Hermione woke up in the morning and he was gone. She sat up and rubbed her eyes and sighed. How could he get so pissed and then get up early the morning after?

She heard a bang in the kitchen, and she got up and walked over towards the noise and saw her roommate rubbing his head, their cabinet door wide open and a pot of coffee steaming. She smiled.

"Looking for the hangover potion, I assume," she said and went and picked one out for him. "Here."

"Thanks," he muttered groggily and drank it before rubbing his hair. "I'm so sorry about last night," he said. Hermione sighed.

"It's all right. It's weird when you get drunk because it's so rare. What happened last night?" she said, concerned. She poured them both a cup of coffee.

Draco just shook his head. "Nothing."

She held his arm. "Draco, what wrong?"

"Nothing happened, I said."

Hermione frowned and took a sip of the hot coffee. She was about to demand an answer when another thought popped into her head. "You kept saying 'I mean it' to me last night. What did you mean?"

Draco stared at her a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't remember that?"

"I was drunk out of my mind yesterday. I wouldn't remember."

Hermione sighed and drank a cup of water before heading to her room. "I'm going to shower first," she called, and he nodded before pouring himself some coffee. When she had shut her door, he visibly faltered and leant against the counter for support, his cheeks pink with suppressed embarrassment.

"What do I have to go say those stupid things for?" he asked himself angrily. A loud peck at the window made him jump before he went to let the owl in. He grabbed the note the owl carried and read it.

'Hermione; dinner tonight at seven? Meet me at my flat. – Ron'

Draco pursed his lips. He really did not want her going out with him. He took a quill and some ink and quickly wrote a note back.

'Hermione's busy tonight with work. – Malfoy' He sent it without a second thought and looked up at the clock.

"Crikey!" he yelped. "Hermione! You're going to be late for work!" He heard the shower shut off and he bit his lip to keep from smiling. She hated being late for anything.

"Are you certain?" she yelled back, and Draco ran to his room to get changed. He was going to be late too.

"I'm sure! Hurry up!"

The two came out of their rooms at the same time, Hermione's hair soaking wet and Draco's robes strewn over him. They laughed at each other and fixed each other up before disappearing into the Floo.

Ron appeared at their flat, having half a mind to beat Draco to a pulp, and saw the flat empty. "She's cheating on me!" he yelled. "I knew it!" He stomped back to the Floo network. "Lavender Brown's flat!" he yelled, and disappeared.

Unaware of her boyfriend's current infidelity, Hermione spent the next ten hours working hard to make up for being late. Unsurprisingly, she had worked an hour overtime, and received a knock on her door at seven in the evening. "You can come in, Draco," she called. It wasn't a new practice for them.

Draco entered, smiling. "Still working Hermione?"

"Yep," she said, not looking up.

"You want to go out for dinner?"

"Yeah, let me just wrap this up." She finished her writing and put the parchment into one of the many manila folders she had stacked neatly on her desk. "Done!" she said with a smile at him, and grabbed her coat before locking up and leading him out. "So where to?"

"That Italian restaurant in Scotland?"

"Sounds good." She grabbed onto his arm and they Disapparated. It was a nice walk to the restaurant, a nice and expensive dinner, and a nice walk up to Hermione's favourite hill.

"I love looking at the stars," she told him, lying down on the cold grass.

"As you tell me every time we come here," Draco replied, lying down next to her.

Hermione smiled, gazing up. "Yeah. I just have to tell you every time how much I love it here. When I have kids, I'm going to bring them here every night till they go to school." She shivered. It was cold on the ground. "I see Orion's belt! And the Big and Little Dippers."

Draco smiled and looked over at her. "You're cold," he stated, and scoot over to her side, putting his arm around her. Hermione just smiled.

"Thanks." She put her arms around him and Draco closed his eyes.

"What do I mean to you?" he asked softly. Hermione moved her head a little go get more comfortable on his shoulder.

"I don't know," she murmured.

Draco sighed. Every time they were up here, snuggling like they were, he'd sometimes imagine her wide awake and kissing him. He'd imagined she was his and that they were together and in love. But, she wasn't his, anyway. That was enough to sober him of his imagination.

He looked up at the bright, sparkling stars and sighed again. How could he tell her he loved her when she so clearly loved someone else? Someone else who didn't deserve her love, but deserved to be thrown off a cliff with that wench he shagged? How could he ever tell her that bit of news without breaking her?

He nestled his nose into her hair and closed his eyes with a small contented sigh. Might as well banish the bad thoughts and focus on what he had right now. Her with him lying under the stars, together, sleepy…

"Draco, what are you thinking about?" Hermione asked softly.

"About us," he answered truthfully.

"About us?"

"Yeah."

They were quiet for another minute until Hermione just couldn't stay silent. "Draco, what do I mean to you?"

"You're the most important person to me out of everyone. You're my best friend," he whispered back, and he could feel Hermione smile on his coat.

"You're really important to me too, Draco."

He smiled faintly. They were silent for another moment until Hermione finally sighed.

"It's getting kind of late," she said, getting up. Draco pushed her up from his place on the ground and got up himself.

"It's only nine," he replied, and Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Late."

An owl that Hermione seemed to recognise came by and dropped a letter at Hermione's feet. She hurriedly snatched it up and read it, frowning. Clearing her throat, she looked at her roommate. "I've got to go somewhere."

Draco frowned. "Where?"

She just smiled at him. "I'll see you at home, okay?" Hermione rushed off with a wave and he watched as she walked down the hill. Somewhat worried, Draco Apparated to their flat. He frowned at the empty room. She would definitely tell him when she got home. If not, he'd bug it out of her.

He got ready for bed and sat on the couch waiting for her. He grew bored, made and drank some tea, read a book, and the clock continued to tick, signaling that two hours had already passed. Confused and worried, Draco couldn't get immersed in the new book he had purchased just last week, so he decided to go out and look for her himself. But she could be anywhere around Wizarding London! Maybe she was just at Weasley's place. That was probable. Or Ginny's, or Brown's. Draco cringed. Not Lavender Brown.

The Floo network suddenly sprung to life, emitting flames that revealed Hermione, dirty and ashy. She brushed off her robes, wrinkling her nose. "We need to clean out our fireplace," she said nonchalantly. Draco knew better.

"What happened? You were gone for two hours!" He got up from the couch and went to her. She didn't look up at his face like she usually would have, but kept her face towards the ground.

"I just went over to Ron's." She tried to push past him.

Draco frowned. Normally he would assume that they had just talked or snogged or something, but Hermione's face wasn't bright and glowing like it usually was when she came back from her boyfriend's place. It looked like they had had a row. Again. "What did you two fight about? Why did you go there?" he asked firmly, grabbing her shoulders and keeping her in place.

"We didn't fight," she replied gloomily, and Draco rolled his eyes.

"I wish you'd give me more credit on how well I know you."

Hermione sighed heavily and looked up at her roommate. Her eyes were somewhat red and puffy, obviously from crying, and her breath smelled like liquor.

"Hermione?" Draco asked softly. "What happened?"

Hermione looked back at the ground, biting her bottom lip. She shook her head. "He told me to come over because he wanted to talk to me. He still thinks I'm cheating on him. He came to our flat while we were at work because he apparently forgot that I have work today, and when it was empty, he thought we were shagging or something." Hermione took a deep, shaky breath. "I don't know what to do with him."

"So you were fighting with him for two hours?"

She nodded and sniffed. Draco sighed and took her into his arms. "He doesn't deserve you," Draco murmured, rubbing her back soothingly. He was remembering Weasley and Brown. Weasley and Brown at the Three Broomsticks, getting a room… Maybe now was a good time to tell her.

"I mean, I still love him, but he just breaks my heart sometimes," Hermione said, giving into her repressed sobs.

No, now was not a good time to tell her. "Shh, it'll be okay, Hermione. It always is," Draco said, looking into their dirty fireplace. That note he had sent back to Weasley caused this, and he felt terrible. He had never wanted to hurt Hermione, and he had inadvertently done so. Another thing to add to his 'bad person' list. "I made tea, do you want some?" he asked her, and he felt her nod.

Draco pulled away and kissed her head before going to the kitchen to pour her some tea. When he came with her mug, she was drinking something else entirely. "Hermione, don't drink right now," he told her, quickly taking away the bottle. "Where'd you get this anyway?"

Hermione shook her head. "From Ron's house. I think he gave it to me, or I stole it. I'm not quite sure. These rows are the reasons why I couldn't live with Ron. We have to grow up!" She sobbed a little and reached for the bottle of alcohol.

"Hermione, drink your tea," Draco said in reply, capping the bottle and taking it to the kitchen. He went back to his heartbroken roommate to see her drinking from yet another bottle. "Hermione! Where are you getting all of these?"

"Ron's sodding house," she replied sadly, and hiccoughed. Draco took the alcohol away again, and this time padded her down and checked her purse before taking the bottle to the kitchen. Hermione's broken heart and hopeless attitude made Draco want to kill Weasley. He wanted to smash him for making Hermione feel this way when Ronald Weasley was publicly snogging Lavender Brown and shagging her in "private". For goodness sakes, it was Ronald who should be bawling his eyes out and groveling on his knees for Hermione's forgiveness, not the other way around.

Silently trying to calm himself down, he went back to Hermione and looked into her downcast face. "Buck up, girl. You know it'll be better when you two make up." It hurt his heart saying it, but it was true. They had had terrible rows over the years, but they always came back to each other. That thought made Draco wonder exactly how many girls Weasley had shagged to "get back at his girlfriend".

"Draco, you wouldn't be jealous if your girlfriend was living with another man, would you?" Hermione asked quietly, and Draco shook his head.

"Of course I would be." Hermione looked at him, frowning. "Think about it, Granger. He loves you and may even want to marry you," the bastard, "and you living with me makes things really awkward for him. Especially because he's the most jealous person on this earth, he'd start thinking things about us being together."

"But that's just preposterous!" Hermione exclaimed. That statement hurt Draco's pride a bit. "How could he think that after six years?"

"You think that the idea of us dating is preposterous?" he asked, and Hermione sighed.

"No, the idea that I'd cheat on someone I love is preposterous!"

Draco nodded, content with that answer.

"I cannot believe him sometimes," Hermione huffed.

"He's a dolt."

Hermione smiled and looked at her best friend, and, in her drunken stupor, her gaze dropped to his lips. She had never entertained the idea of cheating on Ron, ever, until right at that moment. She would probably pass out before she could do anything, but just to kiss him, to really make Ron's dreams come true…

"Kiss me," she whispered, and Draco's eyes widened.

"What?"

Her brown eyes went back up to his. "Kiss me. Just to see what it's like." Her gaze dropped again. Her heart began thumping quickly.

"Hermione, you're not thinking clearly."

"I know you don't want to, but just do it. To get back at Ronald Weasley." She smiled loosely. "Make his dreams come true."

Draco's mouth dropped open, and Hermione passed out.

A/N: ahh romance. unrequited, unfortunately for Draco. and dang Ron and his jealousy! we'll see if they make up again in the next chapter...or so. please review! :D