Author's Note: For parts of this, ignore there's such thing as a drying spell. And I hope you all hate Ginny a little less at the end.

Arguments

The door clicked open, stopping both girls in the middle of their fight. Hermione's chest was heaving from all her pent-up anger, and she closed her eyes as the tall figure of Draco Malfoy stepped through, carrying his book bag. He stopped as he took in the stilted figures in the common room and raised an eyebrow.

This was all that was needed to set Ginny off again. "Oh look, here comes your Death Eater to the rescue!"

Draco sneered at the younger witch. "Something got your knickers in a twist, Weaselette?"

"Fuck off, Malfoy. Why don't you go back to whatever rock you crawled out from and leave Hermione alone."

"I see dating Saint Potter has given you delusions of grandeur. Who are you to order me around? You're nothing but a jumped-up Weasley."

"And you're nothing more than Death Eater scum and too much of a coward to even do that properly."

Draco went rigid with rage and clenched his jaw. He hated it when people called him a coward. As if any of the Gryffindors could understand anything he had gone through in the last two years. No, they were too busy sitting on their pedestals, judging.

He fingered his wand, a hex on his tongue but then he caught sight of Granger's face. She was as pale as a sheet and looked as if she was on the verge of collapsing from the stress of it all. It gave him time to think and some of his anger abated. She didn't deserve to have to deal with a fight in her common room between him and one of her best friends. That thought was the only thing holding him back.

Instead, he curled his lip and stepped a little closer to the redheaded bitch. "I know things that you cannot even comprehend, little girl. I suggest you run back to Wonder Boy and keep pretending that the world is so very black and white."

The young Gryffindor's face was puce with fury. "You think I'm going to leave you here alone with Hermione? You can think again. You stay the hell away from her!"

Draco pushed away the wand Weaselette was brandishing in his face. She was shaking so hard that she could barely even keep it in her hand. Granger decided then that enough was enough. She stepped in between them and put her hand on each of their chests. "Stop it, please! Stop it! I can't bear this."

Draco folded his arms and continued to eyeball the youngest Weasley. She turned away from him and looked at Granger. "Tell him to leave and then we can talk about this. I'll make you see that he's a bad person."

Granger's face set in that stubborn look she got when she was being told what to do. "You're not getting it, Ginny. It's not up to you who is my friend and who isn't. If I didn't want Draco here then he wouldn't have the password to get in."

Weasley stared at her in disbelief. It was obvious to Draco that she hadn't even realised that he'd let himself in.

"What's wrong with you, Hermione? He's bad news, why can't you see that?"

"That's for me to decide. It's not your place to tell me what to do."

Draco smirked at the sanctimonious Gryffindor. "I think it's time you fucked off now, Weasley. I need to speak to Granger about something and your Weasley germs are poisoning my atmosphere."

"He's so very charming, Hermione. I can see why you put him before your real friends. You know, the ones who stood by you when he was wishing you dead."

Granger flinched as if Weasley had hit her. The redhead gave him another filthy look before turning on her heel and marching out, her shoulders rigid.

As the door slammed shut, Granger swayed as if she was going to collapse. Draco stepped towards her and steered her towards the sofa. He sat down next to her and she buried her face in his chest, her shoulders quivering with pent-up tears. He stroked her hair as she sobbed a little uncontrollably. After five minutes of this, and as his shirt was getting too soggy, he decided to put an end to it. "Come on, Granger. She's not worth all these tears."

"Don't you start," Granger muffled into his chest. "I wish people would stop telling me who I should be friends with."

"I'm not stupid enough to tell you to stop being her friend as you always were a sucker for lost causes. Befriending house-elves, the Weasleys, the eternal martyr Potter and one seriously screwed up ex-Death Eater. Only you could manage that combination."

That got the watery chuckle that he had been aiming for. She finally lifted her head and started trying to wipe the tears away using her hands. Draco rolled his eyes, before leaning over to grab a couple of tissues from the box on the coffee table. He handed them to Granger so she could dry the flood on her face.

"If you've got snot on me, Granger, I'm hexing you," he said, inspecting his wet shirt between his index finger and thumb.

"It would serve you right if I had," she said.

"You're in luck. I do seem to have smears of make-up on me. Lovely," he teased.

She got up. "Where you going?" he asked.

"I'll be back in a minute. I need to wash my face and I'll get you something to dry to wear."

Draco was left on the sofa for a good few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing. Causing havoc between Granger and her friends wasn't his plan. He might hate the stupid Gryffindors but he didn't like seeing her so upset over them. That Weasley bitch was something else. It's none of her business what Granger and I do, he thought indignantly, completely forgetting that he'd spent the better part of the Easter Holidays ignoring Granger precisely because he didn't want to be the reason for her fall out with her friends.

Hermione was trying to regain her equilibrium upstairs. She had been horrified when she'd seen the state of her face. How embarrassing to not only cry all over Draco but to have a red, blotchy face as well. The cold water wasn't doing much to help so she cast a calming spell. It got rid of the redness but left her eyes still puffy. She tidied her hair into something more respectable and took a few deep breaths. She quickly rummaged through her wardrobe looking for something to give Draco to wear but could only find an old Quidditch shirt that belonged to Harry. He'd leant it her over the winter when she'd gotten completely drenched during a snowball fight and he'd had it in his bag. She flung it over her arm and ran down the short stairs back to her common room. Draco was sitting there staring out the window.

"You took your time," he commented as she reappeared.

"Sorry. Here," she said, flinging the top at him. "It was the only thing I could find."

Draco picked it up, before disdainfully dropping it onto the coffee table. "Have you lost your mind, Granger?"

"What? It's dry and it'll fit you."

"I'd rather parade around in your clothing than something that has 'Potter' across the back."

"It's the only thing I have that'll fit you."

"I'll give it a miss, thanks."

"What are you doing?" Hermione squeaked as Draco got up and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"I'm taking the wet shirt off."

"But you have nothing else to wear."

"I'm not going to sit around in wet clothing. I can't afford to get a chill this close to our N.E.W.T.s."

"You'll get a chill sitting around with no clothes on," Hermione all but hyperventilated.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm not exactly going to be naked! Besides, you have a fire. We can light it and then my shirt will dry extra quickly."

Hermione pulled her eyes away as Draco finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off. Of course he wasn't wearing a vest underneath, Hermione noticed bitterly. That would make her life too easy. There was no way she was going to be able to cope with his bare chest. She'd just about stopped herself from smothering it with kisses the only other time she'd seen it. Hermione heard rather than saw the whoosh of flames that instantly made her common room a little warmer. She felt the sofa dip as Draco sat back down next to her. She hoped that Ginny wouldn't feel the need to come back and check on her any time soon as this wouldn't look good: a cosy setting with a half-naked Slytherin.

Hermione searched her mind for something to say, before hitting on something that had puzzled her. "How did you get my password?"

"I overheard you say it when I was waiting for you the other day."

"And you thought you'd just start using it without my permission?"

Draco chuckled. "I can't keep lurking outside your door. At some point a Gryffindor is going to catch me and that's going to look even dodgier, and I could end up in the Infirmary again."

"I get that, but it would've been nice if you'd asked me before just waltzing in and causing mayhem with your presence."

"Sorry, Princess," Draco said, sounding unapologetic.

Hermione gave up. "What did you want?"

Draco bounded up, located his book bag and hauled it onto the table. "I wanted to run the latest Arithmancy project by you."

"And this couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"Granger, I'm shocked! I thought you'd be open all hours for study questions."

Hermione turned and rolled her eyes at him. As she expected, his arrogant smirk was back. But it no longer infuriated her. Maybe because she saw the teasing behind it. Whenever he'd used it on her before, it had been malicious and nasty. Now it came with a glint in his eye and a slight softening of his lips.

"Prat," Hermione said, smiling as she whacked him.

Her hand came into contact with an unnaturally bumpy ridge. She looked down at his chest and gasped as she saw the jagged scar. She didn't know how she'd missed it the other week in her bed. "Draco, where is that from?" she asked, her eyes glued to it.

His silence pulled her attention back to his face. He was staring into the fire, his face tense. She put two-and-two together. "It's from Harry," she stated. "When he used Sectumsempra on you?"

He was still refusing to look at her but nodded his confirmation. Hermione's fingers caressed it. "He felt really guilty about that," she said.

Draco shifted his body away from her but looked at her with flashing eyes. "Oh poor Potter! I bet he sobbed away in remorse after cutting me open," he sneered.

Hermione looked down at her hands, now resting on her lap. She knew Harry was a sore point with Draco. She suspected that he always would be. "Draco-," she started.

"No, Granger. I'm not interested in going there. I don't give a flying fuck what Potter thought. He's not the innocent little saint you always make him out to be. He threw that curse aiming to hurt."

Hermione felt her temper bubbling back to the surface. "You were going to hit him with an Unforgiveable, so don't give me attitude over what he used on you."

"Yeah, well, I told you not to mistake me for someone nice, didn't I?" And as if to prove his point, he reached for his shirt and Hermione caught a glimpse of his Dark Mark. She hadn't seen it up close before and recoiled a little.

Draco caught her action and where her eyes were gazing and he rapidly pulled his shirt back on. "Don't confuse me with someone who's all sweetness and light, Granger. There's a side to me that you'll never understand," he growled at her before picking his bag up and leaving.

Hermione stayed rooted to the sofa, her mind whirling over the abrupt change in his personality. One minute he was teasing her about her studying habits and the next he was fired up and snarling at her. Despite it being a reminder that he had grown up very differently to her and her friends, it didn't serve as the warning that Draco obviously wanted it to. As much as he may try and reference back to the boy he had been prior to the war, she knew that he had changed. His desire to keep seeking her out proved that, as the old Draco Malfoy wouldn't have been caught dead in the company of a Mudblood. Her eyes were drawn down to a flash of green on her floor and she bent down and picked up his forgotten tie. She drew it through her fingers as she contemplated the man that he had become.

Ginny stared thoughtfully across the table at where Hermione was nibbling on some toast. The curly-haired witch looked how Ginny felt and it appeared neither of them had got much sleep last night. She wondered if it was because Malfoy had stayed the night once more. She felt a flash of anger at that before realising that Hermione looked miserable and not as if she was in some loved-up daze with the snarky snake. Ginny moved her eyes from her friend and gazed across the hall to the Slytherin table. It hadn't been lost on her that Hermione had sat with her back towards them and she caught the bleak look that was on Malfoy's face. He was obviously brooding and every now and again would cast a brief look in Hermione's direction. He was ignoring Parkinson, who was chattering in his ear and trying to shove food down his throat. Ginny flushed and hastily turned away as he caught her staring and sneered at her.

Her attention was caught as Hermione flung the toast back down on her plate and grabbed her bag. She was obviously giving up the pretence that she was actually eating. She left the hall and Ginny briefly looked back Malfoy's way. He was staring after Hermione with a torn expression.

She quickly pecked Harry on the cheek. "Got to rush, love. I forgot my Potions book in my dorm room."

She hurried out of the hall and ran to catch up with Hermione. She grabbed the Head Girl's arm on the stairs and Hermione jumped and turned around. Ginny couldn't help but be a little annoyed as she caught the disappointed look that flashed through the brunette's eyes as she saw it who it was. She was obviously hoping that she was Malfoy.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ginny, unconsciously copying the look Malfoy had given her when he'd walked into Hermione's common room and into their fight. She dampened down the snappish response she wanted to make at that. "I wanted to apologise for last night," she said.

And she did. She'd rushed back into the Gryffindor common room last night in such a rage and had been halfway up the stairs to Harry and Ron's room before she paused to think. It was her intention to wake both boys and get them to kick the ferret out of Hermione's room, but then she realised that it would be a massive breach of her friendship with the other girl, and would cause an even bigger argument. She also didn't think her friendship with the older witch would have recovered if she had done that, and, despite last night, she valued Hermione's friendship hugely.

"Why?" Hermione asked icily.

Ginny bit her lip. She didn't blame Hermione for not making this any easier on her. "I was wrong to blow my top the way that I did, and it isn't my place to tell you what to do."

Hermione released a massive sigh and engulfed Ginny in a massive hug. The redhead was startled to realise that Hermione was crying on her shoulder. "Hey Hermione! Please, don't cry."

"I'm sorry. I'm just so confused right now."

"You had a fight with Malfoy, didn't you?"

Hermione looked up in shock. "How did you know?"

"Because you look as if you got about as much sleep as I did, which is none at all, and he has a black cloud hovering over him."

The Head Girl just nodded. "Want to talk to me about it? I promise to keep my temper in check and my opinions on Malfoy quiet." Ginny said.

Hermione smiled at her. "Could you come to my room during lunch? I'll get us some sandwiches from the kitchen. I really need to talk to someone about things. I'm tired of carrying it all around by myself."

She squeezed her tight. "Of course. No matter how it seemed last night, I love you."

Hermione hugged her tightly back and then gave a laugh that broke in the middle as she wiped another tear away. "I'm turning into a watering pot!"

"Here," Ginny said, pressing a packet of tissues into her hand. "I think you need these more than me right now."

"Sadly, I think you're right."

With one last smile at each other, the two reconciled friends turned and went off to their separate lessons.

By the time lunchtime came round, Hermione had her emotions under control. Well, her tears anyway. She was still feeling a little vulnerable but then again, two arguments in one night would do that to anyone. At least she had managed to stop crying before she got to her Ancient Runes class, which was a good thing considering Malfoy was in that class with her. She sat right at the front and kept her head down. It was probably the first time in a long while that she hadn't attempted to answer every question the teacher asked.

After her morning lessons finished, Hermione made a detour to the kitchens to get some sandwiches, fruit and juice. She levitated them in front of her and made her way up to her common room. She'd just settled everything down when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Ginny outside.

"Why didn't you just come in? You know the password," she asked.

"I didn't think this was the right circumstance to do so."

"You're always welcome here."

Ginny sat down on the sofa and Hermione looked across at her. She'd been surprised that Ginny had been so quick to apologise this morning since she had been so vehement in her displeasure of Hermione's conduct. But that was Ginny all over: she was quick to anger but fast to forgive. Hermione had just never been at the end of her temper before.

"This isn't too awkward," Ginny laughed.

"I don't really know where to begin," she said.

"Why don't you start at the beginning? I won't get angry, I promise."

"You might," Hermione warned before launching into everything that had happened, including the events that she had previously left out to Ginny when they had last talked about Draco.

At the end of her recital, Ginny was pretty much sitting there open-mouthed. "I can't believe he actually kissed you."

"Why does everyone get hung-up over that point?"

"Try because it's Malfoy and he willingly put his lips on a Muggle-born, and not just once, but twice."

"I don't really count the first time. He pretty much assaulted my neck and was completely out of it."

"And what did you mean by 'everyone gets hung-up'? Who else knows?"

"Only Andromeda, but she seems pretty obsessed by the kissing, too. Oh, and probably Pansy, but I haven't told her, and she hasn't spoken to me about it either."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me this last time."

Hermione just blushed. "I needed time to come to terms with it all and having you sitting there opposite me when I woke updidn't help me try and analyse what had happened the night before, including the kiss."

"I guess. I haven't been supportive about it, either."

"Not really, no. Maybe the big blow-up we had yesterday was needed in order for us to get to this point."

"It's just that it's Malfoy. It's so weird to think that he has changed."

"I think Azkaban made a big difference on him."

"And you threatening to hex him if he called you a Mudblood one more time," Ginny said gleefully.

Hermione smiled at that. It was strange to think of their early encounters to where they were now. She didn't think Draco had called her a Mudblood back in February because he truly believed in blood supremacy any more, but more out of habit.

"Hermione, when are you going to tell Harry and Ron?"

She buried her hand in her hands. "I don't know. I mean, your reaction was bad enough, and you don't hate him nearly as much as the boys do."

"You can't keep this from them forever, especially if you and Malfoy get into something more."

She grimaced. "I really don't think we're likely to start dating or anything. Can you imagine how weird that would be?"

"It would be an unusual development, certainly," Ginny said and Hermione gave her a disbelieving look, which caused the redhead to burst into laughter. "Okay, it would be fucking freaky!"

"I doubt we'll ever stop arguing enough for it to even develop that far."

"What did you guys fight about?"

"Harry."

Ginny just nodded and Hermione wasn't surprised when she didn't ask any more questions about it. Draco had always had a chip on his shoulder about Harry. When they were younger it had been jealously as well as anger at his gesture of friendship being spurned. For someone bought up to believe that he was the best, to have his handshake rejected in defence of a Weasley was unthinkable. When they'd become older, they'd found themselves on opposing lines. Harry had gone up directly against Draco's father and landed him in jail, which had then put Draco in Voldemort's firing line. Circumstances had always made them rivals and the intense emotions this had unleashed weren't going to be buried over night.

"It's a shame, really, since they are both more alike than they realise," Hermione remarked.

Ginny's eyebrow rose at that.

"What? They are! They both had too many expectations piled on them at a young age and a brutal awakening to the realities of the world. Okay, so Malfoy had a pampered background, and was a spoilt little brat, but would you want his father as yours?"

"I guess not. It's just strange to think of it that way. They also both had mothers who'd do anything for them."

"Yeah, thank goodness Narcissa loved Draco as much as Lily loved Harry. Otherwise that whole scene in the Forbidden Forest could have turned out a whole lot worse," Hermione commented and both girls fell silent as they pondered that thought.

Their contemplative silence was broken when the bell that rang, signalling the end of lunch.

"Thanks so much for listening and not shouting," Hermione said.

"Thank you for forgiving me for being a bad friend last night."

"You weren't a bad friend," Hermione admitted. "I would react in a similar way if I was in your shoes. However, it feels good to have it all off my shoulders. It was becoming too much of a burden to carry."

Ginny looped her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Friends for life?"

Hermione snorted at her corny line but agreed. They had been through far too much to fall out over this. As two young teenage girls pitched into a war, they'd had each other's backs for the past few years. That wasn't changing anytime soon.