We walk down to the kitchen in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. I am fighting the urge not to say something, anything to get us out of this silence, but I can't think of anything that won't offend her so bad that I have nobody here at Hogwarts that talks to me.
We finally reach the portrait, and I stop, unsure who is going to admit us. Finally, I reach out, just as Granger does. Our hands touch just for a second before she pulls away, making a face like she just touched fire. I feel the blush that I was ignoring, creep up my neck even more, and I resume the rubbing of my neck, trying to cover it.
"Oh Merlin!" she cries out, "Are you going to tickle the pear, or am I?" Wow. This girl gets right to the point.
"You can..." I tell her, still concealing the dimming blush on my neck.
"Is everything okay with your neck?" She says, raising an eyebrow in a way that tells me she knows it's something more than an itch.
"N-no, I mean yes," I quickly answer, "Just a bad habit." She raises the other eyebrow but leans in to tickle the pear. I immediately take my hand off my neck and stuff it in the pocket of my robes.
The portrait swings forward to let us in, and I lead the way, still embarrassed by the whole 'neck' thing. We enter the kitchen to the happy squeals of house elves. I wave at a few of them, trying to show Granger that I am not as much of a... 'monster'... as I used to be. She grabs my arm, and I groan.
"What am I doing wrong?" I hiss at her through gritted teeth,
"Treat them like you would humans," she hisses back, "You would never walk in a room full of people and start waving at them. I know you wouldn't."
"Well, forgive me for trying to be kind!" I spat, disappointed that I made such a bad impact on her thoughts on me early on in our lives. Honestly, I think Granger is okay. NEVER tell anyone I said that though. EVER!
"Malfoy?" she says, and I realize I have been standing in the same spot for over a minute, lost in my thoughts.
"Oh... sorry Granger," I say, "What were you saying?"
"I asked if you wanted dark or milk chocolate."
"Are you making it?" I ask her, suddenly noticing the absence of House-elves.
"Yes." She responds, "I gave them a break. Dumbledore..." she breaks off, "Well... you wouldn't want to hear about it. It's very boring to Harry and Ron." She flinches at Ron's name but keeps eye contact with me the whole time. I honestly am surprised at how well she is holding up after the breakup. I mean after the war those two were totally inseparable.
"And why would you think I was like them?" I ask her, a little harsher than I had originally planned.
"Y-you want to hear about it?" she asks me, surprise covering every inch of her face, "Really?"
"Sure..." I answer slowly, noticing the grin slowly spreading on her face. "But first, I want hot chocolate," I tell her. And then to answer the look she gives me, "With dark chocolate." She goes to make it and I sink down into a chair at the table, crossing my legs and resting my elbow on the table.
She hurries back, two mugs bobbing along after her in the air. I smile a little at her charm work and pick up the mug that lands in front of me, cradling it with both hands. She does the same, and in the process, I see that her liquid is much lighter than mine. I raise an eyebrow at her and she looks down at her drink, following my gaze.
"Oh, it's coffee." She explains, and I nodded, wondering what to say.
"So Granger... how did you have the power to dismiss the house elves?"
She looks nervous, but starts speaking right away, using the same strong voice she used when she was addressing us at the prefect meeting.
“So, Dumbledore finally heard about S.P.E.W. I mean, I don’t know what took him so long, but he heard, and he called me to his office at the end of 5th year. So basically, he tells me that he agrees with everything I was saying,” I cough at this, choking back a laugh, “Promoting.” She corrects, looking pointedly at me. “Anyway, he told me that obviously, he is not allowed to, or able to dismiss all the house elves. I wasn’t surprised, I mean I knew he would have done it by then if he could.” She stops here, her voice choking up a bit, “Sorry, I just...”
“I’m sorry” I say, tears spiking my eyes in spite of myself. “It’s all my fault, if I hadn’t...” my voice cracks, and my eyes burn. I feel then burn, wishing Beyoncé wishes that none of the tears will slide down my face.
At this, Granger is mopping up her own tears. I notice that she doesn't say anything to contradict what I said about it being my fault, and my stomach wrenches.
“I-I,” I stammer, “I’m going to go.” I stuff my hands forcefully into the pockets of my jeans and stumble out of the room. Before I leave, Granger says something and I turn back.
“I’m with you whatever happens. I wasn’t then, and I might not be in the future, but for now, you have me.” And that has me something to think about as I stomped up the stairs to the Room of Requirement

a/n here it is!! Thank so much to Jess Granger my beta for editing this chapter, and to everyone who is reading this! Hope you enjoyed!!