Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter related. JK does!

/

Breakfast

Hermione took fast steps to her dorm room, quickly making it cross the livingroom floor. Once inside she quickly undressed and folded her clothes neatly, placing them on a chair. She wrapped her body with her towel, that was hanging on a hook on her door.

Walking out of her room again, she glanced at the empty livingroom that was silent and still. At least Malfoy had had the decency to listen to what she had prompted. She hadn't meant to sound so angry, and snap the way she had. Malfoy had always known how to push her buttons, and rile her up with even the slightest words.

Once in the bathroom she decided it was one of those moments that called for a bath. Given the fact that they had their own bathtub, why wouldn't she be allowed to allow herself the relaxation. Considering everything, she definitely needed it.

Tapping up the water went magically fast. Adding a few bubbles and scents of lavender and chamomile she immediately felt herself relax a little. Once everything was prepared she sat up on the edge of the big tub, then sliding one of her legs over the edge, into the water. The other soon followed and nothing but a few seconds later her whole body was emerged in the wonderful water. A heavy sigh came over her, and she closed her eyes, letting her body soak in the soothing sensations.

She was cleansing her body as well as her mind. Although she was trying to leave it blank, letting the past stay where it belonged, in the past, she couldn't help herself but feel her thoughts drifting back to the previous encounter she just experienced.

What had she been thinking? What had caused her to snap at him like that? Was it only because it was Malfoy? Or because she had known she had been right? Because she had been, she already knew that. It was obvious to her. Although he didn't seem to let anyone in, she could read him better than she could read most. Since the war, when he had let himself been driven close to insanity, he had been worn out. He had been left broken and was still healing. She had called him out on something that surely made him more insecure than he already was. From now on she would have to be more careful with what she said to him. She didn't want him to snap the way he had. After all they were supposed to lead a good example for the other students! If they could work together then anyone could. Only a little time into the school year and they had already broken up their little team. No, this is no good, she though.

She quickly dragged in a breath, closed her eyes harshly and dipped under the water. Everything went still and calm. Under water all sounds muffled. Only when she couldn't hold her breath any longer did she let out her air, letting the bubbles brush over her face, over her circling, thick hair, to join the bubbles on the surface. She shot up out the water, gasping for air. After having caught some oxygen she rubbed her face, to open her eyes. A smile crept up over her face. She felt silly, but in a good way. She laughed slightly at herself.

/

Meanwhile Hermione was up in their dorm Draco was out on the school ward, walking with long and quick strides along the shore. The lake lay calm by his side, smal lights glistening on the dark water top. A small tentacle was slowly waving in the air.

Draco stopped himself here, in this calm spot, as he had so many times before. He clamped the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, leaning his head back with his eyes closed. Slowly breathing in and out, calming himself down.

"What the hell" He whispered to himself. "Why…"

And that really was the question, wasn't it? Why had he snapped the way he did? Could it, against all odds, be that she was, by some far fetched idea, right? No. He wasn't insecure. And he could most definitely be nice! Maybe he wasn't always great a showing it, but he could most definitely give women what they wanted, no matter if it was some romantic shit or his cock! Yeah, that he definitely could. He was a pleaser, after all. A smug smile lingering on his face. He decided then and there, the giant octopus being his witness, he was going to prove that bloody annoying mudblood wrong!

With a newly found motivation he made it back to their dorm rather fast. Quickly telling the password he jumped into the livingroom. He passed the many bookshelves and came up to their doors. He stopped outside of her closed door, hesitant. What if she was still angry. An hour had already, since long, passed and gone. But what if she still hadn't calmed down. She was a lot alike a thunder cloud when she was angry, he thought. All fuming and frizzy, shooting lightnings to anyone in her way. Maybe it was best if he waited till the morning, after all, he was going to show her he could be nice. Being nice doesn't exactly come easy to him, unless he has something to gain from it. So what did he have to gain from this?

Yeah, what do I have to gain from this? He asked himself.

Everything.

He had everything to gain. He needed to prove himself to her. She was the only one who didn't look at him the same way everyone else did. He needed to prove to her that he is what everyone thinks he is.

He wasn't sure what everyone thought of him, but everyone looked at him with this fascinating fear. That he liked. Maybe liked was the wrong word, it was rather he preferred that over people seeing him for what he really is. A failure.

He needed to shake this depressing feeling off. He hated getting like this. Strands of hairs was hanging down in his face. His shoulders were slouching, shrinking him a couple of centimeters.

No, he thought slowly to himself, I'll wait till tomorrow. I can't do anything at this point. He wasn't in the state of mind to be proving himself, since he couldn't even prove himself to himself!

He needed to clear his thoughts; He needed to go for a fly.

A click was heard and a door was opened.

Draco's head shot up towards the bathroom door. In the door frame Hermione was standing. Her long thick hair was dripping around her and her skin was moist. Goos-bumps knotted her legs from the sudden cool air. Both stood speechless, and the second seemed to last an eternity.

"Ehm" Draco awkwardly cleared his throat and forced himself to look anywhere but on her.

Hermione seemed to come back to reality and her eyes widened immensely. She clung her towel closer to her body.

"I was just… I'm gonna…" Draco didn't know what to say, nor do in this situation, especially after everything. "… just gonna… go…" He finally finished his sentence and left abruptly, turning around himself to slam his door shut.

Once on the other side he leaned his back hard against the door. What the hell!? Why did he just freak out like that? It was by far, not the first woman he had seen dripping wet, or fresh out of the shower. Definitely not the first time he's been in an awkward situation either. Yet he was the one to fumble with his words, not knowing what to say or to do. This was not like him. She had caught him by surprised at a moment of weakness. She had seen him weak.

Now he definitely needed to go for that fly.

/

Once safely inside her room she let the moment sink in. Her towel had felt much to small, and almost see-through when he had looked at her. But when she had looked at him, so had his clothes. He seemed so vulnerable, so fragile. She hadn't been able to take her eyes off of him, not even when it dawned on her what was happening. It was something about that vulnerable state he had been in, something about it that pulled her in. Something about it made her see him in a whole new light. It left her wanting more. More of Malfoy.

Hermione shook her head at herself. Surely this was only because he suddenly seemed so… human. After all, it is in her nature to want to help a broken soul. And who was more broken than Malfoy, if not Hermione herself?

A shimmer outside her window was caught at the corner of her eye. Something glistening out over the black lake. It must be the octopus, she thought to herself. Standing still, watching it move gracefully over the surface. Back and forth, and in soft twirls. Beautiful turns, slowly following the wind's flow. It didn't look like a tentacle, though. She was leaning against the windowsill, watching the graceful glistening move over the water, like a hovering firefly. There was a calmness to the movements that entranced her. The beauty of the light left her mind empty of thoughts, and she started to feel her breathing slow down. A small smile was lingering on her relaxed lips.

She sighed slightly and broke away from her trance. Time for bed, she thought to herself while yawning. Pushing the covers away she slid into her soft bed. She pulled the blankets back up and fell asleep faster than she had ever before.

/

There was a knock on the door. Hermione peeked one eye open, just to notice the sun wasn't even all the way up yet. Who, in their right mind would bother someone at the time of the day? She sighed and sat up, pushing the covers off of her in doing so. No one would usually try to find her before she ha woken up, after all she used to be the first one to actually be up.

"Com- ehm… come in" She said, her voice failing her this early in the morning.

The handle twisted and the door opened slowly. In the opening, non other than Draco Malfoy was standing in all his glory, fully dressed and ready for the day. This brought Hermione's attention to herself, who was definitely not in the same state he was in.

A quick motion, pulling her covers back up to cover her pajama dressed body. She felt awfully aware of her bed hair, and other such things that wasn't exactly appealing when you just wake up in the morning.

"Malfoy!" She hissed.

But before she could continue, and tell him off, he cut her off courtly. "I was wondering if maybe you would like some breakfast?"

"Why, yes, but…"

"Good, now, do you want your breakfast in bed, because then I can bring it in here. Otherwise I have already placed it on the table out here in our living room."

"Oh" She felt really confused and startled. "No, I can come out" She started shuffling around in the bed, eventually sliding off of it to walk towards Malfoy.

Malfoy, who was still standing by the door opening, with a smirk lingering on his face, continued his papering. "I was not sure what you wanted to eat, so I asked for a little of everything."

"Asked?" She looked up at him, now standing intron of him.

"Yes, I went down to the hidden kitchens and asked for breakfast. As Head Boy they didn't hesitate to do as I asked." He emphasized the word asked, knowing how she felt about the elves, by her lame attempt to free them years before. "I simply asked for a plate, and they put together a whole tray." He had been a little surprised at that himself. "Didn't exactly expect that" He mumbled. Once he had placed his order he had walked back up to his room to get ready. One of the elves had apparated straight into their living room shortly after with a huge wooden tray of delicate breakfast delights. After which he had asked Hermione to come join in.

He gestured politely for her to walk before him, with his arm. She furrowed her brows but followed his gesture. When she came into the livingroom she was startled to see all the wonderful goodies laying on the table.

A very low "wow" escaped her mouth when she stopped to take in the sight.

The armchair was pulled out beside her. Malfoy was standing behind the chair and made a slight nod towards the chair.

Did he just pull out the chair for me? I must give it to him, the boy has manners.

Sitting down infront of all the delicacies, with all the proper manners involved, she felt slightly out of place in her pajamas and messy hair.

Malfoy sat down in the sofa, watching her intently. "Please do start" He gestured for the table.

"Oh, I just don't know… where… to start" She eyed all the good food. Toasts with all kinds of toppings, ranging from marmalade, ham, to peanut butter. Tuna sandwiches, sausages, bacon, biscuits, teas, juices, and fruit sallads.

"Here" Malfoy said, and started plucking a few things from each plate onto a separate one.

He handed her the plate with food. "Um, thank you Malfoy" managed to escape before she could stop it.

Malfoy stopped his motion and a slight smirk crawled over his features.

Hermione huffed. "Well, I mean, if you think this is all it takes for me to forgive you, then you're wrong. It's gonna take more than a few pieces of toast for me to forgive you."

"I wasn't asking for your forgiveness" he huffed. "Besides, I think this a little more than just a few pieces of toast. However, what I wanted to ask of you is simply not to change dorms"

Hermione rose an eyebrow at this.

"It would certainly not look very good for me if I drove you out, now would it? Given my past history" at this he glanced down at his arm for a second and cleared his throat "I don't think I need more to add onto my list"

Hermione pretended she hadn't notice where his eyes had drifted off to meanwhile talking. Besides, she definitely couldn't argue with what he said.

"All I'm asking is for you not to run off to McGonagall this instant and tell on me, without giving me a chance to redeem myself."

Both Hermione's eyebrows were far up by now. She had already decided not to say anything to the professor, but she surely wasn't going to tell him that. There couldn't be any harm in having him crawl a little for once. "Why should I give you a second chance? I'm not convinced you deserve it?" Of course he thought he too deserved it. After everything they had been through, one would think that she would never in a million years give him a second chance. But, she thought everyone can change. What hadn't changed people more than the war had? And Malfoy had proven himself worthy of second chances.

However, not knowing her thoughts, this stung hard in his chest and his face showed it all too well. He quickly got his cold emotionless face back on. After all he couldn't show himself weak. Again.

"Very well" She continued. "I won't change dorms, nor tell the Professor. Although I expect you to try a little bit harder." She put on her stubborn face, mostly to push him further.

Had she no idea how hard this was for him? How hard it was for him to submerge himself to this level. He could basically be kissing her feet. He was getting more and more riled up by her inconsiderate and childish actions. Could the annoying little witch just forgive him already.

At that moment he remembered how he was doing this only to prove he could be nice. He wanted to yell "stupid mudblood" at her, but decided it was probably best if he didn't.

Hermione watched his face go through several emotions. She couldn't put her finger on what his mind was processing at the moment though. All of a sudden he shot up to his feet and dragged in his breath.

"I'll be off then." He said harshly and turned on his heal and quickly made it out the portrait hole.

Hermione felt a little bad at how she had handled the whole situation. After all he had done a great job at asking for her forgiveness, although he had claimed that not to be the reason for his actions.

Malfoy used to be an annoying, self-absorbed git, and he still was. However, not to the same extent as before. He seemed, almost… normal. In his own quirky way.

She sat there for a while, eating the breakfast Malfoy had gotten her, and contemplating the odd situation she had be put in.

/

A shot of pain stroke his head.

"What the fuck!?" He looked down to see what had hit him. A piece of a armor layer below his feet. He looked up to search beside him, but no one was there. He was rubbing his head where the armor had hit him when another piece hit his ribs. He grunted when it hit the air out of him.

A loud chuckle screeched through the corridor he was now in. The poltergeist shot up from behind one of the armors.

"Peeves! I am in NO mood for this right now you bloody dip-shit. Get out of here!"

"Peeves is sooo scared of the nasty little death eater" Peeves taunted sarcastically.

Draco pulled out his wand in his rage and hissed "If you weren't a ghost already I would bloody kill you!"

"Oh, what will you do? Call the dark lord on me! Maybe I hitted your head too hard. He's dead!" At this he laughed at his own joke. A loud obnoxious laughter that made Draco tick.

"No. But I will call the Bloody Barron on you." He took a threatening step closer to the ghost.

"Y-you wo-wouldn't do-"

"Oh, trust me. I warned you. I am in no mood for your games. And I can assure you, the Bloody Barron isn't either."

"You're no fun at all, Peeves w-was o-only joking!" he yelled as he fled through the corridor before disappearing through a wall.

Draco rubbed his head and took a deep breath before continuing down the hall way. First that annoying woman an then this? This day wasn't exactly going as he had planned. He had thought that, of course, she would quickly forgive him and realize how sweet he is, or can be when he tries, and this whole ordeal would be over and done with. He could go back to being his usual self and only care for what he himself thinks of him. But now he was, yet again, stuck with having to prove himself. To her, out of all people.

It wasn't going to be easy, but he could need the challenge, he thought. She wasn't like all the other girls at this school, or anywhere else, for that matter. This would take some extra thought and list on his part. He would win her over in the end though, for sure.

His famous smirk grew back on again when he finally reached the Great Hall for breakfast.

/

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry I made you wait longer than usual. I have been busy with school, schooling in my daughter, as well as it being summer!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have already started on the next one, so don't worry, it will be up in a few days I hope!

I'm so happy for all of you, and I love love love your responses!

Love