Creator's Notes: Sorry I haven't updated this in too long everyone. Life is crazy and I am an easily distracted girl! Hope you like it.


Hermione

Hermione Granger was knee deep in piles of books and hadn't felt this at ease in quite some time. She was grateful that she was basically alone in the castle because she spent the majority of last night under the attack of night terrors. When she awoke she was in tears and skipped breakfast to stow herself in the school's library. So here she was, using her wand to take books off of the highest shelves and creating small piles around her feet. She was excited to have unread pages awaiting her attention and found herself peeking towards the Restricted Section. Her attention was distracted when someone burst into the library.

Hermione was of course a teenager. And along with being a teenager comes hormones. Hermione was not the typical teenager so it had never really experienced her hormones the way some other teenagers her age might have. But when Hermione turned, her wand posed holding a rather heavy looking book above her head she found herself staring into the face of a surprised looking Malfoy. Seeing his face, and his well-manicured hair above his piercing eyes she found herself experiencing the strange symptoms that go along with teenage hormones. Her stomach tightened painfully as she noted shamefully that he was not wearing a suit, rather his school uniform.

Draco was staring at her for a long moment before taking a breath.

"I did not realize this room was occupied." Suddenly his face turned a sickly green and he looked as though he would be ill. Hermione was confused until she followed his gaze. Since the school was vacant Hermione hadn't bothered to wear long sleeves as she had done the rest of the year. She kept her forearms covered so she would not be reminded of the scar that waited there for her. She had worn short sleeves today and in the absence of another human she forgot that her scar was showing. In very much an un-Malfoy like manner he turned quickly and exited the library looking very pale.

Hermione went back to her books suddenly feeling ashamed and wishing she could tug her sleeves down over her arms. Her piles took her attention again and as she stood sorting she slowly forgot the look on Draco's face.

Draco

Draco had been a child the last time he threw up. Now he stood in the boy's bathroom his head bent over a porcelain sink as he was sick. Seeing that mark on Granger's arm had affected him much more severely than he thought it would. He had never allowed himself to think of that terrible day, when he watched his classmate being tortured by his aunt. The rumors around the school were that Hermione still screamed in her sleep and the girls' sharing a room with her had to put a silencing charm around her bed so that they could sleep. With that thought Draco heaved into the sink again and felt a tremor go through his back.

Why was this so hard? He hadn't thought that facing Hermione would've been this challenging, but he had also never thought the War would've happened the way it did. He stared into the bathroom mirror as memories flooded through him of Voldemort instructing him to kill Dumbledore.

Anyone walking past that bathroom would've heard Draco being sick. Fortunately – or perhaps unfortunately – for Draco the only person that passed was Hermione. She was on her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room from the library, a large pile of books following her at the end of her wand. She stopped outside of the bathroom and listened carefully. His retching made her a tad sick herself but with a sudden determination in her step she ran past the bathroom.

When Draco exited the bathroom quite some time later he was exhausted and wishing desperately for bed. He found himself face to face with someone that he would've rather never seen again. Hermione was waiting for him in that large lonely hallway. He stared at her but couldn't force himself to say anything.

"This will calm your stomach." Hermione held a cup out to him. Draco stared at it for a long minute before,

"I don't need your pity." He certainly sounded like himself again, with a deep breath he moved past her – doing his best to not look at her – and strode down that hall. He felt sick to his stomach but had a sliver of confidence in his chest that he had not felt for some time.

Hermione was left in that hallway with the warm cup in her hands. Clearly the Malfoy hadn't changed and she couldn't quite understand why she felt so scorned. Biting the inside of her lip roughly to keep her tears to herself she stalked back to the Gryffindor Common Room. She didn't need him; she had Crookshanks and her books waiting for her.

:~:

Hermione sat with her feet tucked under her in front of the roaring fire. Her large orange cat was sitting in her lap and an open book lay in her hands. She was utterly distracted. For the first time in her life she couldn't take her mind off of the annoying Draco Malfoy. Seeing him react so physically to her arm had caused her to think that he had changed, but clearly he was still the arrogant ass that he had always been. After the war Hermione had tried to think the best of people, she tried to understand and be accommodating to the aftermath of what the war had done. But Draco was hard to forgive; she sighed and stared into the fire while lightly stroking Crookshanks behind the ears.

:~:

Draco sat on the floor in the Slytherin Dungeons, he was still sick to his stomach and desperately wishing he had taken that tonic from Hermione Granger. He let his head roll back and ran a rough hand through his hair. He was frustrated and feeling the same stings of loneliness that he had been avoiding. Without another thought on the subject he stood and left the dark Common Room.


Creator's Notes: So there it is guy, the next installment. I promise it will NOT take me so long to update it this time around. More to come soon! Review as always pretty please. And thank you to all of you that have supported me and sent me such lovely comments, it really motivates me and keeps me going.