Disclaimer: Everything besides my thoughts belongs to the wondrous JK Rowling. Thank her.

Ch. 17

Draco's POV

Well. I, Draco Malfoy, had made a truce with Hermione Granger, Potter pal extraordinaire, The Gryffindor Princess.

Funny, right?

Why I had done it in the first place, I couldn't say. Something about her that night had made me change my mind. Although she was not the reason for me not hating muggles anymore, I decided to make that decision on my own after realizing how stupid I had been over the years, believing whatever my father thought was best, I still couldn't figure out why I would've wanted a truce with her anyways. We were complete opposites, she was everything I wasn't. She actually inspired people, when she wasn't getting on their nerves with her know it all behavior. She had gotten a bit better at controlling that over the years, I suppose. Instead of practically leaping out of her chair to answer a question like she used to, the past few years she would calmly raise her hand, and if the teacher didn't call on her, then she didn't persist. Even though they usually did.

Another problem was that I had let her name slip through my lips. Although I had played it cool, to be honest it scared me. It had literally came out of nowhere, one of those spur of the moment things where you caught yourself before you went too far. Even she had been shocked, asking me what I had said to make sure.

Thank God I was good at lying. If I wasn't, who knew what would've happened?

After we had agreed to our little truce, the conversation really started. At first we began to talk about the kiss, but slowly we got into how long this weird feeling had been going on, and to my surprise, it started happening to both of us at around the same time. We agreed that we had had dreams of one another, although we didn't get into the details, blushing too hard to even think of saying them. Minus that, our conversation wasn't awkward in least, when I had expected it to be. As a matter of fact, I was surprised at the fact that we could even have a conversation at all. There was something about sitting and just talking with her that was peaceful and somewhat therapeutic.

We were comfortable around each other the longer we talked.

Caught off guard, I immediately wiped a smile from my face.

It didn't mean we were friends. That wouldn't be possible to matter how hard we tried. We were just acquaintances and nothing more.

As if I would want to be friends with a know it all anyways.

Somewhere inside of myself I realized that it might not be that bad.

Possibly.

vvvvv

Hermione's POV

It was November, and the leaves on the trees were beginning to become frail and brown, with a chilly wind to match.

Things were different.

Besides the weather, my life was beginning to have new parts in it.

Namely, a certain Slytherin named Draco Malfoy.

I know what you're thinking, and no the bond that we had was not romantic, nor was it turning into one. It was just that we had started to become a lot closer than before. Were we friends? I didn't know.

Possibly.

Acquaintances? Certainly.

Since the meeting, we had been scheduling more ever since, and saw each other all of the time, almost every day, and when we didn't, we would owl one another messages. Researching our little issue had become quite a hobby of ours, almost an obsession. So far, we hadn't found much in the few weeks we had been doing this. The only things that had helped us were books. We had made several trips to the library, trying to avoid the times when it was filled was students. Sometimes we would meet there, outside, or in one of our rooms. This had only been twice, but both times it had been in my room, because Draco's was too near the Slytherin common rooms, and that would've made another obstacle.

The most important part was that now we were finally getting along. Sometimes, we would even get off track and talk to each other about our personal lives with one another, not too in depth though, and about school. Draco was also, extremely funny. He had quite a knack for poking fun at teachers, and students that annoyed him. Sometimes he would even poke fun at me, but it was never malicious. It finally seemed like he was getting over being such a jerk.

It was now officially a month since we had been researching, and I sat with Ron and Harry in the library, trying to help them with their homework. Perhaps it was because I felt guilty that I had spent such little time with them these days. Harry had Ginny though, so he didn't realize that I had been spending less time with them. Ron on the other hand seemed a bit lonelier. I was going to make it up to him one of these days, probably on the next Hogsmeade trip, which was this Saturday, two days away.

"Hermione, what would you put for this question?" Harry asked me. I looked over at his paper and saw that it was a multiple choice question. I made a clucking sound with my tongue.

"Well I can't very well give you the answer now can I? Here's a hint though. It's either A or C."

Harry gave me a knowing smile, not surprised at my answer, and nodded, returning to his paper. I looked over to see Ron scribbling furiously. It felt like I hadn't seen him in days. Sure, we ate lunch and had classes together, but when was the last time I had really sat and talked to him like we used to?

I used to tell Ron everything. Of course I told Harry things as well, as best friends should, but Ron was the listener of the two. I could tell him anything, and he wouldn't try and ask me why I was feeling these things, or anything like that. He was able to involve himself fully by just observing, and he was always there when I needed him. Things were never always like that though, as we had been having problems with one another from fourth year and below. During fifth year, we worked on our friendship, and it became solid, for the most part. Our friendship was a responsibility and sometimes even a challenge. But we loved it. We loved each other.

Throughout the years, Ron had definitely changed, for the better. His attitude was more mature, as well as his face. His fiery red hair was growing out and his jaw had become more defined. He was Gryfinndor's Quidditch keeper, and that had definitely benefitted him body wise. Hell, everyone found Ron attractive, he was one of the most sought out boys in our grade besides Harry. Another thing that drove the girls crazy was his personality. He was nice to everyone, hilarious, to the extent that during the years he had made me pee myself quite a few times. He was helpful, kind, and the biggest sweetheart when he wanted to be.

I suppose I was lucky and unlucky with him in both ways.

All of the girls in my year would often tell me he was absolutely crazy about me. Did I believe them? Yes. The problem was that we always managed to like one another and different times, putting us in an awkward stage, the forever friend zone. Somehow I knew that I would always love Ron, but just not in that way. Taking myself out of my thoughts, I realized that he was staring at me.

"You okay Mione?" He asked me, wondering. I cleared my throat and looked away, nodding.

I was okay.

And I wanted our relationship to be too.

VVVVV

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews or comments anyone?