Chapter Six

Surprised Confessions

Hermione was sitting in the common room a while later, after she had spent a good portion of the day on the grounds with her friends. Now she was looking at pictures of when she was little, with her parents, and some moving pictures of Harry, Ron, and Ginny. This one would be of Harry at his first Quidditch game, or Ron after he had his cast put on after the Sirius/dog incident in third year, or of Ginny at the Yule Ball, or Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the Golden Trio Ball the Ministry had announced. Her happiest memories were all in her hands at this very moment. Sometimes the worst times of our lives produce some of the best memories, we need to remember what used to be good.

"Nice pictures of Weaselbee, can't say that none of them are too sappy. Each one has a new gross factor added. One on top of another, more and more, sorry if this is giving you an unpleasant mental picture, but you get the point." Malfoy moved from behind the back of the couch to the coffee table in front of her to sit down.

"I'm not in the mood for your tyronny, Draco." Hermione said softly.

Malfoy paused, "Okay, do you mind my asking why you called me Draco and not Malfoy, cockroach, evil, nasty, or any of the sort? Seriously, where's your imagination? I personally like ferret, if you don't mind."

"Because I'm tired Draco." she answered.

"Then take a nap." he retorted, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm tired of being an enemy of yours, someone who you call 'Mudblood' or 'Granger', I hate it. I think it's better if we just be friends." Hermione concluded, followed by a snort from Malfoy, "Okay, fine, I guess you're not ready for that. Acquiantances?"

Draco looked unbelievingly at Hermione, "You're serious?" he asked.

"How serious is serious enough for you, Draco?"

Draco leaned in, "This is fine, if your not bluffing."

Hermione looked into his empty blue-grey eyes and resolved, "No, not bluffing."

"Look, Hermione," he ignored her uplifted eyebrow, "I'm sorry for the names I've called you in the past, it's not your fault that you're a muggle-born, you're a really talented witch. And the other names I called you, I want you to know, they were only to live up to my Slytherin status. And I know that's a poor excuse for my actions, but I'm seventeen now, it's time for some maturity." Hermione looked at him, not really knowing if this was a thing she would ever get used to. A mature Draco, now there was a thought that was nice. He caught her looking at him and she looked down at her fidgeting hands, "You know what, I think we could be friends. But we have to be open and mature and no insults, even if we're not speaking. I think we should start right now, you call me Draco or if you want to call me by my nickname, it's D. I'll call you Hermione, if you don't mind that is." he looked into her eyes.

"Just like that?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"Just like that. Except, if we are in the same room as my mother and father, you call me Draco and I will call you Hermione. They will be shocked yes, but I have a new appreciation for you Hermione, one that won't fade easily." he confided cautiously, shifting his position slightly. He looked at the grandfather clock across the room, "Six o' clock, the night is still young, why don't we take the time to learn about one another? Tell me about your family."

"My mom's name is Helen and my dad's name is Greg, they're dentists you know. Dentists are muggle doctors that take care of your teeth and gums, they had to go to a special school and everything. My mom and dad met when they were both in their early twenties and went out for about a year and a half before they got married, they had me eleven months after that. We live in a suburban house in the middle of London, England it's okay sized, but really expensive to live in. It's good that my mom and dad have their own dentist office ten minutes away. They don't have a lot of trouble putting galleons in my Gringott's account, they give me enough to last until the next time I post an owl to them saying there's a ball or a holiday, which isn't often so I guess my life's pretty good. I don't have a whole manor to go home to during summer and my parents have no ties to the wizarding world except for me and the Weasley's so every summer is really normal and relaxing, I don't have to worry much about how to act or to not say the wrong thing, my parents are still kind of peeved I fought really close to Harry in the war, but they got over it. They like it when Harry and Ron come to stay with us, it's refreshing for them, they get an insight to how I live." Hermione looked up, Draco was listening intently, yet silently. "There's not much more to say about them you know." she answered his unspoken question.

"Do you love them? Like, would you die if you had to give them up?" he asked her, she wondered if he felt that way for his parents, she hoped so but lately it was possible he didn't.

"I did have to give them up, for a short time I made them forget me. Because they knew Harry Potter, I didn't want them to be hurt by the Death Eaters or Voldemort, so I obliviated their memories of me and sent them to Australia, their new last name being Van Beuren. I almost died, but it's not like all my family was gone, I still had Harry and Ron and all the Weasley's, not to mention the Order of the Phoenix, well, most of it. It all turned out well when I took the spell off of them, they were incredibly angry, but it would have killed me if they died, there would be no doubt. So it's pretty obvious I love them enough to let them completely forget me." Hermione couldn't believe she had told him all this, her mother had been so hurt, all this was so hard to talk about and she was letting Malfoy in on all of it.

Malfoy whipped his head up and locked his eyes onto hers, confused, "That sounds so complicated, I wouldn't go to that much trouble. Anyways, the Dark Lord wasn't after you or your family, he was after Potter's."

"When you really think about it that's not completely true."

"How?" he asked.

"One, I am one of his best friends, he considers me family. Two, first Voldemort would want to hurt me so Harry would be hurt seeing me so torn then he would just dispose of me and, eventually, the Weasley's. Harry would be all alone and would want to be dead. I know it's scary, but I think that's how a dark lord would think." she looked away from his face.

"You're really smart you know."

"I've been told." she said softly.

"I think he would have done that to tell you the truth, your tactics were so precise. If he had thought about it like that, he would have done it." he said angrily.

"Why do you seem so angry about this?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't know." he said, then he stood up and walked to his staircase, "You should sleep, it's late."

Hermione looked at the clock, it was eight o' clock, "It's not that late." but when she turned to look at him, he was gone. This is so weird, why would he want to know so much about me? And why was he so angry about Voldemort killing me and my parents? Or is it people in general? Hermione thought to her self as she walked up the stairs.

She walked in her clean room, just the way she liked it, confused and tired. She went into the bathroom and started a hot bath filled with lilac scented bubbles. Just as she had settled into her bath a little paper bird flew in through the window, she dried her hands with a towel and caught it, "So, what's up with you? Harry taught me how to do this today! Now we can talk all night! hugs, Ginny." Hermione laughed, she had forgotten how to do this until now, why hadn't she thought of it before now? It was brilliant so she wrote back, "Taking a bath, I'll talk to you in a minute."

Hermione hurried with washing herself and drying her hair and charming it into a high pony-tail. She walked into her room and changed into her fuzzy slippers and pajamas and got into her bed, "So apparently Draco wants to become friends with me. Don't tell Ron or Harry if you're with them." she didn't have to wait two minutes for a reply, "I'm not with them, I went to bed early because I'm tired. Why do you think he wants to be your friend now? I mean, I heard he's been pretty rotten to you all these years, so why now?"

"I think he is really grateful we didn't let him die in that fire, and I'm the only one who will accept his apology and try to be his friend. He was asking me all these questions about my parents and why I hid them in Australia last year." she scrolled hurriedly.

"That's really cool that he would want to be your friend though."

"Yeah, but when I told him that I was afraid he would hunt them down to hurt me, Harry would be hurt seeing me in so much pain, then Voldemort would eliminate me making Harry really sad. Then he'd eliminate Ron, making Harry feel all alone, and Harry would want to die so he would ask Voldemort to kill him. Draco got so mad because he knew that if Voldemort would have thought of that he would have without a doubt done it." she explained.

"Maybe he thinks he owes you a life-debt or something, or maybe he was wishing you two could be friends and then he jumped right into the friendship. I would want to just be friends too, so I would want to keep you protected and happy, maybe that's why he was so mad."

"I think you're exactly right about that one!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Thanks, anyways it's getting late, and I'm tired. I'm going to sleep." Ginny replied.

"Same here, see you tomorrow."

"Definitely, night Hermione."

Hermione hurried to finish the conversation, "Night Gin." and then she fell asleep, having dreams of her standing behind Draco as he was fighting off Voldemort from her and her family, it was kind of realistic, but fantasy at the same time. Either way, it made her have a good nights sleep.

A/N: The movie quote that I chose is "We need to remember what used to be good." at the end of the first paragraph. I tend to watch movies a lot so when I pick these quotes they will be in the movie I watched the night before, this particular on is in 'Thirteen Going on Thirty'.