The sun had set by the time Hermione woke up. Harry and Ron were at here sides the whole day until Madam Pomfrey told them to leave and let her rest. Hermione's eyes opened slowly and she yawned, rubbing her eyes. Once her eyes were fully open she looked around. The hospital wing was empty and the curtains drawn, the lanterns around the room we glowing dimly. She heard footsteps coming towards the hospital wing. How could she not? It was so quiet that you could even hear a quill being dropped. She wasn't sure who it was, there only seemed to be one set of footsteps, so she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. The door slowly creaked open and more light flooded in. Hermione snuck a peak out of the corner of her eye and saw a male figure with blonde hair walking towards her bed. When he reached her bed, he sat down in the chair and took her hand in his.

"Open your eyes Hermione; I know you're not asleep." His voice was angel like. Draco was tracing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. She gave a little sigh and opened her eyes to look at him.

"Hey." She said softly. She looked at him and saw him smile before she blushed and looked down at the sheets.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" With his other hand that wasn't holding hers he rubbed her arm softly. The touch of his skin on hers gave her goose bumps.

"I'm alright. My nose still hurts." She looked back up at him and gave him a 'thanks-to-you' look. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, let go of her hand and looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I should've caught you. I didn't know what was happening, I though you just slipped. I thought you'd be okay. But when you tried to stand up and you slid back down the wall, I knew something was wrong. And then Weasley came and knocked me out of the way and then Pothead tackled me. Seriously, what is wrong with him?" He stopped talking and looked at Hermione. She seemed a little angry with Draco with the way he was talking about her friends. He mumbled a sorry and stood up, turning around about to leave when Hermione coughed. He spun back around and looked at her, his face worried.

"But I am okay. And it's only a cough," she could tell by the look on his face he was worried, "Ron and Harry are just looking out for me. You didn't tell them about last night did you? I don't think I'm ready for them to know just yet. I don't even know why I did what I did. We hate each other Malfoy, we're meant to be enemies. It just doesn't make sense." She was close to tears. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"I don't hate you. I know I was a complete git to you in the first few years but... things change. People change and so do their feelings. My feelings for you have changed dramatically."

"What about Pansy?" Hermione asked. It's been known to everyone that Pansy and Draco have been on and off for as long as she could remember. Why would he suddenly admit his feelings for her? She wasn't sure how she felt about him. He was handsome, those eyes always made her stomach flutter but they would never be able to be together with friends like Harry and Ron and Crabbe and Goyle.

"Pansy? What about her?" Obviously boys didn't understand these sorts of things. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh.

"Everyone knows you and Pansy have been together for ages. So don't "What about her?" to me. I'm not some dumb girl who will believe anything you say." She was upset now and she didn't know why. Why was she feeling this was towards Draco?

"Hermione listen," he said taking her hand once again. "There is nothing going on between me and Pansy. Never has been. She likes me but I don't have any feelings for her at all. You're the only one I have feelings for. Look at me, please." He took her face between his hands and turned her face towards his. She blinked and his face was close to hers. His breath was intoxicating. "What will it take for you to believe me?" He asked, smiling as she swallowed, clearly she was having trouble being this close to him.

"I don't know. I need time to think this through Malfoy." She looked away from him again and he let his hands drop. They both sat there in silence for awhile. It wasn't exactly awkward but it wasn't a comfortable silence either. Draco was the first to break the silence.

"I'd rather you call me Draco." And with that he got up and walked towards the door. Hermione's eyes on him the whole way. He opened the door but before stepping out into the corridor he turned and whispered 'I love you' to Hermione.

After he left, she stayed awake for a while. Thinking about what she would do, thinking did Draco really mean what he said? Eventually she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep, not dreaming at all.

The next morning she awoke early to hear the voices of her two best friends. Harry and Ron seemed to be talking about Quidditch or something to do with brooms. Hermione yawned loudly and pushed herself up on her elbows like she had done the morning before. The only difference was she was in a hospital bed this morning.

"Good morning sleepy head." Said Harry, who was reading something in The Daily Prophet that must've been interesting because he didn't look up until he finished reading.

"You snore." Was all that Ron said before returning to his Rebix Cube. Hermione knew that if Ron had known that was a muggle thing, he wouldn't be playing with it. He looked so focus.

"Oh thanks guys. Yeah don't worry about me. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." She tried to be as sarcastic as possible. There was another copy of The Daily Prophet on the end of her bed. She reached down for it and began to read something about a missing muggle when Harry stopped reading and put his copy down.
"Good morning Hermione. How are you? Is that better?" Harry asked cheekily. She laughed, Harry and Ron could always make her smile and laugh.

"Much better, thank you Harry. Ron, you do know that's a muggle toy?" The look on his face was priceless. Both Harry and Hermione laughed.

"I wasn't going to tell him Mione, I was just going to let him walk around with it." Said Harry. She smiled wider. Ron placed the Rubix Cube down and looked at it with disgust.

"Dad would love that." He said in a low voice. "Do you want to explain what Malfoy was doing hanging around outside of our common room? He said he was looking for his coat. But why would it be near the tower? He is such a git." Ron said as he picked up Harry's copy of The Daily Prophet and turning to the back pages for the comics. Hermione just let out a soft 'I don't know' when Madam Pomfrey walked in and said the boys needed to leave while Hermione got ready to leave the hospital wing. They walked outside to wait as Hermione packed her things and got dressed.

When Hermione walked out the door, she met Harry and Ron who walked her back to the common room. She stumbled once up the stairs and Harry and Ron grabbed her arms to steady her. She just brushed them off and told them she was okay. Once she was back in her dorm and put her things away and lay on her bed. The other girls of her dorm entered and squealed.

"Are you okay?" asked Lavender. But Hermione would go insane if any more people asked her if she was okay so she took a little walk. She walked down the halls that lead to the Great Hall. There weren't many people in there, mostly people catching up on studying. Hermione looked around and spotted the one boy who for some strange reason made her knees weak. She tilted her head to the side to show she wanted to talk to him somewhere. She looked around the hall once again and saw Snape sitting at the staff table reading a book on who knows what. She turned and walked out of the hall and into the Entrance Hall waiting for Malfoy to follow. The Entrance Hall was empty but she still stood close to the wall. Malfoy walked around the corner and saw Hermione standing there.

"Let's go for a walk. We need to talk." Was all she said as she made her way out the front doors.