Chapter1

She could still remember clearly how Timothy reacted when he found out she could do magic;

"What? You're a…a a witch? Y y…you could do magic… real magic?" his face was paper white and confused, he was backing away from her "you're a freak Hermione!" he yelled "how could you lie to me? I don't know you at all!"

"No, Tom just…"she started but he cut across her.

"Are you trying to tell me witches exist?"

"Yes they do, but you've really got to listen to me" she tried again.

"No! You listen to me you freak!" he yelled once more "This is over, way over!" And with that, he left her standing in front of their favorite "spot". She tried to follow him to explain her self once more but he just refused to listen to her. After days of trying, she finally gave up and returned to Hogwarts for her seventh & last year there.

She had told Harry, Ron & Ginny everything that happened between her and Timothy Grey, the guy she's been telling them about since sixth year.

"See?" Ron said to her "I told you Muggles are jerks! Look at what that fool Tom did to you? He broke your heart!"

"Ron, Hermione is a Muggle" Ginny reminded him.

"Sorry, what I meant was Muggles in general, who refuses to accept the fact that witches and wizards like us actually exists!"

"Ron had a point there. Maybe you should focus your attention on something else like... your studies or whatever as long it's not him" Ginny suggested.

"And you'll always have us for support and anything else that you need. You can count on us" Harry guaranteed her.

"I know and…… thanks you guys, all of you" she smiled weakly "thanks".

She was sitting alone on the window at the top of the Astronomy tower thinking about the things that happened to her lately. She was having flashbacks of her sad and happy memories.

A week ago, Draco Malfoy & his Slytherin friends humiliated her infront of the whole school.

Harry & Ron tried to protect her and was about to jinx him, but she stopped them. She didn't want them to get in trouble especially when Snape finds out they jinxed his favorite student.

She remembered Malfoy's exact words; "How can you come back here every year, when you know there's no room for Mudbloods in this school? Is your face really that thick?"

She wanted badly to slap him as hard as she could, till his face cracked, her hand was itching to do it but she stopped herself because she knew it'll bring her nothing good.

"You're an eyesore!" he added and all his friends laughed. His face showed pure disgust and loathing towards her. And she hated him back; she despises him for being such an arrogant bastard just like his father, Lucius Malfoy.

He was one of the worst persons she ever met since Voldemort was the first although she haven't really met him in person and based on Harry's description; she has no plans on meeting him in the future. Never.

She promised her self that she will never let Malfoy get to her nerves this school year, so she just avoided him as much as possible and answering him back reasonably from time to time making sure he's left tongue-tied.

She stared at the ground beneath her, there were some first years playing & running around, they look so innocent, she thought.

Then for some reason, tears started falling from her eyes, blurring her vision a bit.

She wondered if it was because of Timothy that she started to cry or Malfoy but she was quite sure it's not him so she settled for Tom as the reason for her tears. She looked down again, the first years were gone from the ground was empty. She wanted to end her pain, the pain Timothy & Malfoy gave her, she knew Harry guaranteed her that she can always count on them but it just wasn't enough. There was a part of her that wanted to jump out of the window but she figured it won't stop her pain either.

Why take your life when there's so much more to life than Timothy: the guy who broke your heart and won't accept you for who you really are? And Malfoy: the bastard who insults you and your friends? No, it's totally stupid to take your own life just because these two jerks caused you so much pain. Besides, its their loss for not knowing what she's worth and hurting her like that, it was their own problem. Period.

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"Darn it" he cursed under his breath "Now, where the hell am I gonna hide? Stupid old Filch shouldn't have locked all those old classrooms". He's been running for the past 20 minutes and he could feel his legs starting to give up. "Darn it" he hissed to himself, now his only choice was to hide up in the Astronomy tower since it was the nearest place to him and his legs would collapse if he tries to run all the way back to the Slytherin tower. He ran up the stairs to the top of the Astronomy tower, slowing down a bit as he reached the door to the top wrenching it open.

She heard someone open the door behind her so she dried her tears quickly w/ her palms. "Who's there?" she asked her voice shaky.

As he opened the door, he entered quickly not noticing anyone at first until he heard a voice.

"Who's there?" he heard a low and shaky voice which sounded a bit familiar to him. He was gasping for breath so he didn't reply immediately.

***

"Who's there?" she asked again turning to face whoever entered, when no one replied.

The second time he heard the voice he knew exactly to whom it belonged; HERMIONE GRANGER a.k.a. Mudblood and true enough, he was right. He saw her turn from the window where she was seated he was shocked to see her seated on the window. Of all the corners of the room, why is she seating on the window? Has she gone insane? But of course he didn't show a trace of shock on his face.

The moment she turned and saw who entered, she froze, what's he doing here? she thought. Why of all places in this castle is he here?

"Just what the hell are you doing?" he asked demandingly, closing the door.

"What else does it look like?" she snapped

"Nothing special, you just look like you're about to jump out of that window" he yawned to show he's bored.

"And what made you think I'll jump out of this window?" she sneered

"Uh-uh! You're wrong, I wasn't THINKING I was more like HOPING" he shook his head slowly. There was a certain malice in his voice.

"Well don't get your hopes too high since I'm not jumping"

"You're not? Oh well, I guess that's better cause if you do jump, you'll only stain the ground with that filthy blood of yours. Of course I wouldn't want that to happen"

"As if your blood won't" she mumbled more to herself.

"Pardon?"

"I didn't say anything"

"Filthy Mudblood"

"I don't care whatever you call me" she glared at him.

"Yeah right, that's new" he smirked

"What can I say? After 6 years of hearing such words from you, you honestly think I'd still be affected?" she laughed a little

"They're not words, they are insults Granger, insults!" he said as if reminding her something really important.

"They're just words to me since they don't mean anything to me, at all" she said flatly

"I don't care either if, those words, as you call them, affects you or not, I don't care or give a damn about you"

"The feeling is mutual" she snapped "I actually almost forgot you existed until you barged in here" her tone was so sarcastic that Draco couldn't stop glaring at her. How can she come up with such retorts? He asked his self, not that he was amazed, mind you but it was…something.

"I didn't know a Mudblood was here planning to take her own life" he took 2 steps towards her still smirking.

She rolled her eyes at his comment. It was clear he didn't have anything better to say than that.

"Life's too short, Malfoy, so you better treasure every moment of it, have fun while it lasts cause life's too… good- aaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!"

"Hey, what the??????" he ran towards the window where she was sitting and saw her hanging, trying to hold on to the frames with her eyes tightly closed. She didn't even bother to call for help. Without thinking twice, he reached out to her, caught her hands and helped her up from the window. He pulled her with his strong arms until she was back on her feet.

After pulling her up, they both fell silent not knowing what to say. They stared at each other without a word. Then he turned his back from her, while Hermione bit her lip, her fists clenched tightly. She was sweating all over, feeling ashamed of what happened.

Draco had no idea why he reacted that way, he didn't even think about his actions and just helped her up immediately. It was weird helping her just like that, he should've at least let her beg him for help because that's what the usual Draco Malfoy would do.

He was able to recover with what happened quickly. So, he decided to make a comment just to break the awkward silence that fell between them. And partly to make her see how stupid she was, lecturing him about treasuring life & every moment of it when she's the one who almost fell from the window and if it wasn't for him she'll be dead by now.

"As you were saying, Granger?" he raised one eyebrow at her, a smirk settled on his face.

"You helped me!" was all she could say, her face flushed, staring dumbly at his back. Good thing he wasn't facing her or else it would've been a great opportunity to throw more insults at her. He stared at her in confusion, what the heck is she saying? , he thought. "No not exactly. If you remember what I said earlier, I told you I don't want your muddy blood staining the ground, didn't I?" he said glad to have a reason for saving her.

"Whatever! You still helped me so I guess I need to say thanks even if it's to…you" her voice was low.

"It's alright at least I saved the school" he suddenly heard his self saying.

"From what?" she asked and he faced her. She couldn't describe the expression on his face, he looked odd.

"Your blood" he simply shrugged w/ both of his hands inside the pocket of his pants "And the scene you'd create after jumping, your blood would be scattered all over you then your brains and insides would be sticking out one by one. It'd be really bloody and since you're dead, you'll be joining Moaning Myrtle in the bathrooms" she noticed that his voice sounded funny, a bit high pitched and it's like as if he wasn't fully aware what he's been saying. The bastard awhile ago was gone.

Hermione stared at him with great disgust, her hands over her mouth, she felt like throwing up anytime soon if he didn't stop. "Describing deaths like that are Muggle stuff"

"No, it's not!" he snapped glaring at her like an idiot "There are wizards who does that!" he insisted but she couldn't think of any wizards who likes gore or anything like that. Even Voldemort doesn't leave his murder victims with their insides sticking out, she thought. So she just kept quiet. She didn't know he had secret passion for gory stuff, she smirked to her self.

"Anyway" he continued "killing yourself like that is very Muggle-ish. Only stupid people would do that. There's always a better way to take your own life, you know, like…… using Avada Kedavra or any other dark spells" he pointed out conversationally.

"But you said I'm a filthy Mudblood" she reminded him rolling her eyes.

"Yeah you are, but considering that you've been studying here for almost 7 years… and learned a lot of spells, you're really gonna jump out of that window?" he asked her. Before she could answer him, he spoke again "I know it's what those filthy Muggles do… wait, I was wrong… it's what YOU filthy Muggles do" his voice was back to normal.

She didn't speak immediately, she was finding their "little conversation" weird, talking about how she'd want to kill her self IS weird. Who on earth would want to talk to one of their most hated persons about how they'll kill their selves? Not to mention the topic itself which is SUICIDE!!!

"Look, I told you I'm not going to kill myself, Malfoy, so stop it" she told him. He stopped talking and shrugged.

"Do you really hate me that much?" she wanted to know but he just shrugged again. "Er… I'll take that as a yes" she mumbled "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Uh… me? I… I was just getting rid of some pests. That's all" he replied checking the door if it was locked well "You see, this was the nearest place to hide" he added.

She was standing near the window while he sat across the door on the floor, they were both silent again. Hermione stared outside the window, remembering the times she and Tom spent together. He was so cool and everything she wanted in a guy was in him, he was perfect in her opinion. He had dark brown hair, bluish green eyes and 5 ft 10 in height. He was also romantic, so far, he was the best guy she ever dated. Timothy Grey was really hard to forget, even if she knew that thinking about him wouldn't bring her any good because it'd only be harder for her to forget him. Ginny once told her that what she really needs, is a guy who would accept her for who she really is and understand her. She wondered how Tom feels towards her at that very moment, Is he still mad or what? Maybe he moved on already. Then she had a flashback again, lately her flashbacks were happening a lot and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Hermione, you should learn how to skateboard" he said

"But Tom, I'm not fond of those" she told him

"Just try it once please? I'll help you so you won't get hurt. I'll be holding your hands" Timothy assured her.

"Fine" she smiled and stepped on the skateboard. It was a Saturday morning and they were in a park just a few blocks away from his house. He taught her how to maneuver the board and after 30 minutes, she was skating like an expert already. She asked him if she could try to skate w/ out him holding her hand and because he saw how excited she was, he agreed. She was skating smoothly for 8 meters already when she lost her balance and slipped. Everything happened so fast but Tom caught her just in time. As he promised, he caught her; she was just ten inches away from the ground. She asked her self if he really did love her, because if he did, then he should've been able to accept the fact that she's a witch. But no, he ran away from her and refused to listen to a word she said. Then she heard some loud banging on the door behind her and she was back to reality.

She looked around and saw Draco Malfoy staring at the door horrified, she almost forgot that she's at the top of the Astronomy Tower w/ him. The loud banging continued, he motioned her to keep quiet so she decided to cast a silencing charm Harry taught her "Muffliato" she whispered pointing her wand at the door.

"Who the hell is that?" she asked him

"I don't know… it's probably them" he replied anxiously looking at the four corners of the room, the ceiling, walls and at the floor. Then he ran over to the window to make sure no one climbed there.

"Them?" she repeated confusedly.

"Yes, the pests I told you who were after me"

"But how do we get out?"

"We'll just have to wait till they leave"

"What?! Wait till they leave? Are you crazy? What if they don't leave?" she yelled, alarmed at the idea of being stuck up there.

"You don't have any choice unless you jump out of that window!" he snapped pointing over to the huge window where she almost fell. Hermione glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. How can he be so unreasonable? , she thought but he was right, she had no choice. She listened to the door closely, the banging didn't stop then someone spoke.

"Draco? Are you there? Will you please open the door?" it was a girl's voice "Please come out we just want you to see something" another the girl pleaded.

She stared at him w/ one brow arched, arms still crossed over her chest and tapping her right foot on the floor. She was waiting for him to say something to explain his self.

"So the pests you were referring to was a bunch of girls" she remarked half grinning to herself.

He turned to face her, his eyes narrowing at her "They're not just a bunch of girls, you know."

"Oh yeah? What kind of girls are they then?" she smirked.

"Draco? We've been looking all over for you! It's been 40 minutes already!" a third girl spoke

"Those girls are very dangerous if I might say so myself"

"How dangerous? And…… how many are they?" she pressed

"I don't know! I haven't tried what they can do that's why I need to hide from them. All I know is they're very dangerous" he said his eyes at the door "I think they're around 5 or more"

"We just want you to taste the cake we baked for you and drink this special juice we have for you" the first girl said and everyone outside agreed.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh "They seem harmless to me."

"You have no idea" he rolled his eyes thinking if he should explain everything to her. But how? He didn't even know where and how to start his explanation for everything that's happening.

"So what exactly do they want from you?" she questioned.

Then he had a brilliant idea on how to start without being embarrassed at all. "You see, I'm the hottest and most handsome guy Hogwarts ever had and obviously these girls just can't resist me so they want me to taste all those things they have in their arms to make me fall in love with them. And because I know very well they mixed love potions with it, I ran away from them." He explained with a smirk settled on his face.

"Whatever!" she snorted

"It's actually all that old Filch's fault why I'm here if only he didn't lock all those classrooms then I would've hidden in one of those" he continued.

"It was a direct order from the Headmaster himself to lock all the rooms when not used" she told him.

"I don't care whoever told him to do it" he glared at her.

"Anyway, back to those girls, aren't you going to do anything about them?" she asked expecting that he already thought of a plan.

"What about them? I already said I don't want to go out and eat all their cakes then drink that so called juice which looked like butterbeer and firewhiskey mixed together. Do you have any idea how awful it was out there?" he asked pointing at the door, the banging hadn't stopped yet and the girls were talking to each other loudly.

"Besides, haven't you heard about Zabini? He was hospitalized two weeks ago" he went on "But he's okay now"

"Yeah… I heard about that… it happened to my friends too" she said understandingly, nodding her head in agreement "What if I go out and tell them you're not here then if they don't believe and try to come in, you go and climb the roof thru that window?" she suggested

"You can't be serious" he said in a low voice

"You're right I wasn't". The silencing charm was wearing off already so they were just speaking in low voices.

"Fine, we'll wait till they leave" he sighed heavily and Hermione agreed since she really had no choice. Fifteen more minutes passed and the girls figured out that maybe no one was really there so they left.

The two pressed their ears against the door trying to listen if the girls really left already and when they didn't hear any sound, they were both relieved. She opened the door to check, no one was outside.

"Are you sure their gone?" he asked

"Duh! I looked outside didn't I?"

"Okay great…… now, about what happened…" he started but before he could finish what he was saying, she interrupted him. "Let's make this clear, none of this ever happened and no one should know except for a friend or two who will promise not to tell anyone about it. Ok?"

"Yeah" he nodded and headed out first. When he got out, he went straight for the Slytherin tower and directly to the boy's dormitory. He didn't meet the girls who were after him a while ago and pushed all the students ahead of him out of his way instead.