Chapter 1

It was that time of year again. The steam was billowing from the train's engine as the Hogwarts Express stood at the platform. I finally made it to my seventh year. Hermione thought to herself as she watched the families pack themselves in for their goodbyes. She waited by the archway until she saw the Weasley clan come through with Harry. As they approached she pounced hugging everyone.

"How was the end of everyone's holiday?" She asked excitedly.

"Hermione!" Ron and Harry exclaimed happily as they hugged her.

"We had such a wonderful time, but we were wishing you were there. Ginny finally beat Harry to the snitch for once." Ron stated smugly. Hermione giggled at this while Harry sulked a bit about the loss.

"I suppose we should be heading for the train then." Hermione stated. "Ron, you know you have prefect duties to attend to, and I need to meet up with Professor McGonagall and the Head Boy."

"Oh yeah, you got Head Girl. Congratulations Mione." Harry said happily.

"Yes I did." Hermione replied "But I am curious as to who got Head Boy. Therefore I will be off and I will see you two as soon as my duties are done."

Hermione walked briskly toward the train leaving the two boys on the platform. Walking toward the Heads compartment she bumped into a rather tall roadblock.

"Watch your step mudblood." He snapped quickly.

"Malfoy." Hermione said curtly as she stood brushing the dirt unceremoniously off her uniform.

"I mean it. I don't need filth like you dirtying up my new robes." Malfoy hissed.

"Whatever." Hermione stated as she brushed past him trying to avoid any more conflict. She quickly darted into the Heads compartment happy to be free of him for the time being. Once seated, she began to riffle through her bag pulling out the necessary supplies for her meeting with McGonagall and the Head Boy. Satisfied that she had everything she needed, Hermione pulled out her book and patiently awaited the arrival of the others.

The first to arrive was Professor McGonagall. "Hermione dear! How good to see you!" She exclaimed. "I trust you had a nice holiday and a safe journey to the platform."

"Yes. Thank you Professor. I hope you had the same as well." Hermione politely replied.

Professor McGonagall sat as the train pulled out of the station.

"Its only Mr. Malfoy we are waiting on now." Professor McGonagall stated calmly.

"I'm sorry who did you say professor?" Hermione asked, hoping that she had misunderstood.

"Why Mr. Malfoy of course. I thought you knew by now." McGonagall replied.

"Um… no professor. I was unaware that I would be working so closely with Malfoy this year." Hermione replied slowly trying to keep calm.

"Not just working, living as well. The heads share a suite you know." McGonagall added with a small twinkle in her eye.

Just then Draco Malfoy opened the compartment door and stared in irritation at Hermione.

"I should have known the know-it-all would be named Head Girl." He stated sounding rather annoyed.

"Now now Mr. Malfoy…" Professor McGonagall replied sternly, "that is no way to talk to your counterpart and colleague for the school year. You two will, after all, be sharing quarters and duties."

"You said 'living together' professor… You must be mistaken." Malfoy stated in shock.

"Oh no Mr. Malfoy. I assure I am quite sure that you and Miss Granger have a shared living quarters this year." McGonagall replied smugly. "You see we, as teachers, thought that if students could see their Head Boy and Girl living together and getting along that it would bring a halt to the house rivalry. I know that both of you are up to the task of getting along for the good of the student body… or am I mistaken?"

"No Professor." Hermione immediately replied, "I'm sure that Malfoy and I can work out our differences for the good of the school."

"Mr. Malfoy?" McGonagall asked cautiously.

"Whatever." He stated sulking.

"Very well then. Now as for the two of you, please make a rotation schedule for rounds and remember to pair prefects from different houses together. Also keep in mind that the prefects are in charge of the Hallows Eve ball. It needs to be planned and I need a proposal in two weeks time. Have a lovely rest of your journey and I will see you at the sorting." McGonagall said brusquely as she walked out of the room.

"Well Malfoy, considering we are stuck with each other for the year, what do you say to a truce?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"As if I'd ever do anything to help you mudblood." Malfoy smirked. "I have every intention of keeping as far away from you and your filthy self as possible. Just stay out of my way and we shouldn't have a problem." Malfoy stood and stalked out of the Heads compartment sneering at Hermione all the way.

"Well this is going to be awful." Hermione said to herself as the compartment door swung shut.

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Draco stalked down the hallway and paced outside of the Slytherin compartment door. Shit. Shit. Shit. He thought to himself. Now I'm stuck living with bloody Granger all year and I have to work in close terms with her. She'll probably give me some sort of muggle flesh eating disease by getting too close to me.

"Draco?" a male voice asked questioningly.

Draco whipped around and saw Blaise Zabini staring at him with a curious and amused glint in his eye.

"What are you doing mate?" Blaise asked.

"Thinking." Draco snapped. "Did you know that mudblood Granger is Head Girl this year?"

"Well duh. Who else was McGonagall going to give it to?" Blaise asked amusedly.

"I don't know who I was thinking… but now I'm stuck living in the same quarters as a filthy mudblood all year. She'll probably contaminate my things with her filth." Draco replied sounding quite irritated.

"Come on Draco. She can't be all that bad. After all she did just kick some serious ass during the final battle, and if I do say so myself, she looked rather hot doing it." Blaise said grinning widely.

"Please, by all means, take her." Draco stated. "You can have her filth all to yourself."

"Don't mind if I do." Blaise said smirking widely at Draco as he pushed past him to enter the compartment.

Draco followed him in sulking all the way. Why did I get stuck with the stupid mudblood? He asked himself again.

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As the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station Hermione gathered her things and went to round up the prefects; they needed to make sure the first years made it safely to the boats. Once she had rounded up all of the prefects she made them double and triple check that all of the first year students were present before setting them loose on the boats. Finally the group had managed to settle themselves into the boats and the prefects began to load themselves into the final carriage going up to the castle.

"Watch it mudblood, don't need filth like you even brushing against me." Malfoy stated as he pushed past her to get into the carriage.

"Looks like you may be in for a rude awakening this year Malfoy." She stated. "If you haven't noticed the purebloods lost the war, meaning that this is the beginning of a new era. You have a lot of learning to do about how normal people interact in social situations."

Hermione grinned to herself. That'll teach him. She thought to herself. The rest of the carriage ride was relatively quiet with the exception of Ron's incessant cursing every time the carriage hit a particularly large bump in the path. Finally the carriage arrived in front of the castle and the prefects headed up the stairs and into the Great Hall for supper. Ron and Hermione broke off from the rest of the group and found their seats with Harry and Ginny.

"You all will never believe what has happened." Hermione stated sounding rather annoyed.

"What?" All three asked in unison.

"The Heads will be sharing a living space this year. That means that I am stuck living in close quarters with none other than our Head Boy, Draco Malfoy." She replied glumly.

"No." Harry said quietly to himself.

"Hell no!" Ron shouted, "You will not be living any where near that prejudiced git!"

"Ronald. Keep your voice down." Hermione quietly demanded, "Stop drawing attention to us."

"No Hermione! They cannot force you to live with him. That's not acceptable. He will find a way to hurt you. Who knows what kinds of injuries you could leave that place with!" Ron continued to press.

"I'm serious Ronald. Sit down. Now." Hermione sternly stated.

Ron looked at Hermione with disdain and crossed his arms. He sat quietly refusing to speak with her, so Ginny chimed in.

"Who knows Mione… He is rather attractive. Maybe something good will come of this." She said happily.

"McGonagall thinks it will help interhouse relations." Hermione replied.

"Well that makes sense then." Harry resigned. "Maybe Malfoy will come to his senses and realize that this is no longer the world of the pureblood elite."

"We can hope Harry. We can certainly hope." Hermione mumbled as she finished her dinner.

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After the sorting the house prefects lead the first years to their dormitories while Professor McGonagall showed Hermione and Draco where they would be living for the course of the year. They arrived at a large tapestry a few corridors down from the library.

"Just simply step to the left of the tapestry and tap this stone three times, then state the password and the doorway will appear. Your password is Unity." Professor McGonagall stated.

She demonstrated to them how to open their dormitory and walked them both inside. They stepped into a large, yet inviting, common room with a fireplace and a few comfortable looking couches. On the other side of the couches was a small kitchen, and to either side of the room was a staircase leading to a second level balcony. There were three doors, one on the left, one on the right, and a final door in the middle.

"Mr. Malfoy, your lodgings are too your left, and Miss Granger to the right. In the middle is a shared lavatory. I trust that you both can handle sharing a few common spaces and not abuse the privilege of having these luxuries." McGonagall stated sternly.

"Yes. Thank you professor. This is lovely." Granger said being the ever-present know-it-all mudblood that she was.

"Thank you professor. Have a wonderful rest of your evening." Draco stated not about to be out shone by mudblood filth like Granger.

"Good night. See you both tomorrow in classes." McGonagall said leaving the two to their own devices.

"Good night Malfoy." Granger said curtly as she walked up the stairs towards her lodging.

Draco stood silent and watched her walk away. Then he made his way up to his own room. Walking in he found the room to be rather pleasant. It was done up in his house colors, the walls were painted silver with the wall behind his bed being Slytherin green. His furniature was all black with silver accents. There was a large bed, desk, dresser and closet present with all of his things put away. It's great to be Head Boy. Now if only Granger didn't live here as well. Draco sat on his bed for a bit then stood to get paper. Now that he was at school he needed to contact his father.

Father,

I am at school and in pursuit of the girl you told me about after my change this summer. I know I need to be looking for my mate. After all, that's what Veelas do. However I haven't so much as felt a presence, emotion or thought since I've arrived. Is it possible she is not here?

Draco

Draco thought about his predicament as he sent the letter off with his owl Artemis. Over the summer on his 17th birthday he had learned of his veela heritage. His mother and father both had veela genes, but they never went through the transformation or held the traits. Draco, having two parents that had the veela trait, was to go through the change on his 17th birthday. It had been a painful few hours but he had made it through. Now the most crucial thing to do was find his mate. After his birthday his parents had paraded him around to every known pureblood family looking for the girl that he was destined for. However their attempts were futile as no girl turned up to be his match. This left Draco in a rather odd situation. Once a veela has transformed they have one year to find their mate and gain their acceptance. If he fails to do this he will die of a broken heart. Draco was brainstorming possible mates that he needed to make contact with when he heard a tapping on his window. He retrieved the letter and gave Artemis a treat. She flew from the window and Draco unrolled the letter.

Son,

It is still possible that your mate is at Hogwarts. I did a bit of reading and came across a statement that may be of use:

"A veela will not sense his mate until the mate is 17 years of age, when their magic unleashes to its full capacity."

Maybe your mate just has yet to turn 17. Keep a look out.

Father

"Well that's useful." Draco mumbled, "How am I supposed to find her now?" Just then the clock struck midnight and he felt a burning sensation rip through his body. When he awoke he was laying on the floor with only one thought in mind. I can feel her. She's here.