The past two weeks of her life had been calm, something that pleased her. She'd reached an understanding with Malfoy; every other night she would come out to the common room around two in the morning to see him sitting in his chair, reading something or working on homework. On the nights that he wasn't supposed to come out into the common room, Hermione would open her door just to check. It always pleased her when she didn't see him out there, as it meant that he was sleeping. Hermione could tell that it was helping him, as he looked better than he had before.
Tonight, however, was not a night where Malfoy was supposed to stay in his room though he did have a lot of homework to do. Hermione could tell that he was getting frustrated because he kept sighing angrily and shifting his books. She couldn't tell what assignment he was working on but she did know that she'd already finished all of hers. And so, with nothing better to do, Hermione glanced at him. "Do you want any help with that?"
He looked up then, confused. Hermione was sure he'd only heard her speak and not at all what she'd actually said. "Excuse me?"
"You look like you could use some help,"
"I'm fine,"
"All right," she said, slightly disappointed by his rejection. She turned back to the book she'd been reading and sighed quietly, but Hermione was sure he couldn't hear her. They went on for another half of an hour or so, and Malfoy just kept sighing louder and louder.
"I just don't get it!" he said loudly, slamming the book shut and tossing it onto the floor.
Hermione rolled her eyes; they probably could have been done by now if he'd taken her up on her first offer. Hermione slid off the couch and onto the floor, grabbing his book and opening it. "What page are you on?"
"Four hundred and seven," he muttered, moving to sit next to her. He had his essay sitting in his lap and a quill next to him, and Hermione sighed as she realized that he was working on Arithmancy. She'd had difficulties with the homework as well, though it certainly hadn't caused her to start throwing books.
"All right. Just let me reread this, okay? It's been a few hours," He nodded and kept silent, frowning deeply as he watched her. Hermione wasn't entirely sure of how long they sat on the floor, discussing the subject until Malfoy got it, but she was definitely yawning by the end of it. She wasn't really surprised, as her nightmares had been getting more vivid in the past few days so she was sleeping less, but she didn't want Malfoy to know that fact. He would insist on waking up with her every night then and Hermione didn't want to see him start to look exhausted again. It had been hard enough to agree on every other day, as Hermione had wanted it to be twice a week and Draco-She paused, smiling slightly which he didn't seem to notice. She'd never thought of him as Draco before but it made him feel like more of a friend. Anyway, he'd wanted to have Friday night as the only one he didn't wake up for. Getting him to every other day had taken a lot of energy that Hermione knew she didn't have.
Somehow, Hermione had ended up shifting closer to him as they'd talked about Arithmancy, and she quickly became aware that her hand, the one she wasn't using to talk with, was resting right next to his. And somehow a few of his fingers had ended up over hers. It was an odd thing to become aware of as a conversation began to die down, but Hermione couldn't prevent her mind from going to that place. She was a little too surprised because it had to have been Malfoy who'd placed his hand on top of hers, and he didn't seem fazed by the action. Hermione wanted to point it out, just to see what he would say, but she decided to keep quiet. If she mentioned it then he would get as far away from her as possible and probably retreat to his room because he wanted to get away from her. Hermione didn't understand why it was such a big deal to him every time one of them grabbed the other's hand, but apparently it was and Hermione didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
It seemed as if he was forcing the words out, but eventually Malfoy said, "Thank you,"
"It's no trouble," Hermione shrugged, trying her best not to actually move her hand. "I really don't mind helping people with their homework. I mean, as long as they're actually trying with it. I used to do it for Harry and Ron all the time,"
Malfoy scowled at the mention of Ron's name but Hermione wasn't too surprised. He seemed to be more accepting of Harry, but he still hated Ron as much as he had in the past. If not more. "I won't make this an everyday occurrence,"
"I wouldn't expect you to," He rolled his eyes and offered her something that was almost a smile, but not really. Malfoy yawned loudly, turning his face away from her and holding a hand to his mouth so it wouldn't sound quite as loud. "You could always go back to bed," she commented quietly.
"I'm fine, Granger. If I remember correctly you yawned twenty minutes ago and you don't seem to want to go back to bed,"
"You know why though, you-"
"And you know why I won't go either,"
Hermione sighed but nodded. He had made his reason quite plain since the beginning, and Hermione didn't feel like arguing about it at the moment. "Well, is that it for your homework then?"
"Yes," he said, sounding a bit relieved. "I'm all set for the next few days unless someone decides to assign another essay,"
"They often do that," Hermione said, chuckling.
Malfoy rolled his eyes but he didn't make a comment on that. "How do you always have yours finished with the snap of a finger?"
Hermione shrugged and shook her head. "I don't really. I just do it quickly,"
He nodded and fell silent, reading over the finished essay in his lap. Hermione, with nothing else to do, focused on their hands once more. It was an odd sensation but she wanted to smile at it. It was something she expected people did when they liked each other, but Hermione knew that wasn't the case with her and Malfoy. For starters, Malfoy could barely even admit that they were friends and Hermione hadn't focused on anything like that since she'd stopped dating Ron. It was probably only happening because he'd made an unconscious gesture. And he still hadn't noticed it. Hermione didn't know how he could have missed it though; his hands were surprisingly warm and Hermione was sure hers would have been colder. She'd never thought that he would be a warm person, maybe because he was so pale and cold, but she could feel the heat coming off of him. She was tempted to ask if he was feeling all right but that would mean making Malfoy realize what she was thinking about and Hermione wasn't really willing to do that.
"Well it doesn't sound like it will earn less than an A," he said, shrugging slightly. "Which is no O, but I can handle that,"
"It's almost impossible to get an O in Arithmancy,"
"Please, Granger, I know that's probably what you're getting,"
Hermione couldn't argue the point, as it was true, but she didn't want to admit that to him. "I think it's getting close to five," she said instead, watching Malfoy raise his eyebrows. "I should probably go take a shower,"
"Oh," he said simply, shrugging. "Well, then, have fun or whatever," He didn't seem interested in what she was saying and Hermione knew she wouldn't be interested if he'd told her the same thing, but to her absolute surprise the fingers he'd been resting on top of her hand had suddenly tightened.
"Malfoy?"
"What?"
"My hand," she said, glancing down and seeing Malfoy following her gaze. Color immediately rose to his face and Hermione wanted to laugh at the sight, but she was distracted by him slowly releasing her hand.
"I didn't mean-"
"I-" she hesitated before looking at him with a nervous expression. "I wasn't complaining or anything,"
"What?" he asked again, surprise on every inch of his face. "But-"
Hermione was surprised at her own words, so she wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to say at first. "I don't know," she decided on, glancing at Malfoy nervously.
Seven hours later, Hermione was at lunch and thinking about the events from that morning. She wouldn't have the opportunity to ask him about it until the next night, and that was only if Hermione decided to ask him about it. Because truth be told, Hermione didn't even know what she had meant and how could she ask him when she didn't even know what her own answer would be?
Hermione shook her head slightly and rested her head in her hands. It was too confusing to think about, and not much confused her. Oddly enough it reminded her of her sixth year, when she'd started seriously feeling things for Ron, but once again she knew that wasn't the case. Sure Malfoy was her friend now but she didn't want anything to happen with him in any other department. Harry only grudgingly accepted their friendship and she wouldn't lose him by tricking herself into thinking that something was happening between her and Malfoy. Or Draco; she preferred to think about him with his first name. It felt more normal; she didn't go around thinking about everyone else by their surnames so why should she do that to him? She'd make an effort at least, as habits were hard to break.
"Hermione?"
The voice shocked her more than anything else; she hadn't talk to Ron since things between them had ended. "Ron?"
"I thought we could talk,"
"I-"
"Please, Hermione," he said, his voice slightly pleading. Hermione hadn't heard him sound like that in a long time, at least not since the battle.
Against her better judgment, she nodded weakly. "Okay," Before she knew it, she was being led through the hall, quite a few people turning to look at them. She caught the eye of Malfoy-Draco, who'd been peacefully eating at the Slytherin table. His eyes were wide and slightly angry, and he dropped his fork to his plate with a loud clatter. He started to stand from the table, his anger quickly turning to fury, but Hermione shook her head slightly. To her surprise he lowered himself back down, his fists clenched tightly as he glared at her. Talking to Ron would obviously make him mad, but she hadn't expected that. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked as he led her toward the Gryffindor common room. It had been a long time since she'd been back there; she hadn't really seen the point since she had the common room she shared with Terry, Hannah and Draco.
"I thought we could talk about us," Ron said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head as they entered the near-empty common room.
"Us?"
"Yeah. Because I've given it a lot of thought, you know? And we made sense, Hermione, we really did," She didn't say anything, because to be quite honest she didn't know what to say. "Um, because..." he trailed off, scratching his neck this time. Hermione could tell how uncomfortable the whole situation was making him, and she was beginning to think she understood how Malfoy felt whenever she grabbed her hand or he grabbed hers. "Well, you know. We know a lot about each other and we care about each other and, well, I think that maybe we..."
"Ron what are you trying to say?"
"I think we should give it another shot,"
"What?"
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry for all that happened. I guess I just got angrier when you started hanging around Malfoy and I didn't handle it well-"
"Ron it's not like it started then,"
"But it got worse then, didn't it? And you know I never really meant it,"
"I did?"
"Of course you did," he said, rolling his eyes and smiling at her. "Besides, I think we both know if you hadn't started talking to Malfoy then things would have worked themselves out in the end,"
"I'll ask you not to speak rudely about my friends," she said icily, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him.
"Friends? You and Malfoy? Hermione, are you serious?"
"Yes,"
"But what about everything he's done?"
"I'm aware of what he's done Ron, and I know that I can't just forget about everything, but I can forgive him,"
"Forgive him? For trying to kill me two years ago?"
"I'm not saying I like what he did-"
"For being a bloody Death Eater, Hermione? How could you possibly forgive him for that? What about for being a part of the group that made you wipe your parents memories? Or how about this, how about the fact that he watched you tortured and didn't do a damn thing about it?"
Hermione stared at him. She knew that he was right, in a way. After all he had done all of those things, but Hermione didn't want to dwell on the past any more than she already had to. "Ron how do you plan on-"
"It's his kind that killed Fred!"
"He didn't actually-"
"He wanted to kill us in the Room of Requirement, Hermione! He wanted to kill you and he would have killed you or watched you killed if Harry and I hadn't stopped him!"
"Ron-"
"How could you possibly be friends with someone like him?"
"I know you're upset, Ron, but you have to understand that if we don't want another war we have to learn to forgive each other. He did horrible things, Ron, I'm not disagreeing with you, but you have to try and forgive him. I did and-"
"Okay, so he's brainwashed you somehow," Ron said, cutting her off and glaring at her.
"No he hasn't," Hermione sighed angrily. "I'm just trying to be a decent person,"
"So he's brainwashed you, because the Hermione I know would never be friends with someone who tried to kill other people,"
He had a point, Hermione knew. In the past she would have been horrified of her actions and she didn't know what had changed, but something had. It wasn't like Draco was the same as he'd been in past years but Hermione knew it didn't just excuse everything from the past. "Look, Ron, I'm not brainwashed. I'm friends with him and you'll have to accept that if you really want another chance, as you say you do. And that's not making any guarantees either,"
"I'm not going to accept that you're friends with Death Eater,"
Hermione sighed heavily and shook her head. It had been a mistake to come and talk to him, she knew that now. "Do you remember what Harry told us Sirius said to him?"
"What?"
"Remember, Harry told us that Sirius said the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. You need to realize that, Ron. If you did or if you'd pay even the tiniest bit of attention you would notice that he's disgusted by the Dark Mark on his arm. He cut his hand on glass and was so worried that I would see it when I tried to heal him that he flinched away from me. I didn't understand that either until I pressed him about it,"
"He's acting then, Hermione. You can't let yourself be fooled by him,"
"And yet it's perfectly acceptable to be fooled by you?" she asked angrily, turning her back on him and walking out of the common room. Hermione had expected to be thinking nonstop about the conversation with Ron and while she was thinking about that, it was in the back of her mind. She would focus on that later; for now she needed to think about how she was going to handle the very angry Slytherin that would no doubt be waiting for her in the common room.