AN: don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Bloody hell Hermione have you gone mental?" Ron was shoving a piece of sausage in his mouth. "Hanging out with Malfoy." Hermione scowled. "Ronald please chew with your mouth closed." She took a sip of pumpkin juice and turned a page in her book. "As for Malfoy, why shouldn't we give him another chance?"
"I can think of about a thousand reason as to why that's a terrible idea." Harry had his arm draped across Ginny's shoulders. "The largest being that whole, ex Death Eater thing? Or, letting his lunatic aunt torture you." Harry held up his fingers as he counted off his reasons. From across the hall Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, Blaise sitting next to him. He watched as Hermione slammed her book shut.
"Granger is heated this morning." Blaise nudged the blond next to him. "You really know how to get into sticky situations mate." Draco rolled his eyes. "Obviously. Parkinson looks like she's going to kill me with her eyes." Draco nudged to where Pansy was sitting. Her face had permanent disgust on it. Which wasn't out of the ordinary for her, but this was worse than normal.
"Can we drop this subject?!" Hermione was heated, her face turning a bright read. "Weasle and Potter are not really happy I walked with her to class yesterday." Draco said nonchalantly. Blaise almost spat his juice out of his mouth. "You did what?"
"You heard me, you're not deaf." Draco stared at the brunette Gryffindor. "Are you insane?" Draco shot his eyes over at his friend. "If you really must know, no. I am not. I quite like Granger." He was getting irritated with everyone thinking he had mental issues simply because he liked Hermione. After all, he had made worse decisions than that. "And I have for quite sometime." He looked down at the table.
There was a loud slam that echoed through the Great Hall. "Enough!" Hermione screamed. The commotion in the Hall ceased, all eyes fell on the witch who was now standing. Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Apparently her friends aren't taking this new found friendship well."
"Yeah, I can relate to that." Draco glared at him.
Hermione grabbed her bag and stormed out of the Great Hall her cheeks a bright read, mixed with anger and embarrassment. "Yeah, guess not." Draco grabbed his bag and walked towards the exit. "Fine mate, just leave me here!" Blaise threw his hands in the air. Pansy stood in front of the exit, blocking Draco. "Move it Parkinson." he spat.
"Your new little friendship won't end well." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Wait till your father hears about this." Her eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?" Draco's tone was cold and violent. "Maybe it is, traitor." She brushed past him, making sure to bump into his shoulder. Draco would worry about her later, now he needed to find Hermione.
Hermione paced the library, even after Draco had changed sides again and given Harry is wand her friends still looked at him with disgust. She wanted to pull her hair out, she wanted to make them see he had changed. The large doors of the library pushed open. "Hermione!" Draco shouted, walking down the aisle. He soon found her, still pacing. "Are you okay?"
"Obviously, I'm fine." She spat. He leaned against the wall. "Obviously, you're not or else you wouldn't be pacing." Draco crossed his arms. "Come on, take to me Hermione." His eyes softened as he watched her walk.
"It's always the same reasons. You're an ex Death Eater. Or you let you aunt torture me. Or you've called me names before. Harry literally almost killed you in the bathroom sixth year." Draco sighed. "Those are all very real and valid reasons to not trust me you know. They are also things I know I can never take back or forgive myself for." He cocked his head for a moment. "Wait, how did you know about the bathroom incident?"
Hermione stopped. She forgot that she wasn't supposed to be there when that happened, nor had she ever told him she knew about it. "Uh," she stuttered. "I followed Harry, I needed to know if they things he was saying about you were true." She let her head drop, staring at the ground. "I saw everything. So, I guess that might make us even on that aspect. I watched my best friend try and kill you. You watched you aunt try and kill me. Neither of us stopped it. I'm sorry." Draco had apologized to her loads of times for the things he had done, but she never apologized for sitting back letting Harry attack him. "I forgive you. I deserved it. Plus, if it was Potter it was gonna be Voldemort." He shrugged.
"I can see you're trying to be a better person Malfoy. They might just need some time." Draco pushed himself off the wall. "That's expected." He walked closer to her, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Come on, you're going to be late for class."
"You're also going to be late." Draco chuckled. "Yes, but I don't care if I'm late. You do. So let's get going. I believe we have Transfiguration." Hermione grabbed her bag off an armchair and slung it over her shoulder. Draco held the door open for her. Her curly hair bounced as she walked. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy. Miss Granger, how nice of you to join us." McGonagall waited for them to take their seats before she continued speaking.
Hermione sat next to Neville, pulling her book out of her bag. An owl sat on each students desk. "Today we will be learning how to transform these owls, into a pair of opera glasses." She walked to a brown barn owl perched on her desk, tapping it with her wand. The owl swirled in a whirlwind till a pair of opera glasses were sitting in it's place. "Miss Granger, since you were late. You get to be the first to demonstrate this technique."
Hermione swallowed hard, pulling her want out of her robe. "Yes professor." The entire classed turned, staring at her for a second time in one day. A small snow owl sat in front of her, Hermione took a deep breath and tapped it with her wand. The same whirlwind effect took place till a small pair of opera glasses sat on the desk. She smiled proudly. "Well done Miss Granger." Draco smiled softly as he watched Hermione beaming with pride. He was also successfully able to transform his owl. Most of the class was able to preform the act, other did not. "For your homework, I would like for you all to draw diagrams on how to achieve this skill. Class dismissed."
Harry and Ron walked over to Hermione's desk as she packed her bags up. "Are you going to make a habit out of walking to class with Malfoy?" Ron glared at Hermione as he questioned her. "You know, at some point you two are going to have to get over the fact that Malfoy and I are friends. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes." She looked up at Harry. She knew he would understand more of what she meant. "Even if I get over it, I'm never going to like it." She picked her bag up. "That's fine Ron." Harry stayed silent.
Draco glared at Pansy as she walked through the halls with a few other Slytherin girls. He walked close behind her grabbing her wrist and pulling her into an empty classroom. "Don't touch me Draco." She spat as she jerked her wrist free from his grasp.
"I just wanted to remind you, that you if you dare try anything I will end you." His voice was cold and heartless as he spoke to her. His eyes narrowed into slits. Part of him couldn't believe he at one point was friends with, very good friends with. Almost dated at one point, and now he was staring at her with murder in his eyes. "Is that a threat Draco?"
"No." He clenched his teeth. "It's a promise." Pansy flipped her hair behind her shoulder. "We'll see about that." She turned on her heels leaving the classroom, she wiped the side of her lip as she entered the hallway. "Guess he missed me." Draco was close behind her, seeing Hermione with Ron and Harry inches in front of him. Hermione's heart sank slightly as she stopped, the boys continuing ahead. "Really Malfoy? Pansy?" She glared at him. Draco knew where her mind was taking her.
"It's not what you think. She wouldn't touch me now with a ten foot pole. Nor do I want her to." Draco ran his fingers through his hair. He almost forgot how sneaky Pansy was, but he would be watching her closely. He didn't trust her. In reality, he didn't trust anyone but Hermione