All the previous 7th year students were allowed to return to Hogwarts to finish their studies as 8th year students. Many had chosen not to return, preferring to find jobs instead of continuing their studies.

It was not a surprise for the other students to see Hermione Granger on the train to Hogwarts. She was after all, the brightest witch of their age. They were however, surprised to see a certain platinum blonde boarding the train as well. Many had assumed the the youngest of the Malfoy family would not return considering his status as an ex-Death Eater and his family's previous involvement with the evil dark lord.

Draco had heard the whispers around him as he boarded the train but he chose to ignore them. He quietly sat in his seat and promptly ignored the glares thrown in his way by the two males of the Golden Trio as they passed him. He had expected the same reaction from the only female of the trio, but was greatly surprised when she nodded and offered him a small smile before trailing after her two best friends.

Hermione Granger did not know why she had smiled at him on the train that day and she sure as hell had no clue why she felt compelled to watch him now as he sat alone in the library, hunched over a book.

This was not the first time she caught herself staring at him. The first time she realized that she had been staring at him was when they were in the Great Hall. She had been busy trying to tune out the sound of one Ronald Weasley droning on and on about how professors are cruel for giving students homework on the first day when her sight settled on the blonde sitting at the Slytherin's table. She had not mean to stare, but she could not bring herself to stop when she saw how miserable and lonely he looked sitting by himself, eyes focusing only on his meal. Except for Zabini and Nott (they were nice enough to try to include him into their conversations), the other Slytherins seemed to try their best to stay away from Draco, clearly not wanting to have anything to do with an ex-Death Eater like him.

"Funny, isn't it? How the mighty has fallen. Look at the ferret, pathetic and miserable now." She remembered Ron said when he followed her line of sight. Hermione did not say anything, settling on rolling her eyes at how childish and petty the red head sounded.

The brunette almost choked on her own saliva when he suddenly looked up from his book and caught her staring. She quickly looked away and pretended to look around for a particular book on the shelves. She inwardly cringed at how awkward her acting was and she knew he saw right through her little charade. If her awful cover did not give her away, her flushed face would.

She discreetly threw a glance in his way to find out whether he was still looking at her. When she saw he had shifted his focus back to the book in front of him, she sighed in relief.

For the next five minutes Hermione was in a battle with herself on whether she should try to approach him. A part of her mind screamed in alarm about how stupid it would be to go near him, but another part of her that was too curious to see if he had truly changed convinced her to take a chance.

What's the worst that could happen? She tried to comfort herself as she slowly made her way towards him.

Draco looked up from his book when he heard the sound of the chair in front of him being pulled and was surprised when he saw that Hermione Granger had occupied the seat right across him. She offered him a small nervous smile as he stared at her in shock. It took him a few moments before registering what had happened and Hermione can finally sigh in relief when he gave her a small awkward smile.

He went back to read his book while Hermione started on a new book. They both sat in silence for the rest of the day, both engrossed in the words printed on their respective books until the librarian announced it was closing time.

They both gathered their own possessions and returned the books to their original places on the shelves. The male Slytherin and the female Gryffindor walked out of the library in silence, feeling rather awkward now that there were not any books to distract them.

Hermione was about to make her way to her dorm when Draco spoke, "Good night, Granger. I'll see you around?" He tried to feign nonchalance, but cringed instead when he found himself sounding a little too hopeful. He looked away, bracing himself for rejection from the girl, but he shifted his gaze back to her when he heard none.

She looked stunned and a for a few moments, she stared at him with her mouth slightly gaping. He was feeling uncomfortable and was about to make up an excuse to leave when she smiled at him with the most dazzling smile he had seen. "Sure, I'll see you around." Hermione turned to leave. She was a few steps away from him when she turned to him again. "Good night, Malfoy." She said as she threw another one of her dazzling smile at him, stunning him into complete silence for a minute.

He watched her back as she made her way to retreat into Gryffindor's dormitory for the night. When he no longer could see her, his lips stretched into the first genuine smile he had since the war.

His mind kept replaying her beautiful smile and he decided that he liked it a lot and he would make sure to make her smile more often.