Hogwarts. It had always held its charm for Hermione Granger, she had always loved it there. But for this one time, she just wanted to go home. Her sixth year was already in progress, and she and Ron had had their usual fight, though this time it was worse than ever. Her mother was in St. Mungo's, her father was dead, Harry was too busy being Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain and falling for Ginny to notice how down she was, and so she was resorted to losing herself in her books and schoolwork. But for the first time in her memory, this did nothing to help ease the loneliness and pain she was feeling inside. When she wasn't with Harry (who was pining over Ginny), Hermione spent her time alone either in the Gryffindor Common Room, or among the stacks in the library, listening to the rustle of the book pages and the soft whispers of other students. Whispers that only increased when they saw one of the famous trio sitting alone staring out the window, looking extremely alone and sad. It had been all over the Daily Prophet that the Death Eaters had attacked her family along with ten other families on her street, and that in the end, her father had died from the strain of the Cruciatus Curse. She hadn't seen Malfoy at all so far that year, and as far as she was concerned, it was all for the better. If he did show his scowling face, she didn't intend to speak to him. She had made a silent pact to herself that she would hex him until he had an elephant's trunk for a nose and bat wings for ears instead of speaking to him.

It was one such night when Hermione was passing the time in the library when she heard the oh-so familiar (and very much unwanted) voice of one Draco Malfoy. From the sound of it, he was coming her way. Hermione quickly and quietly gathered her things and shoved them into her bag, trying hard to be out of this particular section of the library before he and his cronies managed to spot her. Her luck would not be so good this time; however, and just as she grabbed her last book with sweaty hands, it slid from her grasp and fell to the floor with an ominously and painfully loud THUNK!

Her new silky and semi-tame hair had fallen down around her face as she had bent to pick up the book, so all Malfoy saw was the girl from Diagon Alley he had been wondering about since that day. When Draco saw her, he smirked triumphantly- he had finally found her!

"I swear, woman, you and books. Can't you keep a hold of one for five minutes?" he said as he reached down and picked up the book, his hand brushing hers atop the book. Instantly, he felt a jolt of electricity shoot up his arm. "So am I going to have to hex you to make you stay and answer a few questions, or will you stay on your own accord?" he asked as he actually smiled!

"Malfoy, I swear that if you hex me, you will regret it for the rest of your days," Hermione growled as she looked up at him, fire in her eyes. It was then that he realized just why he recognized the girl that he met in Diagon Alley. She was the Mudblood- Granger!

"YOU!" he hissed, drawing his wand at the same time she did.

"Yes, me you idiotic self-centered little ferret, I'm surprised you didn't figure it out before now!" Hermione spat as she glared at him. There was something in her eyes that scared him... something he'd not seen with her before. Loneliness, pain...longing, and enough anger to make a troll think twice. "Get out of my way!" she growled as she shoved her book into her bag and shoved past him, tears flowing down her face.

Draco watched her go, but he felt something… something weird. Something he'd never felt before... what was it? Sympathy flashed through his mind as he slowly stood; no- that couldn't be it, he couldn't feel that for the aggravating Mudblood. But he remembered how he felt when he hadn't known who she was. He had thought her pretty and intriguing.

"Draco?"

At hearing the voice that called his name from the other side of the bookshelves, Draco cringed. For weeks since he had broken up with her, Pansy Parkinson had been trying her best to corner him and talk him into getting back together. Needless to say, Draco would have nothing of it. He let a string of curses fly as he searched for a way out, and ended up ducking behind a rather large stack of books, praying that the annoying girl wouldn't see him. He was mentally berating himself for hiding from her, when she made her presence known at the table he had just stood at.

"Draco?" she called again, looking around for the platinum haired Slytherin who was currently shrinking back in the shadows. The only hint that he was there was when the light from the moon would reflect in his silvery eyes. But with him as far back in the shadows as he was, it would be impossible for her to even notice that.

With a huge sigh, Pansy left the library and Draco alone. "I have got to do something about her..." Draco muttered as he left his hiding place, and was assaulted with the image of Granger's eyes before she had shoved past him.

"Well now, Draco, aren't you the popular one tonight?" the cold voice of Professor Snape came from the bookcase next to him. Draco whirled around to stare into the cold dark eyes of his Head of House.

"Evening, Professor, might I ask what you could want spying on one of your students in the shadows of the library?" Draco said just as coolly as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I have a message from our master for you," Snape said as he pulled a piece of parchment out of his robes and handed it to Draco with a sneer on his face. "He wishes that you do something for him, that is, unless you are afraid to do it. I told him you were only a child that-"

"Oh, give it here," Draco said as he snatched the parchment from Snape, who leered in approval. Draco narrowed his eyes as he read the paper once, twice, and then three times. "I'll do it," he said as he shoved the parchment back at Snape. "When does it need to be done?"

"By the Halloween Ball, that's when he wants to attack," Snape replied, "And Draco... don't fail him," Snape added as he shifted back into the shadows and was gone. What Draco couldn't figure out though, was how he planned on carrying out what the Dark Lord wanted him to do.

"Hermione?"

"Yes, Ginny?" Hermione asked from behind the draperies on her bed. She had been hiding there since her encounter with Malfoy earlier in the library, and then the blow up she had with Ron in the common room.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked from the other side, concern obvious in her voice.

"Fine," Hermione replied quietly as she drew the covers closer around her and rolled over, turning her back on her friend.

"Oh... okay. Well you know that if you ever want to talk, I'm here, unlike that git I call my brother," Ginny replied quietly before leaving her friend with her thoughts. Hermione curled up into a ball in her bed, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. Ever since that day at St. Mungo's, Hermione was different- quieter. It had cut deeply when she had arrived to find her mother in a coma and her father dead. Hermione choked back a sob as she remembered how her knees had given way beneath her when she saw her parents and how Mrs. Weasley hugged her tightly as the uncontrollable sobs wracked her body; how she had rocked Hermione back and forth in her arms like a child. Hermione buried her face in her pillow and muffled the sound of her tears, and only when she felt that it was safe did she pull back and grab her robe, making her way to the deserted Common Room. For a while, she just sat there, staring into the dying embers of the fire, letting the silent tears fall like rain, and wishing that things between her, Harry, and Ron were back to normal, or at least the way they should be between the friends.