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Draco stared at the hem of his bed sheet, unconsciously fiddling with it. Slowly, letting go of the bed sheet his fingers traveled to the envelope which was resting on his bedside table. He took it into his hands and turned it over, scarcely believing what he was seeing.
He had been invited back to Hogwarts!
He turned over on to his back and watched the grey ceiling above his bed. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and listened closely for any signs of life the manor would project. None came, usually if he concentrated he would hear the argument of his parents or the jeers of some death eaters who had decided to stop by.
Silence, complete silence. That was what greeted him in the morning along with the betraying rays of the morning sun. Over the time, he had grown used to it.
Deciding to open the letter, he opened his eyes and rolled onto his front, carefully unsealing the letter and was surprised when a small badge fell out.
It was silver, with golden boundaries with the Hogwarts crest engraved on to it with ivory colour, in the middle in bold letters, it read HB.
He hesitantly reached for in and gingerly took it in his hands, turning it over in his hands to detect any signs of it being forgery. No clues came and he had to believe the fact, he had been made head boy.
His first thoughts were that the owl had misinterpreted the address and the letter's true destination must have been Potter or Weasley but the envelope provided proof that it was indeed his. In the middle, written in neat cursive writing in green ink were the words Mr. D. Malfoy.
That would just attract more stares.
Draco was used to the stares too. He had long realized that whenever he would enter public, people would stare probably wondering why a known death eater was allowed to roam freely.
Why he was allowed freely? It all went down to Potter. The other boy had spoken for him in court, his words had struck a chord in Draco's pride, but all the same a wounded pride was better than life time imprisonment of Azkaban.
Potter had spoke about how he believed that Draco's heart had never been with the dark, he had been bullied to join the evil by his father. What unnerved Draco more was that his words were true. Though he didn't have much proof to help him out of prison, the word of Harry Potter the-man-who-conquered was something.
His parents were not very lucky, which was why he now had the manor all to himself.
Draco opened the letter, and hurried through it's contents. It simply said that he was welcome to attend Hogwarts, and that school opened on 1st September.
He contemplated on whether to or not…
The answer came as positive, he was already tugging at feeble strings trying to bring his life to somewhere near a normal track.
He got out of bed and went to the bathroom, ready to start another day of his miserable life.
Unnoticed by him, there was a small letter which had fallen down the side of his bed. It said that the head girl was Hermione Granger and that they were both expected to patrol the corridor together and had their own chambers which they were to share.
….
Hermione slowly opened her eyes, blinking sleep from her eyes. Ginny's peaceful sleeping face was the first thing that greeted her, welcoming her to a new day to her life which was steadily becoming her dream life.
She glanced at the clock, 7 o'clock. She groaned pitifully and tried to bury herself deeper into her pillows wondering why she had awoke in the first place.
A tapping noise answered her unasked question and she lifted her face from the pillow. "Get that damned owl!" grumbled Ginny yanking her pillow over her head.
Hermione kicked off her bed sheets and moved to the window. Opening the shutters, she let the owl in and closed her eyes exhaling deeply as the cool morning air rushed in and then turned around to gaze at the owl who was watching her with curious beaded eyes.
She crouched down in front of it and untangled four envelops from him.
Her eyes widened as she grazed her fingers over the familiar parchment. Their Hogwarts letters!
Harry's, Ron's, Ginny's, Mine!
She excitedly opened her letter and let out a small yelp as something tumbled out from it and fell onto the floor with a weak thud. She knelt down and took it in her hands, her eyes widening as she recognized what it was. She had been made head girl!
The first letter was the usual, telling her when the new term began. The second contained a rather big surprise….
"Draco Malfoy!" she stormed, glaring at the letter as if it had condemned her to this fate.
Ginny let out a little whine before peaking from under her pillow "what?"she asked in a sleep laden husky voice.
"That…that ferret has been made head boy and I am head girl. Merlin's pants I can't even stand him and his arrogance!" raged Hermione, dropping the letter onto Ginny's writing desk and collapsing onto the bad with her arms thrown over her face.
Ginny climbed out of bed and curiously took hold of the badge. She seemed awed as she observed it.
"Congratulations Hermione!" she said airily, carefully placing it back onto the desk she took the second letter "and I feel sorry for you" she added as she read its contents.
Hermione nodded miserably, her head buried under her pillow.
….
At the 1st of September, the students of Hogwarts piled into platform nine and three quarters. Now, they were a lot different then how their class mates remembered them.
They were different in physical appearance as many scars were hidden, but more then that they were different in the way they acted. Before the war, they had been careless, immature teenagers. Now, they were sharp eyed and war hardened people.
Nevertheless, they all seemed happy. A peaceful summer without any bad news could do that to you.
Hermione Granger appeared on the platform, beside her holding her hand was Ronald Weasley. The pair moved aside to allow passage to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. They kept their heads bowed, not wanting to draw the crowds attention to them.
Then again, the realization that their saviour was here was inevitable. Whispers rose across the crowd and they all moved away giving Harry a clean passage. Harry watched the crowd with an unreadable expression, recognizing some of them. They were the same faces who had looked upon him with disgust in fifth year, now they watched him with awe. He knew they were liars, his true friends were the ones who had stood by him all those dark years, who had joined Dumbledore's Army.
He felt Ginny squeeze his hand, he turned to her and gave her a small smile. Hermione and Ron held onto each others hands and led them into the train.
Someone watched their conjoined hands with renewed jealousy.
When Draco appeared on the platform, he wasn't sure what to expect. But it turned out to be better then he expected, sure people did point at him and whisper but at least they didn't attack him outright.
Draco moved on, he was about to board the train when a whisper reached him "Harry Potter!". He also along with the crowd turned to watch him. Sure enough, it was the-man-who-conquered. Honestly! He reckoned Potter's names just got longer and less creative.
Unlike the crowd, his eyes stayed on the Gryffindor boy wonder for only a minute and then turned to the bushy haired brunette girl standing in front of him. He realized old habits die hard, he still felt -something- for her.
He shook his head, he would dwell on his romantic self later. He was about to open the door and climb into the train when he saw her hand, being held by Weasley. He felt jealousy bubble inside him, but he knew he couldn't have her so he should at least have the courtesy to not ill wish her for having someone else.
Still lost in his thoughts, he climbed into the Hogwarts express.
Draco moved through the Hogwarts express, glaring at Dennis Creevy who was literally hanging from his window trying to get a better view of him. The young boy yelped and fell to the floor. Draco smiled bemusedly and entered the head compartment. He was the first one there so he sat down, wondering who was the head girl. For one terrible moment he wondered if it was Granger, God! There was no way he would be able to hide his feelings if they were to meet everyday.
A moment later, his horrific though was proved correct as Granger appeared in the room, closing the door behind her. "couldn't they have chose someone better then you?" he scowled.
"My thoughts exactly Malfoy!" she spat at him throwing herself at the chair beside him.
The meeting, went as good as it could with two people who hated the likes of each other. Once they were done, they shot each other one last glare before departing, each taking their separate way.
Hermione moved to the compartment at the end of the train where Ron had told her they would be. Harry thought that people would expect him to sit in the empty compartments in the front, so they chose the last one.
Hermione moved quickly wanting to reach the end hurriedly. Ron had wanted to come with her to insure that Malfoy didn't do anything to her, Hermione had told him to stay there or else she would glue him to the floor.
She opened the door and looked around. Ron and Ginny were playing exploding snap but Harry was no where to be seen. She then realized that there was a bump in the seat beside Ginny and with a evil smirk she collapsed onto it.
"-mione! You knew I was there" came Harry's muffled cry.
Hermione laughed and slid from his lap onto the floor. Catching the hem of his clock she pulled it off. From inside emerged Harry who was looking rather pink and was rubbing his right arm.
"I pity you Ron, this woman is heavy" said Ron sympathetically patting Ron on the shoulder.
"Your just scrawny mate" Ron replied, batting Harry's hand away and patting him in return.
"Hey!"
The compartment echoed their laughter and the whole train ride was spent happily.
Draco wandered through the train, wondering where to sit. The whole train was filled and no one was willing to share with him. His legs were beginning to ache slightly, not be he had been walking for so long, but because he hadn't really walked at all this summer.
Finally, he found an empty compartment. Pushing the door open with a tired sigh he sat down and pressed himself against the window. For the first time in his life, the lack of friends was fairly evident and he craved them now more then ever.
After the welcoming feast, Draco sat in the head student's quarters. He swung his legs as he tried to just disappear into the comfortable chair. He instead chose to adore the fine carving in the hearth. He could detect the carvings of a badger, a lion, a snake and a hawk being repeated again and again.
Then chambers were fairly comfortable. The main theme was brown which was overall the color of Hogwarts. There was a small common room which had two leather chairs and a writing desk. There were three doors, one leading to the outside hallway and the other two leading to the head boy and girl's private chamber.
Granger had disappeared after the feast, going with her friends to the Gryffindor common room. He glanced at the clock, it was almost 3 o'clock and he was starting to grow restless. He hoped she was okay.
He began to twirl the butter beer bottle he had been drinking earlier. Along with the bottle, his own thoughts also continued to grow more and more complex. What was it he felt for her? Did he actually care for her? Was he awaiting her return? Was anxiousness for her well being keeping him awake?
He couldn't understand, he had always been a glitter seeker but there were no glitz or glams to Hermione Granger. Weren't there? For a moment he could visualize her clearly...she was pretty.
He glanced at the clock again, it was too late. He decided to go looking for her, he would check in the Gryffindor common room. He knew the password, one of the perks of being the head boy.
He reached the door, he was about to swing it open when it opened itself revealing a flushed Hermione Granger.
At that moment, he forgot that he wasn't supposed to be waiting up for her, that he wasn't supposed to care for her, that they were old nemesis and cried, "where the hell were you! Did you just simply forget that you are the Hermione Granger, Harry freaking Potter's best friend. You could be lying dead in a empty corridor for all I knew"
Hermione looked confused, "erm...sorry but I got held up by Ron", she didn't even look back, pushed past him after shooting him a confused look and walked to her room.
Draco watched her retreat and now he realized the true meaning of his actions. With a frustrated sigh, he clapped his hand over his forehead.
Held back by Ron...held back by Ron. Her voice seemed to reverberate through his skull like a unforgettable mantra. Yes, she was Ron's, not his. He understood he couldn't have her, for she belonged to someone else. She was someone else's dream, someone else's wish, someone else's destiny. She was restricted territory, but that didn't stop him from being curious.