Hermione went back to the classroom after lunch again that day, wondering if Malfoy was there. She knew she should be studying and that she was crazy to hope he would be there, but she went anyways. As it turned out, he was there, sitting on the desk she had been on the day before. She dropped her bag and sat on a table nearby.

"Pansy looked awfully happy today for someone who just broke up with her boyfriend," she commented as if this were something she did every day. Malfoy looked thrown off by Hermione's remark and casual manner.

"Er, yeah, I guess so."

"Why did she? She adores you. She followed you everywhere. Does she have a personality disorder of something?"

"Of course not," Malfoy looked uncomfortable. "We just… that was the problem. She never left me alone! We had some rows about it, but I didn't think she'd just end it." He blinked as if coming out of a daze. "Why am I telling you this?" he asked, more to himself than to Hermione.

She shrugged. "I asked a question and you answered it. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?"

"Yes, but you're a Gryffindor!" he sputtered. "And a m-"

"If you say that you won't talk to me because I'm a mudblood," Hermione said calmly, " I will hex you into next month."

"Well, it's true!"

"No, it's prejudice, and it's stupid. I doubt that your whole family is pureblood. There aren't enough to keep the line going for long. I bet one of your grandparents came from a muggle family."

"Fine," Malfoy said reluctantly. He did have muggle born relatives. Then, more surprisingly, he said, "You're right."

Hermione tried not to show it, but she was surprised, and pleased. She didn't know why. Then, they heard a call from the corridor. "Hermione? Are you there?" Draco's eyes widened and he disappeared out the back door of the classroom.

"Yeah," Hermione replied after making sure he was gone. She didn't know what Ron and Harry would think if they found Hermione and Draco Malfoy alone together and not throwing curses at each other, but talking, almost, as friends, or at least allies.

Ron and Harry burst into the room, soon followed by Cho.

"Where were you?" Ron asked, "We looked everywhere! The common room, the library, Hagrid's house, the hospital wing; you weren't anywhere!"

"Well, obviously, I was here," Hermione replied, only a little tart.

"Yes, well, why are you here?" Ron asked.

"Uh, well, 'cause the library was getting crowded."

"It was empty when we got there," Cho replied

"Yeah, it's a library. Besides, your books aren't out," said Ron.

"Umm… I put them away when I heard you coming," Hermione said.

"Yeah, right. You never waste a moment you could be studying," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Uh…" Hermione began, searching for words, "I had a change of heart." And before anyone could object, she scooped her bag up and marched past them. "Come on. It's almost time for potions, and Snape will kill us if we're late."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione slid into their seats just as Snape swept into the dungeon. If they had been thirty seconds later, they would have gotten detention. As it was, they were only just in time. O was already in his seat, in between Crabbe and Goyle, looking blankly at the potions textbook in front of him.

Snape sneered nastily at Hermione, Ron, and Harry as he billowed by. Hermione knew he would have loved to put them in detention. He swept his wand at the blackboard on the wall, making a neat list of ingredients and instructions appear on it.

"Who," he asked, swirling around to face the class, "can tell me what these instructions, if followed properly, will produce?" Hermione's hand, as usual, was up in an instant. Snape looked coldly around the room. "Nobody," he concluded. "How pathetic."

"Sir," Hermione began, feeling very annoyed at being ignored, even by her least favorite teacher.

"I do not recall asking you to be an interrupting know-it-all, Granger," Snape snapped. "Five points from Gryffindor."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harry scowling angrily at his book, but she was more interested in the silence that followed this pronouncement. She was used to hearing laughter on the numerous occasions when Snape took points from her house. She remembered that the laughter was usually Draco's. Harry seemed to notice the quiet as well.

"Malfoy's acting odd today," he commented.

" Five more points for talking out of turn, Potter," Snape hissed. "I want silence. Don't make me say it again."

A few days later, there was an incident. Hermione and Draco were about to leave the classroom, though Hermione still couldn't quite figure out why she came at all, when Ron and Harry ad burst in. Draco hurried out the back door, but not unnoticed.

"What was that?" Ron hissed at Hermione.

"I was working," Hermione replied coolly.

"With him there?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Of course not, Harry," she snapped. "He walked through. Probably a short cut or something. Don't look at me like that!"

"It looked like he had just stood up," Ron pressed.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ron. You're imagining things."

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A/N: So, that last bit was a bit pointless, sorry. Review! I need your feedback! More coming soon!