A/N: I took a break from updating yesterday. It ended up being a good thing. I woke up from my nap today with a good idea of how this chapter should end.

Chapter 21

Hermione awoke before dawn the next day as well. She lay in bed looking at the ceiling of her room, sighing as the image of Draco's smiling face crept into her foggy mind before anything else.

She'd fallen asleep thinking of him, and she'd woken up thinking of him.

The witch didn't know what to do, even still, in regards to the blonde. Did she go find him and force the two to have a conversation about what was happening between them? Or did she wait for him to find her? For them to run into each other? She wasn't sure how to handle such things, but she decided that she'd let fate take its course. The two had run into each other plenty of times already, so it was likely it would happen again.

After showering and collecting her things, Hermione walked down in the dim, grey light of a snowy daybreak to the kitchens to get her first real meal in over twenty-four hours. When she arrived she noted the two plates, and bit her lip as she thought about the prospect of Draco making it for breakfast in the near future. She had decided to let fate handle it, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't sit there for an hour longer than she would have, giving fate all of the extra chances it needed.

He never came, though, and she admitted defeat in this by walking up to the library with slow steps. She was trapped in her mind, again, and didn't even realize she'd been made it to her destination until she found herself in the back corner where they'd practiced two days prior, only she was sitting in the green chair instead of the red.

She didn't change spots, but instead settled in and grabbed her advanced Care of Magical Creatures textbook from her bag- one that wouldn't bite her, though that edition did exist- and she was able to read for the better part of an hour before she heard a beak tapping on glass.

The sound startled her, and she stared at the barn owl that perched outside the window before her, before getting out of her chair and allowing it entrance. The owl swooped in, dropped the letter on her chair, and flew right back out into the blizzard. Hermione watched it go, its large wings disturbing the snowfall in its wake, and she closed the window before moving to her chair and looking down at the letter.

It was from Ginny, and the envelope looked like it contained a letter made up of multiple pages of parchment.

With a bit of excitement, the witch tore the letter open while sitting down, and opened the three-page letter and began to read the first page, which was taken up by fifteen large-print, all caps words. "WHO IN THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU-" Hermione had to turn the paper over to finish the note on the back. "-AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HERMIONE GRANGER?"

Hermione had expected as much. This was the proverbial flipping of the table.

Then she began to read the rest. A whole page of Ginny speculating how Hermione could be ok with talking to him, and being sure to ask if she thought she was under some kind of spell or potion. She asked how Hermione could be ok with spending time with Draco, and if she thought she'd been under an imperious to stomach eating meals with him. Next she asked how Hermione could live with herself for allowing Draco to touch her without breaking some of his fingers. She asked, yet again, if she thought she was under the influence of anything nefarious, before offering to come to the school and check up on the elder witch herself.

She finally asked if she thought Draco could be under the influence of something nefarious to act in such a way, only to add, "Even though he'd be an idiot not to fancy you. You're gorgeous, wicked smart, and any bloke you look at should treat you as an all knowing Goddess. Especially Draco fucking Malfoy."

Hermione smiled at her friend's words, then moved onto the last piece of parchment, reading aloud, "Now after thinking about all of this, I do believe that he could be being honest about all of this. He always held a special place in his heart for harassing and berating you. Some men are idiot enough to think that making fun of a girl is a surefire way of letting her know he likes her. Malfoy never looked at any girl as often as he did you, and I only noticed this because I always thought I'd catch him pulling his wand on you when your back was turned and I'd have an excuse to hex his stupid face off.

"He never did, though. He just stared. And if you think he started fancying you before sixth year, then this might be why he was staring. He could have been plotting on how such a low-life ferret such as himself could win the heart of someone so much better than him. And you could be right, that him being imprisoned could have knocked sense into him and made him want to show you that he likes you, since life gave him a second chance.

"It really would be nice if he decided to be kinder, considering I'll be there next week and life has seen to it that I'm less tolerant. It will work out in his favor if he's genuinely a better person. If prison wasn't going to work on him, then nothing would have, I'm guessing.

"Please be careful, 'Mione. I know you're smart and capable, but I do worry about this. However, if you can say that, without a doubt, you aren't being poisoned or having spells cast on you, and you really do think that Malfoy has changed his ways, then say you should at least see where it goes for now. I'm not saying to ride off into the sunset with him, but spend more time with him to see if he's actually changed. Only time will tell.

"And don't let his new ear piercing trick you! He might have always been handsome, but some months ago we considered him one of the ugliest human beings because of his behavior. Don't forget that.

"With all of my love, Gin.

"P.S. Don't tell Ron or Harry. Harry might not react as strongly, but Ron would flip a table."