Draco was wondering the corridors of Hogwarts Halloween night in 6th year. He was trying to figure out a way to make his father proud, and bring pride back to the Malfoy family. He was deep in thought about the Vanishing Cabinet, Dumbledore, pretty much anything that had to do with the war. Then, Draco's thoughts were interrupted by the small sound of someone sobbing silently. He stopped in his place, and looked around for the person in misery, and rounded the corner of a hallway. There he found a girl, sitting against a wall, with her knees brought up against her chest, and her hands on top of her knees, and in her hands was her a big head of bushy brown hair. That bushy brown hair that Draco wanted to run his hands through. He looked over at Hermione Granger, and felt so horrible, and felt that whoever made her cry should pay. He hated to see her cry.

Draco walked up next to Hermione, and coughed. He leaned against the wall next to her as she looked up at him.

"What do you want, Malfoy? If you are here to call me a 'mudblood wuss,' can it wait?" Hermione croaked out between sniffles.

"Well, I wasn't going to. I was actually going to ask you if you're alright."

"Why do you care?"

Oh, if only she knew that I really do care, Draco thought.

"I've seen enough crying to last me a lifetime," Draco said, instead of what he was really thinking.

Hermione looked at him through water-filled eyes, then patted the ground next to her, welcoming him to sit down. "What do you mean?" Hermione asked, with concern in her eyes.

"My mother... she... er... she isn't holding up too well. With my father in jail and me-" Draco realized what he was saying before he could let it slip about his mission. He wanted so badly to tell Hermione everything because she was so easy to talk to, but he knew that if he told her, she would be killed, and he wouldn't be able to live on if she died, even if she wouldn't care if he died.

"Anyway, why are you sitting out here, all alone, on Halloween," Draco asked, trying to steer the conversation away from himself. Hermione, who had stopped crying, looked as if she would start back up again. "R-R-Ron and Lavender..." Hermione whispered. She franticly wiped her eyes, and blinked rapidly, to stop the tears from spilling over.

"Oh, the idiot ginger and his idiot girlfriend," Draco said, smiling. At least she got to worry over regular teenage stuff for once, instead of the whole save-the-world-and-kill-a-Dark-Lord thing, Draco thought.

Hermione started sobbing again, and Draco hesitantly put his arm around her shoulders. Instead of shoving him away, like he thought she would, Hermione leaned into him, and put her face on his chest, and sobbed. "If you care for my opinion, Weasley isn't worth you're time. You can do much better. Maybe even with me-" Draco stopped talking, because he realized that he was about say something he would sure as hell regret later on. Hermione moved her head so that she could look at Draco's face, and she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Mal-"

Hermione's eyes then widened in surprise, as if she just realized who she was with. She slid away from him on the floor, and stood up quickly. Then, Hermione started pacing, and muttering to herself. "Hermione, are you okay?" Draco said, quietly. Then he mentally kicked himself for calling her by her first name. People who hate each other don't do that. Hermione whipped around and stood in front of him. "You're... being nice. You're not nice. Why are you all of a sudden being so kind to me?" Hermione asked.

Draco looked at her.

"Because, I lov-"

Then, Draco's eyes widened at what he almost confessed, and he actually blushed. Draco didn't think it was possible for him to blush, but now he knows it is, and only Hermione can make him blush. Hermione stared down at Draco, eyes widened, and jaw slightly dropped.

Before they could say anything else, they heard a meow from around the corner in a connecting hallway. Mrs. Norris slowly walked around the corner.

Draco stood up quickly, saying that they should probably leave. Before he ran off to the Slytherin common room, Hermione leaned over and kissed his cheek. Then, she ran off, probably towards the Gryffindor common room. He heard footsteps coming towards him, and Draco started sprinting as Filch rounded the corner.

When Draco got back to his dormitory, he laid awake all night, with one hand on his cheek, and his heart doing cartwheels.