A/N: This takes place during HBP, while Ron's with Lavender. To the song "The Runaways" by Anberlin. I do not own Harry Potter.

Draco Malfoy didn't want detention again; it would ruin his careful planning. He took to going to the library when he could, for the research, and the view.

Hermione Granger had been hiding there more often than usual, and that was saying something. Often Potter was with her, but when she was alone, Draco would hide amongst the library stacks and watch her. When Potter would leave, she would smile a happy smile that would evaporate the moment he vanished from sight. He wished the whole library could be empty, no, the whole world, so for a moment, he might stand a chance with Granger.

Come closer now
I know your desire is to be desired
Steal a kiss yet and call us friends
Distance is the thief in which you conspire

Once, on a previous occasion when he watched her, he dropped a book with a heavy crash. Granger spilled her ink everywhere, and Draco had sworn rather badly. She came to investigate, only to find Draco crouched, picking up the tome.

"Malfoy," she said coolly.

"Granger," he replied, just as coolly.

He wished there was warmth between them, and light, and happiness. Not hatred and cold.

Turn and time and time will tell
Time will tell or tear us apart
You're miles and miles and miles away
Silence reveals where we really are

You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
Runaway, runaway girl

Draco knew why she cried: the Weasel. His teeth bared at the thought of the red headed twit and his twattled girlfriend who broke Granger's heart. And still, she cried and cried over him! He admired her devotion. For a heartbeat, he imagined her devotion to him; would she cry like that?

I wish, he thought.

It's clearer now
You're nowhere into giving
Giving into, giving into me
It's your fault
You're like a rare disease
I know you're in love
With love I believe

Draco watched her in silence from behind the stacks, watched her tears fall gracefully from the end of her nose, watched her eyes puff blotchily. She still looked pretty to him. He wondered what she would say if he told her he liked her. With an internal wince, he remembered the slap to the face three years previous. Time knew all, he guessed.

Turn and time and time will tell
Time will tell or tear us apart
You're miles and miles and miles away
Silence reveals where we really are

You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
Runaway, runaway girl

Most days, every day in fact, since he had seen her prodigious skill and courage, he wished she wasn't a Mudblood. He wished it would be okay for him to reveal himself from the stacks and sit with her, and talk, and comfort her. But green and red make a muddy brown, and mud wasn't allowed in his home. She turned his world upside-down, Granger did. He wished he wasn't such a coward. He wished he didn't have to bury everything.

Do you expect me to wait here?
(All alone in my thoughts and fears)
My whole life could flash before your eyes
(Hope one day that you realize)
This isn't the way it's supposed to be
(This is your life girl, now without me)
May regrets for us well up inside
(As feelings for you are buried alive)
Buried alive

He turned away. There wasn't a reason for him to be there, really. The staring and wishful thinking got him nowhere, except into a panic. He had work to do. Most of all, he wished he didn't have to wish. With a whisper of black robes, he stalked out of the library.

You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
You only stand to break my heart
I can tell it by the way you runaway,
Runaway girl
Runaway, runaway girl

Hermione looked up from her textbook, bleary-eyed. She sensed that something outside her scope, like something great had passed and she had missed it in her tears. But she couldn't dwell on that anymore. Homework and heartbreak beckoned.

I only stand to break your heart
You can tell it by the way I walk away,
Runaway girl
I only stand to break your heart
You can tell it by the way I run away,
Runaway girl