Meanwhile in the corridor Blaise heard the commotion and quickened his pace, pulling the door to the compartment open to reveal Hermione and Draco sat on opposite sides both already half out of their seats with faces that would have made any first year wet themselves on the spot. Luckily he was not a first year and he strode in to the compartment as an eerie silence enveloped the trio, turning first to Hermione with an apologetic face he spoke softly, "I saw Loon- uh, I mean Luna just a minute ago sat in a compartment on her own…" He trailed off inclining his head slightly towards the door, and then fully turned to face Draco knowing that she would take any opportunity to leave an enclosed space with her enemy.
Reaching out for the door handle Hermione spun around; her hair springing out at all angles, glared at Malfoy then left the compartment storming down the corridor. After she left Blaise settled where she originally sat, fiddling with the strap of the headed bag she had left on the seat, an eyebrow raised and the hint of a smirk on his face. "So I see you met our new head girl, feisty isn't she?" He leant back into the seat stretching out his long legs studying his friends face. When Malfoy had still not spoken Blaise nudged his foot with his own and tried again, "What could you have possibly done to make her that angry? I was only gone five minutes."
"She thinks I am the same damn twat that I have been to her these last seven years," he looked around, anywhere but his friends gaze across from him, " Of course I don't believe any of this Pureblood crap anymore, you know that more than anyone, I had to stop her from saying the M-word because of the Taboo. I mean surely it should be the other way around!" Blaise started sniggering to himself, especially as his friend was getting more annoyed as he did, he swore he even heard him growl.
"Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, if you want to get her to you as anything other than that twat, which you still are by the way mate, that you should try being nice to her?" Malfoy screwed up his faced and finally locked eyes with his best friend.
"Unfortunately Blaise, there isn't a nice bone in my body, not everyone is able to shift all of their upbringing away as easily as you." He looked down, slightly embarrassed by his outburst. Blaise was one of the only people that knew about his life at Malfoy Manor; his lonely childhood, torturous adolescence, and The Dark Lord's holiday from hell.
"I know it's not something that you can switch on and off, but the amount of stick you are going to get this year, you might just need Hermione Granger as an advocate of you" Seeing the confused look on Draco's face he continued, "Not everyone will believe that you have changed, so maybe if you can convince the head boy and girl then more people will not hate you forever and hex you wherever you go? Doesn't that sound fun? Oh and I would be back before Granger is, I think the whole being nice thing should probably wait for another day!"
Draco picked himself up, readjusting his hoodie and left the compartment with a swift nod towards Blaise.
Due to the fact that there were only a few people on the Hogwarts express journey, the train had a reduced number of carriages, so finding Luna would be easy. Hermione halted for a second, annoyed with herself for not condoning Blaise's use of the nickname Loony, but assured herself that he knew better and it was probably just a slip of the tongue. Nodding to no-one in particular Hermione started checking the windows of compartments as she progressed from the front of the train, and sure enough she found Luna in the first compartment of the second car. She was reading the Quibbler upside down occasionally her line of vision drifting. At that very moment, like she had managed to sense Hermione's presence the blonde turned towards the door, her face lighting up seeing her friend.
Hermione opened the door as Luna got up, the two girls embracing having not seen each other since just after the battle. "It's so good to see you Hermione." Luna whispered airily, grasping Hermione's hand and pulling her down onto the cushioned seat next to her. Both girls sat down with one foot underneath them turning to face each other, still holding hands.
"It's good to see you too Luna! How is your father?"
"Well after the final battle he got left out of Azkaban and we managed to fix the house, you know after the Death Eaters destroyed it." Hermione nodded encouraging her to continue, "well it's finished now and completely Nargle proof!" Seeming impressed with this Hermione smiled brightly at the ever eccentric girl. "What about you, how is Ron?" Hermione wavered, wondering whether or not to tell her friend the summer's events. Deciding to tell her she wriggled into her seat getting comfortable and reached up to re adjust her bag strap, when she realised that she had left it in the compartment with Zabini and Malfoy she cursed under her breath debating whether to go back for it or not. Deciding to stay with Luna she started to tell her all about her troubles that cropped up during her relationship with Ron, her worries about Harry being too withdrawn and how Ginny had revamped her wardrobe.