It had been 6 months since Voldermort's defeat and all was well. The world was happy, no more Death Eaters roaming the village and no more hiding because of your blood status. Hermione and a few select others had been chosen to finish their last year of school and help build a new part of Hogwarts. All she knew was that she had been chosen to be the new Head of Gryffindor and Draco was the Head of Slytherin. Hannah had been chosen for Hufflepuff and Cho for Ravenclaw. 'What an interesting year' Hermione thought about as she loaded onto the train at King's Cross Station. 'I hope I could make friends with different people other than people from my house.'
"Excuse me, do you mind sharing? All the other—" She cut herself off as she looked up and saw the familiar platinum blonde hair. "Malfoy."
"Granger." He nodded towards the vacant seat in front of him "The seats yours if you want. I'm lucky I got here in time."
Mumbling to herself she sat down and pulled out a copy of her favorite classic, 'Romeo and Juliet'. After all, the war had just ended and not many cared about their blood status anymore. What harm could sitting in the same compartment with him do? Beginning to read she noticed a pair of grey eyes burning a hole through her skull. Ignoring the gaze, she went through another chapter before a certain Slytherin caught her attention. "Is there something I could help you with?"
Smirking, he pointed to the current book in her hand. "The book, 'Romeo and Juliet'? I'm glad you've finally moved on. 'Hogwarts: A History' was getting kind of boring for me."
"Excuse me? Why would you care about anything I did or even read? Last time I checked, you didn't care about whether or not I got tortured in your own house."
As his face dropped to a lowly scowl that Hermione was always used to, she perked at his response. "Look, I tried to help you. Who do you think she tortured after the three of you got away? Yeah, let me give you a hint, it was me. That 'mudblood' scar on your arm?" Hermione absentmindedly felt her forearm, tracing the letters, one by one.
"Well I've got one of those too. 'Cept mine says 'traitor' instead."
"Looks like we're not so different after all, eh?"
"Excuse me?" The blonde straightened up again.
Moving across to his side of the compartment, she repeated what she had just said. "Looks like we're not so different after all, you know? All those years you had tormented me about my blood status, my hair, my house, even my teeth. In the end we're not that different."
In shock, Draco had finally taken all those insults in and turned them towards himself. Had he really been that cruel to her and made her feel that bad about herself?
"I see your point. Should we agree on one thing then?"
"And exactly what would that be?" The brunette asked with a smile pursed on her lips.
"We forget about all that's happened to us. We start new and we watch out for each other. No fights, no hexes, and no punching." He emphasized the last part.
Slightly smiling, Hermione held out her hand for Draco to take it. Obliging, he shook it firmly and did the most shocking thing. Holding her hand, he raised it up until it was level to level with his mouth. Ever so slowly, he placed a light kiss on her fingers and looked at her. "I'm so sorry. I truly am Hermione, for all those years and all those things."
"Draco, "she raised her eyebrow, not wanting to let go of his hand. "What happened to our pact? You know the one we had just made a few minutes ago?"
"Thank you." He smiled as he dropped both their hands, forgetting to let go.
They both turned their attention to the door as they saw Cho Chang watching them through the glass door. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just passing through.
"Bloody hell." Draco laughed as they both let go of each other. "I hope Skeeter doesn't figure out about this by the end of the week."
"Yeah, like that will happen," Hermione laughed. "During the TriWizard Tournament, she wrote about stuff before it even happened."
Sighing, they both returned to their previous activity. Hermione, continued reading her book and Draco just went back to staring off into space. Suddenly, with no warning the train had made a sudden stop. Hermione, being as small and buried in her book as she was, had fallen out of her chair and had made a complete tumble and had landed upside down. Watching the whole scene, Draco had burst out laughing. "That was hilarious! You doing a complete tumble and landing on your bum is quite a sight for sore eyes."
Scoffing at his comment, Hermione blew all the hair off her face. "Oh come on Draco. Stop teasing me."
"No!" He laughed. "This is really too funny." Draco offered his hand up for her to take it. Smirking, Hermione took and with all her might had pulled him down to make the scene she had just experienced. "Ha! Look who's laughing now!"
Staring at her in disbelief, the blonde pouted. "That was not cool Granger."
"So it is true!" They heard a girlish voice come the glass door again. From their position it had looked as if they were engaging in certain activities. Draco's arm was still holding Hermione's as her leg was bent just above his head. Their heads were facing each other and their bodies even closer. "Cho was right you two are together!" Hannah gasped as she rushed down the hall.
Laughing even more, the two got up and shook their heads. "Potter and Weasly are going to kill me."
Nodding in agreement they noticed the train had started to move again. "Do you know who will be Headmaster this year? " Hermione asked.
"I dunno." The Slytherin shrugged. "Let's find out."