Hermione shut her office door, locked it behind her, and hurried toward her first class. She had had barely enough time to compose herself and apply the necessary charms that erased all evidence that she had been crying. Satisfied that she appeared calm, cool, and in control of her emotions, Hermione entered the classroom just as the bell rang. Most of her students were already seated, and she was pleased that they stopped talking immediately when they saw her. She gave them a quick smile, and then moved to the front of the room to take attendance and start the day. She had a fun Cheering Charm activity planned, and she forced herself to focus on that and push thoughts of Draco Malfoy to the furthest corners of her troubled mind.

OooOOOooooOOOoooOOO

Not thinking about Malfoy may have been easy during class, but the rest of the day was a challenge. The entire school seemed to be buzzing about the new professer. From what she overheard, many of the students thought his first class had been exciting and they were looking forward to more.

By the time 5:00 rolled around, Hermione's head was starting to pound. She always thought it was ironic that with all of their wonderful capacity for magic, the Wizarding World had never quite gotten around to curing a headache as well as a plain old Muggle Ibuprofen. In fact, she strongly suspected that Advil was a key ingredient in Madame Pomprey's headache potions.

Massaging her temples, Hermione made her way to the staff room. She knew it wasn't good to isolate herself, but she just wasn't in the mood for the noise and general clamor in the dining hall tonight. A quiet dinner in the little used staff room was just what she needed before making her way home for the evening.

She went inside and was surprised to see someone else sitting at the worn table. She hardly ever saw her colleagues use this room, it was mostly reserved for grabbing a quick snack or a spare robe out of the closet.

"Well, well, well. Look who's going to keep me company." Hermione's heart sank as she realized who it was. Without a word to him, she turned to leave. She would head down to the kitchen and get something to take home. But Draco was apparently not going to make it that easy for her. "What, leaving so soon? Were those the magic words? Too bad I didn't try that when we were in school...seemed like every time I turned around you were there along with Potter and the Weasel..." He stopped in mid sentence. Hermione froze at the doorway, the anger from earlier in the day coursing through her. She turned around slowly to face him, ready to whip out her wand and wipe the arrogant grin off of his face once and for all. But when their eyes met, she was surprised to see that Draco looked...almost embarrassed. She would have even ventured remorseful, if she didn't know him so well. Draco ran his hands through his blonde hair, suddenly uncomfortable. "Ah...yeah...that was a long time ago, huh? Look Granger, why don't you sit down...I was leaving anyway..." He looked away from her and got to his feet. Hermione unclenched her fingers slowly from the wand within her robe and felt her anger subside slightly.

"It's okay, Malfoy, you don't have to leave on my account. We work together now, I suppose we should learn how to share the staff room without arguing."

"Yeah, that would be a good start." He smiled, and Hermione was surprised to find herself noticing that he did have a very nice smile, when it wasn't mixed with his usual self satisfied smirk.

"How was your first day?" She asked politely, telling herself that it was a normal question that she would have asked any new professor. Draco's smile widened and he threw his hands up.

"Well...all I can say is that if I gave my teachers half as much trouble as some of these kids gave me today, then I guess I'm getting my due. Can't believe some of the mouths on them! I was ready to give one class a first hand demonstration of the Cruciatus Curse..." Again he stopped, looking horrified. "I...uh...didn't actually mean that..."

Hermione found herself laughing out loud, and she marveled at the sound. It had been such a long, long time since she had had anything to laugh about.

"Malfoy, its okay, that's not anything that every new teacher hasn't thought at one point or another! But if its any consolation, the students all seem to really like you...whatever you DID do in reaction to their behavior must have earned their respect...I don't think you'll have any more trouble."

He eyed her ruefully, and then returned the smile. "Yeah? I hope not."

"What did that one class do, anyway?" Hermione inquired, curious.

Draco hesitated for a moment, and then responded. "It wasn't really the whole class, more like a couple of trouble makers. They said that I was a Death Eater and they shouldn't have to sit in my class and show me respect."

"Oh." Hermione looked down at her hands, feeling her face redden.

"Funny, it wasn't the first time today that I heard that..." She looked up in horror, but was relieved to see a teasing glint in his eye. "Granger, relax...I knew when I took the job that I was going to have to face my past, and get through moments like that. I saw it as a teachable moment and told my class some stories about how I became a Death Eater, and why, and how my family came back on the right side again eventually. Guess they thought I was somewhat "cool" after that."

"Leave it to you, Malfoy, to use everything that happened in the war to bolster your popularity!" Hermione felt the anger bubble up to the surface again and threaten to overtake her. She wasn't really angry at the man sitting across from her, but the strong emotions inside of her had reached their breaking point. Draco stared at her for another moment, and then got to his feet again.

"Okay, I can take a hint...I'll bid you "good night," Granger. Looks like you're the one still living in the past." He came around the table and then was standing directly behind her. Hermione gripped the edge of the table, desperately trying to keep herself under control. She needed this job...

Draco leaned over her, and she felt his breath against her cheek. A sudden calm rushed over her, and she wondered vaguely if he had put a Calming Charm on her. "I'm going to give you a word of advice, Granger...take down that wall you've put up around yourself...its doing just as much damage as the one that killed your boyfriend." With that, he swept from the room, leaving Hermione's answering gasp of horror hanging alone in the air.

A/N...Just when they were starting to get along! But we need a little conflict to keep things interesting...thanks for reading!