Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. Draco, Hermione and all other Harry Potter affiliated things you recognize belong to the talented JK Rowling. Anything you recognize that doesn't fit under the term Harry Potter affiliated belongs to its respective owners. It was not my intention not to give proper due to those who deserve it.

Author's Note: I'm posting this one entry at a time. There'll all be different lengths and sometimes I'll post more than one a day. So, sometimes you'll have the next chapter right when you want it and sometimes you won't. I give you permission to hate me. Just enjoy the story.

December 3rd

As there were no classes today because of the much welcomed weekend, I spent most so the day in the Head common room. There was a roaring fire blazing away in the hearth and it was so inviting I couldn't resist the urge to curl up before it with my favorite book. I was so absorbed that I failed to notice his entrance through the portrait hole later in the evening until he spoke in a low voice that sent shivers across my skin.

"Good reading, Granger?"

Careful to hide my trembling so as not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me startled, I looked up at him, not meeting his eyes. I wasn't sure I could pull away if I made that error again. "Can I help you Malfoy?"

I put forth my best effort at a cool and collected tone but I fear I failed miserably. It sounded to me as though my voice shook as though I were trying to talk during an earthquake.

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a suggestive smirk. "As a mater of fact Granger, I think you can."

I went back to my book. "It was a rhetorical question. You weren't supposed to answer," I mumbled. "And besides, I wouldn't help you if the fate of the wizarding world depended upon it."

It was true. Even if he had pulled a complete turn around and became the most charismatic person ever to roam the Earth, I don't know if I could bring myself to cross that line. I don't know if I'm a good enough person to forget all the terrible things that he's said to me, all the things he's done to everyone close to me. I don't know if I could ever forgive him for the way his scathing tongue had hurt me.

"I see," he replied slowly. I glanced at him, careful not to reveal my interest. Was there just a hint of…disappointment in his voice? Did I truly see…surly not. It was a trick of the light that had changed his eyes, nothing more. "Well, I'll leave you to your reading then."

I watched him walk up the stairs to his room in shock. I almost wanted to shout to his retreating back, "What, none of your biting insults, Malfoy? No threats of blackmail? You surprise me." I think that I almost missed the bantering, his rather intelligent (though terribly cutting) remarks.

Deciding that there was no way I was going to be able to continue reading, I went for a walk around the lake. I think that I was almost sorry that I had been so rude toward Malfoy. The idea that he had become capable of human emotion in my mind was a most terrifying thought.

It was nearly dark by the time I returned to the castle. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry so I quickly bypassed the Great Hall and made my way up to the common room.

Saying the password and slipping silently though the portrait hole and down the few steps, I wasn't prepared to see Malfoy putting the finishing touches on an over sized fur tree before the gargantuan window in the common room.

I stopped as though I had just ran into an invisible brick wall. Malfoy had put up a Christmas tree? First being civil now this? Had he gone and lost his bloody mind?

"Good evening, Granger," he said, levitating a large gold star to rest upon the highest bow. Then, with a slick flick of his wrist, countless little orb-like ornaments lit up, twinkling softly in all the colors of the rainbow.

"Have you lost your mind, Malfoy," I exclaimed, not having the sense to keep such a statement to myself.

"Merlin, Granger. Keep your bloody socks on. It's just a tree." Draco added some more tinsel with his wand. "If I'd known you were going to have a conniption, I'd have put it up ages ago."

Satisfied that that remark sounded more Malfoy-like, I stormed by him on my way to my room.

"If my decorating bothers you that much, you can change it. I did almost asked you to help."

That stopped me, my foot resting on the first step. Slowly I turned around. "You were going to ask me to help?" It shocked me. Why would he do something so…nice?

He turned back to the tree. "But, since you pretty much told me that you didn't want anything to do with me, I just…" He gave an aristocratic shrug of his shoulders, letting his sentence go unfinished

That's right, I told myself. I don't want anything to do with him and his stupid sudden change of character. I turned back around and climbed up the stairs to my room. I felt his eyes follow me until I firmly closed the door behind me.