Author's Note: I've been gone for months, and as finals are just around the corner, I haven't been able to work on my other fics. Sorry guys! Here's something that's been sitting in my files for quite some time now. I think the time has come for it to be posted. So... here it is. It's super short, and might as well be a drabble, but something similar happened to me and I just had to write this that time. I wouldn't do anything to continue or elaborate on it, but I will if you ask.

And I'll be back to continue my other fics (and maybe post some new one-shots) real SOON!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the characters. I wouldn't have done as awesome as the Queen if I did.

No, he can't be doing this. Why would he do this?

Hermione Granger stared in shock at the parchment in her hand. She raised her head to look at Ginny Weasley sitting a few seats from her at the Gryffindor table and the girl gave her a sympathetic look in return.

Harry found out that Draco's joining them. He asked me not to tell you but…

No. No. No.

The voices around the table were beginning to sound louder and louder until it made Hermione dizzy. She shot a glance at the table of silver and green where a certain blonde sat slumped, looking more tired than usual. How could she not have seen it earlier?

Please, please. Shut up, just shut up!

"Hermione?"

Hermione jumped. She turned and saw Harry and Ron's concerned gazes. "You alright?" Ron asked in a bewildered voice.

"I'm fine." She muttered stiffly as she turned her attention back to her food.

Hermione barely noticed that she had spaced out and was clutching her spoon and fork with shaking fingers until the shaking escalated so bad she dropped her utensils. Harry and Ron's heads snapped back to look at her again.

She gasped, and as the air reached her lungs she could feel the tears forming in her eyes. "Excuse me." She mumbled, standing up in such a hurry she almost knocked the whole table down as she turned and ran to the girl's bathroom.

This isn't real. This is all just a bad joke.

She had barely closed the door of the cubicle before she had to lean on the wall for support because the shaking had begun to wrack her whole body. She raised her hands to her eyes and started sobbing loudly, gulping down air noisily until she could barely breath. The tightening in her chest didn't help either, and with each passing moment Hermione could feel her world shattering piece by piece.

Dark Mark…

With a flash, the symbol of the evil wizard swirled in Hermione's head until she felt the tears form in her eyes.

"No." she sobbed.

It was quite some time before she managed to dry her tears and gather her composure. She had to hurry. No matter how shocking the news might have been, Hermione couldn't afford to miss Potions.

"Besides," She thought. "I'll see him there."

When she reached the Potions classroom, the only seat available was beside him. Hermione tensed before she took a deep breath and took her seat, avoiding the curious gazes of Harry and Ron.

Every single second was agonizing. Hermione sighed heavily every now and then without her realizing it, and finally Draco Malfoy gave her a look and muttered, "Something bothering you, Granger?"

She grasped her quill so hard she thought it would break, but she managed to keep her voice level as she mumbled back, "Not really, no."

She shook her head slightly. Why would she react this way? What did she have to care this much anyway?

Had Hermione Granger looked at the face of the boy sitting beside her that day, she would have seen in his eyes the silent scream of pain and sorrow.

But she didn't.

Because what right did she have?

Author's Note: There you go. If you didn't get it, I didn't either. Well, that's because what led Hermione to feel such is actually a puzzle to her at the moment. Which is what happened with me. As I said, I won't add context if you don't ask, but I will if you do, since someone might want to know what grounds these emotions are based on. :D
Sorry for giving you a very short and semi-angsty drabble after being gone for quite a while. There's been quite a number of changes in my life lately, which, I'm now telling you, might manifest in my writings after the exams. Until then, toodle-oo!