A/N: Well, people, this is my new story, I sincerely hope that someone will like it, since I try my best to write something good. Review if you like, but this is written to entertain you, not to force you to do something. Oh, and one thing, I don't accept flames. If you have insulting thoughts, please be kind and keep them to yourself. Thank you.

Disclaimer: Of course, this useless rambling is the actual beginning of book five, focusing not on Harry but on Draco and Hermione, and an actual relationship between the two?! I mean, sure, it'd be cool since this is my favourite ship, but please, people. Be realistic.

„Roooon!" Hermione Granger wailed, yanking her plate away from her best friend, Ron Weasley. 

"Stop eating my things! Honestly, I can't understand how you can stay so thin! All you do is eat!"

"But come on, 'Mione, you wouldn't have eaten it anymore anyway. Please?"

"No. Go bother Lavender or something, she's probably on diet again anyway."

Ron sent his new girlfriend a baleful glare.

"Yeah she is, but she's trying to starve me, too!"

"Meaning I won't give him any more food than he's supposed to eat!" Came the derisive reply from across the table, from where Lavender Brown eyed her boyfriend with a shake of her head.

With a final, defeated sigh, Hermione sat her plate down in front of Ron. "Fine."

"YAY! Thanks, 'Mione!" And the red head disappeared in the jungle of spaghetti carbonara. Hermione sighed again and gave Harry Potter, centre of the dream team and her other best friend, a warning glare.

"Don't grin like that, I'm in a foul mood from now on."

"Alright, alright, 'Mione."

But the hidden grin did not go unnoticed by either Hermione or Ginny Weasley, sister to Ron and Harry's biggest fan, which resulted in Harry groaning at the elbow in his ribs and sending both an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, baby."

And with a peck on the cheek, Ginny was all fanatic Jell-O again, eyeing Harry as if he was the golden calf. Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew why she didn't want to fall in love. It made you do terribly humiliating and embarrassing things. But somehow, sometime... it would be nice to have someone look at you as if you were the world to him...

Her train of thought was interrupted by Ron emitting a displeased grunt at another empty plate before him. He needed more, obviously. She turned and asked Harry quietly:

"Honestly, how can he be so gleeful about having one plate of food and then look like he expected the world's end just because it's empty?"

"That's because he doesn't get enough at home, they can't afford it."

Without bothering to look up, Hermione rolled her eyes again and answered in the same annoying, taunting, almost sneering voice, trying to make the dismissal clear:

"Oh, how very funny, Malfoy. Now go and entertain your gorillas, they might even laugh. I heard there's people who like your sorry attempt of humor."

"Like there's absolutely no people who like your sorry excuse for hair, Granger? You should get a bird or something, it could nest in it."

"Wow, getting better I see. How original. Now try to say a word with four syllables and I'll give you a cookie."

"Ridiculous bitch. Oh, wait, that was two. Oh, my, sorry!"

Ron jumped up, grabbing the other boy by the collar.

"Get lost, you scum, or I swear I'll scalp you and... and..."

Due to his rage, Ron was obviously at a loss of words. Malfoy smirked and raised his silvery blond eyebrow.

"What a threat, Weasley. So very inventive and as rich in doom as you are in Galleons."

With that, he turned and motioned for Crabbe and Goyle to follow.

"Have a nice day, idiots."

It took several minutes until Lavender had Ron calmed enough to stop clenching and unclenching his fists at a three seconds rhythm. Hermione touched his arm and gave him a shake of her head.

"Don't get yourself worked up, Ron. He's not worth it. He's not worth your or my or anyone's rage or any other emotion for that matter."

She looked up to the brightly blue heaven ceiling, thinking back to the many times when he had managed to get her enraged, despite how much she knew his unworthiness of it. The slap in third year had been the top of it all, and since then she miraculously managed to just stay cool, whatever he threw at her. he only caused her uneasiness and sucked up more of her energy than he was ever worth. Simply shrugging him off was so much better, and it seemed to displease him so much more than a heated reply that she was even more assured of her behaviour around him.

When she came back from dreamland, she noticed that the hall had gone quiet. Dumbledore stood and prepared for an announcement and everyone besides her was listening. Scandalous!

She set her ears quickly on whatever the old bearded man was going to say. 

"Students, you are dismissed. But may I please have Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy come up here?"

Hermione gave a surprised gasp and shared one confused look with Ron and Harry before heading up to the teacher's table. From periphery, she noticed Malfoy doing the same. Despite sharing a confused glance with anyone, since nobody at his house table seemed to have enough brain cells to modificate their expressions from the gloomy masks that were so familiar and usual for them.

She stopped her firm strode and stood in front of her teachers, McGonnagall who was giving her an approving glance and sending of the complete opposite at Malfoy, Snape, doing it the other way around, and the others, varying from pure boredom up to concerned smiles. And Dumbledore, the mischievous smile so evident in his eyes that Hermione fought the urge to shudder. That man was planning something.

Malfoy, in his oh-so-polite Slytherin manners, turned a bored, but pretty much blank face to the old Headmaster:

"You wanted to speak to me?"

"Oh, yes, my dear children, I have an important task to accomplish for the both of you. Since you are the topmost students of your year," At this Hermione threw Malfoy a surprised glance which he answered with a self-assured smirk, "I want you to meet up tonight and go up to Astronomy Tower to study the constellation of Uranus and Mercury which are in an unusual position, and take notes on your observations. Please report to this table after your breakfast tomorrow and turn in an essay of at least six pages, and may I add, an essay you wrote together. Your grades and your probable position as Head Girl and Head Boy depend on it. You are to meet alone at eleven p.m. and neither of you is allowed, whatever circumstances occur, to leave the Tower before three a.m. Am I clear? Good then, you are dismissed."

He fixed both adolescents with an extremely amused and almost roguish smile, then sat back down. Hermione and Draco fixed each other with a confused frown before Malfoy remembered just what he was looking at. He gave her a sneer, turned away from the teachers with a nod and began to stalk away, his robes swishing behind him Slytherin style.

"Very well then." Hermione switched her gaze from his retreating back to the people in front of her, gave a departure smile and made her way down the hall.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"'MIONE! What did they want?"

Her two best friends and their respective counterparts gathered around the girl, frowning deep in thought.

"Uh... Dumbledore wants me and Malfoy to go up to Astronomy Tower tonight to observe some weird constellation..."

"What?! And for that you actually had to come up to Dumbledore? Why didn't McGonnagall tell you?"

The girl looked up to her black haired friend, still wearing a thoughtful frown:

"That's my problem, Harry. I simply don't know what this is to mean, and I did not like the way Dumbledore announced it."

Ron sent her an encouraging smile, exclaiming:

"Oh, come on, 'Mione, it's not that bad! I mean, we can come with you, can't we?"

She turned her head to the redhead, shaking it:

"No, Ron. I'll spend my night alone at Astronomy Tower with Malfoy, it seems."

"PLEASE WHAT?! You can't! He's gonna rape you or something! I knew Dumbledore was simply insane!"

Hermione rolled her eyes resignedly. She had predicted this reaction, from both of them. Harry looked more worried than enraged though.

"Yes, Harry, I know what you are going to say, and no, I will not go to Dumbledore and ask if he can cancel it, no, I don't want you to follow me with the Invisibility Cloak, and yes, I am perfectly able to defend myself against that lunatic. Besides, Ron, he wouldn't simply for the fact that I'm an oh-so-very-dirty-and-filthy Mudblood, remember? So don't worry, I'll be fine. If I'm not back at three thirty, you may come check on me, but if I see one black or red hair-yes, even from you, Ginny- then you will all be doing your Potions Homework without me until the end of our school time, all right?"

The four nodded with dreading looks on their faces. Hermione was their last anchor of rescue when it came to Potions, since they all pretty much failed to understand any of Prof. Snape's endless rambling.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Quarter to eleven on the huge grandfather clock in the common room found Hermione striding towards the door, wrapped into her thick cloak from back home in the muggle world, charmed to keep her warm, a quill and several rolls of parchment tucked under her arm and her hair pulled up into a messy bun like she did at home.

The night was chilly, but the stars were sparkling clear. The lake glistened a little distance away while she walked and enjoyed the silence.

Moments like these she found simply beautiful.

Despite what everyone else did, Hermione had never feared the darkness. She fairly liked it. Everything seemed nice and beautiful, no arguing or crying could be heard through the silence, and everything around her was touched in a simply pacifying blue, shortening the difference between something good and something evil. Why, Hermione even thought that in darkness, there were no such things as good and evil, it was simply the after pains of the prejudices of hard and unjust daylight.

But of course, that was only the still and lonely darkness. There was also the darkness occupied by Deatheaters, cold and cruel, filled with agonizing cries of dying innocents and the evil cackling of an insane mind.

The girl shook her head firmly, trying to chase those thoughts away. Despite the fact that she was walking straight into the arms of one that was very probable to participate in that kind of darkness soon.

Oh, come on, 'Mione, just because he's an asshole doesn't mean he's a murderer. Besides, you can't avoid him tonight.

She entered the Tower, climbing up the countless stairs until she arrived, pretty much breathless, on the platform on top.

Of course, he was late. She frowned.

"No, little Miss-Perfect-Granger, big bad wolf Malfoy is not late. He's right here."

She gasped and whirled around, watching a tall figure step out from behind her.

"How did you-"

He gave a derisive snort.

"Oh, please. Your face is so easy to read, and besides, what else could you have been thinking about, Philistine? Oh, Malfoy's not on time, call Dumbledore and get him expelled, the ruthless bastard!"

She shot him a nasty look.

"Look, we have to tolerate each other for a little while, so cut out your insults for the time being and we'll be fine, all right? Besides, someone recently told me that my punch was good enough to rival a guy's, so please don't make me continue our little issue from third year."

"Oh my god, Granger's threatening me! Someone help!"

His high-pitched voice à la Pansy Parkinson turned back into the male baritone his voice had gone into after his preteen years:

"But anyways, let's say that until three a.m., we have a deal. You don't act like your prissy, bossy little self and I stop insulting you."

"Fine. Now, do you even know what Dumbledore was talking about back there?"

"Like I ever listened to an old man's delirious rambling."

"Stop insulting other people, too."

He gave a melodramatic sigh.

"Fine."

"But back to topic. So you have really no idea what we're supposed to do?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Damn."

"What?"

"Well, me neither."

"What?! Granger doesn't know what she's supposed to do even though her grade depends on it? Someone call the Daily Prophet!"

"Oh, shut up, you! I heard something about Uranus and Mercury and their constellation towards each other, but I see nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's because you can't see them since you don't have any telescope."

She gave him a smug grin.

"Maybe that's the case for you poor spoiled pureblood, but since I was proud member of the girl scouts, I can locate them anyway."

His face scrunched up in confusion.

"What the hell is a girl scout?"

"Forget it. Look, up there, in that star system- see it? Good.- the bright one, that's Uranus. Now on to Mercury. It's a lot farther away, so its light is pretty weak. Look, there. You can see something faintly blinking, don't you?"

"No, I seem to be absolutely unable to since your ability to give a way description equals you ability to fly."

"Alright, I give up, you're unbearable!"

She stalked over to the stairs, determined to just let him stand there and ramble to himself if he wanted to.

"Tut-tut, Miss Granger. Have you forgotten that this assignment will only be correctly done if both of us stay here until after three o'clock? You disappoint and shock me. Two improper things in one night!"

She sent him a hateful glare, but turned and stalked back over to him.

"Can you just shut your mouth for four hours? Silence for two-hundred-and-forty minutes, Gods, that's all I'm asking for!"

"If you could manage to get your ugly face out of my line of vision, I might!"

"Oh, I'm fed up with your shit! Stare at something else if you can't stand it, or jump off the fucking tower for all I care!"

"Don't you dare talk that way to me, Mudblood! You're beneath me, barely more than a House Elf, and I will not have you talking back to me like that!"

"So, what are you gonna do, Big Bad Draco? Call Daddy?"

"You don't know a shit about my father nor me, so shut your fucking mouth!"

"Fuck off, you idiot! I have enough of you and your stupid prejudices!"

They stood mere inches from another without even realising it. The one thing both probably had farthest from their minds was a romantic encounter of any sorts with the ones before them. So when Hermione raised her hands to shove him, neither expected anything extraordinaire to happen.

But as soon as her fingers made contact, a blinding white shot up, causing both to wince and try to shield their eyes. But it was useless, the light seemed to creep through the girl's body, hot and painful. Her head pounded as Hermione felt her legs give way, ands she fell into Draco. Who seemed in no less trouble than she was. Finally, with a simultaneous, pained cry, the two fell, still clutching to each other to have at least something to hold onto while the pain pulled them away into deep unconsciousness.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco woke up, emitting a small groan at his inexplicably sore muscles. Oh, and his heavy chest. Really heavy. Was he dead, maybe? What a bliss that would be.

But, the heavy feeling on his chest began to stir which told him that it had to be something alive. Opening his eyes with the hope against hope that he did not lie straight in the sun's direction, but the blinding sting in his eyes told him that he had been wrong.

Finally, as the thing on his chest pushed up, his face fell into shadow and his grey eyes snapped open.

He was staring straight into the gold brown orbs of Hermione Granger, straddling his lap and supporting her arms on his chest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Owww. Pain, pain, pain.

Hermione groaned, feeling like she'd been absolutely wasted and just recovering.

Oh wait. Hermione Granger had never in her whole sixteen years of life been even in the least bit wasted and did not plan to.

So what was this, this weird kind of headache, this hard, but somehow soft thing underneath her and feeling of complete amnesia of whatever had occurred before?

She felt the sun on her back, which confused her since she indistinctly remembered that it had been night when she'd been awake. But it also assured her that she could open her eyes without actually blinding them. Her hands searched for support on the weird underground and she pushed up, opening her eyes and-

Staring down at the weird underground called Draco Malfoy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For a moment, they just sat and stared at each other, dumbfounded, unable to snap out of this awkward trance.

Then, both blinked like only just now really awakening, and tried to get off each other as fast as possible.

Hermione made a face of disgust:

"Oh my god, I actually lay on you! On top of you! Draco Malfoy! Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

She wiped her robes as if trying to get him off.

"You're one to talk, I at least have clean blood!"

"Yeah, maybe, but the nastiest mind I have ever had the chance to get a glimpse of!"

"Wait, are you implying that I had thoughts involving any kind of sexual interaction between the two of us?! Oh, now I'm gonna be sick!"

"Oh, shut up, we have other things to worry about. Like, for instance, where are we? This is not the Astronomy tower."

"How do you know?"

"Look beneath you, this is grass, Sherlock!"

He threw a glance down, but managed miraculously not to show any sign of embarrassment.

"Ah yes."

She sent him a glare.

"So, any conclusions?"

"Well, obviously, we're in the open."

He surveyed their surroundings quickly, then turned his head back to her, face blank and not sneering for once.

"And I'd say we're still at Hogwarts, because of the lake and castle and such. But something feels... out of place."

"Like the fact that we miraculously made it a hundred meters to the ground and almost five hundred meters away from the tower without even being conscious?"

"Yeah, that's one. But there's still something else. My sixth sense kinda goes off."

Despite the fact that he was unarguably right, Hermione couldn't help but taunt him, trying to repay all these years of being called names.

"Ohhh, your sixth sense! How could I have overlooked that? It is most important to the success of our mission and our survival, is it not?"

She raised a mocking eyebrow, finally managing to get him to scowl.

"Yes, damn Mudblood, to my survival it is! It's managed countless times to warn me before my father stormed-"

Shit. He had stopped himself just in time before he could reveal anything of the thousands of beatings he had received in his short life, but knowing the Mudblood, she figured it out and was now starting to pity her mortal enemy. He shook his head inwardly.

Beati pauperes spiritu. Blessed are the poor of mind.

"What?!"

Her snap brought him back to present, realizing that she eyed him in an annoyed fashion. Something different from the usual hatred.

"Nothing."

"You shook your head at me like you were a psychiatrist and I was insane!"

"What's a psychiatrist?"

"Oh, forget it, moron."

"Don't dare call me names!"

"Oh, Big Bad Draco has the only privilege of calling someone names? Come on, I wanna have some fun, too!"

Her cheerful voice was dripping of sarcasm, and it was ticking Draco off.

"Shut your mug, woman."

"Don't call me woman."

"Why? Three a.m. is obviously long gone."

"Ah, which brings me back to a more urgent problem than your ignorance. Where the fuck are we?!"

"Oh Heavens, Granger used a swear word! Daily Prophet, here! Over here! Oh, Skeeter, where art thou?"

"Oh, sod off, git!"

He sneered, then lifted himself off the grass. Without offering her his hand, she pointedly noticed. Then, an exaggerated voice at the back of her mind yelled:

'For heaven's sake, Hermione, it's Draco Malfoy! What did you expect?!'

She nodded and stood up, hurrying away to catch up to his fast stride. Good point. But still...

Well, at least he knew Shakespeare.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Alright. My little wristwatch here says it's one o'clock. We really are at Hogwarts. No one has noticed or missed us yet, which, in my case, is weird because usually Ron and Harry are over-protective."

"They were probably busy screwing their girls or something."

"Oh, shut-"

"You're repeating yourself, Granger."

"Yup, because this is the only not insulting thing I can think of to say to you at rhythmic intervals."

"Oh, shut up, woman."

She threw him an irritated glare.

"Come on, let's get inside."

"Why?"

"Uh, wait, let me think a moment... because this is our school and we should actually be participating in the lessons held in there?"

She said this pig-dog-manner (as in extremely slow and stressed), trying to irritate him as well.

It worked.

He sent her a hateful glare, hissing lowly:

"Have you ever thought about the possibility of this being a trap or something? That we can't just stalk in there and plop down in our usual seats and begin chatting with our friends?!"

"Uh... no." She cast her head down, hoping he wouldn't catch the pinkish notion on her cheeks.

But where are the gods when you need them? Probably enjoying an aroma bath or something, the girl thought sarcastically as she heard the young man in front of her exclaim:

"Oh, will someone look here? Perfect Granger is blushing school-girl-style! How cute!"

"Oh, FUCK OFF, you idiot!"

"Tsktsk, no swearing please, Miss-Future-Head-Girl, it may appear on your record!"

She shoved him in the chest, luckily without the after effects of last night, but of course, Mr. I'm-A-Quidditch-Player-And-Whenever-Someone-Pokes-Me-In-The-Chest-I-Don't-Even-Budge did not receive any kind of balance damage or even a nice fall smack on his damn ass. He just stood there with this annoying, infuriating, Tempting-You-To-Punch-It-Off, sexy Malfoy smirk.

Ohhhh, WAIT... What have I just thought? SEXY? Oh my god, I'm going insane!

Draco threw Hermione a confused glance as the girl grabbed her hair as if she wanted to pull it off. Pretty hard task with this bush. They were hard to uproot after what he'd heard.

For a second, her expression reminded him of that she'd worn after she noticed that she had been laying on him. Pure disgust... and he knew that this was just the natural reaction after waking up on your mortal enemy's chest, that it should have been his reaction, too...

But hadn't felt so bad having someone so close to you, even if it was Granger.

He shook his head in an attempt to get it clear and turned to the girl beside him, still fiercely pulling at her hair.

"Come on, we're gonna sneak in and look around for a bit."

She looked up, as if surprised he was even there, then nodded to his already retreating form and followed him. Then she stopped, realizing that this wasn't the way to where the main entrance lay.

"Wait, where are we going, Draco?"

He sighed melodramatically.

"Haven't I said we're gonna sneak in? Do you think sneaking means prancing into the Great Hall, shouting: 'Hey all, my name is Hermione Granger and I have no clue where I am, could you help me please?' Surely not, ma'am, and that's why I enjoy being a Slytherin. They're always sneaky. Now follow me, we're going to a small tunnel that leads down into the dungeons. I discovered it some years ago. Oh, and stop calling me Draco."

He stalked off again like he always did.

She hesitated for just a moment, but caught up and fell in step beside him. He couldn't trap her, because then he'd be trapped, too.

Which, unfortunately, would not be that much of a problem for him in the Slytherin dungeons. She didn't trust this, she didn't trust him.

But she followed him anyway. She was good ol' curious Hermione after all.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They had not found anything out of the ordinary down there, but didn't have much time because dinner would soon end and the urge to get caught in the most unfriendly of Hogwarts' houses when they had no clue what was going on was considerably small.

"So, Granger, what are we gonna do for tonight? We don't have anywhere to stay."

"Oh, yes, we do."

"Huh?"

"You would never believe how sneaky Harry and Ron can be. Come on, King Slytherin, I'm gonna show you something."

She gave him a smug grin and led him up to Gryffindor Tower. There he stopped, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive fashion.

"There is no fucking way you can get me to go in there."

"Oh, really?"

Her expression changed into the most innocent of smiles, immediately making Draco suspicious.

"What if I told you that in there is a big, snug, warm bed in front of an ever-blazing fireplace, completely unbeknownst to all other Gryffindor souls besides Harry, Ron and me who use it only occasionally? And, oh, did I mention it has two sides?"

"That's blackmailing, woman!"

"Why, Draco, I never said you had to join me! You can very well sleep on the cold grass out here, not my problem!"

"Oh, shut-"

Her voice went deep and as masculine as possible as she interrupted mockingly:

"You're repeating yourself, Malfoy."

Which was answered with the most lethal glare she'd ever seen from him, but it only added to her urge to giggle.

She entered the tower and looked around, waiting for someone to come and notice them, but finally they seemed to have some luck. Nobody seemed to be out in the hallways. She motioned for Draco to follow her and slid along the wall, almost giggling again when she imagined herself and Draco with hot pants and guns, Charlie's-Angels-style.

They rounded corners, entered new, darker corridors, and finally, Hermione turned around, with a proud glow on her face:

"And this, Ladies and All The Invisible Gentlemen, is Gryffindor Tower's biggest treasure besides Harry Potter: The Secret Common Room."

Draco gave her a derisive snort, followed by his trademark smirk:

"You sound like you're gonna show me your secret favourite child or something. Oh, and a big golden star for imaginary."

Her face curled up into an equally derisive mask.

"Bed or hallway, make your choice, Draco."

"Okay, bed. And stop calling me Draco."

"You stop telling me to stop something I decided to do, I stop telling you Draco."

"Whatever."

Hermione whispered the password so he couldn't hear, at which he rolled his eyes.

"Get on with it, woman!"

"Hold your tongue, man!"

"You know how miserably you fail to imitate my tones?"

"Yup, but I never fail to irritate you, honey."

"Okay, call me Draco whenever you want, but no nicknames making me sound nice, alright?"

"I knew you'd cave in eventually, Draco."

"No, I'm not gonna tell you to shut up this time, I'll count to ten and then wring your neck."

But before he had any chance to, he discovered that Hermione had already disappeared in the room behind the open door, so he followed suit and entered.

It was big and all in Gryffindor colors, which was getting to his eyes, but yes, it was warm and cozy, that was all he needed. After all, he could close his eyes. But he needed warmth for once.

Then he stopped in his tracks. Wait. When did a Malfoy ever need warmth? It was absurd to even think about it. He realized that he had never really had warmth, and figured that it would be best not to start now, because he knew he would never get it again. His life was written down in his father's mind, all components needed to make him what he wanted him to be carefully listed.

And warmth was not on that list.

But still, he would be Gryffindor-ly stupid if he turned around now and sneaked out of this warm place into the cold open again. So he opened his tie, pulled his robes off and bent down to take off socks and shoes and straightened again. Without thought and thus without hesitation, he also shrugged off his shirt and then lifted the covers off the huge bed, lying down beside the sheets mountain beside him that was Hermione.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Alright, so whaddya think? Nice? Not so nice? Tell me, I'll try to update soon.