Chapter 2

"Oi Hermione!" Ron shouts.

Her face lights up and she hugs him as he sits down in her train compartment. "How was your summer Ron?"

"Bloody terrific! Bill and Fleur came to visit and we played loads of quidditch out in the yard," he goes on.

Harry walks in, sitting down next to Ron, "Hey Ron. Hi Mione. Golly you look tired Mione."

She shrugs, forcing a smile on her face, "Yeah I was up all night. Anxious about coming back to school I guess."

"What have you got to be anxious about Head Girl? We all know you'll be top of the class, like every year," Ron smiles, taking a bite of a chocolate bar. He offers her a piece and she nibbles on it slowly.

She chuckles lightly, discreetly holding a hand against her bruised ribs.

After the sorting ceremony, Dumbledore approaches the trio. "Hermione. You won't be in the Gryffindor wing this year."

"Excuse me?" She asks confused.

He nods, "We got grant money to build a special dorm for the head boy and girl. You'll each have your own bedroom with a shared common room and bathroom."

"Oh," she smiles, "Wow that sounds amazing. Who's head boy?"

"I believe he's already up there. I'll show you the way. This is where we depart boys, off to your corridors please."

Harry and Ron nod their goodbyes to Hermione and she scurries off behind Dumbledore.

When the door to her new room unlocks, a tall blonde figure stands in the common area.

"You've got to be kidding me," she mutters.

Dumbledore says, "I'll leave you two to get situated."

The door closes behind him and she crosses her arms, "Seriously? You're head boy?"

Malfoy scoffs, "Don't act so surprised Granger. I have next to perfect marks. And don't act like I'm happy about this either. I don't need you tracking in mud every day to my living quarters."

She rolls her eyes and tries to storm off but Malfoy reaches out and grabs her arm as she passes by. He doesn't grab her hard, but she flinches anyway, the bruises on her forearms aching.

Malfoy scrunches his eyebrows in confusion but doesn't say anything about it as he drops his hand, "Not so fast Granger. We have patrol tonight."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. And we've been paired together. We need to make our rounds in the halls."

She sighs, "Fine. Let's get this over with then."

As she steps out into the dark hallway, her heart starts beating a little faster. She didn't used to be afraid of the dark when she was younger. But soon enough, the dark brought out the monsters.

She stays just a few steps behind Malfoy, wanting to be close to someone as they walked through the empty corridors. Even if that person was Draco Malfoy.

After an hour of patrolling, Draco groaned, "This is boring."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Hermione practically rolled her eyes.

"I don't know. Let's go back."

She sighed, "We can't Malfoy. We still have 30 more minutes."

She turned a corner, losing track of Malfoy. She tried to hurry to catch up with him but couldn't seem to make out his blonde hair. "Malfoy? Where'd you go?"

She swallows hard, her pulse quickening. "Malfoy. This isn't funny. You're not scaring me."

She kept walking. "Malfoy I'm serious come out!"

Suddenly hands grabbed her and shouted, "Boo."

Her heart rose in her chest and she dropped to the floor, covering her head with her hands. Involuntary tears streamed down her face.

The sound of Malfoy laughing above her filled the air. His wand turned on illuminating the hall, "Aye that was a good one Granger. I needed a good laugh."

She was still curled up against the wall, panting. She couldn't seem to move.

"Jeez. Are you crying Granger? Wow I got you good." He chuckled.

She pushed herself up and pushed past him, "I'm going back to the dorm."

His footsteps sounded behind her. "It was just a joke Granger. You're taking all the fun out of it."

She didn't answer him. They got back to their dorm and he said, "Whatever Granger. Be a baby about it."

She shut her bedroom door behind her and turned on all her nightlights before shutting off the main lights. She changed into a large shirt and crawled into bed, praying the lights would ward off the nightmares that plagued her dreams.