ermione tossed her long, wavy, dirty blonde hair over hers shoulder, irritably, throwing Ron a withering look as he continued to badger her. She tried to ignore the over-protective, admiring way he looked at her, as if he had some sort of claim over her, knowing exactly what it meant and not wanting to deal with it. She had blossomed beautifully over the summer and had spent the remainder of the summer trying to ignore the awkward way the boys eyes lingered, particularly Ron's.<br/><br/>She loved him dearly- as a friend- and just wished that he would understand that. Things had only gotten worse when her Head Girl badge had come owl post, without a note explaining who her Head Boy would be, adding jealousy to the mix.<br/><br/>"Let me just look at the letter one more time," He complained, looking anxious as he helped her load her trunk onto the Hogwarts Express, the warm breeze fluttering the hem of her rose-colored summer dress around her knees.<br/><br/>"I already told you, Ron- it says nothing. No hints, no names." Hermione said, somewhat edgily, hoping he'd drop the subject, and wishing that Harry hadn't disappeared so quickly. The awkward tension between her and Ron was often too much for him to bear and he had taken off with Neville and Ginny as soon as the opportunity presented itself.<br/><br/>"Well, then, let me help with your trunk, at least," he offered earnestly, but Hermione roughly shook her head.<br/><br/>"No, Ron, I can manage perfectly fine on my own and I already know where I'm headed. I'll just be reading anyways- you should find Harry." She said this with an air of finite. She didn't wait for him reply, leaving him somewhere between embarrassed, frustrated, and annoyed, as she turned on her heel and made her way to the back of the train, her trunk in tow as she did her best to avoid the interested gazes of the boys.<br/><br/>It was with great relief that she finally reached the Head compartment, all the way in the back. Sighing contentedly in the silence, Hermione levitated her trunk into place on the overhead rack with her wand (Wingardium leviosa!) and sat down with her favorite work of Austen, Pride and Prejudice, crossing her legs comfortably.<br/><br/>She stayed that way for quite a while, content in her little bubble- unaware that the train had started moving. It wasn't until they hit a particularly large bump that she snapped out of her reverie but by then it was too late. Her trunk had already dislodged itself from its place and flying dangerously close to her face. Panicking, she threw her arms up in front of her face, screaming in terror... but the trunk never came.<br/><br/>Opening a wary eye, Hermione saw her trunk suspended in mid air, and behind it, a Head Boy badge pinned to the front of his robes, was Draco Malfoy, wearing a crooked smirk. Gulping, loudly, Hermione looked away, her heart skipping a beat as her brain fought to process what she was seeing...