Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable settings or characters.


"Everything's fine, I guess mom. I just, I think I have a crush on somebody... Different. I have hated him my whole time at Hogwarts, but now, I really don't know what to do." Hermione finally replied. She knew her mother must be so confused, but hopefully would know what to say, as she always did. She was trying to keep from tearing up, because that would be silly and she didn't want to do that. There was no reason to cry anyway, but she felt like it.

"Well, I mean, hate isn't the opposite of love, you might have felt something for a while. You know, my mom used to tell me that hate and love were practically the same emotion. You spend the same amount of time and energy thinking about that person, it's just in different ways." Her mother replied gently. Hermione had often whined or complained about all the awful things Draco Malfoy had done. Maybe her mother would think differently if she knew just who this was.

"Mommy I don't know what to do. I've never done this, or felt like this before. Why is this happening? And with him of all people. It isn't fair." She replied, obviously a bit upset. She never called her mother 'Mommy' unless something was really wrong.

Her mother pulled the girl into a gentle hug, wanting to comfort her daughter. "Hermione, you don't get to choose who you love. It just happens, there's no way to stop it, or change it, it just happens. I'm sorry that it's so hard for you my sweet girl." She said gently, once again trying to smooth down the mane of bushy hair.

For a few minutes they both just sat there. Then Hermione's father came in, obviously proud of himself, exclaiming that "Lunch, is served." Placing it down on the coffee table. Now, the seven sandwiches might not have looked like much, but for him, the man who couldn't make pasta in a box, it was quite an accomplishment.

"They look great dad." Hermione said with a smile, taking one from the plate. Usually she kept perfect table manners, but for now, she was comfortable, and just leaned back on the couch. No one relly minded the crumbs much anyway.

This visit hadn't fixed much for her, but just talking to her parents and having lunch helped her feel better. They talked for about an hour about the start of school, and her father ended up pulling out a card game, which they played for a while. Eventually the visit ended and Hermione kissed each parent on the cheek. She then stood up, spun on her heel and was gone with a loud pop.


Once again though, her destination wasn't quite what she'd wanted. More practice at this apparation thing was definitely necessary. Because this time, once again she appeared a few feet above the ground, but it was not in her dorm room. It was nearly on top of the current object of her affections. As she flailed, trying to grab something that would keep her from falling, she grabbed a handful of the unsupecting boy's robes and brought them both falling in a heap on the floor.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed as he fell forwards, more out of surprise than anger, landing directly on top of her. Her face looked a tomato it was so red. Draco scrambled to his feet, brushing off his robes. Even with his haughty expression, he glanced around and, seeing no one, offered the small girl his hand.

Slightly suspicious, Hermione took his hand and was pulled quickly to her feet. No tricks, he didn't drop her, nothing. Now they were standing really close, and she was having trouble thinking, but even so, she noticed that he was about to say something. Then his face fell apparently deciding against it. "Bye Hermione." He mumbled, suddenly dropping her hand and stalking off. It was strange, once again, he called her Hermione. But, it didn't seem like it was to play with her any more. She wasn't totally sure what was going on there, but it must be something.

Hermione headed off down the hall, realizing that she'd been with her parents all day. It was nearly time for dinner, and she was pretty hungry, so the Great Hall was her destination. About halfway there, the bell was rang, alerting all students to the fact that dinner would be served in a few minutes, her pace increased to a jog. Upon arriving, she slid in beside Ron and Ginny by instinct, giving a small smile as she realized that they had saved her a seat.

Today, she managed to stey semi-involved in the conversation, but she was a little bit worried about Draco. Why had he been acting so strange? He seemed distracted, so upset, something like that. And she shouldn't care, but she did. Even so, her mind had seemed to settle a bit since she'd spoken with her mother, apparently having now accepted that she liked Malfoy. As ridiculous and forgeign as the thought still felt.

At some point during the disscussion, Ron had put his arm around her shoulders, she had barely even noticed, it was something that he did pretty often, in a friendly way. She thought it might have been a 'Hermione agrees with me, right?' moment, but wasn't sure. Yet, a quick glance up and across the Hall told her that Draco was glaring furiously at Ron, but dropped his gaze when Hermione glanced his way.

Eventually the food vanished, and Dumbledore told everyone to go back to their dorms, so everybody stood and began to file out of the enormus doorway. Ron's shoulder was still around Hermione's shoulders and she didn't bother to shrug it off. They were all laughing about something when Ginny tripped, accidentally shoving Draco before Harry had a chance to grab her arm.

Fate has a bad sense of humor.

Suddenly Draco spun and glared at the red headed girl, and students backed away from the group about five feet on each side, as if they were all suddenly radioactive. "Watch where you're going." he growled, turning to leave. It was better than it could have been, Hermione knew that from experience. But then Ron stiffened and she knew that things were about to get worse.

"Hey, Malfoy! Don't talk to my sister like that, she tripped!" Ron shouted, pulling Hermione closer without thinking. Slowly Draco turned back around, glaring at Ron. His eyes flitted to Hermione's and for a split second something like hurt flashed through them.

"Weasley, I will talk to you, or your sister, or the Mudblood however I damn well please." The blond boy replied, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, waiting for the redhead's response.

"Ron, leave it alone. Walk away." Hermione said, gripping his robe with one hand and trying to pull him away from the confrontation.

"I am so sick of your attitude, you aren't better than anybody here, hell, you're worse than most. Hermione deserved to be here way more than you do." Ron retorted, pulling away from said bushy haired girl and squaring his shoulders. This was getting blown out of proportion and Hermione could tell it was only getting worse.

"Blood traitor." Malfoy said simply, appearing unfazed.

"Spoiled brat."

"Penniless loser." And that was it.

Ron sprung forward and punched Draco in the nose. The crowd that had surrounded them began chanting "Fight" quite loudly as the two grappled, each landing quite a few blows. Harry ran towards the two trying to drag Ron away, and Hermione moved to the other side trying to pull Draco off of her friend. Neither was getting anywhere until the professors arrived and seperated the two. It all moved so fast Hermione wasn't even sure if they used magic or just pulled the students apart.

Professor McGonagall promised to punish both of them severely, but insisted that both Ron and Draco get to the hospital wing and get sewn up beforehand. Harry pulled Ron's arm across his shoulders and helped him towards the infirmary, acting as a crutch, Ginny doing the same on his other side, even though it wasn't too bad. When some Slytherins tried to help Draco, he just growled something and shrugged them off, storming towards the hospital wing.

Hermione trailed behind Ron glancing over her shoulder towards the Slytherin a few times. Both of them were battered and bloody. Ron had a huge black eye and a cut below his cheek bone. Draco's knuckles were bleeding, his eyebrow was cut and his lower lip was swollen. There was probably more but Hermione couldn't focus on anything else.

She helped Ron into bed and Ginny fretted while Harry scolded. Hermione was distracted however, watching Draco climb into bed and let Madame Pomfrey fix his wounds, it didn't take long, but Hermione felt badly. He was laying there, hurt and alone, while Ron had three people by his bedside. She had never considered before that Draco might be really lonely. Maybe that was why he had sat beside her in the library, and why he'd been acting almost nice to her lately.

Eventually, the Slytherin was mended and she moved over to Ron's side, but Madame Pomfrey insisted both boys sleep in the infirmary that night, just to be safe. And, definitely on opposite sides of the room.


A/N: Once again, I wasn't going to update this frequently, but, oh well. Let me know what you think of this chapter, I'm a little worried.

Also, in chapter 2, I did not mean to say she was bad at potions! I'm sorry if I gave that impression. "Least adept" were my words, because she's great at everything, but you have to be less great at something. For example, maybe it's a subject where she gets her homework in on the deadline, rather than a week early. You know what I mean? Once again, Hermione is not bad at potions, I'm sorry for giving that impression!