Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter it would probably have turned out very different and much less awesome. So no, I don't.

Chapter 7

Draco woke up Thursday morning, sweaty and shaking. His nervousness had seeped through into his dreams and they had been strange and distorted. They quickly faded from his mind however when he remembered why he was nervous. It was Thursday. The first day he was going to be spending time with Hermione outside of Transfiguration classes.

He took several deep breaths, trying to settle his nerves. He had had two classes with her so far and though they were not a complete failure, they could not be considered a raging success either. The second one had continued from where the first left off, neither of them saying more than was absolutely necessary. He supposed the fact that they hadn't had a blazing argument yet was a mini-miracle that could be contributed to this, but he knew that it wouldn't further his cause with her to remain silent for a year.

Today would be the first day that they would be forced to truly talk to each other, it was impossible to study efficiently without communication. He knew that he was going to have to be careful, the last thing he wanted was to do was fight with her and ruin any chance they had of ever being comfortable around each other.

He sighed and rolled out of bed. It was pointless to lye here stressing over possible outcomes that could come from tonight, he would have to wait and see how it goes.

The classes that day flew by. By lunch time the butterflies in his stomach were not so much butterflies as dragons. He went from wishing time would speed up, and get it over with, and wishing it would slow down and postpone the moment. He had to keep telling himself that this was what he wanted, a chance to get Hermione to forgive him, but he was terrified of screwing it up. He couldn't remember ever doing anything without messing up and he wasn't very hopeful that this time would be different. But he had to try.

Seven o'clock was the time they had agreed to meet in the library and at five to seven he was sitting at a table near the front of the room, in plain view of the door. He had already found several books on human transfiguration and he was staring at them, unable to concentrate. He nervously drummed his fingers against the table while he waited for Hermione to show up.

Just as the clock struck seven she entered the library. He had an odd feeling that she had been waiting outside the door, leaving her entrance until the last possible second. She immediately saw him and made her way over slowly. She sat down but seemed unsure of where to begin so he decided to break the ice. Or at least crack it.

"Hello Granger" he said cautiously. She looked taken aback for a moment but nevertheless she promptly replied"Hello Malfoy"

"I've got a few books here which looked promising, we might be able to get information from them". Her shocked look had turned to one of incredulity which was almost laughable, but she picked up the books and looked at them.

"These are good Malfoy" she admitted. "I was planning on recommending a couple of these anyway". A faint smile flickered across her face.

"There are a few more that I'd like to get though so why don't you make a start on these while I go and look for them".

She got up and disappeared into the labyrinth of shelves. He breathed a slow sigh of relief. As a first meeting this was going surprisingly well. He started reading the books, taking notes as he went, only looking up once when Hermione came back laden with books.

For a long time the only sound audible at their table was the scratch of quills on parchment. Occasionally Draco considered breaking the silence, to compare information or check a fact. But something held him back. His instinct told him that he would have to take it slow. The fact that Hermione was even willing to sit across from him in a relatively comfortable silence was great progress and he didn't want to push his luck on the first night. Eventually they would have to start talking but there was plenty of time. He didn't need to rush.

Unexpectedly, Hermione suddenly spoke up, her voice slightly hoarse from being silent for so long. "Do you have a book on Animagi?" she asked.

"Yeah" he replied, handing it to her "why do you want it?"

"Well, I am fascinated by Animagi, I've wanted to learn more about them for ages and since they are closely linked to the type of transfiguration we'll be doing I thought it would be useful to study them now".

"That's a good idea. Personally I've always wanted to become an Animagus but I never had the time or motivation. Maybe one day I will"

She nodded and they both went back to making notes. The time past quickly and before he knew it, it was nine o'clock, closing time. They left the library and went their separate ways without saying another word to each other.

There was a spring in Draco's step the whole way down the several flights of stairs to the Slytherin common room. He had never dared to hope that the first meeting would go as well as it had but now he was ecstatic. He climbed the spiral staircase to his dorm and sat on his bed, analyzing everything that had happened in the library. A rare smile played across his lips and as he pulled on his blue pyjamas (no, they were not green, why did everyone always assume they'd be green) he felt his dream of forgiveness come a fraction closer. I didn't mess up were the last words that flashed through his mind before sleep claimed him.

Authors Note: I know that I'm starting to sound like a broken record but what did you think? Please let me know, it would honestly make my day:) I'm really tired so I'm going to go now, see you guys tomorrow:)

ShHpBookworm xxx