Hermione sniffed, letting another letter fall to the floor around her. They'd been arriving all week; dropping in front of her in piles, her name scribbled across them in hastily written hate. They were all as unimaginative and petty in their insults as the next, seeking to underline her apparent promiscuous personality by referring to her as a man-eating Bundimun, over and over again. She was almost grateful for their obvious lack of originality and imagination because every letter that featured the over-used insult instantly lost its sting.
The article Skeeter had so eloquently put together had topped all her previous instalments for its work of sheer fiction. Her hands shook as she thought of the squeaky journalist and her floating quill. She'd thought there was something desperately off with her from the get-go, now it all made sense.
Hermione leant back against the stone steps, letting her shoulders slump. The past few weeks, without a doubt, had been hard. On top of the hate mail and the general looks of distaste from most of the female population at Hogwarts, there'd been Malfoy or the significant lack of Malfoy. He'd gone back to ignoring her, brushing off all her attempts at communication with a cold demeanour that, surprisingly hurt more than all the insults he'd thrown at her. There was also the issue of the Sensieve; since Malfoy's committal to the cold shoulder, they had not been dragged into another memory and the lack of contact was starting to evoke some weird withdrawals that was making it difficult to function. The press of its magic in the air was almost suffocating, the sparks it sent her way almost stinging with their insistence. It was worse when she was trying to sleep, thoughts of Mina and Edward, of the infuriating Slytherin, all seemed to add to the intense presence of the Sensieve's magic making it impossible to sleep.
On top of everything, she found that she missed the blonde. Of course, he went out of his way to make her life a misery, to hurt her as much as possibly could, but there had been those brief and fleeting occasions when he had made her laugh, had challenged her thoughts and beliefs in a way that no one else had. She was convinced that it was yet another strange withdrawal from the Sensieve, as it was utterly pathetic to believe that a couple of occasions of him being nice to her could ever eradicate all the dickishness that had come before.
"Reading love letters, Granger?" Hermione jumped as she recognised the voice, turning to see Malfoy, walking slowly down the steps towards her. His hair was, as always, neatly styled, his hands dug deep into the pockets of his black trousers.
"No," she sniffed, turning away and lifting her nose in the air, "just some lovely witches and wizards that share the same viewpoint as you." She started picking up the paper littered at her feet, wiping her cheeks hurriedly, annoyed with herself that such idiotic nonsense could have made her cry.
She heard his shoes tapping against the stone as he lazily stepped down towards where she was sitting.
"And what viewpoint would that be?"
"That I'm worthless," Hermione stated, glaring at him over her shoulder, "that I don't belong in the wizarding world. They also don't seem to appreciate, how did you put it? Oh yes, the little 'Love triangle' I've drawn myself." There was a pause, the silence deafening and uncomfortably full of magic that stung her skin, the sparks threatening to make her wince.
Hermione turned back to collecting her paper, only to be stunned in place when Malfoy sat next to her. His legs pressed against hers and the effect it had on the Sensieve's magic was instantaneous. All the pressure, stifling and suffocating eased to a gentle murmur on the air. The stinging ceased, brushed over with cool magic that eased the pain like a soothing balm and had her biting back a sigh. They both sat with it for a while, unwilling to acknowledge the change, but reluctant move and risk it ending.
"You shouldn't let this stuff bother you, Granger." He picked up one of the letters, casting his eyes over it with a sneer.
"What?" Hermione couldn't think of anything else to say, too shocked and irritated to formulate a sentence.
"You shouldn't let it bother you, these people," he brandished the letter, before discarding it on the floor, "they don't know anything."
"I'm sorry, am I missing something? Are you really telling me not to let this bother me, when you, only weeks ago, were telling me to take my Mudblood self, elsewhere?"
Draco winced as her voice echoed around them in the stairwell, her words all the harsher for their truth.
"I was annoyed okay. We had an agreement, Granger, and you weren't there. I was angry. Can you really blame me?" He stared at the material of his trousers, tracing the pattern of stitching with the tip of his finger.
"It's not like I could help it. Believe it or not, getting kidnapped by mermaids wasn't on my to-do list." She stood quickly, shouting her words down at him, in the most condescending way she could muster. Draco stared up at her angrily.
"Fuck, I know, but neither was apologising apparently."
Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. She couldn't believe it, the whole mood had been because she hadn't apologised, because she hadn't rushed to him and told him how eye bleedingly sorry she was.
"Me, apologise to you?" Draco groaned, letting his head fall into his hands at the tone of her voice. It was dangerously quiet, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way for long.
"Look that's not what -"
"Apologise to you? You bully me for years, tell me to stop, 'Infecting everyone' and you have the gall to tell me, that I need to apologise?"
"Granger that's -"
"Well here goes then," Hermione put her hands on her hips, leaning down slightly, so every word would smack straight off the blonde's perfectly styled hairdo. "I'm sorry that you're such an inconsiderate prat, I'm sorry that you are less predictable than the weather and have a penchant for being a tosser. I'm sorry that you think I deliberately went out of my way to hurt you, but considering your aptitude for making my life hell, I think it's about bloody time I got a few digs in of my own." When he didn't move or say anything she scowled and turned to stomp her way back up the steps.
"Granger, wait." She stopped, turning to watch as he climbed to his feet, sad eyes lifting to meet hers.
"Look I'm," he glanced down at the ground, his hands slipping back into his pockets as he shrugged, "I was a dick"' he said simply, "and I shouldn't have been."
Hermione could hardly believe her ears, it sounded like he was trying to apologise to her. Draco Malfoy, apologising? Surely, he didn't know the meaning, or at least not how it related to him.
"You're apologising?" Hermione breathed, uncertain whether she'd said it out loud.
"No, Granger, I'm playing quidditch," He bit back sarcastically, trying to sound annoyed but only succeeding in sounding embarrassed, which he was. Hermione couldn't speak, her mouth opening and closing, but no words were forthcoming. Perhaps she'd finally reached her limit of exhaustion and slipped into a vivid dream, courtesy of the Sensieve Insomnia. It was the only explanation because Draco Malfoy did not look at her like that, the blonde did not know how to be remorseful and yet, he was doing a great impression.
"While your impression of a fish is, quite possibly, one of the most accurate and entertaining things I have ever seen, I do have better things to do so - If you'll excuse me."
"No, wait." The words were out her mouth as soon as he'd turned away and she cringed at how desperate they made her sound. She could hold a grudge, no one would blame her; he had been cruel and mean, and she had, until recently, despised everything about him. But this person was the new Malfoy; the one that smiled at her, laughed with her, the one she'd missed, the Malfoy that she, for some unknown reason, wanted to spend time with.
"Okay."
"Okay what?" He asked, stepping towards her, his expression hopeful.
"Okay," Hermione took a deep breath, "I forgive you. But if we meet, we're going to have to be careful, and you are going to have to stop being a prat."
"I'll try, Granger, but you know it's what I do best." Hermione's breath caught in her throat as Draco beamed at her, the sight of it making it impossible for her to form a coherent thought. "So; be careful because of a nosy Potter, and don't be a prat, I got it." He stepped away quickly when Hermione moved to swat his arm "So when do you suppose-"
"Tonight?" Hermione offered, nibbling her bottom lip. Draco wiped his face with the palm of his hand when he found himself staring at the action with too much interest. "I hear it's going to be a clear night, so the astronomy tower will be out of bounds, but I'm sure there's somewhere else."
'What about the room?' Draco cut in, looking at Hermione meaningfully.
"Okay, is this some kind of trick, because if it is, it sucks." Hermione pointed her finger at him angrily and Draco's eyes widened in shock.
"I don't know what you mean."
"You, with this apologising and wanting to go into the same room as the Sensieve. You couldn't get away from it fast enough before."
Draco stared down at his shoes. He'd been expecting her suspicion, something that he guessed he couldn't exactly blame her for, their relationship was many things, but smooth sailing wasn't one of them.
"Let's just say I've changed my mind." He muttered with a shrug.
"Changed your mind? Changed your - You've completely switched. Yes, you're still pompous and annoying but…" Hermione ran out of words as Draco raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"You flatter me." He smirked
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was an invasion of the body snatchers."
"The body what?"
"The body snatchers, it's a film, a movie, a muggle thing," Hermione added quickly when he looked at her confused.
"Oh right, of course," He muttered sarcastically.
"My point is, this is - don't you think it's a little crazy?"
"Maybe," Draco shrugged, "But this isn't a trick, or a joke, or even that big of a deal. I just want to stop the Sensieve's magic from being so annoying. No more. No less."
Hermione couldn't fathom why she was disappointed, but rather than concentrate on it, she sucked in a breath and straightened her back, meeting the blonde's gaze.
"Okay then, but no more attempts at apologising, you really suck at it." Hermione smirked, turning away and heading up the steps, smiling to herself when she heard his reply.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Granger."