"Draco?" Hermione called out tentatively in the corridor outside the Potions classroom. She wanted to find out why he had helped her. Draco whirled around, too fast. His bag hit the wall next to him and all the contents in it spilled out. And "all the contents" also included a tiny photo of Hermione that he foolishly carried around with him, a tiny bit of the past which he just could not bring himself to let go off.
Draco hastily stooped down and shoved all his contents back in his bag, face burning red, hoping against hope that Hermione had not seen..."Draco, is that a photo of me?" Hermione asked in disbelief, snatching the tiny photo of her at the Yule Ball from his grasp. "I...uh..."Draco had no idea what to say. He cursed himself mentally, he had vowed to himself to break all ties with Hermione but less than twenty-four hours later he had got himself into this sticky mess.
Draco had never been more relieved to see Crabbe and Goyle appear besides him. "C'mon Malfoy, let's go," Crabbe growled, shoving the rest of Draco's belongings back into his bag, and making an attempt to grab back the photo from Hermione's grasp. But Hermione was far too quick. With a blazing, questioning look at Draco, she leaped out of the way and ran back to where Harry and Ron were, the photo still held in her palm.
"That mudblood botherin' you again?" Goyle asked Draco. Draco figured he might as well act his part out convincingly and said loud enough for Hermione to hear, "Yeah, that filthy mudblood looking through my stuff when my books fell out of my bag." But almost instantly, Draco regretted his careless words. Hermione turned back and glared at him, her eyes filled with hurt, and Draco saw Ron put his arm round her and comfort her. Jealousy shot through Draco. Ron's arm didn't belong there, just twenty-four hours ago he would have been in Ron's place, but he had made his choice now, and it was too late to turn back.
Hermione walked to her Ancient Runes class feeling extremely confused. Why in the name of Merlin's pants did a Slytherin help her in potions class, then call her a filthy mudblood less than half an hour later. That same Slytherin also happened to have a photo of her in his bag. She scrutinised the photo carefully along the silent corridor she was now walking. There was a wizard besides her in the photograph, and both she and the wizard where smiling and waving happily at the camera, and she realised with a start that the wizard's arm was around her shoulder, and the wizard also happened to be Draco Malfoy.
She stared at the photo for a long time. The photo seemed both alien and extremely familiar at the same time. Hermione had no memory of ever having taken a photo with Draco, but the photo which she was now holding was proof that she had. Hermione examined the photo even more closely. It seemed like it had been taken at some ball. She herself was wearing a flowing purple ball gown and Draco was dressed in a tuxedo. Frustration gnawed inside her, she certainly could not show the photo to Harry or Ron, as they considered even talking to a Slytherin utterly scandalous, but she knew that she had to find some answers quickly. Stuffing the photo back in her bag, she hurried to Ancient Runes, feeling oddly alone.
Meanwhile, Draco was already in Ancient Runes, unable to concentrate on the lesson. His head was whirling, and his emotions were conflicted again. A tiny part of him itched to find a spell or a potion to bring back Hermione's memory, that part of her that he sorely missed, but his conscience held him back. Things had to remain where they were, for Hermione's good. Draco, pull yourself together, he told himself firmly, you can't let Hermione get hurt by the dark lord because you selfishly decided to keep her to yourself. But the image of Ron wrapping his arm around Hermione stuck in his mind, and by the end of the lesson Draco and conceded defeat to his emotions and had came to a compromise with himself to make friends with the new Hermione Granger. Just friends, and nothing more, he told himself firmly. How quickly he had gave in, he laughed coldly at himself, at his weakness. He had already made up his mind to keep as far away from Hermione as possible, but now he was already backtracking on his promise to himself. He had already realised in less than a day that he could not survive without the company of Hermione, the emptiness and loneliness without her was just too much to bear. There was a problem though. Draco had no idea how to befriend someone, and the fact that that "someone" was a Gryffindor and him a Slytherin did not make the task any simpler. And somewhere, deep inside him, a voice whispered to him, "You know you don't simply want to be "just friends" with Hermione."