A rustle under the covers from across the room echoed in the morning silence, waking the slim blonde asleep with her arm thrown across her face. Slowly sitting up and stretching, Draco opened one eye and looked around. Astoria and Pansy were still asleep since breakfast wouldn't start for another 2 hours, but Draco needed time to make a plan for the day.
Groaning, she wiped the sleep from her eyes and pulled the curtain away from her bed, before gingerly stepping out and reaching for her wand on her bedside table. Hurriedly she cast the spells to do her hair and makeup, then went to her trunk to get her robes and books. Shoving them into her bag she tiptoed out of the room and through the portraithole.
Thinking about how to get through the day pretending to be a girl, Draco soon found herself in front of the stairs leading to the astronomy tower. This was where the old Draco had gone to think in his darkest times, when Voldemort was breathing down his neck to kill the kindly headmaster. The wind whipping through the sky was welcome abuse as it quickly cleared the head for important thoughts.
She raced to the top of the stairs, following the sound of the wind smashing against the roof of the castle. When she reached the top, she gratefully sank down onto the stone bench facing the lake, not used to the physical limitations that came with being a girl.
Watching the sun rise over the lake had been the way Draco had begun each day, and she soon realized it would be something familiar to turn to in the world of Phoenix Kalissa Malfoy.
She began to plan, figuring out what she would say if someone saw through her ruse. Lost in her thoughts, she never heard the soft footsteps of a brown-eyed girl.
Only when a hand reached out and tapped her on the shoulder did she lurch forward, unused to the strange feeling on her skin from Hermione's fingertips.
"Excuse me, you're the new Slytherin. Phoenix Malfoy, right?" Hermione looked nothing like the awkward, fumbling Gryffindor Draco remembered. Her buck teeth were now perfectly straight, her wild tangle of hair was now tamed into golden brown curls that fell to her waist, and her once boyish figure had filled out in all the right places.
Stunned, Draco could only nod in affirmation or else risk letting drool fall from her mouth.
Quickly pulling herself together, she managed to put together a quick retort.
"Let me guess. You're the famed Gryffindor Princess, eh?" Smirking on the outside, inwardly Draco wondered why she felt the need to be the instigating git she used to be.
Hermione blushed under her nickname, but refused to crack under the latest Malfoy's tricks.
"Yes I am, and you'd do well to remember who was here first, Malfoy." Spitting out the last name like it left a bad taste in her mouth, Hermione turned to leave.
Suddenly, Draco realized she wanted to start over with the beautiful witch. Grabbing her shoulder, she decided to grow up in order to make a better impression.
"Wait, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I only meant to introduce myself, but it came out wrong. Can we start over? I'm Phoenix Kalissa Malfoy, Nissa for short. I'm here to restore the Malfoy name to the light, since Lucius and Narcissa obviously left it in shambles." The lies came naturally after telling them to herself for weeks.
Hermione looked down at her feet, unsure of how to respond to someone that looked so much like her nemesis. In the end, the Gryffindor bravery won out, and she held out her hand.
"I'm Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess and Head Girl." Draco mentally sighed, knowing that the Head Boy position was supposed to be Draco's, and had she not tried to get rid of the mark she would be sharing a bathroom with this beautiful creature. Instead, Neville Longbottom got that honor. She relished the feeling of the warm, slim hand caught in hers. "I came up here to tell you that it's frowned upon to be roaming the castle this early, but I don't see the harm in finding somewhere to think."
