A/N: All Characters belong to J.K.R. This is my first Dramione. My First one shot. & my second story. Also, you could check out my other DM/OC/FW story on my profile. Thank you for reading. Reviews and criticism appreciated. Please Review. Even if you hate the story, I really want to improve :)

Takes place during Sixth year, after the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quiddtich match. Malfoy is on the Light Side and works for the Order.

xx

Cadeely

Facing Fears

Hermione Granger sat curled up in her favourite seat in the Gryffindor common room reading a wizarding novel 'Victoria Winslet and the Charming Wizard.' It was the love story of Victoria, a beautiful muggle-born and William, a pure-blood royal. They had been childhood friends who eventually fell in love. Hermione always imagined herself as Victoria and Ron as William, he was after all her best friend, the boy she like, maybe even loved. Yes, If Hermione Granger was sure about anything, it was that she was mad about Ron Weasley, even if he didn't see it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the boy in them. "Mione! What are you...Reading again?"
She nodded simply. "Bloody hell woman, I know that you don't like quidditch, but could you at least be happy for us?" he said gesturing towards Harry and Ginny, who were sitting on the couch beside hers, whispering and cuddling like two love struck teenagers that they were.
"I am happy for you Ron, I'm happy for all three of you and Gryffindor." Ron huffed.
"Doesn't look like it." Hermione closed her book and looked up at Ron. She was absolutely furious at Ron. What did he mean by she wasn't really happy for his win? Of course she was happy that he had saved over a dozen goals that morning during the quidditch match against Slytherin. She was more than happy, she was proud of her best friend. But Ron as usual, didn't understand. She was just about to retort when they were interrupted.

"Won Won, What are you doing here?", her dorm mate Lavender Brown appeared from behind Ron holding two bottles. "I bought some butterbeer for you" , she said handing him a bottle. She turned to look at Hermione, who was still holding her closed book.

Won won, lets leave her to read, it's not like she'll be interested in the after-match party or quidditch for that matter. She only comes along because the three of you play for Gryffindor. She'd rather sit in the library and read, wouldn't you Hermione?"
Hermione grew furious. It wasn't that she didn't like quidditch, she just had a fear of heights and with the accidents that had occurred with Harry since first year, she wasn't too keen about it.
"Yeah, you're right Lav", replied Ron before turning to Hermione, "Maybe you just don't like it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be there for us. It's not like we need you" he mumbled.
"Its not that..", protested Hermione. "Its just..."
"Just what?", asked Ginny.
Hermione didn't know how to explain this fear, she liked being the know-it-all who was good at everything. She looked at Harry and gulped. "I...I just can't tell..its..it's just-"
"No need to explain yourself, we understand. You're scared, you can't fly. Its your fear isn't it? Just because you're scared doesn't mean you can't support us. I, I walked into the Forbidden Forest to 'follow the spiders' even though I had never been so scared all my life. You know why? Because I wanted to support my friend!", spat Ron.
Hermione looked at him bewildered. His face was getting redder.
Lavender took Ron's' hand and turned him to face her, "Don't worry Won Won. Don't let it spoil your mood. You played wonderfully, you know that." She pulled him forward and placed a kiss right on his lips...and Ron... Ron responded to it!
Hermione stared at them, Ron's arms wrapped around Lavender, kissing her roughly. The entire common room whooped and howled, but no one could hear the shattering of Hermione's heart. A few people patted Ron on his back and high-fived him and he grinned shamelessly back at everyone, before pulling Lavender in for another kiss.
Hermione had seen enough. She stuffed her book into her bag and pushed through the sea of people around them. She needed to be alone away from Ron, from Lavender, from the Gryffindor Common Room. As soon as the portrait closed behind her she broke into a sprint. She could feel the stinging in her eyes which was slowly blurring her vision.
She ran into the first empty classroom she found and bursted out into sobs and cried till her head hurt. Ron was right, if he could overcome his fear of spiders for his friend, she could at least try to overcome hers.
After what felt like hours but was barely twenty minutes, she made her decision. Tonight, she would face her fear.

Hermione wiped the tears from her right cheek as she headed towards the Astronomy Tower. She walked upto the tower, her mind buzzing with a million thoughts and gulped in the cold, painful air of the night.

She walked to the edge of the tower and placed her hands on the cold rimmed bars. She held on tightly as she climbed on to the other side. The cold night air whipped a few strands of her hair onto her face. She took in the view and made herself comfortable before slowly releasing her hands from the bars. Hermione closed her eyes and leaned forward and before she knew it, she was falling, falling into empty nothingness.

Hermione felt the sensation in the pit of her stomach but suddenly it stopped, all too soon. She couldn't have reached the ground so soon. Hermione felt sleek muscular hands hold her, but she knew that they were still in the air because of the winds that sent occasional chills down her body. Then she heard a voice, a soft, silky male voice that sounded full of concern. "Granger, Granger can you hear me? Granger please reply."
Hermione lay still with her eyes still shut in the arms of this stranger. His firm grip was assuring and made her feel safe, but she still couldn't forget what she had seen just minutes ago.

"Granger, please...Hermione", the voice spoke softly. Since the other person had spoken her name, Hermione thought it would be safe to open her eyes. She slowly looked up and saw a pair of familiar stormy grey eyes looking back at her.

Draco Malfoy didn't have a smirk or sneer on his face, but he looked even more worried than his voice had sounded. "Thank Merlin you're alright."

"Let go of me," she said quietly, her voice thick with emotion as tears began to fill her eyes. "No", he retorted. "What were you thinking Granger? Were you out of your mind...jumping like that?" Hermione struggled to get out of his grip and resume her fall but he was just so much stronger that she failed miserably.
"Let go of me Malfoy."
"Who..Just tell me who made you do this?"
"No one, I came here by myself, because I wanted to.", she replied, her voice cracking.
Malfoy pulled her closer and held her so that she could cry. "Tell me, please.", he replied softly. Hermione shook her head. "Potter?" She shook her head again
"Weasel?" Hermione tried to repeat her action, but just the mention of Ron's name brought back all the feelings. She broke down into loud sobs, clinging on to Malfoys robes. He wrapped his arms around her and smoothened her hair. "Don't worry Granger, I'll make sure that Weasel can never smile again. Tell me what happened."
Hermione recalled what happened in the Common room, how Ron had almost yelled at her, how she felt and why she had jumped from the astronomy tower. By the end of it Draco's face was hard and filled with anger but he spoke to her calmly "Few questions Granger.." She nodded,

"First, What do you even see in that Weaselbee? There are dozens of better looking boys in Hogwarts who'd love to be with you and treat you better than Weaselbee. Second, do you think he would come running back to you if you did something as reckless as you were about to? He'd distance himself more, think you were obsessed with him or something. Hell, I'd be freaked if it were me. Third, why would you, the smartest witch of her age try to face your fear of flying without a broom? And finally, do you really think nobody cares about you?"
Hermione looked at him as he asked his last question, her vision was a lot less blurry and she could see his pale complexion glinting in the moonlight, his eyes filled with concern and his blonde hair looking ruffled. She looked down and noticed that he was still wearing his quidditch robes.
"Like what you see?", smirked Malfoy. Hermione glared at him and punched him on his arm. "Ouch Granger, you hit like a man!" She blushed as he mockingly rubbed his arm. "Very funny, Malfoy"
"Well, I still remember the last time you hit me, had to tell Pomfrey that I got into a riff with a senior Slytherin. She took 50 points from our house."
"You totally deserved it.", she said as a small grin spread across her face.
"Getting back to my point Granger, you still haven't answered me."
"Well..", she gulped "I don't know about Ron, and maybe you're right, what I did was stupid, I would probably have scared him and all my friends off..."
"Shh, Granger..Shhh..listen" Hermione gave him a confused look and tried to concentrate and see if she could hear anything?
"What?, she whispered. "Can you hear them? Can you hear the winds of change?"
"The winds of change?", she asked looking at him in amusement.
"Yes, everything will change tonight, you will stop worrying about that...and you will start living for yourself. Granger, stop waiting on him, you may love him a lot, but you won't be happy. Go be with someone who makes you happy, alright?" She nodded.
"Good, now lets help you with the reason we're hanging over a 100 feet above ground on a broomstick." As realization dawned on her, Hermione's facial expressions turned into those of a deer under the headlights. "No, No Malfoy, No!"
"Trust me?" Of course, she didn't trust him. He had been an absolute prat to her for the past five and half years, he made her life miserable and yet here she was, trying to face one of her biggest fears, with him. What if she said no? Would he let go of her and let her die? No, She didn't deserve to die, she deserved better. She would practice with Malfoy and overcome her fear. She would find someone better and shove it in Lavender and Won-Wons face. Hermione gathered all her Gryffindor courage and nodded.
"Granger, do this for me and I'll face one of my fears in front of you tonight, alright?"
Hermione didn't know what to say next but Draco slowly brought his arms around her waist and made her turn around on the broom in mid air. Hermione's body stiffened as he did so. 'Nope, not enough courage.', she thought to herself. This was still terrifying. "Relax Granger, I wouldn't have saved you in the first place if I wanted you dead." Hermione gripped the front of his broomstick with both her hands and Draco held them firmly with his left. He took out his wand from the pockets in his robes and cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and Hermione. Hermione felt the unusual feeling of an egg being cracked on her head. "Oh come on Granger, nobody would want to be caught dead flying around the grounds at this time of the night."
"Malfoy, I'm scared.", she mumbled "I realize that", he replied. "You need to relax."
Draco moved forward and pressed his body against hers. He wrapped his hands over her petite ones and whispered slowly, "better now?" She nodded. "Good"
Hermione accidentally looked down and the view terrified her. She closed her eyes and slowly felt the wind blowing through her hair. When she opened them she saw that they were now heading towards the black lake. The view was breath-taking even under the moonlight. She wondered what it looked like during the day. "Wow."
"You should see it at dawn, its just heavenly.", said the voice behind her. Hermione for a moment had forgotten that she was with Draco Malfoy.
"Let's go back?"
"Fine."
This time Hermione kept her eyes open and looked around as they passed the quidditch pitch, Hagrid's hut and the Herbology Greenhouses. Draco halted the broom right by the Astronomy Tower. "Go on then.", he said but Hermione didn't move. He looked in the direction of her gaze, and there it was. Weasel and some blond girl were snogging by the window of the Gryffindor Tower.
"He doesn't deserve you.", whispered Draco.
"I know", she replied. Draco let go of his grip over her hands and Hermione felt the warmth leave her body. But instead of getting off, she tightened her grip and with a swift movement, turned the broomstick mid air.
"Woah Granger, Careful there.", shouted Draco quickly grabbing hold of her so as to not lose the balance.
Hermione circled the castle on the Nimbuzz 2001 a few times till all her fear had seeped through her soul and was replaced by confidence. When they finally landed back at the Astronomy Tower, Draco took of the Disillusionment Charms from them and was about to get back on his Nimbuzz when Hermione spoke.
"Thank you Malfoy."
'No big deal Granger, in case you ever beat The Dark Lord, don't forget to mention my contribution in helping you fly, okay?", he said winking at her. She giggled back. "Malfoy wait."
"Now what?"
"You said that you'd face a fear of yours in front of me if I overcame my fear of flying."
Draco cocked his head to a side and narrowed his eyes. "Did I really say that?"
"Yes! Now tell me!", she demanded. "Alright, alright. You got me.", he said raising his arms in mock surrender. Draco walked up and stood right in front of Hermione. His figure towering over hers. "Are you sure you want me to do this?", he asked. Hermione thought of what he might be indicating towards considering the proximity of their bodies, but she just nodded. Draco brought his right hand up to her chin and lifted it up. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione froze at this unexpected contact. She wasn't really expecting a kiss, but Draco's lips felt warm and soft against her cold, dry ones. He licked her lower lip and nibbled on it and Hermione let his tongue into her mouth. After the most fantastic kiss she had ever experienced, Hermione slowly opened her eyes to look at him. "Malfoy", she said in a barely audible whisper, "how is this your fear?"
"Kissing you wasn't the part of fear...Hermione. It was the rejection part. I've had a crush on you since third year. I was just too stubborn to admit it until tonight."
"You-"
"I thought it would be impossible, you know, us. That's why I probably called you names and taunted you every time we met. I'm sorry Hermione, I really am."
"Its okay, I forgive you." Draco's face relaxed and he gave her half a smile. "I don't expect you to like me back if you don't want to. I just wanted you to forgive me and be my friend." Hermione nodded.
"And do me a favour, please don't go jumping around from balconies. I almost died when I saw you jump."
"Alright. I won't jump to death. I'm not so keen on dying as yet. I want to see how this goes with you...our friendship I mean."
" Of course", he said nodding in approval. He took her right hand and placed a kiss on it.
"Good Night Hermione."
"Good Night Draco" His heart skipped a beat as she took his name. Draco mounted his broom and turned back to see her, "By the way Granger, I care." He kicked off his Nimbuzz and flew into the night sky. Hermione stood there wondering if Draco had meant what he said and if he could be the William to her Victoria.