Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

***

It was late July when Hermione decided that she had figured him out. But what to do about it would likely take the rest of the summer. And Hermione wasn't sure if, after spending so much time in the Manor, he would return to school in the same state of mind. It was because of this that Hermione decided to write to him.

She had never thrown away more parchment in her life. Finally, she reached what she decided was her final draft.

D. Malfoy -

I would like to apologize, not only for the actions of my peers, but also for my own actions on the Hogwarts Express. I feel as though I behaved rather immaturely, especially for a Prefect, and I should not have resorted to verbally assaulting you.

I hope that you are doing well, and enjoying your break.

-Hermione Granger

Carefully, Hermione rolled up the parchment, tied it with a delicate black ribbon, and set it on her dresser. She would just have to wait for Ron or Harry to owl her before she could send it.

A voice in the back of her head told her that this was clearly procrastination, and that there were other ways to obtain an owl. She didn't have any time to refute this, however, as a tapping at her window then alerted her to Hedwig's presence.

"Oh, bugger."

Before she could reevaluate her actions, before she had a chance to sleep on it, before she could gracefully back out of this ridiculous idea of owling Draco "Evil Git" Malfoy, she traded Harry's letter for hers and asked Hedwig to run it to Draco and come back for her return post to Harry. Hedwig twittered in an irritated fashion, but left on her mission just the same.

She had just finished reading Harry's letter when Hedwig returned. Her heart sunk.

She was carrying no reply post. Hermione's letter was gone, but Malfoy had not written anything in response.

Hermione berated herself over being so upset over something so ridiculous and began her answer to Harry's letter. When she had finished, thanked Hedwig profusely and sent her away with her letter to Harry, Hermione threw herself onto her bed, carefully avoiding the scattered parchment and books that littered her usually immaculate coverlet. Night was falling, and Hermione felt as though her day had been completely unproductive, in spite of the sheer exhaustion she felt. She was, in fact, just drifting off to sleep when her still-open window allowed a hawk to fly into her room.

Hermione sat up quickly, pulling away from the bird. It, on the other hand, was not in the least phased by her, so much so that it landed quietly on the bed, mere inches from her. It was then that she saw the parchment tied to its leg.

With a frown and a great deal of apprehension, she reached out to the bird and quickly untied the letter. The hawk imitated a bow and removed itself to a perch on one of her dressers. Apparently, she was expected to reply.

She swallowed, her hands shaking a great deal as she unrolled the parchment.

Granger -

I was clearly seriously affronted by your actions on the train. I accept that your "companions" or "peers" or "pathetic excuses of wizards" are, indeed, just that. I did, however, expect more from you. Well, no. Actually I didn't.

Of the many things you could apologize to me for, your "verbal assault" is fairly insignificant. I am actually unsure if the purpose of your post was to goad me into apologizing for my "oral assault", but if it was your reasoning, I must admit that I understand you even less now than I ever have. I always thought you were strange, Granger, but this is truly remarkable.

In any case, however, I do appreciate (in spite of my utter confusion) the nature of your letter. My summer is going abysmally, although I am not entirely looking forward to my glorious return to our wonderful school, either. I suppose my lengthy response to such a frivolous letter from you is a clear indication of the extent of enjoyment I am reaping from my holiday, although I must admit, also, that I am intrigued by your letter.

Should you deem to answer me with any sort of explanation for your strange earlier post, I've instructed my hawk to await your response. I would hate for Potter to find out you've been using his owl to correspond with me. I'm quite sure it would break his heart. Besides, his pathetic excuse for an owl would likely get lost if you sent it here again. I'm quite sure it looked rather flustered when it finally managed to arrive on its last flight.

-Draco

Hermione took a deep breath, reread the letter, and fell back onto her bed. He was going to play blunt and stupid. Subtlety could not save her.

With a deep breath, she pulled up a fresh piece of parchment, opened an inkpot, and began her response.

Draco -

I'm not quite sure where to begin. You've essentially rendered me speechless. I sometimes wonder if you delight in leaving me in such a state. It seems, you see, that you are the only person capable of doing so. In any case, I'll do my best to answer you.

I did not expect you to apologize for kissing me, and I would never dare ask you to do such a thing. I can only imagine that your reaction to your own actions, (once you had regained rational thought process), was less than pleasant, to say the least. And while the purpose of my letter was to apologize for my actions on the train, I suppose it was also spurned by the hope that, in light of Hogwarts' need of unity, we could put our differences behind us. I can only hope that we are both mature enough to do so. As school Prefects, I feel it is our duty to be an example to those younger than us, and I think that cursing each other and calling each other foul names is a poor way of doing so.

I will admit, however, that the purpose of my letter was twofold. I was also quite astonished by both your actions and the words that you left me with on the train, and I suppose I hoped for some sort of explanation from you, without having to come right out and ask you.

Clearly, this was not in the cards.

In any case, I appreciate your return post and the use of your hawk. I hope your summer holiday improves.

-H.G.

She reread her letter about four times before she finally rolled it up. She stood up to approach the hawk, but before she could take a step towards her dresser, it flew over to her, landing gracefully on her windowsill with an outstretched leg. Hermione shook her head at the Malfoy opulence and tied the letter to the hawk's leg. With another one of what Hermione swore was some sort of curtsy, the bird soared from her room and into the night.

She didn't have to wait long for a response. The next letter came quickly, and was very brief.

Granger-

No more letters. I'll be at your house shortly. You should, perhaps, meet me outside.

-Draco

Hermione dropped the parchment, picked it up, and reread the three sentences several times. Finally, she glanced in the mirror, shook her head at the hopelessness of her hair, and dashed down the stairs and out the front door.

Draco was standing in her driveway clutching his Nimbus2001, and glaring at the moon. His hair was slightly tousled and his cheeks were tinged with pink. She assumed that he had just arrived. She allowed the strangeness of his presence next to her family's minivan to permeate her consciousness before she coughed, tearing his focus away from the sky.

His head whipped around, and for a second, Hermione thought his glare had softened. It had quite possibly been a trick of the moonlight, however.

She cleared her throat. She had absolutely no idea what to say to him. And for some reason, the very sight of him had caused her blood pressure to jump significantly.

He smirked. "Got a cold, Granger?"

She wrinkled her brow in confusion and shook her head. Silence ensued while the pair of them stared at each other, each growing more anxious as the situation became more awkward. Hermione took a nervous step towards him. Draco tensed noticeably.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

Hermione sighed.

"Well, you're the one that opted to fly yourself over to my house in the middle of the night. So why don't you tell me exactly why you're here?"

Draco stared at her for a few minutes before deciding on a response.

"I'm bored."

Hermione rolled her eyes and leaned against the car.

"You're bored."

Draco shrugged his shoulders and began examining his broomstick.

"Well, why don't you begin by answering my letter?"

Draco glanced up at her. "What, Granger, you expect me to have it memorized?"

Hermione paused. "Do you really need to respond line by line? Didn't anything important jump out at you?"

Draco flushed slightly, but maintained the appearance of confusion. "Like what?"

Hermione sighed. "Oh, I don't know, Draco. Maybe you could offer a little explanation of why you kissed me on the train?"

The Nimbus2001 slipped from Draco's grasp, but he managed to catch it before it hit the driveway. Upon finding a very amused Hermione watching him, he sneered and paused, as if trying to think of a good insult.

"Draco, listen, I didn't mean to-"

He looked up sharply and cleared his throat. "You called me Draco." He paused and frowned. "Twice. You've called me Draco twice now."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the blush that had so quickly spread to her cheeks. "You're avoiding the question."

Draco smirked. "We're both trying to avoid certain things, now aren't we, Gr… Hermione?"

He had spoken her name as if he was trying to answer a question, but was reasonably sure he had the wrong answer. Hermione smiled.

"We've always tried to avoid certain things, now haven't we, Draco?"

He smiled very brightly. "But hasn't it been fun and competitive hating each other? It's so much easier than-"

He broke off, ceased his smiling, and glanced at his shoes.

Hermione pushed away from the minivan and took another step towards him. "You remember, on the train? You said…. You asked me if any of it even mattered. All of the insults. All of the hatred. None of it matters?"

He looked up at her slowly, his expression much more somber. "Hermione, I'm not going to lie to you. Your friends…" He gestured with his free hand rather violently. "I hate the Weasley twit. Not nearly as much as I hate Potter, but I hate him all the same. You keep terrible company…"

Hermione mumbled about a pot and a kettle under her breath, but he ignored her and continued.

"But… I guess… I guess I didn't like you at first, because of the two of them. And, well… you were a bossy little bitch. And, worst of all, you were besting me in some classes. So I teased you and disliked you, and then… you know… the whole Mudblood business…"

Draco cleared his throat again, and looked down at his feet.

"I can't tell you how flattered I am," Hermione said dryly.

Draco looked up, surprised. "You didn't let me finish."

Hermione grimaced. "Oh boy, there's more?"

Draco shook his head. "Like I was saying, in the beginning, I disliked you. But how anyone could hate you, I have yet to discover. You became my favorite enemy. You were brilliant. You were strong."

Draco paused, cringing as if speaking in such a manner was extremely painful. With a sigh, he continued.


"You personify Gryffindor with your courage… And worst of all, you're generally indifferent to taunting. Hurting you became a game. If I could get to you, it was quite an accomplishment. And, after a point, I began to interpret, based on your reactions, how much you cared…."

Hermione rubbed her nose and glanced at the driveway. Images rolled through her mind - the first time he'd called her a Mudblood and she had discovered the disgusting prejudices present in the Wizarding World, the time she had slapped him and he had retreated…the look he had given her at the Yule Ball. She closed her eyes and willed her concentration back to the present to find that he was talking again.

"…and it wasn't until later that I realized that I… well… that I had feelings for you."

Hermione opened her eyes to find him watching her.

"Of course, this did nothing but incur even more of my wrath. I never wanted to… well… I wanted to hate you. It's difficult, Granger. You're difficult. And I suppose that's part of why I like you. But it doesn't make my life any easier."

Hermione smiled, noting his defensive return to using her last name. "Yea, well, it's no real picnic for me either, Malfoy."

Draco gave her a half-hearted scowl. "You know I'm loveable."

Hermione laughed and began to object, but it was too late. Draco was already looming over her, and before she could gather her wits, he had kissed her again. All rational thought fled.

But Hermione didn't care. She was kissing Draco Malfoy - the King of Gits, her worst enemy, formerly the epitome of all that was wrong with the world- in the driveway of her Muggle home, underneath a beautiful starry sky.

And life had never looked better.