Hermione wandered out into the courtyard at a hurried pace. The periwinkle dress flared at each step she took her heels clicking on the cobblestone walkway. Her tear-stained cheeks glimmered in the light of the moon. She heard happy couples chattering, some even trying to hide while snogging. She walked down the cobblestone walkway heading away from the noise. Everything was quiet as she stepped out from under the long exterior hallway and across the snow-covered ground. She found a quiet spot under an older holly tree. The leaves shimmered in the light.

For a moment, she had a few hours where she could enjoy herself in the company of a man who chose her, who asked her. She wasn't a second thought or pitied as the nerdy bookworm who would never have a date. Her friends reminded her that she wasn't special. To tell her that she had chosen to go with the enemy and that she had betrayed them. When she stood up for herself, she was reminded once more that she probably would never have been picked if it hadn't been for her connection with the boy who lived. They took off as she started to yell. Once the two were out of sight she broke down into tears as she sat on the steps right outside the great hall and cried with no one to comfort her.

She could hear footsteps coming from the exterior cobblestone hallway. She shook her head, probably a professor that was out and about rounding up students to come back to the castle. "The color you chose wasn't a bad color at all." A voice spoke. "Your choice of friends however seems to be lacking."

She looked up as Malfoy took a few steps out into the moonlight, he was still in his black dress robes and white buttoned-up shirt, with a matching white bow. Her heart sank as she looked at the tall blonde. "Malfoy, don't you have some first years you could be terrorizing?"

"I saw how they spoke to you, is that how they normally speak to you or was it for a moment you felt free, and they had to break your wings to keep you from flying away." Malfoy was being coy with her now.

This was all she needed. Not only did her friends hurt her emotionally, Malfoy seemed to follow her as if on a hunt to kill a wounded deer. "I don't have to say anything to you about how my friends treat me, you treat your friends worse, and you don't hold back when you do."

Malfoy tsked. "Friends, no, they just fear me and when they step out of place, I put them back and remind them where they stand with me." He smirked. "Weasley did that tonight, didn't he? He was shocked in Potions class when you told both of them you had already been asked. That you had said yes, but they didn't believe you. I saw how upset you were as you stormed off."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing, how he talked about his friends and hers. "Malfoy, why are you so concerned about how I feel, why are you out here when you could be inside enjoying this dance inside with your date."

"You weren't always like this." He whispered as he took a few steps towards her. The gentle breeze swayed his dress robes.

"Once upon a time, we knew each other before we both came to Hogwarts, in Diagon Alley you made it perfectly clear once more that you wanted nothing to do with a girl who was muggle born." She lowered her head as she shook her head. "I kept silent not to rock the boat, to not cause a conflict, even with the insults."

"Like when I call you mudblood." He spoke as he stood a couple of feet away.

"Why do you continue to use such filthy words towards me." She whispered; she tilted her head up to look at him. She could feel the burning sensation welling in the corner of her golden-brown eyes.

"Because you need to know your place in this world. You will hear that term for the rest of your life, especially when Voldemort makes his return." He spoke the truth about the term he used, but hearing him so faithful to the idea that Voldemort would still return caused her stomach to knot.

"Can you just leave me alone?" She spoke out barely as she moved and wrapped her hands around her bare arms the cold was starting to get to her.

"If they truly cared they would be checking on you right now, wouldn't they?" Malfoy spoke tilting his head to the side. "When we first met you were a fiery wild child with big bushy hair and freckles, but now, you hide behind books and use that as a challenge when you feel threatened. When you do speak up your fire is extinguished rather quickly."

"Like you do to me constantly when we have to do things together or when you cause conflict." Hermione was getting annoyed by him continuing to argue with her. "You are the one that cut ties once you found out I wasn't a pureblood like you. You thought it was amazing how I was able to do things successfully usually in one shot, but once you learned. I became something that was tainted. You abandoned me because of your thoughts, and how your family raised you. You don't think that was heartbreaking."
"A few tricks you could do just on your own with a tiny bit of magic without a wand." He spoke softly. "What my family thinks doesn't affect my decisions on how I feel about you and your tainted blood."

"I don't have to stand for this." She stood and started walking away towards the castle. Malfoy took hold of her right wrist in his left hand. Hermione attempted to pull her hand back, but he held her tight. "Let go." Her head tilted as voices could be heard as faint lights appeared towards the end of the hallway. Malfoy took her and forced her to follow him past a few trees on the trail and lead her away from the castle. They watched as a couple of the professors walked past and then listened as they scolded a couple for sneaking off. The voices faded as Hermione looked back to Malfoy. "You can let me go now."

Malfoy let go of her wrist as she moved out of hiding and back into the moonlight. "Did you really think of me as someone you could be friends with?"

Hermione stopped her steps and nearly slipped at his words. "You were my friend. You chose to do to me as you do with your so-called friends, but for me, I'm tainted, and you washed your hands of me. You treat me so badly and when I stand up to you or my friends you attack me."

"Your so-called friends took the first bit of happiness I saw in you for a long time Granger." He followed her. "Tonight, you smiled and went with the flow, no routine, as if time was standing still for you, for a brief moment you didn't have to worry about what you are."

She paused for a brief moment as she took her left hand to wipe a few tears away. "Have you been watching and studying my movements Malfoy?"

"I might hate that you are a mudblood, but that doesn't mean that somewhere I still see you as someone I used to know." He didn't take a step forward as he watched her wipe her tears away.

"You won't even acknowledge anything from our past in the presence of anyone at Hogwarts." She spoke sadly.

"I can say the same for you Granger." He returned the quick response.

"What so you can deny everything? That you and I had experienced when we were younger? When you had me meet your mother for the first time, but then when your father laid eyes on me. He was the first one to call me a mudblood when he realized what I was when I told him who my parents were. How he berated you for hanging out with me, how he forbid you from coming out to the meadow outside of town?" She lowered her head and clenched her fist tightly. "You never came back for me in the meadow. The next time I saw you was when I was getting my books with my parents. I waited for your father to call me a mudblood in front of them, but you both ignored me." Hermione was visibly angry now. "You say you are the one that makes the decisions on how you feel, you are away from your family, but you still-"She swallowed hard. "You still treat me like I am less than."
"Because you are, and you can't help that." He spoke taking a step forward.

"If you come any closer, I will deck you square in the mouth just like last year." Her voice was firm as she watched as he stopped short.

"There is the fiery girl I know you to be." He whispered.

She swallowed hard. "Were you just trying to get a rise out of me?"

"Maybe I just thought you needed a reminder of the girl I once found lost in the meadow pretending she knew where she was." His voice was soft. "Those two have almost put that fire out, haven't they? With how you run and comfort them. You feel the need to even protect them from me."

She bit her bottom lip. "Malfoy, I think this conversation should stop. It's going nowhere." She turned her back away from him.

"Granger." He reached out taking her left hand into his. She could feel a slight bit of warmth coming from his hand. She didn't realize how cold her hands had gotten. "I'm telling you this again. The warnings over the years, they are going to keep progressing and keep getting worse. There will be more deaths for the muggle-borns and those that stand in the way."

Her breath hitched at his words, but she didn't pull away from his grasp. She could hear the music still coming from the castle echoing out in the yard. "Why are you going out of the way to tell me this?"

Malfoy frowned as he let go of her hand. "I've been warning you of the danger, but you seem to go running into it."

"Like the note that led me to read about the Basilisk?" She whispered out as her hand fell to her side.

"I've given you other warnings, but you don't listen." His voice was firm as he looked up to see the snow starting to fall again under the moonlight.

"Malfoy." She bit her bottom lip before she spoke again. "You can't have it both ways. You can't treat me like you do and still chose to try to protect me like a long-lost friend. Is it guilt that drives you to try to push me out of danger because of that day your father caught us playing after he told you what I was? The day we were up in the willow and your father casted a spell to cause me to fall out of the tree and break my left arm."

"He did that to teach me a lesson for playing with a mudblood." He spoke calmly. "I didn't listen, and he needed to prove a point that I need to listen to his orders."

"But what is this now Malfoy?" She whispered as snow fell against her tear-stained face. "I'm pretty sure these warnings and this conversation are something that he would surely forbid or even punish you again for. Why risk warning me?"

"What happens in these castle walls for now, he doesn't need to know." He shook his head as he looked back towards the Dark Forest. "You are not my friend Granger merely a person I used to know in another life, we won't speak again so cordially next time."

Hermione frowned at his words. "This changes nothing?"

"Why would it." He looked at her and smirked. "You thought this little conversation meant I cared to rekindle something?"

Hermione's heart sank at this realization. What was the point of all of this? She knew there was danger coming ever since their first year at Hogwarts. Everything coming from Malfoy now just seemed like a horrid reminder of the facts. He stated he didn't care, but he was here. He chased after her. This conversation wasn't friendly, but a moment to reflect on a moment in time that they shared. A moment that they called each other friends for a short time. Hermione thought for a moment that he was returning to her as a friend. "I guess not."

She turned around and started walking back to the exterior cobblestone hallway before she paused. "You said that you are the one that makes the decisions, but you are still following your father. This time, you are away from your family don't you think it's time to be more open to things? To try new things? Maybe being open with people you normally wouldn't?"
Malfoy shook his head. "Are you trying to change me Granger? Why are you challenging my beliefs?"

"Malfoy I'm not challenging you, I just-"She lowered her head. "You weren't like this when we were younger."

She heard his footsteps crunch as he stopped in front of her. "It feels like a challenge Granger."

She tilted her head up and looked up at his illuminating gray eyes. "I'm just reaching out to a friend." She didn't back away, but the fight in her was gone. She was trying her best to reach out to him. "Those you surround yourself with you claim aren't your friend, but what about me? I thought at some point we would meet again under different circumstances, but tonight it wasn't, was it?"

Draco paused for a brief moment before he reached out and took her freezing hands into his. He stepped back carefully to where they were out of sight of any onlookers or professors searching for snogging students. "You can still hear the music?"

Hermione followed his steps carefully as she kept her eyes on him. "Yes." She spoke a little unsure.

"You are stubborn when you want to be with people you care about. Do you think you can still be stubborn with those two without continuing to lose yourself?" He whispered out as he reached forward with his left hand and brushed a stray bang behind her ear. "They left you hurt and wounded on the steps."

She was a bit hesitant as she looked down only to have Malfoy place his left index finger under her chin and lifted her head back up. Her honey eyes locked with his cold gray eyes. "Don't lower your head to me when I speak to you. You let people eat at you, even me. You let people break you, even me."

"No, I don't." She growled out under her breath.

"You run when you can no longer protect yourself. When others talk to you in such a way. I don't understand how those two broke you and nearly got you killed by the troll, and you treated them like heroes because why? They left you crying alone and realized you were in danger? If there wasn't a troll, would they still have reached out to be your friend? Didn't Weasley mock you right before?" His voice was soft. "Saying no wonder she doesn't have any friends."

"They admired me for what I could do later, especially when we helped Harry go after Professor Quirrell who turned out to be helping Voldemort." She watched as the snow started to fall heavily the moon was losing its glow to the light gray clouds.

"Because they found a way to make you fit and you fell into place because you felt like you had friends." His left hand pulled away from her chin. "With how they acted towards me, did that not make you fall more into line with them?"

She was hesitant before she spoke up. "No, that's not how it is with Ron and Harry."

"At the end of the day, where would your loyalties lie if we were friends, and you were friends with them? Could there be a balance, or would you choose one friendship over the other?" He held onto her hands her fingers barely laced with his. "You tell me that I should change and be open, but what about you? At the end of the day would you choose our friendship over them if I offered my hand to you? Do you think they would be accepting of our friendship?"

She bit her bottom lip as she thought for a moment. "Are you wanting to reconnect as friends again Malfoy or is this some kind of way you are trying to humiliate me?"

"At least I'm blunt in everything I tell you and don't sugarcoat anything." He whispered. "You will be hunted for being a mudblood and possibly killed."

Her heart sank in her chest. "Do you plan to follow your parents' choices if Voldemort returns? If you do where will that leave me?" She looked at him sadly. "At the end of your wand why you perform one of the unforgivable curses? The killing, the control, or pain?" She was truthful in how she spoke. If he was warning her of the future, she could only guess what that meant if they were to rekindle their friendship. In the end, it would lead them down an uncertain path in which she would become a victim and more than likely at his hands if he were to follow his family.

"Granger. I told you I wouldn't sugarcoat the truth. Voldemort has returned and he grows stronger every day. Followers are returning to him as we speak." His voice was low.
"So, your father has returned to his side?" She watched him carefully now. "Does that mean you will join your father and the ranks of the other Death Eaters?"
"Do you think I really have a choice?" He shot back. "At the end, hopefully, you are smart enough to stay out of the way."

"Because you might be at the end of that wand Malfoy?" She quipped back.

Malfoy sighed as he looked away from her. "For now, this conversation and other future conversations should stay private."

"Because you don't want to be seen mingling with a mudblood?" She watched as he looked away from her.

He frowned and didn't dare look at her. She could tell he was in an internal battle with himself, not what he wanted, but just trying to follow what his family had taught him and how he was raised, but also with how they were for a brief moment friends that were almost inseparable until his father separated them. "It's not that simple."

She frowned once more as she looked down at their hands. Everything about this conversation wasn't simple there was so much to what was happening between them. The struggle of him wanting to possibly open the book back up and maybe trying to be friends. On the other hand, her friend group wouldn't be happy, and neither the Gryffindor nor Slytherin houses would be pleased. "You know you were my first kiss when we were younger." She spoke up after the long silence. "I don't know if you knew that."

He glanced at her for a moment before letting go of her hands. "Things were different then."

She nodded as she felt him let go of her hands. "I should head back to the common room."

She turned away from him and started to walk out from beneath their hiding place before she felt his hand take her right. "You don't have to go yet; they are still playing music inside the dance isn't over."

She nodded again as she looked back at him. "Maybe it will be good if you return to your date."

He shook his head. "Just a formality to please my father I had a pureblood date." He spoke and pulled her back towards him. "You made me chase you down to yell at you for not speaking up for yourself more you could show me some respect and at least dance one song with me."

She froze at his words as her left brow perked up. "After all of this? Calling me a mudblood, asking where my loyalties lay, and asking if we can build some kind of friendship? You want me to pay the great Malfoy back with a dance?"

"I don't see the harm in one dance Granger." He spoke back harshly as he took a step forward. "The next song and then I'll let you go so you can make your decisions on where we fall, but I warn you, I will never acknowledge you in public as a friend. Going forward there will be long silences unless it's a moment we are alone. Do you understand?"

Hermione wasn't really sure what else she could say to him. She didn't mind trying to be friends again, but she was uncertain of everything, she understood keeping everything a secret, even in her friend group with Ron and Harry. They would never approve of her even talking to him even on the side of harsh conversations that needed to be had. She took a step forward as the song ended and before the next song started he placed his left hand carefully on her right side and took her left hand into his right. She placed her right arm on his left shoulder as he carefully stepped with her following his lead. He was graceful and careful with each step making sure not to let her slip or fall.

Malfoy was much more graceful in his lead than Viktor Krum when they danced during the opening of the Yule Ball. Her honey eyes met his grey somber eyes after a brief moment once she felt the rhythm he was providing as he followed the beat of the song. Had Professor Snape taught him to dance like Professor McGonagall had? It didn't feel like any time was passing as they danced protectively hidden away under the trees. She slowly and cautiously placed her head on his chest. He didn't push her away or make her move he allowed her to get close to him. The smell of spearmint appeared to cling to his dress robes. For a moment, this was a moment for them that they weren't fighting anymore. He was trying to put in the effort to be ok with her again and forget about her status until they both knew it would end when Voldemort came into power. She knew at the end of the day he would choose his family over her.

Hermione let her eyes close as she listened more to his heartbeat than the music. She felt his head rest against her head. Her hair was a mess from the dance, some of her bushy locks were still up in a bun while a few loose strands had gotten free. The sway stopped as she felt him start to pull away from her. Her eyes opened halfway as she felt him remove his hand from her waist. He placed his hand below her chin as he lifted her head up with his index fingers, slowly reached down, and placed his lips against hers briefly before stepping away.
"Malfoy," Hermione whispered out a little unsure as he looked away from her straitening his dress robes.

"I wanted this kiss to mean a little more than when we were ten." He whispered out. "We were kids that didn't know what we were doing, just messing around and being foolish."
"You do remember that day then?" She spoke in return.

"Yeah, but don't get any ideas that it'll be more than this. We can't even be seen together unless it's for classes. We still come from different worlds; you are still a mudblood."

"And you are still a pureblood." She whispered back. "In the end, it is what it is. We act the roles we were destined to play until my life is eventually taken am I wrong?"

Malfoy shook his head. "You aren't wrong and like I said we can't be expressive with each other like we were at this moment. If anyone knew, from either side, it won't be good for any of us. We will have to be careful going forward if you want this friendship, but when the time comes, I will terminate everything." He pulled a folded handkerchief from his pocket and placed the handkerchief into her hands. He reached over and carefully pulled the ribbon from her waist. The fabric came free of her waist and fluttered in the light breeze. Malfoy placed it into the pocket of his dress robes.

She swallowed hard at his words as she nodded. "I understand." Hermione frowned as she turned away from him and headed for the castle. He didn't chase after her this time, when she was a few feet away he left the coverage of the trees and headed back to the Yule Ball while Hermione headed up to the tower. She couldn't help, but let the tears start to flow again as she made her way upstairs careful of the staircases that moved. Why was she crying again? She shook her head as she gripped tightly to the handkerchief in her hands. Malfoy had taken care of her and made sure she had one last dance that was good, something to end the night on a positive note. He hid them away and let her feel at ease.

He was honest and truthful with her just like when they were younger. He knew what it meant to cross his family to even talk to her or warn her. He still held his prejudice against her, but appeared to want to try to move past that and work on what they once had. He reminded her how much spark she had as a young teen in the meadow. The thought of Malfoy wanting to try to mend things and look past what she was. She made it to her dormitory most of the girls in the room she shared were already asleep. She undressed and placed her dress away and replaced them with light pink pajamas. She picked up the handkerchief as she laid down in her bed. She could smell spearmint coming from the fabric.