Hermione whimpered as she apperated into a dark living room. Dropping her bags on the floor and taking a deep breath. "Prat." She muttered as she waved her wand and the lights around the house turned on. "Faking it this entire time." She walked into the kitchen and started a kettle. "How am I not surprised? A prat like him is incapable of change." She paused and looked out the window into the backyard. "I should have known better." A tear fell down her cheek as the front door opened.

"Hermione?" Ginny's voice called. "The alarm went off at the burrow."

"In the kitchen." Hermione called as the kettle whistled. Ginny, Ron, and Harry entered the room as Hermione poured the water into a pot.

"What happened?" Harry asked as they sat at the kitchen table.

"We thought you weren't ready to come here." Ron said.

"I didn't exactly have a choice." Hermione said sitting down. "Ron, it turned out you were right."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"I returned to the Leaky Cauldron, preparing to spend the afternoon with Malfoy like we had planned." Hermione sighed. "I was expecting him to be at some fancy restaurant, he is a Malfoy after all, but he was sitting with Zabini at the bar. Talking about how much he hates muggles and how he hates that I'm looking at apartments in the muggle world." Ginny placed her hand on Hermione's.

"Do you want us to go get your stuff?" Ginny asked. Hermione shook her head.

"I'll go get them tomorrow, I just wanted some comfort."

"I want to beat that ferret to a bloody pulp." Ron groaned.

"Don't." Hermione scolded. "I'll return to school, ignore him for the next few months, then graduate and hopefully never have to see him again." Hermione took a sip of her tea. "Now are you three staying here with me or returning home?"

"I'm returning home, Luna is staying over for a few days." Harry said, standing up and hugging Hermione's shoulders. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you." Hermione said as Harry started out of the house.

"I am too," Ron said, getting up. "If you decide I get to smack that git let me know." Hermione smiled as he left as well.

"I'll stay and go with you tomorrow." Ginny said. "Let me owl Neville to let him know about the change of plans." Hermione smiled as Ginny walked out of the room.

The following morning found Hermione and Ginny walking up to Hermione's room at the Leaky Cauldron. "Granger!" Malfoy said, moving from his spot beside her door.
"Go away Malfoy." Hermione said, opening her door. "I heard you last night. I don't want you anywhere near me." With that she slammed the door on him.

"Let's get your stuff together and return to the Burrow." Ginny said. "Mum said there'll be cake for you when you get there." Hermione smiled at her friend only to groan as Malfoy started banging on the door.

"Granger, let me in. We need to talk." Hermione clenched her fists as Malfoy banged harder. "Granger, please." Hermione sighed as she opened the door.

"Go away Malfoy. We are over. I don't want to hear any of your excuses. I heard you Malfoy. You told me you would work on your prejudice and you weren't. You were just faking it to placate me. Well you got found out. I'm returning to the burrow and hopefully I will never have to speak to you again." With that Hermione slammed the door again and took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears.

"Come on Hermione," Ginny said. "I got your stuff. Let's go home." Hermione nodded as they apperated away.

Over the next few months Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville avoided the Slytherin group as much as they could. Hermione was curt with Nott when it came to Heads duties and stopped talking altogether with Greengrass and Parkinson. About mid way through May Hermione was sitting in the library working on an essay when the two Slytherin girls walked up to her. "We wanted to express our opinion on the matter." Parkinson said when Hermione looked up at them.

"Don't see why." Hermione said. "You more than likely agree with Malfoy."

"We think you are both being stupid." Greengrass said. "You are over reacting and Draco should have talked to you about his trouble adjusting instead of complaining to Zabini."

"You think I'm over reacting?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," The girls said in unison

"You seem to forget we were raised thinking muggles and muggleborns were trash beneath our feet." Parkinson stated. "You are expecting Draco to change in a matter of days, when he has to adjust his entire way of thinking."

"You adjusted." Hermione pointed out.

"We do not have to deal with muggles, he does. Our matches, so far, are other wizards." Greengrass eyed Parkinson who shrugged.

"Still no luck?" Hermione asked.

"This is not about me." Parkinson stated. "This is about you and Draco." Hermione sighed.

"I was more hurt that he was hiding his annoyance instead of talking to me. If he was that uncomfortable with the muggle world we should have been able to talk about it."

"Draco is a stubborn prick," Parkinson reminded her. "And he does care for you. He took in the amount of hurt you had when he was prejudice a handful of months ago, he more than likely did not want to hurt you again."

"We will let you think about it." Greengrass said, before practically pulling Parkinson out of the room.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked Ginny as they sat at dinner that night. Ginny thought about it while she chewed.

"You probably need to talk to Malfoy to get the full idea. I doubt they would be lying about something like this. And she does have a point. Imagine have to change how you thought for your whole life. At least he's trying."

"I guess that's true." Hermione sighed. She looked across the Great Hall to see Malfoy speaking fairly harshly to Greengrass and Parkinson. He evidently felt her eyes on her as he looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. Hermione bit her lip before motioning out of the Great Hall. They got up and both made their way into the Entry Hall. "What exactly is going on?" Hermione asked him as they stepped off to the side.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy asked.

"You obviously have a problem with the muggle world still. Why would you not bring it up to me?"

"You made it pretty clear how you felt about me not accepting the muggle world." Malfoy reminded her.

"You could have told me your thoughts. I can understand things."

"Give me time to work towards being in the Muggle World as often as you are."

"Let's be friends for now." Hermione said. "I'm sure after some time we will be in a place comfortable enough for more. But right now I don't think us dating is the wisest idea." Malfoy sighed.

"I guess you are right, but we can still hang out right?" Malfoy asked.

"Of course." Hermione said.

"Will you come cheer for me at my last Quidditch game?" Malfoy asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"We were having a serious and sweet conversation and you ruined it by bringing up a game."

"Have to keep you on your toes." Malfoy smirked. Hermione saw Ginny off to the side looking at her.

"i got to go, we'll talk later." Malfoy nodded as Hermione headed towards Ginny.