Alright – If you don't feel like reading my thoughts and AU about this story, feel free to jump ahead two sections where the actual story begins. If you, against all expectation, DO want to read my thoughts and AU about this story, simply continue reading as they are listed down below. Enjoy :*

I have been struggling for quite a while now whether to write this story or not. I feel like I owe it to my heart to honour the original story, which I adore and have adored for so many years. I really like how everything turned out. I am a huge fan of the Hermione/Ron parring – he is so clumsy, funny and adorable, she is so bossy, heartfelt and clever, in my opinion, they are so right for each other! But my mind just can't stop thinking "what if". No – not even that. I don't want to change anything. I just really really really love the characters, and find their dynamics and interaction with one another so very interesting. I guess I could have created my own story with characters with similar traits and characteristics, but the truth is, I don't think I'm skilled enough, and this story has literally been burning a hole in my mind for 5 years. So here goes, I'm sorry heart, I'm sorry Ron and Hermione, I'm sorry J.K Rowling (not that she would care, but I kind of feel guilty – know what I mean?) I'm not so sorry about Draco though – you're in for a good time ;)

AU: Taking place in a world where Voldemort was defeated as he tried to kill Harry when Harry was still a child. Thus the chase after Horcruxes and the war in book 7 didn't take place. Other than that everything happened as described in the books. Let me just shortly recap: Even without a leader, the Deatheaters tried to steal the philosophers stone. Lucius Malfoy, with a little help from Ginny, set the basilisk free. Sirius broke out of Azkaban and was chased through the country. Mad Eye Moody aka. Bartemius Crouch Junior, attempted to kill Harry during the Triwizard Tournament. The massive Azkaban outbreak happened and the Deatheaters wreaked havoc in the Ministry of Magic, also, the Deatheaters managed to break into Hogwarts (without Draco Malfoys help though), but didn't succeed in killing Dumbledore or removing Snape from the castle. The story is set in 7th year. Every student is attending as usual. (yeah yeah – I know. There are soo many plotholes.. but.. well.. I'm sorry. Hopefully you will be able to enjoy the story nonetheless).

Oh – and I guess I have to say. English is not my main language as you can probably tell, but I hope you will still be able to enjoy the story, regardless of my typos and spelling mistakes J

The necessity of caring

Chapter 1: The new Head Boy

The green and silver pin caught the light beautifully as he positioned it on the front of his black button up shirt. Of course, it hadn't come as much of a surprise, he thought, smirking to himself in the large mirror, straightening his back, squaring his broad sholders. But still, it wasn't every day you were entrusted such an authority - and so much power! Head Boy of Hogwarts, it certainly felt powerful.

Oh – the possibilities he thought, and his smirk grew even wider. Of course there would be a lot of responsibilities and chores following the title, but he could delegate the more tedious tasks to the perfects, and the Head Girl.

The Head Girl. For a few seconds he had completely neglected thinking about her, his smirk suddenly turning into a frown. In fact, the thought of the Head Girl, was the only thing overshadowing his anticipation of the newly earned title. Or more precisely, the certainty of who would be joining him as Head Girl. There was no doubt about it, since there was only one suitable candidate for the position. Granger. God damn perfect, know-it-all mudblood Granger!

This was it! This was the thing that would ruin his last year at Hogwarts, he was sure of it. He would have to share living quarters with her. See her every day. Have to endure her ugly face and annoying muggle habits. Maybe they would even have to share a bathroom! A shiver went down his spine, and he suddenly felt nauseas.

Something needed to be done. If only he could get rid of her somehow. Mostly things tended to bend his way merely in the wake of his family name, but sometimes people needed a little persuasion. Good thing the Malfoy name held enough persuasion in Gringots to convince most people. But earlier attempts at trying to convince Dumbledore, had proven to be a bad idea, and bribing Granger herself was out of the question.

What could he do? Not much really. Except for making her life miserable.

Looking up, once again, he caught his reflection in the mirror. It winked at him, the stormy grey eyes gleaming, a huge mischievous smile spread across his face. If there was something he was good at, it was making other people's life miserable. Granger wouldn't be easy to annoy, but he would manage as he had surely proven on earlier occasions. Who knew, maybe he could even pressure her to resign the post. That would certainly make his year!

"What are you doing darling?" a soft voice sounded from the doorway. His mother entered the room, her long silvery hair softening her pointy features, framing her beautiful face. When she noticed the pin, a satisfied smile crossed her face.

"I am so proud of you Draco" she said, brushing a lock of his silver blond hair from his forehead. "Your father will be pleased."

Lightly Draco touched the pin and looked down at it. His father surely would be proud, and he, Draco, would make sure to live up to the name of Malfoy during the next 10 months.

XXX

Outside the window, the streets of London flew past in a haze of black and grey. The Hogwarts express had left the train station about 15 minutes ago, and was rumbling through the capital towards its destination.

Draco was sitting next to Pansy in a compartment that only minutes ago had been occupied by third year Huffelpuffs. Invoking his authority as Head Boy and his general Slytherin reputation he had relegated the startled and grumbling Huffelpuffs, and taken the compartment for him and his friends.

The conversation was light and accompanied by the flutters and screeches that filed the air as Draco's eagle owl Bubo inflicted its dominance over Goyle's smaller forest owl Brown.

Muffled by the sound of their conversation and the noises of the fighting owls, Draco didn't hear the compartment door slide open. First when a female voice spoke his name, did he realise, that someone had entered.

"Malfoy!" Granger was standing in the doorway, hands on hips. Eyebrows raised, he looked her up and down, noticing the little pin attached to the front of her robes. He sneered.

"We are supposed to introduce ourselves to the Perfects at 12.30. I suggested we meet up 30 minutes prior to discuss the schedules, expectations and the general approach, agreed?" Draco was about to say something, but she was already disappearing out the door, making her question more of a statement than an actual question.

"Wow, she is even more bossy than I remember" Blaise said loudly, making sure Granger wouldn't miss it while closing the door.

"… and her hair! I would simply die if I had to run around with a haystack like that!" Pansy stated, rolling her eyes. "I can't believe you are going to live with her!"

Draco didn't reply, but simply narrowed his eye, glaring at the now fully closed compartment door. "First of all, I'm not going to allow her to boss me around!" he stated in a cool voice. "I'm going to make her life miserable!"

As said, so done. 12.25 Draco pushed himself through the door into the Perfects carriage. Granger was sitting by the window, balancing a stack of parchment on her lap, scribbling.

"You're late" she said underlining a sentence, then blowing on the ink to make it dry.

"I didn't want to spend more time in your presence than absolutely necessary" Draco said. "Remember that!" he added.

There was a knock, and the compartment door slid open. A scared looking girl appeared.

"You are the Head Boy and Girl, right?" she asked shyly. "There has been an… incident" she said. "Charlie Turner accidentally set fire to his suitcase. Milly Holland tried to extinguished it, but got the spell wrong. The entire compartment is filled with purple slime, and more keeps pouring out of her wand". She finished breathlessly.

"So? Clean it and throw away the wand" Draco said. Behind him he heard Granger sigh.

"Don't worry. Do you remember what spell Milly used?" Placing the stack of parchment on the seat behind her, she approached the girl. "No, not really. Something with Agua" the girl said. Halfway out the door, Granger turned. "I'll be right back!"

Granger gone, Draco took a closer look at the parchment she had left behind. It was a list of some sort. It read:

Patrol schedule

First years to their respective dorm.

Detention and housepoints

New passwords

- Ravenclaw: none, but please explain about the riddles

- Griffyndor: Patronus

- Slytherin: Emerald

- Huffelpuff: 3rd Barrel to the left, tap: 2 short taps, pause, 3 rapid taps.

!Use secrecy charm!

Underneath was a stack of neatly filled out patrol schedules with the name of the Perfect meticulously written in the upper corner. Granger had done a great job, and her neat handwriting spoke for itself. Draco grinned. With a wink of his wand, her neat handwriting changed character. It got a little bigger and slanted slightly to one side, just like his did. This was not the first time he had had to put his own touch to someone else's work. If she only knew how she had just handed him everything on a silver platter!

Right then, the carriage door opened a second time, and one of the Patil twins stepped in, closely followed by Goldstein. After a quick glans in his direction, they seated themselves in the corner furthest from Draco, and continued their small talk. Soon after the rest of the Prefects followed, and Draco started handing out the schedules.

"As you all might have guessed; I am this yeas Head Boy of Hogwarts. As the Head Girl has yet to grace us with her presence I have taken it upon myself to schedule this semesters patrol. If the schedule doesn't fit you, too bad!" Grumbling filled the compartment "… furthermore!" Draco said, raising his voice above the grumble, glancing at Grangers list. "Furthermore, it is your task to lead the first year of your house to their respective dormitory. Make sure to keep them in check. We don't want any of the brats wandering off and disturbing the rest of us!" again grumbling filled the room. "As Perfects, you are allowed to deduct points from your own house, and issue detentions, make sure to use it!" At that moment Granger stepped in and all eyes fell on her. Smilingly she looked around.

"I see you have already handed out the schedules" she said eyeing the piece of parchment in the hand of a dark-haired girl. Obviously noticing the change, Granger leaned in to take a closer look. Politely, the girl held the schedule out for her to see. This was too good; she would be so mad!

"How nice of you to finally show up" Draco said sarcastically, supressing a grin. "If you are done interrupting us, I will continue the meeting." He glanced at the list, and continued "Also, it is your responsibility to ensure that all the members of your house are kept up to date with the various passwords needed. Since we are not supposed to know each other's passwords, I will now charm them onto the back of your schedule where it will disappear after 10 seconds. First up Slytherins."

The Slytherins started rustling with their parchment pieces and when everyone seemed ready, Draco lightly tapped the password written on Grangers list, and mumbled "Privata Revelare". Then he proceeded on to Gryffindor, then Huffelpuff. Lastly he commented "Ravenclaws, let's just hope your first years really are as smart as they say! That's all, now get out of here!"

Small talk set in, and everyone started leaving in small groups. Draco felt good, this could not have gone better had he planned it himself. Expectantly, he looked over at Granger, anticipating nothing less than a death glare. But she just looked at him, a hint of a smile on her lips. Then she turned to the Weasel and the She Weasley, who on the other hand where glaring at him. Then left the compartment, the two Weasleys following her, leaving Draco strangely unsatisfied.

Well, that was unexpected. A little anger and frustration would have been nice. But all in good time! He would get to her!