Chapter 4: The Turning Point

The train arrived to Hogsmead Station and all the students filed off. Hermione had been informed that the Head Boy and Girl would be riding together to the school and share a Common Room for the year. Hermione got off the train and walked to the horseless carriages. She walked to the very first one and climbed in. She sat there, wondering who the Head Boy was. A few moments later, the carriage door open and Malfoy climbed in.

“Draco?” said Hermione, surprised.

Draco looked up to see who it was and saw Hermione. He sat down across from her and smiled.

“Hi, Hermione,” he said.
“You’re Head Boy?” she asked
“Um, yeah, why else would I be in this carriage?” he said.
“Sorry.”
“It’s really not a surprise,” he said. “I knew I was going to be head boy, I was just waiting for my badge.”
“Oh? I was so excited when I got the badge. My parents took me out to celebrate.” Hermione said, happily. “I didn’t think I would become Head Girl.”
“My parents didn’t do anything when I got mine. But its normal, I’ve gotten used to it.” Draco said, leaning his head on the carriage window.

Hermione looked at him and could see the pain in his eyes from talking about their parents, so she decided to change the subject.

“So, umm, Draco,” she started.
“Hmm?”
“Seems like we’re gonna be spending lots of time together.”
“What do you mean?” he said, curiously.
“Didn’t anyone tell you,” she said, “we’ll be sharing a common room.”
“No, no one told me any--”
“Really? Well that’s a surprise. Normally, Draco Malfoy would know about these things before me.”

Draco glared at Hermione and couldn’t help but smirk.

“What?” she asked.
“Nothing, just thinking about how these new arrangements are going to work.”
“Well, I think they might go pretty well. Seeing as how we’re actually getting along.”
“Yeah, that’s gonna change by the time we get to school.”
“Why?”
“Think about it. Granger and Malfoy talking and acting civil. I have reputation to keep.”
“I apologize if talking to me is going to “hurt” your rep.” Hermione said, crossing her arms and staring out the little window in the carriage.

They were both silent for the rest of the ride. The carriage finally came to a stop in front of the castle. Draco climbed out and offered to help Hermione. She got out, and they walked toward the castle.

“See you in the common room, Granger,” he said, with a smirk.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and nodded. As they walked into the Great Hall, Hermione watched Draco walk to the Slytherin table and sit down, and then made her way to the Gryffindor table to listen to the welcoming speech and enjoy some dinner.

“Hey, Hermione!”
“Hi, Ginny.”
“How are you? How was the rest of your summer?”
“I’m fine,” she said, looking over to the Slytherin table to find Malfoy. “And the rest of my summer was ok. Hung out with my parents mostly. How was yours?”
“It was ok. I didn’t really do much other than practice Quidditch with Harry and Ron.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Oh, yeah. Loads.”
“I have to talk to you later Ginny.”
“About what?”
“Just some stuff,” Hermione said, glancing back over at Draco.

Ginny caught sight of Hermione's eye looking over at the Slytherin Table, and saw her looking at Malfoy. She had an idea of what Hermione was going to tell her.

“Ok,” Ginny said.
“I’ll come get you tonight around eight and we’ll go back to the Head common room and talk there. Harry and Ron don’t need to hear this quite yet.”
“So, you get your own Common Room?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah, I haven’t been in it yet, but I heard it’s lovely. They supposedly decorated to match the Head Girl and Boy’s house.”
“Who’s the Head Boy?”
“Malfoy.” Hermione said looking at the Slytherin table.
“Malfoy? Really?”
“Yeah, so I get to spend an entire year in the same room with him. It’s going to be loads of fun.” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. “I’m gonna check out my new dorm. I’ll see you in a bit Ginny.”
“Ok, bye Hermione.”

Hermione got up from the table and walked toward the door, took a last look at Draco and left the Great Hall and made her way to the sixth floor and went to the portrait of a snake and a lion.

“Pass-ss-word?” said the snake.
“Equus.” said Hermione

The portrait opened and Hermione climbed in. She looked around and was in shock from how nice it looked. The entire common room was draped in silver and gold with scarlet and forest green couches. There was also kitchen to make personal breakfasts and snacks throughout the day. Hermione walked over to the staircase that leads to the dorms. There was a plaque of a lion above her door and plaque of a snake above Malfoy’s. She opened the door to her dorm and went in. The entire room was scarlet and gold. She put her bag down and looked around her room. She had a queen sized bed with scarlet sheets and gold pillow cases. She even had her own bathroom. She went over to her bed and plopped down onto the soft mattress and laid there in her thoughts. She went back down into the common room and looked at the clock. 7:45 it said. I should go down and get Ginny now, she thought. She left, and walked to the Gryffindor Common Room.

******

Draco sat down at the Slytherin table and began to fill his plate with food.

“You ok?” asked Blaise.
“No,” Draco replied. “I made Hermione mad at me.”
“How’d you do that?”
“I don’t know. All I said was that once we got to school, we couldn’t really talk or anything. My reputation would be in jeopardy.”
“Good job, Draco.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t have to bring up your rep, you idiot. She knows about it already, and doesn’t need you to remind her. She’s risking her friendship with Potter and Weasley just so she can talk to you.”
“Oh, yeah” he said, looking down at his plate. “I forgot about them.”
“Well, don’t worry about it,” said Blaise. “Just, when you see her, apologize.”
“Thanks, Blaise.”

Draco looked over to the Gryffindor table and found Hermione. She was talking to Ginny about something. He just stared at her as she talked and wondered what it was about. She then got up and left. Draco watched her leave, as his eyes followed her, saw her eyes catch his, and she walked out the door. He sat there in thought of what he could say to her later.

******

Hermione came to portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Password?” she asked
“Firewhiskey” Hermione replied.

The portrait opened and Hermione climbed in and looked for Ginny. She found her sitting on the couch with Harry, doing homework.

“Hey, Ginny,” she said.
“Hey, Hermione.”
“Ready to go?”
“Yeah.”
“Where are you two going?” Harry butted in.
“Back to my dorm” Hermione replied. “I told you I had to talk to her.”
“I thought you did that already.”
“No, I didn’t.” She looked back at Ginny. “Would you like to spend the night, Gin? It’ll be easier.”
“Yeah, sure” said Ginny, “let me just get some stuff.”
“Ok.”

While they waited for Ginny, Harry decided to see if he could find out what was up.

“So, you gonna tell me about any of this?”
“I told you Harry, don’t worry about it.”
“Are you gonna tell me at some point?”
“Yeah, probably, but right now I’m not going to.”
Ginny came back down from her room.

“Ok, I’m all set.”
“Ok, let’s go. Bye Harry,” said Hermione.
“Bye Harry,” said Ginny giving him a kiss.
“Bye guys,” he said.

They turned and left the common room and walked to the Head’s room. They got to the sixth floor and headed down the hallway to the snake and lion portrait.

“So, when do I get to find out about this guy?” she asked looking at Hermione.
Hermione laughed, “why do you assume it is about a guy?”
“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe because you kept looking at Malfoy while you were talking to me.”
“Ok,” she said giggling. “It’s about a guy.”
“Is it about Malfoy?” Ginny asked, attempting to keep a serious look on her face, but failing horribly.

Hermione couldn’t help but smile, and nod.

“No way!” exclaimed Ginny.
“Yeah.”
“But how…when?” she stammered.
“Don’t worry I’ll tell you once we get to my room.”

Hermione said the password and the girls climbed in and headed towards the couch.

“Can I put my stuff in your room Hermione?”
“Yeah, sure. Go up the stairs and it’ll be obvious which room is mine.”
Ginny giggled, “ok,” and she headed up the stairs.

Hermione went into the kitchen, and made some popcorn and poured a couple of glasses of Butterbeer. She sat on the couch and waited for Ginny.

“Oh my goodness, Hermione.”
“What?”
“I love your room. It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it! I love it and I haven’t even spent the night in it yet. Here, I made you a glass of butterbeer.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”

Hermione and Ginny sat there in silence for a little bit enjoying their Butterbeer and popcorn. Finally Ginny piped up.

“So Harry and Ron told me they saw you talking to Malfoy in Madam Malkin’s,” Ginny said, with her eyebrow raised. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing, we were just talking.”
“Uh-huh, so, spill it. I wanna know everything that happened.”
Hermione laughed, “Ok, ok, I’ll tell you.”
“Finally,” said Ginny.
“I got to Diagon Alley and ended running into your brother and Harry. We talked for a little bit, and I realized we were coming up to Flourish & Blotts. I told them I needed to get my books and they told me to meet them at Madam Malkin’s later.”
“Hurry up and get to Malfoy!”
“Chill, Ginny, I’m getting there. Anyway, I went down one of the aisles to get my Ancient Runes book. I walked back up the aisle so I can buy them, but I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going and collided with Draco. I fell flat on the floor with all my books scattered around me. I got up and started to walk to the cash register to buy my books and he stopped me and apologized.”
“Malfoy apologized?!”
“Yeah, he did. I was shocked too.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d hear that. But go on.”
“Ok, so he apologized and I accepted it. He asked if he could walk with me to Madam Malkin’s. So I paid for my books and we left. While we were walking, I asked what was up with him, he just said he had been avoiding his father for a while. I stopped and stood in front of him and told him that if he needs anyone to talk to, he can come and find me.”
“Wow, so you really do like him?”
“Yeah, I don’t get it though. Even after 6 years of horrid name calling and teasing, I have feelings for him.”
“So does he like you?”
“Yeah, he does.”
“How do you know?”
“I was kind of eavesdropping on his conversation with Bla--”

Hermione stopped short when she heard the portrait open. Hermione and Ginny both looked at the doorway and watched Draco climb in. Draco threw his bag down and looked up. When he saw Hermione, he nearly tripped over his bag.

“Draco, you ok?” Hermione asked.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

Ginny looked at them and decided to change to her pajamas.

“Uhh, Hermione, I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go and change. But when I get back, I wanna hear the rest of your story.”

With that she looked at Draco and smiled, then went to Hermione’s room to change.

“What’s she doing here?” sneered Draco.
“I invited her over to talk.”
“About what?”
“Nothing in particular. Not that you need to know anyway.”

Draco looked at her and rolled his eyes. After about five minutes, Ginny came back down from the bedroom in her pj’s.

“Ok, Hermione, let’s hear the rest of it.”
“Umm, Ginny, let’s finish this conversation in my room.”
“Oh, Ok.”
“No, no it’s fine. Stay down here, I’m tired anyway,” said Draco.

Hermione sat back down on the couch and Ginny joined her. Draco turned and began walking to the staircase. He stopped and looked back at Hermione.

“Hermione?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Come here for a second?”
“Yeah, sure, hold on Ginny.”
“Ok,” Ginny said, trying to hold back a smile.

Hermione got up and walked over to Draco.

“What’s up Draco?”
“About earlier, I’m really sorry. It’s just old habits die hard. I didn’t mean it.”
Hermione sighed, “It’s ok Draco, but you should really try and not be a jerk.”
“Thanks, Hermione. I’ll try, but it’ll be hard.”
“Yeah, it will but, I’ll help you,” Hermione said, smiling. “Well I would like to finish talking with Ginny, if we’re done here, Draco.”
“What? Oh, yeah go ahead.”

Hermione turned and started to walk back to Ginny, when she felt a tug on her sleeve.

“What Draco?” she asked, turning back around to look at him. She faced him and looked him in the eye. Draco looked at her, and brought his face down to meet hers and said, “I wanted to say goodnight.” Hermione began to say goodnight, when Draco brought his lips to hers and kissed her. He pulled away and ran his hand down her cheek. Hermione stood there in shock, while Draco went up to his room.
*****