Train Rides

Chapter 1

She blinked. She was not sure how long she had stared at him. Perhaps it was a mere minute or two, but later when she would look back at this event, she would duly note how long it had taken her to realize that Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her. She had not seen the git since the end of the war when Narcissa Malfoy came to thank her, dragging him along. Malfoy had given her a stiff nod - as if that made years of humiliation forgivable.

Of course, she had stumbled upon an article of two after that that detailed his lavish lifestyle. She rummaged through her brain, recalling bits and pieces of information she had read. He had rebuilt the Malfoy business, was the heir to the fortune and had a number of girlfriends. She never understood why girls dated him, the man had an ego the size of London and resembled an arctic ferret. Currently, he was engaged to Astoria Greengrass.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" He said haughtily, his face plastered with annoyance

He raised one pale brow before shoving her underwear on her left hand and stepping inside, closing the door of the compartment with a soft thud. He carried no luggage and propped himself on the seat opposite hers before looking at her.

His sudden movement broke her out of her trance and she regained her composure, straightening her back and pulled her wand out.

'What are you doing here Malfoy?" She pointed the wand at him, its tip heating up.

He smirked. "Gee Granger, is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"You and I," she began, the wand still pointed at his pale face. "Were never friends. Now, what are you doing here? Leave."

He glared at her, his smirk turning into an expression of irritation. Huffing, he crossed his sweater-clad arms across his chest.

"I thought you were the brightest witch of our age Granger," he replied sarcastically. "Figure it out. In the mean time, I'm going to make myself comfortable."

Her eyes flashed. Sodding git decides to barge into her compartment and questions her intelligence. The nerve! She stood there, digesting his words until she stumbled upon the horrible conclusion.

"No," she exclaimed, her eyes dilating and one hand clamped over her mouth.

"Oh yes," Malfoy replied, a grin etched across his face and he pointed to her seat. "Welcome aboard Granger."

Merlin help her.

Ron Weasley was angry. No, he was livid.

He had been standing in front of her goddamn porch for the past two hours with his brand new Nimbus 5000. He had knocked on front door for Merlin knows how long yet, he received no response. Nothing. Either Hermione was still angry with him (and she had no reason to be!) or she wasn't present.

He had settled on the third stair leading up to the house, twirling his chestnut wood wand using his fingers. He had gotten frequent looks from muggles as they stared at his broom. He hated that she lived in a muggle town. Why live in a muggle town where he couldn't perform magic when he could live luxuriously in a magical town? Of course, when he proposed the idea to Hermione, she had thought that he was irrational.

"Ron" she had said. "I like living here. I've ignored my muggle heritage since I was 11. It's like discovering something new, don't you agree?"

He didn't agree. He didn't understand the hype about living in muggle society. Muggles made him feel dense, foolish with their persistent stares and irritated looks. It was not his fault he did not know what a plumber was or how a laptop worked. He didn't need those things because he had magic.

Hermione had never listened to him even when they were together. If he was east, she was west. She lived in a world of her own that only consisted of ancient books. But, as much as they were different, he had a reputation to maintain. If word gets out about his...activities, he would lose the prestige and pride he had meticulously built since the end of the war. No, no one could find out that he had been dumped, by his bookworm, boring girlfriend.

He intended to get her back, no matter how long he had to wait.

The murmur of rain hitting the roof brought him out of his chain of thought. It had landed on his new, fur shoes that he had bought for 300 galleons. He stood up briskly, sheltering himself under the roof. How much longer he would have to wait, he did not know. She had changed the wards so he could no longer enter, the floo was blocked and there were no apparition points within a 15-mile radius. Of course, she had fashioned one in their bedroom, but he couldn't enter the house. Pigfarts, his snow owl, was back at home. The last resort was to call Ginny using one of those shelly phones Hermione had gifted him.

He did not know why he had brought it along with him. There was a small hope in his heart that she would be pleased when she saw it. He did not even know how to work the damn thing. Cursing, he pulled the object out and pressed the large button in the front.

"Okay," Ron whispered to himself. "What had she said again? Press contact and go down with your thumb. Okay..contacts..contacts..here it is! Now scroll down. How do I do that? There's no other buttons..um..yes! She said to press my thumb against the screen and bring it down... I see her name."

He pressed on the green button next to her name, waiting for her voice to respond. A ringing sound flooded his ears for a minute before a monotone voice responded.

"The following number is no longer in service. Thank you."

"No, no!" he yelled,his voice dripping with aggravation. "I will not thank you! Blast this damn thing...Stupid muggles and their stupid inventions. I have to call Ginny."

His sister picked up after the fifth ring, her high pitched voice greeting him with a simple "Hello."

"Do you know where she is?" he growled loudly, pacing back and forth.

Ginny sighed and he could imagine her rolling her eyes. "Hello to you too Ron. Yes, I know where she is."

"Will you care to tell me, your highness?" he replied sarcastically.

She huffed. "I don't care what your problem is Ron, but I don't need the attitude right now, okay? She took a train to come here."

"A..a train? Merlin, that takes at least 24 hours."

"I know," she replied. "But she'd rather be on a 24-hour journey than spend 6 hours with you."

"Ginny, why didn't you tell me earlier? I've been waiting here for 2 fucking hours."

"Brother dear, this is the least thing you earn. Hermione and I may have conflicting views, but she did not deserve what you did to her -"

"This is my pers-"

"No, you don't get to interrupt me. What you did to her, especially on your anniversary, is not justifiable. You're lucky mom doesn't know about this. Don't bother trying to leave, I told her to charm the area so you couldn't leave for at least 6 hours. Enjoy yourself."

The line went dead as he groaned and slammed his hand against the door.

Ginny Weasley sighed as she disconnected the phone. Her brother's ego and pride had slowly inflated since the end of the war, its height reaching when he had secured his job at the Chudley Cannons. She had tried desperately to talk some sense into him when Hermione had complained about his rather recent behavior. But, the red-headed member of the Weasley clan was not known for his patience and understanding. Ever the stubborn person, he had shooed her off claiming she had no right to talk on his personal matter.

"Gin, are you okay? Who were you talking to?"

Her fiance's voice brought her out of her anger. She turned around, placing her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"I was talking to Ron, Harry. I don't know what's going on with him lately. I-"

"I tried speaking with him," Harry Potter interrupted. "But, I dunno, something's going on in that head of his and he won't tell me what."

"Oh Harry, I'm so worried about him especially after what happened with Hermione. The poor girl was devastated but he won't even apologize."

Harry looked at his soon-to-be-wife and rubbed her swollen stomach. "Gin, it's not good for you to worry right now with the wedding planning and everything. I'll talk to Hermione and Ron. Just focus on the wedding."

He placed a tender kiss on her forehead, tasting the strawberry and honey moisturizer she uses. Ginny smiled contently, one hand placed on his heart and the other on her belly.

He was staring at her. She could feel his silver orbs creating holes in her forehead. Only one hour had passed and the sudden rain certainly wasn't making the train ride faster. She diverted her eyes from the book and quickly peeked at him. Her nagging suspicion was right, he had been staring at her and quite intently.

She shut the book with a loud thud, alerting him.

"Alright Malfoy," she said, her voice heavy with exasperation. "Quit staring at me."

The blonde offered her a lazy smile before sitting straight. "You flatter yourself, Granger," he replied, clearly amused. "Why would I stare at you?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and breathed out loudly. "Look, if we are going to spend the next 24 hours together, we have to have certain rules. Firs-"

"Who said I was going to listen to your nonsensical rules?" He replied.

She mentally slapped herself. Why had she expected the git to change? They may have graduated four years ago but, he was still the ever irritating, impolite person he was back at Hogwarts. She hadn't seen him in years and suddenly out of the blue, she had to share her compartment with him. The gods worked in mysterious ways.

Calm yourself, Hermione, she told herself. One of you has to be the adult and it's not going to be Malfoy.

"Because Malfoy," she replied, her voice cool and composed. "We are going to be here for the next 24 hours and if you want to walk out of this compartment with certain body parts intact and unharmed, you have to obey some rules."

Malfoy raised a pale brow, unaffected by her threat. "Go on, Granger. But if you have rules, I'm going to have a couple of mine as well."

"Very well then," she said. "First, do not call me mudblood. If I hear you utter that terrible word, I'll hex you to oblivion. Understand, you foul-"

"Loathsome cockroach," he finished casually. "You ought to come up with better insults Granger. Don't worry, I haven't said that word since Hogwarts. Rule two, you are not allowed to insult me, understand?"

"And you shall do the same," she replied loftily. "Rule three, you are not allowed to make fun of Harry or Ro-"

"No," he answered. "That's a deal breaker. At least let me make fun of Weasley."

She thought about it for a second. "Fine, only Ronald. Keep it at a minimum."

"I sense trouble in paradise," Malfoy muttered. "What's wrong, Weasley finally realize-"

She pursed her lips and her eyes flashed. "Rule four, do not bring up my love life with Ron and I'll do the same."

He shrugged. "I could care less about you knowing my dating history."

"Alright then Malfoy," she said, pleased that they had reached some sort of agreement. "Obey these rules and our journey will go on smoothly."

"I told you to say the rules," he grinned cheekily at her. "I didn't say anything about obeying them."

"Malfoy!"

"Fine, fine. You're no fun, Granger."

AN: Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading. I looked back at the prologue and noticed how many mistakes I had made (I wrote black lacy bra instead of panty at some point). Those errors aside, I want to thank everyone who is following this story. You have no idea how much it means to me. I'll get the next chapter up later this week.

Aiko Tainaka: Thanks so much for reviewing and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I made this chapter around 2,300 words so I hope you like it! 3

AWallofWords: I'm so glad you love it so far. I made Ron a jerk in this story because I don't know, I have a thing with jerk-y Ron. It's so satisfying to hear that I'm portraying Draco and Hermione correctly. I hope you enjoy this chapter.