Draco POV

"Malfoy… what are you doing down here?" she asked, so weak she could barely let the words come out

"Well what are you doing down here?" I asked in response

"I didn't come here on purpose, I was captured!" she snapped, but she stayed in my lap

"Well, I came here to help you." The last bit of black in her eyes was gone, she was back to the girl I knew

"Draco… I'm sorry" she said burying her head into my chest

"It's fine."

Let's go back to about halfway through the year. The chamber of secrets had just been opened. Written in blood on the wall was the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, enemies of the heir beware. Oh crap, I thought, I could feel everyone's eyes turn to me. Everyone was going to assume it was me, but honest to god, I had no idea where or what the Chamber of Secrets was. But I was pretty sure who would know. No, not Granger. Grace Camble. Even though Hermione was smart, Grace knew almost anything about the Wizard World without ever opening a book.

I looked around, and sure enough about a quarter of the people in our year were looking right at me. I looked over at Potter and his group. Granger was studying the "history of the wall" or something, Weasly was going nuts trying to find his little sister, Potter was trying to stay hidden since teachers think he's almost as much trouble as me, and Grace was glaring at me.

Grace Camble had huge crystal eyes that shot right through me when she was glaring. Her long, slightly curly, hair covered a bit of her face in a way that reminded me a little of my crazy Aunt Bellatrix. I shuddered, looking away. I couldn't think that. My aunt is scary and looks that way too. But not Grace. Although, she can be scary when she wants to be. About a month before the whole "Chamber of Secrets is open" thing a few older boys from Hufflepuff or something were being assholes to her. I had just happen to be not far away. When I heard her repeatedly telling them to stop, I hid in the shadows in case I would need to punch them in the face. And the way she yelled at them when the wouldn't leave her alone…

She whipped her wand out. She elbowed two boys in the nose and the other she pushed against a wall with her wand pushed against his neck. After a few seconds she let him go. But before he left she cast a spell, a bit beyond the power of a second year. She sighed and pulled the black cloak of her Gryffindor robe up on her head and started walking back, passing me while walking. I took a few steps forward, making noise apparently. She quickly turned and pushed me against the wall, wand pointed at me forehead. Her hand was gripped tightly on my shoulder, clawing through the fabric no doubt.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" she asked harshly. She was only twelve, but the girl looked like she could be fifteen years old. I opened my mouth, but I was incapable of words at the moment. She pushed me harder against the wall, stabbing wand farther into my head. I probably screamed a bit on the account that she smirked and lowered her wand.

"I- ah… was…" I started, but did not know to answer

"Wow," she laughed, "I didn't know I was that pretty." She took her hand off my shoulder and took her hood off. In the moonlight she looked even more beautiful

"Well that surprises me." I blurted out, saying exactly what I thought. I never do that! Well, with a girl that I like. And up until that day, I never liked a girl that much

"Ha, you're sweet. Never would have guessed." She turned on her heels and left.

And with the Camber of Secrets opened, I spent most of my time wondering if anyone was going to be captured. But there was no time to worry about that, I told myself basically every day. The important part was that I try to convince Grace that I had nothing to do with the chamber being opened. And I would have to start with talking to her alone. This, at the time was not an easy task.

One day I had gone to the library, hoping to maybe see her talking to Granger. Before opening the door, I heard the loud creak, and the door slipped open. I could swear it was only open an inch, but somehow Grace managed to slip out. Her face seemed flush and her eyes were a bit red. Her hair didn't look like its usual every-long-black-strand-in-place. Her hair was crazed, sort of like Granger's.

"Oh, look who it is," she said sniffling, keeping her book pressed close to her chest as if they were protecting her, "it's the opener of the forbidden." She quickly turned and started to run

"Come on Camble, you have to believe me!" I shouted running after her

"I don't have to do anything you say!" she shouted harshly. When she turned towards me her eyes were red and tears streamed down her face.

"Grace, wait." I jumped in front of her, she slammed into me. She used her sleeve to smear her tears away. She looked down at her book, avoiding my eyes. There were only a few people in the hallway, and those who saw us were starring. "Grace, what happened." I said bending down so her eyes met mine. She frowned, seeing as it worked

"Alright fine. But not here." She took my arm and ran off to find a private place to talk.

She dragged me into an abandon girl's bathroom on the second floor. She placed her books on the floor and held her shoulders, still bent down. She started to cry, her shoulders were shaking so hard she fell onto the floor. I ran over next to her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and hid her face in my shoulder. I put an arm around her, tentatively. It was so unlike her to be so… delicate. She always seemed to be tough, able to stand up for herself. But now, I feared if I held her too tight, I would break her.

"Alright," she said still shaking with tears falling down her face, "alright, I can stand up." She said standing

"So, what happened?" I asked, still having an arm around her

"It's Hermione. She- she's been petrified. By the- uh- monster who's let our of the chamber of secrets." She said clearing her throat between words and sniffling

"Oh…" I said, I may have called the girl a Mudblood, but I didn't really want anyone to die 'cause of this Chamber

"I only left her for a moment and when I came back…-"

"Wait, you were in the same room as that thing?" I asked, sounding as worried as I felt. I held her shoulders tightly, looking into her eyes. She looked a bit confused

"Yeah but-" she started

"Are you ok?" I asked, probably looking like a lunatic

"I'm fine, Draco… what's going on?"

I sighed and dropped my arms. She's a smart girl, if I had thought about it; I would have known she would have noticed how I was acting. I sat down on the floor, leaning my head against the sink. I thought that maybe I would have a bit more time to keep this secret for myself, but it didn't look that way. She looked at me with her eyebrow raised up high. I snickered and looked at my hands. She sat down next to me, my heartbeat started to get faster and faster. But I was used to that by then when she was around. I had my hand in a fist, trying my best to not open my mouth and tell her everything. She traced the veins on my hand with her finger, giving me chills.

"Draco, if there's something wrong you can tell me. I can keep secrets very good, I won't tell anyone." She said standing up a bit so she was kneeling and smiling widely. I snickered, her eyes were wide and excited

"Well, Grace, don't take this the wrong way, but you're kind of the only one I'm worried about knowing." I said looking up at her. When I said that her smile dropped and the light in her eyes was gone

"Oh... I see. Well, I better go." She said standing up, sniffling again and rubbing her eyes

"Grace, wait." I said standing up

"No Malfoy, its fine. I understand." She said putting her hand on the door handle, but I stopped her by leaning on it

"No, you don't understand. You took it the wrong way. The reason I don't want to tell you is because… it's about you." She was only 3 inches shorter than me, but they way she looked up when I said that made her look like she actually was twelve years old.

"Alright…" she said pushing her books closer to her. I slipped my hands between her arms and slipped the books out, setting them on the floor.

"Grace," I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. If I had a choice, I really would have never told her this. I closed my eyes and lowered my head back down, "I… I like you." I opened my eyes slowly to see her reaction. I wish I didn't. Her eyes got even wider, and her skin lost all color. "Oh god, I'm an asshole." I said turning around and put my head on the door, hitting it slightly

"No, Draco, no. Don't worry yourself." I looked next to me, not moving my head, just my eyes. She was smiling and put her hand on my shoulder. She bit her lip and I looked down again

"I can't help it. I know you hate me, and now you and Potter and all of Gryffindor are going to laugh at my expense." I hit my head on the door again

"Draco, stop that," she pulled me off the door and turned me around, she was stronger than I thought, "Don't fret about silly things like that." She smiled

"Why?" I asked

"Because… I like you too." She said letting go of my arms

"Oh…" I said feeling stupid, "Oh!" I said putting an arm around her. She laughed, "well, why don't we drop off your books and go somewhere special." We laughed

"Alright, but you have to hide outside then."

"Gladly." I got her books for her and put my arm back around her