Hermione sat in the Head's common room, head in hands, weeping. The portrait opened and Draco walked in. He snorted disgustedly, "Merlin Granger, can't you do that somewhere else? You're contaminating everything." She looked up at him and started to stand, "Yeah, um, sorry…" Draco was surprised at the pain and sorrow in her eyes. He stared at her confused, "Wait, what's wrong?"
"Nothing"
"If it was nothing, you wouldn't let me see you cry. You have to much pride"
"It doesn't matter to you Malfoy"
"Well you are crying kind of loud, and.." He gave a look of disgust, "It will probably help to talk about it."
She eyed him suspiciously, "Are you offering to listen to my problems?" He nodded solemnly.
"Without any rude comments?"
"I swear"
"Oh…alright"
She took a deep breath, "Before I left for school, in the first year, my mother was diagnosed with cancer." She paused "The doctors have tried to cure it, but nothing worked. She went through years of chemo. But, it didn't do any good. Slowly, over the past seven years, she has continually gotten worse." She paused again and took a long shaky breath, "She died last night…" She put her head in her hands. Draco watched as her shoulders shook. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. "It's ok, it will all be alright. Things will work out." He said those words with feeling, not with the cold emotionless voice he had spoken with the seven years she had known him.
She looked up at him and saw his eyes had filled with tears. He looked at her and sighed, "I lost the only person who cared last year…"
"Who?"
"My mum…"
"Oh, Draco…. I'm so sorry!" Immediately she had turned from a crying wreck, to a caring and comforting person. She hugged him. "You…you knew your mother, at least" He mumbled. She held him tightly. He smiled weakly, "Hermione, I am very, very, very sorry about your mother" Tears rolled down his cheeks. Hermione looked surprised. "What? I'm not that heartless y'know" She laughed a little, "I didn't mean that. That was the first time you used my name." He sighed "Sorry I was such a dick these past seven years, Hermione" She nodded, "Sorry I was such a prissy know-it-all"
He nodded, "You want to go for a walk outside? We can talk" She looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, I think I'd like that" He stood up and took her hand. "C'mon," Hermione wiped her tears away and looked at their hands. "OK, lets go"
The pair walked hand in hand out of the portrait, down the stairs, through the entrance hallway and out the front doors. They received many looks of confusion and amazement. They walked on in their new friendship, each already knowing that their friendship was great and would grow into much more than that.