The sounds of their steps echoed off the walls, filling the silence. After she'd gotten over the initial shock they'd started towards dinner. She may have calmed down a little, but she hadn't even tried to tackle the other pressing issue. The fact that she was to be paired with him all summer. How could Minerva have done this to her? The women knew better than most how little they'd gotten along. But not even Draco Malfoy wasn't going to stand between her and food so she'd willingly left with him.
Hermione's eyes wandered towards him for what must have been the thousandth time during their walk. She couldn't get over how much he'd changed, well physically. She was positive he was still the same vile human being underneath everything. But the new build and updated style certainly made him more tolerable. She'd almost had another heart attack when she saw that he was wearing jeans. Muggle clothes on the infamous pureblood. It wasn't just the clothes that had changed though. He was wearing his hair loose instead of glued back. She thought it suited him, made him seem a little less evil. But only a little.
"Granger, at this point you should just take a picture. It'll last much longer and you can stop trying to be sneaky." Malfoy startled her as he spoke.
Hermione couldn't help the red that flooded her face. "I don't take pictures of things unless they're beautiful or memorable. And you are neither." She stated factually, not even bothering to deny the stareing.
"Oh come on Hermione, we both know that's not true." She couldn't help but stop walking at this remark. "Granger?" Malfoy turned once he realised she'd stopped keeping pace.
"You just called me Hermione…" She couldn't recall a time that he'd done that before. After so many years of hearing 'Granger' her name sounded so foreign coming from him.
"Well that's your name, isn't it? You can call me Draco you know. It's not like we're in school anymore." He spoke so casually and turned to continue on. As if he hadn't just made a totally mature and appropriate comment. There had been no mockery, no harsh tone. It was almost...friendly.
Hermione hurried to catch up to the alien creature ahead of her. "Who are you and what have you done with Malfoy?"
"I've just changed, Hermione. I know you've noticed the physical ones," he cast her a telling smirk, "but I also learned a lot after we graduated. I think you'll find we have a good bit in common." Now Hermione was sure someone had replaced him. There was no way this was the same person who had teased and tormented her throughout school. She was weary to believe anything he said. "And don't think I didn't notice your change as well. I like the hair, by the way. It suits you much better than that bush you used to have." He had the audacity to wink.
Hermione immediately reached for her hair. She twirled a finger around one stand. It was much shorter now and thus easier to manage. It still had it's voluminous texture, but now it was bob length and she could actually brush or straighten it if she so chose. "Yes, well...you look less like a vampire now so I suppose that's good." Hermione mentally berated herself. Really? That was the best comeback she could think of? In her defense she was thrown off guard by this 'new' Malfoy.
Then another thing Hermione had never witnessed before happened. Draco Malfoy laughed. A good proper laugh, complete with a smile and belly grab. Now she was positive he'd been possesed.
"Yes, I got bored of looking so severe. Plus," he moved a little closer to her, "women go crazy for the disheveled look." He winked at her yet again, a common quirk of his it seemed. Before Hermione realised it they'd reached the Great Hall. She'd been so focused on Malfoy that she hadn't even noticed how close they were.
She didn't get the chance to respond because Malfoy was already pushing through the doors into the hall. Hermione followed and could hardly believe her eyes. The hall was filled with kids ranging from first years to seventh. What astounded Hermione more than the sheer number of kids here during summer was that they weren't organized by any house system that she could tell. Tables were mostly made up of age and instead of red, blue, yellow, and green kids were dressed in a variety of colors. There didn't even appear to be a uniform.
"C'mon Granger, can't have you missing your big intro. Follow me." And without hesitation Malfoy grabbed her hand and dragged her to the front of the room. Hermione looked down at his hand around her wrist. She was flooded with emotion, the past few days having been the most strenuous and confusing of her life, and now Malfoy was touching her and not throwing a fit about it. It was all a bit too much for her.
"Ah Miss Granger, I see you found Mr Malfoy well enough." Minerva greeted them, but the glance she gave to their hands didn't go unnoticed. Hermione ripped her arm away from Malfoy and made her way around the table. "I know you haven't been able to catch up much, but they'll be plenty of time for that later. I trust Mr Malfoy explained everything to you Hermione?"
"Actually, no. The walk was much shorter than we anticipated." Hermione wasn't quite sure why she'd given an excuse. It's not like she cared if Malfoy got in trouble or not.
"Very well then. As I mentioned earlier we now have a summer camp program. We've made it mandatory for first years, but most the students continue to come back. It offers students a chance to mingle outside their houses, as we abolish those during camp, and gives some of them a better alternative to going home. You and Mr Malfoy are responsible for the seventh year team and games management. Camp doesn't officially start till tomorrow so you two can use tonight to go over the rules and guidelines for the summer. Mr Malfoy has a copy of the regulations, however I'm sure he's quite familiar with them. He's been helping us here for the past five summers." Minerva smiled fondly at Malfoy and returned to her meal.
Hermione sat in silence trying to, yet again, process everything. She didn't have much time though, because before she knew it Minerva was introducing the counselors to the school. Hermione had been so busy thinking when she'd entered the hall she hadn't even noticed the familiar faces. Neville was a returning counselor, along with Luna and much to Hermione's dismay Lavender Brown. Blaise was here too and she made a note to say hi to him after dinner. She actually wouldn't mind catching up with him and the others a bit. Theo Nott and Padma Patil were here as well, but Hermione hadn't particularly known them in school. Padma she knew a little through DA but she'd been much closer with Parvati. 'Well, this should be an interesting summer', Hermione thought.