A/N

This fic is dedicated to Jade Presley for writing me the most amazing reviews I have ever received and for being such an awesome fan of my one shots. I can't thank her enough for her support, it blew me away and made me feel so appreciated, thank you so much for that. She's brilliant, and I highly recommend checking out her fics!

Secondly, I'd like to thank Nunley, the Garth to my Wayne, the Jack to my Rose. She needed a fic of almost moments, and so I hope I've delivered. It's rare to find a fangirl as devoted to the ship as you are. Thank you for being just as sane as I am ;D

This is, admittedly, turning into an Oscar's speech, I can almost hear the music playing, so I'll end this soon... or kick a violin. Either, or.

Shout out to my Alpha readers, DarkDaisies and kanewolfe, who put up with my incessant need for criticism on all things. You guys are so patient, thank you for putting up with me.

Lastly, big hugs to my Beta, GidgetMalfoy, who tackled this whilst being an expectant mother to be. I'm so ridiculously thankful, you're a legend.

Big hugs to everyone who decides to read this, I hope you love/hate it, let me know what you think ;)

xo

~0~

Present Day

He followed the same path he always had, ignoring the sun's obtrusive glare from his immaculately shined shoes. No, instead he focused on the flickering shadows just a few paces ahead. The shadows cast before him were hypnotic in a way, trying in vain to creep and meld into the light, constantly swaying and shifting in response to the environment. It was a bitter irony for him that the path he was walking was such an apt metaphor for his life.

Still, he persisted on, hands lax and brushing softly at his sides. He often wished he could replay the memories away from this place, but alas, it was as if the hallowed grounds were an extension of his mind. Only here, on this reticent plain, would the deluge of his past remembrances appear to him once more.

As it always did, the recollection started with their first meeting. Their first touch. He welcomed the vision flashing into his thoughts and embraced it, a shadowed ghost of a smile adorning his features.

1st September 1991

At the time he had been bemused by the stocky boy and confident girl charging through the train's corridors. The girl resolved to complete her task, almost daring the train to encumber her movements with its jostling to and fro. Heaven forbid the train should jolt her from the quest, her stare alone could have dissipated steam.

She moved from compartment to compartment, reluctantly pausing to introduce herself and ask if anyone had seen a toad. It dragged on for some time and he held his curiosity about this unknown girl and boy. A toad seemed to be a rather lackluster choice in his opinion, rather plebeian one might say, or at least that's what his father would have drawled. Still, he followed the duo, sneakily watching their progress and listening in on the mumbled replies from his peers.

He decided, after some time had passed, that the girl had very little regard for the opinion of others. She easily brushed off the quiet murmurs of her character being judged as she turned to walk to the next victims of her inquisition. Even comments wishing not to be placed in the same house as her didn't phase her in the slightest.

He liked that.

The nervous boy, always just behind her lead, stuttered something about searching separately and she agreed with a sharp nod and a quick list of instructions. Draco took this as his chance to approach her, liking the situation better this way. He was young, but he already knew the value of not approaching couples or groups without backup.

The girl walked ahead of him, the corridors now bare except for the two of them. She stopped and bent to tie her shoelace but then quickly spun around to stare directly at him.

"You've been following me," she accused, folding her arms and looking him up and down.

"Yes," he answered, not elaborating, slowly stepping forward to reduce the space. It was quite an intimidating move, deliberate of course.

"Well are you going to help or not? Neville's toad is missing and no one has seen or heard anything. I think someone has taken it, toads aren't silent creatures after all. What's your name anyway? I'm Hermione Granger."

He graced her with a smirk, his hidden approach had initially disgruntled her, but it seemed her appraisal of him had been in his favour.

"Who do you think would have taken the toad? It's not a popular choice for a familiar. I hardly think anyone would actually want one," he answered, keeping his tone cool.

She didn't seem to like that response, frowning and pointing her finger at him.

"That's beside the point, it belongs to Neville and he's already nervous. No one else was helping him."

Draco nodded and kept looking straight at her, "Yes, it's his responsibility. He lost it, so why would you make it your problem?"

She seemed to shuffle a bit at that, smoothing her hands down the sides of her uniform.

"I have already read our school books and he came into my compartment asking for help. I saw no reason to say no." She looked slightly uncomfortable, but still determined to face his questioning. He read between the lines of her reasoning and baited her further.

"So you were sitting by yourself then?"

"Yes?" A question not a statement. "What of it? If you can't stand your own company then what chance would you have with another's?"

Draco stared at her for quite a few moments. The silence was not awkward while he mulled over her words. He decided to award her confidence. He decided that he very much liked this girl.

"Let's go then, you haven't been to the upper compartments yet, follow me." He strode past her and within a beat she was by his side, refusing to yield her leadership in her quest. They made it to the sliding door, dividing the next unexplored section, which they both reached to open at the same time. The train lurched around a bend at that particular moment and Draco quickly grabbed her around the waist to hold her steady. She looked up at his slightly taller frame and quietly thanked him before moving for him to release her.

"Don't move," he quickly stated and slightly increased his grip around her. She looked at him in confusion and saw him tilt his chin, indicating for her to look down. There next to her feet, was the long lost toad, very still, as if waiting for the moment to spring away. They both watched silently for a few seconds and Draco was about to whisper some instruction when Hermione suddenly disappeared from his embrace to scoop up the now struggling amphibian. She looked back to Draco with a dazzling smile on her face and he couldn't help but reciprocate.

"How lucky are we! I better go find Neville now, thank you for helping," she said to him, still smiling at her triumph.

He gave a small smile in return and nodded, watching her start to walk away before he called out to her retreating form.

"My name is Draco, by the way, Draco Malfoy."

She turned slightly and looked at him over her shoulder, still walking in the opposite direction.

"Thanks again, Draco, Draco Malfoy."

It wasn't until she disappeared from view that he checked the pocket in his robes for any mess from the toad.

~0~

It was months before they had another interaction with each other without the constant shadows of their tentative friendship groups. In reality, they were in similar situations with their 'friends', if one could call them that. It seemed to be pairings of convenience for them both, not quite living up to their expectations of what they really wanted from friendship.

Nevertheless, he was quite entertained at the current point in time, serving detention with the curly haired toad saviour at his side. Hagrid was ahead of them and muttering to himself about something, occasionally prodding parts of the forest with a ridiculous pink umbrella. Draco couldn't quite figure out why he chose the umbrella as a wand receptacle, it was hardly discreet, and the half giant would need a tent over his head to protect him from the rain anyway. The mental image that projected made him huff an amused scoff, which garnered the attention of the girl at his side.

"And what would you be finding so funny at the moment, Malfoy?"

"Oh? We are going to talk to each other now, are we?" He lazily looked across at her.

"You started all that nonsense, I'll go back to ignoring you now," Hermione replied, with an over exaggerated eyeroll.

Draco frowned, "You spoke first! I didn't start anything."

"Ugh! Forget it! I'm not going to ask you why. I get it, ok? I just don't like it."

She looked royally pissed now and upped her pace trying futilely to create some distance between them. He knew what she was really talking about, he just didn't know what to lengthened his strides to catch up to her and deliberately nudged her arm with his elbow before looking straight ahead, the very picture of pure innocence.

She wasn't going to let that slide, and just as he hoped she would, she elbowed him back.

Now it was on.

For the next few minutes they silently attacked each other in their elbow war, growing increasingly daring with how far they would push the other. It was Hermione who took the initiative first to use props and started flicking leaves at his head using a very quiet Leviosa charm. Draco batted the leaves away and deflected them towards her instead, her hair becoming entangled around the greenery being flung at her. His pride demanded he win and to ensure his success he decided to play dirty. His Hawthorn wand moved in rapid jerky motions using small, but blindingly bright Lumos projections to obstruct her vision and put off her aim, easily ensuring he became the victor in their impromptu elbow/leaf war.

Hermione held her hands up in a placating gesture, so, being the gentleman he was, he paused his attack to allow her to concede defeat. What he was not expecting, however, was the rush of limbs, hair and foliage to obscure his vision as the obviously insane girl decided it prudent to ruffle every damn follicle of his hair out of place. She took a step back to admire her handy work and decided a few leaves from her own hair would improve his now much less sleekly styled 'do.

"See? We're the same."

All he could do was gape like a fish, and like her just that little bit more.

~0~

Present Day

He shook his head and smirked with a fondness at the recollection. No matter what happened over the years he would never regret stealing that toad.