Stylistic Harmony

Chapter Two
Since the abrupt end of his school year, to the hot summer night now, Draco couldn't sleep. All he could see when he closed his eyes were the faces
of people that haunted his every waking moment. His Father, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Snape, his mother and finally Granger. The others he could
understand, but the last, he couldn't fathom. Yes, there had been that incident last year, but since then he hadn't given her a second thought.
Why would he? Filthy Mudblood that she was. He got up and walked to the window, scratching at the raw skin surrounding the mark burned into
his forearm. After being on the run for the past three months he would have thought that he would have been comfortable in his own bed, that however was not true. He stared out into the night. The stars hid from his piercing glare. The lands surrounding the mansion were vast, spanning for miles in every direction. Draco felt stranded, trapped in the middle of a violent, dark world, with his only escape being to surrender to the Dark Lord, give up his life in service as a Death Eater. In a way he was thankful that the Hogwart's Governors had allowed him back for his final year, if it meant prolonging his freedom, and keeping him sane for at least another 8 months or so. He watched the sun slowly rise up over the grounds, sunlight seeping into the shadows, casting a pale glow over the grass. He sank back onto his four poster, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

******He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He found himself standing in front of the burnt out ruin of Hogwarts castle. Images flashed through his brain, a battle, blood spattering over his robes. His father's blood. A girl with beautiful eyes. He forced himself to walk towards the charred remains of his childhood education. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, someone was watching him. He turned towards the lake, standing by the tree on the edge of the water was a woman in a white dress. He felt drawn to her, walking closer he could make out her shape, she was staring out into the vast blackness of the lake, an ethereal mist hanging over it. When he was standing directly behind her, she spoke,
"I knew you'd be here, Draco."
"Who are you?" he asked, not quite wanting to hear the answer.
"You know who I am, Draco. You knew i'd be here, that's why you came." He couldn't take the suspense, he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him. Chocolate brown eyes stared up at him, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was,
"Granger? What the fuck are you doing in my dream? What the fuck happened here?" She pulled her arm out of his grip and smiled, reaching for his hand,
"Don't ask questions to which you already know the answer, Draco. I am here because you wished it. You came back here for me. This, all of this happened for a reason." He didn't want to believe her, and yet her words made sense to him. The intensity of the situation, compelled him to act; she had some hold over him, one he couldn't control. He pulled her into his arms, reveling in the warmth and comfort she gave him.
"What are you doing to me, Hermione?" He murmured into her hair. She pulled back and released herself from his embrace, a solitary tear rolled down her cheek, she kissed him gently on the lips,
"You think you know, what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun." With that she ran. He was left, staring into the dark.******

"Master Draco Sir. You must wake up Sir. You will miss train. Master Draco Sir!" The house elf yelled in his ear.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm awake now bugger off." The few hours sleep he had had, coupled with one highly disturbing dream put Draco in a foul mood. He dragged himself into a scalding shower, hoping to burn the feel of Granger in his arms away. He shook his blonde hair out his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't, the pain of a skull-splitting migraine flashed through him like fire.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed. Reaching for his wand, he used a spell to relieve the pain, a spell he had used too often when his Father had been in the house. Lucius Malfoy was currently holed up in one of Azkaban's less comfy cells, a place where Draco hoped he would remain.
"Draco! Come on! You will miss your train!" Narcissa Malfoy shouted up the stairs to her only son. Draco heard his mother hurry him along, the pain in his head had subsided somewhat but was still enough to make Draco's mood worse if that was even possible. He made his way down stairs into the mansions cavernous entrance hall. His mother waited to bid him farewell. Narcissa Malfoy was as elegant as she was beautiful, years living under Lucius's tight regime had not dulled her complexion, although her health and sanity had improved since his incarceration. She watched as her son made his way down the stairs, thanking whatever God, that the school had agreed to take him back. At least there she was confident that neither her husband nor his master could get to him. With that thought in her mind, she enveloped Draco in a brief hug and said,
"Take care this year, Draco. Don't let what happened keep you from your studies or from your own happiness." Draco smiled a weak smile and bent to kiss his mother on the cheek, and apparated out to Platform 9 and three quarters.


After the night's sleep she had, Hermione's mood was far from happy. Plagued by recurring flashbacks of the dream, she hadn't slept at all. She pulled herself out of bed and into the shower, spending longer then was necessary under the hot water. She tried to scrub the memory of Draco kissing her out, but those haunting grey eyes kept making their way through. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the yelling through the door,
"HERMIONE!!! HERMIONE!! For God's sake, what are you doing in there? Hurry up! Everyone is waiting to use the bathroom," Hermione's eyes snapped open, woken from her trance by the shouting.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming, keep your hair on," reluctantly she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, wrapping a towel around her she wrenched the door open, Ron stood in front of her, she felt a burning need to hex him.
"Finally Hermione, what were you doing? Drowning yourself?" he laughed.
"Christ I'm sorry Ron, just because I actually wash myself, does not mean you have to berate me about being in the shower to long." She marched past him and slammed the door to her room, fuming with anger. Suddenly she stopped, shook her head and said aloud,
"What am I doing? Why am I so angry? Ron hasn't done anything to me," she then realized that she wasn't angry at Ron, she wasn't even angry at Malfoy, she was angry at herself, for allowing herself to think of Malfoy as anything more then a foul, loathsome, evil little ferret. Her mood uplifted, she began to get ready. Half an hour later, she made her way down to the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Throughout their sixth year, the Order had moved headquarters, to another location, but during summer most meetings had taken place in the meeting room of Grimmauld Place. Seeing as the house belonged to Harry, he had been staying there along with Lupin and Tonks, who had offered to look after the upkeep whilst Harry was at school. Hermione joined Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Tonks in the kitchen, Mrs Weasley had cooked a veritable feast of a breakfast to send them on their way. After what seemed like an age, the boys finally joined them in the kitchen, Hermione couldn't help but be slightly irate, Ron had after all yelled at her for taking a long time in the bathroom. He bent and kissed her on the head,
"Morning Love," he said. Hermione smiled sweetly, although for some reason unknown to her she cringed inside at the gesture. They all sat around the table and ate breakfast, the mood was slightly subdued, to them Hogwarts wasn't much without Dumbledore, and with the added stress of Malfoy and half of Slytherin being Death Eaters, no-one was really looking forward to going back to school. Still, it was N.E.W.T. year and whether or not they wanted to be there, it was still a vitally important year for their futures, Harry of course didn't seem to agree with this, he said that as long as Voldemort was around, their future was looking pretty bleak. But, as the new Head Girl, Hermione was determined to lead by example and work as hard as she could, to pass her exams and help Harry to secure a future for them all. Mr. Weasley, Lupin and Mad Eye Moody entered the kitchen, through his job at the Ministry, Mr. Weasley had managed to secure safe transportation to the station,
"Time to go. Harry, Ron hurry up and finish getting ready otherwise you'll miss your train," Lupin said, Harry and Ron hurried upstairs and 10 minutes later were in the entrance hall ready to leave. Mrs Weasley gave them all teary goodbyes, and in a stern voice told them all to be careful and look after each other. At the last moment Harry turned around and said,
"Erm, I know I have been a nightmare to live with this summer, I just wanted to say thank-you for putting up with me. All of you are like family to me and I promise you that I will do everything in my power to end this once and for all. For Dumbledore, for Sirius, my parents and everyone else who died fighting." Mrs Weasley by now was a blubbering mess, Ron had enveloped his sister in a hug, even Moody had a tear in his eye. Only Hermione stood apart, quietly pondering his words and wondering whether it would be enough, whether they would win, whether they would survive and still in the back of her mind those grey eyes lingered, she wondered what part he would play and if it would be for the ruin of them all.