A/n: I have company!!! My best friend (and muse) Blondry has joined me to assist the writing of most (if not all) future fanfics. We have a joint venture coming out soon called Pansy's Potion. (I'm sure I told you this before…) anyway, it's our stab at humour and we are VERY twisted. Teehee. Well, enjoy.

Hermione's friends don't want her: '( oh well I'm sure Malfoy'll cheer her up.

Chapter Five - Sympathy From Malfoy?!?!?!

Bursting through the door into the common room, Hermione found Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy going through some plans. What they were, she didn't much care. Walking into her bedroom she slammed the door shut behind her.

"You'd better go." Malfoy led his henchmen to the door. After they had left, he picked up the book he was reading and settled down to read it. Half an hour or so later, Hermione emerged from her bedroom, mascara leaving big black marks on her cheeks.

He smirked at her and she scowled back, going into the bathroom to wash her face. Once she was clean again, she went into the common room and made herself a coffee using magic. Sipping the hot liquid, she sank into the armchair furthest away from Malfoy and stared into space.

A long and awkward silence lingered over the pair. "Do you want to talk about it?" Malfoy sounded bored.

"Not with you." She snapped.

Amusement sprang up in his eyes. "Let me guess, Potter and Weasel are blanking you in the presence of prettier girls." He raised his eyebrows, and her scowl confirmed his suspicions. "Well, that's what you get for hanging around the wrong sort of wizard." He returned to his book and turning the page uninterestedly.

"Shut up, Malfoy." She hissed. Staring at the floor.

"Oh please, anyone can see that they don't want you anymore." He looked up at her, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, they didn't even recognise you in Diagon alley. Even I could tell it was you." He resumed reading his book. "Of course, I could spot your dirty blood anywhere."

"Shut up, Malfoy." She hissed again. Glaring at him she stalked off into her room and slammed the door shut.

Hermione lay down on the bedspread, a new wave of tears had invaded her body, and she didn't want him to see her cry.

It was true, all the stuff he had said. They had just dropped her for prettier girls. She played back the little scene outside where they had just stood there and ignored her. She hated them with a fury she only usually kept for Malfoy.

In her fury, she threw a pillow at the door, the same time the door opened. Luckily Hermione was a good aim; the pillow hit Malfoy in the chest.

He picked up the pillow and handed it back to her. "What do you want?" She snapped, hugging the pillow to her.

"To apologise." She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I was only stating the obvious." He sat down on one of the chairs in her room. He looked uncomfortable. "I suppose that we should try to get along. It seems somewhere there is a fate laughing at me." He raised his eyes to the ceiling, then they fell back on her. "So, let's call a truce, a cease fire of sorts." She glared at him, "Oh come on Granger, I want to enjoy my last year at this castle. You heard what Dumbledore said, we will have to work closely together."

After a short silence, Hermione nodded once. "Good. Now, err… Hermione, I think lunch ends soon, so if you want to tidy yourself up, I think we have double potions together."

He was waiting for her as she came out of the bathroom. The bell went and they gathered their things and left the common room together.

As Hermione entered the classroom, four people signalled to her. Harry and Ron indicated the empty seat between them, and Parvati and Lavender smiled, each sitting the other side of the respective boyfriends.

"That's the last place I'd want to sit if I was you," Draco came up behind her and whispered in her ear, placing his hands lightly on her hips, just to see the reaction of the weasel. She nodded and glared at her old friends, before following Draco to the back of the room and sitting next to him, amongst the slytherins.

"What's she sitting with him for?" The flush started in Ron's ears and spread slowly across his face, his nose going redder than the rest, where the two flushes met.

Malfoy smirked at the boys. He never knew that something as simple as being on good terms with a discarded friend could anger Weasel so much. Maybe there was some future in this living arrangement after all.

Bringing the know-it-all Gryfindor into the Slytherin midst shocked the other Slytherins. Deciding that Malfoy had brought her to them so they could torment her quietly, the Slytherins turned around and smirked. A warning scowl hit the Slytherins, and they all backed off immediately. Malfoy was beginning to see the profit in keeping the girl around.