A/N: So I'm having a bit of trouble with building the bridge from where I am with the story to where I want to go to the story. I want to put some chapters from Hermione's POV, but I'm unsure how many. I was thinking that maybe when both Draco and Hermione left Hogwarts for Christmas would be a good time. I'm debating between flashbacks, or at the turning point to the story, maybe going back and redoing the whole thing from Hermione's POV (but not in as much detail, just some of the more major events.)

Without further ado, I present the next chapter!

Chapter 9 – Unity

Draco was woken up by a sharp tap on the door. He got out of bed, checked he was dressed well enough, and went out of his room. He was not sure what he expected to find, maybe Hermione. He did not expect, however, to see Professor McGonagall in their common room.

"Good morning, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy." She greeted them briefly. "I am sure you are wondering why I am here?" She looked at them questioningly.

"Good morning Professor!" Hermione gushed. "Yes, I am quite curious."

"Well, I shall get straight to the point then. People seeing the two of you getting along has not quite had the desired effect on House Unity that I wanted it to have. It is for this reason, that I am going to task to the job of coming up with ideas to improve House Unity to you two." She finished. They both nodded.

"Very well then, I will leave you to it. You have a week. Next Sunday, we will meet again to discuss your ideas. Good day." With that, she left.

"Any ideas Granger?" He asked her, arching her eyebrow. She looked deep in thought. He hoped she was contemplating how to unite the Houses, not the best way to cause him severe pain.

"Maybe" she began tentatively. "Maybe a study group? Welcome to all houses, to help people with homework?" She finished.

"Well, if you're leading it I'm sure people will come." He laughed. "If only see the famous Hermione Granger in action." She shot him a look.

"Maybe you can figure out something with Quidditch?" She asked.

"I'm sure I could think of something." He said, more to himself than her.

"How much homework do you have today?" She asked, surprising him.

"Um, er, not much I think. Finished most of it yesterday." He said thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Oh, well because I've finished all of mine, and I just thought if you had too we could devote the entire day to figuring out this House Unity thing." She rushed through. He did not think she really wanted to see that much of him, but she also did not want to disappoint Professor McGonagall.

"Ok, well, for Quidditch," he began. "There are a lot of people at school who play it, but aren't quite good enough for the House team. So if they got a chance to play, they might be willing to look over the fact that they might be playing on the same team with people they hate." He was not really saying this to her, but he often found that thinking out loud had always helped him.

"We could have a monthly Quidditch tournament." He continued, notice she had started writing on a piece of parchment. "The turn out would probably be different every month, so we would have to have a way of picking new teams every month."

"Well you could always assign different Captains every month and have them each choose their teams at the beginning." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Maybe make them all choose one Gryffindor, one Ravenclaw, one Slytherin, and one Hufflepuff? Permitting there's enough that is." She finished quickly.

"Brilliant!" He exclaimed. "Then the three other members of the team can be whatever House. The teams have be be seven people, so the extras can be replacements if someone gets hurt."

"Do people often get hurt in Quidditch?" Hermione interrupted his train of thought.

"Erm, sometimes, yea. Depends on how good the player is, and how good they think they are." He said knowingly. He had seen many players overestimate their ability and try to do a move to advanced for them, and gotten themselves quite beat up.

"Oh."

"The games should probably have a time limit." He said, thinking of the awful players that might show up. "There will be some bloody awful seekers, and I don't really fancy waiting for them to catch the snitch." Hermione nodded at this, again writing on her parchment.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Er, how often they should be. The games can't interfere with the regular Quidditch season."

"Oh, no, that would just be awful." She teased, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey!" He exclaimed. "Just because you don't think Quidditch is important, Granger, doesn't mean the rest of the school shares your opinion."

She muttered something back about boys and Quidditch.

"I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that." He teased.

"I said, all you boys are the same! Quidditch, Quidditch, Quidditch!" She exclaimed, much louder this time. He laughed at her exasperation.

"I think you will find it's not just wizards who love Quidditch, most witches do too." He told her. "Well, some love Quidditch, other's love Quidditch players..." He winked at her.

"Malfoy, I don't really need to know about all the girls you've shagged because you own a broom." She said, rolling her eyes.

"For one, it's about a little more than owning a broom Granger." He explained, as if she were a small child. "And secondly, I'm quite sure it's only you who doesn't like Quidditch." He teased.

"Well excuse me for not liking such a barbaric sport!"

"It's not barbaric, it's brilliant!"

"That's a matter of opinion Malfoy."

"Well I think if everyone shares an opinion, it becomes fact."

"Well if I disagree, not obviously not everyone shares that opinion!"

"Ok, fine. Everyone but you. Close enough."

"Malfoy!"

"Granger!"

"Humph!" She raised her nose in the air at him.

"No, no, no, Granger. You're doing that all wrong." He laughed.

"Doing what wrong? I'm barely doing anything!" She looked shocked.

"You're trying to look conceited! That's very much something. Here, let me show you how you're supposed to do that." And with those words, he tilted his head up and high as it could go and scowled as deeply as possible. Hermione started to giggle. When, for extra effect, he arched his back and began walking around with the strangest gait he had ever done, she lost it. He looked over to see she had completely fallen out of her chair and was laughing like mad on the floor.

He looked at her amused, and watched as she would slowly try and compose herself before being hit by a fresh wave of laughter. After several minutes, she finally calmed herself down.

"It's surprising how well you do that." She quipped.

"Not really, it's how all the women in my family walk." He said thoughtfully. It was not quite true, he had emphasized it a bit, but it really was the main idea. It seems in picturing the rest of his family walking like that, Hermione was hit by a fresh wave of giggles, though this time she managed to remain seated.

"Why on earth would they walk like that?" Hermione exclaimed.

"I guess that's just what happens when you spend your whole like being told you're better than everyone else." He sighed, no longer joking. "Maybe it's their punishment." He added, trying to lighten the mood again. Though Hermione was still smiling, she was no longer laughing. It seemed that the mention of his family's beliefs had made her more tense.

"You know Granger, when I look back, I'm amazed at how idiotic I must have been to believe them." He sighed sorrowfully. "I'd give anything to be able togo back and change everything."

They sat in silence for a long time.

"You can't go back Draco." Hermione finally said, softly.

"I know" he smiled sadly.

"But you can go forward." She whispered, barely addible. And those five words filled him hope.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. They did not think of anything else for House Unity, though not for lack of trying. The conversation was pleasant, but without saying anything, Hermione had made it very clear. They were not talking about the kiss. She was not hostile towards him, she seemed to have decided that ignoring him was really not her best option, but she did not mention it, and he gathered that he probably should not either.

A/N: Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, constructive criticism, is greatly welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Always,

Shan :)