Disclaimer: the usual. JKR is a god and I am merely playing with her creations.

Sorry for not updating, I suck, I know :(

I dedicate this chapter to all of you who gave me feedback, it really helped!

R&R! :)

The train ride was a long one, after heading towards the Head compartment to do a speech for the prefects with a smirking Malfoy she was stuck in a compartment with Harry, Ron and Ginevra.

She didn't know how much more kissing her wounded pride-not to mention heart- could handle.

As soon as she felt the train start to slow down she twirled her wand, her muggle clothes exchanged with her school robes, and made a hasty exit towards the carriages, hoping to catch an empty one before the others caught up.

She had no such luck.

Just as the carriage was lurching forward an achingly familiar voice hollered for it to stop and like any good thestral it did.

Harry jumped up in the carriage, followed by the youngest Weasleys'.

His eyes locked with hers and she knew what he was saying, not using words.

We need to talk.

Her behaviour had finally caught someone's attention.

At Kings Cross station a lone man in black robes stood, left palm pressed against platform 9 ¾ .

His other hand was twitching in the air, an unknown language spilling from his lips as a wind that hadn't been there before started to pick up around him.

His mumblings grew stronger, finding a beat as his robes flapped sharply against his legs.

The wind was strong now and people had left the train station, not sure what the odd clothed man was doing, but very sure of the fact that they didn't want to be there to see it.

A sharp gust of wind ripped the hood away from the man's head, and high cheekbones, pale features and a bald skull was shown.

On the skin of the bald head was a tattoo, just at the temple.

The Yin and Yang sign was branded into his skin, covering a great deal.

Suddenly he stopped chanting and the wind died down.

The tip of his pinkie finger sunk in just an inch into the invisible door to the Hogwarts Express.

He had found what he was looking for.

A hiss left Xua's lips.

"A Witch"

Miles away, the words were carried through the wind to reach the ears of the Brotherhood's leader Shan Yu, where he had left his meditating for later, as he stared intently at the earth globe in front of him.

"A witch" he repeated as his fingers caressed the globe.

His eyes rose to meet one of the kneeling men at his feet.

"You must do your best to prevent them from bonding. If her magic joins the creatures own powers..."he didn't finish the sentence, knowing that the others understood him perfectly.

Hermione Granger was in love.

The Head Dormitories were marvellous, all high ceiling and marble pillars.

A gigantic fireplace and a comfy couch facing it stood in the middle of the room. A door to the left had a golden H.G emblazoned on it and a door to the right had the letters D.M in silver.

The colour scheme was; white, gold and silver. Very fitting for a dorm that would hold a Slytherin and a Gryffindor.

The only thing that bugged her was the fact that she had to share the -gigantic- bathroom with Malfoy, but she guessed that they would find a way to work around it.

She was in the bath, with bubbles to her chin and candles floating in the air.

The scented water filled the bathroom with the smell of vanilla and raspberries, curls of vapour rising from the steaming water around her body.

Suddenly the door to the right of the tub banged open and Malfoy strode inside, ignoring her shrieks – get out, Malfoy!- he thunk-ed down on the edge of the tub and looked her in the eye, a faint smirk curling the corners of his angelic mouth.

Just as she was about to scream at him again-she was never ever again taking a bath without her wand!- he shush-ed her-yes, he actually SHUSH-ED her!- and spoke.

"I propose a truce, I don't want us to fight the rest of the school year and frankly, you're rather cute when you're not threatening to hex my balls of" he said, again with that infuriating-not really there-smirk.

She gaped at him, forgetting the fact that the only thing protecting her modesty at the moment was a thin layer of bubbles.

Just as she was about to respond, a voice hollered through the portrait that guarded the entrance to the Head dorms.

"Hermione, you never told me the password, can you open up?" Harry's voice called and she felt her stomach tie itself in knots at the sound of his voice reaching her ears.

Malfoy rose from the tub's edge and looked over his shoulder at her as he left the bathroom.

"Think about it, Granger"

Harry was sitting on her bed, fiddling with the edge of her cover as she emerged from the bathroom, hair still wet from her...eventful bath.

She had been forced to race out of the water, wrapped only in a towel to open the door to Harry before guiding him to her room and then running into the bathroom again to change.

She wondered what he wanted. He never spent any time with her alone. Always with Ron or Ginny.

She found the fact that he had blushed at the sight of her in a towel extremely endearing.

Maybe she had a shot after all.

She sat herself beside him, fisting her hands to stop herself from touching him; his hair, eyes, arm, hand, lips...

Anything that was his. That was him.

"So, what is it you want to talk about?" she began, finding the silence awkward.

He stopped looking at his hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I was hoping that you had something to tell me" he responded and her heart stopped beating.

Did he know?

He couldn't possibly...

But she had acted out of character, running away right when the train stopped.

Maybe this was her time. Time to come clean, tell him everything.

That she loved him.

Just as she was about to tell him, tell him everything; her feelings, troubles and thoughts he spoke.

"You know I love you" he said and her heart fluttered, thumping like crazy against her rib cage. Butterflies were flying in patterns in her stomach, pink feather light butterflies that tickled her from the inside.

Was he going to say what she thought he was?

Was this thing with Ginny just a fling? A replacement for Hermione? The girl he really wanted?

"And that I think of you as a sister, the family I never had" he continued and her heart shattered into a million little pieces.

She felt every single butterfly in her stomach die. They turned heavy, crashing against the walls of her stomach, bouncing and hitting each other, shattering and falling to the bottom of her stomach, forming a big lump of dead, black, lead butterflies.

She had to bite her lip to stop from crying out in pain.

"So I want you to tell me if anything is wrong, you seemed...odd earlier today..." he said and put a concerned hand on her trembling one that was clutching the edge of her skirt for dear life.

Her knuckles had turned white and she felt her entire body go numb.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" he asked, green eyes holding her captive.

If something was wrong?

No, not at all.

Harry James Potter just broke her heart...and he wasn't even aware of the immense pain that shook her body.

"No" she forced out between shivering lips "Nothing is wrong."

He smiled, relieved.

"Good" he said and rose from the bed, letting go of her cold fist.

"See you at breakfast tomorrow" he said and brushed his lips against her wet hair.

"Yeah" she replied.

She waited until she heard the door close until she let out a wail pain, all glass objects in her room shattering.

She curled up into a shivering ball on her bed, her hair a dark wet halo around her head as she cried, mourning the death of all of her butterflies.

All of the pretty little butterflies.