Chapter 4

Draco POV

As Draco entered the Great Hall for breakfast, he noticed that the owls had started arriving. He would not admit it to anyone, but he was secretly hoping that his father had been found guilty for his mothers death and be arrested. Narcissa Malfoy had been everything to Draco. Unlike Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa was supportive of him no matter what he decided to do. Draco was ashamed to admit that he got many of his behavioral traits from his father. Whenever they were alone, his mother would try to correct them, having Draco repeat the word muggle-born instead of mudblood and things like that. His mother had also been the only person in this world who cared for him. Lucius believed that a Malfoy man's purpose in life was to create other little Malfoys. So to his father, Draco was just inconvenient baggage. His mother was the only one who would tuck him in at night (when he was younger of course), send him letters on post day, take him shopping for clothes, and be there to love him when no one else was. Even Draco's aunt Bellatrix was only obsessed with Draco becoming the next great Death Eater and continuing the family's legacy.

After his mother's death, Draco suspected that the teachers had been notified. Most of them didn't give him trouble if he didn't complete an assignment, and he was using this excuse to its full extent. Draco's ex-friends were noticing that something was up, though. None of them talked to him anymore, leaving him more alone then ever. Crabbe and Goyle had started following Zabini around and Pansy had started dating some seventh year. Who needs them anyway? They were never there for you. They were just hoping that when you grew up and inherited your family's wealth you would be charitable and let them sleep in the guesthouse. Well none of that anymore, Draco. You are going to start over. You can make new friends. Ones that care about you even. Now lets see, who could be reliable? Draco's eyes skimmed the crowd all stuffing themselves with eggs, bacon, biscuits, and a variety of breakfast foods provided by the Hogwarts elves.

There was always the Daphne Greengrass. Nicknamed the "ice princess" by virtually the whole school, people seemed to avoid her. Draco liked that fierce quality in someone, but he wanted a friend who would listen to what he had to say with compassion and let him know that everything would be okay. Draco looked up once again. This time his eyes fell on the Gryffindor table. The so-called "Golden Trio" had their heads bent over what Draco presumed to be the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. Draco hated Weasley and Potter with a fiery passion. Friendship with them seemed as impossible as the existence of killer toast robots that fed on the whites of peoples' eyes. But then the mudb-, but then Granger turned her head towards him and he saw a dash of interest in her eyes. The interest was no doubt about what she believed about his family, but he still stared back. Draco Malfoy does not lose staring contests. As he stared he saw the irritating, out of control know it all change before his eyes into an attractive teenage girl. Her warm brown eyes and look of determination made her almost desirable to the Slytherin prince. When did that happen? Has her hair always been so silky? The last I remember it was a rat's nest that called her scalp home. It brought a memory back from the depths of Draco's mind.

Hermione Granger danced with Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball. Her hair was like nothing Draco had ever seen in his life. It sat perfectly on top of her head and seemed to glisten in the light given off by the hundreds of icicles that now covered the usually drab Great Hall. Draco watched mesmerized as Hermione smiled enthusiastically into the face of Viktor Krum. He had never seen that smile before. Whenever he saw her, her face was positioned in an expression of never ending disgust. Was that how it was to have a girl look at you, and like what they saw not just for your looks and background, but also for your personality? Draco slowly turned away from the champions and their dates dancing, experiencing nothing but disbelief about what he was feeling.

Draco snapped back into reality and watched as Scarhead and Weezlebee led Hermione out of the Great Hall. He hid his brief expression of discontent by hastily getting up from his seat to join the crowd of people bustling off to class

"Lets see...Mr. Malfoy?" said the very old, dull voice of Professor Slughorn.

"W-what?" Draco stammered as he was brought back to the musky potions classroom. He had once again been thinking about being with his mother when his thoughts had alarmingly turned to Hermione. His studious response led to an outburst of snickers from the side of the classroom occupied by the Gryffindors. To Draco's horror, even some of the Slytherins joined in the laughter.

"I asked you," sighed Slughorn, "what you smell in the Amortentia?" (Authors Note: This is the love potion that they smelled in class in both the book and the movie) Draco bent over the bubbling cauldron and took a long whiff.

"Well sir, I smell broomstick wax, hair gel, and..." Draco trailed off.

"And what Mr. Malfoy?" pressed Slughorn

"And...spearmint toothpaste." concluded Malfoy with a slightly sheepish tone in his voice. The more he tried to remember where he had experienced this smell before, the farther and farther away the memory became. He knew that it had been somewhere in the castle, because he could dimly smell the scent of books on them, but he couldn't quite place it. He had hoped that he would smell something that had to do with his mother, just to get a memory of her back. Possibly the brand of perfume that she wore, or the scent of her clothes that in itself smelled like love. But he hadn't gotten any of that from the Amortentia.

When class ended he found himself aimlessly wandering in the direction of his next class. He knew he would be late but he didn't try to speed up or make it to Transfiguration any faster. As he walked, he found himself staring around at the Hogwarts architecture. He had never really noticed it before, but it was kind of beautiful. The portraits were framed in gold which seemingly represented the importance of the people in them. The stones on the floor were each cut individually shown by the untidy grooves and marks in all of them. Maybe that represents how each student who comes here is not perfect in any means but contribute to something bigger than themselves. All of the individuals that come here form to create a powerful force. Wait, did I really just think that?

Draco was so into the profound realization he had just made, he didn't notice the girl trapped in the trick step directly in front of him. Before he could stop himself, he crashed into her, sending both him and the brown haired girl tumbling down the stairs. Draco opened his eyes after the initial collision and found his face directly next to the face of Hermione Granger. He immediately jumped to his feet to lengthen the distance between their faces and started his apology.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry! I wasn't concentrating on what was ahead of me and I didn't see you! Are you all right?" Hermione was on the ground, left ankle still twisted in the trick step.

"No, you prat! Help me up!" Draco could see tears glistening in her eyes. The pain in her ankle must have been tremendous. He gave her his hand and lifted her into an upright position. Hermione tried to put weight on her foot and immediately fell back into Draco's arms. "I think it's twisted" she grimaced.

"I'll help you up to the hospital wing," said Draco quickly, "Do you think you can walk?"

"No, you idiot, I can't walk. Just levitate me or something!" Draco had never learned how to do a levitation charm and regretted it now.

"It's okay." he responded, "I can carry you." Before Hermione could react he scooped her up and carried her towards the hospital wing. She turned to face him with an expression of increduality upon her face.

"What's your angle here, Malfoy?"

Draco would have responded if he hadn't gotten a distinct whiff of spearmint toothpaste coming from the mouth of Hermione Granger.