However shallowly the term applied. They rarely spoke or sought each other out, and Draco’s involvement in the whole thing ethically muddied the relationship—she was one of his masters, and he the servant—but Hermione couldn’t bear to think of it that way. He had been a friend once. In her eyes, he still was—they shared a history and a family (in a sense). That may have been years ago, but it was enough.