Right, haven't got a beta yet so this is my test-run. Written for the Granger Enchanted '8th Year Itch' Challenge.

I have to give some awesome recognition to shinigamioni from GE because she's my amazing pseudo-beta and my plot bunny think tank buddy. :D

After spending an entire year hiding out in a forest searching for Horcruxes, Hermione never thought she would once again enter the hallowed halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student. She had a bounce in her step, anxious to hasten the journey from the train to the castle. Harry and Ron grumbled as they followed after her. To say that the boys were happy to be back would be a bold-faced lie and an insult to Hermione's happiness. Neither had appreciated Kingsley's decree, Harry having gone so far as to request a private meeting with the minister. The Minister was prepared for Harry's visit – not letting Harry speak one word before he lectured him. Needless to say, Kingsley had put his foot down, stating that not even Harry could weasel his way out of this one. And now, here they were, following Hermione as she led them to the carriages; neither wanting to be here, yet knowing they had to if they wanted to continue on their path to become Aurors.

"Slow down Hermione!" Harry called. "It's not as if the carriages will leave without us!"

"Honestly," Ron said as he turned to Harry, "you would think she was actually happy about being back for another year of school!"

Harry stopped walking. "Do you not know Hermione or are you really that dense, Ron? Of course she's happy to be back; Hermione loves school. Where have you been for the past seven years?"

They both looked ahead as Hermione called to them from a carriage. Dragging Ron behind him, Harry climbed aboard, ignoring the other rider completely. Ron's face instantly turned red upon noticing their companion, showing his inability to hide his anger. Harry elbowed him and shook his head, only to be immediately elbowed himself by Hermione. "Oh honestly," she mouthed, moving to sit by their ride companion and not her friends.

"Hello Mal- Draco."

He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Granger."

She was about to ask about his summer, but thought better of it. "How um- what do you think about Kingsley's new law? Ron and Harry absolutely hate it."

Draco leaned against the seat, crossing his arms and ankles. "Well then, Granger, I would say that is the only thing I have in common with… them," he said, finishing with a sneer. Closing his eyes, he added, "Now, if you please, I believe this conversation is finished."

Hermione's mouth fell open and she had to hold out her hands to stop the boys from reaching for their wands. "No," she mouthed, feeling quite embarrassed.

Really, she had just been trying to be nice; she knew he was the only returning Slytherin of their year. He had switched sides during the final battle, but now she wondered if it had only been because the outcome was obvious – which was what Harry had been telling her all along. Well, fine then, if he didn't want to accept her kindness then she wouldn't waste her time. She crossed her arms, pushing the incident from her mind – determined to not let it ruin her night.

The 8th Year Tower was unlike any Hermione had ever seen. Since all students returning to complete their 8th year were now separate from their former Houses, all were set to reside in one tower. The Common Area was at least three times the size Gryffindor one, a massive stone fireplace taking up half of one wall to allow freedom of movement in and out of the castle. Off of the main room was complete with a built-in, full service kitchen.

Since the designer had four separate color schemes to work with, the main color in the room was black. All the furniture and appliances were black, but the natural stonework was left alone. To incorporate the colors of each of the four houses, colored accent pieces were displayed around the room. A red or blue throw pillow there, a yellow or green bauble lamp here, even everlasting colored flowers were present to make the area belong to each and every house in a simple, yet tasteful way. She would have hated to see what would have happened had a more direct route been taken to ensure the happiness of all; it surely would have been an eyesore for all.

Everything about the communal areas was extravagant – even the bathroom. Going through the entrance led one to an outer room with two doors. One door led to a multiply shower/toilet area that could house several people at once by the use of personal stalls for separation and privacy. The other door, however, was clearly going to be fought over for the entirety of the year. This room – which Hermione could only compare to the Prefect's Bathroom – held a glorious bath larger than most swimming pools. Multiple taps held various oils, bubbles, soaps, and nearly any other substance one would add to a bath. An entire length of wall held a mirror and vanity counter with every supply imaginable. There were perfumes, beauty potions, makeups, lotions, colognes, shaving creams, waxing supplies, razors, aftershaves, toothpastes, and mouthwash cleanly organized along the length for use by all. Two enclosed rooms were found at the back – one a toilet, and the other a steam room. Hermione laughed that the builder had added a steam room, but thought that it may be of use when she became overstressed – as she was bound to do. Fluffy towels were found near the door under the row of hooks that held personalized bathrobes for every resident of the tower.

And as much as Hermione loved the splendor of the communal areas, the residential area was by far her favorite. They were eleven rooms in total for use of living arrangements. Since the other seven Slytherins – besides Draco – had not come back to the school, two of the double rooms and one of the triple rooms had been closed off. Of the remaining nine rooms, two were singles – one of which Hermione quickly claimed. The second of the two was claimed by Draco, since none of the rest of the males wanted to share with him. Ron and Harry, and the four Hufflepuffs claimed the three double rooms – Hannah Abbott rooming with Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley rooming with Ernie Macmillian. The remaining male trios from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw claimed two of the triple rooms – Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, and Seamus, Dean, and Neville from Gryffindor. Padma, Pavarti, and Lavender took the final three-person room for themselves.

Now, as great as it was for Hermione to have a room to herself, that wasn't the reason why the residential rooms were her favorite. No, upon entering her room, Hermione noticed that the bedspread, the rugs, couch, and the curtains were all white. It wasn't just any white that she saw, but a blinding, empty white as if the room was waiting for her colored input. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the white began to recede, leaving actual color in its wake. The rugs on the floor took on a tame, cream color, the bedspread and curtains changed to a nice, sea foam green and the couch a pale blue. In Hermione's opinion, it was the perfect room for her to relax and study in. Having some control over the décor after too many years in a room consisting only of gold and red was a welcome change.

The view from her window was especially spectacular. She had a west-facing room overlooking the Great Lake and the Forbidden Forest, which was bound to provide a lovely observation point for many beautiful sunsets.

The only downside of her room was the horrendously small closet. Instead of a wardrobe, the closet was actually built in to the wall – making it only slightly more difficult to expand with magic. Leaving her truck untouched for now, Hermione grabbed her wand and set about relieving herself of the inconvenience.

The spell was quite simple so, when a spark of blue flew at her, it was safe to say that she was surprised. She was even more surprised when she held a yell coming from inside her closet. "Bloody fuck!"

"Draco?" She stepped closer to look inside and saw Draco standing in his room.

"Granger?" He was holding onto his shoulder, which looked like it had been burned. "What the hell did you do to my arm?"

"Your arm? What do you mean? And why is there a hole in my closet leading to your room?"

"Your closet…" he said, a look of realization crossing his face. "Shit. You weren't by any chance trying to expand your closet, were you?" He rubbed his hand across his face in frustration and glared at her.

"How did you- oh! You were doing the same to yours?" Hermione bit her lip. "Well now what do we do?"

Draco loosened his tie and sighed. "Well, since our rooms are connected, we only have a few options." Hermione made a circular motion with her hand, indicating that he should continue. "Option one would be for one of us to remove the charm so that the other could leave theirs up, which by the look on your face would have to be me and I have no intention of doing so. Option two is for both of us to take off the charm and both suffer with a smaller than reasonable closet."

Hermione groaned. "Am I to assume there is a third option?"

He inhaled deeply through his nose and stepped inside the closet. "Well… with both of our charms the area is much larger. I really don't like this but… we could leave the charms up." He held up his hand at the sign of her protest.

"Let me finish." Hermione nodded and crossed her arms. "As I was saying, we could leave the charms up. Now, this will leave our rooms connected, but we could each put up silencing and veil charms, which would essentially close it both ways."

"So my charms would keep you out of my side and yours will keep me out of your side, but they would still allow us the expanded closets…" Hermione had to admit, it did sound like an acceptable arrangement. "It sounds alright, except for… well, what happens when the charms wear off?"

Draco shrugged. "Three month charms, so we re-apply them at Christmas and Easter Holidays. Reasonable enough if you ask me." He raised an eyebrow. "What do you say, Granger?"

"No one will know?" She could only imagine Harry or Ron's reaction to the knowledge that her room was connected to Draco's – especially after her torture in Draco's house.

He snorted. "As if I would want Potter and Weasel to know about this."

She lifted her wand and began the movements for her veil. "Alright, Malfoy."

"Granger…" He paused, "I'm- I apologize for earlier this evening." He nodded and then raised his own wand, beginning his spells.

Soon, all Hermione saw was the back of a newly expanded closet and knew that he saw the same on his own side. After applying a very strong silencing charm, she began to unpack her truck. She pushed Draco's apology to the back of her mind, ignoring it for now until she had time to think on it later. After an hour, everything was unpacked and in its place, so Hermione packed her satchel for the next day – making sure she had plenty of parchment, all her books, as well as both Muggle pens and self-inking quills. No one could accuse her of being unprepared.

The next task fell to deciding on an outfit to wear for the next day. Since the 8th years were no longer part of their former houses, as long as they wore clothes fit for the classroom, they were allowed to dress as they pleased. Searching through her closet, mind boggled on how easy it had been cooperating with Malfoy, she decided on a simple pair of grey slacks. She paired them with a red, ruffled collared blouse and a pair of red, peek-toe heels. Satisfied that everything was in order for her first day of classes, Hermione grabbed her latest book, Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, and headed for the common room.

Hermione left her room and made her way down the hallway to the common area. She had already changed into her sleeping clothes – an oversized long-sleeved t-shirt of Ron's and a pair of boxers from Harry. She was surprised to find that the living area was completely empty except for Draco, who was sitting in one of the arm chairs reading a book. He nodded as she entered, but said nothing more as he continued reading. He had on a pair on green sleep pants and a white t-shirt, which had ridden up so Hermione could see a trail of light blonde hair leading from his navel.

She blushed and quickly reclined on the couch, hoping that he hadn't noticed. All was forgotten when she continued with her story. The heroine's best friend had just gone missing when the rest of the 8th years slowly trickled into the living area.

Ron plopped down on the other end of the couch, pulling Hermione's legs into his lap and gently massaging her calves. She groaned and bookmarked her place, unable to concentrate any longer. "Are you and Harry unpacked?"

"Erm… well we…" Ron started.

"We were playing Wizard's Chess," Harry said, quickly breaking in. Both boys looked guilty, but Ron's fingers were doing wicked things to her legs and she found she didn't care.

Hermione sighed. "Boys… If you can't even unpack your trucks without being told, what's going to happen when you have homework to do? I won't be your mother again."

"Relax babe," Ron said, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. "We'll get it done. Promise."

"You'd better," she said, sitting up and curling into Ron's side. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. She sighed in contentment, happy that their desperate kiss during the final battle had turned into something more.

She was suddenly thrown out of her relaxation when Ron yelled across the room to Dean. "Oi Dean! Turn on the wireless – the America-Japan game is on!" The previously quite atmosphere was quickly replaced with a loud, boisterously Quidditch obsessed one that Hermione loathed. Sighing, she picked up her book and went back to her room, knowing the match would go on well into the night. Maybe she could get another chapter in before she went to sleep.