A/N: This chapter has slight violence in it. Nothing to graphic, just a warning, please review. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to write the next chapter, I'm not feeling to motivated that there are a lot of people reading….so please just review. And be nice if you hate it. Here you go, Chapter 4.

They had fallen into a routine, every day after school they would sit at their respective desks and work. The comfortable silence continued. And a few times they wounded their pride and would ask the other for help if they needed it. Hermione was surprised to find that Draco was actually quite smart. It wasn't a fluke that he was head boy. He was almost as smart as her which was hard to come by. They would patrol the halls together on Tuesday and Friday nights together. There was also a comfortable silence between them then. Out in the halls if they came across each other Draco was his old sneering self but in these walls, there was no audience. And Hermione was starting to realize that that was all it was, a performance. She did not really know Draco Malfoy as well as she thought she did. Unfortunately she really didn't get to share this revelation with anyone. None of her friends would understand and they would think that she had gone mad. They were by no means friends, but they both realized their situation would be easier if they were civil, so they both tried to be. They got into little fights and arguments but that was because they both had a stubborn nature to them.

"Hey…Granger?"

"Hmmm…" She said slowly looking up from the paper she was working on.

"I'm not feeling too well tonight, do you think you can go to the prefect meeting without me?"

She really looked up at him. He was looking really paler, much paler than usual. She was feeling slightly concerned. Not that she would ever admit it. The time they spent together was really doing weird things to her head lately.

"Yes, that's fine. Would you like for me to go get Madam Pomfrey for you?"

"No, I think I should just go lay down for a bit."

"Alright…if you're sure…"

"I'm sure, you should probably go get going anyways. Don't want to be late."

"Ok." She said packing up her things to head out.

It was always so surreal having a normal conversation with him, one without insults, taunts, or punches to the face. She was slowly getting used to it though. It had been just about two months since school started and ever since the first day when he sat down at the desk this is how things had been.

The meeting progressed uneventfully. Luckily Draco had finished his work and all she had to do was assign what needed to be done. On her walk back to the dorm she decided that she should go to Gryffindor tower. It had been too long since she hung out with Harry and Ron and she missed them.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed his face brightening from seeing her here in the tower. "It's so good to see you. We've missed you." He pulled her into a big bear hug holding her tight for a moment.

"I've missed you both as well." She said with a huge smile on her face walking over to Ron and giving him a hug.

"So how are things going with Malfoy?" Ron asked, looking a little concerned.

"Surprisingly well. Much better than either of us expected I think." She said, she wanted to be honest with her friends, whether they believed her or not.

"Oh so is that why you haven't been coming around?" There was an edge of possessiveness to his voice.

"Of course not. I've just been really busy with all of my studies and duties Ronald." Hermione said getting slightly angry. He had no right to feel possessive of her. They had never even been on a date! Not that she didn't want to. Well that had started to become unclear to her lately. She thought that she had loved Ron since the end of second year, but now she wasn't so sure. He always got angry far too quickly, he didn't have any manners and well she just was starting to think that maybe she only had a crush on him for years and those feelings were slowly fading away. He had never showed her that he had any interest in her that way. She was starting to feel like they had missed their chance to be something more.

"Oh, yea, I'm sorry Mione, of course." He said, blushing slightly about his outburst.

"So everything with Malfoy has been good?" Harry asked, making sure that she didn't need his help with knocking that ferret into line.

"Yea Harry, he's actually quite civil when it's just me and him."

"Pft" Ron scoffed, "I don't believe that for a second, this is Malfoy Hermione. The bloody wanker who's tormented you since day one."

At this point Hermione was about to lose it. Ron was about as insensitive as they come sometimes. The way Hermione took his comment was that one, he was insulting her intelligence, like she wasn't smart enough to know just exactly who she was talking about and two, that he did not trust her judgment. Which was just stupid, Hermione was a pretty good judge of character. And living with someone makes you see them through different eyes. They are not pretending when they are at home, they are more likely to let the walls down when they are home. She was fuming mad by the time Ron had finished that last statement and Harry could tell that she was about to explode. He kicked Ron, but Ron was not one to really pick up on emotions.

"Ow! What the hell was that for? All I said was that she can't be right."

"Oh no of course not Ronald. How could I possibly be right when I'm the one who lives with him? Of course you are right because you are all knowing." Hermione said with angry sarcasm dripping off of every word. "You are a complete idiot Ronald Weasly."

Hermione got up and stormed out of the Gryffindor tower. She was so angry that she didn't notice that two people were following her until it was too late.

Draco was pacing in the common room and looked up at the clock for the 5th time. Granger should have been back 2 hours ago. He couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. Malfoys were taught to always trust the judgment so he decided that maybe a stroll around the castle wouldn't hurt. He was walking around, trying to go to places he knew were mostly abandoned when he heard it. It was not something that people expected to hear, especially given what she was saying. It sounded as though someone was holding her captive. It would have been more appropriate for there to be a pleading voice, or crying given that it was clear that she was not there by choice. But no, of course not, this was Granger after all. She just sounded plain pissed off. He rounded the corner to see something sickening. Crabbe and Goyle had Hermione pinned up against a wall. He robes were ripped open.

"If you do not unhand me right now, I promise I will make it so you wish you'd never been born." She said in a dead calm voice.

Draco was even slightly frightened by it, but then again Draco had a brain, these two did not. He was studying Granger making sure she was ok, and had it not been for the past two months he wouldn't have noticed her shaking hands. So she was scared after all, good that means she had some sense. This was not a joke at all.

"Oh I like her," Crabbe said, caressing the left side of Hermione's face with the back of his hand, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to enjoy breaking you." He had an evil smile on his face as he pulled away.

As soon as Draco saw that smile he knew it was time to intervene. Trying to contain the murderous rage that was building inside of him Draco walked further into the corridor.

"What's going on here?" Draco was so well at masking his emotions that no one could hear the under current tone in his voice. It sounded as though he always walked up into this sort of thing. All three people looked at him but his eyes were glued to Hermione. He thought he saw relief flash through her eyes but he couldn't be sure.

"Oi Draco!" Goyle seemed happy to see him. "Me and Crabbe were just walking when all of a sudden this pretty little mudblood came out of Gryffindor tower. We decided that we were going to have some fun." He finished with a stupid grin on his face.

"You do realize that 'pretty little mudblood' is head girl don't you?" Draco said still pretending to be completely calm.

"So what?" Crabbe said, he sensed that he would not have the "fun" he wanted to tonight and was getting defensive. He was so excited when Granger walked out of the tower alone.

"So you will be in deep shit if you don't stop." Draco said looking them both in the eyes, "I suggest that you take off before Granger decides to report you."

"You threatening us Draco?" Crabbe said with a glint in his eyes.

"Of course I'm not." He said scoffing, "I'm only looking out for your best interest."

Goyle seemed to take the hint better than Crabbe did. He grabbed his friend off of Hermione and turned back towards Draco.

"Thanks mate." Goyle said before dragging his friend back down the corridor. Draco waited till he knew they were gone and then looked back at Hermione. She had collapsed to the ground and her shoulders were shaking, she was clearly crying. Apparently her brave bravado had gone with Crabbe and Goyle. He walked up to her slowly.

"Granger," He said softly. Never before had he spoken to her with this tone in his voice. He was nervous if he was going to be honest with himself. He had never had to deal with a situation like this before.

She looked up at him with a tear streaked face. "Will you… will you help me back to the common room?"

It sounded like she was having trouble speaking. Draco could not even imagine how she was feeling right now. Instead he just nodded and got even closer to her. He held out his hand for her to take and she didn't even hesitate. He cupped his hand under her elbow and walked her back to their common room. By the time they walked through the wall she was shaking violently. Draco sat her on the couch and got her a blanket and wrapped it around her. She was staring off with silent tears still streaming down her face. He did not know what to do so he got up and made them each a cup of hot cocoa. He placed hers in her hands and looked into her eyes. They looked vacant and he was scared. This was Hermione. She was quick witted and very smart. Also she was a Gryffindor with a bleeding heart and wore her emotions on her face. The fact that there were none present was troubling. He sat down next to her on the couch unsure of what to do next. She turned to face him and looked him right in the eye.

"They were going to rape me." She said softly, as if she could not believe it.

"But they didn't." Was all he could say to her.

Finally the mask broke. Her face showed, terror and anguish. Without consciously choosing to do so she leaning into Draco and let out a body wracking sob, and tightly gripped the front of his shirt. Draco had no idea what to do in this situation, so he thought what if it was Pansy? And instantly his arms went around her, he started to rub her back. He knew that she was not Pansy but by putting it into perspective like that he knew exactly what he had to do. This girl had almost been raped. She needed comfort and he was the only one there to give it to her. He would want someone to do this for Pansy if he wasn't there to give it to her. She was the only other woman he cared about other than his mother. Regardless that Hermione was not a pureblood she was a woman. And no woman should be raped. Draco was disgusted with people who thought that such actions were ok. He had too much respect for woman to condone such an act.

Hermione's sobs were starting to subside and she pulled away from Draco. For a moment he was sad for the loss of contact but quickly shook the thought out of his head. She was still Granger for crying out loud.

"Do you want me to walk you to your door?" He said in the same soft tone he had been using with her all night. She looked much better after her cry though, almost stronger somehow.

He walked her over to her door. She stopped and turned around to look at him.

She leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Thank you." She said gratitude very evident in her eyes.

Draco didn't even think, his right hand rose to her cheek and his wiped away the tears there and gave her a firm kiss right on the lips. "You're welcome." He said looking into her eyes to see her surprise.

He turned around and went into his room, leaving Hermione in front of her door just standing there.