Draco made his way back to the eighth years' cottage. Dinner was being served in the great hall, but he had no interest in being around other people at the moment. In addition, the afternoon's events had caused him to lose his appetite. What he needed was an emotional release. He had to talk with the one person that has always been able to help him see things from the right perspective. He stood in front of Snape's portrait and let it all out.

"Hermione almost died today." Draco informed his godfather. "Hagrid expected us to help change bandages on the giant the squid, and it attacked her." His voice cracked and tears spilled down his cheeks. "I almost lost her. I spent the last seven years protecting her from Voldemort and people like my father. I had to do things to her that made me hate myself all in the name of protecting her, and it worked. She survived the war. He's gone. I can finally be myself around her, show her I am the boy she fell in love with so long ago, and hope she'll understand when I explain why I did what I had to do. And in less than a day, she was nearly ripped from me. I held her lifeless body in my arms, Severus. It was almost all for nothing."

"Draco, calm down. Focus on the other side of the almost. Almost means she is still alive. I assume she is in the hospital wing currently?" Snape always knew just what to say to help Draco get his mind right.

"Yes. Potter and Weasley are with her." Draco's tears had stopped. Snape was right... Hermione was still alive. The pain and fear he felt over nearly losing her needed to be channeled into something more constructive. He would use them as motivation to overcome every obstacle in the way of her seeing the real him. That included overcoming Ron's long-held and well-founded grudge. "She has a broken ankle and Madam Pomfrey is making her stay overnight to administer the final doses of the bone repairing potion."

"Ah... I see an opportunity." The portrait sounded mischievous.

"What do you mean?" Draco raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I assume you've got Astronomy tonight?" Snape's eyes twinkled knowingly.

"Yeah... so?" Draco still didn't understand where his godfather was going.

"And who else has Astronomy?" Snape tilted his head in satisfaction seeing his plan click in Draco's mind.

"Hermione... And not Potter or Weasley!" Draco was smiling from ear to ear. "She'll just hate to fall behind on the first day. It would only be proper of me to pay her a visit and give her a copy of my notes."

"Now you've got it." Snape smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. He was happy for the boy, but every time Draco made strides forward with Hermione, it made him think of Lily and how different things could have been if he'd been brave enough to resist the Dark Lord earlier. He shook his head slightly to remove the painful thoughts from his mind as he added, "Oh, and Draco... Madam Pomfrey goes to bed every night at eleven, locking the doors to all students. Staff has an emergency entrance code... There is a loose brick to the right of the door. Tap it twice and say: McGonagall."

"Thanks, Severus." Draco grinned and nodded to his godfather, before walking across the room to the stairs. He wanted to grab a nap so he'd be fully awake when he visited Hermione later. Halfway up the steps his conversation with Luna popped into his head. He turned to ask Snape how she could possibly know, but the former Potions' Master had left his frame. "I guess that will have to wait." He told himself.

Draco was woken by the voices of Ron, Harry and a female he wasn't able to place. He pressed his ear to the door to get a better listen, and realize it was Ginny. "Of course." He thought. "Should have known better than to think they'd keep this place a secret from her." He checked the time and realized he'd only slept for two hours. "Better than nothing I guess." Except that meant he still had three hours before Astronomy. He wasn't in the mood to socialize, but he couldn't stay locked up in his room forever, so he dragged himself out the door.

All three heads snapped up to the landing when they heard Draco's door fall shut. He could tell they were looking at him, but he kept his eyes glued to the floor in front of him. He shuffled tiredly down the stairs before he looked in their direction. To his surprise, the female Weasley was walking towards him, tears in her eyes and a goofy grin on her face. Before he could react, she had wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace.

"The boys told me what you did for Hermione." She released him and took a step back to look in his eyes. "Thank you, Draco."

He felt the heat rush to his cheeks as Ginny's eyes bored into his own. His entire time at Hogwarts had been spent playing the role of spoiled, prejudiced, evil, asshole. He knew it was what he had to do, but that didn't make it hurt any less when people like Ron or Harry or Ginny or Hermione, especially Hermione looked at him with hate in their eyes. Now, here he was eye-to-eye with Ginny, and she wasn't sneering at him or looking at him with disgust. In her eyes he saw nothing but genuine gratitude.

He dropped his gaze to the floor so no one would see the tears forming in his eyes. "You don't have to thank me, Ginny. I know I haven't given you any reason to believe this, but I'm not the person you think I am. I could never stand by and watch someone (he wanted to say Hermione, but couldn't name her specifically without raising red flags) die like that." He looked up, directly at Ron and continued, "I'm just glad we were able to work together to get her loose. Ron deserves as much credit as I do for saving her life."

The red-headed male couldn't believe his ears. "Did Draco Malfoy just say I was equal to him at something?" He stood staring in disbelief at the man he so wanted to hate, but had to admit wasn't giving him much reason too. "Err, Thanks Malfoy," was all he could manage to squeak out.

"Well, whoever did what, I'm just glad it worked out, and Hermione is alive and well. Aside from the ankle, that is." Ginny interjected into the awkwardness.

"How long did you two stay with her?" Draco tried to make small talk.

"Madam Pomfrey shooed us out about five minutes after you left." It was Harry who answered. "Told us Hermione needed her rest more than she needed visitors."

"That sounds like her." Draco chuckled. It felt good to relax in their presence, knowing Ron wouldn't try to pick a fight. Being himself would be a lot easier if he didn't have to be in defense-mode every second. He noticed Snape had returned to the frame, and was smiling discreetly at him. "Have you lot eaten?" Draco asked surprising them all.

"Just a bit. After Pomfrey kicked us out, we barely made it to the last ten minutes of dinner." Ron's stomach growled as if on cue.

Draco smirked as he walked to the kitchen and held up the enchanted parchment. "What sounds good, Weasley?"

Ron's eyes lit up. "I forgot about that! Let's see... Fried chicken, of course... Mashed potatoes with gravy... Some rolls... Bread pudding... Bratwurst sausages... Green beans... And chocolate cake. Definitely chocolate cake."

Draco scribbled feverishly, keeping up with Ron's list. As quickly as he wrote, the words disappeared. There was a quiet pop and the counter was filled with serving dishes each holding one of Ron's requests.

"Wicked." Ron mused.

"There's enough here to feed all of Gryffindor tower!" Ginny scolded.

The three men wasted no time filling their plates, and despite her protests about food waste, Ginny could not resist snatching a huge piece of the chocolate cake. Rather than sit at the counter, which only seated three, they settled into the sitting room, eating off their laps. Harry and Ginny occupied the couch while Ron and Draco took the arm chairs. No one talked as they all dug into the delicious food.

Draco didn't realize he'd actually been quite hungry. His plate was emptied even before Ron's. "Woah!" Ginny cried, catching the men off guard. "I've never seen anyone eat faster than Ron!" She stared wide-eyed at Draco before bursting into a fit of laughter. "You're title is in jeopardy, my dear brother."

Ron scoffed at her, but subconsciously began shoveling the food into his mouth more rapidly, causing her to laugh harder, which resulted in her spitting cake bits across the room onto Draco. Ginny froze and stared nervously at Draco who was examining the crumbs that landed in his lap. He could feel her eyes on him. Making her squirm in suspense amused Draco immensely. He waited until Ron and Harry had noticed Ginny's tense posture before raising his gaze to hers. The look of pure terror on her face made it impossible for him to retain a stern expression. Instead he burst into a belly laugh, Harry and Ron quickly joining. Ginny remained bewildered for a moment before she too melted into a fit of laughter. Soon they were all holding their sides and gasping for breath.

"You know Malfoy," Harry choked out. "It might not be so bad to have you around this year."

It wasn't exactly a compliment, but it was more than Draco had hoped to hear on the first day. "Thanks, I think."

They returned their plates to the kitchen and wrote on the parchment that they had finished eating. All the food and dirty plates disappeared.

"Have you had the chance to explore the rest of the cottage?" Draco asked curiously?

"We've only been in here and in our rooms. We saw the study, but didn't feel the need to go in there until absolutely necessary." Ron answered.

"Oh, so you haven't been in the back room?" Draco couldn't believe they didn't know about the common room yet.

"The back room?" Harry was intrigued.

"Yeah. Just go straight through the study. Make sure you take your wand so you can light a fire in the fireplace." Draco advised.

Harry, Ron and Ginny moved toward the study doorway. "Are you going to join us?" Ginny asked.

Draco's heart warmed at the invitation, but he knew the three of them should go alone as it was sure to be an emotional experience. "You all go ahead. I've got Astronomy tonight, and I've not yet got my books packed up."

"Ok then. Good night, Draco." Ginny smiled fondly at him before joining the boys.