Hey everyone! Sorry for the hiatus there. But I'm back!

I've got a lot of chapters lined up, so I should be updating 2-3x a week! I plan on posting on Mondays and Fridays, maybe with another chapter thrown in to be generous! I also plan on breaking up the chapters so they're about 2k words each (give or take a few).

Thanks so much for 100 reads, and I hope you enjoy!

Comment "Yay you're alive" if you read this <3

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Draco hung his head, both in shame and to protect his face from the pouring rain, as he walked from the locker rooms to the castle.

He wanted to run after Potter, to beg him to take him back to Hermione and plea for her forgiveness. But he had run out of the room before he could even begin to think about what he would say. He felt a stabbing at his heart as Potter spoke, and even though he wasn't the one abandoned by a friend, he sounded like he was. He heard the pain dripping with every word he snarled through his teeth.

Draco knew he was wrong. He knew he had overreacted. He had let his feelings get the best of him, something he always took pride in never happening. But in the past two weeks everything had changed. His emotions were all over the place. Heck, he didn't even know what his emotions were at any given time.

All he knew is that he had to get back to the common room and apologize to Hermione before Potter got back. If he told her about their altercation in the locker room, then he was afraid Hermione would think that he was only apologizing because Potter had yelled at him, that he only realized he had been in the wrong when someone else had yelled in his face about it. And while it was true, he didn't want Hermione to think that. He wanted Hermione to think that he truly was sorry, that he truly wanted to be her friend again.

And it was true. He missed his friend.

He quickened his pace. His heart was still beating twice for every step that he took. The rain was coming down harder and harder, and he was soaked to the bone. He clenched his wand in his back pocket and cast a quick warming charm to prevent himself from freezing in the rain. Once inside the castle, he cast a drying charm as well. Sighing, he noticed that his leather shows had wrinkled in the process. He'd have to deal with that later.

He hadn't bumped into anyone on his way back, which wasn't all too surprising given that it was less than an hour before curfew. His dwindling in the locker room and argument had taken up a lot more time than he had thought. He was glad that he had no one to interrupt his thoughts as he rehearsed over and over again what he would say to her. I am sorry. No, no he couldn't start out with that. I am an idiot. Well, yeah, she knew that already, you idiot. Can we just put this behind us and be friends? He wanted to do that so badly. But he knew it wasn't a good idea. If he just put it behind him, he wouldn't learn from his mistake, and knowing that, she would be too wary around him to be friends the way they were before.

Idiot, Idiot! You are such a sodding idiot, Draco Fucking Malfoy. He wanted to ball his fists and slam them into a wall until they bled. His guilt was slowly dwindling as it was replaced with the rage he felt at himself. You had one good thing going for you, for once, and you threw it all away and fucked it up the second you got! How so very in character of you.

His feet took him to the portrait sooner than he wanted. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting his chest fill with air, forcing the anger out of his system. He needed to be calm for this.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the portrait door had swung open.

He was staring eye to eye with her.

"Hermione." he choked out, her name getting tangled in his throat.

She shoved past him, making sure to nudge him with the stack of books in her arm. She was probably heading to the library to return them before the weekend. His heart dropped when she swiftly moved away from him, and he took off after her.

"Hermione, wait," he called, his voice loud yet soft, but she pretended not to hear him. He broke into a light jog and put himself in front of her. She stopped in her tracks. "Hermione, I just want to-

"I am sorry Malfoy, but it really is late and I have to return these books." She cut him off. Malfoy. That stung. She began walking again, trying to bump past him, but he stepped in her way and stopped her again.

"Can we please talk-"

"I really do not want to talk to you right now." She interrupted again, refusing to make eye contact with him.

She was probably just tired. She didn't want to talk to him right now, but that didn't necessarily mean that she was cutting him off forever. "Fine! That is okay, I get it! Can we talk tomorrow-"

"I really don't want to talk to you for a while." Well, maybe he was wrong.

"But-"

"Goodnight, Malfoy."

She pushed past him again, and this time he let her. He let her stand there, alone in the cold, empty corridor.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

It seemed as though the tables between him and Hermione had turned.

She was doing a better job at avoiding him than he had done avoiding her. When he was avoiding her, he had still seen her everywhere. Coming around a corner in the hallways. Walking to the bathrooms in Gryffindor Tower. Sitting at a table in the library. Lounging in the armchair by the fireplace. But now that she was avoiding him, she was nowhere to be found. He had not seen her for the entire weekend.

Without her, he realized that he had no one. He was completely alone. It was just him and his bloody cat against the world.

She wouldn't even sit next to him in Potions. Their seats really didn't matter, as Snape would assign them partners anyway, but he missed talking to her before class really started. He was both dreading and hoping for Snape to put them together, but he didn't.

"Potter and Finnigan. Granger and Weasley. And finally, Malfoy and Longbottom."

He sighed, grabbing his books and slamming them on Longbottom's bench a little harsher than he had planned to. "Sorry," he mumbled, especially after seeing how scared he had looked.

They were brewing a Wit-Sharpening potion. It was definitely an OWL level potion, but wasn't nearly as difficult as the Strengthening Solution they had brewed the previous week.

The two of them worked well together. He would mostly stay out of Draco's way and let him make revisions to the recipe without too much complaint or questioning, but his lack of confidence did irk Draco just a little bit.

Their brewing was going along swimmingly, and soon they only had one step left.

"Add more Ginger Root until the potion is dark orange." Draco read, and handed the bowl of Ginger Root to Neville.

"You want me to do it?" He seemed shocked, and Draco simply raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"No offense, Longbottom, but it would be nice if you did something." It came out a little harsher than he had hoped for.

Neville took, no, grabbed the bowl from Draco and added a piece of Ginger Root to the potion. Still dark purple. He added another piece. Still dark purple. And yet after another piece of Ginger Root, their potion was still a dark purple.

"This is ridiculous," he huffed, obviously frustrated, and thrust the bowl back at Draco. "Here. You do it."

Draco rolled his eyes and pushed the bowl back towards him. "Come on, I know you are bloody brilliant at herbology. Think like you are in the greenhouse. What are some of the properties of Ginger Root?"

"Uh," he seemed taken aback by the compliment. "It's best produced in a warm, humid environment, picked at the full moon. It is useful in healing, the size of the rhizome is essential to production, especially in the speed of growing- I don't know how any of this is bloody useful!"

Draco kept his calm. They weren't in a time crunch, as their potion could simmer for a little longer, anyway. "Well, you seemed pretty confident after you added two pieces, right?"

"Are you trying to insult me? You watched me put the two pieces in, and then a third-"

"Hey, I know, I know. I am just trying to help." He put his hands up in defense before grabbing a piece of the ginger. "Look at this. Does this seem fresh to you?"

"Absolutely not." He said with confidence. "That's definitely been sitting in a dark closet for at least three months."

"And if you are not working with fresh ginger-"

"Then you should add six times more! Clearly, how could I be so stupid!" He picked up the bowl and began to add pieces upon pieces, smiling. Draco smiled a bit, too.

After the ninth additional piece, their potion immediately changed to a vibrant yet dark orange. Draco leaned his head over the potion and took in the spiced yet vaguely sweet aroma. "It is perfect."

At that moment, Snape had come over to inspect their potion. "Indeed," he muttered, almost surprised, and Draco bet that he had expected them to fail at the last step. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Please place a vial on my desk for further inspection, then you may begin your essay on the side effects on the potion. As for the rest of you! If your potion is not up to the same standard as this one, I hope you feel confident that I will be grading your essay just a tad more harshly."

Longbottom seemed to have an extra pep in his step as they cleared the ingredients off their potions bench. By the time they had bottled their potion, put away the extra ingredients, vanished their potion, cleaned their cauldron, and took out their parchment and quills, none of the other partners had finished their potion. Potter and Finniganhad managed to burn their potion into a thick, black goop, and Granger and Weasley couldn't get their potion to turn from purple to dark orange, and were currently bickering over who had messed up and where.

If only he were partnered with her. He wouldn't be giving her nearly as much trouble as The Weasel was, and he was sure that she wouldn't be getting so frustrated at Draco.

"She's really not as mad at you as you think she is," Longbottom said.

"I- I was not staring-"

He chuckled, but then stopped immediately, as if he were afraid Draco might hex his head off for laughing at him. "It's okay if you were. I know how close the two of you became in such a short time. I sat with you at lunch, remember?" Draco nodded. "You know, if you really want to be her close friend, you have to be a bit nicer to her other friends."

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "It is not my fault! Potter is the one who comes up to me and always starts a fight." He made brief eye contact with Potter as he whipped his head around after hearing his name in conversation. Draco felt something drop in his stomach for some inexplicable reason.

"Potter! Eavesdropping will not suddenly save your pathetic excuse for a potion," Snape sneered, and Draco had to suppress his smile.

"But have you even tried to be civil towards him? Have you even spoken a word towards Ron? I've shared a room with you for five years and I don't think you have ever said a word to any of us."

He sneered. "That is not true. First year-"

"Besides when you were bullying us, Malfoy."

That shut him up. As much as he really didn't want to admit it, Longbottom had a point. Hermione was inseparable from Potter and The Weasel. He was never going to be good friends with her if he couldn't even be in the same room as the two of them, together or separate.

They didn't speak for the rest of potions. Hermione still refused to sit, or even look at him, during their next two classes together. She was nowhere to be seen during lunch, and Draco deduced that she was probably hiding out in the library. He ate with Longbottom, mostly in silence, with the exception of a brief conversation.

"Hey Malfoy," he started, and Draco looked up. "I, I just wanted to thank you for not being an arse in potions. And for helping me. It- it really means a lot to me."

Draco just nodded, and the two of them shared a momentary pause before he blurted out, "is it alright if I call you Neville?"

He seemed shocked. "I mean, sure, I guess-"

"It, It just is tied to all that pureblood ideology crap. I get that I can be a dick sometimes, but I would much rather have people view me as a dick than an elitist. You do not have to call me Draco, I get that, but, uh, if you want to," he trailed off.

Longb- Neville, shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, that's alright. It'd be weird not calling you Malfoy, but I could give it a shot, I think."

He smiled. "Thank you."