Hermione felt the pounding in her ears again. She would see him for the first time since the Great Hall, gaunt and stricken at the Slytherin table with his mother clutching his arm. She hadn't meant to look for him. Not in the corridors, not beneath the white sheets of the fallen, not on the way to the Chamber of Secrets with Ron, but she was a stupid girl.

Malfoy's handsome face was contoured into a condescending smirk. "No faith in that giant brain of yours, Granger?" She looked up at him defiantly. "Maybe I don't have any faith in you!" she said, raising her voice. Malfoy only looked at her. You'll find I'm very surprising. Dramione AU, canon divergence, year 6 with a slow burn and a killer twist. Book I of "This World or Any Other" Series. COMPLETE. [Cross-posting of all stories currently in progress from FFN and AO3.]