DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, and if JKR wants to sue me for the 30 dollars I have in the bank… well, I suppose that's fair enough.

Hermione lent against one of the pillars just inside the barrier. She had run headlong into the wall, still unable to fully believe that she wouldn't be thrown back, reeling and with a concussion. That the portal could be sealed, as Dobby had shown them all, only increased her fears. Still breathing heavily, Hermione felt a tight arm pull her into an embrace. Looking up, she saw Ron and smiled, reaching to place her arms around his neck and pull him closer. "I've missed you so much." Ron murmured into her hair receiving a beaming smile.

Hermione almost had a double take as she smiled up at her friend. Ron, if at all possible, was even taller than he had been at the end of sixth year. His hair had been cut differently and he no longer slouched to hide his height. In fact, he seemed almost confident. That might last until the first Potions class, Hermione giggled to herself.

Harry, who had managed to thread his way through the crowd to them, poked the oblivious girl's arm. "Harry!" she exclaimed and hugged him too, pulling Ginny into their embrace when she came within reach.

"How was your summer, Hermione?" Ginny asked as the three separated. Hermione smiled.

"Great, I'll tell you on the train ride… when we don't have to scream about it."

"Oh, something private then!" Harry teased. Hermione turned to smack him lightly on the arm, but she paused, turning her head slightly to the side to get a better look at a blond head bobbing not to far away. It couldn't be….

Draco Malfoy had left the school after fifth year, presumably to work for Voldemort. But who else would have that white blond hair and those ice blue eyes? He's a little taller and even from a distance his eyes look softer, or maybe that's just that his face isn't squished into a scowl.

Hermione's head spun with a million questions, and she quickly turned her head away as she saw his eyes move towards her as though he'd sensed her stare. Feeling his eyes burning into her flesh, she didn't even hear her friends as they asked what was wrong. What she did hear was a husky voice that half-whispered, "Granger?"

Hermione couldn't help herself as she blurted out, "Where d'you come from?"

Draco smiles, but doesn't sneer as he coyly answers, "from a few feet away, Granger."Hermione grimaced, feeling Harry and Ron snarling behind her. "What I meant to say," she began caustically, "Is what the hell are you doing here. You don't go to Hogwarts, remember? Didn't you drop out or something?"

Draco didn't even flinch. "I didn't go to Hogwarts last year. And come on, you can do better than saying I dropped out." He steps forward, a little closer than he needs to, and although his voice is much quieter he's so close that the girl can hear him distinctly over the clatter of the platform, "can't you, Hermione?"

Hermione was so confused when he addressed her by her first name that she didn't even step back. She did manage to pull herself together enough to say accusingly, "well, I've heard that you were working for Voldemort." She observed his reaction closely, as she said his father's master's name. Well, she would have watched closely if there had been a reaction.

Instead, Draco said airily, "Well if you really want to know, I was at Durmstrang. My father transferred me there after…" At this point he falters. Hermione wondered if he didn't want to mention Voldemort in front of her because she was a Mudblood… Muggle born, she corrected herself …or because he didn't want her to know something. "Well he transferred me, that's all." Draco finishes weakly.

"Oh really, we'd hoped you'd been bumped off or something. Too bad," Ron sneers.

Hermione shot Ron a cold look, and turned just in time to see Draco smile, gratified, although he still looked a little confused as to why she would defend him even so slightly. Hermione was wondering much the same thing herself. "I figured you'd be happy at Durmstrang. Why have you come back, Malfoy?" she asks, to break the silence.

"Durmstrang was disbanded. Seems the country decided it wasn't fit to remain a school any longer," Draco allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. "And no, I wasn't happy if it's any of your business, Granger." The smile is gone.

"Where are your thugs, Malfoy?" Harry asks, pulling Hermione back flush to his chest. Only then did she realize how close… how intimately close… she had been standing to Malfoy, and she blushed slightly.

"Not here." Draco says quickly. Hermione might have pressed him for more but they were silenced by an ear splitting "ALL ABORD" and the train's piercing whistle. Harry, who had released Hermione to cover his ears, quickly grabbed one side of her trunk which was still sitting, slightly crooked, on the cart she had used to run through the barrier. Ron grabbed the other side and the boys grumbled something about "too many damn books" as they scuttled towards the train as fast as they could, all things considered. Hermione looked away from them, quite surprised to see herself still standing next to Draco, alone now that Ginny had trailed after Harry.

Hermione shrugged, filled with some odd confidence that seemed to be pushing her off kilter. "Are you coming or are you just going to watch us go?" She asked, taking only a minute to watch the Draco's mouth twitch as though he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should. "I'll see you later then, Malfoy." Hermione spun off, pulled a heavy shoulder bag across her back, and set off for the train, jogging the last few steps to catch the train before it began to move. Behind her she heard Draco call, "Granger, wait up!" and for some reason a small smile crept across her face.

She slipped into the corridor and only turned after she heard Draco shout her name for the second time, incredibly frustrated by the sound of it. As she maneuvered the heavy back to allow her to turn around he caught up with her. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me?" Draco's face is once again scowling and sulky. Hermione for some reason was surprised to see him change back.

Surprised and annoyed. "What do you want then?"

Not a brilliant retort, Hermione thought to herself, but Draco's face took on a pinkish color and he stammered slightly as he said "Well… I, err… I wanted to talk to you."

"Suit yourself." Hermione retorted, not as caustically this time, and turned to continue along the corridor. Draco lifted her heavy bag from her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"You can't carry that thing." He said, pulling it easily onto his own shoulder. Hermione opened her mouth to protest but was cut off as she saw Ron poke his head out of a compartment.

"There you are!" He called, "What have you been doing?" Hermione slipped into the car, still trying to pull her bag from Draco's shoulder. "What's he doing here?" Ron asked, pulling himself up from the seat that he'd just flung himself into. Harry stands too, protectively, in front of Ginny. Draco releases the bag, making sure Hermione had hold of it before he let go completely. He looked at her expectantly. So did Harry and Ron.

Hermione looked helplessly from Draco to Ron, Ron to Harry, and then from Harry back to Draco. Draco was now lounging in the doorway as if he had nowhere else to go. Hermione realized suddenly that he probably didn't. After Voldemort's return was publicly announced many Slytherins had left Hogwarts. Their entire house had shrunk and Hermione could only think of a three Slytherin seventh-years. Pansy, who would harbor no great love for Draco after the way she'd sobbed when he "abandoned" her, Milicent, who had become Pansy's friend, oddly enough, and Blaise Zambini, who kept to himself. No one would be eager to have the Slytherin prince back. "Dammit." Hermione whispered to herself, feeling sorry for Draco was not something she had ever thought she would do.

"What was that, Hermione?" Harry prompts.

Hermione looked at Draco, wondering if he knew what she'd just figured out. She had an awful feeling that he fully understood how alone he truly was. Taking in a deep breath, she slipped into the seat Ron had vacated and reluctantly said, "We don't own this compartment. And it's against school rules to exclude people. You know what Dumbledore said about inter-House Unity, hazing, and exclusion. Really Harry, after the way everyone treated you in second year, you should know…" Draco smiled down at her, bending to whisper in her ear, "Thank you for that, but we don't both need to be friendless." As he stood, he brushed his hand over her knee making her jump slightly and follow him with her eyes as he strode out of the carriage, winking as soon as Ron and Harry turned back to stare at Hermione. She blushed.

"I knew Malfoy would leave if we didn't rise to his bait." Hermione said as huffily as she could. The boys rolled their eyes, laughed, and began to talk about Quidditch. Ginny shot Hermione a suspicious look before piping in, smiling eagerly as she leaned in towards Harry. Hermione leaned back, closed her eyes, and wished she could lie to herself as easily as she'd lied to her friends. And Malfoy knew she didn't hate him. Oh dear.

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