3

Hermione looked around her at the red, blue, yellow and green decorations adorning the Great Hall and showing off each house's respective crest in celebration of the new school year, and couldn't help but smile. She had missed the Hall's floating candles and enchanted ceiling, which currently displayed a clear night with stars sprinkled across the sky. She was finally home. It had taken her and Draco a great deal longer than she had expected to help Hagrid usher the first years into the waiting boats to cross the lake to the castle, and her stomach growled hungrily as the sorting ceremony took place, each house cheering raucously every time a first year was sorted into their house. Although Hermione clapped along with the rest of her house with every newcomer, she found her mind straying back to the way Draco had helped the first years earlier. Not only had he been nice to them, even the ones who were clearly not cut out to be in Slytherin house, but he was also sympathetic to their obvious fear and anxiety, which one could almost feel hanging in the atmosphere around them. She remembered watching as he talked kindly to any first year he came into contact with, offering words of encouragement with a smile, and helping them into their boats. Although she would never admit it, Hermione was impressed. Maybeheisn'tsuchabadchoiceforHeadBoyafterall,she admitted to herself. Hermione was jerked out of her reverie as Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall instantly went silent.

Dumbledore pointed his wand to his throat, magically charming his voice louder, in order for all to hear. "Welcome students," she heard his voice boom around the big room, "to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I will try to keep this as short as possible, as I am sure you are all hungry." At this, Hermione's stomach growled loudly, as if in agreeance. "As always, the forest is forbidden to all students who do not wish to suffer a terrible and painful death, (at this the first years glanced around at each other, sharing looks of trepidation) and Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that students are not allowed out of their dormitories after hours. After the feast is over, your prefects will lead you each to your respective dormitories, where you will find your belongings have already been placed with your class timetables. Classes begin tomorrow morning. And without further ado, tuck in!" With this final statement, the plates that up until this point had sat empty on the tables filled with food instantaneously, and the first years gasped in surprise and pleasure.

Hermione reached to pour herself a glass of pumpkin juice while talking to Ginny amicably between bites of her meal. She smiled over at Harry and Ron sitting across from them, and laughed as Ron tried to talk through a mouthful of potatoes. Merlin, how she had missed this place. It was in the safety of the warmth Great Hall and the friendly atmosphere of the feast that made Hermione realize that everything and everyone they had lost over the past few years had made this possible. Just having the ability to live safely, to go to school and learn, even to just talk with her friends made all of this loss and past pain and grief worth it.

"'Mione, did you even hear what I said?" Ginny asked a little huffily from beside her.

"Sorry Gin, I spaced out," Hermione laughed a little.

"That's okay," Ginny stated with a smile, and launched right back into whatever gossip she had been going on about through Hermione's revelation.

.~-~*~-~.

At length, the feast began to draw to a close, and Hermione's brain was instantly back in Head Girl mode. Dumbledore had instructed the heads to make their rounds to each of the prefects, ensuring that they each had the proper password to their respective common rooms (all of which the heads had access to), after which she and Draco were free to go and explore their new lodgings. With a sigh, Hermione explained this to her friends, and stood up from the table with a sympathetic look from Ginny.

"I'll meet you back here for breakfast in the morning," Hermione told Ginny, "but tonight, Malfoy and I have to go through all of our head duties," she and Ginny both pulled a look of disgust.

"Alright 'Mione. Good luck," Ginny replied, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder before turning to join in conversation with Lavender and Parvati.

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly at her friend's penchant for gossip, Hermione turned toward the Slytherin table and was surprised to find that Malfoy wasn't seated with his regular entourage. Skimming over those seated, her eyes finally found the shock of platinum blonde that was his hair, seated at the far end. The only person with him was Blaise, Ginny's boyfriend. Strange, thought Hermione. Even Pansy Parkinson, who normally had herself draped over Malfoy at every possible opportunity, was sitting at the opposite end from him, chatting with the rest of his normal entourage, and shooting him the occasional dirty look. Hermione's eyes travelled back up the table to land on Malfoy and Blaise once again. Malfoy looked absolutely miserable. Gone was the aristocratic air with which he once held himself, gone was his perfect posture, instead, he was slumped over his plate, the picture of absolute misery, with what looked like Blaise attempting to coax a grin or even a laugh out him. Hermione felt a sudden pang of sadness for this shell of her once proud enemy.

Walking briskly toward the end of the table that Blaise and Draco occupied, Hermione ignored the sneers and taunts sent her way from Pansy and her cronies with her head held high. Upon her approach, Blaise was the first to look up from his attempted cheering of Draco, and shot her a winning smile.

"Hey Granger," he said fondly, "glancing over at the Gryffindor table and spotting his red-headed interest, who was shooting him a smile from behind Hermione, and grinning back. His look then returned to Hermione.

"Hey Zabini," she greeted him back in a friendly tone. As she glanced over at him, she realized that Draco still hadn't looked up from where he had been studying his empty plate. Blaise noticed the direction of her gaze and shook his head sadly.

"Umm… Malfoy?" Hermione asked hesitantly, and at this his head snapped up, her voice having broken his reverie. He looked at her and offered her a wan smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Granger," he acknowledged her quietly, "what brings you over to our end of the Great Hall?" he asked, noticing the jeers and taunts his housemates threw her way, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you enjoy having insults hurled at you. Have you not had your hero fix for the day? Feel the need to brave the danger of the Slytherin table?" At this last friendly taunt his eyes lit up slightly, Hermione noticed happily.

"Your housemates couldn't pose a threat to me if they tried," she jibed back, "all talk and no real threat. If I needed a fix, I hear the Hufflepuffs are a rowdy bunch." At this all three laughed amicably.

"How did you do that?" Blaise asked Hermione, "I've been trying to get a smile out of him all night with no luck." At this, Draco shot him a dirty look, before turning his attention back to Hermione and changing the subject abruptly.

"So why are you over here really?" Draco asked after a moment, his eyes now considerably brighter.

"Head duties," she stated matter-of-factly, and at this she thought she saw his expression drop a little, but he quickly masked the change. "The feast is almost over and we have to make sure all of the prefects have the correct passwords to their dormitories before we can explore our new rooms."

"Alright Granger," Draco drawled while standing up from the table, "let's get this over with, I want to see our lodgings." Hermione was a little taken aback by this curt response and Draco's sudden change in attitude, but she followed him around to all of the house tables anyways as the feast drew to a close, stopping to talk at each in turn. She glanced up at him periodically, but his face held no emotion, he had hidden it all away behind his porcelain mask. Hermione wondered at this, but held her tongue, inserting herself into conversation with the prefects instead.

.~-~*~-~.

After making their rounds, the pair headed out of the now near-empty Great Hall and headed to the marble staircase in silence. Dumbledore had given them directions to their new lodgings, which, to Hermione's pleasure, as it turned out were located in a tower, just like her Gryffindor common room. Walking through the Advanced Arithmancy hallway, still in complete and uncomfortable silence so thick Hermione thought it possible to cut through it with a severing charm, they mounted a moving staircase which was heading in the right direction, waiting for it to stop in the correct place.

"A tower room," Hermione broke the silence awkwardly, "that's going to be a big change from the dungeons you're used to. You might even see sunlight for a change," she prodded, smiling up at him slightly.

He looked down at her for a moment, contemplating something before responding, "you know Granger, I don't think I'm going to hate living with you this year." Hermione was completely taken by surprise at his revelation. This was quite possibly the nicest thing Malfoy had ever said to her, which was sad, really, but she was shocked into silence nonetheless. "Wow," Malfoy goaded after a moment of her staring at him, wide eyed and in silence, "had I known all it would take to shut you up was to pay you a slight compliment, I would have done it years ago." At this Hermione swatted his arm lightly, and he laughed softly.

"And you just had to ruin it with a comment," she huffed back at him, folding her arms across her chest.

"Oh come on Hermione, I was just kidding," he said, sounding almost remorseful. Her head shot up in shock, and her eyes zeroed in on his, staring at him incredulously.

"What did you just call me?" she asked, her voice high-pitched with disbelief, as she studied his face closely.

"Your name," he shot back defensively, "I would have thought someone of your intelligence would be able to figure that out for yourself."

"Clearly," Hermione replied heatedly, "but you used my first name Malfoy," he seemed to cringe slightly at her use of his last name, "what are you playing at?" she asked seriously.

"Look Granger, if you want to stay on a last name basis, that's fine with me, I just figured that since we are obviously going to have to see a lot of each other this year, we should at least try to be friendly," his friendly demeanor had dropped as quickly as it had appeared. Hermione checked herself, reigning in her disbelief and chiding herself for snapping at him so quickly. They had actually been getting along well after all, and she had ruined it.

"Sorry Draco," she conceded, "that's fine with me. Living together will be much easier if we can do it on friendly terms." At her use of his first name, Draco's eyes softened, and he smiled down at her slightly. Not knowing why, his gaze made her slightly uncomfortable, and Hermione looked away quickly, looking ahead of them. Without realizing it, throughout their conversation the pair had somehow finished their ascent of the stairs, and had wandered through the hallway stopping in front of the Hogwart's school crest engraved in the stone wall that lead to their dormitories.

"Shall I?" Hermione asked, looking to Draco for his permission. With a slight nod of his head and gesture of his hand, Hermione turned back to the crest and spoke the password Dumbledore had given them. No sooner had the word 'unity' (a password very appropriate to Dumbledore's wishes for this coming year) cross her lips, than a section of the wall at least seven feet tall and three feet wide slid back in on itself, and moved to the side, allowing them entrance to their common room.

"After you," Draco gestured for Hermione to pass through before him.

"Umm… thanks," she replied slowly, and stepped inside, followed closely by the blonde.