A.N

Hi again! New chapter up quickly since it's been written already. Oh and of course, I could never ever claim the wonderful world of Harry Potter. EVER. It has and always will belong to the lovely J.K Rowling Reviews would be….lovely. Also, I do not have a beta. If anyone is willing to offer, that would be brilliant. Otherwise, there may be some spelling mistakes or grammar disagreements. Okay enough now. ONWARDS!

Hermione:

Waking up in the morning with puffy red eyes was not a great way to start the day. Walking into the restroom, she showered quickly making sure to scrub away at her eyes. Ignoring the scar on her arm as she did every morning, she dressed quickly and dried and straightened her hair with a flick of her wrist, ordering her hair to fall in soft ringlets to frame her face. Clutching her books to her chest she made her way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast with Ginny. The two had become closer after Hermione's scuffle with Ron along with Harry's departing. She smiled as she arrived downstairs. She was preparing for her Double Charms class with the Slytherins and her Potions class with the Ravenclaws. It wasn't that bad of a schedule, except that she'd bet Flitwick was going to pair her up with Malfoy. Poor Neville was not going to pass that class. Her books were laid out over the table as she munched on a piece of toast. She would have to ask Flitwick to give her a lesson plan. She had already read the material and had a basic understanding of how to perform the spells listed later on so she figured teaching wouldn't be too much of a problem. Soon, all the students began filing out of the Great Hall and scattered themselves among the hallways towards their classes. Hermione was barely packing her things when the last student fled the Hall. Stuffing her things in her bag she fled and made it to her class just as Flitwick began speaking.

"Pick up your belongings; I'm afraid I had to make a seating chart. Some of your grades are suffering and I've paired you up with who I think may be suitable to your needs."

Neville looked up cheerfully at Hermione and she tried to return a smile but she knew that wasn't going to be the case. She glanced back at Draco who had a look of indifference while little Astoria Greengrass was clutching onto his arm chattering about some nonsense ball that her parents were planning on throwing. She shouldn't even be in the class but she was smart, if only intellectually. She didn't have one slab of common sense in her bones.

"Now then," proclaimed Flitwick, "Tracey Davis and Neville Longbottom, take those two seats in the far corner. Lavendar Brown and Miss Patil please, in front of them. Theodore Nott and Fay Dunbar, next row over next to Miss Davis and Mr. Longbottom, please. Blaise Zabini and Natalie Fairborne, in front of them. Let's see, who do I have left? Parkinson and Mr. Weasley, next to Mr. Nott and Miss. Dunbar. Julie Parkes and Jason Swann, in front of them if you will. Lastly, Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger, will you please seat yourselves next to Mr. Weasley and Miss Parkinson?"

The students shuffled around but there was a quiet murmuring around the arrangement between Hermione and Malfoy and how they were going to fair next to Ron and Pansy. As soon as they were all settled, Pansy shot over a note to Hermione which read:

'I heard you're shagging my ex. Did he actually take you to bed? What did you do, promise to be his mistress as long as he didn't call you a mudblood? Fat chance. Have fun being my sloppy seconds. You deserve it.'

Hermione didn't understand where the idea of her having sex with Malfoy was coming from but she assumed it was from Ron. She didn't care, not really. All she needed to do was to appear indifferent and then the mood would pass right? That's what her mother told her anyways. She neatly folded up the paper and placed it into her bag and looked back up at Professor Flitwick.

"Well then! Let's get started shall we? Last class we were working on Memory Charms weren't we? If you did your reading last night for homework you would have learned that they are somewhat like Legiliemency except that the memory chooses the invader. You must be cautious while proceeding as if you try to plant another memory, you may just hurt the person for good. Now you may be asking yourselves, what is the purpose of this charm and when will I ever use it? Magical Law requires that all of its employees practice this charm on one another. Every one holds a piece of every other employee and it's used as a sort of seal in the case of betrayal. There are no secrets within the Ministry and with good reason. Secondly, it is also used between married couples who don't want anything between them. On the day of their wedding, they have the choice whether they want to proceed with the process or not. If they choose to do so, their minds will automatically link to each other and if something major should happen to the other, they would know almost immediately. I suggest you begin introducing yourself to your new sitting partner as you will be practicing this charm on each other in a couple minutes. Now repeat after me, Illabitur Menti."

Hermione wasn't nervous about this assignment at all. Lucky for her, she had practiced the blocking spell so she knew she had an advantage over Malfoy. She still would not be able to choose the memory but she would be able to hide the worst of them.

"Now then, I assure you that no harm shall come to you when you cast this spell on your partner. None of your memories are that tainted no? Now then, you shall have the rest of the period to practice. Miss Granger, will you come here for a minute?" As she walked over she didn't think too much about it other than the fact that she was probably going to get a lesson assignment.

"Miss Hermione, I warn you in advance, although I made a comment that none of you should have very fearful memories, that Draco boy is a rare case. I'm sure you can assume what he might have been thorough. I wish you to give him leeway. This is the only class he struggles in and I dare say it may just be due to the lack of practice. Go first, and show him how the spell is to be properly performed and tonight, let him practice on you."

"Of course, Professor," responded Hermione. It wasn't going to be that easy of a task but she was sure to try. She made her way back to Malfoy and informed him of what the Professor had told her.

"Well then, Granger, invade my mind will you? I have nothing to hold back," said Malfoy with his signature smirk. "Very well, go on then."

Closing her eyes, Hermione concentrated her magic in the very center of her being. "Illabitur Menti," she whispered. Just like apparition, she felt a sort of pull behind her navel but instead it felt as if she had dove into a Pensieve. The scenery around her changed and she was engulfed in a black bedroom. There was a four poster in the center of the room with deep emerald green sheets with a black duvet. A wooden chest lie near the corner of the room and behind it sat a very young four year old Malfoy with tears streaming down his face. He was curled over and there were blood stains on the back of his crisp white shirt. Hermione walked over and crouched beside him. The marks were in jagged lines and Hermione could tell that he had just been whipped but none of his wounds were being tended to. Her heart went out to the poor ferret boy and she realized that he must have had a rough childhood which was why he was so cruel to her and her friends. Finally a banging on the door caused Draco to raise his head. Lucius Malfoy sauntered in all of his glory a stern look upon his face. "Up boy. Do not tell be you are crying over such petty wounds. You will never be able to serve the Dark Lord when he comes back again if you cry over matters such as these. Now, up!" Hermione watched as little Draco struggled to his feet and wobbled clutching his shoulder which appeared to be damaged the worst. "Yes, Papa" he murmured.

The scene faded and Hermione was once again in that same room except Malfoy was a little bit older, but he was still crying. Maybe not as hard as he did when she saw him beforehand, but he still did. Again, he was curled up behind his bed but this time he seemed to be clutching a dog's collar and there was blood that had soaked through the oak floor. She could only assume the worse and refused to look further. What she didn't notice was that Lucius Malfoy was again standing over him, this time, smiling proudly over his son.

"See my son; he's an insignificant creature, just like those mudbloods. Look at how dirty their blood is. That is how you know. When you look at their blood.

"But Papa, his blood, it wasn't..." Draco was suddenly cut off by his own father.

"We aren't the same. We're better and more pure. Don't you dare say it. Now call your elf to clean up this filth." Hermione couldn't feel anything but pity for the boy. There was a reason he was so messed up in the head. He had to stab his own dog and enjoy it. He had to be whipped when he cried. Life didn't get anymore tough than that. Finally, the scene went dark and Hermione could feel herself withdrawing herself from Malfoy's mind. She was going to try and at least be amiable towards him. As long as he didn't see anything about her family that could possibly give her family away to Voldemort, she figured she would be fine. Maybe she shouldn't assume that he was still a Death Eater as that would be evil and crude beyond reason. When she could finally see around the room again, she noticed the looks on her classmates' faces as they too, were brought out of their daze. Malfoy's eyes were as blank as a sheet of paper, and he could be passed for as dead. When Hermione finally moved, his eyes regained their cool grey color and he snapped back into reality. "What did you see," he asked.

"I think you'd prefer if I didn't tell you. It was nothing awful, I promise you. But it was different. Now, what time do you want to meet up later tonight? Should I owl you or…"

"Granger, I can honestly tell you I don't give a rat's ass about the time. Yes, just owl me. Just get me through the damn class, that's all I ask," said Malfoy sounding bored, but in reality, he was curious about what she had seen. She had a solemn look upon her face, and she was looking at him with a sense of pity. What had she seen? He decided not to dwell too much on it but he wondered if he brought it up again, would she tell him?

Draco:

Although he had promised himself to not think about her, he really couldn't lose that image of her face that seemed to be imbedded in his mind. He had been called on later during the day in a completely different class and he had almost yelled out "Granger". It wasn't healthy and he knew it. Either he'd have to find some other way to get some or he'd be stuck with the memory of her forever. By lunch time, he was slowly deteriorating and he had a slight daze to his look. Blaise noticed almost immediately.

"Ay, mate, what's up with your face? Whose skirt are you chasing now? Is it Fay Dunbar? I heard she's really good. If you can catch her, let me have a hit at her alright?"

"It's not Fay. Not even close," said Draco drearily, who was losing his cool. Never would he admit something like that if he was in a coherent state of mind. He almost made a snarky remark to counter it, but Blaise already had a questioning look in his eyes complete with the eyebrow raise. "Never mind, Blaise, just get out." Draco seemed to have awful luck because at that moment, a snowy white owl flew in with a single postage that no doubt came from one bushy haired child. The bird perched itself on Malfoy's shoulder and held out its well manicured talon. "You're Potter's owl aren't you? Where is he?" murmured Draco. The script on the envelope was almost medieval; it was so elegant that Malfoy believed it might have been typed on one of those Muggle instruments. Uh…computers? Yes, that was it. Either way, it was lovely although he found himself strange for admiring it. The letter itself was quite simple.

Draco,

Meet me in the Library at ten 'o' clock Pm. It'll be vacated by then. Madam Pince will make sure of it just for tonight, or any other night. You don't have to bring your book, I have mine. Just get there okay?

See you soon,

Hermione

He could tell she was trying to at least attempt to be formal but since they were both students, it was a bit strange. Grabbing another piece of parchment and a quill, he quickly scribbled out,

I have Quidditch Practice at 8:45 and it normally runs a little late. I'll try to be there as fast as possible but no guarantees. Don't get into any trouble will you?

~DM

He read it over and decided it sounded indifferent enough if not a little mean. Perfect. "Although you're Potter's owl, you're something else aren't you. Strange and different, just like him. Give this to Hermione will you?" said Draco while he was writing her name on the front of the letter. The white speckled bird took off again in what seemed like the direction of the Gryffindor towers. Forgetting about the last letter, he went off towards his next class.

Quidditch Practice, one of his favorite times of the day. The light outside was already dim and the sky was painted dark pinks and purples and almost black. It was a time, if only for a couple hours, he could forget that they were still fighting a war and that any moment Voldemort could come back with full force and make him change sides. His father was already sending him repeated messages telling him to gather a second army but Draco ignored most of the letters unless they were most necessary. His part in the small portion of the War over the summer so far, was enough to make him cringe. He knew he'd be called on again; it was only a matter of time. "Make several rounds, around the pitch, dismount give me fifty pushups, forty lunges, thirty burpies and twenty high knees. GO," he yelled. It was fun to assign tough warm-ups especially since his team this year was known for groaning, but they couldn't do it continuously or it doubled. A week ago, Harper had complained that Draco rarely did the exercise with them and the only reason he assigned such ridiculous amounts was to torture them. Bad move, Poor Harper had to run for the entire two hours. Malfoy afterwards had shown the team that he too, did the excercises but normally before they began if not double what he gave them. Harper never complained again. Once completed, Draco sent them up onto their brooms where they made a couple rounds until they actually started practicing. They were up against the Huffle Badgers this week and there really wasn't much of a threat besides little Eleanor Branstone who was said to be a riot and a real contender during the games. Building up their defense had been Draco's ultimate strategy this year as their offensive line had always been solid unless they were playing those bloody Gryffindors who required special tactics. Everyone was looking good so far, Crabbe and Goyle were pounding the bludgers and their Chasers were scoring the occasional goal against their Keeper. He had no doubts about how the game would play out and he knew that he wasn't going to let a little girl steal the snitch away from him. The only girl who had the possibility of doing that was Ginny Weasley, the fiery red head and Granger's best friend. That child was a monster in the air and Malfoy silently appreciated how hard she worked. It was going to be quite difficult to beat her and her team. Soon enough, it hit ten 'o' clock but there was still one last drill to work on that the entire team seemed to have an issue with.

"Listen to me, Tracey, Nott, and Zabini, make sure you get that quick backwards spin before shooting up and forward. It'll throw them off if they see you heading towards our own goal, they won't chase you, and they'll just think you've gone mad. It's important that you are able to pull that move off quickly and efficiently or it won't work at all. Got it? Now try again," commanded Draco. He really needed to meet up with Hermione or McGonagall would have his ass for it. But with Tracey making some sort of strange corkscrew motion and Nott and Zabini almost falling off their brooms, they were sure to have a huge problem. "Come on guys, its ten fucking p.m already, get the move down so we can all get some shut eye. Hurry up." It was almost ten forty five by the time Tracey managed to pull of the flip but Nott was a hopeless case and Draco had finally given up on him.

"Everyone down. Nice work. Nott, if you can't get that move right by Friday night, I'm sitting you out. I don't care what you have to do to get the move down, just do it. Now hit the showers everyone."

Rushing towards the locker room, Draco had made sure to come prepared with his other attire for studying with Granger. He figured it'd be casual because of course, it was only studying but he figured he should at least smell and look decently after sweating a ridiculous amount. Jumping in the shower, he quickly washed his white blonde hair with some strange shampoo that his mother had sent him right after the start of school. According to the note she left him, it worked sort of like Amortentia without the drugging and compulsion to attack someone else. His hair merely smelled like whatever enticed the other person the most along with his own personal smell. His mother said to find a pretty pureblood witch with it but Draco disregarded that last part altogether. He was curious to find out what Granger found most enticing but that was for another time.

After rinsing himself off, he toweled himself dry and pulled on a pair of Muggle jeans and a navy blue dress shirt. It wasn't too formal was it? He hoped not. Stuffing the rest of his belongings into his bag, he made his way towards the door but was stopped by Blaise.

"What happened to your grey sweatpants and t-shirt? It's almost eleven. Where the fuck could you possibly be going? Not out with some girl, it's way too late for that. First, you wouldn't tell me whose skirt you were chasing and now you look as if you were going to take someone out to an elegant dinner. When did you start trying so hard? There's no girl here who's worth it all. So spill it, kid. Who is it?" Zabini was barricading the door and although Malfoy was a towering six foot four, Blaise was six five and a lot bulkier than he was.

Zabini, move will you? I promise you I'll tell you everything once I get back, it's nothing special but I'll tell you. Now shove off and get the hell out of my way," said Malfoy who was already slightly irritable. It would be about eleven ten by the time he reached the library and with Zabini being a complete arse, there was no way he'd ever make it.

"Fine, but you better swear on it. This chick has to be special. Now run along and shag her senseless my friend, "said Zabini with the traditional Slytherin smirk. "Save some of that ass for me, will you?"

"Shut the hell up, Zabini," said Draco with a smile while slapping Blaise on the back of the head. "Get out."

"Whatever you say, mate"

Walking back out into the corridor, Draco made a run towards the library, Granger was going to be so ridiculously ticked off, and he knew he was going to get some sort of lecture from her. As he reached the entrance, he noticed that it was particularly dark in there, save for a dim light that seemed to be coming from the back of the room. Rushing forward, he almost tripped on a book lying on the floor. Muttering about how things should be kept in their place, he looked up to see a mass of golden brown curls lying on the table desk in front of him.

Draco stared at her for a long time, from what he could tell, she was dressed a lot more simply than he was in Muggle jeans and a crimson blouse. Her pale face was tinged golden with the light, and her eyelids were fluttering slightly. Was she having some sort of bad dream?

It must have been incredibly uncomfortable to sleep sitting down like that and Draco was tempted to move her to the settee that was in the back corner of the room and just leave her there until she woke up. Actually, that didn't sound like too bad of an idea. Except that he should probably wait until she woke up a little later and they'd be able to practice then. Moving around the desk, he first slowly stacked up all the different documents that lay scattered on the desk. He assumed those were the supposed lesson plans. Putting her book bag on the floor, Draco slowly backed the chair out from under the table and grasped Hermione around the waist and picked her up. She moved around a bit in his arms, her brow furrowing slightly. Carrying her bridal style, he was just about to set her down on the couch when he noticed that her tiny fist was clutching a piece of his shirt.

"Granger, you can't do that. Let go and get some rest before I wake you up again. Come on now."

Apparently his voice didn't do much to help his case as all she did was fist his shirt a bit harder. "Really? Are you going to make me sit here, I can't just give you my shirt." No response. "Fine, then" he muttered. "What a waste of my time."

Sitting himself down, he removed his arms from her person and she just lay there across his legs. Time didn't pass very quickly but Draco too was beginning to nod off until Granger made a sudden movement and curled herself into his stomach, moving her legs up into a weird sort of fetal position. Opening one eye, he noticed Granger shivering slightly. Goddammit. Now the child was cold. He really should wake her up now. This was too much and being awful at charms really didn't help his case. He still couldn't cast a simple warming charm with almost killing a person.

"Go ahead Granger, steal my body heat and my sanity and my mind, and everything else that belongs to me," he muttered again, wrapping his arms around the tiny girl. "Why are you so small," Draco wondered out loud. "Tiny hands, I've noticed so far but you definitely don't have a tiny brain. That mind of yours could kill someone. I'd bet that it could hold a stand, even against the Dark Lord" he said pulling her more tightly towards his chest, accidentally brushing his hand up against one of her breasts. Blushing slightly, like a young schoolboy, he muttered again to himself, "I highly doubt those are small though. What the hell am I doing? This is so unlike me. It's only her chest. I merely have a small, innocent looking, vulnerably girl uh…woman lying in my arms who is supposed to be tutoring me. Maybe I should sleep, close my eyes or something. What was that song my mother sung to me when I was little? All the pretty little ponies. I think that was it. How girlish. Oh well how did it go again?" Draco was losing himself. He hated this girl and he knew it. None of this would ever be mentioned to anyone. Disregarding this the strangest thing happened, Draco began to sing

"Hush a bye

Don't you cry

Go to sleep my little baby

When you wake

You shall have

All the pretty little ponies"

Slowly but surely, Draco's eyes began to droop with the repetitiveness of his own voice. His arms tightened around the sleeping Hermione, and soon he too, was fast asleep.