When Hermione apparated into her flat that night, she was exhausted. She dropped her purse on the floor and then dropped onto her couch. She laid facedown, her face smushed into the soft fabric, thinking about her day. When her boss had told her earlier that week that she would be working with Draco Malfoy, she had dreaded it. The memories of him taunting her, calling her mudblood, watching as she was tortured by Bellatrix… they had come to the surface and made her extremely nervous.
But then he had walked in, and had called her Hermione . Not Granger or mudblood, and he did it without sneering at her or using any malice in his voice. And then they worked together for three hours straight. He was focused and had some really great contributions to add, even though Hermione was pretty sure that he was never a supporter of elf rights.
His attitude had just surprised her. She had expected him to give her attitude, to refuse to put in any real effort, anything but what had happened today. Instead, he had given her respect and acted very professional. He was… changed. He didn't hold his head up the way he used to, like he thought he was better than everyone else. He looked her in the eye. Hermione wondered why. Lucius and Narcissa hadn't become muggle supporters after the war. In fact, as far as she knew, they were still obsessed about blood status. In fact, Lucius was still at a low level position in the Ministry because of his actions during the war. So Draco behaving the way he did just didn't make sense to her.
Hermonie made it a vow to figure out why he had changed. She didn't trust him, not yet. She needed to find out if this was just an act or if he had genuinely changed. Until then, she would be on her toes, looking for any signs of trouble.