Harry Potter 1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of the characters or their settings, they belong to a great author, not to little old me!_

**Prologue**

The train made its usual calming rickety noise as it rattled down the track. Hermione Granger let a true smile light her lips as she wandered along it. Life was once again peaceful, as it often seemed to be when they travelled along its route to Hogwarts, and she truly hoped that this year there would be a little less life endangering drama and a little more time to worry about exams. Hermione stopped when she heard a voice that she recognised coming from a compartment with a door that had been left slightly ajar. She looked in and saw Neville sitting with Luna and Ernie Macmillan. With a small chuckle of happiness at the odd trio, seemingly in a hot debate, Hermione moved on, trying not to get trampled on by some rambunctious first years. There were twice as many first years this year, due to everybody repeating a year. It was optional for the seventh/eight years as some of their year had already moved on to apprenticeships, or working for family companies so Hermione was certainly intrigued to see who had come back to finish their studies; whether voluntarily or forced. Hermione opened the compartment door and returned to Harry and Ron, picking up a textbook as the boys were in a heated discussion about Quidditch as some things never changed.

A few carriages down, with a pronounced scowl on his elegant face, Draco Malfoy sat watching Theo attempt to unlock an unusual box using a number of unsuccessful charms. Draco had already had to save Theo from several unsavoury jinxes to his immense displeasure. His day was not going well. Not only had his mother sprung on him that very morning that she expected him to return to Hogwarts to finish his studies, but she had packed his trunk, no doubt not the way he liked it. Of course things refused to improve as when he arrived at the station he was greeted with sneers and contempt shooting at him from every angle, although Draco wasn't entirely sure why he was being regarded with such hatred. As soon as he stepped on the train and finally found Blaise, he realised he would have to spend the entire journey devoid of his best friend due to the fact that a certain Weaslette was sucking on his face. So his choice of companions for a day's journey that he hadn't wanted to take in the first place were Theo (who he'd rather spend, at most, an hour a day with) or Pansy, Tracey and Daphne which would be an unbearable time or gossip that his mother had already filled him in on, no matter his protests. Draco's dreary train of thought on the horrors of his day was cut short as a choking noise replaced the usual muttering of spells from across the table. An unsightly number of boils had spread across Theo's face and neck and it was clear that his air supply was being cut off. Draco lazily flicked his eyes to his wand that was lying on the table in front of him, trying to decide if it was worth it. As Theo slumped forward slightly, his protests becoming less pronounced, Draco sighed and lifted up his wand, he wasn't quite ready for murder on his hands, no matter how tempting at that moment.

A year had passed since some had travelled on the train, and a year of pain and despair had gone too. But Hogwarts has been reborn although the years past have not been forgotten; they are clear in the memories and lives of the students that still walk the corridors. Memories of worse times and of some better times, memories that will shape the future.

_AN: I know this is a very short opening, but it sets the scene for Chapter 1 and the rest! Please review no matter how much you hated it :P_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"I'm going to go get changed into my robes." Hermione announced with a smile as she stood up. Harry waved a hand to acknowledge her and Ron simply grunted. They were both enraptured in a furious chess battle and with Harry having improved significantly over the last summer; Ron had to really concentrate in order to beat him.

Hermione left the compartment and moved down the train to the girls toilets in order to change in private. Hermione almost dropped her robes as she walked down the train, and while she was fumbling around trying to keep a tight grip on them, she blindly walked straight into a solid figure in the corridor.

Stumbling backwards slightly, but managing to stay on her feet, Hermione looked up at what she had walked into. The figure turned around and the ever handsome face of Draco Malfoy swam into her vision. Hermione gasped as everything she had ever felt for the face in front of her, the passion, the hate, the jealousy and the unforgiving, never ending, pure love hit her round the face as hard as if he had slapped her. Staggering slightly as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest Hermione managed what she hoped was something along the lines of a friendly smile, though it could have been anything from a grimace to a look of amazement.

"Hi." She forced out, her voice sounding weak and shocked.

"Hi." He replied. She was slightly annoyed to see that his face was as calm as ever, that he was the same as he had always been, but at the same time, everything about him was different. "Have you dyed your hair?"

"What?" Hermione was confused and her free hand flew to her hair, tugging a strand into her vision as though to check that someone hadn't shot her a jinx and forced its colour to change to a violent pink or something equally embarrassing. The colour, however, was the same brown that she had always known, a colour she felt was rather boring and predictable, though she had never quite had the inclination to change it. "No, I haven't done anything to it."

"Oh, it just looks lighter, that's all."

"I've spent a lot of time outside lately, studying; the sun must have bleached it a little." Hermione blushed slightly. She was amazed that he had even noticed, that he had even remembered the exact shade of her hair.

Looking at Draco though, Hermione realised she could tell every single thing that had changed since she had last seen him. His skin was a slightly darker shade of pale than it used to be, and his height had increased once again. The t-shirt he was wearing showed that his Quidditch muscles had improved of late, although Hermione thought she could see a slight scar on the side of his neck that he hadn't used to have. She realised that somewhere along the line over the past year, the boy she knew had grown into a man. Something she hadn't expected to have happened. She had presumed that even if Draco had returned to Hogwarts to finish his education that he would have looked exactly the same as always. That he would have greeted her with a sneer of disgust as he did in their fifth year, that he would have worn his favourite two colours, green and silver (which although rather typical, did suit him far too much for his own ego) and that he wouldn't even have noticed the small differences in her, things that even she hadn't noticed, as gradual as they had been.

"Listen, I have to go." Draco said, looking somewhere over Hermione's shoulder. "But it was good running into you." Draco smiled down at her and took her face into his hands, his long fingers tangling themselves slightly in her wild hair. He pressed a small kiss onto her forehead before walking off without another word.

Hermione was stunned and bemused. She felt her forehead with her fingers, trying to decide if what had just happened was real or not. She looked around, but Draco had vanished from sight, presumably into one of the compartments or the next carriage of the train. Hermione blinked and sighed, forcing her feet to move along the train to her destination.

As she reached to toilets, Ginny walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Hermione jerkily jumped out the way, letting out a little shrill scream.

"Don't scare me like that." She snapped, picking her robes back off the floor, having dropped them when she jumped.

"Why are you so jumpy, today?" Ginny asked, taken aback by Hermione's over reaction.

"Oh I was thinking about something. I just ran into Draco. Literally."

"Do tell!" Ginny squealed excitedly. "What happened, did he kiss you? Did he talk to you?"

"Well he said hi, and he noticed that my hair is slightly lighter due to the sun and then I think he had to go and he kissed my forehead."

"Whoa. That's intense. On the forehead, though. What is that saying? Maybe he still has feelings for you. I bet he does, you guys had a pretty passionate relationship. And breakup, for that matter. Plus, you so still love him. I know you do, that's why you did you did so much studying over the summer, because you couldn't stop thinking of him!"

"Ginny, slow down." Hermione laughed. She had forgotten how Ginny could be with the smallest amount of unimportant gossip. She would make an excellent celebrity journalist one day. "All we did was say hi, I don't think you can make assumptions yet."

"He kissed you, didn't he?"

"On the forehead! It was barely anything. He did seem in quite a hurry to get out of there, though."

"Nonsense, he probably just couldn't control his underlying lust at seeing you again, that's all." The two girls laughed, before Ginny continued. "You do still love him though, don't you?"

Hermione nodded reluctantly. "I don't want to, not really, but..."

"But it's not something you can just turn on and off as you want. I know, don't worry. In some ways I still love Harry, but in the same way I love Blaise. I just think it's stronger for Blaise."

"Gin, you know that Harry will probably date again this year."

"Yeah, I know. Won't stop the pain though. I think this might be the best year we've ever had at Hogwarts. No Voldemort, no murderers, no competitions and no hero action."

"Absolutely, just work and relaxation."

"For you, Hermione. I plan a little more gossip, partying and sex - but each to their own." Ginny laughed the sparkle back in her eye. "I'll see you soon, but I have to get back to Blaise otherwise he'll be complaining."

The two girls hugged tightly and parted ways, Hermione's head feeling remarkably clearer about her situation than before, despite that added confusion that Ginny's conclusions had caused. She at least knew that Draco didn't hate her, even though that wasn't a thought that she had ever really imagined could be true, although that hadn't stopped her mind coming up with such scenarios over the summer.

She had planned and thought through every possible emotion and situation meeting Draco could bring and had subsequently checked up on her charm and jinx work, just in case things did go a bit pear shaped. Of course, there was nowhere in her head that could have ever imagined quite the encounter that she had been part of, nor how he would've changed, but now she knew, she could prepare for the next time they might accidently meet. Hermione expected to have some classes with him (if not all as they had had the same subjects back in their sixth year and consequently been in the same classes) but all in all she planned to avoid him as much as possible; the pain of their breakup that was still raw in her chest was not something she wanted to experience every day. She knew or hoped that over time the pain would lessen and that looking at his face, or hearing his voice would one day be just something ordinary, not the worst torture she would have to endure daily.

Hermione slipped into her robes, and tried miserably to shake all thoughts of Draco Malfoy out of her head. Her attempts were futile of course, so her mood dropped as the memories of the good and the bad times she had experienced with Draco continued to assault her. The punch back in third year. When she first noticed his staring in sixth. The wonderful and unexpected relationship that they had created. The party that ruined it all. The cigarettes, the tower, the sex, the passion, the love, the breakup, the shouting, the pain, the anger and so much more.

Hermione took a deep breath before she re-entered her compartment. Pasting a false smile on her face, she opened the door, only to find Harry and Ron in exactly that same position they had been in when she left, still staring intently as their chess board. The only thing to have changed was that there were fewer intact pieces still on the board, and the piles of rubble that used to be chess pieces had grown minutely. Hermione sat down to watch their game, amazed that while she had gone through an emotionally overwhelming experience, dealing with memories and emotions that she had hoped she had forgotten for good, the boys sat in the same place with the same thoughts, no hurt touching their game.

Draco stepped out of the compartment, sighing as he finally got away from Theo and his still unsuccessful attempts at opening the box, although he had made slight protest. The only reason that Draco was free was due to the sly sleeping charm he had placed on Theo, not trusting him to not get himself accidently killed by the box in Draco's absence. Draco stood for a second outside the door, trying to gather every ounce of patience he possessed and to transform that into an aura of calm so he wouldn't march back into the compartment and kill or mortally would Theo just to stop the pain of the journey.

Before Draco was quite ready to walk down the train, in search of some food, He felt someone walk into his back, clearly not looking where they were going. Taking a moment to stop himself exploding at the innocent individual, Draco slowly turned around to face the nameless suspect. What he saw when he turned caught his breath in his throat and almost made him gasp in horror. Clearly struggling to stay upright and not drop the robes she was carrying was Hermione Granger.

As her brown eyes focused on his face and she let out a loud gasp at seeing him, Draco let out a small whispered sigh of, "Mia". He schooled his face into a blank mask of calm to stop the wave of emotion and abuse that was fighting to expel itself from him in every way possible.

It took either of them a while to fight out words, but finally Hermione (Draco was embarrassed that he wasn't the first to speak) choked out a word. "Hi."

"Hi." Draco answered, trying his best to exude calm from every ounce of his being. "Have you died your hair?" He questioned without being able to stop himself. He didn't want to ask such a silly question, but that little detail had been bugging him.

Of course, it was barely noticeable, and such a miniscule fact that Draco was sure she would stare at him in amazement and disgust that he could possibly remember from over a year ago her exact shade of brown. He wanted to laugh when she peered at her own hair, as if forgetting what colour it was. "What? No I haven't done anything to it."

"Oh, it just looks lighter, that's all." Draco wanted to full on slap himself in the face at the stupid comments he was coming out with. Not only did he seem like a freak for noticing the minute change in her hair colour, but apparently he now felt the need to explain how stupidly wrong he was. He could have sworn that her hair was darker, it used to match her eyes perfectly, but now it was slightly out of sync. He knew the colour off by heart as everything that was that exact shade of brown had threatened him with memories of her.

"I've spent a lot of time outside lately, studying; the sun must have bleached it a little." Hermione blushed making Draco want to grin that he still had the beautiful ability to make her cheeks turn that shade of rosy red that, in his opinion, looked the best on her. He had always been able to make her blush; she was easily embarrassed, though on some occasions she could surprise him by her boldness when he expected her to be embarrassed.

Draco looked over her head, using his extra few inches that she hadn't grown to see down the carriage. At first, he thought she must have shrunk, but he had remembered that over that past year he must have grown to what he presumed was now his full height. Further down the train standing half in a compartment and half out was Blaise, beckoning with his hand. "Listen, I have to go. But it was good running into you." Draco wanted to expand on how good and bad it was that he had run into her. He wanted to explain how much pain he felt to look at her and how she had cheated on him with Blaise. His anger at that almost took over, but he managed a smile, in remembrance of the good times they did have before it all went to hell. The smile was honest and genuine and gave Draco the courage to wrap his hands round her face, his finger tips reaching so far that they got slightly tangled in her curly hair. He allowed himself one luxury of placing a small kiss onto her forehead and breathing in the scent that was uniquely Hermione, and not just Hermione, but his Hermione before he walked away to Blaise, leaving her stood in the corridor, he hoped, a little confused.

He walked into where Blaise was stood and was unsurprised to see Ginny Weasley sat opposite to Blaise, smiling up at him. He slid into the seat next to Ginny, making her blink slightly in shock and grinned. "Weaslette, long time no see."

Ginny nodded at him, her fiery red hair just as Draco had remembered. "Draco."

"I just ran into Granger." Draco smirked as he watched Ginny's reaction; she sat up straight an alarmed look on her face.

"What did you do to her, which way was she heading?"

"She had her robes, so presumably to get changed." Draco laughed as Ginny scrabbled over the table that sat in the middle to get out of the door. Once she had left, Draco turned his attention back to his friend. "Blaise, mate, how's the journey going?"

"Pretty good thanks, nothing like spending a year before finding out that you are still dating someone. She's a better kisser than I remember though, so it isn't all bad."

"So you two were dating for the past year? Exclusively?"

"Yup, well that's what she tells me."

"That's rich." Draco laughed loudly. "It's these Gryffindor values they have. How many times did you fuck someone else then?"

"I lost count, man. She is going to be so angry if she finds out! She was spouting all this crap about how she's been waiting to see me for this long and didn't want to write in case the owl was intercepted and missed me and all this other shit."

"This is too great." Draco laughed again. "What would you do if I told her the amount of times I got letters from you saying how you fucked another Italian model?"

"Then I would make you life as bad as she makes mine."

"Fair play. I won't then, I know how good her jinxes are." Draco grinned. "So, you presumed you would be single when you returned?"

"Of course. I was hoping to see if Sally-Anne was interested."

"For a relationship."

"Hell, no. Just a casual fuck. We did it back in fifth, but I was hoping she'd be a little more adventurous this time, but no I'm in a freaking relationship! With a highly unsupportive best friend."

"Your fault for not breaking up with the Weaslette. I mean is she that good a fuck to keep her around this long."

"She's pretty good actually. I probably say one of the best after Pansy and Parvati. I got a bit attached to her actually."

"That good? Shame I'll never get her really, then. I'm not sure I'd like the repercussions that seem to come with sleeping with a Weaslette, though. You have seemingly a bossy girlfriend for life and the hatred of all five of her brothers."

"She isn't that bossy. She just likes her own way. Plus I haven't really had much hate mail from her brothers. I think that they were more focused on you and Hermione, more than anything." Blaise chuckled.

"Even when it isn't their kin I get all the hate." Draco was about to continue when the very Weaslette walked back in.

"I spoke to Hermione." She announced. Draco scowled at her; he couldn't help but have a little contempt for her, despite Blaise's evident love. Draco knew that Blaise wouldn't still be here if their relationship wasn't serious, something that annoyed him to no end. "I'm not entirely sure what you did to her, Malfoy, but mark my words if you hurt her again, then you will have a world of pain coming your way."

Draco tried to keep calm, but he felt white hot anger building standing up, he let his emotions out. "First I did absolutely nothing to her I was perfectly nice. Secondly she was the one that fucked Blaise, not me, she was the one that fucked up our relationship so stop blaming me for any pain she feels-"

"She was dealing with a lot last year."

"Yeah, well who was trying to stop Voldemort from murdering their entire family? And third you can do nothing to me you stupid bitch." Draco growled and pushed past out into the corridor.

His anger was made worse by his hatred of his own outburst. Why couldn't he control his emotions so that he didn't shout as his best friend's girlfriend, when all they were trying to do was warn him to be careful of his actions? Why wasn't he able to keep his calm? All along his father had always tried to teach him that control of his emotions could one day be the thing that saved his life. Of course with Voldemort gone, that was less likely to be the situation, but it could help him save face. One little run in with a witch that used to rule his heart completely undid all the work he had done making him vulnerable. He could say it wasn't helped after being out of patience from Theo, but he knew that was just an excuse.

With a sigh that ruffled his hair, Draco walked back to his compartment and shut the door tight. Sitting back across from Theo, Draco undid the charm and watched as a drowsy Theo finished the sentence he was in the middle of when Draco put him to sleep.

"And I don't understand why." Theo yawned. "I'm feeling kind of tired. I'll deal with the box later."

Draco smiled, that was a result he hadn't dared to hope for but he wasn't complaining about the outcome. With a quiet Theo and less chance of an imminent death, Draco relaxed slightly, and tried to bring back the calm state he had had before his mother sent him to school.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Hermione entered the great hall, the noise decibel increased dramatically from hundreds of students yelling across tables, shouting their greetings and catching up on summers (and in many cases years) gone by. Hermione made her way over to the Gryffindor table, dodging around excited second years and a gaggle of gossiping fifth years to sit down next to Neville, Seamus and Lavender. Harry and Ron followed behind and together they began to notice how depleted their year had become.

"Parvati isn't coming back." Lavender announced, rather sorrowfully at the loss of her best friend for a year. "She got a really good internship at the _Daily Prophet_."

"Dean left too." Seamus added. "I don't think his mum wanted him back here so he's doing some work in Diagon Alley and doing his NEWTs over the next two years."

"How come his parents let him do that?" Ron inquired.

"Because he can still live at home." Seamus said with a grimace. He wasn't so keen on losing his best friend for the year either. "So we're down to six. Anyone know how the other houses are doing?"

"I was talking to Padma and she says that Ravenclaw still have eight of their ten." Lavender offered a small smile on her face. "All five of the girls but it was only Terry, Anthony and Kevin of the boys came back."

"Does that mean Michael Corner isn't here?" Ron asked, a little too happily.

"I ran into Ernie and there are only five Hufflepuffs that came back." Harry said. "Him, Zacharias Smith, Hannah Abbot, Megan Jones and Sally-Anne Perks."

"Only five?" Asked Neville, his small voice just audible above the din of everybody else in the hall. "My Gran made me come back; she would've gone berserk if I hadn't."

Hermione shared a small smile with Harry and Ron at this. They had met Neville's Gran only once, but that was enough to see that she wouldn't take any nonsense or bright ideas that didn't include a full education.

"I think there might be five or six Slytherins." Seamus said. "I definitely saw Malfoy and Nott and those three bitches, Parkinson, Davis and Greengrass."

"Tracey Davis isn't that bad." Lavender added. "She's half-blood though so quite low down in the pecking order of the Slytherins. I don't think that Pansy Parkinson really likes her, but that might just be prejudice."

"I can imagine Parkinson being a blood purist. Her and Malfoy, they are the ones that are the worst."

"Uh, I don't think Malfoy cares that much about blood." Hermione said, laughing slightly. "He never said anything bad about it to me. I think it was more that he was trying to do good by his father and his father's prejudice against muggle borns led Draco to have to think and at least say the same thing. He would have been dead by now if he hadn't said that."

"I wish he was dead." Harry muttered.

Hermione glared at him. "Look he means well. Maybe he doesn't to you but how people treat you doesn't show how they see the whole world, Harry." Hermione turned back to Lavender and Seamus, trying to keep her cool. She shouldn't be protecting Draco, not now they had broken up. "I know that Blaise is here, so trusting that Crabbe, Goyle and the two girls aren't here that makes six Slytherins and the total count for our year is twenty five."

"We've lost fifteen!" Lavender said aghast. "Fifteen people. That's going to be really odd. I do wonder what they are going to do about dormitories this year, because the effectively have two lots of first years, I'm guessing they'll relocate us, we know the school well enough."

"I would've thought so-" Neville began but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall whose presence at the front had caused a hush to fall over the hall.

She held her hand out and the Great Hall doors opened and the small and timid faces of the new first years poked their heads around the corner. Professor Vector led the new student into the Great Hall and up the centre, until they were stood in a sort of line, huddled together as if for protection. Professor Vector placed the three-legged stool down and put the Sorting Hat upon it, before taking the scroll the Professor McGonagall handed her.

The sorting began. Hermione smiled sadly as she watched student by new student walk up to the front to get sorted into their houses. She could vividly remember the terror that she had felt when she walked up their many years ago. Although she had tried to put a brave face on at the time, she was shaking under her new robes, terrified that the hat would place her somewhere where she wasn't liked, which was nearly the case. Hermione could remember all of her years that she had spent at Hogwarts and the unique memories that she had created and hoped that these students and just as wonderful feelings for the grand school.

Of course Hogwarts wasn't what it was in her time. There were many places where the structure had almost completely collapsed and the teachers had erected several temporary buildings to make up for the places they had lost. All around the school there were still workers who were carefully rebuilding the school, not necessarily to what it had been but to something magnificent anyway. Hermione was just pleased that they were allowed back here, especially as this was her final year, although she knew that many things would have moved, and she hopes she would be able to find her way around the castle despite its many broken and new passages.

Either way it was still Hogwarts; and the education was what mattered. Hermione looked up and across the hall as the sorting continued and almost choked as she immediately locked gaze with Draco. He looked just as shocked to be staring at her, though, which gave her comfort that neither of them quite knew what to do in such a social situation, and that maybe he wasn't as calm and collected as he had appeared. Hermione blushed brilliantly once again and looked down at the table, before focusing her attention determinably on the sorting.

The rest of the sorting and the feast passed in a sort of daze for Hermione. She was surrounded by talk on all sides, as everyone reunited, but she couldn't quite concentrate enough to find anything to say. She was still shocked at how Draco could affect her. All it took was eye contact and she was blushing like a maniac, unable to think straight. With a frown of annoyance, Hermione stood up and followed the others as they walked up to the front of the hall. She blinked as she realised they weren't travelling in the same direction to the Gryffindor tower that they would usually take, instead joining the other seventh years, but she was stopped from asking any questions by the presence of Professor McGonagall.

"As you know," She began, "Due to the poor quality of education last year, it is required of all students to retake the year. It is because of this that we have effectively double the numbers of first years. This has caused there to be a lack of space dormitory wise in each of your respective common rooms. As we have much rebuilding to do, we don't have the time or the effort to be able to alter this problem for one year only. Henceforth, we have solved the problem by housing all of you together in a separate place. If you would all like to follow me, please."

Sharing mystified glances about what this could possibly mean, the twenty-five students that were the remainder of their once forty strong seventh years followed McGonagall out of the hall and down the stairs that led to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff rooms. She led them further down the corridor than any had ever been before, leaving even the Hufflepuffs slightly anxious and intrigued about what had been lying down here that they had no knowledge of. Eventually McGonagall stopped and turned to a tapestry.

"Melody." Was the word the caused the painting of what looked like a mixture of colours scrambled across a page, to slowly move left, uncovering a doorway that led immediately to a staircase that was covered in a thick purple carpet. Up the stairs they went, Neville almost tumbling back down to the bottom, but managing to save face, just in time. When they reached to top of the sixteen steps, they entered a common room with a multitude of colours decorating it from every angle. There was the typical house colours representing each house on a sofa, but the walls were painted a bright white while the carpet was still purple. The outline of the two fireplaces was a startling orange though, causing some noses to wrinkle in distrust.

The area was large, though, not quite as large as their old common rooms, but almost as big, and the twenty-five of them had plenty of space. There were even two tables in the middle, seating ten each and a few desks round the edge of the rooms that seated one or two.

Professor McGonagall watched the mixed expressions, most of amazement and excitement, but the odd couple (Slytherins, naturally) that doubted the colour scheme of the area. "If you'll notice there are four doors," She pointed to the four wooden doors that were positioned along the back wall, "Leading to your dormitories. Gryffindor on the far left, followed by Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin on the right. When the corridor splits, boys will be on the left and girls on the right. Your luggage is already in your rooms, and here are your individual timetables."

Instant hushed gossiping broke out as McGonagall moved through the students, conferring about subject choices before creating their timetable for the year. Once the majority of students had gone to look at the dormitories and head to bed, only a few Slytherins were left behind, loitering around, waiting for McGonagall to get round to doing their timetables. As the still giggling Pansy, Daphne and Tracey left for bed, followed by Blaise after clapping Draco on the shoulder; Draco was left, lounging on the Slytherin sofa.

"Mr. Malfoy."

Draco stood up and turned to face the Professor. He was taller than her now, giving him a false feeling of superiority. He knew he had changed a lot since he was here in sixth year, and indeed hoped to prove to everyone the extent to which he had changed, for what he believed was the better. Even so he was slightly shocked the school had even let him back after what they knew he had done.

"Mr. Malfoy, many of the teachers and other members of staff and the educational board were very reluctant about inviting you back to school this year in light of what had happened in previous years. Luckily, there was enough support that people can change, the fact of your relationship with Miss. Granger caused many to rethink their ideas on you, and there are others in the opinion that some people do deserve a second chance, especially as we are all beginning a new era. Therefore I think you should be aware that your behaviour and work will be watched very closely in the coming year."

Draco nodded, having had an inkling this was coming. McGonagall pressed on. "Do not take this lightly, Mr. Malfoy. I say this to warn you that any suspicious or angry behaviour could easily result in your expulsion. Do not break any rules, for there is no lee way. This is your last chance, and I beg of you to use it well as although you are here, there are many that do not think it wise, you would do well to watch your step, your emotions and your words. This having been said, I would assume you will be continuing the subjects that you began two years ago. Am I right?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Then here is your timetable." She waved her wand over the remaining piece of paper, and the table with Draco's lessons and frees appeared. "I feel I should tell you that you will be sharing all your classes with both Anthony Goldstein and Hermione Granger." She gave one last look of warning as she handed over the timetable before leaving the room and Draco stood alone.

Draco sank back into the Slytherin sofa with its garish green pattern with silver snakes entwined in it, with a pronounced scowl on his face. He was hoping to have avoided Hermione this year, as much as it was physically possible, but having the same subjects and consequently sharing all his lessons with her would be perfectly unfeasible. They had shared all their classes together two years ago as well, so he knew that know that their classes were even smaller, he wouldn't even be able to sit far away from her.

Draco stood, stretching his long legs and, with a sigh for the year ahead that he still had to conquer, he heading in the direction of his new dormitories. He opened the heavy wooden door and entered the thin corridor beyond; unsurprisingly the wallpaper was the same as the pattern on the sofa, green with silver snaked, just reminding him that he was a Slytherin, in case he could have possibly forgotten. He walked along the corridor and up a couple of step to where to corridor split in two. Remembering McGonagall's words from earlier, he took the left path and soon came to another door.

He turned the handle (that had a snake engraved upon it, surprise, surprise) and entered the room. It was smaller than the previous dormitories he had had, due to Crabbe and Goyle having not returned to complete their NEWTs. To his right there was a door which presumably led to their shared bathroom. The room that housed their bed was long and thin with the first bed set against the wall on his left. There were five steps that led up to the next level where the next four poster bed was situated. Both of these had their Slytherin green curtains shut, indicating that Theo and Blaise had already taken them and had headed to bed. Up another five steps was the final bed, which Draco took to be his. He walked up the steps to finally reach his own bed, next to which his trunk had been placed. He opened his trunk and sighed at the mess inside. Everything would have been in its proper place when he set off, but it had been shaken by the train, and carried by magic, which had left the insides anywhere but where they were supposed to be, no longer representing any order.

Not willing to sort the mess out there and then, or to put his clothes into the wardrobe that had been provided that stood opposite his bed against the wall, Draco simply grabbed his wash kit and headed back down the steps to the bathroom in order to clean his teeth so he could head to bed. He did know a spell that would save him the bother of walking to the bathroom, but it left an unsavoury taste in his mouth, and despite what his father had always said about magic always being the better option; Draco preferred to do this one action by hand.

The bathroom that they had was larger than they would ever need it, with three large showers and on oversized bath. Along one wall there was three sinks with mirrors and a large cabinet, that when Draco peered inside, already held the other two boys' toothbrushes and razors. Draco grinned at the size of this. Although he hated the fact that he would have to share the common room with Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs (he didn't mind so much about the Ravenclaws, they were serious about their study and not Hermione Granger), this bathroom made up for that fact, though it didn't quite make up for the poor choice of decoration. Draco looked into the mirror.

"You look happy, dear." The mirror said, dampening Draco's mood slightly. He wasn't the biggest fan of mirrors that commented on what they saw, they were usually far too perceptive of emotions than he liked them to be, often being so accurate they told him things about himself that he hadn't even realised yet. With a sigh of determination, he didn't let this dampen his mood, as this was the happiest he had been all day.

He gave a small smile to the mirror. "Thanks, don't expect me to stay this happy, though. It's a rare occurrence." With a small chuckle about the truth of that statement, he bent to find his toothpaste to brush his teeth. Maybe he could survive this year and maybe it wouldn't be too bad.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, calmly eating her porridge, waiting for the boys to come up from their new common room. She had successfully avoided Draco this morning, although it was a close call as she opened the door from the Gryffindor dormitories into the common room, just as his blonde head was disappearing down the stairs. Even though it was only the back of his head, she knew it was him; nobody had quite as bright hair as a Malfoy. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid the Slytherin prince forever, but she wasn't ready to begin walking down to breakfast with him quite yet.

"Is Harry not here?" A voice asked. Hermione looked up and saw Ron sitting down at the table, a frown on his face.

"I thought he would be with you."

"Well when I woke up, he was already in the shower, and by the time I was ready, he had gone, I presumed he would be here with you."

"I haven't seen him yet this morning. Wait." Hermione squinted across the hall to the doors. "Is that him?"

Ron turned and watched the approaching figure. It was indeed Harry, but a Harry with a flushed face, his cheeks red and his clothes slightly askew. His tie was loose around his neck and his hair was an indescribable mess. Worse than usual.

"What have you been doing?" Hermione asked, in shock at his appearance.

"Yeah, man." Ron grinned, if his suspicions were correct, he knew exactly what Harry had been doing. "This early in the morning?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

Harry blushed at his insinuations. "I haven't been doing anything."

"Harry, by the looks of your hair, you just walked through gale-force winds and despite leaving earlier than Ron, you aren't even properly dressed." Hermione reasoned.

Harry scowled at her observations, but Ron jumped in before he could answer. "Yeah, who were you shagging?"

"What?" Harry's voice was high and full of guilt. "I wasn't shagging anyone."

"Aw, c'mon? The great Harry Potter not shagging someone, I find that hard to believe."

"I'm not a slut, Ron. God, I don't know why I even bothered coming down to breakfast." With a 'humph' of disgust, Harry stood back up, grabbed a slice of already buttered toast off of Ron's plate and stormed back out of the hall. His angry footsteps caused quite a disruption in the hall, getting noticed by those sitting on the ends of the tables, which were mainly the seventh years.

Hermione glanced at Ron. "Any idea what that was about?"

"Nope, not a clue. You don't reckon it was Ginny, do you?"

"Not seeing as she is sat about ten seats down the table and has been here for almost as long as I have." Hermione smiled. She knew that Ron were be calmed by that information, he was internally distressed when Ginny and Harry broke up, especially since Ginny was immediately seeing a Slytherin, so he didn't want any more family dramas.

"Well that's good. I wonder who it could be, though."

"Maybe that wasn't what he was doing, Ron."

"Are you kidding? Hermione, I know you are ridiculously smart and, thanks to the smarmy Malfoy, actually have some experience in this area, but you don't know men. And that man just had sex."

"Okay. I'll take your word on this. Who do think with, though?"

"No idea. I'll ask him later. Maybe he doesn't want you to judge him, or gossip or something."

"Like I would. Anyway, I better get to class, I have Arithmancy first." Hermione waved and headed out of the hall to class.

When she arrived at the classroom, Hermione took the last remaining seat. Next to Draco Malfoy. As soon as she had got out her books, quill, parchment and wand, Draco leaned over to speak in low tones. "What was up with Potter this morning?"

"I honestly don't know." Hermione sat stiff necked, tense and rigid in the face of heartbreak. "He wouldn't say what he'd been doing. Or who."

Draco smiled at Hermione's words. "I didn't know that you made jokes like that, little Miss. Ganger."

"Well then, something new you didn't know about me."

"Which is?"

"I've loosened up." Hermione grinned.

"How much?" Draco asked, curious. Hermione turned her head and was about to answer, when the Professor entered the room and clapped her hands to get the attention of the class.

Hermione was secretly pleased at the timing. She hadn't changed at all in that sense, and the last time she had dramatically loosened up was back in sixth year, and that was all thanks to Draco. Somewhere in her head, something had made her say that, to lie directly, even if it was to Draco. It was no excuse. Hermione wanted to bang her head on the table she was so annoyed at her selfish actions. Instead, she forced herself to listen to the lesson, to remember what she had learnt back in sixth year, and what she had read up on in the last couple of months.

Beside her, Draco slumped in his seat frowning. By the sounds of it, Hermione had been having a whale of a time over the summer, probably shacking up with half the Weasleys while he was trying to sort out his family. A black cloud loomed over his day and Draco scowled. He looked so angry that the professor even avoided directly asking him a question, instead turning quickly to Anthony, who had a much more pleasant expression on his face.

Anger wasn't quite the right emotion. Jealousy was closer to the truth, but Draco would never quite admit that to himself. Jealous when he had almost everything that he wanted. The one thing he didn't have being the witch that was sat next to him, scribbling down extensive notes. Draco was a little curious about Potter, however, something which barely lightened his mood. Draco knew how most people acted when they had something to hide. He, being more skilled at hiding his emotions and covering his tracks, didn't have that problem, but he had seen Pansy and Daphne often try and cover up what they had been doing (or more accurately who they had been doing) over weekends. Potter was definitely covering something up, badly, but even so it was enough to intrigue the Slytherin.

It could be something undoubtedly boring, that for some reason, probably the nobleness that seemed to be embedded in all those who wore the lion proudly, Potter felt the need to hide it, but Draco doubted that he would have hid that from Hermione and Weasley. Draco smelled a secret and, as a way to keep his mind off Mia and the things she may have been doing in the summer, he was determined to figure out what was going on.

As soon as the bell rang, Draco was out of his seat, his books and slightly lacking notes in his bag. He had a free period next, and was determined to use it to the best of his ability, by starting at the bottom of the Potter mystery by heading back to the new common room.

Draco walked up the purple steps, trying to ignore the colour choice, and entered into the empty common room. Most people were either outside enjoying the very last of the sunshine, or they were up in the library getting an early start on their work. Draco dropped his bag next to a table and walked over to the Gryffindor dormitory door. Carefully, his wand clutched tightly in his hand in case of any protective spells, Draco carefully opened the door and walked slowly into the common room behind it. The corridor, decorated in the Gryffindor red and gold, took a sharp turn to the left and immediately branched into two. Draco took the left path, not daring to risk what might happen if he walked into the girls dorms. Nothing unusual happened, even as he opened the final door, with the Gryffindor lion on the handle and entered the Gryffindor boys' dormitories.

The room was similar to the one that the Slytherins had, but with one extra bed. Draco walked up the room, looking at the initials that were printed on each of the trunks. When he reached the top he finally saw that ones he had been looking for as the trunk had 'H.P.' inscribed upon it. Draco smiled and opened the trunk. Luckily, the items inside were in no sort of comprehensible order so Draco didn't have a problem as he began sifting through.

Unfortunately most of it was clothes and books, nothing of personal importance so Draco moved over to the bedside table, hoping that something might be there, something to show some kind of secret relationship, a photo or a letter. Draco opened a draw and picked up a photo album that looked promising. He flicked through the pages, most of which seemed to be old pictures of Potter's parents, but when he reached the back, there were a series of pictures that shed a whole lot of light onto the situation. Draco grinned and replaced the photo album, but not before he had held out his wand and created copies of every incriminating photo that the album held.

As Draco left, he could see now why Potter had reacted the way he had that morning at breakfast, the way that any unsuspecting person would, who was new to the world of lying and covering up their footsteps, protecting their actions from the nosy among them all. All of Draco's suspicious or incriminating possessions, even those which he just didn't want anybody to see, for other reasons, were all protected by several jinx's and charms. You had to really want to know his secrets, or be very good at spells.

Of course, he wouldn't use the ammunition he now had straight away, he wanted to catch Harry in the secret, catch him red handed, so Potter knew he was serious and that he wouldn't be messing around. Plus he needed to think of what he could best use his new position of power for, he didn't want to waste it over something stupid.

Hermione entered the dungeon and took her usual seat in front of the cauldron next to both Harry and Ron. She was hoping that Professor Slughorn would be kind enough to them, that he wouldn't put them in pairs, especially not the pairs they had two years ago.

"Ah, excellent." Slughorn had entered and was surveying the room. "I see we are only missing two people, Mr. Corner and Miss. Bulstrode I believe. Right, class. You produced some excellent work the last time we were all here, and I want to start you off gently as I know it's been over a year since most of you would have brewed a potion. Therefore I want you in your old pairs, brewing Gregory's Unctuous Unction, although you will not be testing it!" Slughorn chuckled, most of the class stayed silent, some not knowing what Gregory's Unctuous Unction even was. Those that did know only rolled their eyes at Slughorn's pathetic attempts at humour. "You may begin."

Hermione picked up her bag and headed over to where Draco was leaning over his textbook, looking at the ingredients they would be using. Hermione, of course, had already read all about the potion, and knew that the effect of it persuaded the drinker that the giver is their best friend. Useful for when you wanted to find out about somebody's secrets, although it doesn't necessarily mean it will work, you are just more likely to find out things if you are their best friend, than if you are a stranger or enemy.

"I'll go get the ingredients, can you start the fire?" Draco asked, not waiting for an answer before he picked up his textbook and headed off for the ingredients cupboard. Hermione blinked slightly at his abruptness. She started the fire anyway, and looked at the instructions in her own textbook.

The potion began, and the pair worked in almost silence, only talking about the potion, or asking for the next ingredient. When they reached near the end, with only one more ingredient to add, they had to sit and let the potion boil for nine minutes, Draco opened up the communications between them. "I found out something about Potter today."

"You did? What did you find out?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Hermione said confused, her brows furrowed trying to work out what he was talking about.

"About this morning."

"I still know nothing about that. What do you know? Who told you?"

"I looked, and well, see for yourself." Draco pulled out the copies of the photos that he had made. He watched delightedly as Hermione's face changed from interested to shocked.

"Oh my goodness. He never said anything, I never even guessed. Did you take these?"

"No, these are copies. What do you think?"

"I don't know what to think." Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "Why didn't he say something? I mean this isn't something that he should just keep covered up! Honestly, that boy. Saviour of the world and he still can't find time to share an unbelievably important detail with us." Hermione huffed. "I'm having words with him."

"You can't"

"Why not?"

"Because he'll want to know how you found out. Plus if these are fake, then he will know you've seen them. No we need to catch him in the act."

"We?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, you don't think that I want to miss this, do you?"

"You aren't going to do anything bad with the information, are you? Because Harry has had a bad enough life and now he finally has peace, he has this to deal with. Plus I don't want to prove him right."

"I won't do anything too bad, but prove him right about what?"

"We've been arguing and he believes that people can't change and that you are, and I quote, 'a stinking Slytherin dickhead with no feelings who will just fuck you over for the hell of it'." Hermione paused, staring at the floor. "The nine minutes are up."

Together, they added the final ingredient, and stirred the potion calmly, three times clockwise. "You've been defending me?"

"Well, yeah."

"But, why? We broke up."

"We broke up, because of my stupid mistake and your best friend who clearly has no morals, not because you did anything wrong. Well, apart from the whole death eater thing."

"Yeah that minor little thing where Voldemort was controlling my life, nothing too big or anything." Draco snorted as he ladled some of their potion into a vial.

"It all turned out alright in the end. Well, sort of." Hermione sighed, thinking of the many who had given their lives to Harry and to fighting Voldemort until the end. "What about your dark mark?"

Draco rolled up his sleeve on his left arm, and bared the pale skin to Hermione. A small faint outline of what used to be the dark mark was barely visible. "It has been fading slowly as the spell dies. It would have gone quicker, but Voldemort was so powerful its taking a while." Draco smiled. "I want it to go though. I want to get rid of this inexplicable trace of him. I want him gone forever. Until this goes, it still feels that he is here in some way."

Hermione nodded. She understood this reasoning. It had taken her several months to let the fact that Voldemort was dead and that finally, the only dangers in the world were the usual muggers and burglars, truly sink in. Of course, when she had truly understood the truth of the situation, was the only time she could finally let go and say goodbye.

The bell rang, and the class filed out of the room, most happy as no homework had been set yet, allowing them to head to lunch, without the added burden of complicated potions work to do. Hermione trailed behind Harry and Ron, ever so slightly confused. She knew that with the war and the deaths that their life hadn't exactly been smooth, but lately it had calmed down quite a lot. She just didn't understand why Harry felt the need to keep this information quiet, or why he couldn't even tell them. She could see that he wouldn't want the whole world knowing, not with the gossip columns or the judging that was bound to come his way as the ever famous Potter, but the fact that he felt that he couldn't even confide in his two best friends, who had refused to abandon him even through the most life threatening and emotionally traumatising time of their lives meant that he was either slipping away, or this was something really big that he felt he had to handle himself.

Hermione sighed. Maybe there wasn't any point in obsessing over the why nots. Perhaps she should take Draco's advice and simply try and either confronting him about it, or catch him in the act, then he would have no choice but to confess and explain why he had kept such life changing news from them.

Unfortunately, any of this would require some plotting, some advice and a partner in crime, and as she wasn't ready to approach Ron about this, for fear of his reaction, her only option was Draco. This would have to force her to drop it, forget about it, and sit and watch and see how Harry's behaviour changed or became routine over the next couple of months. Maybe Christmas time would be an appropriate time to bring up the issue, and then they would have the whole holidays for him to digest the fact that she knew...and Draco knew. This was never going to end well.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_The two of them set up the tent in the forest, sliding over the wet leaves. Hermione had already set up the defences that she was performing so often it had become quite routine and mundane, a fact that terrified her. How many mistakes had she made, just because she thought she knew it too well to really concentrate? She headed into the tent, shivering in the cold. Inside Harry had already set up a small fire contained in a jar. Hermione smiled, remembering the time in their first year when she had used this particular spell, and consequently, used it later in the same year to defeat the devil snare. She smiled at how the world had looked back then, as they surveyed it through the rose tinted glasses of youth. Of course, they had quickly learnt how the world truly was thanks to Quirrell and Voldemort._

_Next to the fire, Harry was lying on his back, staring at the canvas ceiling high above him. Hermione joined him, marvelling at what magic could achieve and slipping her hand into his, entangling their fingers and giving his hand a squeeze of encouragement. Harry squeezed back, a small smile lighting his face as he knew that he wasn't alone._

"_He'll come back." Hermione whispered, her voice barely reaching Harry's ear._

"_You really think so?"_

"_Of course. It's Ron, of course he'll come back."_

"_What if he doesn't?"_

"_He will. Trust me Harry." Hermione turned to look at Harry, pleading with her big brown orbs that he would believe her, even if they were kidding themselves, it was better than being depressed about something that they couldn't change._

"_I trust you." Harry murmured, turning his head to meet Hermione's gaze. "I'll always trust you." With both their head to the side, their noses were almost touching. Hermione could feel Harry's hot breath on her face, mixing with hers in the air._

_Hermione closed her eyes and pretended they were in a better place. A place where they weren't being hunted down, where they hadn't lost Ron, where the whole worlds hopes weren't on their shoulders and where they could do what they wanted, where they wanted without evil wizards stopping them. It was times like these when Hermione envied muggles. As wonderful and as unbelievable the magical world was, the relative safety and security of the muggle world was something she definitely wanted. Hopefully, if they survived this, if they made it through and didn't die and they managed, beyond expectations to defeat Voldemort, Hermione hoped that the magical world would be as safe as the muggle world, so that she wouldn't be envious. So that she could relax. So she wouldn't fuck up her relationship over stress and the ease of sleeping with someone else._

_Hot lips pressed against hers and Hermione opened up her eyes in surprise, moving back as an involuntary reflex. She saw Harry's wide eyes, so much greener without his glasses staring right back at her, unsure of what to think. Throwing both her annoyance at the world and caution into the wind, Hermione reached forward and pulled Harry's head back to hers, meeting him in a searing kiss, that made him finally understood why Draco had had such a hard time letting go of Hermione. Of course he knew that she was a wonderful person, and that few could surpass her brain, plus she wasn't half bad to look at, Harry had considered taking things one step further with her before, but had always held back so as not to ruin their friendship, but now he knew that her kissing abilities were something so mind bogglingly good that he didn't want it to stop._

_Hermione rolled on top of Harry and pulled back for air, breathing deep and looking down at Harry. Harry looked up at Hermione, her face surrounded by a mess of curly hair, her lips pink and parted minutely. It only lasted a few seconds, before their lips were once again connected, tongues intermingling in a heavy mix of passion and desperation. Hermione was desperate to forget, even for a while. Harry was desperate to feel good again, something that he hadn't felt since back when he first discovered he was a wizard, or that's how long ago it felt like these days._

_It wasn't long until all clothes had been abandoned and forgotten about, the fire had been moved to a safe distance away and Hermione was clawing at Harry's back, desperate for some relief, her mind a cloud, trying to ignore all the reasons why this was a bad idea, unsuccessfully of course. The pressure and frustration was too much, and a single tear slipped out the corner of Hermione's eye and down her cheek, naturally followed by another from the other eye. More began to flow, silently slipping down her cheeks until Harry noticed and carefully kissed them away, lovingly and caring and silently hoping it wasn't his fault._

_Hermione choked out a sob, tears flowing more rapidly down her cheeks and she turned her head away, embarrassed that everything had got to her quite so easily. Harry rolled to the side and pulled her close, stroking her tangled hair and muttering nonsensical calming noises into her ear._

"_It is going to be okay. It's all going to work out. Ron will come back and then we'll find the horcruxes and before you know it Voldemort will be dead and everyone will be happy again." Harry choked back a sob, trying not to appear weak, something he had been trying for far too long, in his opinion._

"_But what if it doesn't." Hermione whispered. "What if you die?" _

_Harry smoothed her hair, kissing her on the forehead. "Then I just don't know. I just do not know." A tear slipped down his cheek and fell into Hermione's hair. She had stopped crying now, a mixed expression of pain and anguish on her face. She turned from her back to her side, facing Harry and shuffled closer, burying her tear stained face into the crook of his neck, sighing deeply._

_Harry reached out, his hand scrabbling around until it landed on a wand. With this, he silently summoned a blanket and tucked it around the pair of them, pressing his lips together as he bent his head, knowing it would be a long wait for sleep to come, despite his physical exhaustion, mentally he was still buzzing as if wacked up on chocolate frogs._

Hermione walked down to the dungeons, a smile on her face for the first time in weeks. September had already slipped past in a mixture of awkward meetings with Draco, suspicious actions from Harry and a load of homework pressed on by teachers as they increased the work load, trying to cover the syllabus and get people reminded of what they had done two years ago. Maybe it was the work that Hermione loved so much that had improved her mood, or maybe it was the fact that she had finally worked out that Harry's odd routine amassed of suspicious disappearances and reappearances. Though it could possibly be that she had worked out a way to function around Draco without blushing every ten seconds, or being forced to sit in silence or play odd mind games.

Hermione walked through the potions room door and put her back down next to Draco with a smile. In the previous lesson, Slughorn had announced that he wanted them to research a potion in their pairs in order to present it at the end of the month. Of course this research would be happening out of class time, and within class, he wanted them to continue working in pairs, so that if necessary, they could plan to meet in the library without having to talk out of class. This meant that Hermione and Draco would be spending a lot more time together than they already did, forcing them to spend at least all their potion classes together until the end of October. Today, Hermione didn't mind that. They had worked out a system for working together unconsciously, meaning their potions were made swiftly and well, often giving them a chance to talk at the end of class while they packed up, or while they were waiting for the bell. Usually Hermione dreaded these times as often she would say things she didn't mean, in a way, she worked out that she was often trying to make Draco jealous. It was either that, or an uncomfortable silence in which Hermione wanted to knock Draco of his seat in anger and then have wild animal sex with him, which wasn't something she wanted to be thinking about in the middle of a potions lab, with a whole class of watching students and one professor. Today, however, she had the important news of Harry's routine.

"Hey." Draco greeted her. "Slughorn has given us this potion today." Draco pointed to the appropriate page in his open textbook. Slughorn had taken to presenting the name of their potions as soon as he arrived, whether the whole class was here or not, before getting on with some marking in the corner. It did mean that some people often arrived slightly late, and managed to get away with it. It also meant that they could start their potion and therefore finish their potion early.

"Excellent. I have some good news too."

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you later." Hermione grinned, ever so slightly evilly.

"Well, I'll get the ingredients then." Draco left to get the ingredients, and Hermione started to look at the potion they would be brewing. Today, they were brewing a Pepperup Potion, probably if it was brewed correctly, one which would later be used by Madam Pomfrey.

They began to brew their potions together, working almost in silence, Hermione doing a lot of the precision work as Draco was clearly preoccupied about the information she had yet to tell, he was certainly curious to know what it was. As soon as their potion was simmering gently on the heat, and they had no more ingredients to add, Draco turned impatiently to Hermione.

"So what is it? What's the news?"

"I've learnt Harry's routine."

"His routine?"

"His routine of suspicious behaviour." Hermione announced with a grin.

"You have?" Draco gasped. "That's great. So, what are we going to do? Follow him, or surprise him?"

"I was thinking follow him to make sure we are correct and then we can tell him another time, when he's alone, I think that would be nicer."

"Oh I forgot, you care about his reaction."

"Of course I care." Hermione smiled. "You would do well to care too, he is a human being, you know, just like us."

"I care more about us than I do about him, though."

Hermione blinked, slightly stunned at that announcement. He still cared? Or was he just being general in that he knew her better? Her ponderings were cut short by the bell and Slughorn's announcement that they could leave.

"Meet me at lunch in the library, then, for this project?"

"I'll see you there." Hermione smiled and grabbed her bag and hurried off to join Harry and Ron for a study session in their common room.

Draco watched her leave with a slightly wistful look in his eye. He wished that they had never broken up; he missed her, not just for the sex but the intellectual debates that they had every now and again, nothing serious, but it was good to have an actual academic conversation. After all, Blaise wasn't exactly interested in his education.

"Hey mate." Blaise clapped him on the back and Draco smiled ruefully, he knew his friend all too well. "You ready?"

"What for?"

"Didn't I mention? I was planning a Halloween party, but we need to have it in the Slytherin common room, so we're going there to talk to the sixth years."

"Why do we have to plan it with them? Why can't you just plan it for our common room?"

"Nobody knows where it is, or the password."

"Well why don't you change the password for Halloween, and put a direction charm down the corridor, or something?"

"That's a good idea." Blaise said, thinking about it. Draco rolled his eyes; Blaise always took the easier longer route as opposed to putting a little bit more work in. "Well, do you want to help plan this then, because I don't know what spells would work."

"Yeah I'll help." Draco sighed. He didn't exactly have time to help, but he would do his best. He could do with a good party, though; there was nothing more relaxing than having no worries, or the methodical mind numbing cleaning the next morning either. He had definitely missed over the past year the chance to get drunk with other people. It wasn't such an inviting prospect when you were on your own, that didn't mean that he didn't when life got really depressing, but it wasn't something he enjoyed.

"Great." Blaise grinned. "Do you think if I sleep with someone else at the party, Ginny will want to break up with me?"

"Possibly. Why? Do you want to break up?"

"No, I would like to whore around a bit, though. Having sex with one person gets a bit dull after a while. Plus she gets all snappy really easily."

"Have you told her about the models or the waitresses yet?"

"Nope she doesn't have a clue."

"Maybe you should start with that, then. Ease her in to the awful world of Blaise Zabini. I would have thought that she would have been used to you by now. I know I am." Draco grumbled. As much as he was annoyed by his fellow Slytherin and deceived on occasion, he couldn't imagine how dull life would be without him, and was eternally grateful that they had developed a close friendship over the years. Things had been a little rocky lately, due to the Hermione thing, and the fact that they had had limited contact over the past year.

"I would have thought that she knew me fairly well. Maybe it's time to mix things up."

"Didn't you do enough of that last year?" Draco growled, causing Blaise to frown at him.

"I didn't mean like that. Whatever, something'll happen, it always does around here."

Draco sighed. Maybe that was the problem, Hogwarts was just too gossip crazy, one little thing often caused a chain reaction whether you wanted it to or not and he knew from experience that keeping things to yourself was never easy. If anything it only seemed to provoke false rumours to fly, anything to quench the undeniable gossip mill that worked within Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"So that's the plan? It feels a little empty."

"I'm sorry if my plans stick to the simplicity factor. I'm not some sort of criminal mastermind; this is a fairly simple thing that we're doing the plan doesn't need any more levels."

"What about a backup plan? Everyone needs a backup plan."

"Draco, we aren't plotting some dastardly act."

"Even so, backup plans are essential."

"Okay then, backup plan: run."

"That's the backup plan? It feels a little empty."

"Don't start this again. It's good enough for the task in hand, just leave it at that." Hermione sighed. She knew that the planning would be easy, she just didn't know how stubborn Draco would be. They rounded a corner and started down a corridor of majorly unused classrooms.

"I still think that we aren't using this advantage as much as possible. We could use this as leverage to get Potter to do whatever we want, you realise?"

"I don't want to put Harry in that situation, I just want him to be in a situation where he can't deny it or make excuses."

"That is so boring, though."

"Like I already said, this isn't some sort of criminal plot; it's a simple means to an end, which for the record, I do not like."

"Yeah, yeah but I still feel that we can use this."

"Would you do this to Blaise? If it was him in this situation."

"Of course I would."

"Seriously?"

"You never know when things like this might come in handy."

"Look, just because you'd do it to your Slytherin frenemies, doesn't mean that Harry and I would. I could just ask him for a favour and nine times out of ten he would oblige."

"So why are you doing this then? Why don't you just talk to him?"

"It's Harry we are talking about here. He isn't the most open individual, plus he hates people knowing things about him, especially things that make people stop and stare. He hates the staring and gossiping thing that people do and I don't blame him after seven years of it." Hermione said fiercely, she would go a long way to protect both Harry and Ron

"Stop making him out to be the unappreciated hero." Draco stopped and turned to Hermione, backing her into a wall slightly. "Look I know he hasn't had the best life but being famous has brought him a lot of perks that the rest of us have to work bloody hard for. Your precious Potter may not like people gossiping about him but he never exactly tried to stop the rumour mill. He has spent the last seven years getting himself tied up in so many situations that even if he wasn't famous, people would know him by now as that crazy guy that is always trying to get himself killed."

"You leave off Harry." Hermione growled, equally as angry as Draco's speech had been, prodding her finger into his chest, trying to make her point heard. "He gets himself in those situations because he loves too much and he wants to protect the people he cares for. He wants to stop evil and he wants to make sure that everybody lives happily. Do you know that reason that Ron and I always go with him? It's to keep him safe because he makes too many stupid decisions, but he never wants us there, because he always makes sure that it's our choice. Plus, weren't you the one that bought their way onto the Slytherin team in second year, just so you could be the centre of attention for once?"

"God, you're annoying. Yes I did but only because I wanted to beat Harry at something straight on, not so everyone would talk about me. I was good enough, I just needed to beat out the older players, and it wasn't like I was a Longbottom lumbering around the pitch."

"Hey, Neville is more than a man than you will ever be."

"Why, because he's a little Gryffindor where if you're brave it doesn't matter if you fail?"

"No because he has the drive to try and do things and he cares about his friends when you clearly don't considering you'd be quite happy to hold things above their head just to get what you want."

"Oh I care when it's important. Don't forget that you're the one that cheated."

"Oh, don't get all noble about that! I was still technically dating Ron the whole time, yet you never had a problem with that, but as soon as someone who could threaten your position and take what you have, comes along, then you care."

"I always cared for you, you don't know how much it hurt every time I saw you with Ron."

"You clearly did so much about it."

"I was trying to do what was right by you. I've never dated a Gryffindor before; I didn't know what sluts you were." Draco stepped closer again, looking down at Hermione.

"You fucked Parvati and Lavender, didn't you? I though you could have guessed."

"I never lumped the little perfect Gryffindor princess prude in with the others, though. I thought you were better than that." He spat the words with venom enough to sting, at Hermione, finally feeling that he was letting his emotions out.

"Clearly you didn't know me as well as you thought you did. Six years of ridicule based on stereotypical conclusions."

"Believe me if I thought you were such a filthy slut, I would have left you alone.

"Then why didn't you?" Tears had begun to slip down her cheeks, now, her anger and pure emotion too much to bear, along with the insults that were being thrown at her. "Why didn't you just leave me alone? It would've saved so much pain."

"Because for some damned reason I fucking love you!" Draco caught her face in his hands and roughly kissed her, pouring all his pain and love into the simple action.

Hermione was caught by surprise, and pushed up against the rough brick wall, she had no place to run and hide. She could have pulled out her wand, but even as the tears still slipped out of the corners of her eyes, trailing down her face, she kissed Draco back, as rough as he kissed her, throwing every negative emotion into it, her mind bank but with a roaring fury.

Heatedly, their tongues raged battle, teeth clashing slightly as they pressed closer, lips parted, wanting more. Draco pulled back suddenly, breathing heavily, desperately pulling in oxygen. He watched Hermione for a few seconds, as she leant back against the wall, barely supporting herself, before he turned and strode off down the corridor.

Hermione slumped down to the floor, her legs no longer able to hold herself up. She choked a sob before she started crying fully, loudly with no care as to who found her in this pitiful sate, with tear tracks down her face, her hair a tangled mess, even after only a few minutes of being scrunched in Draco's hands. She rested her forehead on her knees, wishing for a quiet sole and a peaceful mind. To think she had thought that this year would be quiet and she would spend all her time happily worrying about her studies rather than messed up in this confused and unusual way. Draco Malfoy. That was one thing she would advise if ever someone was moaning that their life was too uneventful, falling for him had certainly messed up hers.

Draco headed down the castle, desperate for some fresh air, anger fuelling his stride. Why did he have to say all those things? _"Because for some damned reason I fucking love you!"_ Why did he have to say that? It was true, but nonetheless he didn't want her to know that even after over a year he was having trouble saying goodbye. And then he just had to go and practically maul her face while she was crying and clearly distressed. Draco aimed a kick at a wall in anger, wishing he hadn't soon after as the pain flew up his toe. Even so he walked on, not wanting to seem weak for kicking a wall. He was wearing shoes after all and he wasn't a Hufflepuff.

Not five steps outside the main doors to the castle, that Draco decided that it was too happy outside, with the sun shining and an annoying amount of people (more than none) wondering around, and headed back in, but not before catching a glimpse of smoke, curling out of one of the windows that he knew lay above the courtyard. Dismissing the sight as nothing important, he hurried down the staircase into the kitchen, Hufflepuff and now seventh year's common room corridor. He reached the common room entrance, muttered 'melody' and took the stairs into the actual common room two at a time. There was a smattering of people dotted around the tables that stared at him as he strode through, opened the door to the Slytherin dormitories and slammed it shut behind him. With his fury running out Draco walked more slowly along the corridor and into his own dormitory. He headed up to his bed and flopped on it, opening a draw in his bedside table and pulling out a box. He opened the lid and pulled out a small vile and swallowed it in one. The dreamless sleep potion knocked him out, finally allowing his mind to stop whirring.

Hermione pulled herself so that she was sitting upright, wiping the remaining tears from her face. She had finally stopped crying, although she wasn't sure if it was because she had calmed down, the fact that Draco had left, or the simple fact that she just didn't have the energy to cry anymore. With an effort that was harder than she had expected, she forced herself to stand, grabbing her bag along with her. With slow, heavy steps she walked down the corridor, until she came to the window at the end. It wasn't really a window; more of an empty pane where there used to be glass, but now there was just a ledge. There was a lack of glass since the war, but the builders were slowly replacing the glass, in many cases making the room or corridors warmer with new magic that kept the heat in better. Hermione swung her leg over the ledge and peered down to the courtyard below. Dipping her hand into her bag, she pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, something that she had taken to keeping near her lately, not wanting to be caught in a situation like the one she was in, and be forced to travel further for something to sooth her frazzled nerve.

She pulled the smoke into her lungs, inhaling deeply before she let it escape from her parted lips. Smoking wasn't a regular habit of hers, but it certainly helped in moments of stress such as this. It wasn't something that made her feel happy, though, only keeping the panic at bay, inviting the depression to run its course. She replaced the cigarette at her lips and inhaled deeply, tipping her head back as she let the smoke trickle from between her lips into the air above the courtyard. She watched as it dissipated into the air, mixing into the atmosphere on the rainy day.

Confusion. She thought as she dragged again, pulling the smoke into her lungs. That's the feeling. She felt confused over what she truly felt for Draco, nowadays. Was in continued feelings of love and anger from back in their sixth year and the awful events that led to their breakup? Or was it a residue or tiresome relentless nothingness that she couldn't come to grips with? It could of course be that with the absence of Voldemort breathing life threatening worried down their backs, that she was finally feeling that irresistible pull that every other teenage girl at Hogwarts felt towards that Slytherin prince. She blew out, continuing to ponder as the smoke swirled around her. She felt confused about their plan for Harry. Draco was so certain that they should save the information and use it to blackmail him, whereas Hermione, knowing Harry so well, had no desire to do such a thing. But he was right when he questioned that if she knew him so well, why was she doing all this behind his back, forcing him into a situation where denial wasn't an option as opposed to querying him about it, and taking his word for truth? Why did she even believe Draco when he showed her those photos? He could have made them for this situation to occur, so that he could somehow force Harry into doing something altogether alarming, using her remaining emotions for him as a bond that she trusted implicitly, believing that he still wouldn't lie to her even after what she did to him. It did match up with Harry's suspicious behaviour, but that could have been completely normal behaviour that she had warped in her mind.

Blowing out smoke once again, Hermione groaned, why did everything have to be laced in confusion, not allowing her to move on until she had solved the puzzles? Maybe that was why she couldn't let Draco go, she had yet to solve the puzzle that he was, not content until everything made sense, and Draco Malfoy certainly did not make sense. Maybe that was all she had ever been attracted too, that the deeper she got, the more puzzles she uncovered, puzzles that weren't something simple, complex and changing puzzles that required a key to see the answer. A metaphorical key that she had almost had, until she had slept with Blaise and ruined the trust. So maybe she could trust Draco, only he couldn't trust her? Confusion and uncertainty were the only two things Hermione was sure of. Nothing else made any sense, neither in her heart nor her head.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Hermione knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Two smiling parents answered her, hugging their daughter tightly and expressing their happiness at seeing her home. Hermione stepped through the door, pulling her trunk after her. She was seventeen now, and of age but she chose to try to keep down the amount of magic she performed around her parents, not wanting to scare them at her power, something that they couldn't ever be able to understand. The reunion was bittersweet for Hermione. She was elated to see her parents again, something that had become a once a year thing, to her immense disappointment, so she cherished the summers and the little time she spent with them. It was a disappointing meeting, however, because Hermione knew of the dangers that were out in the world, and the imminent war that was doubtlessly coming soon enough. She had vowed to herself and studied all year for this moment, practising religiously, desperate not to get this wrong. She would allow herself two weeks before she would perform the memory charm on her parents. In two weeks time, her parents believed that they would be embarking on a holiday in Australia, the furthest place Hermione could think of when she was carefully sowing the seeds of her idea. Hermione planned that after the plane journey to Australia, and upon arriving at the hotel in which they would spend only one night, she would cast the memory charm, and send them on their new lives in Australia. With the help of Harry, she had already purchased a house in Australia, and planned on selling the one they were living in at the moment, as soon as she could, as soon as she had relocated her parents all the way around the world with no memory of ever having a daughter._

_However, she had two weeks of holiday that she planned on enjoying first, so the next morning when she woke up she headed downstairs with every intention of spending the time with her parents. Unfortunately, she had forgotten, that while she was on holiday, he parents were planning on taking two weeks off for their holiday in Australia, and so they were working extra hours in the two weeks running up the their holiday. All Hermione was greeted with when she arrived in the kitchen, was a note and a pile of library books that her parents had requested her to return that day if she had time. Hermione sighed heavily when she was the note. It looked like she would have two weeks to spend with nothing much to do. With a wrinkle of her nose at this unhappy turn of events, Hermione picked up the library books and grabbed her keys, heading out of the house for the relatively short walk to the library down the road._

_She entered the large building, dropping the books off at the counter, so that she was free to roam the shelves, without books clogging up her arms. Of course, having spent the last six years deeply entwined in the magical world, muggle books were almost comical to look at. She still enjoyed the literature and the classics, but factual books were more of a joke book than something she could take honest interest in. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, but knowing so much more about the universe in general, left her feeling that the books lacked something, plus the diagrams didn't move. Moving along the shelves of the literature, picking out some dickens that she may now have time to read, she bumped into another person, who was also it seemed heading for the Dickens section._

"_I'm so sorry." Hermione whispered, trying to keep her voice down in the eerie silence of the library. She looked up at who she had bumped into and was surprised to find herself looking up into the blue eyes of Luke White, her friend from her primary school days. "Luke!" Hermione exclaimed as quietly as possible in the library. She had run into Luke in the previous Christmas holidays, but that had been a rather hurried encounter, and Hermione had in fact been meaning to look him up when she found out that she had two week to herself._

"_Hermione." Luke smiled pleasantly. "How are you?"_

"_I'm good thanks, just got home from school, though so still settling back into living with Mum and Dad again. How are you?"_

"_Nice and relaxed." Luke chuckled. "Mum decided to take me on holiday for the last week of term so I've just got back from Spain."_

"_Oh, Spain, I've always wanted to visit there, where did you go?"_

"_Down on the south coast. Listen, I have my car, do you want to go and get a drink? This isn't the best place for a conversation."_

"_Yeah that sounds great."_

_Hermione was slightly flabbergasted, as they drank coffee in the local cafe, at the amount her friend had really changed. Last Christmas she had the chance to notice the physical differences in Luke, but now she was seeing the mental changes, too. Luke was more confident, not only in his speech but in his manner too, he knew what he was doing, but Hermione could remember him in primary school being the fumbling geeky kid at the back, almost whispering worriedly when the teacher asked him a question._

"_So how long are you around for the summer?" Luke asked over the top of his mug, as he took a sip._

"_Only two weeks. I'm going on holiday with my parents in a couple of weeks time and then I'm going to stay with some friends for the rest of the holiday, it's my friend's brother's wedding next month and I've been invited to stay." Hermione smiled. It was hard not to go into detail and explain the real reason that she would never be returning back to her hometown._

"_Where are you going on holiday?" Luke asked._

"_We're going to Australia."_

"_And this friend's brother, isn't it a little odd of him to invite his siblings friends to his wedding?"_

"_I've spent a fair few summers with the family so I'm sort of friends of the family. It's a little complicated, but it makes sense."_

"_Complicated, but makes sense?" Luke chuckled. "Alright, I won't pry further."_

_It was the beginning of a surprising friendship. Over some of the next two weeks, Hermione ended up either bumping into or planning to meet Luke. One day, late in her second week at home, Hermione was walking down the road, she had been out to see the town, wondering what had really changed since she had seen it last, when Luke pulled up beside her in his car._

"_Want a lift?" He offered with a grin. "I can't take you all the way home, but I can take you part way."_

_Hermione nodded. "That sounds fair." She smiled and climbed into the car._

_Pleasant conversation and teasing ensued, as usual. Hermione was naturally being secretive of her school and Luke was dying to find out where she went every year and in the summer._

"_C'mon. You have to be able to tell me something. What subjects do you do?" Luke said, trying to get any information._

"_Uh, ancient...languages."_

"_Ancient languages?_

"_Yes ancient languages and a sort of Chemistry type subject, but that's mainly practical work."_

"_Sort of Chemistry that's all practical work, right, what else?"_

"_Well I do a maths type thing but it's quite complicated, I can't really explain."_

"_Now you're just making things up." Luke cried, annoyed. "No exam board would ever do these subjects."_

"_Okay, okay, you've rumbled me. In truth I go to a school for magic." Hermione grinned as Luke's expression dropped from excitement to frustration when he realised that she was joking. Or he thought she was joking._

"_Stop it." He groaned. "I'm starting to think that your school's just ordinary."_

"_What else would it be?" Hermione chuckled happily. Teasing Luke was just too much fun, although it annoyed her a little that she would never really be able to tell him about her school. Or her life. Or her friends. In fact, she couldn't really tell him anything about anything anymore. Pushing the thoughts that threatened to depress her, Hermione paid attention to where they were going as the car was slowing down outside the towns Care Home. "Are you visiting someone?" Hermione asked, curious as to why he would be here._

"_No." Luke smiled. "I volunteer here. That's why I can't take you home, I can't be late."_

_The pair got out the car, Hermione slightly shocked of his giving nature. "I guess I'll see you soon then."_

"_Yeah." Luke waved as he locked the car and began to walk away backwards. "I'll call you." Luke continued walking backwards and opened his mouth as if to say something else, but he walked into the bushes that outlined the front of the Care Home._

_Hermione laughed as Luke turned and looked truly surprised to see the bush there. He waved again, blushing slightly at his blunder, and while he was still picking the couple of leaves that had stuck to his jumper off, he headed up the path to the revolving door. Hermione watched him disappear inside before she continued her walk home._

_He was a perfect being. Hermione smiled, feeling her cheeks burn. Not only was he cute, smart and kind but he also cared for other people which was something that Draco had a hard time doing. She could honestly say that he was good to annoy, whereas teasing Draco like she had Luke would have ended with him using dangerous methods to find out the truth. Luke didn't mind if he was wrong, either. He worked hard but honestly and his occasional mistake was usually something for him to laugh about, but Draco was earnest in getting all his answers right. Wrong was not an adequate word in Draco's vocabulary, and she thought that he was always ever so slightly annoyed with her if she beat him in a test, no matter how many others he came top in. Yes, Luke was an all round better person than Draco, but still someone she had many things in common with. So why couldn't she stop comparing him to Draco? Apart from these obvious points, she realised, she had been subconsciously comparing him to Draco the whole time. His hair wasn't as blonde as Draco's, his skin wasn't as pale as Draco's, his witty comments weren't as funny as Draco's, he didn't take as many risks as Draco did, he wasn't surrounded in that attractive mist of secrecy as Draco was. Despite Luke being nicer, less dangerous and full of so much less drama, she still felt that irresistible pull towards Draco._

_Hermione groaned and kicked a tree in her annoyance, stubbing her toes slightly. In some ways she preferred Luke. He was as smart as Draco was, he was just as good looking, only in a different way and he was all around nicer to her and to other people, plus he didn't have that danger factor that Draco came stamped all over with and his temper was an awful lot more gentle. More people liked Luke, and he wasn't some sort of idol, but still Draco looked better in her eyes. Maybe she was wearing rose-tinted glasses, or maybe she wanted herself to be miserable, but no matter how much she proved to herself that Luke was better, Draco still came out on top. Perhaps her subconscious knew, she pondered, that she would probably never see Luke again after this summer especially as she was relocating her parents, or perhaps her heart just wasn't ready to let go of that blonde Slytherin prince that had caused her so much pain, but at the same time opened her eyes up to so much love._

Hermione sat up straight in bed, her hair a tangled mess around her, her breathing laboured slightly, her toe throbbing as if she really had just kicked a tree. She remembered that moment from last summer with so much clarity. It had been that day that thinking about Draco came to an end, or at least she forced it to. The next day was the weekend, and she was packing with her parents, ready for Australia, and she met Luke one last time to say goodbye, supposedly only until next year resulting in a kiss, that held no electricity for Hermione. Then she was on the plane to Australia, revising for one last time on memory charms. She was in the hotel room, having slipped her parents some Dreamless Sleep in their champagne, she raised her wand, and one time after the other, performed the charm, erasing all memory of their daughter from their minds, forcing them to believe that they had just moved to Australia. And then she had apparated over to the burrow, trying to keep her calm, no matter how much she wanted to break down in tears, although she had spent several sleepless nights, crying into her pillow until Ginny gave her some Dreamless Sleep, just to stop the noise. At the time, Ginny had still been a little angry at her for sleeping with Blaise. Then she had the year that ended with the Battle of Hogwarts, something that she never wanted to repeat. No time had been spent thinking about Draco that just wasn't allowed, not that year. Now her mind was free to roam, free to think, and free to obsess on what she ruined.

Groaning as quietly as possible, Hermione flopped back into her pillow, wishing heartily that she could smoke a cigarette, but knowing that Lavender would have a flap in the morning if the whole room (complete with no windows) smelled like smoke and Hermione wasn't quite ready to go all the way outside for something she knew that she shouldn't be doing. She didn't want to go outside, especially not at...Hermione checked her watch, and the hands showed her ten past three. Three in the morning, Hermione sighed, she doubted sleep would come again that night not with the knowledge that her life had come to four conclusions:

She was still horribly affected by Draco, if not she was still in love with him, but she wasn't ready to admit that quite yet.

She had been smoking more than she would have liked lately.

She still had this horrible secret over Harry and

She would be tired and grouchy in class tomorrow, despite having to work with Draco in potions, a feat that itself would not be pleasant, and she was supposed to feel good while helping Harry with potions in their lunch hour, despite knowing his secret.

Hermione sighed, if she couldn't get to sleep in the next hour, she resolved, she would head up for some fresh air and a calming smoke.

Draco stood under the tree, his cloak wrapped tightly around his body, his wand clutched in one hand, a lit cigarette in the other. It was half three in the morning, but since his Dreamless Sleep potion had worn off, and he had limited supply of the medicine, he had come outside, to try and get some peace of mind. So far, however all he had preceded in doing was getting some very cold feet due to forgetting to put socks on, and satisfying something that was becoming an alarmingly regular habit. Smoking had started as something to calm his nerves with Voldemort. Then it was something that helped with both Voldemort and Hermione and even after the breakup, it was something that calmed his anger and nerves about Mia. She was something else, he mused. Naturally the last year, he had been worried about his family and Voldemort, and though he didn't like to admit it, sometimes he thought too much about Hermione too. All in all it was probably about time he kicked the habit until it became something he couldn't stop, no matter how relaxing it was. Unfortunately, things had been getting complicated with Hermione again, and not being able to sleep sure wasn't helping the problem.

Draco sighed, the worst part was knowing that deep down, he still felt love for Hermione. He wouldn't be this caught up over a kiss if he didn't feel at least something. He had never had this problem with Pansy or even when he had his brief dating stint with Daphne. Then again, Daphne Greengrass was a blonde clone of Pansy, without quite so much sluttiness. Nothing had quite prepared him for this feeling, or how lingering the feeling was, of attraction and protection to one person and a person he couldn't be near, for longer than deemed polite by society. Society being in this case, the gossip whores of Hogwarts. Draco ground out the cigarette on the tree, chucking it away as far as his strength allowed. He listened and heard the gentle plop as it landed in the lack, no doubt to be taken by the giant squid.

Draco cast a heat charm around him and smiled as the warmth spread to his frozen feet. That was the one problem with this charm, was if he was to smoke, it would stay in the warm bubble of air that surrounded him.

He was confused and he ran a long fingered hand through his fine hair, thoroughly messing it up, even after he hadn't brushed it after sleeping on it, trying to rid the confusion from his body. Naturally it didn't work, but it had been worth a try. He was confused. Was he supposed to keep on loving Hermione, try and fail at getting her back and stay a lonely sad bachelor for the rest of his life? This idea didn't seem like a future that he particularly wanted. Unfortunately for him, the other end of the scale was to find something or someone that would help him move on and get some closure. How was he supposed to find closure from someone who he shared every lesson with, a common room with, a library with and worked with on a regular basis? Draco groaned, this wasn't supposed to be this hard, but he didn't want to end up that lonely sad bachelor, drinking scotch and reading the paper, with nobody for company and no heirs.

Closure and moving on was definitely the only route to take, but with her constant company, he couldn't ignore her existence and he knew that finding fault in her perfect being would be impossible. Draco wrinkled his nose, the confusion at his awkward situation making him angry. He threw his wand from his left hand to his right and back again, thinking. He caught the wand in his left hand and in anger, began throwing spell after spell across the lake. Jinxes, curses, charms, transfigurations, everything he knew and could possibly remember since he had first begun to learn got thrown out across the lake, in silence. The bushes on the other side would be charred the next morning, but Draco didn't care. Anger coursed through his veins and the spells got increasingly dangerous as he got more and more furious, until he ended with a yelled Avada Kadavra.

Panting, Draco lowered his wand. He shouldn't have done that. He glanced up at the castle; he doubted any one had heard him shout, but all that same, he didn't want to be the one found if any ghost had heard. Shrouding himself in invisibility, he hurried back into the castle, through the large double doors, and headed back to bed. His mind was still buzzing, and he knew he was destined to be awake until dawn, but there was no chance that he would allow himself to get expelled, not after McGonagall's speech earlier in the year. Especially not over something quite so silly as a girl.

AN: I apologise for a lack of updates last week, so there are two today :)


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hermione and Draco sat in the library in silence, facing each other across the table. Hermione was avoiding eye contact and Draco was scowling pronouncedly. They were waiting for the bell to strike, announcing the fact that it was the very last period of the day, coincidently, it being the last period on a Friday, the same period that every seventh year had free and also the same free that Hermione could never find Harry. Last Friday, she had seen him disappearing down the same corridor that she had walked down recently with Draco, the one with no used classrooms. She literally saw him disappearing as he had thrown on the invisibility cloak only seconds after she had glanced him. So it was almost time to put the plan into action, hopefully successfully.

The bell rang, reverberating around the castle. It was time to put the plan in action. Without speaking both Hermione and Draco stood up instantaneously. With a nod, they headed out of the library and up the nearest staircase and over to the ledge that Hermione had been sat smoking. Wordlessly, Draco cast a simple Invisibility Charm over the pair of them. It was his job to keep the charm working for as long as they needed it. Sitting down on the ledge, they settled into wait in case Harry walked past.

It wasn't long until Blaise walked past and entered into an empty classroom on the far right of the corridor. "What is he doing?" Draco asked. "In an empty classroom alone?"

"Shhh." Whispered Hermione, Draco glanced in her direction, but being unable to see each other meant she couldn't see his scowl. In order that neither of them walked off, or got left behind or walked into one another, Hermione had her hand rested on his arm, as loosely as possible, not wanting to be touching him, even through clothes, nervous of what the electricity between them might do to her.

Hermione's hand tightened on Draco's arm. "To the left she whispered." They peered down the corridor and saw a Harry walking along, pulling something out of his bag. When he reached the corner opposite from where they sat, he swung the cloak over his head and disappeared out of sight. Silently Hermione and Draco stood up. They walked slowly along the corridor, hoping that Harry was walking faster than they were, keeping an eye on all the doors.

Draco paused, forcing Hermione to stop as well. "The last door on the right." Draco whispered, the last door on the right was indeed swinging shut as though somebody had just entered the room. They hurried silently down the corridor and peered through the glass into the room beyond, the same room that Blaise had entered not five minutes earlier. They couldn't hear anything, Hermione guessed that was due to a charm, but they saw Harry remove his cloak and place it with his bag on the floor. Then, Harry walked out of sight, into the left of the darkened room, which the small thin pane of glass wouldn't allow them to view; they had already bumped heads twice trying to get a good vantage point.

After waiting a couple of minutes, to see if anyone came into view, Draco got bored and slowly and as quietly as possible, turned the handle of the door, pushing it open and pulling Hermione into the room behind him. Their invisibility charm had faded now, something that neither of them noticed due to the scene in front of them.

A topless Harry was pressed against the wall, making out furiously with an equally topless Blaise. Hermione gasped loudly in shock and the two boys turned to look at the noise.

"Hermione." Harry breathed out, his eyes wide and cheeks feverishly red. Whether that was due to the shock of seeing them or the recent activity, Hermione wasn't entirely sure and she didn't want to guess. "And Malfoy." Harry added his expression turning from wide eyed shock to a scowl of annoyance.

"Potter." Draco smirked. "Blaise."

"How did you...I mean...When did you...oh." Harry muttered, his failed sentence trailing off.

"I think the real question Harry, is how could you not tell us?" Hermione asked, her hands on her hips.

"Hermione, I didn't mean too, I mean..."

"I'm going to take off." Blaise smirked. "See you around Potter." He pulled Harry's face to his, planting a kiss on his lips making Harry blush again. Blaise and Draco exited the room, but not before Draco had pressed the pile of photos into Hermione's hand.

"Well Harry?"

"How did you find me, Hermione?"

"Draco found these." Hermione chucked him the photos. Harry looked through them, his face becoming angrier with each passing photo.

Each photo showed Harry with a different guy in various stages of undressed, many of them making out furiously. Hermione hadn't recognised any of the guys in the photo's except in the last one, where Harry was removing the top of Zacharias Smith. Overall, there were nine photos that now lay in Harry's hands.

"Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Where did Draco get these?" Harry asked, quiet fury in his voice.

"That isn't important right now. Why didn't you tell me you were gay Harry?"

"What, am I not allowed any secrets anymore, or does every little fact about me need to be spread across the tabloids?"

"Harry I would never tell this to anybody and you know that. Now who are all those people?"

"Just some people I met when I went on holiday in Europe." After the war, Harry had spent two weeks in Europe to get away from the media frenzy. Of course, there was still a large media buzz on the continent, but Harry couldn't read the foreign languages and if he avoided looking at the pictures, he could pretend that nothing was written about him. Hermione knew that he went on holiday, but she didn't know that he had hooked up with what appeared to be four guys per week that he was there.

"Look I don't see how any of this concerns you, so could we just drop it." Harry pleaded, trying to get out of the room, but Hermione wouldn't let him leave.

"No we can't just drop it. Harry I am your best friend and there has not been a moment in any of the seven years that I have known you that I have told any of the things you have expressly told me not to mention, to anybody, so why didn't you tell me the itty bitty news that you were gay? I mean the last thing I knew about you was that Ginny had broken up with you and you were angry."

"Hermione, you spent most of sixth year cavorting with Slytherin's alike. I mean you became such a slut, that I was surprised that Pansy hadn't recruited you for her gang of whores."

"That was low, Harry. I was stressed about you, about Draco, Ginny and Voldemort, so I'm sorry if I wasn't the perfect person that you expect me to be. We all make mistakes."

"None quite as bad as yours though, I mean Malfoy, what were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, shocked. "This coming from the guy who, if I'm not mistaken, is sleeping with Blaise, his ex-girlfriends current boyfriend. Now that is perfectly whoreish."

Harry had the decency to blush at that comment. "There's limited choice, you know."

"Right so you weren't just making out with a Slytherin, or Zacharias Smith?"

"I know they aren't the best people..."

"But they're good in bed?"

"I was going to say but they're bi."

"Harry, are you going to tell Ron?"

"God, no."

"Why not?"

"I can understand that you'd be okay with it, I've been contemplating telling you, but well Ron...you know he is still annoyed that you dated a Slytherin? He doesn't even really care anymore that you cheated on him, it's that Malfoy is evil."

"Really?" Hermione was disbelieving.

"Honestly." Harry nodded, pulling his shirt back on. "Look, I just think this would be really weird for him, especially with Ginny dating Blaise."

"Finding out that you're fucking Blaise, yeah I can see that being a problem."

"I wouldn't tell him that." Harry said. "I'm not completely stupid."

"I'm guessing you wouldn't mention Zacharias either, then?"

"Of course not."

"But you can't even tell him that you're gay?"

"It isn't exactly something you throw into conversation. 'Oh hey Ron, happy Halloween, by the way I'm gay'. He would think that I'm crazy."

"Well, what if Blaise or Draco let it slip? How would he feel then?"

"Why would they?"

"This isn't something that they particularly care about. Blaise is pretty openly bi and Draco likes being in the limelight. I'm not sure whether you made the right choice with a Slytherin."

"You dated a Slytherin?"

"I wasn't hiding my sexuality and the media doesn't care about me." Hermione pointed out.

Harry groaned. "Before I found out I was a wizard, I thought that being famous was amazing, you could have whatever you wanted, and you didn't have to live with relations that you hated, but now...now I'm starting to think that it's a curse that will never leave me, like this damn scar, following me for the rest of my life."

Hermione pulled Harry into a hug. "Look we won't tell anybody and I'll warn the others to keep their mouths shut. Blaise won't want people knowing he cheated on Ginny, she'll kill him and Draco will listen to Blaise. About the media just don't worry about it for now, but you need to keep your head down about it, if you want to keep it silent. Maybe one day, when you're ready, you should tell someone, and just let the gossip fly and don't let it affect you."

"How is that better?" Harry asked. "Everyone in the world will still know."

"Yes but they'll know when you're ready to tell them. Just don't do anything stupid in the meantime."

"You mean at the Halloween party."

"Exactly, I'm thinking no alcohol for you and I'll make sure that Ginny keeps Blaise busy."

"Thank you." Harry muttered. Hermione didn't say anything, just pulled him closer and bit her lip, trying to keep the tears inside. It wasn't fair in her opinion, that after everything that happened, Harry still felt trapped, not able to publicise something that was so important to him, without worrying incessantly about the public reaction.

Halloween was upon them and so was the eagerly awaited Halloween party. Hermione had helped Draco and Blaise enlarge the common room to fit everybody inside, and the majority of the furniture had been pushed to the sides allowing the space to be fully utilised, and to hopefully lessen the amount of injuries. Hermione was in her dormitory with Lavender and Ginny getting ready, but over in the Slytherin dorms, Draco was lazily lying on his bed, waiting patiently for Blaise and Theo.

"You two are such girls." He commented loudly as he watched Blaise trying to decide what shirt he should wear.

"Just because you started getting ready before us." Theo answered chuckling.

"Which shirt is more likely to get me laid?" Blaise asked.

"The green one, but don't forget you have a girlfriend." Draco laughed as Blaise swore.

"Fucking hell, I keep forgetting about her."

"Weren't you two like completely in love in sixth year?"

"Kinda, but then you sleep with Italian models, and it puts things in perspective. Models are hot and amazing in bed. Weasley's alright and mediocre at best in bed."

"So break up with her." Theo said from across the room.

"I will at some point, but she's a right moody bitch sometimes."

"Like Pansy?" Draco asked. He had had unfortunately to deal with a moody Pansy far too many times than he would have liked.

"A bit, but worse because she can actually cast spells well, rather than just trying to scratch your eyes out." Blaise moaned a little. "I am honestly terrified of what she'll do to me, so I'm tempted to just sleep around behind her back."

"Yeah because if she finds out about that, she won't be angry at all." Draco said sarcastically.

"The whole point is that she doesn't find out."

"Even when you sleep with her ex's?" Draco asked, forgetting about Theo.

"Who?" Theo asked. "Michael Corner?"

"He's making things up." Blaise said, leaving Theo looking rather disappointed at the lack of gossip he could exchange for at least a little action if Pansy or Daphne were drunk enough.

"Lame." Theo said as he re-entered the bathroom, to brush his teeth one last time. Blaise and Draco shared a meaningful glance, neither of them having yet to have really spoken about the Potter affair.

"Can you keep that quiet?" Blaise asked, as silently as possible.

"Sorry, do we not want that to get out?"

"No I don't. There are some things in life that are bad for a reputation and people, namely Ginny, finding out that I'm fucking the Chosen One now that would ruin me." Blaise had such a look of fury in his eyes that Draco took him seriously.

"Alright, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"I'm not above telling your poor mother that we fucked." Blaise threatened causing Draco to pale considerably, despite his already snowy skin.

"I won't mutter even a hint." He promised solemnly. Draco knew that his Mother, who might even accept that he dated a muggleborn one day (not that he had told her) would never accept that her precious little baby boy had slept with his best friend. That wasn't something done in the pureblood wizarding lines, not when you were the only heir. Of course, it was seen more commonly these days as the barriers were being broken down and family pureblood traditions were slowly being ignored as people acted of their own free will, but still Draco had yet to hear of someone who was first in line and gay. He suspected that there were some, but no-one had openly admitted it, not wanting the wrath of their perfect families.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Hermione was hot, and she fanned herself with her hand as she peered through the throng of people in the common room. She had lost Harry again, and was duly worried about it. Despite her warnings that he would have to stay sober tonight, Harry was downing his fourth beer and making out with his fifth guy. Hermione spotted him close to the wall with Zacharias Smith and with a sigh she began to force herself in their general direction, fairly unsuccessfully. There were too many people on the room for her to squeeze through any gap, and Hermione didn't want to start shoving quite yet.

"Hermione!" An over excited scream came from behind her and she was forcefully embraced by Ginny. "You look really out of place, honey." Ginny giggled delightedly. "Come on let's dance!" Ginny lifted her arms, leaving Hermione no choice but to dance with her.

Hermione tried to pull away, to continue her search for Harry, but Ginny wouldn't let her leave. Hermione rolled her eyes at her tipsy friend and grabbed the nearest guy on the shoulder. Shouting her apologies to a bewildered Neville, she pushed him at Ginny, who was perfectly happy to dance with Neville instead, which left Hermione free to leave.

She took a step back and looked to where she had sighted Harry and Zacharias, and scowled when she realised that they had disappeared. Hermione pushed her way through, fed up of trying not to hurt or annoy anyone and looked around trying to think about where they would have or could have gone in the few minutes that she was distracted with Ginny. Unfortunately she couldn't see hide nor hair of the two boys and in fact she was so distracted with looking for them, that she didn't notice someone creeping up behind her, until their arms were around her waist.

"Hello there." Draco whispered silkily into Hermione's ear.

"Draco." Hermione scolded slightly. "Have you seen Harry?"

"Yeah he was going into the Gryffindor dorms. Do you know who he was with? That Hufflepuff Smith. Zach isn't it? Not much of a looker." Hermione clamped her hand over Draco's mouth to stop him from talking.

"I'm going to go and try and find Harry." Hermione said loudly, disentangling herself from Draco's arms. "I'll see you later." With a wave and a small smile, she pushed her way into the crowd of people.

Hermione threaded her way through people, pushing as little as she could, trying to use the biggest gaps to her advantage. She made it over to the Gryffindor dorms, and squirmed through the door, trying not to step on people's feet. She made it through the door and breathed heavily, the noise decibels decreased considerably and the air was slightly fresher. Hermione started down the corridor, avoiding the surprising amount of people who were making out in the relative quiet of the far too tiny space. Glad that when she pushed open the door to the boys' dorms, it did nothing to prevent her entering, she walked in and looked around. It was the same as the girls' dorm that she shared with Parvati, but bigger and everything was facing in the opposite direction. The first bed, the one she suspected was Neville's was empty, the covers folded neatly. The second had Seamus and an unnamed blonde girl that Hermione suspected was in the year below, but she didn't dare to look closer. The third bed was as empty as the first, only with messier sheets; something she expected was Ron's doing and the fourth had closed curtains.

Steeling herself, she peeked through the curtains. Luckily what she saw wasn't too scaring to the eyes: a fully clothed Zacharias Smith and a half naked Harry. Hermione cleared her throat loudly, trying not to be noticed by Seamus or the unnamed Blonde. Harry lifted his head up at the noise, and groaned when he saw it was Hermione.

"Do you have to keep cockblocking me Hermione?"

"I'm only doing what you wanted me too."

"What I want you to do is to leave me alone so I can get laid."

"Harry-"

"I think I better go." Zach said as he stood from the bed, and straitened his clothes. "I'll see you later Harry." Zach left and Harry sat up scowling.

"Harry," Hermione started again, "I thought you didn't want to be found out, I'm only trying to help."

"Hermione how many times is this?"

"This is the fifth time I've stopped you making out with a guy tonight only, if that is what you're talking about."

"So that's six times in total if you count that time with Blaise. Six times you've cockblocked me Hermione, do you have nothing better to do?"

"Well!" Hermione exclaimed, perfectly outraged at that insult. "I'm only doing this for your own good."

"Well go get a life and get yourself laid and quit stopping me, okay?" Harry stood up, walked down the steps and out of the room.

Hermione sat down on the bed, suitably shocked. With a huff, she followed Harry out of the room to her own dorm, hoping that it was empty. Due to boys not being able to get into girls dorm's, the place was blissfully silent, allowing Hermione to sit down on her bed and bury her head in her hands, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

The night had only just begun, and Draco was already standing up from his bed and searching for his trousers. Pansy Parkinson lay on the bed, unashamed at her nakedness, smiling happily.

"I've missed you Draco." She murmured. He made a noncommittal noise in return, trying to find one of his socks. "You shouldn't have wasted all that time with the mudblood."

Draco stiffened as he looked under the bed. Picking up the sock the he had found, he straightened. "What do you mean?" He said, as calmly as he could.

"Well you spent ages pining for her, then you only fucked her and no-one else and then you pined for her when she dumped you, which by the way was one of the funniest things that I've seen in a while." Pansy giggled at the memory.

Draco wanted to hit her, but refrained. "That wasn't a waste of my time." He said quietly. He forced himself to move, putting on his sock.

"Well it was certainly a waste of your talent." Pansy said in a snooty voice. "To think you could have any girl in this castle and you chose her, of all people. Definitely a waste of your talents."

"Just because everybody isn't a whore like you-"

"Ha." Pansy snorted unattractively. "Didn't she cheat on you with Blaise? And wasn't she dating Weasley the whole time? Now for a start only slut's sleep with Blaise, that is just a fact of life, but she's a two-timing little whore as well so you can't deny that."

Draco growled angrily and grabbed his shirt, shrugging it on as he headed down the steps and around the several people that lay about the dorm. He turned at the door. "Take a look in the mirror and see if you have the credibility to call anybody else a slut." He shouted, doing up his buttons before heading out of the door.

What Pansy had said was annoyingly true and Draco was finding it hard to ignore that fact. The one thing that had always kept him at a slight distance from Hermione now, was the fact that he still saw her as the pure white Gryffindor angel. He saw he sweet face incapable of hurting anybody and he imagined that after every kiss that she blushed bright red at what she had done. Of course, he knew that none of that was true, he had witnessed that himself, but every time he saw her, he saw the pure innocence that she exuded, the same Mia that he fell in love with. Pansy had in her blunt way, crashed every image he had of that, leaving a Hermione that was dirty and used, cheap and smirking in a horribly Slytherin fashion as she switched from guy to guy.

Draco shook his head trying to get rid of the horrible image of what Hermione might have turned out like if she had been Slytherin. He needed to find her, to see her face when it wasn't twisted in a horrible smirk that didn't suit her features. Draco used his height to look over the crowd to try and find the bushy hair that signified Hermione. He spotted Harry entering the Gryffindor dorms with someone who looked like Zacharias Smith, before he saw the bright red hair that could only belong to Ginny Weasley, dancing with what he hoped was Hermione.

He headed in their direction, but by the time he got there, Ginny was dancing a little too close to Neville. Draco knew that the timid Longbottom wouldn't do anything, which from Blaise's point of view was probably a bag thing. He weaved through a couple more people and spotted Hermione's back, looking slightly lost.

Creeping up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head and he shoulder to he could speak into her ear without yelling. "Hello there."

Hermione jumped, making Draco laugh silently. "Draco." Hermione said. "Have you seen Harry?" Draco scowled. She just had to want to find that wanker rather than live in the moment. The view of the skanky Hermione slunk away to be replaced with the Hermione of first year, an equally unpleasant image in Draco's opinion, with her hair bushy beyond belief, a snooty expression on her face, clutching a load of books and standing in a corner on her own. Draco sighed inaudibly but answered her question.

"Yeah he was going into the Gryffindor dorms. Do you know who he was with? That Hufflepuff Smith. Zach isn't it? Not much of a looker." Draco tried to keep talking to distract her from her quest, but it didn't work as she clapped her hand on his mouth, quieting his constant jabber.

"I'm going to go and try and find Harry." Hermione said loudly, disentangling herself from Draco's arms. "I'll see you later." With a wave and a small smile, she pushed her way into the crowd of people, disappearing from view. That last image of Hermione was the one he wanted to see. A smile upon her face, a face that wasn't plastered in make-up as Pansy's often was. She was beautiful and pure and unattainable to him.

Draco stumbled forward as someone ran into him from behind, effectively ending his reverie. He turned and came face to face with a rather drunk Lavender, judging from her lack of balance. She was swaying slightly where she stood, but looked happy nevertheless.

"Malfoy!" She squealed. "You know I've never known whether to call you Malfoy or Draco, not since you and Hermione. Then you broke up. Hermione was so annoying after that." Lavender giggled and Draco could do nothing but nod. "You know I've always thought you were hot." Lavender's voice turned slightly seductive, and she took a step closer. "We should make out."

Draco had to hold back a laugh at her forwardness. At least she got straight to the point. "You think so?"

"Yeah I do." Lavender didn't give him a chance to reply, as she smashed her lips on his, snaking her hands around his waist. Draco didn't want to be rude, or he couldn't be bothered to make excuses, so he pulled her closer, and responded to her furiously determined kisses.

It didn't take too long until Draco had pushed Lavender up against a wall, his hands meandering up her top. Draco pulled back. "We should go somewhere more private."

Lavender only nodded in reply, slightly distracted and faithfully followed Draco as he pulled her back in the directions of the dorms. As Draco found his way down the corridor to open the final door, he silently prayed that Pansy had moved on to somewhere or someone else, not wanting to find her still on his bed, probably messing with his things. Luckily, neither Pansy, not her clothes were anywhere within the dorm, although there was another couple on Blaise's bed, something which did not surprise Draco at all.

By the time he got over to his own bed (which he was glad to see was empty) and turned around to see what state Lavender was in, he found that she had already removed her top and was struggling to undo the straps on her shoes. Draco bent down and gently undid the strap on the right shoe, slowly pulling it off her foot. Lavender gave a soft moan as the pressure alleviated from her feet. Draco looked at the heels on the shoes, judging that they were at least six inches tall. He shook his head as he repeated his actions on the other shoe.

Draco stood back up and pulled Lavender closer, pushing all complicated thoughts from his mind. He walked backwards until they hit the bed, when he picked Lavender up and placed her down softly and joined her on the bed, pulling the curtains closed. He did feel a little guilty of taking advantage of her drunken state, so he owed her the privacy and the decency of gentlemanly manners. Something Hermione had taught him. He shook his head and returned to the task in hand of removing Lavender's closing, ignoring Hermione.

Hermione had given up. Once she had returned to the party, she noticed that a slight crowd of people had formed around something or someone. Worried that somebody was hurt, and everybody was too drunk to do anything about it, Hermione hurried forward, pushing through until she could see what was going on. When she did, she was suitably shocked and annoyed.

Completely blank to the amount of people watching, Harry was stood making out with Seamus, who was clutching not only Harry, but a half empty bottle of what looked like muggle Vodka. Hermione sighed at the sight; she was shocked that Harry was quite this stupid, especially after he had practically cried to her about not wanting anyone to find out, and the fact that somehow somebody had gotten hold of muggle alcohol. She was also slightly shocked to find out that if you plied Seamus with enough alcohol, he apparently swung both ways, or he wasn't fully aware of whom he was making out with.

Hermione turned and left the circle of onlookers, but not before noticing that Ron was near the front, shocked at the scene in front of him. There was no way anybody would be able to explain this or cover it up and Hermione refused to be the one to try to do so. She wasn't going to cover for Harry anymore; she had tried to stop this happening and had gotten yelled at for her troubles, so no more. She grabbed a glass from a table and filled it with some unknown alcohol, drinking it down a little too fast. She refilled it and went in search of somebody sensible who she could talk to.

After ten minutes of fruitless searching, having only found people who she didn't want to speak to, or those who were busy sticking their tongue's down each other throats or those who were too drunk to have a sensible conversation with, she was forced to yet again retire to her room, suspecting that anybody who she would have cared to have spoken to were busy ogling at Harry and Seamus.

When she entered the dorm she found it blissfully empty, unbelievably glad the guys couldn't get into their rooms. She sat down on her bed and curled herself under the covers, cuddling down, hoping her head would stop spinning soon. She was tired and starting to wish she hadn't drank any alcohol. She hadn't had much, which was the embarrassing thing, but clearly it was enough to have an effect. Or maybe she drank it too fast. Hermione's silent musings continued as she slowly dropped off to sleep.

Draco frowned down at his bed. Lavender had fallen asleep and refused to wake up. Draco lifted the beer bottle to his lips and swallowed some, still staring down at the girl on his bed, trying to decide what to do.

"Hello, Draco." A voice came from behind him and Draco turned around, running his free hand through his hair, trying to tame it slightly from where Lavender had messed it up. Next to him stood the long-legged, curly blonde haired, Daphne Greengrass.

Back in first year, Draco had thought that Daphne looked far too innocent to be in Slytherin, but she was second in the girls, only to Pansy. Daphne could be a real bitch when she wanted to be, and she knew how to use her looks to get all sorts of attention. Oddly enough, this information had never turned Draco off Daphne, and he had always liked her best of all the Slytherin girls. He knew that she could have been the leader of the Slytherin girls, which showed how she was the smartest, as she made Pansy feel like she was the leader, allowing her not to have to compete with anybody, making her life a lot easier.

"I see that you've been busy." Daphne smiled. "And from what Pansy keeps telling me, you've been very busy. Though I can't take everything that Pansy says as truth, you know how that girl exaggerates everything."

"Mm." Draco muttered Daphne was very distracting in the clothes that she was wearing. Mind games, Draco knew that she was playing mind games of some sort on him, but he didn't really care at that moment, she had a very nice body.

"You know Tracey told me the other day, that she has a slight crush on you." Daphne continued, taking a step closer.

"Really?" Draco mumbled, uninterested. "Tracey Davis?"

"Yes." Daphne murmured. "Only because you dated Granger, she thinks it makes you noble. You should ask her out some time."

"Should I?"

"Oh yes." Daphne's voice had quietened somewhat, making Draco lean forward slightly in order to hear her better. "That's what you do; you date muggle borns and half bloods. It proves that you're normal in some way."

"Does it?"

"Oh yes." Daphne smiled at him again. "You also seem to fuck around a bit. You do need to keep your status; otherwise you're no better than a Hufflepuff."

"I do need to keep my status. I'm better than Hufflepuffs."

"I could help you." Daphne offered. "Otherwise Blaise will be better than you and you don't want that."

"I don't want that."

"You better let me help you then."

"Good idea."

"Isn't it just?" Daphne smirked, like a true Slytherin, taking that last step close to Draco so she could pull his face down to her height in a searing kiss.

With Lavender on the bed, Blaise on his and Draco not trusting Theo's, they were left with the floor, though Daphne didn't seem particularly fussed. That was always a funny thing about Daphne, Draco mused as his hands roamed the body below him of their own accord, she never seemed like a slut, always looking so innocent, but when you got down to it, she was almost as bad as Pansy, she just didn't shout about her accomplishments the way her friend did.

**A/N** _School life is undeniably hectic, and I'm in the middle of my exams at the moment so apologies for the lack of updates for quite some time. I don't imagine life will get any less busy in the weeks/months/years to come, but I will finish this sometime, and hopefully sooner as opposed to later._


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