A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, so I really need some honest feedback. It would be great if you guys could review for me!

P.S. I don't own these characters, they belong to JK Rowling.

As Hermione walked along the corridors of Hogwarts, her mind wandered to the mountain of homework she still had to complete. "Feoh, Peorth, Ur, Dagaz…" She muttered the runic alphabet to herself. She was hopelessly behind in her classes and had no idea how she was going to catch up. Suddenly, she felt a sharp jolt through her arm, and the pile of books she was carrying fell to the floor.

"Watch where you're going, Mudblood." Snarled an all too familiar voice.

Ready to snap, she whirled to face Malfoy, prepared to give him a piece of her mind - but came face to face with Snape instead.

"10 points from Gryffindor for not watching where you're going" Snape drawled, the words dripping with contempt. In a blaze of anger, she picked up her books and stormed off. The last thing she saw as she made her way to Gryffindor Tower was the smirk plastered across Malfoy's face.

As she entered the Common Room, she was immediately greeted by the sight of Ron and Lavender sprawled across the couch, their faces red and their breathing short, clearly recovering from their most recent passionate encounter. Lavender sneered up at Hermione with that dreadful smugness she seemed to have acquired of late, while Ron clumsily tried to fix his robe. "Um..hi, Hermione." He spluttered. Feeling tears start to prick in her eyes, Hermione ignored them and hurried to the girl's dormitory.

Falling onto her bed, she let go and began to cry. Her grades were dropping, her ability to concentrate had fled and no one seemed to know or care what was wrong with her. Only Harry knew what she was going through, and she didn't like talking to him about it because he could never really be on her side. Why is Ron so oblivious? She wondered to herself. She knew it was partly her own fault, she had never talked to him about her feelings, but he made it so difficult. Any time she had tried to see him alone, he would mumble an excuse about going to find Harry and then rush off. She knew something had to change, but she just didn't know where to begin.

When her tears had run dry, she decided that starting tomorrow, her best course of action was to throw herself into her work. She might not be able to change her feelings, but she could at least forget about them for a while. Still sniffling slightly, but with newfound resolve, she climbed under the covers and let her exhaustion take her.

She could see nothing, it was all in darkness. A deep, impenetrable black. Crying out in fear, she reached for her wand and found nothing but empty air. Eventually, she noticed something in the distance. A dim light seemed to be swaying backwards and forwards. Not knowing where she was going or what she was doing, she cautiously moved towards it...

She woke with a start and started grasping around for her wand. Muttering "Lumos" she could see her surroundings clearly - she was safe in bed. Realising it was just a dream, she shook her head and scoffed at herself for being so scared. She lay her head back down onto her soft pillow, trying to forget the last thing she saw before waking, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Exhausted, Draco flopped down onto his bed - it had been a trying day. His classes were starting to get to him, and the near constant demands of his father were taking their toll. As he lay there, letting his mind wander, his thoughts strayed towards the Mudblood, Granger. A dark look crossed his face as he remembered their brief encounter. He had been itching for a way to release some of his tension, and was more than ready to shoot a curse at her when Snape had appeared. Seeing the look of fury on her face as she stormed off though, he couldn't help but give himself a self-satisfied smirk. He always liked to see her squirm, it cheered him up when he was having a rough day. Maybe I'll hex her at breakfast, he mused.

Checking the time and seeing it was past midnight, he sighed and climbed under the covers. Things had been stressful recently, but he could worry about that tomorrow. As his head sank into the pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

He couldn't see anything, the pitch black was so dense it was crushing him. Trembling with fear and looking frantically around himself, he eventually found a flicker of light in that terrible, all-consuming darkness. Warily, he made his way towards it. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes, yet it felt like years had passed him by. He grew closer and closer until he was only a few feet away. Hearing a gasp of surprise, he looked round to see none other than Hermione Granger…

He awoke to the deep, loud snores of Crabbe in the next bed. Pulling the curtain back and whirling his eyes around the room, he realised he was in his dormitory. As he lay back down, he felt a droplet of sweat trailing down his neck. He wiped it away roughly with the back of his hand and attempted to get back to sleep. It seemed impossible though, even as the remnants of his panic faded away, and he spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling, remembering the look on Hermione's face as he was pulled sharply back to wakefulness.

So I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! R&R if you can :)