After unpacking all of her items which were stored in her bag and releasing Crookshanks from his cage, Hermione made her way into the common room to find food had magically appeared on the table, however, being a witch it wasn't a surprise to her. She sat herself down on the sofa, and pulled off the metal covering, revealing a delicious array of succulent foods.

"Malfoy, the food's all here!" Hermione called, taking a plate and placing a few items onto it. Crookshanks was eying the roast chicken up and down, licking his lips and showing his sharp canines.

"Alright, alright," Draco responded, walking out of his bedroom, his eyes widening at the amount of food that was in front of him.

"That's exactly what I thought when I saw it," Hermione giggled, digging into her food.

Both of them were quiet for a while, exchanging awkward glances as they ate, but they were comfortable eating with each other's company. Draco scoffed down the majority of the food and the main word that Hermione could think of to describe him was 'pig'.

After they had finish, they rang a bell which was on the table and just assumed they had to ring once finished. As soon as they rang it, three elves apparated into the room to collect the remaining food, even though there was little left, and clear up the plates. With a polite thank you from both the students, they were gone as quickly as they had appeared.

"So," Draco tried to break the silence, "Where's Potter and the Weasel?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at the remark. "They've both been offered training to become aurors, and if that doesn't work out for them, they have plenty of jobs to fall back on."

Draco scratched his head as he listened to what Hermione had to say. "Oh yeah, I also heard that you and the Weasel got together, right?" There was a hint of jealousy in Draco's voice, but Hermione didn't seem to release.

She went quiet. She pursed her lips together; the memory of when she found out what Ron had done came flooding back into her mind. While Draco was in her presence, she had completely forgotten about it, which was strange considering it was the only thing that had been on her mind over the last week. Draco had managed to erase the memory from her mind and she didn't mind that one bit.

A tear started to form in Hermione's eye, it turns out she wasn't able to go a single day without crying about her precious Ronald Weasley who had left her.

"You're not together anymore are you…?" Draco trailed off, regretting ever bringing the subject up. "I'm so sorry to hear that," he lied.

That's when Hermione's eyes started streaming. The separation between her and Ron was too overwhelming and made her past few years even worse than they already were. Since the age of 14 Hermione had loved Ron, as much as she liked to disagree and fight with that idea, it was true. She had spent so much time loving a boy who, in the end, treated her as if she were nothing.

Draco's initial reaction was to shuffle closer to Hermione.

"He slept with another girl." Hermione blubbered between her tears. "It was Lavender Brown." Draco cringed at the named. "He went to some party without telling me and poof, he had sex with her before we had shared an intimate moment. He thought I was stupid enough to not find out and what was his excuse? That he was drunk," she stopped, staring him straight in the eye, "and then said that nothing was the same anymore. Yet, I still love him, but he doesn't realise that…" She whispered, her eyes brimming with water.

Draco was just sat there, gazing at Hermione who seemed to be an emotional wreck. Her face was covered in tears and her bottom lip was terribly. Never before had Draco felt such sympathy for anyone else, let alone Hermione. She was breaking inside and no one had the courtesy to try and fix her.

"Lavender Brown," Hermione spat through her teeth, slouching on the sofa to face the fire which she hadn't realised was burning a bright, orange flame. "I don't want to see or hear from either of them again."

"I'm not surprised, Granger," Draco finally spoke. "Honestly, neither of them is worth thinking about. Go and have a shower and clear yourself up. I'll be waiting once you're finished if you've got more tears to release," Draco chuckled, trying to lighten the mood; however, Hermione didn't seem amused.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because now that I think about it you're not actually that bad, Granger."

Hermione spent at least half an hour in the shower, or so Draco thought she had. She didn't leave by the main door, but she'd gone into her bedroom through the door adjoining both and had fallen asleep on her bed. He saw her cheeks were stained with tears and he watched her chest as it rose and fell again in time with her breathing. He was mesmerised by her appearance, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind he shook his head and walked into the bathroom to take a shower and then go to sleep.


The next morning Hermione woke up late. She looked at her muggle alarm clock and almost screamed from anger. She busted her bedroom door open, nearly falling over once exiting, and saw Draco sat on the sofa, reading a book called 'Apparition Through the Ages'.

"Why did you not think to wake me, Malfoy?!" Hermione screeched, hitting him on the arm with a flat palm. "Lessons should've started by… now…" she slowly trailed off. "Why haven't you gone? And why aren't you in your school robes?" She started to question, looking his body up and down.

Draco was wearing a baggy, white t-shirt which was rolled at the sleeves to help define his upper arm muscles and a simple pair of dark denim skinny jeans, not the type that stick to your legs, however. Hermione was confused as to why he was not dressed his school robes.

"Granger, we've been granted the day off today." Draco chuckled, looking at what she was wearing, which was barely anything, "unless you want to go to class in that."

"Wait, what? But…"

"A letter arrived this morning. All 7th and 8th years get out of doing schoolwork, I don't really understand why, but I'm happy with it."

Hermione's stopped being tense and relaxed, "Well, that's a relief." She climbed over the sofa and sat next to Draco, peering over his shoulder to see what he was reading.

"Oh, I'm just practising my apparition; I want to easily travel to Hogsmeade without having to walk. I was thinking of going today, if you want to join me, Granger?" Draco asked politely, facing Hermione.

"Maybe, it depends." Hermione smiled cheekily.

"On what?!" Draco was perplexed. "It's not like you have any work to do and we're the only ones that are able to go, other than the head girl and boy, who by the way are supposed to be meeting us today too, so come with me. I'll make it fun, I promise!"

"You start calling me by my first name."

Draco raised his eyebrow, closing his book and placing it on the table. "Alright then, from now on you'll be Hermione. Or can I say something easier like Hermy or Mione? Two or three syllables are enough for me to handle."

"Please not Hermy," Hermione cringed at the thought. "Either Hermione or Mione, or I won't talk to you ever again."

"I won't exactly be hurt by that."

"Well, fine then. I won't come with you to Hogsmeade and you can be alone for the rest of the year, if that's what you really want. But honestly, I think you have a soft spot for me and don't actually want me to ignore you." Hermione grinned, running her fingers through her tangled hair.

"I do not!" Draco denied. "If anyone has a soft spot it's you for me. No one just forgives someone that easily after all they've done. Especially when they were a death eater."

Everything suddenly turned serious and silence filled the room. Feeling awkward, Hermione looked away from Draco who was regretting even bringing anything of the war up. He wasn't that person anymore, so why did he say it? There was a lot of tension between the two and no one wanted to break the silence because that was the only thing keeping the moment secure. Neither of them dared to look at each other and their bodies tensed up.

Hermione decided to break the silence. "Why are you here?"

Draco was wary of what he actually wanted to tell Hermione, but considering she poured her emotions out last night, quite literally, about Ron, he decided he may as well tell her the truth. He turned to face her, crossing his legs on the sofa and looked her straight in the eye. "After the war, there was such a bad name against my family. We couldn't go out without wizards or witches being inconsiderate towards us. It got to the point where none of us wanted to actually leave the manor." Draco paused, trying to see whether we was gaining the sympathy of Hermione but he wasn't surprised when he realised she had no sympathy whatsoever. "I've not exactly managed to be able to tell anyone any of this before. None of it. My family were threatened by Voldemort. We were forced upon everything we did. Death threats would be thrown at us if we didn't do what was asked and I hated every single thing I did. No, I have no excuse for being horrible towards you, I was just a twat. But the rest of it, I couldn't help. I wish I did, but I was just scared." Draco admitted, inhaling heavily at what he had just said.

Hermione was in shock, all those years she thought Draco was being purposely horrible, he was just misunderstood. "I didn't realise…"

"No one does. Why would they suspect it from me or my family? Everyone sees us as conceited and self-involved being purebloods, so it wasn't really a change. But it was. I felt so unaccepted around everyone and I wasn't happy. I had no true friends and I was forced to push everyone away. If you could only understand how apologetic I am…" Draco gritted his teeth in anger. "I was so foolish and defenceless. Why the fuck didn't I do anything?" He spat, his attitude changing.

"Draco, it's okay. It's all over now…" Hermione tried to reassure him.

"But I let it all happen. I let you be tortured by my own aunt. For Merlin's sake, Hermione, do you not understand how much I hate myself for that?!" Tears of anger started to fill in his eyes. "I can't do anything to erase that from ever happening. I just stood back, scared of my own life being torn away from me, but I let yours being ruined. How could I be such a selfish coward?"

Hermione had become speechless once again, she had no idea how he truly felt towards it, but he appeared to be the most vulnerable forced upon such treason against the wizarding world. In all honesty, Hermione never expected him to break over the matter or even be the person to see it, but she was clueless in how to calm him down.

"I shouldn't have brought anything up; I've just completely set myself off. Look at me, I'm a joke. For the majority of my life I've acted as if I think I'm better than anyone else, but I'm not. At all. I'm here to make people earn my respect. I want to be better." Draco was writhing with anger; his voice was sharp and penetrating.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco, bringing him close towards her. She buried her face into his hair and closed her eyes. There was something about him which made her feel comfortable and relaxed around him, and it felt like they had been best friends for years, not enemies. Draco's breathing was rapid and heavy, however, it was beginning to ease in the comfort of Hermione's arms.

"I am so sorry," Draco mumbled with his voice being wobbly. "I've never expressed how I've felt towards it all, and truthfully, I've never even thought about it thoroughly. I always avoided it because it hurts to think about."

"Draco," Hermione whispered. "Go and have a shower and clean yourself up. We'll go to Hogsmeade afterwards." Draco could feel a smile growing on her face as it was buried into his hair.