-The Fine Art of Compromise-

Hermione arrived at the girls dorms, exhausted in every way possible. Her body was fatigued, her heart and soul were rinsed, having experienced almost every negative emotion in the last few hours, and her mind was tired from the hours she had spent calculating her Arithmacy assignment earlier that day. Draco was exhausting. She couldn't understand how any one person could cause so much trouble and wreak so much havoc, but he seemed to manage quite nicely. What was his problem anyway? There you go again, Hermione, she thought. Wasting thought on him again, are we? You know he's not worth your time. Malfoy and his stupid "pure-bloods are better" complex. She smiled to herself briefly and changed into her pajamas and climbed into her welcoming bed. It looked so soft and inviting…

She settled into it, reliving the past few hours. She was still fuming inwardly. This was not the first time that she had gone to bed completely pissed off. He always knew just how to get to her. Spending extra time with him was not helping. He had gotten to know what peeved her most, and he exploited that knowledge to the best of his ability. There were so many times she just wished she could kill him. Him and his big, fat, ugly head. Well, not exactly ugly, but definitely big and fat. Egotistical. He thought he could break her. Well, think again, Malfoy. This is Hermione Granger, and if you think you'll break me in, you have another thing coming. She closed her eyes and envisioned Draco as a ferret. How comforting. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

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Hermione woke the next morning to the annoying and monotonous drone of her alarm clock. "Erg." She got out of bed very reluctantly and headed off to the showers.

After her satisfying shower, she towel-dried her hair and got dressed, throwing her robe on over everything. She prepared herself for another day of Snape, another day of History of Magic, and, she thought, irked, another day of Draco Malfoy and his extra large ego. Oh well. This was life.

She stepped gingerly down the staircase into the common room to find Ron and Harry there already talking animatedly to Ginny and Lavender, who were again giggling profusely. Was that all those bimbos ever did? Hermione almost slapped herself for thinking something so rude and demeaning.

"Moring, Herm," said Harry, sounding genuinely happy so see her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, Harry, thanks for asking. How have you been lately?" she asked in reply.

"I've been okay. You know, I haven't seen you around much. Where've you been?"

Where have I been? Where I always am. Where have you been? She thought. But restrained herself and said, "I've been around. You know, homework and stuff."

"Yeah," said Harry, becoming slightly distracted again with Ginny, who had just plopped down on his lap and was whispering feverishly into his ear. Regaining his composure, he said, "Say, Hermione, there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up in a few weeks. Me, Ron, Ginny and Lavender were going to go together. Do you want to come?" His last question sounded hopeful. Hermione was ecstatic. This was the longest conversation she and Harry had had for weeks, and now he was inviting her somewhere? How could she refuse?

"Yeah, 'Mione! You should join us," said Ron, speaking for the first time. "We haven't hung out with our best girl for a while." At this, Ginny and Lavender both pretended to be hurt and playfully punched their boyfriends in the arm.

"Of course I'll come. Are you guys going to breakfast any time soon?"

"Sure. We'll be there in a minute."

"Right. See you guys down there," she finished with a smile. She was so happy she could barely think. Harry and Ron hadn't asked her to do something for what seemed like forever. Hermione was so happy to be included again that she almost didn't see Draco before she ran into him.

"Watch it Granger," he practically spat at her.

"Good morning to you too, Malfoy," she responded in mock politeness.

"I don't believe I said good morning to you, Mudblood," he replied harshly, spitting out the words at her. He was experiencing a familiar stinging feeling on his cheek. Hermione had slapped him. Again. "How dare—"

"Serves you right, you jerk," Hermione interrupted him. "See you in Potions, Malfoy." She smiled sweetly and walked past him, her shoulder bumping into his intentionally on her way past, knocking him slightly off balance. He turned and watched her retreating back, fuming, and his shoulder tingling where she had pushed him. Hermione had a new bounce in her step.

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After breakfast was Double Potions, the Gryffindors least favorite class. Hermione took her seat—next to Draco—and the lesson began. Today was step five, mixing the first six ingredients together. "Now," Snape began. "We will begin the first real concocting step of the Instanto Morticio Potion. You will be taking your boiled platypus blood, powdered skin of ox, unicorn hair, munkswood, eye of a hag and toes of a toad and mixing them together in the order they are listed in your books. Please follow the instructions to the second. Any variation will ruin your potion. This step is crucial, and everything must be precise."

By this time, most of the class was very nervous, save of course, the Slytherins. "This should be easy," said Draco, breaking into the silence Hermione and he had been sharing. "Now, will you get the munkswood and the frog toes?"

"Firstly, I already told you that I will not abide by your orders. Secondly, they are toes of a toad, not a frog." She spoke with such control and seriousness that it angered Draco.

"What nerve, speaking to me as thought you were my superior. I applaud your efforts to stand up to me, Granger, but it's becoming rather irritating. Now, will you get the ingredients?"

"I don't think I'm making myself clear, Malfoy," she said his name with such disgust that Draco cringed inwardly. "I will not fetch anything for a bad-mannered idiot such as yourself. This is your grade too, so I suggest you get the materials yourself. Time is ticking," she said almost contentedly.

"I don't think I'm making myself clear, Granger. I will not do as a Mudblood or anyone else tells me to do. I am a Malfoy, and that entitles me to do anything I want."

"Whatever you say, Malfoy. I suppose that means the potion just won't get done," came Hermione's rather relaxed reply. At first, he didn't believe what she said. Eventually she would have to give in. Hermione was all about grades. She wouldn't let this one slip just to have her way. And how wrong he was.

After about five minuites, Draco was beginning to get nervous. They really didn't have all day. Very reluctantly, Draco finally said, "Hermione, would you please get the things we will need from the front of the room?" The word "please" sounded so foreign to him, especially as he said it to Hermione.

"Of course Malfoy. And don't call me Hermione." She could see him starting to rage again, so she said, "Just kidding. Gosh, can't you take a joke?" And she hurried off to the front of the room to get the necessary things from Snape. They had to work swiftly now. They're little disagreement had already cost them ten of their precious minutes. They mixed and chopped and measured, quickly but precisely, all the while being civil to avoid further argument. They had reached a consensus. They didn't like each other, but they had to work together. Now that this fact had been accepted, the going was easier. They both realized that arguing did nothing but waste precious time and insure that they would have to spend more time together outside of class. Neither of them wanted that, after all.

But, what neither of them did realize was that something momentous had happened today. Something that had never happened before between Malfoy and a member of the Golden Trio. Hermione had broken new ground. She had made a compromise with the enemy.

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Hermione and Draco were in the library again, looking up the properties and locations of some other ingredients for their potion, which was coming along quite nicely. Already, some of the students in their class had run into mishaps. A pair of Hufflepuffs had accidentally added the toes of toad to early, completely ruining their potion. They had had to start all over or risk failing Snape's class, a fate that was dreadful to even comprehend.

"Hey!" said Draco. "Maybe we could test our finished potion on Potter. I wouldn't mind—"

"Draco," said Hermione warningly, her eyes already flashing. This was the second time she'd called him by his first name. Half of him wanted to lash out at her rudely, to tell her off for speaking as though they were equal. The second half wanted to keep quiet about it because an even smaller part, completely unknown to him, liked the way she said it. It didn't matter what emotion she was experiencing when she said it, even. The tone, the voice…it was the only voice that said his name without something hidden behind it. When his mother said his name, her voice dripped with hatred, even though she tried to disguise it. She hated him for what his father had become, for how much he reminded her of him in his manner and appearance. She had always hated him, and he had always known it, sensed it. When his father said his name, it was full of disappointment, not love or admiration, just disappointment. He knew as he knew his mother did not love him that his father would never be proud of him. No matter what he did to earn his father's approval, it would never, ever be given.

So, in the end, he chose to keep quiet, not knowing why, but knowing he should.

"Malfoy? Are you there?" Hermione was saying something and Draco hadn't been listening in the least.

"Sorry. Come again?"

"I was just making sure you weren't having one of those weird seizures or something. You were sitting so still, and I tried to get your attention, but you didn't respond."

"Okay, Granger, keep your pants on. I'm not dead or anything, okay?" She looked at him, slightly annoyed, he shrugged, and then they got back to work. They worked steadily until 10:30 again, their eyelids drooping by the time Hermione said, "Let's call it a night. I don't think I can take much more. My eyes keep blurring every time I try to read a paragraph and my hand is to tired to write another sentence."

"You and me both, Granger. Let's clean up this mess." They returned the books and gathered their belongings tiredly and slowly, trying desperately not to fall asleep. "'Night, Granger," Draco said weakly when they arrived at the exit to the library. Hermione, shocked by his politeness, responded with surprise evident in her voice. "'Night, Draco."

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A very tired Hermione crawled into her bed, completely void of any energy. This was how she always seemed to crawl into bed these days. She turned out the light and lay on her back, her thick brown hair sprawled out all over the pillow. The last thing that crossed her mind were Draco's blue-flecked, stormy gray eyes, so close to her. Gosh, were they pretty.

A/N: Whoa. Okay. That was fun to write! I am so excited with the way this story is shaping up. I had to rewrite a couple parts a few times to make sure that they weren't at all OOC, but I think I quirked it pretty well. This story is turning out pretty good, so I'm going to keep writing, and all you lovely people should keep reviewing. Thanks so much. There is more to come! Don't get bored. The DracoHermione stuff will start pretty soon, but I want this to be an original story, so you are going to have to be patient.

Please leave a review!

Always,

-Ella