A/N: Enjoy this next part! :)

The days slowly turned to weeks, and the coldness of fall began seeping into the castle walls. Roaring fires were light in every possible fireplace, and the meals served were always warm and filling. Soups, warm turkey sandwiches, potatoes, potpies. The halls always smelled of the warm, fall scents, distracting from the gloomy weather outside.

The leaves were a beautiful sea of orange and red, but the bite of the cold wind nipped everyone's noses and ears, making it most unpleasant to be sitting outside anymore. Halloween was fast approaching, meaning a giant feast was about to take place. I always loved the fall. The cold weather meant warm sweaters, tea, and sitting beside a warm fire. My common room had quite the perfect sitting area to enjoy a book and tea in front of the fire, which I was grateful for. The Slytherin common room had been far too cold during this time, the fire place was almost never lit, and the dampness of the dungeon made it a very unpleasant space to relax in. At least this year, the only bother in the common room was Granger.

Things had been amicable between then the last few weeks. Not overly friendly, but tolerable to say the least. She would on occasion leave out some tea for me, which while I pretend to be indifferent to, secretly enjoyed. She brewed the perfect cup of tea. We spent most of our time together in silence, either reading or doing homework. We had a majority of our classes together, which made us have to share many of the same books from the library. I used to move her bookmark around just to piss her off, but soon she caught on and would just mark down the page she was on, on her parchment. I used to try to do things to annoy her, but she would never retaliate, making me lose interest. Now, we simply coexisted, exchanging short conversations about homework, class, or if someone was hogging the bathroom.

I sat in front of the crackling fire and Granger rushed into the common room. I glanced up from my book to see the tail end of her as she rushed into her room, slamming her door behind herself. What the hell was wrong with her? I hadn't seen her upset since the start of the year, so my curiosity was immediately peaked. I quietly crept towards her door and pressed my ear against it listening. I could hear faint crying from inside. I racked my brain, trying to think of what could have upset her this much. Must've been that red-haired twat Weasley. He would send her letters about once a week, I only knew cause his stupid owl would continuously ram into my window instead of hers.

Knowing I'd regret this, I gently knocked on her door. I heard a muffled, "Come in." I opened it a crack and heard Granger sniffling. Opening it fully, I slowly walked into her room. I hadn't seen it since the first day. It was mostly decked out in the garish burgundy and gold of Gryffindor, and had a similar layout to mine. One large wooden dresser, a desk near the window, and a trunk at the bottom of a four-poster bed. And upon that bed, Granger sat, red in the face and eyes puffed up. Seeing her like that made my heart twinge. Disgusting. There is no way that I've warmed up to Granger, I scolded myself. Pull yourself together.

I gazed down at her as she wiped her eyes, taking in her overall disheveled state. It was strange seeing her like this. I had always known her to be so well put-together, it was actually annoying in fact. Everything she did was her own choice, and it always worked out perfectly for her. Myself on the other hand, had lived a life controlled by my father, and then the Dark Lord. And look how I turned out. Miserable, alone, and jealous of Granger. Jealous of everything she had that I did not. That I could not. Against all odds, our blood status, my family riches, I was jealous of some muggleborn. God, now I was calling her a muggleborn, not even a mudblood. This witch clearly cast a spell on me.

Attempting to divert the thoughts racing through my head, I addressed the disheveled witch in front of me. "Are you alright, Granger?" She looked up at me with her sad, doe eyes, sniffling softly.

"Do I look alright," she snapped. Still feisty, that was a good sign at least. Swallowing back a retort, I sat on her trunk about an arms distance away from her. I could smell her intoxicating scent from her. It was warm like cinnamon, or hot butterbeer.

"Do you want to talk about it?" A note of sympathy graced my voice, as I tried to be gentle with her. I knew from the first day she was struggling, and being away from her actual friends was clearly not helping. What I was doing was completely against everything I had been taught growing up, and I felt the discomfort growing inside of me with each second I was near her. But I also just felt compelled to help her in some way. And it truly baffled me as to why.

Granger looked at me with a hint of surprise, which she quickly concealed. "No, I know you'll just laugh at me and make me feel worse about myself." She snapped, anger in her voice. I scowled, my niceness at it breaking point. I had tried to genuinely be nice to her for once, why couldn't she just see that without there being an ulterior motive. I took a deep breath to calm myself. You had been the bane of her existence for seven years before this, I reasoned.

"Look Granger, we've been amicable these last two months. And despite my better judgement, I have grown to tolerate you. While you may think I still loath you for your blood status, that's wrong. This past year has taught me that that's a load of horseshit if I'm being honest-"

"But what about on the train?" She demanded angrily, glaring at me.

I sighed, "On the train, I lashed out at you the only way I knew how. And I-I'm sorry for that." I cringed internally at saying that, to her of all people. Granger's eyes widened in shock at my revelation. Pay nice for a few more minutes, then you can hate yourself the rest of the night. "So, what happened Granger? Was it Weaselbee?"

Hermione's eyes welled up at the mention of his name. She chocked back a sob and nodded. She extended out her hand, and dropped a piece of crumpled parchment in front of me. I unwrinkled it and scanned over it quickly.

Hermione,

I can't do this anymore. Your far too preoccupied with school, and frankly our lives are too different now. I know we've been through a lot, y'know with Voldemort and being on the run and stuff. But your in school, and I'm working, and we haven't seen each other in months already. I think we should go our separate ways and just be friends. I'll see you at Christmas.

Ron

"Well it's good you're not with that twat anymore. He doesn't even know the difference between "you're" and "your"," I chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. Granger sniffled and a small laugh escaped from her puffy lips. "Besides, you can do far better than that red headed oaf."

She sniffled again and took the letter back in her hands. A tear trickled down her cheek and landed on the yellowed parchment. With a quick, silent spell, I transformed the letter into a paper bird and it began to flutter around the room. A small gasp in awe slipped from her lips as she gazed at the fluttering creature.

"Thanks, Draco," I looked at her perplexed.

"You didn't call me Malfoy," I looked at her quizzically.

"You're right, I guess I did not," she shrugged, and gazed back at the bird. I hated how nice my name sounded from her lips.

"Well that's enough of a pep talk you're going to get out of me," I said, standing up. She looked up at me and a small smile graced her lips.

"Thank you," she said simply. I nodded at her and strode the few steps towards the door.

"You're welcome, Hermione."

A/N: What do you guys think of this shift in relationship between Draco and Hermione? Let me know! I hope you all enjoyed :) I'll probably post again tomorrow!