Hermione woke with a searing headache as the light streamed through her bedroom window. Sitting up to rub her eyes she had no idea why she was feeling so sick. Dizziness turned her stomach and she ran to the bathroom, making it there in time to throw up in the toilet. Having a bathroom this close to her room was a perk of being Head Girl this year. She sat on the floor until she felt the wave of queasiness was over. Moving to the sink she made a glass of water. She was swishing the water around in her mouth when she caught sight of her reflection.

"I think I'm going o be sick again…" She muttered, dodging towards the toilet once again. She gagged a few times but had nothing solid in her stomach to empty, releasing only acidic tasting bile. This time she blindly reached for her glass, not daring to stand and confront the mirror again just yet. Rinsing her mouth for a second time, she spat into the toilet and dried her face with a hanging towel. She tried to collect her thoughts and make sense of things, but struggled to put it all together through her headache. After a moment of sitting there she decided that she was getting nowhere fast.

Standing to face the mirror she once again saw a collection of disturbing things. First and foremost she had observed that she was wearing someone else's shirt. The soft cotton t-shirt was large on her small frame, falling to her mid thigh. As she often slept in an oversized shirt in the summer it shouldn't be too surprising. But once again, she knew this was not one of hers. From its dark green color to its large quidditch team logo that proudly displayed a snake, it was certainly not from her wardrobe. In fact, she knew who owned this particular shirt, and he happened to live on the opposite side of this Jack and Jill bathroom.

Already mortified at the one item of clothes she was wearing, Hermione really wished she could ignore any other potential evidence of what might have happened last night. It was hard not to see how disheveled her appearance was, or more glaringly, the bright red marks on her neck. Her eyes widened as she followed the trail of bruises from her ear, down her neck and into the top of shirt. She reached up to touch them, tentative about knowing just how far they journeyed south on her skin. Still, knowing that she could not go about her day like this she went to the shower and turned on the taps. She went into her room and gathered her showering supplies while the water warmed up.

Not delaying any further she removed the shirt and looked into the mirror once again. Shock colored her face as her suspicions were confirmed. There were trails of hickeys reaching down her chest, circling her breast, splayed across her stomach a trekking across her thighs. She was horrified at the thought that she let him do this to her. Sure they have learned to be civil with each other over the school term, working well together on their Head Duties, and even being friendly at times. Never had there been any romantic inclinations between them, and Hermione could not even imagine what would lead up to there ever being any. Yet, the proof was right in front of her eyes, even if the memory eluded her.

Stepping into the shower she hoped that she would remember something, anything from last night. Grabbing a wash cloth she began to clean herself. Her skin was clammy with drying sweat, and there was strange flaking white crust on her skin. She had not been in the shower long when she turned to grab her shampoo, her motions freezing as she screamed at the large spider sitting on the bottle. Her panic was about to die down when it began anew at the sound of the opposing door opening, indicating that she did not lock the "jack" door of the bathroom. She held her breath at the rapid footsteps and accompanying voice.

"Granger!"

He pulled open the shower curtain, his eyes darting about the stall before resting on her.

"Malfoy, get out!" She yelled, ripping the curtain from his hand.

"Great way to treat someone coming to help you," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't know what gave you the impression that I needed your help in the shower, I'm quite fine on my own thanks." Hermione held the curtain about her as she glared at the blonde in the bathroom.

"That's not what you were screaming last night; I couldn't get in fast enough according to you." He seemed confidant with himself, not moving to leave the room at all. At the mention of the previous evening Hermione blushed a bit, once again wondering about the series of events that had occurred.

"Um," She started to speak, "your shirt is on the counter…" She did not watch as he retrieved his top, she waited for him to leave the room. When he did not leave she glared once more, this time pointing to the door.

"That's it? You're not even going to thank me? See if I ever do you any favors again." He waited a moment for her to respond, and turned to leave when it seemed like she wasn't going to respond.

"You want me to thank you?" She questioned. He froze in the door frame, leaning against it as he answered.

"Well yes, I believe that it is the appropriate thing to do after such an event."He looked at her as if he was genuinely confused as to why she did not agree with his sentiments.

"I knew you were full of yourself, but this seems a bit much for even you. With an attitude like that it will be a wonder if any girl would want you to 'help' her." Hermione saw that this conversation was not going to end as soon as she would like, so she turned off the tap and reached for her bathrobe. It was located on a hook that was just out of her reach, and she was defiantly not going to exit the shower with Malfoy looking at her like she was crazy.

"I will have you know that any girl at Hogwarts would be very happy for the services I gave you last night. Most of the guys here would have had you take care of that little problem on your own, yet I came in here and gave you more than a hand with your dilemma." Malfoy had left his post at the door and had taken Hermione's robe from its hook, handing it to her. Hermione knew she was blushing at not only his current proximity, but at the knowledge that he was at one point much closer. Putting on her robe she wasn't sure if it was the heat from the water, her nerves, the illness from earlier, or a combination of the three; but once again she felt like she was going to be sick and needed to sit down. Hermione swayed forward and Malfoy grabbed her by the shoulder, steadying her before she could fall. "Did you see Pomfrey this morning? She said you might feel under the weather today with a bump to the head like that."

"I hit my head?" She asked, reaching to touch the back of her skull, finding the source of her headache. "Well, I suppose that explains some things…."

"You don't remember hitting your head?" He questioned.

"No, I actually don't remember last night at all," she answered honestly.

"Well, that makes one of us, I don't think I could forget it if I wanted to!" He laughed as he said this and Hermione wasn't sure which way to take it at first. Remembering the comment on how 'most guys' wouldn't have 'helped' her she decided to take it negatively.

"I'm sure it isn't as bad as your making it out to be, you do have a tendency to exaggerate." She chastised him.

"It most certainly was," He assured her, "It was all pink and huge, and you were all wet and slippery, and you just kept screaming, and when I tried to get it off you it tried to grab hold of me, but I showed that squid what for!" Maybe it was her headache, but he wasn't making sense to her.

"Excuse me," she interrupted, "did you just say squid?"

"You really have forgotten! One of the flying squid flew in the open window when you were trying to take a bath. Turns out Hagrid was right about them searching any form of water after leaving their mum in the lake. I guess I would too if my mum was going to eat me. Anyway, you screamed and I came in and helped to get him off you and back out the way he came in." The wheels in Hermione's head spun as things clicked into place.

"So these marks…" She said gesturing towards her neck.

"Are from the squid suctioning onto you," Malfoy finished.

"And I was wearing your shirt because?" Hermione questioned.

"Because after latching the window you fell and hit your head, and when this started you were taking a bath meaning you weren't wearing anything. Being the gentleman I am I gave you the shirt off my back, put you to bed and called Pomfrey. She said you would be fine with rest, but that you might have a concussion and to get her if you did not wake up this morning."

"What a relief!" Hermione exclaimed while letting out a large puff of air.

"Relief?" He repeated, "Wait a second, what did you think happened?"

"Well," She began, "When I woke with your shirt and what I assumed was hickeys all over…"

"You thought we had sex?" He laughed as he spoke, "Not even when squids fly Granger!" He grabbed his shirt and headed out the door laughing as he went. After hearing what really happened Hermione was a bit embarrassed that not only did he see her naked twice now, but that she never did say thank you for his help. On top of that she continued to blush at the stray thought of how he was cute when he laughed. I must have hit my head pretty hard, she thought. Like he said, not even when squids fly.

A/N:

Just a fun little one-shot that 'flew' into my head while working on my other story. Originally I wanted to finish 'The Protector' before any other works; but this kept pestering me, and as it was only a one-shot I thought I would go on and get it out of the way so I could focus. I hope that you enjoyed it, and I also hope that the end was a fun twist that you were not expecting.