Chapter 2

The first week of classes were going swimmingly; Hermione was thrilled to be back at Hogwarts. She was taking as many classes as she could fit into her already busy schedule. With all of her newly assigned schoolwork, she was glad that her Head Girl duties only consisted of handing out patrol schedules for the first few weeks back.

Her last class of the week was Advanced Arithmancy Studies with Professor Vector. She was running a few minutes later than she would have liked so she was walking at a much faster pace than usual. She was so focused on her destination she failed to notice the blond boy arriving at the door the same time as she. For the second time that week she collided with his hard chest.

She felt strong hands grab her shoulders and hold her upright. The boy spoke before she had a chance to even glance up to apologize.

"Damn, Granger. If you wanted to get close to me all you had to do was ask."

Hermione's eyes shot up and met the smirking face of Draco Malfoy. She rolled her eyes as she gathered up her dropped items and replied, "The last thing I would want on this earth is to be close to you"

Malfoy laid a hand on his chest amused, "You wound me." He smirked again in her direction and walked into the classroom.

She followed him red faced with anger and embarrassment. Annoyingly she noticed that the only empty seat left in the room was next to Malfoy.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Granger," Professor Vector sounded from the front of the room as Hermione slipped into the empty chair. "We are starting this school year with a partner project that will last for the next four weeks," The professor continued. "Unlike regular Arithmancy, I will not be providing the charts needed to solve your given equations. Your project is to create the charts needed and an essay as to why you have created the charts in the manor that you have done so. You will also need to solve the given equations." She got up from her seat and started to pass out papers to each pairing of students and added, "Your partners are those that you chose to sit with today."

Hermione glanced over at Malfoy to notice he too had glanced in her direction. They both let out a quiet groan.

Professor Vector continued with her instructions, "You and your partner may stay to work in the classroom or may meet somewhere outside of class, I just ask that you check in once a week. Now once you've got your equations, you may get started!" She clapped her hands together and looked far too excited for Hermione's liking.

Most of the class began to filter out of the room chatting with each other. A few passed by Hermione and offered her a look of solace on their way out the door.

Malfoy finally cleared his throat forcing her to turn towards him, "I don't want to do this just as much as you don't, but we should just figure it out so we can get it done and over with."

Hermione blinked at him in nothing short of amazement. She had fully expected him to pitch a fit, march to the front of the classroom and demand that Professor Vector give him a different partner. "Ye…Yeah sure. The only time I can't do it is Tuesday evenings because of perfect meetings."

"Okay how about Wednesdays and Fridays? We can meet in the library after dinner?"

"Sure." Hermione had slowly started to pack up her items still unsure if this was real life.

Malfoy had packed all of his supplies away and was standing up from his seat. "Perfect. See you after dinner, Granger."

And with that, he was gone.

….

"I cannot believe she is making you work with that swot!" Blaise huffed walking out of the common room.

"Granger didn't seem too bad. She wasn't bouncing in her chair wanting to be noticed like usual," Draco said shrugging his shoulders.

Blaise stopped short in his tracks and looked at Draco with round eyes. "You fancy her."

Draco howled with laughter. "Granger? Really? Just making an observation that she's less obnoxious."

Blaise nodded thoughtfully and continued walking. "I don't have any classes with her, but she sure did fill out in all the right places if you know what I mean," He turned towards Draco wiggling his eyebrows.

"Come off it, mate." Draco snickered while shoving Blaises shoulder.

"Take a look when you get a chance. She's becoming quite a looker. Speaking of lookers…" Blaise trailed off seeing Ginny Weasley pass in his line of sight.

"You must be desperate these days," Draco chuckled again.

"You just must be blind."

The two boys passed into the Great Hall and took their usual seats at the far end of the Slytherin table.

"There's just something about red hair that does something for me, you know?" Blaise continued, scooping mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Sure," Draco shook his head and loaded his plate up as well.

….

"It's just unfair is what it is," Ginny grumbled under her breath while she poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"As long as we keep to ourselves I'm sure it won't be too bad," Hermione shrugged. "He might be a prat, but he is actually quite intelligent."

"I'd still keep an eye on him, 'Mione. I still think he's a slimy ferret." Ginny took a large gulp of her drink and turned to talk to Demelza Robins about their upcoming quidditch practice.

Hermione chewed on her dinner roll and thought about her interactions with Malfoy this past week. There was the weird interaction on the train and in class today. He almost seemed… nice. There were times throughout this week that she had passed him in the corridors and he didn't pay her any attention. If he did notice her, he would give her a quick nod and be on his way.

Was Malfoy changing? Now that Voldemort has been defeated and his father was in prison was he less pressured to hate muggleborns? Was he less pressured to hate her? She thought for sure even if he had gotten over his hate of muggleborns he would still dislike her. Was he just indifferent? What had made him change?

Hermione scanned the Slytherin table for a head of white blond hair. Once she found him, she observed him interacting with Blaise Zabini and a few other Slytherins from their year.

As if feeling her watching him, Malfoy's eyes caught hers. They held eye contact for a few moments, Malfoy's gaze transforming from confusion to amusement. He winked in her direction and continued his conversation with Blaise.

Hermione blinked and glanced around to make sure no one witnessed what had happened. She continued her dinner deep in thought.

This was indeed going to be a very interesting four weeks.

a/n: I promise these first two chapters will be the shortest ones! Reviews appreciated! xo