A/N: Holy crap. I am sorry that it's been soo long. Time really got away from me, and I'd hit a wall with this. So it's not the greatest, and I'm not sure where I'm taking the story, but ya know..we'll see. Well anyways, I hope you enjoy(:

I wondered how long he'd been standing there, watching. The entire time? That just seemed rude, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me; hadn't I just been watching him caress her while he thought they were alone? Actually, my first thought had been to tell her not to apologize to him. I held my tongue. She was flustered by his sudden appearance, torn between two lovers as that old Muggle song goes. "R..Ron..what are you doing?" She stumbled over her words.

"I was going to see if you were still down here. Or if he was gone." His face gave away nothing, but his arms were crossed tightly across his chest, and his words were laced with daggers. I knew he loved her. So I almost felt bad, standing her, holding her, right in front of him. Almost.

"I was just leaving, actually," I said after a few silent seconds. Something to bridge the gap, take the heat off of Hermione. "I'll, uh, see you tomorrow." I didn't want to leave, but six years of school had taught me when to step out of a situation. I nodded curtly to Ron.

"G'night Draco." I wanted to tell her I loved her so badly, hold her one more time, comfort her, smell her…feel her. That, of course, was impossible.

Ronald just kept getting in the way.

I walked out of the Common Room into a dark hallway, full of sleeping portraits and silently changing staircases. The Fat Lady looked after me, giving me a knowing look, and turned back to whatever it was she did all night. I got the eerie feeling she knew more about this school than she really should.

The Slytherin Common Room was quiet when I walked in, but I did not feel safe. I never feel safe there. Too many things have happened, too many "accidents" and too many plans. Too many things I had done in these chairs that I ached to take back. I wondered what would've happen had I been put into Gryffindor. Anywhere, really, besides Slytherin. I wondered what it would be like to feel safe.

I wondered what it would be like to be able to love Hermione, and not have to hide it.

I knew Draco meant well by leaving, but I wished he hadn't. It was far too awkward now, and there was a growing hole of loneliness in my chest, overlapping where my heart should be. "I didn't mean to hurt you," I whispered. I couldn't look him in the face, couldn't see the anger there, the pain. The betrayal. That's what would hurt the most.

"That's what they all say, isn't it? 'Sorry' is just a word, Hermione. Just an empty word, an empty apology, and you don't even mean it." I couldn't decide what was behind those words. Is this really what he thought? Was he going to go rant to Harry about this? And what would Harry think? Probably the same as Ron…

"I never said I was sorry." I hadn't fully realized it until I spoke. I never had said I was sorry. "I didn't want to hurt you, that's true. But I'm not sorry that I stopped you from hurting him."

"He doesn't even love you!" I finally looked up, and he looked pained. Physically pained.

"You saw him, Ron. You didn't have to hear a thing to see how much he loves me."

"He doesn't love you. Not like I could." Why is it that boys always want you when they can't have you? I've only been his best friend since first year, and now he decides that I'm worth something. Too little, too late, as that old Muggle song goes.

"But I'm not in love with you. I'm in love with him." My voice was a whisper again, but I forced myself to at least look at him. I owed this boy that much.

"That's where you've gone wrong. Hermione Granger, the girl who plays it safe, the girl who never makes a move without researching it, the girl who always had the answer, the girl who was more afraid of getting expelled than dying first year, for Merlin's sake, has finally gone wrong. And it's on something really, really big." He shook his head. "Good night." I watched him climb the stairs, felt tears prick at the back of my eyelids, felt a lump form in my throat, and all the doubts and fears of the world come crashing down around my mind. Everything he had said was true, besides the fact that I've gone wrong. But what if he was right there, too?

What if Ronald Weasley, the boy who couldn't read tea leaves, the boy who never thought more than five steps ahead, the boy who waited his entire life to tell me he wanted me, and who never knew the assignment, was right? What if it all finally came together?

I fell asleep with doubts rolling around in my mind like marbles on a table top. Restless, chaotic, and constant.