September 4, 1998

Needless to say, Hermione was quick to take extra precautions in order to ensure she was never late for class again.

Like clockwork, she set multiple alarms and checked to make sure she had all her items prepared at least seven times the night before as opposed to her standard three. To add on even more insurance, she showed up half an hour before potions provided it was her first class of the day. Professor Slughorn assured her that was unnecessary though she insisted it was beneficial for her to use that time to catch up on homework while everyone else was at breakfast.

Classes went swimmingly for the rest of the week as a result. She was able to get all of her homework done in advance, giving her extra time for her supplemental readings. When she wasn't occupied with those, she was able to spend the rest of her free time with Ginny and Luna. In any case, there was a steady stream of work and pastimes that kept her mind off other things. Namely, the mixed responses to the letters she sent to her friends last night. One responded almost immediately while she had yet to hear from the other.

She tried not to dwell on it too much.

In the midst of taking precautionary measures, she found herself thinking back to the first day of classes when she took out her frustrations on a certain classmate of hers. The compassionate part of her did feel repentant for demonstrating such enmity when he genuinely had done nothing wrong. The rest of her felt it was justified, deeming it to be a force of habit. A habit she developed after years of being targeted by threats and other assorted forms of verbal abuse. Fortunately for her, those diminished during their sixth year.

After the Dark Lord marked him—tainted him—and burdened him with an impossible task.

To this day, Hermione found herself to be plagued by the day she ran after him. That day was the day she made the unyielding decision to confront him on her own, knowing very well she was chancing her luck with a potential Death Eater. It was the first time she saw him in a moment of weakness, the first time she saw him display any signs of regret. For a moment, it felt like they were more than two enemies thrown onto opposing sides of the war.

She couldn't help but shake off the fact that she saw something more in him that day. Her natural curiosity grew with their run-ins as the war progressed. Flash forward a year and the war was finally over. Now she had a chance to find out what that something was.

Before she could do so, she felt obligated to apologize for defaulting to a hostile interaction after all they had endured. It was already a demanding task on its own, only proving to be more so now that he was blatantly avoiding her.

When he saw her walk down the same corridor, he would turn and walk the other direction. Blaise, and eventually Theo, had come up to her several times throughout the week bearing brief greetings, consistently without their third companion.

She didn't blame him for doing so. If anything, it was a constant reminder that the scars of their past ran deeper than any other. This wasn't something they could get over with a few kind gestures and time away from each other. No, that respect had to be earned. For her, she'd have to commend an immense amount of forgiveness and trust. She decided she would initiate a truce with a formal apology the next time she had the opportunity but that would only be the first step of many. For he had to be willing. Willing to surrender his prejudice and all preconceptions to view her as an equal.

Not that it was impossible.

Just very—extremely—improbable.

Later that evening, Hermione settled in to her usual spot in the library. She had been there the past few hours reading up on one of her supplemental readings for an essay where she was required to elaborate on the practicality of dragon scales.

Friday nights usually left the library more silent than usual, thus making it the ideal time for Hermione to have a moment alone from the hustle and bustle. She was nearing the end of her book, content with the peaceful stillness of the room and embracing the familiar sensation of obtaining new knowledge.

All was well.

Until a stack containing various parchments and newspaper landed close to where she was tucked into the book.

Too close.

Forcibly startled from her thoughts, she jumped in her seat and jerked her head up from her novel only to find silver eyes staring back, a hint of childish satisfaction dancing within his gaze. He held his hand up the second she opened her mouth to chastise him.

"No need for animosity, Granger. I'm just delivering a parcel."

She eyed the stack curiously. "What is this?"

"How should I know? I don't make it a habit of prying through other's mail."

Pursing her lips, she reached for the stack and untied the knot of twine holding the bundle together. She looked at the first page with confusion. It was a recipe for Yorkshire pudding.

"Who is it from?"

"McGonagall. Said they were important."

She shuffled through the first few sheets—an old news article from 1974—a receipt for a Nimbus 2000—a blank permission slip for a trip to Hogsmeade.

The crease in her brow grew. "I don't understand—"

"—I don't have time for your rhetorical questions so unless you have something important to discuss, I shall take my leave." Deciding he had had enough of this conversation, he made a derisive bow and turned to make his exit.

He was nearly out of earshot when she sighed heavily.

"You know you can't spend the entire year avoiding me."

"I can certainly try." he retorted sarcastically as he continued to walk away.

"Why?" The tone of apprehension was hard to miss.

He halted, turning to face her and appearing skeptical.

She cast her gaze downward, cursing her bloody morals.

"If..." she began slowly. "—if this is because of how I acted earlier this week, I wanted to apo—"

"You never cared for my presence before." He interrupted like he hadn't heard her at all. "Why would that change now?"

Thrown off by his abruptness, she hesitated. "I..." Glimpses of memories flashed through her mind.

His warning to keep her distance from him.

His hesitance at the manor to provide their identity.

The pleading eyes she saw as she laid on his drawing room floor.

"I thought that things would be different," she answered honestly.

Pursing his lips, he briskly walked back to the table where she sat. Standing opposite to her, he leaned his hands on it, propping himself up easily as he examined her with an unfamiliar glint in his gaze. Her eyes flickered to his arms. Had they always been that toned? She jerked her eyes back to his face before he could notice her diverted attention. Hermione instinctively recoiled into her chair, apprehensive at the newfound proximity.

"Malfoy, what are you—"

"Are you expecting us to be friends merely because we ended on the same side, Granger?" he asked as he stared her down. She opened her mouth to answer but he continued. "Let me be clear and explicit; we didn't win. We survived. We had our own detestable roles in that miserable war and did what we had to do. We don't have to pretend like anything's changed so let's move on with our lives," he spat defensively.

In the midst of his icy stare, she could have sworn she recognized a flash of uncertainty. But it didn't matter. She already felt her insides begin to clench at the message insinuated by his choice of words.

She had helped him but none of it made a difference. He still saw her as inferior to him.

She'd known this would be the case. Yet, somehow hearing it from him, she couldn't help but feel like a fool for daring to believe otherwise.

"If that's how you feel," she slammed her book shut with excessive force, suddenly feeling uncomfortable being alone with him, "—then so be it." Oddly enough, he retracted as she did so. As if he didn't seem to expect that reaction from her. Nevertheless, she stood to grab her book and tattered stack of parchment as she glowered at him.

"Enjoy your freedom, Malfoy. I hope you will always remember how you got it with the help of a filthy Mudblood." She forced a brief smile before she marched off towards the exit without looking back, rendering him alone in the library.

September 5, 1998

"Thanks for coming along. It's nice to have someone other than my mum go shopping with me," Ginny stated gratuitously.

"Of course," Luna responded with the kind smile that constantly graced her features. "I needed new shoes, anyways. It's not uncommon for them to mysteriously disappear but it's rather odd for them to be vanishing so quickly—"

The weekend had overall been a refreshing time for her so far. Deciding on a change of scenery, Ginny acquired Hermione and Luna to spend the afternoon in Hogsmeade for lunch and to shop around for dresses. Ginny mentioned Harry was intending to make date night a regular occurrence every other weekend and thus was in dire need of an upgrade to her wardrobe. It was also an ideal time for her to do so before Quidditch tryouts took effect in the coming week.

Which is what found the trio walking the streets among the various stories. Ginny and Luna were chatting in the background whereas Hermione found herself deep in thought. She was genuinely happy for Ginny and Harry, though it did remind her of the lack of communication from her own...whatever he was at this point. She regretted never taking the chance to explicitly state where they stood before they headed separate ways.

"—Hermione decided to sell her signed copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them..."

She jolted her head up, glowering at the redhead as if she'd just admitted to murdering her cat.

"What?"

Ginny beamed. "Knew that would get your attention."

"You're rather distracted, Hermione. Do you want to talk about it?" Luna offered.

She shrunk back into herself. "Not particularly."

With that, Ginny turned and ceased Hermione mid-step.

"Alright, out with it. Is it about Ron?" She felt a pang in her chest, having not yet told her she'd caved and wrote a letter without receiving a response. Shaking her head, she decided she was not ready to address the still sensitive topic for the time being.

Luna looked at her curiously. "Does this have something to do with Malfoy, perhaps?"

While annoyed with him, it was a topic she was willing to use as a distraction.

"How could you tell?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders.

"You were rather cross after you talked to him the other day." Ginny scrunched up her face. "Now that I think about it, why did you approach him in the first place?"

"I was curious what he was doing back at Hogwarts. Especially after he was given the pardon from the Ministry." Hermione decided to leave out the minor detail of their encounter before class.

"Guess his little trio technically wouldn't be complete without him. But you heard Blaise. They wanted to finish their schooling properly. He was likely referring to Malfoy and Nott being here for academics."

Hermione looked at her, amused. "So you believe him, now?"

Ginny shrugged, "I've talked to him a few times since that day. The war changed everyone in a way, I suppose."

"Some more than others," Hermione muttered.

"Speaking of which," Luna expressed, staring ahead to where Malfoy had stepped out of a nearby store with an unfamiliar female. Hermione took in the sight of the beautiful redheaded girl gushing verbally while he had his signature smirk on display.

"Too bad it couldn't wipe off that stupid smirk off his face." Hermione expressed as they watched him interact with the girl.

"You know it's really a shame, Hermione. He is quite attractive," Luna said plainly. Ginny nodded in agreement.

Hermione responded with a glare.

"What? I may be taken but I'm still a woman with perfect vision," Ginny said, matter-of-factly.

"With little to no standards," Hermione mumbled.

"Oh come on. I'm not denying he's a terrible person and has an ego comparable to Harry's but even you have to admit puberty did him well."

"I can't even look at him without thinking of the awful things he's done..." That was mostly true. She included their interaction in the library as one of them. How could she have made such an error in judgement of character by thinking he could change?

Hermione looked back to the spot where he stood and found he was no longer there. Neither was the girl.

She exhaled in relief.

"I don't blame you, Hermione. He was an arse everyone, but I dunno, I thought it would be better now? Didn't you stand up for him at his trial?"

"Don't remind me," she spat menacingly.

Luna held her arm comfortingly. "Tell us Hermione. What brought this on?"

She made a mental note to praise Harry later for seeing past Luna's eccentric personality and befriending her. "He stopped by the library last night to deliver a parcel from McGonagall after avoiding me all week." Ginny and Luna watched her intently as they waited for her to continue. "He said just because the war ended the way it did didn't mean things changed between us."

The two grimaced sympathetically.

Ginny spoke up. "That certainly complicates things. What about the things you discussed with McGonagall?"

Recollection dawned Hermione's face and she began to dig through her enchanted bag.

"Funny you should mention that. I tore apart that parcel he gave me, thinking it was something important. At first, I thought he was toying with me until I found this—" She pulled out a crumpled sheet of parchment from the bag and held it out to the redhead. "McGonagall stuck this in there." Hermione crossed her arms as Ginny unfolded the letter and read the contents aloud.

"Miss Granger,

I take it you discovered Mister Malfoy has decided to return to Hogwarts. And if you hadn't by now, this is my way of making sure you are aware. I hope you recall our discussion at the start of the school year and expect you to treat him with the same amount of respect as I'm sure you have provided the other Slytherin students. I have also taken the liberty of speaking with him myself and he assured me there would be no hostility directed your way. I do not expect you to become friends by any means. Although, I do hope you both find your peace after the war during your time at Hogwarts, even if it means being under the same roof for the time being.

Regards,

Minerva."

Ginny was appalled. "Wow. She's good, I'll give her that." She handed the parchment back.

Hermione let out a sound of frustration. "It's why she chose to speak with me before the banquet. It's like she thinks we're going to magically get along now or something."

"That's not really fair, is it? She can't expect you to look out for him when all he did throughout the school years was torment you."

"I know. All I wanted a year without any conflict. All I know is whenever he is involved—" she emphasized by pointing to where he stood earlier, "—there is always conflict."

"So what are you going to do?" Luna asked.

"I am going to do my best to ignore him and move on. I came here to complete my N.E.W.T.s and that is exactly what I'm going to do," Hermione declared.

"That's it? You're not going to let the fact that you helped an ex-Death Eater from being sentenced to Azkaban and the fact that he fully intends to keep his prejudiced beliefs bother you?"

We did what we had to do. Let's just move on with our lives.

We don't have to pretend like anything's changed.

"No, I'm not. He made his choice—" her fist clenched, subconsciously crumpling the sheet of parchment into a ball, "—and I've made mine."

September 7, 1998

Although Hermione planned to ensure her and Malfoy's paths didn't cross more than necessary for the rest of the year, it was proving to be nearly impossible seeing as they shared most classes with each other. Thankfully, classes and meals were the only times she saw him for an extended period of time.

Like now.

Class was approaching the end as Professor Slughorn repeated the details of their current lecture for the third time per a classmate's request. She had stopped taking notes a few minutes ago and propped her head up with her elbow on the desk.

Surely, this couldn't be that difficult to comprehend.

Curiously, Hermione's eyes shifted about the classroom to see most everyone was still jotting notes aggressively with varying expressions of despair. Her eyes continued to wander before settling to where Malfoy sat in the desk adjacent to hers with Ginny and Blaise between them. His handsome face at ease as Professor Slughorn gave the lecture. His long, slender fingers wrapped around a quill as he wrote delicately.

Realizing who she was essentially staring at, she shook her head violently and redirected her attention to the front of the classroom, only to find Professor Slughorn handling a tall stack of parchment.

"We've finished the lesson for today and have a few minutes left to spare." He flicked his wand to distribute packets to everyone's desk. Hermione looked down at the one that landed in front of her. It was a list of potions. Rather complicated ones, she noted.

"For your major assignment this term, it will require you to select an advanced potion to brew successfully. I have provided you a list of pre-approved potions and will allow you to come to me if you have a potion in mind that is not on this list. However, there are restrictions. Obviously, nothing illegal and nothing can be made with the intent to harm another. That will result in an immediate suspension. Do I make myself clear?"

Silence.

A wrinkly, ecstatic smile grew.

"Very good. Now, an essential part of potions is understanding how the creator affects the final product which is why for this assignment, you will be assigned a partner..."

Hermione detested group assignments. Not because she didn't get along with others but because she usually ended up doing all the work for it.

"I have taken the liberty to assign your partners ahead of time according to your work ethic and academic history. To begin...Mister Cabbott, I have assigned you to partner up with Mister Charter." Hermione watched as the two Ravenclaw students sitting in front of her high fived each other and grinned. She curled her lip.

Work ethic, my arse.

Though, she supposed it was better than pairing the Cabbott twins together. The pair were sorted into Ravenclaw but they may as well have been Slytherin with their degree of mischief. Except for the fact they hated Slytherin just about as much as any Gryffindor did previously.

"—Miss Weasley, you will be working with Mister Zabini."

Well, that was unexpected.

She saw Ginny turn her head to look at him with crossed arms while he grinned enthusiastically. She huffed to express her indifference, supposing she could do worse. Hermione couldn't help but be content at the disappointment Malfoy showcased. While she took mild pleasure at his disadvantage, she couldn't help but commiserate for it looked like neither of them would get to work with who they clearly preferred.

Twelve more pairs of students were called out and with the leftover pool, Hermione mentally tallied up the remaining. There were three pairs of students left.

"Mister Nott and Miss Cabbott." Hermione watched Nott slump his shoulders before directing her gaze to the other half of the Cabbott twins. The curly haired witch squinted as she observed her, noticing she hadn't moved from taking notes. Her composure stood out from the rest of the class which was demonstrating signs of restlessness. Hermione glanced at the clock. Class should have ended eight minutes ago.

"Alright, alright settle down. We're almost done. Just the final few now."

Four, to be exact. She bit her lip in anticipation, for she was one of the few who had yet to be called.

"Miss Lovegood—"

Yes! Luna. Pair me with Luna.

"—you will be paired with Mister Scamander."

Not Luna.

"—and I believe that leaves us with—"

She felt Ginny shift beside her. She turned her head to look into wary eyes.

No...

No.

"—Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger—"

As soon as the words left his mouth, everything came to a halt.

Professor Slughorn was still talking. Likely providing more details on the assignment but her ears stopped listening. Almost in slow motion, Hermione looked past Ginny so that her incredulous, brown eyes met the displeased, silver ones two seats away.

Absolutely not.

Blaise was startled from stillness as the quill in Draco's hand suddenly snapped, the sound resonating through the otherwise silent classroom.

Hermione realized the reality of his words had hit everyone like a wave. A progressive wave that caused all the students in the room to turn their heads to where they sat in the middle of the classroom. She didn't even notice when Professor Slughorn had stopped talking. She assumed it happened around the same time when everyone stopped paying attention to him and shifted to her and her...partner.

The other occupants of the room could only sit in suspense while watching the pair glare hexes at one another, afraid any sudden movement would set off a spontaneous duel.

Ginny sank lower into her seat as she murmured. "Well, this year is certainly off to a good start…"

A/N: Time to stir the pot a little...get it? :D