Three days after Hermione's run in with Draco, and Ronald goes to live with Harry.
There were three sharp raps on Hermione's door at the Leaky Cauldron. 'It's probably Tom with another pot of tea,' Hermione thought as she got off the bed to open the door. She was surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing outside her door looking very confused and very upset. Hermione's eyes were steely and filled with hatred as they always were when they were set on Draco Malfoy's clear gray ones. "Yes, Malfoy? Do you need something?" Hermione growled through gritted teeth.
"Oh, Granger…Sorry I was looking for someone else, Tom told me they were in this room." Malfoy looked genuinely sorrow for intruding where he clearly wasn't welcome. "Erm… I guess I'll just go then…"
He turned on his heel and walked halfway down the hallway when Hermione shouted, "Wait!" surprising herself and Draco. "Um.. I mean," she stuttered, which was abnormal because she was normally very confident in everything she said, "I just had a question for you."
Draco walked back to her room, head down. She opened up the door welcoming him into her room however Draco chose to stand close to the door.
Hermione sat down on the bed cross-legged and looked at him for a moment. He looked worn, and he had a scar on his collarbone that stretched underneath his red shirt. Draco Malfoy wearing red, a sight she thought she would never see. He cleared his throat and gained Hermione's full attention once again. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" Draco asked timidly. The air in the room seemed thick, it felt as if she was the boss and Draco was an employee about to be fired.
"Yes." Hermione responded. She was, for the first time in her life, at a loss for words. She really had nothing to say to her former rival. "I was actually wondering how you were coping, after the war and everything." It sounded pathetic; she wasn't wondering that at all. She was thinking up was that she could curse him off without making a gigantic ruckus.
"Um…okay I guess," Draco responded lamely. They both looked at the floor, it was very awkward conversation, especially between to people who had grown up learning each other's houses were rivals and that they should hate each other.
Draco walked around the room still looking at the floor and stumbled across what looked to be a newly printed version of Hogwarts a History still having a plastic wrapping on it. "I didn't know they reprinted this." He said lifting it up and showing Hermione, just wanting to end the awkward silence.
Hermione seemed relieved that there was something to talk about. "Yes," Hermione replied, "It has all of what happened up to the end of the war, the third floor corridor that housed the last piece of the philosopher's stone, Hagrid's hut, what really lurks within the forbidden forest, the mermaids in the Black Lake."
Draco looked down at the unopened book again, "How do you know that?" Draco asked quietly, "It doesn't look like it's even been opened before."
"Look at the cover of the book," Draco looked again and saw what Hermione was referring to. New additions by Hermione Granger; he looked up at her, and she shrugged. "It hasn't come out yet to the public," she said simply, "I just thought since Bathilda couldn't add anything, I would, because it seemed right to let everyone else see what Hogwarts was like from a students perspective, and I couldn't stand being bored all of the time."
"Oh…" Draco said.
"I prefer my old copy though." Hermione continued. She held up a beat up version of Hogwarts a History, which looked like it had been read one too many times.
"Why?" He asked curiously. Who would prefer a beat up copy to a brand new one that was even extended?
"I don't really know. Sentimental value I guess…this is the one that I bought just before first year in my first time at Diagon Alley." Hermione explained, "I read it as soon as I got home."
Draco didn't understand. He too had read Hogwarts a History many times, but each time it had gotten too old, his mother went out and bought him a new version. It wasn't important to him how old the book was or when he had gotten it.
Hermione noted the confused look on his face. "It's just a book I guess, but it's what brought me into the magical world and made me understand even though I was a total outsider. Growing up with muggles, I thought magic was something that only existed on Halloween, which was sensible then. It was all so strange and foreign, and I guess Hogwarts a History just made me feel more comfortable with what I was walking into." Hermione couldn't believe she had just said that to Draco Malfoy. He obviously didn't understand having grown up pureblood with everything he wanted, but it felt good to tell someone why she loved the book so much.
Draco nodded, he still did not fully understand but he tried. "Okay, I guess it was a little different for me, growing up in the wizarding world and all…" He tried his best to leave out the notion that he grew up in a pureblood household where he was told to hate anyone in Hermione's house, and anybody of her "kind."
Though Draco tried his best to hide these few facts it didn't stop them from slipping into Hermione's mind. She took a deep breath trying her best to stop from becoming angry. But certain hardness slipped into her eyes and her gaze on Draco Malfoy became a harsh glare. He stared down at the floor avoiding her fierce looks.
"I should go…" he said now staring out the window noting the sun setting in the distance.
"Erm, yes. It's getting a bit late," Hermione, replied awkwardly.
"We should catch up sometime, you know prefect to prefect." Draco said to her, confidence building a bit.
"Uh. Sure?" Hermione hadn't meant for it to be a question, but that was how it came out of her mouth, she was surprised that Malfoy would want to be in her presence again for more than one second.
"Okay, you could meet me at my shop sometime, if you want." Draco sounded hopeful, and with that he let himself out, leaving her to dive into her contradicting thoughts of the who she thought to be the cold hearted ferret boy.