Chapter 1:

Expectations

14th of March, 2011. Monday.

"I've been wandering about it for ages!"

It was that squeal tone of voice that made me realise I should've never asked the question in the first place. Next to me on the Hogwarts Express Train, Pansy Parkinson squealed in absolute excitement. I jumped on the side in surprise. I didn't expect that from Parkinson... but then, what had I expected? I didn't really think of the consequences but does it really matter?

I sighed and crossed my arms, leaning back on the seat and prepared for Parkinson's burst. I was still deciding if I should listen to it or not. I didn't need to wait long and as my heart went back to its original pace, I glanced up at Blaise Zabini.

Zabini wasn't being subtle and was a lot louder and outspoken than me. As the male noticed the scene happening in front of him, I could tell he was trying to hold in his laughter. He was a good friend to me and had been for a long time, so I expected him to support me, therefore I glared at him. I couldn't tell if the brown eyed Slytherin was oblivious to my glare or he was choosing to ignore it. Either way, my mind frame was interrupted as the girl next to me gasped loudly.

"I've seen the most gorgeous dress ever back at home!" Parkinson continued. "It was so gorgeous! It was purple, and above my knees… very sparkly, of course. Oh, wait! Merlin! I'm not going to tell my date everything that I'm wearing to the formal!" Parkinson squealed a laugh. "But Draco, you need to wear a blue tie- Oh no, wait, I'll tell you what to wear the day before. Oh Merlin, this is going to be great-"

I shook my head as the realisation dawned on my face. Zabini's lips were tightly sewn together as he tried not to laugh and I vaguely remembered when Zabini used to keep more to himself, he was more... okay, so he was more disdainful, but not as confrontational and outgoing as he was after the war. I can accept that. He's my good friend and truth be told, I too was trying to be a better person. But by the way Zabini was openly laughing at me because of Parkinson, was irritating. As Zabini's eyes began to water and he continued laughing, I grimaced. Parkinson's voice only got louder and louder…

"Shut up, Parkinson!" I finally exclaimed, unable to endure more conversation with her, and especially on the topic of the Formal. Besides, it's still far away. For a moment Parkinson had continued talking and then, like someone had slapped her, she flew silent. I was at a loss of what to say, knowing she was looking at me expectedly but I was glancing at Zabini. The male was still laughing, trying not to break his sides, "Shut it, Zabini!"

In a split second decision, I stood up, "Parkinson, we are not going out. And I'm not going to the formal with you!" Glancing at her in disbelief, I walked out of the compartment. Apart of me knew that Parkinson did like me and that she did think that we are going out, but suddenly I was sick of her. I didn't want to see her for a while.

Nobody seemed to be out of their compartments as I hurried by. I didn't want to be seen. I was content on my hurried pace, directed to nowhere in particular. Therefore, I didn't bother to look at the compartments I passed. And then, abruptly, at one point, just a minute since I started walking, I looked up and looked at my surroundings. At that moment my eyes flickered by one compartment and I skidded to a stop, walking back to the last compartment that I had passed.

I looked inside, almost expecting my assumption to be wrong. Yet, I wasn't mistaken. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley were in there. Everybody was wearing normal clothing, including me. I had decided to wear simple jeans and a plain shirt- but that was covered because of my jacket that was zipped up. All the seventh years were allowed to wear the uniform- the robes- just before the Great Hall meeting. It was explained in the letters that all the seventh years had gotten during the holidays.

Granger was laughing. I was gob-smacked for second before quickly recovering. The brunette was wearing a light blue dress that reached her knees, which underneath she was wearing skinny jeans. Two sliver, plain bracelets were placed on her left hand, but the biggest chance of all was that her hair was dead straight instead of her old, crazy, curly hair. Currently, it reached the middle of her shoulder to her elbow and I had to admit, Granger did look pretty.

Potter noticed Weasley the minute I did; Weasley was smiling but he seemed a little down. He must've commented on this because Granger stopped laughing and looked at Weasley, who now glared at Potter. Weasley said something which caused Granger's face to go blank. I was aware that if any of them looked to the door they would see me gazing inside, right at them. I should move away; it's not my business anyway. But I couldn't do that... I'm a Malfoy, it's in my blood, and besides, curiosity got the better of me.

Potter stared at Granger who said something. Potter responded, saying something to Weasley, but then abruptly got up, waving his arms in the air and then walked swiftly to the door of the compartment. It was a big shock- I don't think I've ever seen the Golden Trio fight before- and that sure did look like a fight. I wandered what it was about, but I had the sense to dive away before the compartment door suddenly opened. I was lucky enough to just catch Weasley's expression before I went away. He had tears in one of his eyes.

"Malfoy!"

I turned around, knowing that it was Potter who called me. I pretended that I didn't notice anything in their compartment, regaining my cool status and replied, "Yeah, Potter?"

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, looking at me warily.

Upon turning around to face the wizard, I shrugged, responding, "just wandering."

He stared at me and I knew that he was trying to search on my face to see if I had seen anything that happened in the compartment. When Potter couldn't see anything, he relaxed. Slightly.

"What's with you?" I asked, trying to forge innocence. I didn't want to stay in the awkward silence, and a bit of me was still curious. Knowing I couldn't ask about what had happened in the compartment, I attempted to continue the conversation.

Potter shrugged, not looking away from my face. "Nothing," he replied.

For a moment we stood in silence until I decided to try and talk to him. I respect Harry Potter. It was a few months ago (the middle of last year) when Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort. I didn't tell anyone but I was so grateful to him: he opened my freedom, really. Unfortunately, my parents aren't coping with the fall of Voldemort. "How were your holidays?" I asked.

"Is this your way of attempting a truce?" Potter asked, amusement finally reaching his face.

Inwardly sighing, I replied, "I wanted to say thanks… for… you know, defeating him." Couldn't Potter just shut his business out of things and not make this more uncomfortable? Just as I was halfway through that thought, I realised how hypocritical I was.

Potter paused, surprised at my sudden statement. He knew what I was talking about despite not having talked about it. Nobody knows that I've… started a fresh leaf. "It's alright."

I opened my mouth to say something, to move away the conversation, when suddenly a scream reached our ears. The words sounded like Ron. "WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH?"

Potter shifted uncomfortably but I didn't say anything.

"It was good." Potter abruptly said.

I looked up sharply at the black haired boy. In the silence, I was worrying about if I should ask what was wrong with Weasley. That shocked me as well- since when did I ever worry about asking someone something? I didn't bother answering my own question with my ego; instead I just looked into Potter's face. He looked tired and a little upset, but besides that, he looked peaceful: I could imagine his happiness with meeting up with the Golden Trio. I wandered, when was the last time they saw each other?

Potter's response, 'it was good', caught me off guard and I asked, confused, "What was?"

"My holidays- It was good… I stayed with Ginny…" And then, whatever was upsetting Potter was gone. He smiled.

"Oh."

I watched as Harry's body hesitated and then, without another word, he walked swiftly to the compartment door. When he opened it, I heard some of the conversation between Ron and Hermione as he opened the door.

"You can't say that and expect me to be all fine!" Hermione snapped.

"Hermione-"

"Oh, just shut up, Ron-"

Then silence as the door slammed closed.

/

A red-head ran to Luna Lovegood in the Great Hall. Everybody who were in the Great Hall were early, resulting to the fact that there wasn't many people in the Great Hall. Lovegood was sitting isolated, reading something in her own house table, Ravenclaw. She looked up at Ginny Weasley in surprise, but put her book on the table and listened as Ginny whispered something in her ear. They turned to look at Weasley who sitting with Potter at the end of the Gryffindor table. There wasn't anybody else on the Gryffindor table- and there wasn't anybody on the Hufflepuff table.

Weasley looked mad, a similar expression to Potter's. Engulfed into their own conversation, neither of them noticed me sitting on a long row of a chair close by the Great Hall doors.

"Ron… you don't need to announce to the whole school that you broke up, okay? That'll just make un-wanted- are you listening?" Potter snapped.

"Yes, dad," Weasley said sarcastically, fidgeting with his cup which was presently empty.

"Ron, I'm trying to help you out here, but you can't be so shallow to Hermione-"

Weasley exclaimed, his head snapped directly to Potter's direction, "She slapped me on the face for Merlin's sake!"

"You broke up with her," Potter said, calmly. "And you didn't even slowly lead into it and you had to start with, 'I don't know how to say… Hermione, I don't feel this anymore!' Do you ever even listen to Ginny's advice?"

Weasley's mouth opened, he was shocked. He couldn't say anything for a second as he tried to think up an excuse. Subsequently, he couldn't think of anything. Slightly abashed, he exhaled, "Would you keep your voice down? Besides why would I listen to Ginny's advice? She didn't even know I was going to break up with Hermione… and how did you know that she was telling me this?"

Potter rolled his eyes, "Who can hear this, Ron? Nobody's even on the table…" Potter sighed, going a little pink. He looked away from his best friend and responded, "She said it sometime last year, I was about to go into the kitchen but I thought I should leave you two alone…" Potter added, "That's not the point!" and looked back at the red-head.

"Then what's the point?" Weasley argued, abruptly letting go of the cup and putting his arms on his lap. "When you break up with someone they're going to cry anyway!"

Harry opened his mouth, paused and then muttered, "You're unbelievable!"

"Now who sounds like Hermione?" Weasley said wryly.

"Just remember, she was your best friend too!"

Ron Weasley rolled his eyes as one of the Great Hall doors opened. He sighed and, irritated and unsure of what to say or how to make his friend see his way, Potter kicked Ron under the table. Forgetting to be subtle, Ron yelped, "OW!"

Still shocked at what I was hearing, I looked at Hermione who had entered through the doors. Her eyes were red and she wasn't wearing skinny jeans anymore, she just wore her dress. She saw Potter and Weasley and sat down next to Potter.

"Hey, Hermione," Potter smiled.

"Hey Harry… Hey… Ron," She smiled. Harry stared at Hermione, searching before eventually exhaling and smiling. To me, the smile looked fake.

"Remember," Potter said, looking serious again. "You guys don't need to pretend that you're in a relationship but you have to pretend like your okay. You don't need everybody on your case." Potter looked at Weasley, "Don't make a scene!"

Before Weasley could say anything, Granger looked at him and said, "It's alright, right Ron?"

Ron was stunned at Hermione's cheerful voice, she even looked happier. "Yeah-"

There was an awkward moment of silence until Hermione glanced to the side. She noticed her first before the female basically skidded next to Weasley and hugged him tightly. "RON! Why didn't you write to me at all during the holidays?" Lavender exclaimed, despite a huge grin on her face. She let go of him and attempted to glare.

Like Zabini had earlier, Ron just ignored the glare and shrugged.

Granger smiled at Lavender, "don't go into it too much Lavender, he never writes to anyone." Weasley looked at Granger, a look of defence on his face. She pretended to ignore the frown and stood up, "I'm going to the ladies room. See youse later."

She gave them all a brief smile and then walked out of the Great Hall.

I sighed and looked down at my arms; I should've known what was going on. I've been through enough relationships to know about breakups- why didn't that idea come into my head? It seemed to make so much more sense now.

I looked up as someone skidded next to me. "Just letting you know; Parkinson is pissed and looking for you."

I looked at Blaise, "Wonderful."

A/N:

This is my first ever Harry Potter FanFiction. I'm writing this about 15 months after I actually uploaded this chapter. That's a long time. I've had sooo many Author's Blocks on this story that it's incredicable that actually, in one more chapter, this story is finished.

It's the 26th of Februrary, 2012, right now; when I'm typing this anyway... and I just wanna say a few things; Thanks sooooo much to everyone whose read this story, still is, reviewed and has put it on their favourite/alert lists. In the last few chapters, actually, I got like, no reviews. And for months I was so paranoid and I felt so horrible cause I thought nobody cared about this anymore. But then just about two months ago, I looked at my emails, and I realised that many people actually are still reading it, and have added it to their favourites/alerts. I want to say a very big thank you.

I know not many people whose read my chapters so far, will see this note, so welcome to everyone whose reading this for the first time... and those who have already read this story previously. I need to mention that, I will delete all my other author's notes in my other chapters, but that will take time.

Also, for the past, about, 5 months I have been editting every single chapter of this story. Amazing it took me that long, but I have done it, and it will take time, again, to upload them one-by-one.

The fact is, that a lot of the dates have changed. I wrote this story agees ago, and unfortunately along the way, the dates have been moved around, some information went insane and so did one character's age (I was very shocked when I realised all this.). But never fear- because I have fixed all that :) I will post the dates in order on the last chapter- the epilogue that I have to write and then upload. But I wanted to mention this here, now, because once I've uploaded all the already-editted chapters, all the dates and information will be fixed :)

Also, importantly, this FanFiction is rated T... so there will be some swearing. This is a Dramione (Draco and Hermione) FanFiction, but I will include scenes and spots for other couples, as much as I can. This is mostly evident towards the last few chapters of this story. One of the couples, will have an OC (original character- so one I've made up). This story is going to be kept as original as a Marriage Law AND FanFiction can be. I will also try to keep it realistic, and I'm quite pleased with my work on this story, considering it was my first and that re-editting it was haaard. Very hard. I had written matariel that was so odd to me because it's style of writing was written differently to mine now, as it was so long ago.