How Did This Happen?!

Hogwarts Express

Authors Note: This story started when I was way younger but please bare with it because it really evolves and grows. I think and hope you all love it as much as I do. Thank you!

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"Watch it Mudblood!" Draco Malfoy yelled as he ran into Hermione Granger in the hallway of the train.

"Shove it Malfoy!" Harry said in Hermione's defense. He was always sticking up for her even though she was more than capable of doing it herself.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had become really close over the past five years that they'd known each other. This was the beginning of their sixth year together at Hogwarts, and Harry and Ron were pretty much the brothers Hermione had never had.

Draco smirked in the manner he always did; turning a cold shoulder as he ventured off through the train. Hermione's eyes traveled across his retreating form, lingering over his...

'Wait a moment! Why am I looking there?' she mentally smacked herself before carrying on down the train with Ron and Harry.

She always knew that more than half the girls in the school had a crush on Malfoy, but she had never really seen what they saw in him. However, the summer had apparently done him some good. Even she couldn't deny that his improved physique and slight tan made him attractive.

She was glad that Harry and Ron were too busy glaring at Malfoy to look at where her eyes had just been.

As they weren't looking at her, she decided to at least enjoy the view until he was out of sight.

The trio went into an empty compartment to talk about their summer, about school, and of course: Quidditch. Hermione had never seen what the big appeal of the game was and opened a book to pass the journey.

Meanwhile...

Draco thought to himself as he walked away, 'Wow, Granger looks a bit different this year, she actually didn't seem that bad looking, she actually looked reasonably good....'

He stopped dead in his tracks and mentally slapped himself for having such an insane thought.

'She's a filthy mudblood, there's no way she's the least bit attractive. My father would murder me on the spot if he knew that even for a second that a thought like that had entered my mind.'

His thinking was interrupted by Pansy and the two big goons, Crabbe and Goyle. Draco really didn't like hanging around such stupid and shallow people, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter. All of their parents were Death Eaters, and apparently, it was only right for their children to be friends with each other. In fact, his parents had already told him that he'd have to marry Pansy, even if he had to be forced to do so.

Later, Malfoy decided that he had had enough of the fools and went for a walk through the hallway of the train. He came to the conclusion that his thoughts about Granger earlier were probably due to the fact that he hadn't had a good shag in months. So, he decided that he would just go find her to prove to himself that his mind was playing tricks. He'd see and realize again just how ugly she actually was.

His train of thought was interrupted once more, only this time it was by something utterly different. An unbearable squealing sound came from the wheels of the train as the vehicle shuddered. He looked ahead, noticing that he had found Granger a bit sooner than he had expected to. She was just leaving Potter and Weasel to go into the compartment while the boys went down the hall to try to find the problem and be heroes, as always.

Draco slowed until the 'heroes' were out of sight. He walked up to Hermione and roughly put his hands over her eyes and said, "Guess who mud...Granger."

He knew he'd messed up, there was no way that she wouldn't know it was him unless she really wasn't as smart as everyone thought.

Hermione stood there for a moment trying to decide how to react, she settled for just yelling at him. "Malfoy! Why the Bloody Hell are you touching me? Get off of me!"

The next thing they knew they were both rolled into the compartment and all the lights blinked out.

***

"Malfoy, get off me!"

"My pleasure. Why would I ever want to be on top of you?" he moved to the door "Why won't this door open?"

"Are you doing it the right way?" She asked as she went towards the door. "Let me try, you've got to be doing it wrong."

He glared at her, "I know how to open a door! But be my guest Miss Smartass!"

She pushed past him and started to fight with the door, he was unfortunately right, the door wouldn't open. "It's jammed shut." She said as she started thinking: 'Great. I'm stuck on a broken down train, in the dark, with the biggest prat in the school.'

"I told you it wouldn't open." He said as he sat there and smirked at her.

"Do you hear that?" They looked at each other through the darkness and tried to listen for sounds coming from outside the compartment. Other students were screaming from different areas of the train.

"Harry look out!" They heard someone cry.

Hermione's heart was pounding, she wasn't out there to help and she had no idea what was happening. What if something awful was happening to Ron and Harry? She had no way of getting to them or helping. She felt so helpless just sitting there waiting until the screams from the other students finally went silent. She tried once more to pull at the door, but it was no use.

"We're stuck, what are we going to do?" she said, dejected.

Draco glared at her and then smirked yet again, "What are WE going to do? Ha, you mean what am I going to do. I'm not going to do anything with you, Granger. I can help myself."

"Oh, can you then?" She challenged.

"Yeah, I can get out of here all on my own. I don't need a filthy mudblood, such as yourself, to help me."

Hermione just sat there. "Well what are you waiting for then, are you going to get out of here anytime soon? Or continue to argue with me?" She said with a slight snarl.

"In the morning I'll get myself out, there's no use getting out now. It's already dark outside, and we have no idea if it's safe."

Hermione hated how she hadn't thought of this before he had. She didn't like the fact that he sounded so intelligent and logical in this time of panic.

Hermione looked at him again and asked, "Well where are you going to sleep, Malfoy? So I can be sure to stay away from you."

"Well I don't know yet, where are you going to sleep? I really don't want to accidentally touch the dirty skin of a mudblood. The filth would never wash off."

She glared at him with hatred, "I'll probably sleep right there where most of the cushions have fallen from the seats, so if you'll just move out of my way I can get comfortable and fall asleep early. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?"

Hermione walked over to the spot and looked back at Draco and he was just standing there staring at her. "What?" She asked.

"Huh?...Oh I was just thinking of how mad you're going to be when I steal your sleeping spot."

"You're not going to steal my spot!"

Draco looked at her for a moment, "Well then I guess you're just going to have to share with me, I have to be comfortable to get enough sleep. And I need my beauty sleep to keep these great looks." He sneered.

Hermione started laughing, "What great looks, you know you're one of the ugliest guys in Hogwarts, right?!" In her mind, she knew this was one of the biggest lies that she had ever told in her entire life.