First, I would like to thank Alice-Rathbone-is-my-real-name for being the first person to review! Woot! Secondly, I've got to thank my beta(aadarshinah) who is just basically awesome. She makes me look good by giving me clever one-liners and quips to use in character conversation. Okay, and I also want to thank all of you who had read/reviewed/added to story alert/added to favorite story!

This is kind of a filler chapter, but it is totally worth it to get to the next chapter so PLEASE stay with me!

It was much worse than she had expected. Not only did Hermione have to share a Common Room with Malfoy, but nearly every class as well. The only classes Hermione had to herself were Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. To make matters even worse, Professor Slughorn, in his attempts at house unity, had paired everyone with someone from another house for Potions. No one could believe her bad luck when Malfoy was assigned as her partner. Kill me now! First Ron practically stalks me and now I find it almost impossible to escape Malfoy!

Speaking of Ron… he was even more bi-polar than ever. One minute he would be apologizing for his behavior and the next he would be telling Hermione off for breaking his heart. His mood swings were killing her and she was utterly thankful for the fully stocked kitchen in her room.

Despite her horrendous luck, her rooms were the silver lining to her days. The entire wall opposite the entrance was a window, complete with a window seat, running the entire length. To the right were the fireplace and the spacious kitchen. On the left wall were the doors leading to the two bedrooms. Hermione's room was decorated in her house colors, but with more emphasis on gold, for a feminine feel. She had not seen Malfoy's room, but imagined was decorated in his house colors as well. Since her room was closer to the entrance hole and didn't touch the outside wall, there was a massive skylight in the center of her ceiling to let in natural light. The two rooms shared a pristine bathroom that ran along the length of their back bedroom walls. So far, there had been no mishaps concerning it.

Hermione was relaxing on the window seat, waiting for Harry to finish his homework; she was still ignoring Ron and had yet to invite him to her room. Crisp September air was blowing in through the open window and she was savoring the freshness. Unfortunately her relaxation was shattered by the Slytherin King, himself.

"DAMN IT PANSY, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO BOTHER FOR ONCE!" Malfoy slammed the portrait hole closed, dropped his broom and Quidditch robes, and collapsed in an empty armchair.

Hermione, who had nearly fallen on the floor because of his explosion, was quickly righting herself. "Are you alright?"

His grey eyes flashed to steel. "Mind your own business Granger!"

Harry jumped up ready to defend her, wand in hand. Hermione's eyes went wide in surprise. "Harry… maybe you should leave now." He darted his eyes back and forth between them before silently nodding, satisfied that Hermione could take care of herself.

"Alright, I've got tryouts to run in an hour anyway." He glared at Malfoy while collecting his books. "I'll see you at dinner tonight Hermione."

After Harry exited to the corridor, Hermione groaned and covered her face with a pillow. She had completely forgotten about agreeing to eat in the Great Hall that night with her other friends.

"Trouble with the boyfriend Granger?" She didn't need to uncover her head to know he was smirking.

"No, you stupid ferret! I told them I would eat with them tonight because I was sick of them trying to convince me to quit ignoring Ron!"

"What's wrong with the Weasel?"

"I 'broke his heart' this summer and now he won't leave me alone!"

"He sounds like Pansy, although I'm guessing his mood is more anger and less desperation than hers." She uncovered her head to let him know he was correct. "Just ditch them and eat here. That's what I'm doing."

What? Is he asking him to eat with him? I know he's changed, but there is no way this is Malfoy. Is he being nice? "I, uh… I'll think about it." Silence filled the room for a few minutes before she spoke again. "Are you… being nice to me?"

He smirked, rising from the chair. "Eating with a Muggle-born is better than eating alone." With that he disappeared into his room.

Half an hour later, Hermione was still sprawled on the window seat. Her eyes were closed, yet she could still feel Malfoy's presence as he entered the room. "I guess I'll stay for dinner."

Draco caught the smile his lips were forming and suppressed it with a shrug. "Doesn't make a difference to me." She heard him plop down on the sofa and mumbled something else.

"Hmm?"

"I said 'what do you want to eat?'"

The pillow landed on the floor and she looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. "You're asking me!? Since when do you care about what I want!?"

The steel eyes were back. "We Malfoys are gentlemen. I may not like you, but you are a woman!"

"Oh, I uhh- I guess pizza sounds good to me."

"What in the bloody hell is pizza?"

Impossible! Did I hear him correctly? "You've never had pizza!?" His eyebrow climbed higher. "It's a Muggle food and it's amazing! We're having it; you're going to eat it and love it!"

"Muggle food? I highly doubt I'll enjoy that! I'm too hungry to argue with you though…" His face pulled into an obvious grimace.


"You can't be serious!" Ginny was sitting in Hermione's room later that night, not being able to comprehend the fact that Draco ate Muggle food.

"I told you that she wouldn't believe you." Harry sat with his arm around Ginny's shoulder, laughing at her obvious shock.

"Honestly, I don't understand why it is so hard to believe. I mean, it's not like he ate dirt or something; it was just pizza." Hermione huffed in disappointment at her two friends. "I actually think he liked it too. I mean, well, he ate an entire one himself."

"And he was nice to you too? Seriously what is up with him?" Harry's expression changed suddenly. "I don't trust him Hermione. I bet this is just some kind of trick to get to you or something. I think you should stay away from him as much as possible." Ginny nodded her head in agreement.

"What are you talking about? How does him eating pizza with me give you the idea that he is up to something?" Harry's expression didn't change and Hermione knew he was trying to think up some elaborate plan that Draco was involved in. "What is this just a ploy to get me to talk to Ronald again!?" Their silence and overly shocked expressions were enough answer for her. "That's it, isn't it!? I cannot believe you are taking his side on this after how he has treated me! What is wrong with the two of you!?"

"Hermione, why can't you just give him another chance? He really does lo-"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER DON'T YOU DARE SAYS THAT HE LOVES ME! HE WOULD NOT TREAT ME LIKE A PIECE OF SCUM IF HE LOVED ME!" Both Harry and Ginny opened their mouths to try and ease the situation, but Hermione cut them off. "THAT'S IT! GET OUT! I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO EITHER OF YOU. JUST GET OUT!"

Harry and Ginny ran from the room and away from Hermione's temper as quickly as possible. Hermione, however, was still seeing red. In an attempt to reduce her anger, she threw a pillow against the wall. When that didn't work, she grabbed her wand and caused it to explode into a mess of feathers. Draco poked his head out of his room to see what the commotion was. "Hermione?"

She spun around, fire in her eyes and feathers in her hair. "WHAT!?" Upon seeing Draco, she snapped out of her fit. "Oh! I'm- oh shit, I'm sorry! It's just- Harry and Ginny- and I just-"

"Are you alright?" He took a cautious step towards her shaking body.

"Yes, I'm sorry if I disturbed you. They just- they think that I should forgot all about the way Ron has been treating me and go back to being friends with him just like that." She snapped her fingers. "It's like I'm the 'bad guy' and I haven't even done anything to him, aside from dumping him, and that was only because we didn't work together."

"I'm sorry." He actually looked sympathetic, and then his evil smirk set in. "Want me to hex them for you?"

Even though she didn't know if he was serious or not, she laughed. "No, thank you though. I think I'm just going to go to bed." She closed her bedroom door and sank to the floor. Why am I now the favorite person to hate? What's wrong with Harry; how can he take Ron's side? I don't know what to think anymore. And how is it that Dra- Malfoy is treating me better than my friends are? What is going on with him? What is going on with me?

Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave me some love by reviewing! (Gotta love the 'great story' and 'update soon' type of comments, but if you could PLEASE tell me what you like/don't like so I can use it to write later chapters!)

Incentive to keep reading: The shit will hit the fan in the next chapter! Muh-ah-ah-ah!