Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Through Her ❯ Beginning of Term ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I own nothing... just the plot ...sigh...

Chapter 2: Beginning of Term

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As soon as it had come, it was gone. Draco turned back to where Blaise was standing calling for him to come over.

Did Draco Malfoy just smirkat me? Hermione thought. Ugh that intolerable Git, I bet he has some trick planned, well I'm simply not going to give in to his games this year. If I ignore him, he'll go away. She paused for a second, taking another look at him, But I must say, he doesn't look too bad. She almost hit herself on the forehead at that last thought, Hermione Granger where is your head! She turned back to Harry and Ron who were engrossed in a conversation about the Chudley Cannons.

As the time got closer to departure, they boarded the Hogwarts Express and found Ginny saving them a compartment.

Harry walked in and sat down next to Ginny, putting his arm around her. They had been dating for the past couple of months; they had gotten close because she had helped him get through his Godfather's death.

"So Hermione, how was your summer after you left the Burrow?" Ron asked, sitting down next to her.

"Oh it was fine, Ron, nothing too exciting." She'd had a crush on Ron for quite some time now, but since they were best friends, it always just seemed… off limits. Although Ginny being Ron's little sister, hadn't stopped Harry from dating her, that was different, Ron was actually pleased about that; at least he could trust Harry. "What did you boys do after I left?" She asked.

"Oh a bit of Quidditch, went down to Diagon Alley, hung out around the burrow. Nothing unusual," Harry said smiling at her. He knew she had a crush on Ron, and he also knew Ron had a crush on her.

They were making small talk, discussing the summer's events when their door opened. Standing there was no other than, Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"Ron spat out.

"Oh, I just came to say hello, Weasel, but I guess you don't learn manners very well, being so poor and all," he smirked at Ron while Crabbe and Goyle laughed stupidly.

"You can leave now Malfoy, we clearly don't want you in here." Hermione said glaring at him.

"Very well then, enjoy your ride," he said sarcastically, winking at Hermione and walking out, shutting the door behind him. No one other than Hermione had apparently noticed the wink, but she was furious.

Besides the unusual butterflies in her stomach, she couldn't even be sure if it had happened or not. They all sat back down, took a minute to take a deep breath and forget about Malfoy's intrusion, and rode the rest of the way laughing and joking as usual.

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Draco chuckled to himself as he returned to his compartment with Blaise as Crabbe and Goyle followed,if nothing else, this was at least going to be amusing. He had noticed Hermione blush a bit when he had winked at her, though none of her dense friends had noticed.

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The first few days at Hogwarts had been hectic. There were new students, NEWTs classes, and lots of talk of summer vacations.

Hermione couldn't believe how much some people had changed over the summer. She had always known Lavender and Parvati to be gossip queens and, well, preppy, but in the few weeks they'd been back she didn't remember ever seeing them wearing anything other than mini skirts, besides when they were forced to wear their uniforms or robes.

As Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room on a nice Sunday afternoon with Harry and Ron doing their potions essay, (which she had finished three days ago, the day it was assigned), she frowned looking over at her two roommates, Lavender and Parvati, who were surrounded by more than a few of the older, seventh year, boys.

They were definitely not the only ones who had changed, but had she changed too? After she had thrown the question around in her head for a few minutes, she decided to get some male feedback.

"Harry, Ron, do you think I've changed since the end of last year?"

Harry looked up from him paper at her, "Well, when did you finish your potions essay?" he asked slyly.

"On Thursday, when it was assigned, as you two should have done instead of waiting until the last minute!" She answered.

Harry smirked, "No, Hermione, I don't think you've changed very much."

Ron smirked too at the comment and nodded his head.

"Well, I don't just mean it that way, I mean, do I look different to you?" She asked.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, if there were words for the look they gave each other, it would have been: Oh no, another one of those 'girl talk' things that we just don't know how to answer without saying the wrong thing.

"Well Hermione, we've always thought you looked just fine the way you are," Ron said cautiously, as if he wasn't sure if that was what he was supposed to say. Hermione furrowed her brow at him, contemplating his answer.

"What he really means is that you look great this year, but we've always thought you looked fine before too." Harry said, noticing Ron's ears redden.

"Hmm, so I have changed some, well, I guess everyone does though." Hermione said, thinking out loud.

"Hermione is there something you want to talk about? You seem distracted." Harry looked at her worriedly.

"No Harry," She smiled, "Everything's just fine." She went back to the book she had been reading as Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks.

Girls, They thought.

As she sat there looking at her book, her mind went elsewhere. Draco Malfoy had been paying an awful lot of attention to her. He would wink at her, smirk at her, though they were less malicious than she remembered them to be, he had even attempted starting a conversation with her once, but all that really got up to was, "Well hey Granger, how's it going," with his cute, no, not cute, just normal and annoying, smirk, but all she had had time to do was give him a quizzical look before Harry and Ron had stepped in, glaring at Malfoy and leading her away.

He wasn't throwing very many mean comments her way either, and she couldn't even think of a time yet this year when he'd called her a Mudblood. She thought that maybe it could have been because she'd changed over the summer, maybe he thought she looked better. But even with that, she didn't understand his unexplainable behavior towards her.As a matter of fact, she didn't even remember him saying anything mean or hurtful or Harry either, There were a few unnecessary poor jokes at Ron, but even those were few and far between.

Maybe he's changed, she thought, a small smile tugging at her lips, Whoa, what am I doing sitting here thinking about Malfoy, what do I care what he thinks anyways, Malfoys don't change, She thought to herself snapping back to reality.

She looked over at Ron, he looks so cute when he's confused, she smiled at the thought somewhat halfheartedly since her mind was still absently wandering in dangerous territory. Shaking her head trying to clear it, she re-concentrated on her book.

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"I've been trying, I really have," Draco started, "It's just that none of it's working. I figured that if I just put on my charm, she'd come to me, but apparently that's not working."

Draco had told Blaise all about his task from the Dark Lord since he was sure Blaise would hear it from his father anyways, since their parents were very close to each other, and very high up in the ranks of Death Eaters.

Blaise smirked at him, sitting up on his elbows still holding the ball he'd been throwing around. "Drake, ya know, not all girls want you, maybe the vast majority, but not all. Sometimes you have to do some work too," he said, chuckling.

Draco smirked back at him, "Well, Blaise, I would take that advice to heart if I thought that she wasn't one of them, I saw that look on the train, when I winked at her, trust me, she wants me."

"Draco, listen to me, it's been three weeks already, tell me, how many times has she come up to you, talked to you, simply paid you any attention without you, yourself, making it that way?" Blaise asked him.

Draco scowled and thought honestly to himself, zero.

"Alright Blaise, you win this one," Draco said, looking back at Blaise, "I guess we'll just have to come up with a plan." He smirked again, he and Blaise had always been Grade A when it came to tricks, pranks and devious plans.

"Now that, my friend, is what I wanted to hear." Blaise got up and walked over to Draco, resting a hand on Draco's shoulder and putting a smug smirk on his face, "As a matter of fact, I've already got something in mind."

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A/N: Hey again! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2!

Please review:)!

Jenny