Authors note: I want to give a special thank you to everyone who put me on their alert lists! Or even better, favorited it. It's made me so happy to have so many people actually reading my story! I never expected this story to get so much attention so soon, but it's given me the push that I needed to keep writing it! I'll try my best not to disappoint you guys. Read and review… if you have any ideas, I'm totally open to hearing them. Or anything you don't like about the story, just shout it out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or it's characters. Wish I did, though.

Hermione Granger's mouth fluttered open and closed in a convincing imitation of a fish.

"Merlin… it's you Granger." Draco said incredulously.

"M—Malfoy?"

"Come now, Granger. I know that pretty little head of yours can be put to better use than that. Yes, it's me. The Slytherin git." His lips turned up in his signature smirk, quite similar to his picture on the Daily Profit.

Hermione gathered herself quickly. "The Slytherin git, indeed. Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"I am dead, you stupid woman." Draco growled.

"Well… okay, obviously you are… dead. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to see you right now…" Hermione faltered, her brain suddenly filled with too many thoughts.

Draco Malfoy's a ghost… and that means it's really true… he's dead…

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Granger." Draco rolled his eyes, still looking down on her from the tree. "Now, would you tell me what the hell you're doing here?"

"I just…" She trailed off. She couldn't say it.

I wanted to say goodbye to you, and this Manor.

"You just…? I'm rather disappointed at what's become of the brightest witch of our age. Can't even muster up a simple sentence." He snorted.

Hermione blushed. "Oh, shut up, Malfoy! You just surprised me, that's all."

Meeting your ghost was certainly the last thing I expected to happen.

All of the courage she'd had flew out the window when she came face-to-face with the Malfoy heir. Now she felt incredibly stupid for her sentimentality. And their meeting was unearthing unwanted memories of her years at Hogwarts. But one memory was so comical that she couldn't keep a giggle from escaping her. She remembered their third year, when all her rage for the pale boy had welled up, so fierce that she'd taken out her anger with a fist in his face.

Well. I guess not all of my memories are bad. She thought with satisfaction.

"What are you laughing about?" Draco sniffed suspiciously.

"Nothing. And I don't think it's any of your business, anyway." Hermione said, sighing inwardly. She didn't know how she gone from being conflicted at his death and ready to put her memories behind her, to falling into their old pattern of insults. Something about actually seeing him again aggravated her and made her feel like a child again.

"This is so stupid, Malfoy. I haven't come here to argue with you again. All our adolescent qualms seem pretty ridiculous, now. Considering…" Hermione bit her lip.

"Considering I killed myself." Draco finished for her. "And I feel that same. I'm tired Granger." He admitted.

Hermione realized that this was the closest they would ever get to a truce. Malfoy had just shown more honesty than he ever had at Hogwarts. And she was determined to take advantage of it.

"What did you mean before? The doorstep thing." She asked curiously.

"Ah. After I died, people thought it would be funny to piss on the Manor, since I couldn't actually do anything to stop them. So I stopped showing myself to them. It only gave them more satisfaction, anyway."

"But I thought that no one could get inside the gates? The wards should keep them out."

"The Ministry can get in. And those who can't get in mostly throw things at the gates."

For some reason, Hermione felt ashamed at the downfall of the Malfoy family. The proud pure-blood family had been reduced to a ridiculed spectacle. It made her very sad, though she couldn't explain the reasons herself. But Malfoy didn't seem horribly bothered by the offense. She wondered why he was so nonchalant about it all. Shouldn't he be raging and complaining?

"It doesn't really matter, now. The Ministry will come to tear it down within the week, I'm sure. It was under my name, but now that I'm gone, they can do what they want with it." He said, answering her question. He floated down from the tree and drew closer to Hermione. She could now make out his defined features, now cloaked in an eerie beauty from his see-through appearance.

"Why would the Manor just fall back under your parent's name?"

Draco gave her an unreadable look. "My parents are dead, Granger."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Hermione said without pity. She knew how much Draco had cared for his mother, and relied and his father. Then it dawned on her. Their deaths may have been what lead Draco to end his life.

"How did it happen?"

"Murdered in our parlor." He said, and his lip curled. That shocked Hermione.

"Murdered?"

"Yes, Granger. I believe that's what I said." He snapped. "They stole their wands and cruciod them until they begged for death. And even then, they kept torturing them."

The breath left Hermione chest. Draco had turned away from her during his admission, but she could imagine his eyes burning.

How terrible… no one should have to witness something like that. Not Malfoy, or anyone.

A hollow pain twisted her stomach. "When did it happen?"

"Over a month ago." He said stonily, turning back to her. His nostrils flared, like he was monitoring his breathing… though air no longer passed through the ghosts lungs.

"I'm sorry. I really am, Malfoy. I wish I'd known…"

"So you could do what, Granger? You couldn't have helped if you'd known."

The pain in her stomach became too much, and she felt sick.

"I—I think I need to go now." She said weakly, walking to the metal gates. She gripped the rough metal, feeling it scraping her hands, but it wouldn't budge at her pushing. The whole situation gave her a very panicked feeling; Locked in the Malfoy Manor Gardens, Malfoy himself watching her struggling with a thoughtful look on his face.

Why didn't I ask McGonagall how to get home!

"Granger, wait—" He said kindly, as kindly as she'd ever heard him. "Here."

He walked up behind her, so close that she would have felt his breath on her neck if he'd been alive. "You can't get out from this side unless you have permission. There, you should be alright, now."

"Thank you!" She squeaked, pushing on the gates. They opened smoothly, like nothing was there, and Hermione stumbled a little in her haste. She took a few steps out onto the grass and saw a road down the hill. The gates closed behind her.

"Goodbye, Hermione." Draco said softly.

She turned to look at him, but the ghost had vanished. Hermione blinked and prepared to Apparate, with a euphoria descending on her, very much like a dream.

I don't think I want to wake up, though.