Neville was laughing and Draco had a proud smile on his face. To anyone that had known the pair over the years, they must have been absolutely lost. Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom? Who would have thought they would turn out to be best mates?

The pair of blokes were making their way back to the castle, already having eaten dinner, they were headed somewhere else rather than the Great Hall. Neither knew the exact location, they were simply walking.

The grounds were almost bare considering it was meal time and unless they had already eaten, they were most likely in the Great Hall. Draco and Neville found themselves sitting on the dock by the lake.

With their legs dangling off the side of the dock and eyes staring into the water, they sat in a peaceful silence.

Until Neville spoke up, "so you and Hermione?"

Draco looked up from the water, glancing at his friend before looking back down. "What do you mean?"

Neville answered immediately, "come on, I know something is going on."

"I have no clue what you're referring to."

Draco looked over again and this time Neville was staring straight at him, an unamused look on his face. "Mate, everyone can see it. Something happened between you two."

Draco frowned, "nothing happened."

Neville shook his head a little, "doesn't have to be romantic, mate, I'm just saying something happened and now you two are different." He paused before continuing, "you're like friends or something."

Draco racked his brain, trying to remember what it could be that Neville was talking about. It finally dawned on him, "we talked."

Neville waited patiently for him to continue.

"I was the first to wake up, and I was down there. I had just finished pouring my coffee when she came in." Draco thought back to that night, "I think she was really close to crying, I don't know. She wanted to talk, said it helped her out." He sighed a little, running one of his hands through his blonde hair. "She told me all about her nightmare and then she just sat there."

"She was waiting for me to tell her about my nightmare. So eventually I did. And then she just fell asleep in my arms." He sighed again, "I guess that's when everything changed. Now she talks to me and invites me to go to the library with her and sleeps on me."

Neville chuckled a little, "you say it like it's a bad thing. Making friends is a good thing, Malfoy."

He shrugged a little.

"So that's where you were last night? The library?"

"Yeah, she invited me. I almost forgot. Hey, does she hold everyone's hand?"

Neville smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Hermione's gone through some stuff. She gave up her family for the war. And with all of the shit she went through, being on the run and everything, she's just trying to heal." He looked away, but continued taking. "We're all trying to heal. This past summer, when we were fixing everything up, she experienced a little bit of a change. We talked about it, quite a bit."

Draco studied Neville's face, and when the boy paused, he almost looked guilty.

"I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, but I think you should know, understand at least." He paused again, sighing. "She cut herself off for a little bit. She took time to breathe and learn herself again, and in turn, she wasn't used to having friends. She was so lost when it came time to loving people. That's why she's so affectionate now, helps her feel something."

Draco's eyebrows scrunched together and he frowned a little, "she's acting affectionate because it helps her feel?"

"Mate, you have to understand. She doesn't have a family anymore. She wiped their memories so they'd be safe, they're somewhere in the world, exploring, having no clue they have a daughter. She left all of her friends to go on the run. The only two people she had were Harry and Ron. That's it. She's affectionate now, because she doesn't want to be alone anymore. She's trying to show how much she cares."

He nodded, thinking it all over. "So I let her be affectionate with me? We just became friends, if you could even call us that."

Neville chuckled, "mate, you do whatever, I just wanted you to know why she is the way she is."

"I guess it's no worse than Luna and Ginny."

"Exactly," Neville smiled. "It's getting late, wanna head back in?"

"Sure." And that was the moment Draco figured he might as well start liking the girl with wild curls as much as he likes Luna and Ginny.

In the private common room, Draco caught the last bit of a conversation between Ron and Hermione, just before his and Neville's presence was made known.

"Why don't you just sleep over there, 'Mione, afraid Malfoy will cuddle with you again?" Ron laughed and Hermione blushed.

"You guys have fun today?" Harry greeted, being the first to notice them walk in. Hermione's cheeks flushed even brighter, Draco eyed her curiously as Neville answered.

"I'm just heading up to change, what's that thing?" Draco joined in, nodding towards some new thing that had taken the place of a painting mounted above the fireplace.

Harry looked very proud of this new thing, brightening up. "It's called a television, it's a muggle invention. You've never seen one?"

"I'm a Malfoy," was all he said. And he figured that was a good enough response.

"Well it plays things called movies. It's moving pictures that tell stories. I think you'll like it. We're going to watch one tonight."

Draco only nodded and went to change. When he came back down, the thing called television was lit up. And Harry was right, moving pictures were playing. Only instead of the photographs replaying, it continued on.

Draco looked at it, fascinated. He moved to a couch, sitting alone and stared at the screen.

"Have some of this," Harry passed him a bowl. "It's called popcorn."

Draco tried a piece, and instantly grabbed another. Soon he was absorbed in the thing called television and eating a substance called popcorn.

It was halfway through the television when he ran out of the popcorn. He turned to Potter, who was on the next couch over. "Potter. I need more popcorn."

Harry looked amused, "come on then. I'll show you."

Draco stood reluctantly, giving the television one last fleeting look before following after Harry with an empty bowl.

"See this package?" Harry grabbed one from the cupboard, handing it to him, "this is the popcorn. You open this plastic wrap, but leave the paper package sealed."

He waited for Draco to do that before continuing.

"Then you open the microwave," he pulled the handle of the muggle appliance, "and place it inside. Then push the button labeled popcorn."

Draco did as told, although not completely sure it would give him the popcorn in return. How could a paper turn into popcorn?

"When it beeps you can open the paper bag and pour the popcorn into your bowl." And then Harry was walking back to his seat, leaving Draco alone.

Draco stood there, waiting as the machine counted down. Not too soon after he heard a pop. He eyed the machine curiously, and it popped again.

"Potter. It's exploding!"

Harry laughed, calling to him from the couch, "it's suppose to, that's why it's called popcorn. Wait until it beeps."

Draco waited, though hearing the tiny popping did nothing to ease his worries. What if the machine breaks, or worse, his popcorn does not cook?

When it beeped, Draco opened the machine, and was surprised to see the paper bag had grown. He pulled it out and opened it as Potter had said, to find his popcorn was inside.

He returned to his couch with popcorn in his bowl and a new fascination with muggle things.

Daphne and Tracey entered the common room a little later and were also quite mesmerized by the television and popcorn. Draco happily showed them how to make some and they sat on either side of him for the remainder of the television.

When words played at the end, Draco frowned.

"What did you think?" Harry inquired, and the rest of the group looked over to him.

"That's all?" At Harry's nod Draco's frown deepened. "Play another television."

Laughter sounded in the room, Draco did not understand. Daphne spoke up, also confused, but very into the television. "Play another." Tracey voiced her agreement.

"It's called a movie. The object is called a television, the videos that play are called movies." Neville explained, laughter still in his voice.

Tracey spoke this time, "then play another movie."

So another movie was played.