Co-written with 528ErikaMae491! If you don't like, then I'm 99.99% sure that's what that little arrow is up there for!
Disclaimer: Niether of us own Harry Potter or anything mentioned in this story...but I know that if I owned it Draco Malfoy would be mine.

'So this is what peace feels like.' The Gryffindor student smiled to herself. It had been a few months since the 2nd War had ended and all was well. It was time for the previous 7th year students to go back and finish their last year of schooling before going into the wizarding world on their own. There were more students than expected who returned for their 8th year, all the Gryffindors, nearly all the Slytherins, but not that many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Some had stayed home and tended to their families while others thought they were ready to face the world on their own and applied to jobs in the Ministry.

"Hi 'Mione!" A familiar voice greeted her from behind. "Hey, Ginny!" The two girls hugged in laughter.

"I can't believe you decided not to come to the Burrow this week. Did you find your parents yet?"

"Yeah," Hermione sighed. "They actually didn't want me to come back this year after what I did to them."

Silently nodding, the youngest Weasly pulled her toward Flourish & Blotts, the shop that had Harry and Ron in it. "Come on, Ron's been dying to talk to you. He's been whining about it since you left." That made Hermione smile, 'had he really been missing me that much?'

"Hermione!" Ron and Harry yelled before they pulled her into a big hug. "Ron Harry!" she hugged them back.

"How did you two get along without me this summer eh? Did you two finish buys your school supplies yet? We can go to—"

"Um, yeah Hermione, about that—we sort of lost our school supplies list after we got it." Ron scratched the back of his neck embarrassed.

"How on earth did you do that?" the brunette placed her hands on her hips.

Shaking her head, the youngest of the Weasly Clan answered for them. "They were playing wizard's chess and forgot to take their letters off the fireplace. Mum lit it without knowing what was on top."

Sighing, Hermione handed the two boys her letter that had an attached paper of their supplies. "Here, take it. I already finished my shopping and you two haven't even started yet."

Ginny on the other hand was looking at a book on the shelf next to them. "Mione, why don't we let the boys take care of themselves? We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Sure, why not?"

"We love you Hermione." Ron started, "We honestly don't know what we would do in this world without you." Laughing, The-Boy-Who-Lived and his best friend made their way out of the store and in to another one. Something caught her eye though. That unforgettable blonde hair. That blonde hair that no one else she knew had. That blonde hair that belonged to Draco Lucius Malfoy. For a second she stared at it before he turned round. He caught her gaze from another store. For what seemed like hours, but only a few seconds in reality, they stared at each other. He was looking at her as he never did before. The Gryffindor couldn't place her finger on it, but she knew he wasn't looking at her with hate in his eyes. No, not anymore.

"Hermione! What on earth are you staring at?" Ginny followed her gaze to the blonde across the street. "Oh, you have got to be kidding. You're staring at him? The Ministry is letting a Death Eater come back to school with us? They're crazy!"

"Nothing, just Malfoy being Malfoy. Besides, he's not a true Death Eater."

"Yeah, he is 'Mione, I saw his mark when we were fighting in the war. He's on their side."

Tilting her head in question the elder girl responded. "Gin, he didn't become a Death Eater by force. He was forced. You and I both know that. We both know Malfoy wouldn't let a bloody half-blood control his life. He barely listened to Dumbledore and Snape and they were both purebloods!"

Taken aback, the younger girl raised her eyebrow. "It looks like you've given this concept a lot of thought."

Then it hit her. Had she really given Draco Malfoy that much thought? Had she thought of him so much as to easily defend him? Had she, the Gryffindor Princess, shown some type of feeling other than hate towards the Slytherin Prince? "Ginny, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that we always hated him for his father's actions. Not his."

"I guess you're right." She shrugged. "Maybe he won't be as bad as he was in the past years."

Eyeing my two best friends, Ginny gave me a sideways look and shook her head running up to hold Harry's hand.

"Malfoy, what were you so engrossed in?" Blaise Zambini followed his stare and found four Gryffindor walking out if the store across laughing. "Oh, I see you've taken notice to the She-Weasel and mudblood."

Breaking out of his staring war with the girl he snapped at his best friend. "Don't call her that! You know she's a lot smarter than you and she's ahead of me in almost all our classes."

"Whoa mate." The Italian stepped back. "Why are you so protective of her? We used to tease her until the war, remember?"

Scoffing, the blonde rolled his eyes. "Granger isn't below us. Didn't you learn anything from the war that just happened? People are still trying to rebuild their lives. People like Weasly and Granger, Blasie. Not everyone has it easy like us. Look, during the war I started to understand that it doesn't matter what 'blood' you are. Everyone came together and fought against Voldemort. With the people who died, the blood that was spilled was the same; not muddy or pure; just blood."

"Right, mate." Blaise tensely rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that comment about Granger. Didn't know you were so protective of her….."

Thankfully, aside from the involuntary cringe at the name that was never spoken for so long, Blaise seemed to listen. Shaking his head, the two picked up their previous conversation about the new Quidditch uniforms that were ordered. However, Draco couldn't seem to shake his mind away from a certain brown –haired, genius witch.