It was the first genuine compliment he had ever paid her, even if Hermione suspected that he didn't realize it.

"Oh Malfoy that's not true."

He gave her a look that clearly told her not to mistake him for an idiot.

"Yes it is."

As she opened her mouth to protest he cut her off with both an upraised hand and his next sentence.

"And don't give me some crap about the classes we don't have together, either. There aren't enough to make it worth while. About the only thing that would make up for it would be to include flying lessons, and I don't see that happening."

She felt bad that he had this negative view of himself and tried to cheer him up.

"But if you offered flying lessons I'm sure you'd have tons of people want to accept."

He cracked a smile.

"I'm sure I would but somehow I don't think they'd have that particular horizontal activity in mind."

She blushed at his innuendo.

"I could never do that."

He raised an eyebrow at that and his smile became wider.

"Oh I don't know, Granger. Enough alcohol, a complete lack of lighting, it could happen for you."

She turned even redder but refused to be baited.

"Ha ha. I obviously meant the flying thing you dolt."

It occurred to him that this was indeed an area where he excelled and she did not. In fact, he seemed to recall her only flying when it was absolutely necessary during class.

"That's right," he said softly, unaware that he was speaking aloud until he noticed her eyes on him, "You don't like flying much, do you?"

She tried to shrug it off but Draco could see that this was a sore spot, which confused him. If it were him he would be doing everything he could to try and direct the conversation away from an area in which he didn't shine. But she admitted outright that she didn't want to do it. And when he teased her she refused to give in to it, instead making sure he realized that she knew he was better at something.

She was strange, that's for sure. And her strangeness was already beginning to rub off on him. At least that's what he told himself later when he replayed their entire conversation in his mind.

"No, I don't like flying much."

"Why not?" He was genuinely interested. Hermione picked up on this and it was the only reason she answered.

"I guess I never felt like I got the hang of it. Especially during class I felt like I needed more time to get my bearings and there was never enough."

"So why didn't you keep trying after class?"

Again her cheeks flushed and she looked down at the table.

"I guess

"I guess we're back to square one and the original idea."

"No we're not."

"What's wrong with the first plan?"

"I don't think it'll work, that's why."

"Why the hell not?"

"For starters how about the fact we can't even call each other by our first names? For crying out loud! Oh that's going to look just great when we go in for the oral presentation…'Yes, Malfoy here is going to eat dinner with me.'" she said, gesturing to him angrily as she spoke.

"And what is your brilliant idea that will save us from having to do this?" he snarled, annoyed that once again she was right. He couldn't picture himself calling her anything but Granger.

"I don't have an idea, brilliant or otherwise. I never expected you to show up and ask me to be your partner. I'm afraid you caught me unprepared."

There she was, admitted her shortcomings again. Why did she keep doing that? he questioned.

"So what the hell do you want from me?" he retorted, fury evident in his tone.

Her features softened as she recognized that he could have stormed off long ago but instead had chosen to sit here and try to come up with a workable solution. He must really want those House Points, she thought. So what did she want from him? What would make this solution bearable? If only they had more time! Wait! That was it!

"A trial run." She announced with a triumphant smile.

"What? What are you babbling about, Granger?"

"We do speak the same language, Malfoy. Just what I said. A trial. A period of time wherein we interact in public and try not to kill each other."

It was of course the perfect solution, he thought with an irritated frown. Glancing at the clock he turned back to her with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Well in case you haven't noticed it is officially Friday. Time isn't something we have a lot of."

Following his gaze she was startled to see that it was after midnight.

"Well," she stalled, thinking quickly, "we'll just have to sign up to be the last group that presents on Sunday, that's all. That will give us all day tomorrow, well I guess today, actually. Then we'll have all day Saturday and Sunday until the presentation."

"How do I know that you'll still go along with this by the time the presentation rolls around?"

"I could ask the same of you," she bit back smartly. Seeing him roll his eyes she relented. "Fine, fine. We have to meet to decide what we're going to say anyway. So we'll meet an hour beforehand to finalize everything and if one of us doesn't show then we'll know."

"Fine. Whatever."

She became conscious of the fact that they were both guilty of adopting this "whatever" attitude far too much during the discussion. And it needed to stop now. It wasn't going to help them at all.

"No, not 'whatever', Malfoy. We really have to put an effort into this. If we go out of our way to ignore each other these next few days then we'll have an even harder time of it if the idea gets approved by the committee."

"So what do you want to do?" he sighed in defeat.

She considered for a moment before deciding on what she hoped was the wisest course of action.

"I think that we talk to our friends before lunch about everything and then meet afterwards and decide if we're willing to go through with it until Sunday."

"Why would we do that?"

"Well I think our friends will be the ones who make or break this project for us. I mean right now especially we would both choose our friends over this project. And if they cause a lot of trouble during the next few months then we may decide it's not worth it and give up. But if they support our decision then it will go a long way towards making the next few months bearable."

It made sense which annoyed Draco to no end.

"Fine." Seeing the look on Granger's face almost made him smile as it dawned on him that he had been using that word to answer her a lot. It was this amusement that made him keep talking.

"I agree, Granger. So can I go to bed now?"

He sounded like a petulant child and that amused Hermione.

"Yes. It sounds good to me. Let's go."

They made their way out of the kitchens and down the hallway as quickly and quietly as possible. When it came time for them to separate they broke off without a word until Hermione called out to Malfoy in a soft whisper.

"Goodnight, Draco."

Startled by her use of his first name he whirled around and stopped dead in his tracks. Seeing his astounded gaze made Hermione blush and duck her head for a moment before meeting his gaze and shrugging.

"Well I figured I should practice saying it, just in case."

She turned around and made her way down the hallway. His voice reached her before she had gone too far.

"Goodnight, Hermione."

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Disclaimer: To claim, or not to claim? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to admit I don't own the characters or….heck. I don't own the characters. Not even close.

Author's note: Sorry about the extra marshmallowy fluff there on the end. Egads. Too many Skittles, not enough sleep. Thanks for reading folks. I appreciate it.