In the Eyes of the Enemy

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

In the Eyes of the Enemy- Chapter Two All Aboard


“Hurry now everyone finish storing your bags and get to your compartments the train will be leaving in 10 minutes.” Hermione shook her head there were students everywhere and at the rate they were going the train would still be sitting here tomorrow.

She gave a sigh and started to head up the corridor when she heard a crisp voice behind her, “I suggest you hurry this train doesn’t wait for anyone just ask Potter and Wey.”ey.” With that the younger students picked up their speed and rushed to find seats. The man who had bark at them was a tall handsome blonde who looked formidable; he was gi eac each of the dawdling youths an icy stare.

Hermione turned to Draco and gave a polite, “thank You” he smiled and replied, “what good it to be Head Boy, if you can’t tell people what to do.”

To that Hermione turned and stormed off down the corridor mumbling, “stupid git never changes.” Draco chided himself. He would need to need to be careful of what he said to her, as Granger was not looking like she was going to be won over anytime soon. He had all year though and truth be told he was in no hurry, he had plans for Granger and knowing her they would take time to complete.

Hermione headed down the corridor until she came to the compartment she was looking for inside she found Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna relaxing and conversing about Luna’s summer trip abroad and the different places her father had taken her to see. Everyone stopped and smiled at her once she opened the door. “Hello everyone. Ron, Ginny, I just wanted to remind you to be in the prefect compartment in 20 minutes, as I would like to hold a meeting before we get to school.”

Ron frowned, “come on Hermione, I thought with you being Head Girl we would we would be able to relax a bit.”

At this comment the others in the compartment laughed and Harry retorted, “ Ron, when has Hermione ever let us relax.”

Hermione then in a scolding tone, “that’s exactly right, this year we have NEWTS to study for and being Head Girl I will be busy with additional responsibilities. So I need to count on you Ron, especially being a prefect, to help me get things done. So 20 minutes Prefects compartment got it.” Ron nodded in agreement, Hermione then turned and headed out the door, down the corridor, and started telling lost students where to go to find a place to sit.

Once Hermione was gone Ron turned his eyes back to the group and in a dejected tone said, “and I thought Percy was bad, Hermione is going to be down right unbearable.”

Harry shrugged and replied, “Ron, it’s just the first day you know how wound up she gets, just give it a bit and she’ll relax, at least until it’s time for NEWTS.” To his last remark everyone laughed and Luna went back to her retelling of her summer abroad.

Hermione walked up and down the corridors keeping an eye out for students misbehaving or finding themselves lost, while constantly getting angry with herself. ‘Why did I have to be so harsh with Ron?’ She knew the answer she had hoped that by now he would come around and say he had some feelings for her but he hadn’t and this only angered her further. ‘Why hasn’t he said anything? It’s not like I’m ugly or something am I, no Viktor had liked her and there had been other boys who showed passing interest, but it was never Ron.’ Hermione frowned was was heading toward the Prefects compartment when a hand touched her shoulder jolting her out of her internal debate.

She turned around to see who the owner of the hand was and was shock to find Draco Malfoy, standing in front of her with his long black robes immaculate and pressed with a shimmering Head Boy badge proudly displayed on his chest opposite his Slytherin emblem. “Yes Malfoy?”

Draco smiled down at her as he was far taller than she and with a cocky smile said, “I wanted to have a few minutes to talk to you about what items we would discuss at the prefects meeting this year.”

“Yes of coarse,” Hermine replied in a very rehearsed voice. “We will go over shifts for nightly rounds, discuss any items which need to be discussed with the headmaster, and advise the new prefects of their duties and responsibilities.”

Draco gave a smirk, “ so you’ve got it all planned out guess you don’t need me after all.”

Hermine glared back at him. “As a matter of fact I don’t need you, and I will be keeping an eye on you Malfoy to make sure you don’t go abusing your power.”

Draco shrugged, “very well Hermione the floor is all yours, shall we go in?”

Hermione turned to give Draco a quizzical look before entering the prefect’s compartment. ‘Did he just call me Hermione?’ She shook her head and stepped over to the head table where she set down her papers arranging them into 3 neat piles. One pile was the ‘Nightly rounds’ sheet, the second was labeled ‘Prefect Duties and Responsibilities’, and the third was nothing but lines papers titles ‘Suggestions and Ideas’.

Draco found her curious she had obviously put a great deal of thought and planning into this first normally informal meeting. His only plan had been to announce ‘I’m Head Boy, don’t make me look bad or else’ but her plans for the meeting was defiantly a more productive way to go. Watch her carefully from the doorway he noticed the look on her face was full of sheer determination. Were Draco not Head Boy he would have been a bit terrified of her as she had the look of a woman possessed. The power in her actions both intrigued and excited Draco. He had always know she was smart always managing to beat him in every class, but the self-confidence she possessed at the moment was alluring to him. He reminded himself that she was nothing more than a mudblood, but he couldn’t help feeling that were she mot he might find her worthy partner.

Hermione continued arrange the desk laying out quills and rearranging the order of the stacks three times to make sure they were exactly the way she wanted them. During this process she took quick glances at the doorway, which Draco was casually leaning against. He was tall; lean but had a strong build, had long soft blonde hair which hung just past his ears. She reminded herself yes he looks good but he’s still Malfoy, the arrogant prat, who would step on you as like dirt than take the time to look at you. He was looking at her though and he was almost smiling not his usual smirk but almost a soft smile. ‘Stop this Hermione this is Malfoy he’s up to something be prepared, but he called me Hermione and not his usual caustic Granger or Mudblood. Voice’ Her eyes snapped to attention and her internal discussion was brought to a halt when the prefects started filing in for the meeting.

Draco walked behind the desk and stood beside Hermione, once all the Prefects had taken their seat he announced before Hermione had the chance to speak. “As most of you are aware by now, Hermione and myself are the Head Girl and Boy this year. As Prefects you will be helping us ensure that this year goes smoothly and without interruption, any problems are to be reported directly to Hermione or myself. Now Hermione has some announcements and paperwork for each of you I expect you to give her full and undivided attention.” Draco steped back and took his seat behind the table.

Hermione gave a small shake to wake herself from what thouthought was a dream Draco did not just call her Hermione but said it in front of all the prefects and several times. A bit nervous she started. “Thank you Draco,” she said it before realizing she had called him by his first name but he was being civil maybe she should too. “This year I have made a list of the duties and responsibilities of a prefect for some of you this is old material but for those of you just joining our ranks the guidelines will be very useful. The major rule, that is often broken, is the deduction of House Points. As Prefects we are permitted to deduct points in cases that warrant such penalties. However it is not to be for the sheer purpose of benefiting your house.” With that she shot a warning glance at Ron and Draco who had gotten into a heated battle at the end of last term deducting point from each others house at the drop of a hat before professor McGonagall had stepped in and removed prefect privileges for the remainder of the year.

Hermione continued, “after the sorting this evening Prefects will escort students back to their houses without delay. I also have here a list of nightly rounds. 2 nights a week in pairs you will be required to monitor the hallways thought the castle starting 30 minutes prior to curfew and the 2 hours preceding it. Once a month on a rotating basis you will only have 1 night of duties. Mr. Filch will patrol the remainder of the evening.”

After passing out the sheets outline the rules and schedules for the prefects Hermione returned back to the head table and announced, “ the last order of business we have today, is what we as prefects, would like to see done or changed during this year at school.”

Ginny\'s hand shot in the air. “Do you think we could have a Ball, like the Yule ball we had a few years ago, during the Tri-Wizard tournament?” The group broke out in chatter amongst themselves.

Hermione motioned for everyone to be quite and continued, “any ideas you have should be written down on these sheets they will then be looked over and discussed with Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. Please fill them out and bring them to our first official Prefect meeting Tuesday night.” The train lurched as it started to slow down in their final turn towards Hogwarts. Hermione motioned for everyone to head out, but the girls were already on their way chatting about how great a Ball would be and the boyre lre looking nervously at each other.

Ron made his way to the head table to talk to Hermione, who was clearing the left over items from the table. “Hermione, do you need a hand?”

Hermione shook her head, “thanks Ron, I’m fine, there that should do it,” she put the last quill in her bag and turned to face Ron.

“I think you did a great job Hermione, not that I had any doubts, you make a perfect Head Girl.” She blushed at his complements secretly hoping there would be more, when Ron’s face-hardened as he spotted Draco Malfoy looking on from the doorway. “Aren’t you going to make yourself useful you slimy git, or are you planning on making Hermione do all the work like you did today?”

Draco smiled and in a cool voice replied, “your right Ron, Hermione did a fantastic job today I was just going to congratulate her but I guess I’ll have to save it for another time since your having a private moment.”

Ron burst back “were not having a private moment Malfoy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t leave all the same.”

Hermione was crestfallen and with a note of sadness in her voice “Ron, we better go, we’re almost there and Malfoy and I need to make sure the first years make it to the boats with Hagrid. I’ll meet you and Harry in the hall for dinner.” Ron gave Hermione a quick hug then stormed through the open door knocking Draco’s shoulder on the way out.

Hermione always knew Ron had a temper to match his fiery red hair. It came out more often than not when he was in the presence of the arrogant Slytherin but for Hermione being named Head Girl meant she would need to put their differences aside and work together, at least for this year.

“Come on Malfoy, we should start gathering the first years we’ve just pulled in and most of them will be a bit scared of Hagrid.”

Draco reach out to grasp Hermione’s hand and in a soft voice asked. “Hermione, will you please call me Draco?”

Hermione turned to face him caught off guard that he was grasping her hand and replied, “your right I should be calling you Draco now, we will be working together a lot this year. It would look better if we called each other by our first names as it would show more of a unified front.”

Draco cast her a smile one of the first she could ever remember seeing. It suited his face it softened his features and showed a layer of boyish charm she didn’t think he could possibly posses. Her gaze was broken when he spoke. “Well we had better get outside and give Hagrid a hand, catching and stray first years who have run off in terror of the big oaf.” Hermione frowned ‘same old Malfoy’ she turned to head down the corridor not realizing that it was only after his last comment, that had she let go of his hand.

As they headed out of the train and out toward the lake Draco berated himself for insulting the over grown Care of Magical Creatures teacher who he had never cared for, but who he had to remind himself was Hermione’s friend. That one comment had undone all the work he had done that afternoon to get her to start to believe he had changed and start to befriend him. Draco knew he would have to keep his cool around Potter and Weasley since breaking into their group was part of his master plan but he had forgotten how many others he would need to guard himself against insulting.

This first day was the most important in his mind to the success of the plan. He would have the best chance of getting the trio to believe he was different after not seeing him in months. People often change during their periods away from the confines of school and Draco was banking on this fact to help with his transition from, in their minds, Malfoy that slimy Slytherin to Draco the friend you can trust.

Once all the first years were settled in their boats preparing to cross the lake Draco and Hermione collected their trunks and headed over to the last horseless carriage that waited to take them alone to Hogwarts.

Draco loaded his and Hermiones trunks into the back of the carriage then turned to carefully lift her up inside. As he held her around the waist he noticed she did indeed have the small frame he imagined her to posses but he was surprised to discover her hips had a slight curve you would not be able to see under all her robes. Once she was inside he pulled himself in and decided against sitting across from her in favor of sitting beside her.

The trip up to the castle was long and winding and since the incident on the train neither had spoke more than few words to each other. Draco had looked out into the dark night trying to find the right words to say to smooth over his misstep earlier but unable to find the right words, he had opted instead for silence. He was distracted from his gazing when he felt a soft thump on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side to notice Hermione had nodded off to sleep and her head had found its way onto his shoulder.

With care not to disrupt her slumber Draco gently leaned back allowing her head to slide off is shoulder and onto his lap. He placed a protective arm around her so she wouldn’t fall onto the floor should they come across any rough terrain.

Draco found himself constantly gazing down at Hermione’s sleeping form. She had soft auburn hair with a slight reddish tint. Her skin was not pale as his often tended to be but was instead more of a light coffee. There were a few freckles across her nose and forehead. He also noticed she didn’t wear nearly as much makeup as he was accustom to seeing on girls her age. In fact she had only had a light layer of brown eye shadow and from the shimmer of her lips what appeared be clear lip-gloss. She was quite beautiful and Draco wondered to himself why he had never noticed this fact before. However as the light from the torches surrounding the castle illuminated the carriage Draco remembered why, they were at Hogwarts, she was a mudblood in Gryffindor, and he was a pureblood in Slytherin.

“Hermione, wake up were almost at the castle,” Draco gave her a soft shake. Hermione rubbed her head softly on his lap as if it were a pillow. As she opened her eyes she glanced up and realized where she was and sat bolt upright.

Stammering she asked, “how did I? What happened that? What was I doing there in your lap?” There was a look of horror across her face.

Draco began, “calm down Hermione, you fell asleep in my shoulder I merely moved you a bit so you wouldn’t wake up with a terrible kink in your neck. Nothing happened and I’m sorry if your upset I was just trying to help.”

Still nervous and biting her lip Hermione countered, “no, I’m sorry for dozing off but thank you for being so…. thoughtful.”

With a wave Draco stopped her from continuing. “It was nothing… your welcome.”

The last few minuets passed in silence as the carriage pulled up to the front of the castle. Draco hopped down first and then reached up to help her out this time his hand traveled up her waist and brush passed her breasts, which he noticed were larger than he expected for someone so small. At this exchange Hermione blushed and turn away from him. She made her was towards the back of the carriage to gather her belongings. However she was too late though as she saw the last of the house elves disappear with a pop holding their trunks.

Draco called from the doorway, “Come on Hermione I can see the lights from the boats their almost here we need to get to the Great Hall before they do.” Hermione noted the closeness of the boats and hurried inside the castle.

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