Chapter Text
Hermione smiled contentedly as she walked down the cobblestone path of Diagon Alley. The street was finally restored to its former glory. Gone were the boarded up shops and the air of despair. Now that the war was over everything was bright and cheerful once more. Hermione was in Diagon Alley to get her school supplies. Always the over-achiever, she was returning to Hogwarts to complete her 7th year even though she didn't need to. Part of it was that she craved normalcy after the horrors of the war. She expected that those sentiments were shared by Ron and Harry and were what had made convincing them to come back surprisingly easy.
After her routine visit to Flourish and Blotts and a trip to Madame Malkins for some new school robes, Hermione made her way to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. It was packed when she got there however. The only seat available was at the bar next to a man with an extremely familiar shock of white-blonde hair. "Malfoy," Hermione murmured. After the war, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had been sentenced to Azkaban—for life in Lucius's case, in a highly publicized trial. Harry had testified for Narcissa, speaking of how she had saved his life by lying to Voldemort, and earned her a reduced sentence. Draco Malfoy had gotten off completely, and had retreated from the public eye. Hermione wondered if the war and the events afterwards had changed him at all. She certainly wasn't going to go over to ask him however.
Tom the bartender noticed her at that moment. "Ms. Granger! What an honor. Please come have a seat." He gestured to the stool next to Malfoy's.
"O-oh that's alright Tom. There don't seem to be any seats available." Hermione said desperately.
"That's alright Granger. I won't be offended." The ever-familiar drawl of Draco Malfoy cut in. Not to be outdone, Hermione marched over and sat down.
"Well in that case!" She snapped.
Malfoy smirked but didn't say anything else. He merely stared straight ahead and took a sip of his drink. Tom, after looking back and forth between them shrugged and said, "What can I get for you Ms. Granger?"
"I'll have a plate of Sunday Roast thanks," Hermione said with a smile. Tom bowed and walked away. Draco snorted.
"What?!" Hermione snapped.
"I wouldn't have expected any less from you Granger. Always the snob."
Hermione huffed but said nothing, not wanting to engage him in one of the tiring exchanges she'd grown to expect from their school days. She could not stop herself from glancing over at the brooding blonde next to her however. Malfoy was still as good looking as ever, she grudgingly admitted to herself. Something was different however. Not only in the dark circles that stood out under his eyes, but in the way that he held himself. His posture was no longer as arrogant or self-assured. Hermione's observant eyes also noted that despite the hot summer day, Malfoy wore a long sleeved shirt. Finally noticing her gaze, Malfoy followed her eyes to his arms and reflexively grabbed his left forearm. Sneering at her, he drowned the last of his drink, threw down a few coins and stalked out of the bar before Hermione could say anything.
A few days later, Hermione found herself in Diagon Alley once more, this time with Ron, Harry, and Ginny. The other three had to get their school supplies and Hermione had agreed to accompany them. Hermione couldn't help remembering the unusual encounter she had had the last time she had visited Diagon Alley. Malfoy had seemed different, wounded almost. She had told none of her friends about her encounter. While she despised Malfoy just as much as Harry and Ron, she had always been more practical, never seeking a fight the way they did. She knew that Malfoy was the way he was because of the way he'd been raised, and so she didn't hold his behavior against him the way that Ron and Harry did. She knew that they'd flip if they even knew she had sat next to Malfoy.
It was when the four friends were in Flourish and Blotts getting school books from the seventh year section (Ginny was in seventh year now too) that they ran into him.
"Malfoy! You're going back too?" Ron blurted out.
"Ah look who it is. Potty, Weasels and the Bucktooth Know-it-all." Malfoy drawled.
Ginny glanced at Hermione and Hermione knew that she too had noticed the downgrade of Malfoy's insult. He always referred to Hermione as Mudblood. Hermione couldn't help wondering if it had anything to do with their encounter the other day. Ron and Harry were too riled up to notice.
"Piss off Ferret!" Harry snapped.
"With pleasure Pothead," Malfoy replied. "I have better things to do than waste my time on you four." As he said this he glanced at Hermione. Then he whirled around and walked away.
"What was that about?" Ginny whispered to Hermione.
"I have no idea." Hermione replied.
Draco mentally cursed himself. He had caught the glance exchanged between Granger and the Weaslette. He hoped that they weren't reading into his toned down insult. Just because he wasn't as bigoted as he had once been didn't mean that he'd had a sudden change of heart and wanted to get all chummy with Granger. He was still a Slytherin, she was still a Gryffindor and annoying to boot. He simply wanted to separate himself from You-know-Who's ways now that he could. He was still very much arrogant and Slytherin in his behavior, he simply didn't want to be looked at as a death eater or like his father. He'd have to make up for his mistake by insulting her the first chance he got once they were back at school. He knew that she was so nosy that she'd want to poke around and find out why he hadn't called her a Mudblood. She probably thought that she could 'fix' his behavior now that the war was over and Draco was having none of it. He wanted to be left alone by everyone this year, especially Granger and her sidekicks. Draco was only going back to school so that he wouldn't be alone until his mother came home. Yes, he'd have to make it very clear that even though the war was over, he was still Draco Malfoy Slytherin Prince.