Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the brilliant person that thought up Harry Potter. I had nothing to do with it.

A/N: Really, nothing to say here except THANK YOU FOR READING! I hope you like it so far, it took me a long time to write. Please keep going! Hope you enjoy it! Vanilla Cookie and D.21, many many many thanks for being amazing betas! :)


Chapter 3 - Shed Those Tears and Fight Again

Hermione woke up the next morning, her eyes puffy from crying herself to sleep yet again. After glancing at her clock, she realized she woke up a tad too early for classes or breakfast. So she sat up in her bed groggily, not really knowing what to do. Splashing cold water on her face quickly, she suddenly remembered Blaise's advice to look in Draco's drawer. After a moment's hesitation, she headed towards Draco's room again, willing herself not to weep. She was tired of crying.

"Get a grip," she muttered to herself.

She opened the door just as quietly as the last time, and looked around his room although she already knew what she would see. Her eyes passed over the neatly made bed with the cloak on it, his wardrobe with the many fine robes which were undoubtedly very expensive, the desk on which parchment and quills were still littered all over, and his drawer. She squinted at it, approaching tentatively. There was nothing special about it, and she hadn't paid much attention to it until Blaise mentioned it yesterday.

Pulling the top drawer open, she found a small diary. "I can't read that," she reminded herself. She turned away from it, unwilling to invade his privacy even in his absence. She was also a little afraid of what she would find in there, though she would never admit that to anybody. Her eyes fell on another book. It looked old and ragged, but that didn't bother her. She had read many old books that held a lot of interesting information. She opened it cautiously.

There was nothing in it, but the pages looked very worn and weathered. Just holding the book gave Hermione a slightly eerie feeling, as if there was something special inside of it that she could not see. Deciding to check if it had any special powers or if there was anything written in invisible ink, she tapped the diary with her wand: "Specialis Revelio!" Nothing happened. Taking out her quill because there was not much else she could do, she hesitantly wrote a small "Draco?" in black on the very first page. The ink shone and disappeared. Despite how much she did not want to take something of his, she felt like it would be wrong to leave it with nobody to make use of it anyway, so she brought it back to her room.

Closing the door behind her, she opened the book again. On the page she had written on, words were forming in green ink as if written by an invisible hand.

Who are you?

With a gasp of surprise, she scrambled to write back. I am Hermione Granger. Who are you?

Draco Malfoy.

The words glittered on the page. Hermione stared in shock before snapping out of it to reply. His words faded as she wrote back. She smirked slightly to herself; of course he'd write in green. How are we talking? Aren't you in Azkaban?

There was a slight pause before the words started forming, as if this Draco had to think before he replied.This diary is a part of my soul. That is how we are talking. I am not in Azkaban anymore. The Dementors took their toll. I am dead.

She drew in a sharp breath, her eyes filling with angry tears. Clutching her pillow to her chest, she let out a shuddering sigh. But when she wrote, her hands were steady and she was stubbornly refusing to give in to the pain. Will you be here, in this diary, to talk to me all the time, then?

Yes, as long as you don't destroy the diary. If you destroy it, this last piece of my soul will be gone too.

She nodded though there was nobody to see her nod, hugged the precious diary to her chest, and opened up her emotions to him. I miss you so much.

I miss you too, Hermione. I wish I said goodbye.

Hermione pressed her lips together to stop herself from making any sound. A suspicious thought blossomed in her mind. Did Draco have feelings for her when he was still alive? Did he ever miss anyone? "Silly Hermione, of course he did. You just haven't been friends with him so he never showed you," she told herself, grinning, and picked up her quill again. I wish you did too. I wish you could be back here with me. I don't know what to do without you.

You are not without me. I'm still here, and I'm here for you.

Hermione smiled sadly and their conversation was paused for a few minutes during which Hermione gazed out the window to watch the beautiful sunrise. She then checked the clock again, and wrote back. I have to go to class now. Do you want to come with me?

It is up to you. If you bring me along, you can write to me during class. But promise me one thing.

Hermione wrote back, eyes shining with excitement. Yes?

Don't let anybody else know about this.

It already felt like something she shouldn't tell anybody. Something too special to reveal. She had no reason to be reluctant in responding. I won't.

oOoOo

I'm at Potions. It's weird not having you sitting in front of me. Hermione wrote in the diary, simultaneously stirring her potion. Harry sat next to her, giving her an occasional concerned look. She felt lightened of her burden, now that she had a piece of Draco with her. She ignored Harry's curious, questioning stares.

I'm sorry I'm not there.

Hermione froze, staring at the page. She had never heard him say sorry before. Draco Malfoy never said sorry; he'd mentioned that before to her in one of their conversations earlier this year... He told her he never said sorry and meant it. He'd also asked her to define love and what it feels like.

"What is it like to love?" he had asked her, but she shook her head, telling him that it was impossible to translate into words. If he didn't know how to apologize, if he didn't know what love - or affectionate emotions in general - meant or felt like, why was he saying something like that now? Maybe this was a part of his soul that could apologize and be grateful for things? She wrote back in a straightforward manner, biting her lip in confusion. I've never heard you apologize before.

She smiled slightly as she read his response.

Maybe that's due to the fact we've been enemies for the past six years.

She bit her lip a little harder to stop herself from laughing out loud. They were supposed to be brewing a Blood-Replenishing Potion, which was not easy. She threw in a little bit of asphodel and ginger, stirred her cauldron twice clockwise, and resumed writing.

I didn't really HATE you, you know... she decided to write, another smile dancing mischievously on her lips, the lively sparkle returning to her eyes.

Yeah, says the girl that punched me in the face during third year.

Everything seemed quite hilarious now that she had him back. She burst into laughter, earning herself a deadly glare from Professor Snape. She put her fist into her mouth to stifle her laughter and giggled silently instead. She liked this new feeling of giddiness and excitement, which contrasted so sharply with the misery she'd felt for the last month. Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron, who was staring at her incredulously. "What happened to the sobbing girl we were chasing the other day?" Ron mouthed. Harry shrugged.

You know I'm sorry about that, Draco! I told you this year, when we became friends. She was reluctant to put the word "friends" because she was unsure of it. They never really talked about their friendship.

Yes, but it was still agonizing not to be able to smirk without pain! I couldn't smirk for two whole weeks!

Hermione blushed as she wrote her reply without thinking about it first. You're better looking without the smirk, anyway.

I know. But I must uphold the Malfoy code - smirk, always!

Really? That's actually part of the code? She raised her eyebrows.

No, I was kidding. Jeez, where's your sense of humour?

She bit her lip again and looked up at her boiling potion. She added a bit of fluxweed and took her spoon. While one hand was stirring, the other wrote a reply. I've got a better sense of humour than you.

Whatever.

She looked around, unsure how to reply. Are you mad? she wrote tentatively in case she had offended him and made him angry. She hoped she hadn't; if she was going to lose her happiness, it'd be too soon.

Harry glanced at her. "What are you writing?" he inquired, finally giving in to curiosity.

She shot a sneaky look at him. "I'm experimenting with my potion today. I'm not following the instructions except for the ingredients, so I'm recording everything I do." Her stomach squirmed. She didn't like lying to him.

Harry laughed, seeming satisfied with her answer, which made her stomach wriggle a little bit more. "That's my Hermione." She smiled vaguely, feeling guilty, and looked back at the diary, which now held a response. She burst out laughing again.

No, I am quite sane, thank you very much.

Professor Snape looked up from marking essays and shot her an irritated look. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for disrupting the class."

A few days ago, she might have been bothered by this and in tears by now. Since she had this form of Draco back, she felt like she had not a care in the world, so she grinned angelically up at Snape. "Okay," she said lightly. After all, ten points wasn't a lot to lose. Snape gave her a suspicious look and went back to grading papers. Many people looked her way. Some people had expressions of confusion, others wore sneers at her being reprimanded. Blaise looked at her with a calculating expression on his face. A few Gryffindors looked bemused. She did not care.

So you do have a sense of humour! she scribbled on the page, still stirring the potion in her cauldron that was now frothing and bubbling.

Glad you figured that out for yourself. I thought you were the smartest witch in our year!

Hermione grimaced inwardly, not knowing how to reply. She stirred her potion a little bit faster and poured an excessive quantity of armadillo bile into the cauldron. It turned a brilliant blue and made a slight hissing noise. Furrowing her brow, she stirred it counterclockwise.

The potion exploded and the cauldron's contents drenched everybody in the vicinity. "Oops!" she giggled as she noticed everybody's shocked expressions. "Sorry guys! Scourgify!"she said with a flourish, waving her wand with a sweep across the room, and the potion on everybody's robes cleaned off immediately. "Sorry, Professor!"

Professor Snape stood up again, seething, and stalked over to her table. "What is the matter with you, Granger?"

"Nothing! I just stirred too fast and put in too much armadillo bile."

"You stupid girl, armadillo bile isn't even in the recipe. In fact, you don't even have your textbook in front of you!" Snape snapped, eyes flashing.

"Silly me, must have forgotten," she said airily. Usually nobody would have gotten away with calling Hermione Granger stupid. But today, her mind was off in a little happy world of her own.

Snape leaned closer to her. "Explain to me how you would have made the potion without the recipe, Miss Granger."

"I don't know, I would improvise?" she responded brightly, and Harry laughed.

"Ten points from Gryffindor! I will not tolerate your rudeness!" Snape snarled. "Now open your textbook and get to work!"

"Yes, Professor Snape." Hermione lowered her head, rolled her eyes, and wrote in the diary again. Snape just blew up at me because I exploded my potion.

Let's talk when you're not in class, all right? It would be safer.

She smiled. I'll talk to you later then. Closing it, she put it in her bag. It was unfortunate that she did not remember - or would not remember - about Ginny's incident in second year. But since they weren't as close as before, Hermione didn't bother to think about Ginny. She knew a bit about what had happened in her second year but since her mind was rid of thoughts about Ginny Weasley, she did not realize the danger. All she cared about was what she got back today.

When something is taken from you and you miss it sorely, you will indulge in it when it is given back to you, and that was happening to Hermione now. She did not even realize that it was odd to have a diary have a conversation with you; she was too caught up in having her dormitory partner's soul back. At least it was better than nothing, she thought. A lot better than nothing, actually.

She was so much happier than she was two weeks ago that she refused to listen to the feeble gut instinct that was telling her that she was in danger, and this part of "Draco's soul" was nothing but trouble.


A/N:A bit of comic relief! Whew! After the two intense chapters before! I hope you enjoyed it - please tell me if you liked it or not (and why!) in a review! Thank you for reading so far, please keep going! :)