Avery brought much joy to their "household" over the next week (apart from when she had a poop explosion all over Hermione. Malfoy laughed and laughed). Hermione was disgusted at how well she and Malfoy were co-parenting. He could be so normal. "Malfoy could actually pull off the Dad thing," she thought, which was interesting, considering the father he had been brought up with. Hermione had never thought about kids, but now she thought that she might like to be a mother someday. "Not with Draco, though," she thought with a shudder.
But she had to admit, they were growing quite close. He could still be cold, and sulky, but he was making a genuine effort to get along and do his share of the work. She was constantly on edge, expecting him to snap and go back to the scary bully he had always been, but he continued to prove her wrong. Avery was able to go back to her mother, and Hermione shed more tears, of joy and of sadness, while Malfoy, as usual, sneered at her. They took to reading in the lounge in awkward but not unpleasant silence in the evenings.
The owls came with their Hogwarts enrolment forms, and they filled them out together with excitement and nervousness. Draco was especially nervous; he was not going to have his old crowd of friends anymore. The other Slytherins would see how different he was. The thought filled him with apprehension. Did he really want to do this? He couldn't be seen with the mudblood, though. That would soil his reputation even more.
And then the owl came, informing Hermione that she had been made Head Girl. She beamed with pride and was excited, and Draco laughed coldly at her, taunting her nerdiness. "You're just jealous," she joked."
"Whatever, mudblood," he sneered.
She was flooded with dread at this glimpse of the bully Draco had once been, and went to her room feeling dejected. She began to think about how none of her closest friends would be at Hogwarts with her this year. Her new role would keep her budy, but it would not be the same anymore.
But at least it was just one more week until she would no longer be living in close proximity to Malfoy! As civil as they had become, it was still weird and scary, and he still showed flashes of the old Malfoy.
As Granger left the room, Draco felt a stab of regret. He sometimes forgot who he was now. Changing was hard. And he was in turmoil on the inside, over his parents. As horrible as he knew they were, he still felt like the little boy who wanted to do anything to please them. If he was honest, she kind of lit up and shit when she got excited over nerdy things. He shook his head to clear the thought. Ew.