-LET'S TAKE IT BACK-

It was a cold February night and the winter breeze seemed to go right through the walls of the castle and into the very skin and bones of the students, teachers, and staff members. Most students were up in their dormitories, wrapped in their warm blankets under the canopy of their four poster bed, and dreaming of the hot breakfast that would wait for them in the morning before they headed off to class. Hermione, however, didn't have the luxury of sleeping in her warm bed at the moment.

Instead she was wandering the halls doing her prefect duty, holding her cloak tightly against her body to keep warm in the drafty school. She rounded the corner that led to the library and took a quick look around, before heading towards the stairs that led up to the astronomy tower. It was the last place she had to check for the night and she wanted nothing more than to get up there so could could climb back down and make her way towards the warm Gryffindor Common Room.

She turned the corner, and the beautiful snowy terrain that surrounded the castle came into view. She took it in for a few seconds before turning and giving the other side of the tower a look. When she did, she froze immediately, and not just from the cold. Standing, with his hands wrapped around the railing of the huge open window and his back to her, stood Draco Malfoy.

Hermione knew it was him straight away. His blonde hair shone brightly in the moon light, almost the same color as his skin. She studied him quickly and realizing that he must have not seen her, was about to turn back around and descend the stairs, but noticed something that kept her glued to the spot. His knuckles were white as the snow falling outside, telling Hermione that he had a tight grip on the railing, and his head was bent low to the ground. His cloak and his pants didn't cling to his body like they should have been and he was shaking. Hermione guessed he could have been shaking from the cold, but she had a feeling it was from something else.

The war had gone into full swing, and it had taken everybody with it. They were all so young and they weren't ready to face the challenges that lay ahead. Hermione knew that when the time came, she, along with Ron, would have to be there to support Harry. He was the chosen one after all and had the weight of the world on his shoulders. That was the way that they had always seen it. Harry had to deal with more than everybody else, but now that she looked at Draco Malfoy standing before… she wasn't so sure about that.

The thought of Draco Malfoy being another human being never seemed to cross her mind before. To her, he was nothing but a bully who happened to be on the side they were fighting against. He was their enemy and stood for everything they fought to destroy. He wanted nothing more than to see them all be defeated.

But as Hermione watched him shake, his knuckles turning whiter, and his head lowering more, another thought seemed to cross his mind. He was a human being and he was young just like they were. When your 16, you shouldn't have to make the kind of decision that they were forced to make, but yet they still had to. And maybe Malfoy wasn't any different. She remembered what Harry thought Malfoy was up to, and seeing him now, she would have to agree with him. His father had gone to Azkaban and Harry swore that Draco Malfoy had taken his father's place. It made sense, and by the look of complete stress and despair, Hermione would put all her money on it.

But that didn't make him evil… not really. He was born into the family and really had no way out of it. Sure he was a jerk and Hermione wanted to curse his brains out, but that didn't make him any less of a human being. He still had feelings and right now… he looked hurt and lost.

She exhaled a deep breath quietly and turned and gave the stairs a quick look. She could have walked back down them and pretend like she never saw Draco Malfoy standing here. He wouldn't know the difference, he hadn't seen her yet. But that would make Hermione a coward and not a very nice person, so she did the unbelievable. She quietly stepped into the room and slowly approached Draco. "Umm… Malfoy?" She called quietly when she a few feet from him. She watched him flinch and lift his head slightly, but he didn't take his gaze off of the mountains surrounding Hogwarts. Hermione decided to try again. "Malfoy, are you okay?"

She gave him a few seconds and watched as he had an obvious internal battle between just ignoring her or speaking to her. The latter obviously won, because a few seconds later, he finally spoke. "What are you doing up here, Granger?" His voice was raspy and sad, not the usually rude and cunning, and he never looked at Hermione when he spoke.

"I was just doing my prefect rounds and I happened to see you up here all alone. I was just wondering if you were okay." Hermione said all this slowly, approaching the railing and placing her hand on it, still staying a few feet from Malfoy. When he said nothing, Hermione spoke again. "Are you okay, Malfoy?"

Draco sighed heavily before lowering his shaking head more. "Is anybody okay these days?" He sighed again and then finally turned and looked at Hermione. Hermione was taken back for a few seconds, caught off guard by the paleness of his skin and the redness of his eyes. He was obviously crying and it looked like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Malfoy…." Hermione didn't know what to say. Her enemy and the one person who had made fun of her more than anybody else was standing before her with tears in his eyes and stress pumping through his veins. It would have been the perfect time to laugh in his face just like he had done to her on several occasions. But Hermione was a better person then that, and even if she didn't know what to say, she could at least try. "Malfoy… do you want to… talk about anything?" It was an awkward question and Hermione regretted saying it the second she said it. Of course he wouldn't want to talk about anything to her. She was Hermione Granger, mudblood and Gryffindor know it all.

As he turned his head to glance back out at the scenery, Hermione figured that that was her answer. She quickly turned and started heading for the stairs, trying to spare herself any further embarrassment and hoping that this would be forgotten in the morning. Just as she reached the first step and was about to put her foot on it, she heard Draco speak and stopped in her spot.

"I… I just want to take it back to the earlier days."

Hermione turned around and looked over at Draco. He was still standing in the same direction that she had last seen him in and she wondered for a second if she had imagined him speaking. "What?" She asked quietly, slowly approaching him.

When Hermione was standing next to him again, he turned and looked at her. "In divination, when we looked into the crystal balls… I used to see nothing." He turned back and looked back outside. Hermione waiting patiently for him to continue talking. "I realize now that I saw nothing because the past didn't last quite long enough." He gave Hermione a quick glance before sighing lightly and then turning back to the falling snow. "I didn't know it would be this rough."

"I don't think anybody did." Hermione said, now facing the snow as well.

They sat in silence for a couple seconds before Draco finally spoke again. "I'm doing nothing but paying for what my father did. I can't find a life in just paying for his mistakes."

Hermione stared at Draco, not sure what to say.

"I just want to take it back to the early days. You know, when we were carefree and oh so young. And I want to take it back to the memories, where life seemed to be nothing but fun." Hermione sighed as Draco continued. "We weren't friends, Granger, in fact we were the opposite, but I would love to just rewind to those times when we were younger and when we were happy."

"We hate each other, Malfoy." Draco turned and looked at Hermione as she spoke. "We were never happy when we were around each other."

Draco waited a couple seconds before answer. "No, but it was simpler back then. The only thing we had to worry about was the small insults we threw at each other and how they affected us for an hour before our friends just told us not to worry about it. We went back to hating each other and teasing each other the next day." He paused. "But that's gone now… and I want nothing but to have all that back."

"So take a glass of a champagne past, Malfoy. Just pretend for tonight that everything was back to normal. Just pretend that this war doesn't exist and that we hate each other like we always did."

"It won't last."

"What won't last?"

"The 'champagne past'."

"Why?"

"Because ignorance is bliss, Granger." He suddenly snapped at her, turning and glancing at her for a few seconds. But a few seconds was all Hermione needed to see that he really was sad and alone. He needed somebody… anybody. He just needed to feel like he wasn't alone in this world and in this war. He wasn't the only one who felt all this pain. "In the past, we knew nothing. Because of that… we were safe."

"Ignorance may be bliss, Malfoy, but…" Hermione took a step towards Draco and he stared at her. Hermione stood up on her toes, and before she knew what she was doing or why she was doing it, she placed a sweet chaste kiss on his cheek. "it's sealed with a kiss." She gave him a heart warning smile and she couldn't help but notice that his face seemed to warm up some and he even had a fraction of a smile on his face.

She didn't know why she did it, she just knew she did. She guessed it was to make him feel better. But it was also to make herself feel better. The war was getting worse and the fact that two enemies could get so close, could even make contact by a kiss, was a sign that maybe there was hope for the war to be over sooner then it started. "Just take a chance and dance," Hermione said, her smile growing a little more. "With no need to resist." Draco sighed and looked Hermione straight in the eyes before she continued. "Just pretend, just for tonight, that everything is back to normal."

Draco smiled slightly and nodded at Hermione. "Let's take it back to the early days, when we were carefree and oh so young. Let's-"

"Let's take it back to the memories, when life seemed to be nothing but fun."

"And rewind to those times when we were happy." Draco sighed contently. Hermione smiled brightly at him and nodded her head. "Let's bring back what seems to be gone." Draco nodded back at her and no more words needed to be said. Hermione gave him one more smile before slowly walking away from him and towards the door. When she reached the opening, she heard Draco call her and she turned to look at him. "This never happened." He said this quietly and sadly.

Hermione sighed. "I know." She turned to walk away again and as she stepped down the first step, Draco called her again.

"Hey, Granger." She turned and looked at him, only to see that he was smiling at her. "Thanks." Hermione let out a little laugh and nodded before descending the stairs.

The war might not be close to over, but for some reason, she felt like she had just made a giant step towards ending it.

Hello everybody!

This is a brand new song of Tom's and i couldn't wait to write a fanfiction for it and put it up!

If you don't follow Tom on twitter or visit then you wouldn't know about his new song. its amazing and if you haven't heard it... i suggest you go and listen to it now. just go to and search for tom felton. it's the third song down.

If you have already heard it, i hope you like the new song fic for it!

Let me know what you guys thought! I love your input!