Disclaimer: I am disgustingly poor, but I still won't make any money from writing this thing. I won't really gain anything at all. I even have to give back the characters when I'm done -sobs -

Chapter 4 // TheNeighbour

Oh God no. An ear-piercing scream went off in her head, and she tried to get herself to move but she just wouldn't. He walked along the hedge, opened the gate to his own yard, and came around to open hers. Before she could think at all, he had slipped inside it and strolled past her. Then she came to life, realising what she had actually asked him to do.

"No!" she cried. "No no no no no"

"Relax, bookworm," he shouted back at her as he opened her front door. "It's not like I'll ever be in your bed."

"Malfoy, get back here this instant," she bellowed, running after him through her front door. He just turned and smirked at her.

"No, no. I promised to help. Malfoys' keep to their word."

She nearly cried out in frustration. Malfoy was her bloody neighbour. Life definitely hated her. No, scratch that. Malfoy was going into her bedroom. Life despised her.

"Don't you dare go near that staircase, ferret-boy," she threatened, pulling out her wand within a second.

To her frustration, Malfoy did go near the staircase. He kept getting closer and closer, in fact.

"Don't you dare put your foot on that step!"

He turned and smirked at her before putting his foot down on the first step with a thud. A pressing silence followed before a lot of things happened at once. Malfoy started darting up the stairs as Hermione cast a string of hexes at him, none of them actually hitting him. She was too angry to see straight, and her aim was way off. Instead, she ended up smashing in part of the banister and burning a hole in the wall.

Hermione remained standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was utterly stunned by her own behaviour, and when she saw the damaged banister she cried out in anger. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She huffed and stomped up the stairs and found Malfoy standing by the door waiting for her to show up.

"Git."

"Do you always insult the people who try to help you?" he asked coldly, before turning towards the bed.

She knew he had a point, and snapped her mouth shut into a thin line as he slipped down on the floor to look at the damaged leg of it.

"I tried a reparo, but it only fixed parts of it," she explained flatly, keeping her hands crossed over her chest.

"These types of damages require a bit more complicated reparation spells," he replied in a muffled voice.

That would explain why she herself had failed. Household spells had never been her strong suit, even if she could handle most other spells in the blink of an eye.

She stood there watching him, wondering when life had turned so absurd. Why had he even agreed to help her? When she thought about the damaged banister, she realised that was probably the answer to her question: To annoy her endlessly.

After a few minutes he got up and brushed his hands together with a smug look on his face.

"All done," he proclaimed. "Now to my reward."

"Reward?!"

He patted the covers on the bed and gave a suggestive wink, to which she began screaming.

"You utterly disgusting, perverted, arrogant dickhead!" she bellowed. "I'm not some kind of prostitute."

She was flailing her arms about, anger threatening to take control of her now.

"Granger, you stupid nitwit. I was joking ," he exclaimed in an exasperated voice.

She calmed down, and felt absolutely sheepish. Embarrassed beyond belief, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the bedroom. He followed her out, and then laughed at the scene.

"Seems I'll be back to fix the banister."

She gave him a dark look, folding her hands over her chest in an irritated manner. It infuriated her even more that he seemed to be amused by the whole thing. He wasn't supposed to be amused, and especially not with her. He was supposed to throw insults, scowl, smirk and be generally rude at any moment possible. Hermione watched him with in apprehension, feeling like this was a Draco Malfoy she didn't know how to handle. The old one, she had learned to deal with, this new one... scared her more than she cared to admit.

He seemed oblivious to her guarded stares as he looked around at her living room, which looked pretty much identical to how it had been when she came. She hadn't been bothered to change much, considering she was only staying temporarily, and she quite liked it as it was already. His eyes rested on her midnight black owl, Rowena , who sat perched on the window ledge above the small, decorative dresser. Suddenly, his eyes darted back to hers, and she thought she saw a faint glimmer of panic, but they were soon back to their normal, steely grey.

"Aren't you going to offer me a cup of coffee and some pie?" he asked, nudging towards the pie still on the table.

"No," she answered before the thought even managed to enter her head. She actually flinched at her own impoliteness, but her eyes widened when he just chuckled. It was a pleasant sound, quite surprising coming from his foul mouth. The very mouth that had always called her mudblood and insulted her on every occasion. Actually, he had insulted all of the people she cared about on every available occasion. Including Ron. Despite herself, the thought made her smile. When she realised what she was doing, she nearly hit herself across the face.

Malfoy was watching her with his head inclined to one side, and when he saw the smile appearing on her face he raised an questioning eyebrow. Hermione quickly snapped out of her thoughts and put up an indifferent expression, not moving a muscle.

"Oh come on, Granger," he whined, crossing his arms over his chest, mimicking her pose. "Stop holding onto all those damn grudges."

"I'm not sitting down to have pie with you, ferret," she spat, his now less patient voice sending unpleasant memories through her mind.

She could still hear him yell Filthy Mudblood in her face as clear as day, even if it had been years since she had heard it last. She eyed him oddly when she began thinking back; looking for the last time the words had spilled from his lips. Flashes of battle, images of him on their side appeared, and she realised he had not said those exact words since the first day he arrived at the Headquarters. That Draco Malfoy had been a broken 18 year old, stuck in a house with people he had always despised and those very people now held him responsible for their leader's death, hating him even more than they previously had. She had been the only one to approach him, and he had insulted her in every way possible.

Her face softened slightly as she remembered the incident and the days following. She hadn't taken it to heart, not that time. As Harry Potter's best friend, she knew how it was to be afraid, to feel frustrated and broken to the point where nothing seemed to matter anymore. And she knew he was down, so down that self-control was far beyond reach. Hermione had let him scream in her face, let him get it all out, taking it all without giving any back. The days after were particularly strange, now that she thought back on it. He had given her a seat at the table without being asked, held the door open for her when she entered. She didn't know how she could have overlooked it back then, but it was obvious that he had tried to make up for his outburst.

The revelation made her gaze at the present Draco Malfoy, now 4 years older, who looked very different from the broken teenager she had known back then. Their relationship had been strange and impossible to define. They definitely weren't friends, but they could no longer be enemies. Work for the Order forced the two to put certain differences aside and trust each other, at least on work-level. Hermione and Malfoy had never stopped arguing or insulting each other, though... it just seemed like they couldn't give it a rest. None of the two wanted to be the one to quit it and make the drastic change. But the bickering and the arguments were no longer as personal as they used to be. They didn't hit home the way they had before. It was more of a tension release, a superficial battling that neither side took quite as seriously as before. And the word Mudblood had never been uttered.

She suddenly realised Malfoy had moved past her, and she wheeled around watching his back retreat into the kitchen. Infuriated by his nerve, she growled loudly, sounding almost inhuman. He turned and gave her an incredulous look before sitting down by her kitchen table. To say that she was freaked out over the situation was probably an understatement. She remained standing in the doorway, looking at the odd sight before her. This was not the quiet vacation she had envisioned for herself. Sure, the setting was everything she had imagined, but the particular picture of Malfoy piling pie on a white plate with a gold lining before looking out the window with a serene expression was more than just a little unnerving.

"Sit down, Granger."

"No, I won't sit down, Malfoy. And I don't appreciate being commanded around," she retorted coldly, not budging from her place leaned against the wall.

"I haven't met anyone from any side of the war since I left," he admitted, and turned to look at her for the first time since she had appeared in the doorway. "Can't you sit down?"

This rendered Hermione speechless, and the feeling of being on uncertain ground with this new Malfoy increased. She had several insults lined up that she could retort back in an instant, but personal admissions and polite questions penetrated quite easily through her cold wall. She just didn't know how to decline a question almost begging her to sit down, no matter that it was from Malfoy. Maybe especially because it was from Malfoy. He never asked for anything from her, not even the simplest of favours.

"I might have to check you for polyjuice potion or mindbreakers," she commented as she lowered herself slowly into the seat opposite him.

The corner of his mouth pulled upwards into a crooked smile. "I would expect no less."

He accioed two mugs, and with a small twirl of his wand both of them were filled with steaming hot liquid. She eyed him incredulously, remembering quite clearly that his domestic spells had been quite the catastrophe. All she got in reply was a small shrug before he took a sip of the coffee.

"Why did you move here?"

The question tumbled out before she could stop herself, and she tensed waiting for his face to close up, for his mouth to pull into a sneer before handing her a cutting comment in return.

"I didn't want to deal with being big bad Malfoy anymore," he replied calmly. Entirely not what she had expected. "To start almost anew was too big of a temptation."

"But you fought on our side," she commented, her brow furred. "How does that make you the big bad Malfoy?"

"Naive little Granger," Malfoy said, some of the sharpness back in his voice. "The glory would befall Harry Potter. He has been the icon of this war since the day he was born; he is the light everyone followed when times were dark. And the glory might have been shared with you and Weasel, because of the close relationship, but the rest of the Order would probably be mentioned once or twice, and then be put into the back. It's not that the public means to discriminate. It's just that it's natural to focus on the hero, the extraordinary one. It doesn't matter that more people also sacrificed a great deal, because the public doesn't know their story. Not like they know Potter's."

She knew he was right. All members of the Order had received an Order of Merlin, but it was usually The Golden Trio being mentioned in connection to the fall of Voldemort. Come to think of it, she had only seen Draco Malfoy being mentioned a whole of 1 time in the Daily Prophet in context with the war. They had, however, written a piece on his sudden disappearance from the Wizarding World.

"Even so," she argued. "I don't think anyone still thinks you're the heir of all evil."

He gave a small smile at that. "Perhaps so, but - and it pains me to admit this - the war took its toll on me. It wasn't easy fighting against the side you had be taught to believe in. When the war ended I didn't feel strong enough to meet the different reactions, to see everyone on a regular basis in a different context than war."

Hermione could understand that. She had wanted to shut herself up, refuse to meet the world. Ron, Harry and Ginny had been the ones to hold her up, and she realised that Malfoy hadn't had anyone to keep him going.

"To be honest, I pretty much figured that everyone tolerated me because of the circumstances, and that once the war was over I would be on my own again in the chaos that is the aftermath."

She couldn't deny this and he knew it. Avoiding his gaze, she sipped at her coffee, thinking of the months that followed Voldemort's fall. If it hadn't been for Ron she would probably have lost it completely and shut herself in the largest library she could find. The thought made her queasy. When had he stopped being the one who protected her and started to be the one to hurt her?

"You know I'm right," he prodded, trying to catch her eyes.

"Yes, I know you're right," she admitted. "It's not fun to admit, but we probably couldn't have cared less how you dealt."

"Such a warm and welcoming bunch."

She looked up at the sarcastic comment, but to her surprise she found a good humoured sparkle in his eyes, rather than a malicious and resentful glimmer.

"Relax, I never expected anything else. I was never a part of your tight-knit group, for obvious reasons. And frankly, I'm just grateful that you didn't throw me out when I came to your side."

"Even if you never were our friend, we could have been a bit more considerate," she commented, her face scrunched into a worried grimace. "You turned your back on your friends and family, and we just let you hang there."

He actually laughed at this, a tumbling sound that seemed to transform his entire being. "I hope you'll extend SPEW to include me. You could run a charity ball for the benefit of poor friendless Draco Malfoy."

She sent him a vile look.

"Granger, stop worrying so much. If you haven't noticed already, being up here has done me good."

"It certainly has made you a bit spineless."

"Hey!"

She chuckled before she fell silent, and reached for the pie. With the aid of her wand, she cut herself a piece and hovered it onto an empty plate. As she took the first bite, she raised her eyes to rest on Malfoy and the absurdity nearly made her snort with laughter.

"Having pie and coffee with Draco Malfoy, engaging in a civilized conversation. Harry would probably have me put in St. Mungo's."

Instead of laughing at her comment he looked alarmed, and she frowned at the sudden change in his behaviour. He had gone from quite carefree to nervous in a matter of seconds, and it took a few moments before she figured out why.

"I haven't told anyone you're here, if that's what bothers you," she said quietly. "Believe me; I don't care to unleash that beast."

"No, I suppose your darling boyfriend would cause quite a fuss," he replied, trying to seem unaffected, but she had seen him relax at her words.

The mention of her 'darling boyfriend', though, had made her jerk slightly, and he most definitely noticed. She cursed their war-enhanced senses, and wished more than anything that she could disappear into the ground and just remain there. The whole issue with Ron was more humiliating than anything else she had ever experienced. It made her feel so small to be tossed aside like that, to be found not good enough for the man she had adored for years. To be honest, she hoped people would never find out about it. And least of all Malfoy.

He didn't ask about her reaction though, which made her even more certain than anything else that he had changed since she last saw him. It was weird how your world could turn so thoroughly upside down. Ron was the cheating bastard and Malfoy was the civilized neighbour. She had to check of someone had slipped some odd potion or another in her drinks lately.

A/N: YAY, Chapter 4. I'm sure some of you are wondering how the heck I can write this fast, but the thing is I'm not :P I started this story weeks ago, and I'm currently writing on Chapter 8, so the ones I'm putting up now were finished a while ago. I'm starting my summer job on Tuesday, so updates might drop in frequency, but I'll try to keep it up.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to review. I'd like to answer those of you who had any questions for me:

Lady Kilalla: Ron's affair will be a topic later on, but I probably won't go into very detailed aspects of it. It's not exactly the most prominent part of the story, in my opinion.. it's more like a pre-history, if you get what I mean.

Shontara:Well, it's not in my immediate plans to elaborate on Harry's 'alonetime' with Ron, but we'll see. Maybe it'll make a guest appearance ;)