I nearly screamed as, out of nowhere, a hand reached out and grabbed my arm the moment I had stepped back inside the common room.

Heart racing, I looked up into the furious unblinking face of my friend.

"Harry!" I gasped, still horrendously jumpy after what had happened with Cormac. "Why are you up so early-?"

"Why are you spending the night with Malfoy?!" He hissed, shaking the Marauder's Map in my face. "I've been watching you all night! Are you seriously telling me that your study sessions have been moved to sordid little sleepovers in the dungeons?!"

"It wasn't like that Harry-"

"YOUR NAMES WERE PRACTICALLY ON TOP OF EACH OTHER!" He bellowed, freeing my arm to push his glasses up his scarlet face.

"If you must know," I said calmly, resisting the urge to snatch that stupid map from his clutches and tear it into tiny little pieces. "I suffered a head injury after being manhandled by Cormac, and Draco stepped in and-"

"-gave you the kiss of life?"

"No." I said calmly, trying to keep my patience. "He took me back to his room to heal it and insisted that I stay over in case of concussion. He was a complete gentleman and offered to sleep on the sofa. Not exactly the monster you keep painting him out to be."

Harry looked thoroughly disgruntled by my explanation.

"Did he at least take his shirt off?"

"No."

Harry emitted an exasperated sigh and pushed a hand through his messy hair, giving him an even more moody impression than usual.

"Well, I think it's best we keep this from Ron," he tutted, shaking his head in disappointment at me as though I had been the one publicly shoving my tongue down Lavender Brown's throat for the past month. "You're getting far too close to that ferret, and you know how much this could hurt him. He'd see it as a betrayal."

I couldn't believe my ears. I had just told Harry that I'd been attacked by Cormac and his immediate response is to protect poor Ronnikins' feelings.

"But... then again - " he added, his eyes gleaming over as he stroked his chin, " - gaining Malfoy's trust might get him to open up to you... we could use this to our advantage-"

"Harry," I said sternly, narrowing my eyes, "If Draco does choose to open up to me, then I will be respecting his privacy and therefore shall not come blabbing to you."

A shadow fell over his face, giving him an oddly sinister look. "If you keep the fact that he's a Death Eater from me, then you are at league with my enemy, Hermione!"

"If he is one, Harry, then believe me when I say it's coercion at best. He doesn't need villanizing, he needs support!"

"Fine, then." Harry huffed, looking affronted. "Then I won't tell you what I overheard him and Snape talking about after he gatecrashed the party last night."

"You followed him?! Again?!" I don't even know why I was so surprised. "Harry, you need to quit. It's a complete invasion of his privacy!"

And not to mention mine.

Harry's mouth dropped open in horror. "I can't believe what I'm hearing here! What happened to him being a foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach?! He has spent years tormenting you and giving you nothing but hate and now all of a sudden you're his number one cheerleader?"

"Well, maybe people can change, Harry, have you ever thought of that?"

"The only thing that's changed about Draco Malfoy is the new bit of ink he's sporting on his left arm!"

I turned away from him, not wanting to hear anymore.

"Where are you going?" He demanded.

"I'm going to go up to my dormitory to pack my things for Christmas," I snapped, whirling back round to glare at him, "I hope you and Ron have a fine time at the Burrow. I guess my invitation got lost in the post along with Ron's heart and your dignity. Goodbye."

And with that I stormed away, leaving him doing his finest impression of a goldfish.

*****

Mum and Dad both nearly had a heart attack when I arrived home and declared I was to be there for the entire duration of the Christmas holidays.

It should have been a lovely break, but my confrontation with Harry had upset me so much that I just ended up feeling blue the entire time, realising that I'd pretty much lost my two best friends. I couldn't remember the last time I spoke to Ron, and now I never wanted to speak to Harry again who would always take Ron's side over mine.

And I hated Lavender Brown for barging in and breaking us up, but I hated Ron more for letting her.

However, I'd then think about Draco and the night we'd spent together. I thought about the way he made my heart sing and my stomach flip. About how amazing it felt to kiss him and how I couldn't wait to kiss him again.

It would be hypocritical of me to hold onto such hatred for Ron when I too was kissing someone else. But it was so hard not to feel bitter about the way I had just been tossed thoughtlessly aside like an old rag doll who'd been replaced by a shiny new Disney Princess.

"So, how's school?" Dad asked as he carved the turkey, his purple paper hat sat askew on top of his fat balding head. "We haven't heard from you in such a long while. We were starting to get worried."

I shrugged. "N.E.W.T.s are a complete nightmare, but I'm being let off one for helping to tutor the school bully. I thought it would be a bit awkward at first, seeing as his father is in prison for trying to murder us last summer, but he actually seems pretty okay. In fact, he's my latest SPEW recruit. That's four in total now, including you, Mum and Viktor."

Mum beamed down at her own badge, touching it proudly. "Our clever little Hermonica," she said as though I were five years-old . "You'll be running for Prime Minister next."

"Minister for Magic, actually," I corrected her. "And besides, that's all really dependent on how things with Lord Voldemort go."

"Lord who?" Dad asked, chewing thoughtfully on a Brussel sprout as though trying to recall if he'd ever heard this name before.

"Voldemort." I repeated, reaching across the table for the gravy-boat. "The one that killed Harry's parents, and then sort of died trying to make it a Potter hat trick, remember? Well, Ron's pet rat resurrected him the summer before last and he's since vowed to get revenge on Harry and anyone who stands in his way. Gravy?"

"Darling," Mum said tentatively, exchanging nervous glances with Dad. "Do you think it might be safer for you to remain at home and go to a normal school from now on? This talk of murder and revenge is making your dad and I quite anxious. How is this school of yours still even open? And why are we never informed about these incidents from your headmaster? Now, you say a classmate's father tried to kill you?"

"During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries," I nodded as I poured salt over my dinner. "I was knocked out for the majority of it, but thankfully the only person they managed to murder was Harry's godfather."

Mum and Dad fell silent, cutlery frozen halfway to their mouths as they paused in their eating.

"And where were the teachers during this... err- battle?" Mum asked, going paler than a Malfoy discovering they're poor.

"Oh, well that was when we had a different headmistress - Umbridge," I said, giving my hand a dismissive wave, "she sacked most of the teachers and tortured the students. But don't worry, she was carried off into the forest by some murderous centaurs."

"You know," Dad said, slowly placing down his fork to wipe a napkin to his mouth. "I think I might give this Bumblebee a quick call, requesting a face to face chat. It's about time your Mum and I met him. Do you happen to know where I can get hold of his number?"

"It's Dumbledore, Dad, and no, he doesn't do telephones."

"Well, I'll run him off a fax then. Or even an email, we've begun to use them in the dentists' haven't we, dear?" He said, turning to Mum who nodded enthusiastically back. "Simply marvellous way to contact people on the spot."

"No. Dumbledore only uses owls."

Dad went quiet and looked at me. "But we haven't got any owls."

Just at that moment, as though on cue, a great big brown owl tapped at the kitchen window, causing my mother to shriek and clutch her chest.

My heart raced as I jumped up and hurried to the window, wondering whose handsome owl this could belong to. I let him in and he swooped down, dropping a small parcel on the counter in front of me.

Curious, I picked up the card that was tucked into the top it and read the neat scrawl.

Granger,

I can't top that badge, but hopefully this will come a close second.

Merry Christmas,

Draco

My lips tugged into a helpless smile as I shakily grabbed the parcel, excitement making my stomach flip as I tore away the brown paper.

Inside was a long narrow black box, and at first I thought it was a wand, but when I lifted the lid, what I found inside was a quill. A beautiful quill made from a large peacock feather.

Trembling, I lifted it carefully up in my fingers, admiring its perfection, feeling utterly touched that Draco picked this out for me.

"Quick," I said, whirling around to face Dad, "write Dumbledore a letter. We can use my friend's owl, I'm sure he won't mind."

Using my new quill, I hurriedly scribbled out my own thank you note to Draco whilst Mum fed his owl some turkey and Dad wrote Dumbledore a heavily worded letter.

Dumbledore's reply came back the following day with a different owl; a Hogwarts owl.

"Ah!" Dad said, smacking his lips satisfactorily together as he read it over. "He says he's got a terribly full schedule at the moment, but will be free to see us in person to discuss our concerns any date after the thirtieth of June next year. And, to make up for any distress caused, he will even shout us to lunch at the most expensive restaurant in London!"

"Oh! What a thoughtful man!" Mum gushed, already won over.

Looking back, it was safe to say that Dumbledore had known exactly what he'd been doing.

*****