as hell acting like one. We're just trying to help and your trying to push us away. It's almost as if you're trying to protect that ferret Malfoy. " Harry argued back.

Hermione glared at him. Then she got up. "I didn't come down here to get yelled at. If you don't want me here, just say it."

"Bye." Harry told her and looked away. Hermione couldn't stand to look at him anymore. She turned and walked away.

"Hermione, wait!" Ginny called to her but Hermione ignored her.

Ginny switched her attention from Hermione to Harry and shot him an angry glare. "I can't believe you could say that to her!"

"What's hard to believe?" Harry replied and took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Go and apologize, now." Ginny said in a deadly voice. Harry raised an eyebrow, a bit shocked at her demand.

"Mate, I think you should do as she says. I'm her older brother and I'm getting scared." Ron told Harry, looking at Ginny's face.

Harry sighed in frustration. "Fine I'll go talk to her, but only if that'll get you off my back." He got up and ran out the Great Hall searching for Hermione, She was already half way to the Head Boy and Girl Dormitory.

"Hermione, wait," Harry called when he caught up to her. She didn't stop. He ran up beside. "Hermione, can you please stop."

"Why?"

"Because I want to talk to you,"

"So you can yell at me again?"

"Hermione I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was just a bit paranoid, okay."

Hermione stopped. She looked straight into Harry's eyes. He was sincere about the apology.

"I guess I should apologize as well. I shouldn't have acted like that. You guys were just trying to help me and I took it the wrong way."

"I guess both of us acted the wrong way."

"I suppose so."

"C'mon, let's go back down to the Great Hall." Harry suggested.

"I'll be there in a sec. I have to go and get my backpack."

"Alright. See ya." He said and walked away.

She went the opposite way, heading towards her dormitory. When she got in, She found Draco still on the couch, sleeping. Hermione gave a disbelieving glare to Draco. It was almost eight-thirty. She walked over to him and pinched his arm. He gave a low yell and jumped. "What the hell was that for?"

"I'm not going to sit around and watch you sleep all morning. You're suppose to be head boy andset an example for everyone.

Draco rubbed his arm. "Yeah but you could have just woken me up in a less violent way. You're suppose to set an example for everyone." He said mocking Hermione.

"Just shut up and get dressed." She said and got up to get her bag, which was on the desk. "And you better be down at the Great Hall in twenty minutes, the most." She added as she was walking to the portal.

When she left, Draco sighed. "Why did I fall in love with a bossy one?" Draco said to himself and got to take a shower.