Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express

The last week of the summer finally ended and Hermione arrived at King Cross Station. She said goodbye to her parents and walked through the barrier onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. She got onto the train and looked for Harry and Ron. She found them and sat down.

“Hi, Hermione,” said Ron
“Hi, guys, how was your last week of summer?” she asked.
“It was ok,” replied Harry, “we played some Quidditch. Didn’t do much, ‘cept get all our school stuff packed.”
“What about yours, Hermione?” Ron asked.
“It was fine. I spent most of my time with my parents. Went shopping with my mum, got some new outfits, and just hung out with my dad. I also got some more books to read.”
“Of course you got more books,” Harry said, laughing and rolling his eyes.

While Harry and Ron talked about Quidditch, Hermione leaned against the window, and thought about Malfoy. She was still trying to figure out what it was about him that she liked so much. She let out a sigh and smiled. Ron and Harry looked over at her, with confused looks, when she sighed. When they saw her smiling, they figured it be best not to bother her. She, then, closed her eyes and thought of him. She pictured Draco leaning against a wall, being himself with that smirk of his. He is cute, she thought. She began to look from his face to his neck making her way to his chest. She was just staring at his chest in her mind. His shirt was just enough to see his pale skin. She stared at his chest, then continued down his body, right down to his…

“Hermione?” Harry said
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him. “What?” she sputtered.
“You ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“Ok, just making sure.”

She couldn’t believe she was thinking about him like this, she didn’t care, she really did like him. As long as Harry and Ron don’t find out about how much I like Malfoy, I won’t have anything to worry about, right? She asked herself. Plus, Harry’s got enough on his mind with You-know-who, not telling him this won’t hurt. Ron, on the other hand, will snap if he finds out, I’m definitely not telling him. She continued to think on who she could talk to about this. She finally came to one conclusion, Ginny. Ginny will understand, she told herself, I hope any way. She snapped out of her thought and looked around the compartment to see if Ginny had shown up yet, but she hadn’t. She got up to go find her.

“Where you going?” Ron asked.
“For a little walk, that’s all,” Hermione replied, “besides, I have to talk to Ginny.”
“About what?” asked Harry.
“Oh, uhh, nothing, Harry. Just some stuff”
“Well why can’t you talk to us about it?”
“It’s nothing, plus you wouldn’t want to hear about it any way.”
“Let her go, Harry,” Ron said. “She’ll tell us later.”
“Ok,” he said. “We’ll see you later then, Hermione.”

Hermione left their compartment and started down the hall. She just wanted some time to think all this through. She decided to wait until they got to school to tell Ginny about everything. She found an empty compartment, went in, and sat down to think, hoping she wouldn’t see any one else till they got to school.

*****

Draco was sitting in his compartment with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. He hadn’t really talked since he got onto the train, he had just sat there and stared out the window. He had been thinking about Hermione. He still couldn’t believe that he was falling for her, but he liked it...a lot.

“Draco, what’s the matter?” asked Pansy in a caring voice.
Draco sat there and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t stand Pansy.

“Nothing, Parkinson,” he finally said.
“Well something must be wrong, ‘cause you haven’t said a word.”
“I’m not in the mood to talk, ever think of that?” he snapped.
“Well I--”
“You what? Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want to talk to you?” Draco got up, pushing Pansy off him.
“Where ya goin’ Draco?” asked Crabbe.
“For a walk, I’ll see you later.”

With that, he left, Pansy on the floor, shocked and Crabbe and Goyle snickering at her.
Draco walked down the hall looking for Blaise Zambini, he needed to talk to someone and Blaise was the only person.

“Blaise,” Draco said when he finally found him. “Can we talk?”
“Yeah sure, what’s up?” asked Blaise.
“Can we talk somewhere else?”
“What? Oh, yeah of course.” He got up and left with Draco. “What’s this about?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute.”
Draco found an empty compartment and they both went in to talk.

******

Hermione looked up from staring at the floor, when the door opened. She saw two people walk in but was unsure of who it was. She was sitting in the far corner of the seat and was unnoticed by them.

“Ok, what’s this about?” asked one of the voices.
“You can not repeat any of this, do you understand Blaise?” said the other.
“Yes, yes, of course Draco, now will you just tell me?”
“It’s about Granger.”

Hermione’s eyes widened when she heard her name. Why was Draco talking about me to Blaise? She wondered. She sat there in silence listening to the conversation.


“What?!” Blaise yelled.
“Shh!!!” said Malfoy.
“Sorry. What about her?” Blaise said quietly.
“I thi-I think I’m starting to fall for her.”
“Granger?”
“Yeah.”
“Hermione Granger? The filthy mudblood Gryffindor you constantly torment?”
“Yes, Hermione Granger. But enough with the mudblood.”
“Ok, I’ll stop with that.” Blaise said, rolling his eyes. “But, why her Draco?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I enjoy her company.”
“Well, how did all this start?” Blaise asked.
“Ok, so you know how I’ve been avoiding my father lately?”
“Yeah”
“Well over the summer I had left my house, but didn’t tell my mother or father. So when I showed up at Diagon Alley, I was paranoid that my father had followed me, so I was extra cautious. Anyway I went into Flourish and Blotts to get some books.She was in there too, and I bumped into her knocking all her books out of her hand. So she got down to pick them up, she was practically crawling on the floor and all I could do was stare at her. She looked really good that day.”
“Oh really?” Blaise said, with an eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, she’s definitely grown.” Draco said, with a grin. “She was wearing these jeans that were cut low or something and a short-sleeved shirt. I don’t understand muggle clothing. To me, it looked like she couldn’t breath, they were on so tight. But I didn’t mind it. You could see every curve on her body.”
“Ok, Draco, enough, continue the story…please.”
“Oh, sorry Blaise. Well anyway she got up with her books and was ****** I didn’t help her, she started to walk away and I stopped her. I apologized about it and --”
“You actually apologized?” Blaise cut in.
“Yes I did,” Draco said, rolling his eyes.
“That’s hard to believe, Draco Malfoy apologizing.”
“Ok, Zambini, get over it. I actually felt bad. But back to my story, so I apologized and she accepted it. I asked if I could join her on her way down to Madam Malkin's ‘cause I had to go there anyway. So she paid for her books and we left. While we were walking, she asked what was up with me, I just said that I couldn’t stand my father and had been avoiding him for a while. She then stopped and stood in front of me.”
“Really? Wow…”
Draco glared at Blaise.
“Sorry,” he said. “Go on.”
“She just looked at me in a very caring way, put her hand on my shoulder and said that if I ever needed someone to talk too, I was welcome to come and find her.”
“Well that was pointless, like your gonna talk to her about what going on at home. She should know you have me.”
“That’s not the point,” Draco said rolling his eyes. “She was concerned about me. She put aside everything I did to and called her the past few years and made sure I’d be ok.”

Hermione was still sitting silently in the corner listening to Draco and Blaise. He really liked her. She waited patiently for them to finish talking so she could leave and tell Ginny.

“So have you talked to her since then?”
“No, I’ve just been thinking about her. Plus I wouldn’t know exactly what to say to her.”
“Draco, you talk to tons of girls, you could think of something.”
“Talking to them is no problem but when I’m around her I’m totally different. It’s weird.”

Hermione, sat there, and couldn't believe what she was hearing.

“So exactly how is this whole thing with Granger going to work Malfoy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, seeing that her best friends are Potter and Weasley, I doubt their going to let you near her.”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to discuss that with her when I figure out a way to talk to her.”
“Good luck with that, Malfoy.”
“Thanks, Zambini.”
“Come on,” said Blaise. “We should be arriving at school soon, we’d better change.”

They both left to change, and Hermione stayed put for another couple of minutes. She was so happy that she knew how Malfoy felt. She left the compartment also to change into her robes. She walked down the little hallway with the biggest smile on her face.
***

i'll maybe put up chapter 4 after lunch...but until then, enjoy!!!

xxxProngs