********PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE*********

This is an old story of mine I'm editing and adding to now. I've combined a few chapters, tweaked a few details, and am adding new material. Chapters 1 and 2 have been combined to be chapter 1 and Chapters 3 and 4 have been combined to be Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is an entirely new chapter. Sorry for any confusion.

"So what now?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Draco was telling her that after talking to Madam Pomfrey a little while back, she said Hermione would be up and walking around the school like her normal, brilliant self in no time. Draco had begun coming less and less and Hermione hardly had a chance to talk to him. She wondered what was going on, but didn't let on. Harry and Ron didn't even have a clue and always gave Draco a stare when they came to visit and he was there. The Malfoy boy immediately occupied himself with something other than Hermione's company while her best friends were there. The two boys didn't glare or sneer anymore, they knew he was responsible for Hermione's breathing at the moment. But, they certainly didn't know what to make of his constant attendance in the hospital wing.

"What do you mean?" he asked, fully aware of the answer. He was Draco Malfoy and at this moment was declaring nothing. Hermione would just have to make the moves in this one.

"Draco, c'mon. No one in Hogwarts has got a clue that we aren't hexing each other's backs, much less...-" she trailed off.

She didn't know how to continue. In the course of 2 weeks, these two opposite souls have moved from being sworn enemies to this. But what was this? She hoped, but she didn't know.

Draco looked at his shoes, at the moving portrait of the four founders of Hogwarts, at Hermione's bed, at a blank wall, anywhere but in the girl's eyes. He was searching for the right word. What were they? Friends? No. That was too tame a word, he thought. But more than that?

"Friends?" he said, boring his eyes into hers, silently daring Hermione to defy him.

Hermione's eyes fluttered, just like her heart and he didn't miss the red splotches which appeared on her cheeks and neck as fast as they disappeared.

"Oh... friends..."

Draco's jaw tightened when she spoke the word. He gave her a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes by any means and stalked out of the room.

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The morning sky was lit up by the bright, flaming sun which still hung low on the horizon and exploded gently in deep reds and bursting oranges. Hermione's hair was gently wavy and frizz-free, thanks to her new use of certain spells, and gently rippling down to her lower back. Her face was completely bare, depicting her plump naturally red lips and glistening, wide, warm brown eyes. They were outlined by a coat of think long lashes that rested on her upper cheek as she closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sky, silently wishing herself good luck as she walked into the Great Hall for the first time in weeks.

"Hey long lost best friend!" greeted the arms of a red headed girl around her. Hermione flashed Ginny a quick smile before her caramel leather satchel plunked down on the table and she embraced her friend back.

"Whoa girl, it's only been a few weeks and you're cutting off not only my circulation but I...can't...breathe-" Hermione gasped before Ginny let go, laughing.

"So, how are you?" Ginny questioned, rather somber all of a sudden.

"Ginny, I really am fine. I don't want anyone asking me questions because then it will feel like it's never going to end. But thanks." she stated, grinning a little.

Ginny understood what her best fried was getting at and decided to let it go because of that sincere spark in Hermione's eye. However, a certain thought struck her and the big mouthed girl opened her mouth to talk. However, she saw two boys out of her peripheral vision and shut it.

"Hermione!" yelled two deep voices at once and Harry and Ron rushed to hug their best friend, nearly knocking her over.

"Guys, guys," she laughed and then hugged them back again, lingering a bit in Ron's arms till she noticed Lavender Brown's glare.

What? she thought. I'm only trying to finish my seventh year in peace and am getting glares from Ron's preppy and high-pitched, dull ex because...?

"You're back!" And already buried in books i see," remarked Harry at first happy, then teasing as she summoned her parchment from her bag and began looking it over for possible mistakes.

"Well Harry, you don't expect me to get caught behind just because of the fact I've been in the hospital week for a week or two, do you?" she said sharply, defending her academic ways.

"Try four, Hermione. I know you're trying to catch up and remain the absolute best witch at Hogwarts," she looked up at his compliment, "but give yourself a break for Merlin's sake."

"Why Harry? Why now when I'm so close to getting into Rale."

Rale was a wizarding university, equivalent to the muggle Harvard.

"Maybe because it's your last year here, Hermione. You need to eat and sleep because you almost-"

"Stop!" she shrieked, "Harry, I'm fine."

Hermione got up and walked away from the table, suddenly fatigued by the pitying looks she was getting from everyone. Wand and parchment in hand, robes flailing around her like angry storm waves on the ocean, she picked up her pace. Her bookbag was floating behind her as she stamped through the doors of the Great Hall and into the hall. Her body slammed hard again someone else's and everything fell, including her.

"Ugh" she grunted, as she felt the impact of crashing onto the floor, scrambling onto her hands and knees to gather he stuff right before plopping back down and rubbing the back of her head. Someone else had collected the spilt contents of her bag and was handing her the wand that slid almost all the way across the hall.

"Thanks," she said, then her eyes lit up.

"Draco! Hey."

"Hey," he said and bent down to pick up the rest of her things from various parts of the hall.

"Where have you been?" she inquired, now on her feet. Hermione realized this was the first time she'd seen her new... companion... since he walked out of her hospital room, apparently angry.

"Oh, just doing work, practicing new spells. Busy, you know," he said, his pale hand stuffed into his dark pants, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"Oh, well thanks again." Hermione didn't know how to answer the casually cool answers he was giving her, so far from what his answers to her questions had been this past week.

"Okay," Draco answered and walked past her.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews make the chapters come faster!