Hermione

Hermione woke up in surprisingly good spirits. She stared sleepily at her ceiling, snuggling deeper in her bed. Obviously, it was apparent to her last night that Draco WAS interested in stars, instead of them just after storms. She let the lie slide however, remembering their interesting childlike argument. Now that she thought about it, it was quite funny. The 'amused smile' he had was a huge difference from his usual smirk, which was a nice change. You don't usually see that side of Draco in Hogwarts. Even though he was teasing her, it was all in good humor. Hermione finally agreed, she'd rather see that side of him more often than the irritating Draco.

Hermione finally got up and showered. On her way to the kitchens for some breakfast, she heard loud singing, "ABCDEFG, HIJK, LMNOP! QRS, TUV, WX, YZ!" Hermione chuckled and entered. "That was wonderful you guys." She laughed. "Do you have any of those chocolate waffles I had yesterday? It was really good." She smiled as Olfie skipped to the singing of Tinky's alphabet, bringing her three chocolate waffles. The sun was shinning brightly today, welcoming the morning singing and perfect breakfast treat. Finishing breakfast, Hermione darted upstairs and almost collided with Draco.

"Hello Showoff." He said, dodging her fast moving body.

"Good morning Arrogant." Hermione said, passing him. "We have to stop meeting on the stairs like this. One day, someone's going to fall and get hurt!" She called after her shoulder as she entered her room. Slowing down, she re-did her reply letters to her parents, Ron, and Harry, and then sent her owl out the window. She stopped and breathed deeply the fresh air. Hermione then caught sight of the stables down below, and headed out her door again.

"Hello Calida. Ready for a ride today?" She said softly to her horse, pulling her out of her stable. Hermione began grooming the horse when she heard hoof steps behind her.

"So you really like riding Calida, right Boaster?" She heard Draco call to her from on top his horse. She waited for him to stop.

"Yes. She and I got along well on our last ride, so I figured I'd ride her again, Big Head." She said simply, saddling Calida.

"Off course you got along with her, that's why mother bought her. Calida's not a fighter. Not like Thane."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the black stallion in front of her. "Thane?" She gestured with her hand at the horse.

"Yes, Thane. It means attendant warrior. He took forever to fully train so I could ride him. Even now, he's a bit rough." Draco said, getting off his horse. He looked at her slyly. "Want to ride him?"

Hermione looked carefully at Thane. The black horse snorted and stomped his foot, almost challenging her to get on his back. "No thanks." Hermione finally decided. "I think I'll stick with Calida."

"Wise choice." Draco remounted his horse. "Well, are you going to stand there all day or do I have to challenge you to a race for you to get your butt on that saddle?"

Hermione quickly mounted Calida, and then raised her eyebrow at Draco. "I don't know, Mr. Arrogant. How will you take it if I beat you?" She stared right at his ice blue eyes. "To the end of the far garden and back. GO!" She yelled, and Calida immediately lunged forward. Hermione let out a triumphant yell and leaned forward, feeling the rush of air tugging at her sides. Once again, her hair flew loose of it's holder and flew back behind her. She could feel the motion of the horse's hooves galloping fiercely under her, straight towards the gardens. Hermione leaned as forward as far as she could, bouncing slightly on the uneven rhythm. She stole a glance over her shoulder and gasped. Behind her, Draco was riding Thane with incredible ease and grace, bent low. He was gaining on her, fast, any second he'd be right next to her horse. Hermione focused her attention back to the speedily approaching garden. She pulled the reigns left and Calida sharply turned and started heading back towards the stables. Hermione leaned farther and farther in, whispering, "You can do it! Go faster. Come on! I know you can!" She heard the rapid hooves of Thane and glanced. Draco and her were neck to neck. Hermione ignored the insanely speed she was going, for she never has ridden a horse this fast on her cousin's farm. Draco began to pull ahead of her. "Oh no. Come on, I know we can beat him. You can do it, go faster!" She urged her horse. Hermione saw Draco reach the stables. He won.

Draco

Draco panted heavily as he watched Hermione pull back into the stables. After several minutes, when he caught his breath, he said with a huge smile, "Well, I think we all know who won that race, even though the other cheated." He said, looking at her sheepish face. "I thought you had brains, Hermione. You had enough of them to know not to ride Thane. However, you obviously didn't have enough to know that you should never, ever, race horses with me. I always win."

Hermione pushed back her falling hair. "Oh you're calling ME the showoff? Ha! Look at what you were doing just now!"

"Tisk tisk, Hermione. Don't be a sore loser. I'm just stating the facts. You can say what you like, but that doesn't change the fact that I won and you lost." Draco said, pushing his sweaty hair away from his face. He dismounted Thane and gave his horse an accomplished pat. "But since we both know you're not used to being second-best, I think it's safe to say that you're not a bad rider. A bad racer no doubt, because cheating won't get you anywhere, but not a bad rider nonetheless." Draco groomed his horse.

Hermione changed the subject. "Where'd you learn to ride so well?" She asked, grooming Calida.

Draco shrugged. "Been riding since I was little. I got a lot better with Thane here, since he was so hard to train. He's a good racer, really strong. I got him three years ago." Draco finished and leaned against one of the stalls. "Thane was a present for me for my birthday. Last year I got a new set of bow and arrows."

"Oh that's right." Hermione said. "You take archery. Are you good?"

"Well considering I took lessons from a professional for two years, then was able to get better on my own, yes, I'd say I'm good." Draco replied. "We got some extra equipment. You wanna give it a try?"

Hermione accepted the invitation. "Sure, how about right now, since I won't have time after lunch." Draco shrugged then led the way to the shed where all the equipment was stored.

20 minutes later, Hermione stood with a bow an arrow in her hands at her side, staring at the three targets in front of her. She tried to pay attention as Draco instructed the basics of archery.

"-Now you want to make sure you use the right amount when you pull back on your string. Otherwise, your arrow won't go where you want it to go at all." He finished. "Well, get to it then."

Draco watched as Hermione nervously fitted the arrow and attempted to aim. Boing!

Hermione let out a large laugh as the arrow flew right past the target and into the bushes. Draco smiled and handed her a new arrow. "Try again," was all he said. Hermione re-aimed her bow and watched as her second arrow flew straight into the sky and fell back down in the grass three yards from her. Draco smiled again and handed her a new arrow. "Um, try again."

30 minutes and four 'accio arrows!' later, Hermione finally shot the arrow within three feet of the target.

"Draco! Did you see that? I did it! I did it!" She yelled triumphantly.

"Well usually, most people say that when the arrow actually within the target. But since it's you we're talking about, I'd say that was close enough." He laughed out loud. "Arm sore yet?"

"Oh, you have no idea." Hermione groaned, massaging her right shoulder. She helped Draco put away the equipment and started to head back towards the house. "I'd love to practice more if my arm didn't hurt so much." She laughed. Draco laughed with her.

An hour and a half later, Draco sat in his room and finished his Transfiguration essay on Tables and Chairs. Hermione and him finished a late lunch a while ago, and now Hermione was teaching the house elves. He hummed quietly as he wrote Draco Malfoy on his finished essay. Then he stopped. Was he humming? Draco couldn't remember the last time he hummed. He picked his head up from the parchment. He supposed it was because he had a nice morning, although it somewhat unnerved him. His whole day so far was spent with Hermione. Draco leaned back in his chair. He had a fast race with her, taught her archery, and ate lunch with her, what's so good about that?

The image of him laughing wholeheartedly burst into his mind. Draco's eyebrows furrowed, now in deep thought. The image of him laughing with Hermione Granger, unnvered him even more. He shook his head. He hadn't anticipated this when she came to his house six days ago. Now they're laughing together. Draco threw the idea away and fell onto his bed. "Well, it's not like we're friends or anything." He said aloud unconvincingly to the room around him.

"Well, at least she's not that big of a showoff." Draco thought quietly to himself. He closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed like that with Crabbe or Goyle.

Author's note: Hello! Glad you liked this story enough to finish reading the seventh chapter. Now, im quite sure you guys are wondering when the romance is going to begin. well, to be perfectly honest, not within the next chapter or two. I don't want to rush things, which i find annoying in several of the stories i read. Howeever, it WILL come. I PROMISE. This chapter i really wanted to establish now a friendship between Draco and Hermione. They had some bonding time...which is good...and now even Draco is starting to realize that this summer was going to be different. STAY TUNED. p.s. thanks so all those lovely reviews you guys are giving me!