For Hermione, the rest of the ball went pretty horribly. She tried to dance a few more songs with Goyle, but she was in no mood for it anymore. She hated herself for letting Malfoy's lame insults get to her. She had no idea why she cared so much when he had called her a mudblood for the past four years since their second year. But at last, the time had finally crawled by and the doors to the Entrance Hall was opened again.

Saying a depressed 'goodbye' to Goyle, Harry and Ginny, Hermione trudged up the stairs and was met by Lavender and Hannah.

"Wasn't that a good night!" Lavender exclaimed. "Your Sk8ter Boi idea was an absolute mind blower!"

Hermione smiled faintly.

"What's wrong?" Hannah asked, noticing Hermione's slumped form.

"Nothing." Hermione answered. "Just tired." For some reason she did not want to tell them that Malfoy's insults had hurt her so much.

Hermione brightened up. "So, how was your success with the Malfoy prat?"

"Not very good. He didn't dance for three-quarters of the time. He only danced with Pansy once, but he was damn fine in the musical mime."

"Totally." Hannah agreed.

"United."

All three girls entered the Prefect's Common Room. They found Draco sitting on a couch in front of the fire, writing on some parchment. He glanced at them briefly and then put his parchment away.

"Hey Draco."

"Hey." Draco had always been quite nice to Lavender and Hannah since the start of the year. Hermione wondered why.

"Why are you up here?"

"Decided to come up here after a while. Got a bit bored. Has the ball finished already?"

"Yep. It's coz you didn't dance; if you danced it would have been more fun."

"Maybe. I gotta run. Catch you guys later." Draco then hurried up the stairs and into the boys' dormitory.

"Hey, I goto to admit that that was the nicest conversation anyone could ever hold with Draco." Lavender announced as soon as he had disappeard.

"Yeah. I wonder what caused the change?" Hannah agreed staring at the door of the boys' dormitories as though Draco was still standing there.

"He's probably just leading you into a trap or something. I wouldn't trust him. He was rude to me only a few hours ago." Hermione stated firmly.

"Well, of course YOU wouldn't trust him. Everyone knows that, but you've got to notice that he has changed since last year, only your prejudice keeps you from seeing it."

"Excuse me?" Hermione turned to face Lavender with pure horror. "I do NOT hae prejudice, thank you very much."

Lavender raised her eyebrows. "Well maybe if you weren't so rude to him, he wouldn't be so rude to you."

*

Draco frowned as he sat on his bed in the dormitory. He had just showed two Gryffindor girls and a Hufflepuff girl and side that no one had ever seen before. His innocent side. He had been too caught up in writing in his journal that his true surface had creeped up and he did not know until after. He slapped himself mentally.

"How stupid."

"What's so stupid?"

Draco looked up, surprised at Hermione standing by the doorway. He would have thought she was asleep by now.

"You're not allowed in here, Granger." Malfoy drawled.

"Malfoy, I've got to ask you something. If only you'd let me in."

Malfoy flicked his hair from his eyes. "I've already told you Granger. You're not allowed in here."

Hermione however, walked straight in and plonked herself down on one of his green and silver chairs.

Draco's eyes widened, but quickly resumed his calm. "I have no idea what you want to say to me Granger, but whatever it is, you'd better say it quickly so that you can leave and I can be in peace."

"Why do you talk to me like that?"

"Like what?" Draco was slightly alarmed at this question - he had never expected this.

"Like how you do. You treat girls like Lavender and Hannah perfectly fine this year, but you still insult me and act all immature round me, why is that?" Hermione asked, looking around at the photo of little Draco and his mother that was in a frame on his desk.

"I don't understand you." Draco replied lazily. "I think mudbloods have a different type of speaking style that only mudbloods understand."

The photo reminded Hermione of something. " I know how upset you are Draco. If you only didn't act like such an idiot, I would help you out you know."

Draco suddenly sat up on his bed, his shoulders tense. "What?"

Hermione sighed. "It was an accident. I happened to find your diary entry."

"OUT!" Hermione jumped at Draco's sudden response. "Get. Out. Now." Getting up from the bed, he pulled Hermione up from her seating position and pushed her out the door. "Draco, I know I shouldn't have and I'm really sorry."

The door slammed shut in Hermione's face.