Thanks to my BETA ThoseGreyMalfoyEyes for making this Chapter better!

Chapter 2

Hermione woke the next morning before the other three girls in her dorm. After allowing herself a few minutes to come around, she reluctantly crawled out of her warm bed and went to have a shower. Once finished and dressed she padded downstairs to the common room to find her bag in the exact place she had left it the night before.

She sat down heavily in one of the large armchairs, allowing a single tear to roll down her cheek. She loved Ron. She had done for three years now. Somehow she couldn't comprehend why he had done this to her. An empty feeling rose up inside of her; attempting to tell her that she couldn't care less about the events that occurred the previous evening. If she was being honest with herself though, she cared far more than she should have. Pushing the jumble of emotions down into the pit of her stomach she got up and swung her bag over her shoulder before leaving the tower.

She made her way down to the great hall for breakfast and noticed that it was almost deserted. She grabbed a plate and started piling bacon and eggs onto it before snatching up a muffin and sitting down. She poured herself a pumpkin juice and started to eat. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and she looked up; her gaze locking onto a pair of piercing metallic eyes.

Draco Malfoy was watching her with an unusual expression on his face. Was that concern she could see in his features? Surely not. Why would he be concerned with her? Hermione continued to stare at him as she once again started eating. She didn't notice one of her best friends sitting down at the side of her and neither did she hear her name getting called out, into her ear.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked again; waving one hand in front of the older girl's face.

"Huh?" Hermione mumbled in surprise. "Oh. Morning Gin." She turned to face her friend although her eyes kept unconsciously darting back to Malfoy.

"Why is ferret face staring with that weird look?" The redheaded girl asked; noticing Draco for the first time.

"No idea." Hermione muttered; turning back to her food.

"I heard about Ron this morning." Ginny said softly as she began filling up her own plate with food. "I swear Harry and I… Oh Hermione we had no idea! I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Hermione shrugged; the voice inside her head screaming back at her that it definitely was not okay. "Do you think that's why he never invited me over to the Burrow this last summer?" Hermione asked; looking over to a thoroughly confused Ginny.

"I thought you went to Italy with your parents this summer? You sent him a letter saying you were with them until school started."

"Is that what he told you?!" Hermione asked incredulously. She huffed at the news before looking up as the hall doors opened. It was Harry… with Ron… who was with Lavender. As soon as they sat down Hermione collected her things and stormed out of the great hall; leaving half of her breakfast untouched.

"Wait Hermione let me explain!" Ron called as he chased her out into the entrance hall and grabbed her hand; spinning her around to face him.

"Explain what exactly Ron?!" Hermione shouted. "That you lied to everyone about me being away this summer instead of inviting me to the Burrow? That you have been lying to me about… her? What is there to explain?!" A growing number of students were collecting on the stairs and in the corridor as they stopped to watch the scene, on their way to breakfast.

"I'm sorry 'Mione!" Ron replied. "I didn't mean for this to happen. We ran into each other in Diagon Alley and we kinda… hit it off again. I was meant to tell you but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you." He looked down at his feet; too ashamed to look her in the eyes.

"Hurt me?!" Hermione raged. "You don't think that walking in on the pair of you last night hurt me? You don't think that you lying to everyone hurt me? I thought that I had done something wrong! That you didn't want to see me! Why don't you grow a pair Ronald Weasley! Grow a pair and then go and screw yourself because I am done with you!" Hermione stormed off towards the Potions classroom with the sound of applause from the large number of students that were now in the hall, echoing after her.

She stormed into Snape's classroom; relieved that the professor himself wasn't already there and threw her bag down at the side of her table. She dropped into her seat and rubbed her eyes; furiously, trying to calm herself down. Ten minutes later the rest of the class filed in and Harry and Ron took the table opposite her.

Silence fell as Snape strode in through the door and stood at the front of the class. He stood there; eyeing them all for a moment, with his arms folded across his chest; before taking out his wand and waving it towards the blackboard where words started to appear on the surface.

"I assume that everyone has finished their assignment?" He drawled. "Pass them forwards." Snape walked past Hermione's table and collected her parchment before moving to the where Harry and Ron sat. He took Harry's essay before turning to the redheaded boy.

"Mr. Weasley." He said dangerously. "Why do I not have yours?"

"I've been um… distracted sir." Ron replied; turning almost the same colour as his hair.

"It is a shame Mr Weasley." Snape growled. "That you cannot keep up with your work as much as you do with Miss Brown. Ten points from Gryffindor and I want two rolls of parchment on my desk tomorrow on the uses of Juniper root and why it is important in certain potions." Hermione gave a slight smile as she heard Ron groan. "Now, you will be working in pairs for the next month to brew a perfect Dilium potion. When I pair you, collect your things and begin. Potter and Longbottom! Weasley and Thomas! Zabini and Parkinson! Malfoy and Granger!" Hermione's head snapped up. She was now at full attention. Malfoy? The bane of her life, ferret face, hated all muggle borns, Malfoy?

"This is freaking great." She muttered. "Just what I need."

"Glad you feel that way Granger." Malfoy replied; appearing next to her. "I'm not exactly excited myself." He dropped his bag by the spare chair at her bench and folded his arms.

"I'm not in the mood Malfoy. Let's just start this thing so we can finish quickly. I'll collect the ingredients, you get the cauldron and light the fire." Hermione collected their things and met Draco back at the table where he had already successfully lighted a fire beneath their stewing pot. They both worked quietly, side by side, only speaking when something needed adding or the liquid needed stirring. As the class neared its end Snape spoke up.

"Put your cauldrons away at the assigned station and write down your homework which I have written on the board. I expect it finished as pair and handed in the day after tomorrow." Draco moved to take the cauldron while Hermione wrote down the assignment. When he returned he sat and stared at his partner with a smirk on his pointed features.

"It's not nice to stare you know." Hermione muttered as she continued scribbling notes in her planner. Draco snorted and leaned back in his chair with his arms across his chest.

"That was impressive this morning." He drawled lazily. Hermione stopped writing and gave the blonde a measured look.

"He deserved it." She said finally, turning back to her notes. She finished up and started packing away her things. "I'll be in the library after dinner if you want to work the assignment. If not I'll do it and say you helped. Either way I don't care." She picked up her bag and stalked out of the classroom just as the school bell signalled the start of the next lesson. Draco Malfoy got up with a confused expression on his face. He was running over the events of the last 48 hours in his mind. He had something on her that nobody else knew. She didn't even know he had been there watching. He intended to find out why she had done what she did up on the Astronomy Tower.