Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table, completely exhausted but managing to keep her eyes open. It had been a long day, though it seemed that every day was, and what Hermione truly wanted was to go back to her common room and go to bed. She knew that she had homework to do and she would be awake in a few hours anyway, but sleep still seemed wonderful to her. Harry, Ron, and Ginny weren't in the great hall yet but Hermione knew they would be coming in soon. Food was already sitting on the table though, so Hermione helped herself to a small plate. She was glad for a moment that she was able to get her food first; Ron and Harry usually cleared out their section of the table fairly quickly.

She was furious, with herself and with Ron for avoiding her at every opportunity. Hermione had intended on apologizing for the events of the previous night, but as the early hours of the morning had stretched on she'd realized that she had absolutely nothing to apologize for. Hermione didn't believe that Malfoy should have to listen to horrible things like how he should be in Azkaban or dead. She heard that from Ron, sometimes, and it was a horrible thing to hear. The war was over now; in Hermione's opinion it no longer mattered what side someone was on. What mattered was how they acted now. And Malfoy, well, he was considerably nicer than he had been in the past years. Hermione didn't know how that was possible or if he could ever be better, but she didn't care. At the moment he was nicer than Ron and the fact was, she'd rather spend her days quietly sitting in the common room with him than hanging around Ron and Harry.

The familiar sound of Ginny's laughter rang through the great hall and Hermione frowned; if this meal was anything like the last two Ron would refuse to sit by her and she would end up alone on her side of the table. Harry and Ginny would shrug it off and continue speaking to each other as normal and herself and Ron would eat in stony silence, Ron occasionally looking at her and glaring. Hermione didn't know how much more of him she could take; her patience was wearing thin and her temper was getting worse; not sleeping well definitely did not make her any more cheerful. "You could have walked down with us," Harry said as he sat down across from her, Ron and Ginny sitting on either side of him. Hermione rolled her eyes and took a small bite of her dinner, ignoring the glare she could feel Ron giving her.

"I'm allowed to do things on my own," she said, feeling bad for snapping at her friends but not caring enough to apologize. She was irritated with them all but there was no way she was going to voice that.

"I didn't-"

"Just leave her alone, Harry," Ron said angrily. "Obviously she thinks she's too good for us now when in reality it's the opposite. Don't waste your time,"

Hermione blinked and glanced at him, her eyes narrowing. For a moment she considered ignoring his comment, but she wasn't in the best mood to begin with. "Exactly. Just ignore me, Ronald. It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything," She stood, throwing her fork down and frowning because she'd only had a few bites to eat. She would get hungry early in the morning but she had no desire to stay with Ron and Harry any longer. Ginny hadn't done anything and Hermione felt bad about the confused look she was giving her, but that didn't make her want to stay. It wasn't like Ginny would end up talking to her anyway; she would spend the entire night discussing something with Harry while Ron added things in every now and then. They didn't really care all that much about her, not anymore. At least that's what it felt like.

"Hermione-" Harry tried, surprised by her actions. He probably expected her to just accept what Ron had said like everyone else did, but all she could think of was what Malfoy had said. You shouldn't stand for that kind of treatment. He was right; Hermione was amazed by that but he was right. She didn't know how much longer she could deal with Ron's words, but she would try.

Hermione turned away from her friends and marched out of the great hall, annoyance and exhaustion weighing heavily on her mind as she walked back to the common room. Her mood was only getting worse as she stomped through the corridors, and it wasn't improved at all when she actually did get back to the common room. There were books thrown about, some now in half, while others were just laying on the floor. Hermione was irritated because the book could have been ruined and everyone knew how much she loved books. She rolled her eyes and with a wave of her wand repaired the books and stacked them neatly on the small table in the middle of the room.

Hermione walked toward her bedroom, knowing she could get few hours of sleep before she would be up for the rest of the night doing her homework. She was right by her door, just a few seconds from short-lasting peace when she heard glass shatter. She stopped and stared at the door next to her own, her eyebrows raised. She'd never thought about going to Malfoy's door but why would glass break from inside his room? There was a vase of flowers in her own room but she couldn't imagine Malfoy having orchids sitting on his bedside table as well. Hermione took a few tentative steps before knocking on the door, wondering if Malfoy would actually answer, but all she could hear was muffled shouts of frustration. "-Bloody Finnigan-Damnit-Whoever the hell is out there go away!" Hermione didn't respond; she just rolled her eyes. Seamus must have done something to upset Malfoy and she couldn't understand why. Wasn't it better to forget the past so another war didn't break out? She didn't think she could ever handle another war; she would shatter just like the glass she was sure she'd heard moments ago. She knocked again, and Malfoy let out another angry shout as his door was yanked open. His face twisted like he hated her as he shouted, "Oh what do you want?"

"I thought I heard glass-"

"And?"

"And I wanted to know if something had happened or if you-Malfoy, you're bleeding-"

"Go away, Granger,"

"I can fix that, really quickly; did you pick up the shards?"

"I told you to go away!"

"Well I'm not going to," she said defiantly, pushing past him and into his dark room. Never, in her entire life, did she imagine herself going into Draco Malfoy's room, but here she was. Malfoy had a look of disbelief on his face that almost made Hermione laugh, but she didn't.

"Get-Get out, Granger!"

"Not until you let me fix your hand. And you could, I don't know, light the fire or something so it's not nearly pitch black in here,"

"I like the dark," he muttered, still staring at her with wide eyes. "You really do need to get out,"

"As I said, I'll leave once your hand is okay. And maybe after I've cleaned up the glass-Seriously, Malfoy? What did you throw at the window to break it?"

"The Arithmancy textbook,"

"I hate that one,"

"You don't hate any books, Granger. Don't try to fool me,"

Hermione shrugged, offering him a small smile before pointing her wand at his fireplace and lighting it. Soft light spread through the room quickly and Hermione looked back at Malfoy, yawning quietly. He looked incredibly uncomfortable and Hermione felt bad, for a moment, but she wouldn't be able to even get to sleep if she knew that Malfoy was bleeding. She waved her wand again, putting the window back together and what looked like the vase in her room; there must have been one in each of their rooms even though she was sure neither of the boys would use them. "Don't try and pick up the shards; that's idiotic. You are a wizard, you know,"

"I know," Malfoy said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Are you happy now? Can you get out?"

"Your hand-"

"It doesn't matter, Granger. What matters is what happens if Boot or Abbott see you leaving my room. Do you realize what that would mean?"

"No?" Hermione said, confused. She didn't see the big deal; yes she didn't really want to be there and Malfoy didn't want her there either, but she could easily explain that she was helping him. She'd helped plenty of people in the castle.

Malfoy rolled his eyes and muttered something before walking to his door and opening it a little wider. "Just go. You've cleaned up the mess so thank you or whatever, but just go,"

"But I-"

"I can fix it myself, Granger, just get out!"

"You haven't changed at all," Hermione muttered angrily as she marched out of her room. She'd been thinking about it and he had been acting differently since the beginning of the year, just the slightest bit nicer, but all she'd wanted to do was help him and he'd pushed her away. Hermione hadn't realized that her words would anger him though; her opinion shouldn't have mattered to him and yet he was storming up to her, looking almost as angry as he had when he'd first opened his door.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Like you care," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't-Wait!" he said as she reached her door.

Hermione stopped and turned around, placing her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "You turned down my help, Malfoy, so what do you need?"

"I need you to tell me what you meant,"

"No, you don't. My opinion doesn't matter to you, so what's the big deal?" Hermione asked. She didn't wait for him to respond, knowing that she wouldn't like to explain her answer and Malfoy wouldn't like to hear it. She slipped into her room and closed the door firmly in Malfoy's face, locking it quickly. Malfoy pounded on her door and Hermione could hear him asking her to come back out and explain, but she knew he couldn't hear her as she said, "Go away," and changed into her pajamas. Hermione closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep to the sound of Malfoy pounding on her door with his fists.

It did not work. Malfoy continued his yelling for five minutes and Hermione groaned before climbing out of bed, grabbing her wand, and throwing her door open; Malfoy nearly hit her in the face because she'd opened the door quickly, but he caught himself. "Can you leave me alone? I'm trying to go to bed,"

"You're-It's half past seven, Granger, what the hell are you doing going to bed?"

"I don't need to explain that to you, Malfoy. But seriously, can you please leave me alone?"

"Not until you tell me what you meant,"

"You're still on about that?"

"No, I'm just knocking on your door and yelling because I thought it would be a laugh,"

Hermione rolled her eyes but looked down and chuckled slightly. She shook her head and when she looked back up she saw that Malfoy looked slightly proud. "I meant that during the first week of the year, you were actually being, I don't know, kind of nice. Or at least bearable. Quite unlike you were the last time I saw you. But I was trying to help you tonight, in case you didn't notice, and all you wanted to do was yell at me,"

"That's not all I-"

"Don't lie, Malfoy, I'm not an idiot,"

He remained silent for a moment and watched her, his eyes wary. "Well you know it wasn't a good idea for you to come in; I didn't want you there,"

"I understand and I'm sorry," Hermione said, frowning. "Though I still don't get the big deal about that,"

"Oh quit acting so bloody innocent,"

"What?"

"You know you'd go running off to Weasley and tell him I forced you in there and he'd send Finnigan after me again-"

"Malfoy, what on earth are you talking about?"

"You told Weasley that I was staring at you or something or maybe about last night, probably when you were apologizing to him, and Finnigan came up telling me to stay away from you and shoving me into the wall-"

"I never apologized to Ron,"

"What?"

"I didn't apologize. I shouldn't have to either. I barely said a word to him today, Malfoy. Besides, I know you'd never stare at me and last night was one of those nice moments that made me think you were changing,"

"So then-"

"Ron must have made it up and told Seamus to do something about it. Though why Seamus would is beyond me; he never liked me much-"

"You're one of their heroes; he probably looks up to you or something,"

"One of their heroes? What are you-"

"Don't pretend you don't know, Granger,"

Hermione sighed and looked down, shaking her head. If people saw the wreck she was becoming they wouldn't think about her like that. "I'll talk to Ron about what happened; I'm sorry for whatever Seamus did to you. I can still heal your hand, if you want,"

"I guess, well, it doesn't really matter,"

Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand, wanting to heal it quickly so the awkward conversation could end and she could get her few hours of sleep. Malfoy flinched and Hermione's face warmed quickly; she was sure he'd only flinched because she'd touched him and she was muggle born. Half annoyed but not wanting to get into an argument, Hermione released him. "I'm sorry. I won't touch you. Just hold your hand out,"

"Granger-"

"Just hold your hand out, Malfoy. I'm tired," Hermione whispered a simply spell as Malfoy did as told and the cuts from the shards of glass disappeared. "There you go. Good as new. Now goodnight,"

"Granger I wasn't-"

Hermione shut her door, as Malfoy hadn't been standing in its way, and she sighed heavily before climbing back into bed and closing her eyes again.