A/N: Hello everyone! This is another Dramione short story by me, overall my second dramione short story, and third dramione fanfic. Thank you guys so much for reading my other Dramione fanfics. So, I don't know from where I got the idea of this short story, but I remember I had decided on the title, before I planned the story line. Hope you'll like it. On with the story!

First year...

"I can't believe I just met Harry Potter! I am probably-" 

Before she could finish her sentence, she bumped into something, or rather someone. She bent down to pick up her wand, but before she could even touch it, the person she had bumped into, picked it up. She looked up, and saw a smirk on that person's face.

"Nice wand." He said. 

Hermione held out her hand and said, "I am sorry for bumping into you. Can I have my wand back?" 

"What's your name?" He asked. 

"Hermione Granger." She said. 

"Granger? I haven't heard of that last name before. Are you a half blood?" He asked her.  

Hermione, who was getting more and more irritated by the second, glared at him. But, before she could answer, they heard someone calling him. 

"Crabbe? What are you doing?" 

The student, Crabbe, turned around to see his leader. Hermione looked over his shoulder to see a blonde haired boy, who was walking towards them. 

"Nothing, Draco. Just bumped into this new girl here. We were simply talking." Crabbe replied. 

"Talking? I think it was you irritating me, and me trying my hardest not to punch you." Hermione said. 

The new boy who had walked over to them, smirked and turned towards Crabbe. "Who's wand is that?" 

"It's mine." Hermione answered.

He nodded and said, "Give me her wand, Crabbe. And, go find Goyle." 

Crabbe did as he was told, and then it was just the two of them in that corridor. That boy turned to her, and asked, "What's your name?"

"Will it hurt you to give me my wand, and instead introduce yourself first?" Hermione asked him.

He just smirked in return, and Hermione tried her hardest to not scream at him. Instead, she looked away from him, while tapping her foot impatiently. 

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.

"Ways to punch you and not get in trouble." Hermione answered.

He laughed and asked, "How many have you come up with till now?"

"More than you can count." Was her reply.

He caught her off guard by tossing her wand back to her. She caught it as he started muttering some thing.

"What are you saying?" She asked him.

He looked at her and said, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine..."

"Wait, what? Why did you just start counting?" She asked him.

"Well, you said you have come up with ways more than I can count, so I wanted to tell you till which number I can count, and then ask you if you still have more number of ways than that."

Hermione just stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Draco stared at her with a sheepish look, scratching the back of his neck. 

"Oh my! You are just... So weird!" Hermione said, trying to control her laughter.

"I am not sure if that's a compliment or not." Draco said. 

Hermione immediately stopped laughing and said, "I am sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. It's just that it was so funny, and I hadn't expected that answer." 

"There's no need to apologize, I was just joking with you. Do you know you're weird as well?" He asked her. 

"No, nobody ever said that to me." Hermione said. 

"What? None of your friends ever did?" He asked her. 

"Well, I didn't really have friends before I came here." She admitted.

Draco stared at her for a moment and then said, "Well, I didn't have any friends either. Actually, I don't have any friends even now." 

"Then who was that boy, Crabbe?" She asked him.

"Oh, he isn't a friend of mine. He just likes to hang out, and stay around me for my money. I never really had a genuine friend." He smiled sadly at her.

Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Well, we can be friends, if you want. Like, a weird duo or weirdo duo or something?" 

Draco chuckled and said, "We don't even know each other's names, and here we are becoming friends. But, yes, we can be the weirdo duo."

"What's your name, then?" She asked him.

"I need to go back to my compartment now. But, if we were meant to be friends, then we will see each other again. And, I'll tell you my name that time." He promised her.

Hermione nodded and turned around to go back to her compartment, when a cold hand grasped her wrist. As she turned around to face him, he said, "Until then, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen..."

Hermione chuckled and walked away from him, while Draco stood there watching her, a smile on his face.

Later

"Hey!"

Hermione turned around to see her friend running towards her. He came to a halt next to her and asked, "Mind if I come with you on the boat?"

"No. This is the last anyway, other students already left." She informed him as they climbed the boat.

"Then why aren't you with them? Were you waiting for me?" He smirked at her.

Hermione blushed and said, "Maybe, maybe not. But, why were you here? Were you waiting for me?"

This time, it was Draco's turn to blush. "Maybe, maybe not." He repeated her answer.

Hermione just chuckled and asked, "So, on which number are you right now?" 

He thought for a moment and then grinned at her. "Three hundred." 

Hermione nodded and looked at front. He cleared his throat and said, "My name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." 

She turned around to face him, and he held out his hand for her. After thinking for a moment, she shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Draco."

"What's your name?" He asked her. 

"Hermione." She simply said, and again looked away from him. 

"Hermione what?" He asked her, but he received no answer to that. "Hermione Abbott? Hermione Fawley? Hermione Rosier?..." He added. 

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Well, you aren't telling me your full name, so I thought I would guess it. I don't remember anymore last names right now, except one." He said.

"And what that might be?" She asked him.

"Malfoy. Hermione Malfoy?" He smirked at her.

"No!" She said and blushed. He laughed at her, and then nudged her with his elbow. "Are those  the only last names you can think of now?" She asked him.

He nodded and said, "Those are the only pure blood last names that I can think of now."

"What if I am not a pureblood?" She asked him.

"Well, I don't really know many half blood last names. You have to tell me your full name." He told her.

"My name's Hermione- Oh!" She said as she again looked at the front.

"Your name's Hermione Oh?" He asked her.

"No, idiot. I was just saying my name, but then I saw the castle. Look how beautiful it is." She said,

But Draco wasn't paying attention to the castle. His eyes stayed at her as she continued to look at the castle. "What's your name?" He asked her.

Before she could answer, they had reached the castle. Hagrid told everyone to step out of the boats, and wait for Minerva McGonagall. 

"You didn't answer my question." Draco said as he stood next to her. 

"If we were meant to be friends, then we will meet each other again, and I will tell you my name then." She said.

"Promise?" He asked her.

"Pinky promise." She said with a chuckle. He laughed along with her, and just as he was about to say something, he saw Crabbe and Goyle waving at him.

"I have to go now." He said. 

"Okay. We will talk later." She told him.

He turned away from her, and started to walk away. He looked over his shoulder to see her smiling at him. He stopped in his steps, and again turned around to face her.

"Hermione." He called her.

"Yes?" She asked him.

"I hope you are in Slytherin." And without waiting for an answer, he turned around, walking towards those two idiots. 

As he looked at her from his place, a smile grew on his face, a genuine smile. He was glad that she was his friend. He had hoped they would be able to sit together for the feast, and then talk again. 

But, all his hopes vanished as he heard her name, and heard the Sorting Hat say, "Gryffindor!" He remembered thinking, "Stupid, idiot, old hat." Although he knew he would no longer be able to have a friendship with her due to house rivalries, but he would never forget his first talk with her.

She was his hope for a genuine friend.

-----------

Second year...

He didn't know why he did that.

He didn't know why he tore a page of a book at Flourish and Blotts.

He didn't know why he put that page in her bag.

The only thing he knew was that he didn't want any bad thing to happen to her. She may be a mudblood, as he called her, she may be a Gryffindor, she may be annoying, but, he knew that he was happy when he had talked to her, and he hadn't been that happy in a long time. 

He wasn't a hero, he was far from it. But, he wanted to help her, because whether he would believe it or not, she had been his friend, if only for a few minutes. His genuine friend. His only  friend. 

But he could do at least one good thing in his life, no matter how bad others thought he was.

So, that was the reason he had put the paper in her bag as she walked past him in the corridor. He just hoped she would see it, and would be able to guess what was happening. 

Few days later

He couldn't believe it. 

Every girl, Slytherin or not, turned their heads at least once when he walked past them, of course except her. 

She never looked at him, not in the classrooms, nor in the corridors. He had tried so many times to gain her attention, to make her look at him, to talk to her, but she never paid attention to him. 

He would sit hours in the library, on the desk near her, just to make her look at him, but she would never do that. 

He really didn't know why he was even trying to gain her attention.

Maybe because the attention he got from others wasn't real. He wanted her attention. Or maybe, the part he agreed with, because nowadays, Potter was getting more attention than him, due to the rumuors about him being the Slytherin Heir, and Draco didn't like it.

So, that's why, when she left the library that day, he purposely bumped into her. Hermione, who was engrossed in a book, didn't expect that, and fell down on the floor, her book and bag falling next to her. 

"Falling for me already, Granger?" He smirked at her. 

Hermione looked up to see him. She ignored his comment, and was about to get up when she saw him offering his hand to her. She thought for a moment, and then decided to take it. 

He helped her up, and then bent down to take her book and bag. As he was grabbing her bag, he saw a page in it, the very page he had put in her bag. She hadn't seen it till now, he thought. 

Without a word, he handed the items to her, and turned his back on her. 

"Umm... Thanks, Malfoy." She said. 

He ignored her thanks and instead said, "I suggest you look carefully into your things, Granger. You wouldn't want to miss something that could be of help." 

And, without waiting for a reply, he walked away from her, leaving her staring at his retreating back. He had finally done what he had wanted to do.

She was his hope for attention.

------------

Third year...

"It's killed me! It's killed me." 

"Calm down. It's just a scratch." Hagrid told him.

"Hagrid! He has to be taken to the Hospital." He heard Hermione say. 

Hagrid nodded and picked up Draco in his arms.

"You're going to regret this." Draco told him.

"Class dismissed." Hagrid told everyone else. 

"You and your bloody chicken." Draco muttered as he shut his eyes in pain.

He didn't remember much after that. All he knew was that his arm was in a sling, and Madam Pomfrey had told him that he would have to stay in the Hospital Wing for that night.

He was muttering things about the bloody chicken when he saw his Transfiguration professor coming towards him.

"Good evening, Mr Malfoy." She greeted him.

"Can't say it's been a good evening for me, but anyway, good evening, professor." He told her.

McGonagall stood at the edge of his bed and asked, "How is your arm now?"

"It is still paining, but I am feeling a little better now. I have to stay here for the night, though." He told her.

"I know. Poppy told me that it is better for you to rest now, and you better be following her orders." She told him.

"It's not like I have a choice, do I?" He muttered.

"Mr Malfoy, I think you may know that I have the power to deduct house points, so you better make sure that I don't hear you when you say things like that." McGonagall told him.

That immediately shut Draco up.

"Anyways, I just wanted to know you were feeling. I will go now." She said, but before she could walk away, she saw a piece of parchment on the floor next to his bed. 

She picked it up and gave it to to him with a smile. "Looks like you have got something here." She said,

As Draco read who it was from, he saw a twinkle in her eyes, which greatly reminded him of Dumbledore.

He once again looked at the letter as McGonagall left the Hospital Wing. He opened it, and started reading.

Malfoy, 

I don't know why I am writing this, well, I probably do but I just don't want to admit it to myself yet. 

How are you feeling now? I hope your arm is not hurting as much now as it did before. 

It was definitely your fault. You didn't have to insult Buckbeak, and yet, you still did. And, now, look at the consequence of that. 

I wanted to thank you for something that I know you would never admit to doing.

I know it was you who helped me to find about the Basilisk, and the way he was moving from one place to another in the castle. I saw you tearing a page of a book in the shop, and I saw you looking at something in my bag. 

If you still don't want to admit it, then just remember what you told me that day. 

Don't worry, nobody else knows about this. I figured you wouldn't want anyone to know. But still, thank you for that, Malfoy.

But this won't change our rivalry, I know you wouldn't want to change that. I don't know if I would talk about this thing with you again. 

Take care.

Hermione, or as you call me, Granger. 

He didn't know what to think of this. She was concerned for him, and he was smiling as he re read the letter. 

She knew it was him who had helped her, he was confused as to whether he should feel happy or mad about it. 

But these thoughts weren't troubling him as much as the next one did.

"Why the hell McGonagall was smiling like that?" He asked himself.

Nobody had ever been kind enough, besides his mother, to him to send him a letter, or ask him how he was doing. She was his yet another hope for something.

She was his hope for kindness.

------------

Fourth year...

His jaw dropped as he saw her.

She looked absolutely magnificent in her pink chiffon gown. Her hair had been tamed and was looking good as well, along with her makeup. 

She looked at him as she walked down the stairs. When she noticed him staring at her, she smiled at me, a one which he didn't return, for he was busy staring at her.

He felt a pang of jealousy as he saw her hooking her arm with her date, Viktor's. He looked away as they entered, he didn't know why he felt jealous. 

Well, he didn't know a lot of things, but this was different.

As he saw her dancing with him, he grabbed Pansy's am and led her to the dance floor, next to Hermione and Viktor. 

As the partners were switched, he placed his hand on Hermione's waist, took her hand in his other hand, and led them away from their dates. 

She placed her hand on his shoulder as another song came up. They had just begun dancing, when the band started a slow song. They both hesitated, but when Hermione took a deep breath and stepped a little closer to him, he placed his both arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Other students exchanged their partners, except them. They didn't pay attention to anyone else except them.

They only separated when Viktor came up to them, and asked Hermione if she would like to drink anything.

Later

He found her crying by the stairs. He had heard her conversation with Weasel and Potter, and it was taking every ounce of his patience to not go and hurt them for hurting his Hermione. 

Wait, from when was she his Hermione? 

"I am going mad." He muttered and went towards her. 

Sitting down next to her, he silently handed her his handkerchief. She took it, and wiped her face with it. 

"They ruined your night, didn't they?" He asked her. 

"Not the entire night. I had fun dancing with you, thanks for that." She told him and gave him his handkerchief back. 

Instead of taking it, he stood up and said, "Keep it. I have a feeling that you will give it back to me when the time will be right." 

And again, he felt her staring at his retreating back as he walked away from her. 

Third task

He knew that Voldemort would be back. He knew that the death eaters will be called. He knew that the cup was a porkey. 

Yet, he did nothing to stop them. 

As he saw the lifeless body of Cedric Diggory, he felt an urge to look around for her.

He found her standing by her friends, tears in her eyes. 

As he looked at her, he couldn't help feeling and guilty and sad. 

If he wanted, he could have stopped them, but he didn't, being the coward he is. But the major part of the guilt was due to the sadness on her face. 

She was the only good thing that has happened to him, and here he was, being the cause for her and everyone else's sadness. 

He didn't have any other good thing in his life, before he met her. They were far from being friends, but he felt like they were. 

She was his hope for goodness. 

A/N: That's it for Part 1. It was 3100+ words. Hope you guys liked it. It is really different from my other Dramione short story. I wanted to include some other scenes, but then I decided to include them in the next part. Random question: Which year Draco you like the most? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you! 

Next (last) part on 1/5/20 (Tomorrow, Friday).

Until next time.