Pansy had grown up enamored with the idea that it was her family's duty to protect the lost prince or princess, whenever he or she emerged. She had played pretend that it would be a princess, that she would be at Hogwarts at the same time as Pansy herself, and that they would be great friends. Pansy always intended to complete her duty, of course, but just as the royal heir would be chosen, so was she, if she was the one to guard that heir. And that also made her special. She told herself that she had always felt a certain importance and that it was because she was the one meant to protect the heir. She hadn't expected to run into the heir so soon, and she certainly hadn't expected the girl to be so infuriatingly brazen.

Gryffindor? Really? Literally anything else would have be preferable. She was a muggleborn (for all that mattered to her). Gryffindor though, made it impossible for Pansy to openly approach her and offer her friendship. And she couldn't tell the crazy girl her real identity until she came of age either, which was another five years in the future. How was she supposed to complete her family's task?

Her parents counseled her to keep her head down, which she did, even though it was difficult. The princess was quite the enigma. She thought Hermione might actually drive Draco round the bend which was both wonderfully amusing but also disturbing; she didn't seem to care about anything they'd been raised to prize. She was bound and determined to be top of their class: damn finding a husband or appearing to be a suitable and docile witch. Pansy was deeply envious.

Halloween was the last straw. The ridiculous girl had somehow managed to get herself cornered by a mountain troll. Her housemates seemed to think it was a great adventure. And because she had been raised by muggles Pansy worried that Hermione wouldn't know any better, that she would think this was how things worked in the magical world. At the very least she needed to be set straight on that front. And if Pansy wanted to be her friend, well, that was just an extra benefit of approaching her.

Pansy had to wait almost a week before she had the chance to talk to Hermione as she'd been spending a lot more time with Potter and that Weasley kid with the terrible table manners. Luckily neither of them took their school work seriously so, with patience, she found Hermione alone in the library.

"Hello Hermione," she said quietly, "may I sit here?"

The other girl looked at her suspiciously but nodded and Pansy took a seat across the table from her.

"So you're talking to me now?" Hermione wondered.

Pansy sighed. "I liked meeting you on the train, but then with the way we were sorted...well, you might be a muggleborn but you're not stupid. Surely you've noticed that Gryffindors and Slytherins aren't really allowed to be friends around here."

Hermione considered this and then smirked. "I guess. I mean, I wasn't exactly skipping over to the Slytherin table to see you either," she admitted. "But why are you here now?"

The suspicion was back and Pansy reminded herself not to underestimate this girl, Gryffindor or not, she was the lost princess, she was bound to have hidden depths. Perhaps she could let her inner Gryffindor out to play.

She shrugged. "I like Slytherin, I like our dorms, I like what our house stands for. But we're not big on genuine friendship. It can be kind of lonely."

"And you thought I was the girl for the job?"

"Well, you've already proven to be stupidly brave. So I thought, in comparison, giving a Slytherin a shot would be nothing. Seriously, going after a mountain troll, what were you thinking?" She couldn't help herself, she had to ask.

"That wasn't exactly what it sounded like," she mumbled.

"Oh, what was it really, then?"

She just looked at her, blinking for a long time and Pansy had never felt so thoroughly studied.

"Maybe I'll tell you one day, if we're going to be friends, that is?" she challenged.

Pansy smirked. Touche.

Hermione sat alone in a compartment on the ride back to London for the Christmas holidays. Harry and Ron had stayed at Hogwarts and she was grateful for the solitude. It was nice to have found friends, but those boys could be a bit much after a while. She greatly prefered Pansy's company but they had to be discreet about their friendship or risk being shunned by their own housemates. She sighed. The Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry was a challenge she hadn't anticipated. The Sorting Hat had certainly been correct, being a Gryffindor was making her project much more difficult.

She thought about what she'd accomplished so far and she had to reluctantly admit that it wasn't much. She'd certainly gotten Malfoy's attention. A muggleborn Gryffindor was first in their class, and she could tell it was driving him crazy. But it had little to do with her personally, she could tell he was simply unused to the idea that a Malfoy might not always be the best.

Their first flying lesson had been very enlightening. If any doubts had remained about him being the target of her project they were erased that day. He was rich, and clever, and so pretty that it almost hurt, but that day he proved how easily he could be manipulated, and that just made him absolutely perfect. He also inadvertently revealed to her a means by which she could go about doing that manipulating. Harry Potter. Despite the terrible first impression he'd made it looked like he might be very useful in accomplishing her goals.

The moment Harry had challenged him, tried to force him to give Neville's remembrall back, Malfoy had been unable to resist and had gone flying off with the stupid toy. He had been so impulsive, so un-Slytherin, acting as if there weren't at least a thousand other ways to get to the Gryffindors without such enormous risk. No, he was particularly susceptible to Potter. The days and weeks following that rather disastrous lesson confirmed her suspicions. Malfoy watched Harry; she noticed how he couldn't seem to resist confronting him, the pathetic way that he taunted him, and how he was so obviously jealous of the other boy's fame that Hermione was almost embarrassed for him. And Hermione realized that if she befriended this- frankly, rather sad- boy she was certain to be all over Malfoy's radar. A muggleborn Gryffindor who was also best friends with the boy who lived. It would be impossible for him to ignore that.

Unfortunately, befriending Harry Potter was harder work than she had thought it would be. Mostly due to his self-appointed best friend Ron Weasley who had no good qualities to speak of, but he'd attached himself to Harry and jealously guarded his attention. For some reason the boy had accepted that. But then that mountain troll had come along and proven an unexpected boon.

Earlier that day she'd brushed off Weasley's harsh words as soon as he'd spoken them; he had such poor tastes that she almost would have been insulted if he had liked her. But she saw a way to gain Harry's sympathies. She made sure to hide away in the bathroom and be overheard 'crying' by her roommates but she- obviously- never could have anticipated an adventure that would bond them (and unfortunately Weasley, as well) instantly. And ever since then- several weeks now- they'd been something of an inseparable trio. So there was certainly progress, but not as much as she would have liked.

Just then she spotted Malfoy and his gang- including Pansy- walking by her compartment. Pansy was one mark in her favour, a resource who would be helpful in the future. Hermione knew that she had grown up with Malfoy and considered him to be one of her best friends, but she thankfully detected no interest beyond that. She actually got the impression that Pansy looked at him as a member of her family.

A few minutes passed, Hermione continued to stare out the window until she heard the compartment door slide open. It was Pansy, she had apparently doubled back.

"Those boys can't settle down for one minute," she said by way of greeting, "they're rigging the door in the next car so that a dung bomb goes off on whoever walks through there next so we should stay put for awhile." She sighed dramatically, "they're Slytherins though so hopefully they can at least manage not to get caught. Anyway, I came in here to give you this. Happy Christmas." She handed her a cheerily wrapped package.

Hermione dug through her bag to find the gift she had for Pansy. She pulled it out and handed it to the other girl who sat down beside her.

"At the same time?" Pansy asked.

Hermione nodded and they both tore into their packages. When she had the wrapping off Hermione almost gasped out loud. It was a book. An old, out of print book, on traditional wizarding customs that they'd talked about and that she'd been itching to get her hands on. She was a little frightened to look up and see her friend's reaction to a gift that now felt rather paltry in comparison.

"Well, now mine just seems boring," Pansy said, interrupting her thoughts.

Her head snapped up and she saw the other girl carefully removing the barrettes from the box, happy to see a smile on her face. She'd trusted her mum to pick them out, she'd requested something to hold her chin length hair back- having noticed how it fell in her face during potions- she'd also asked for something girly, but not overly so, in a shade of green that would be complementary to the emerald of Slytherin House. Her mum had been extremely enthusiastic to hear that she'd made a girl friend, and within a week had owled her a very pretty set of dragonfly shaped jade barrettes.

Hermione giggled. "I was thinking that mine seemed silly."

"No, these are so pretty. These came from a muggle shop?" Pansy practically cooed with an expression of wonder.

Hermione fought not to cringe at her casual prejudice; she had learned that most magical people really didn't know any better. Despite her House's dark reputation she knew that Pansy didn't actually have anything against muggles, she was just wary of them because she'd never really come into contact with them.

"They did," she nodded, "I described to my mum something like what I wanted, and that's what she sent back, they're to keep your hair out of your face in class. But I don't think they compare to this book. I'm so excited to read it."

Pansy shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal to ask my father to find it, I knew you wanted to read it."

Casual prejudice, now casual privilege. Pansy lived in an oddly small world- it was something Hermione would have to guard herself from becoming too immersed in, she couldn't afford to lose perspective. But she still liked her, and was still very grateful for her.

"It's great. Seriously, thank you," she said quietly, rubbing her hand reverently across the cover of the book.

Pansy laughed. "You're so weird, Granger, but I still like you," she said, echoing Hermione's thoughts.

And then they spent the rest of the journey playing with Pansy's new barrettes like the pre-teens they still were, despite the big responsibilities they'd both taken on.

When they returned from the Christmas holidays Hermione became almost impossible to track down, at least by herself. Potter and Weasley stuck to her like glue. She was often in the library, but unlike first term they were almost always with her as well.

They clearly had a secret. They couldn't have been more obvious about it. They tried to conceal the titles of the books they were reading and whispered to each other so loudly that they actually hid very little of what they were saying. But what she heard made little sense. She was sure that whatever it all added up to was trouble though. Those boys practically radiated that they were up to no good.

Everytime she did see Hermione alone she would try to subtly ask her about it, and she would be swiftly shut down. After awhile she was certain that the princess was avoiding her. She couldn't have that, so she simply stopped asking and just continued to observe.

One day she found her in the library, as usual, but visibly upset, muttering as she paged through a book. She looked up when Pansy approached but didn't greet her, just continued to talk to herself. Pansy sat down and opened her own book but she barely pretended to read it and just continued to listen to Hermione, trying to make sense of her ranting. When she said something about a cerberus on the third floor Pansy gasped out loud. Hermione's head shot up, her eyes boring into Pansy's.

"Hermione, tell me what's going on," she pled, injecting every bit of sincerity she could into her voice and expression.

Hermione huffed out a breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She then raised her chin, a look of determination on her face. "You know what, okay."

And thus she began a story that left Pansy feeling utterly helpless and gave her nightmares for weeks. And then, because those boys absolutely were trouble magnets, things managed to get even worse.

Yet another deadly magical creature on the grounds. This time it was a dragon.

Pansy stabbed her quill viciously against her parchment as she contemplated the latest bombshell Hermione had dropped on her. She was angry and confused and genuinely terrified for Hermione's safety. What on earth was she thinking, helping their gormless groundskeeper keep a dragon? A dragon for Merlin's sake. Didn't Hagrid know he lived in a wooden hut?

"Bloody stupid Gryffindors," she mumbled, focusing on her potions essay.

"A dragon," she muttered, pulling her Transfiguration textbook from her bag in an attempt to get ahead for their next class and wondering if she should mention the development to her parents in her monthly letter.

"A wooden hut," she groused to herself as she packed away her things.

"Alright there Pansy?"

Pansy's head shot up from watching the ground to see Draco standing a few feet in front of her, one ridiculously blond eyebrow raised. Pansy swallowed nervously- she could not afford to betray Hermione's trust- but covered it up with a smirk.

"I'm fine. You know you look like your mother when you do that?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her and Pansy forgot all about what he could have possibly overheard. "I do not."

Detention was not a part of her plan in any shape or form, even if the object of her little project had detention too. She'd assumed she'd make it through school without getting herself a reputation but, well, being Harry Potter's best friend wasn't exactly a walk in the park. At least she didn't have to put up with Ron and his relentless moaning, though he was no doubt still doing so, but he was firmly ensconced in the hospital wing and so they were all - her, Harry, Neville and Draco- without the pleasure of his company for their evening jaunt into the forbidden forest.

"I'm not going in that forest," Malfoy said quickly and Hermione couldn't help but quietly agree. What on earth sort of detention was this? And how in Merlin's name could Hagrid think that it was ok? Even if Malfoy had been out of bed after hours, he was only out of bed in the first place because of what Hermione and Harry were doing for Hagrid. Had he forgotten that they had been doing him a favor? She flicked her eyes in Harry's direction and rolled them when she caught sight of his smirk. God. Were all boys this petty? Was it something they learned at school when all the girls were having the health talks about what to expect upon entering 'womanhood'?

"Yeh are if yeh want to stay at Hogwarts," Hagrid said fiercely and Hermione pointedly glared at the ground beneath her feet. The unfairness of the situation was almost too much and she was about to tell Hagrid just what she thought of it when he spoke again.

"Harry and Neville, you go that path. I'll take Fang and go along here. Malfoy and young Hermione will go that way," he said, nodding his head in agreement. Hermione clenched her jaw and tried not to let her utter glee at having been partnered with Malfoy show in any way.

"What?" Neville asked, turning to look at Hagrid in shock.

"NO!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione sighed quietly, and not for the first time, regretted not listening to the sorting hat. She glanced at Malfoy to see an amused smirk on his face. Well, at least she knew he wasn't going to protest Hagrid's decision. She cleared her throat.

"It's fine Harry," she said quietly, stepping forward to reassure her friend, "It's only Malfoy," she smirked.

They split up then - Harry and Neville along one path, Hagrid and Fang another, until it was just the two of them.

Hermione watched Draco's determination set in as the others left. He sighed and waved his hand in front of him, "Granger." She simply nodded and moved ahead. She could hear him following behind her, the lantern Hagrid had given them creaking with the light breeze that was drifting through the trees. They walked in silence- there wasn't exactly anything Hermione could say to him, after all- following the path deeper into the Forbidden Forest until the only light was the one shining from the lantern and the only noises they heard were those made by the forest.

One shrill hoot though startled Hermione, which caused her to trip over an upturned root in the process. She didn't see Draco move, but he was obviously quick, something she already knew from watching him in flying lessons, because he grabbed her by the elbow and stopped her from falling face first into the dirt.

It was the first time they'd ever touched, even if his gloves and her cloak prevented them from having any actual contact. Draco Malfoy, the boy she'd decided over a year ago to make her own, was helping her.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

Hermione's head snapped up to find him watching her, his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes followed her hands that were sweeping down the length of her cloak. "I'm fine. Just clumsy," she shrugged. He nodded and let his hand drop away from her now that she was standing again.

"Think we should keep going?"

"Yeah," she decided, stepping up beside him, "we haven't heard anything from Hagrid to let us know we should head back so…" she trailed off and glanced at him. "Are you looking forward to going home?" She asked tentatively, watching him shrug and then lift his arm to move a low hanging branch out of their way.

"I suppose. Just more of the same really," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he said, moving to sit on a nearby tree stump, "I'll spend an inordinate amount of time with Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy too, I guess. My mother will have me stuck to a desk most of the day practising my cursive before she lets me outside to ride my broom and my evenings will be spent sitting quietly in the corner listening to my father explain the machinations of the ministry, much like how the seventh yea-"

He broke off, suddenly aware of just who he was spilling Slytherin secrets to, "What about you Granger? Are you looking forward to going home?"

Hermione settled down beside him on the stump and shrugged. "I suppose."

Draco stopped pulling at the leaves beside him and levelled her with a glare. "You suppose?" He drawled.

"I love my parents dearly Malfoy, but they're not exactly into the same things I am." Malfoy continued to look dumbfounded and Hermione sighed. "They're dentists. They look after people's teeth," she explained and he nodded. "Anyway, it's not like I have any interest in doing that so…" she trailed off. She didn't know why she was telling him any of this and stood suddenly from their perch. "We should keep going." Draco sighed and joined her on his feet.

"Lead on Granger."

"How come you followed us down to Hagrid's that day?" Hermione eventually asked. It had been on her mind for weeks. Why he had followed them instead of telling his head of house his suspicions. Snape, who seemed to have nothing but criticism for both Harry and her, would surely have jumped at the chance to punish them. "Actually," she continued, stopping to look at him, "how did you even know about it?" Draco shrugged but Hermione was determined. "Malfoy," she repeated slowly, "how did you know about it?" He mumbled something unintelligible. "What?" She asked, leaning forward to hear him better. Draco came to a stop and sighed.

"I said," he mumbled, "that it doesn't matter."

"Malfoy." She insisted, "tell me."

"I overheard it ok? And I…." he trailed off and continued walking.

"What?"

"I wanted to see the dragon ok? My namesake. One of the rarest magical creatures to ever exist. There's not exactly somewhere you can go to see them whenever you want yo-"

"You mean a zoo," Hermione interrupted.

Draco's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I don't know what that is Grang-"

They both stopped dead at the sound of a piercing scream that reverberated through the trees around them. Hermione turned her head and swallowed harshly. "Harry," she managed to rasp out before turning swiftly on her heel. She was vaguely aware of Draco following quickly behind her, the lantern swinging in his hands and casting long shadows in front of her, all the while mumbling "bloody Potter."