Hermione replayed Ginny's words in her head all throughout the rest of the day. She knew that Ginny had some fair points. If it weren't for the Malfoy's, Ginny would have never fallen victim to that damned diary. But Hermione also believed that what she said was true; it wasn't Draco who did that to her. It was his father. Draco was still such a young child when that happened. Of course, he was still a twit, but nothing more than a schoolyard bully at that age.

Before long, Hermione realized it was time to head down for supper. She didn't know how she was going to talk to Ginny when she got there. She knew that they needed to talk things out, but she also wanted Ginny to see her point of view as well. When she got to the Great Hall, she realized that she thought things over so much for no reason, because Ginny wasn't going to give Hermione the chance to talk to her at all tonight. She had already surrounded herself with her friends, and when she met Hermione's eye, she turned her nose up and looked away. Well, there goes talking to her, Hermione thought.

Rather than stick around and watch everyone at the table talk about her, she headed back out. She wasn't that hungry anyway. Hermione decided to get a little extra studying since the library would be empty. Hermione spent the walk over there simmering over the confrontation, or lack thereof. Ginny could be such a hothead sometimes, and that girl could certainly hold a grudge. Hermione's inner ramblings were cut off when she walked right into what felt like a brick wall. As she began to stumble backward, two large hands shot out and grabbed her by the arms.

"Granger?" Well, if it wasn't fate insisting on screwing with her even more. Hermione looked up and found herself staring at the very reason she was in a bad mood. "You alright?" He asked her. She found that his voice sounded softer than she'd ever heard it before, like he was putting great effort into not sounding like a self-righteous prick.

"I'm fine, Malfoy, thank you." Hermione righted herself, smoothing the sleeves of her jacket back down. She went to walk around him to get into the library, but he wouldn't move. "Uh, could you, um…" She motioned with her hands for him to move away.

"Oh, uh, right, sorry." He said as he moved out of her way. She was just about to walk into the library when he spoke again. "Probably not my business, so feel free to tell me to bugger off, but why are you walking into the library this late?"

Hermione was about to do just as he said and tell him to bugger off, but then she remembered how sad she thought he'd looked earlier and decided to answer him. "Well, as I'm sure you heard the wonderful chat Ginny and I had earlier, you could probably guess that she is still angry with me and making it quite obvious. I would much rather study than be subject to that for the evening."

Draco looked at Hermione, his eyes shining with sincerity as he said, "I'm sorry. I know the argument was because of me. I don't blame her for hating me, honestly. You don't need to defend me, though. You'll just end up making enemies with everyone else. But thank you for doing it, I don't deserve it, but thank you anyways." Draco began to walk away, shoulders slumped, and Hermione felt the overwhelming urge to stop his sadness.

"Draco!" She yelled at his retreating back. He turned around and looked at her with a look of confusion on his face. "Um, would you want to study? With me, I mean. It would help to have someone else who is taking the same classes study with me. You don't have to, though, if you don't want to. I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't – "

"Hermione," he cut off her rambling, shocking her into silence with his use of her first name, "Yes, I would like to study with you."

With that, they walked side by side into the library, both settling at a table in the far back, away from the eyes of anyone who might walk in.

Hermione came across a spell that was bothering her, as she couldn't quite get the wand motion right. Draco looked up and noticed her frustration, biting back a laugh at the way she scrunched up her whole face in irritation. "Something wrong, Granger?" He asked her. She looked up at him and saw the twinkle in his eye that said he was laughing at her. She decided to ignore it, realizing he would be her best bet at getting some help with the spell.

"I can't get this bloody wand movement right! I've been trying at it for days and it's just not right." She ran her hands through her hair, trying to figure out where she'd been going wrong. Draco stood up and walked behind Hermione, looking over her shoulder at the spell she was working on.

"Ah." He said, sounding like he'd figured the problem out immediately. "This is a tricky one. I could only get it right because the movements are just like the…" He trailed off and seemed to stare out into space for a minute. "Well, it doesn't matter what other spell it's similar to. What matters is you getting this one right. Here, we'll do it together. Pick up your wand." Hermione did, and then Draco wrapped his hand around her smaller one. She never noticed how much Draco had grown over the last two years. His hand completely enveloped hers. She looked up at him and found he was staring down at her. He was the first one to break eye contact, clearing his throat and asking, "Ready?" Hermione nodded her head and refocused on the wand in her hand.

With the movements, she whispered the incantation, "Committere in foedere." Not knowing what it meant for two people to complete the spell together while joined, Hermione was shocked to feel a sudden warmth spread throughout her chest and down to her fingertips, lingering in the hand that was connected to Draco's. She looked up at him with wide eyes, then dropped her gaze to the single gold band that wrapped around their joined hands and sank into their skin, disappearing from view.