Heyy people!!.. please don't kill me.. i know that its been a while.. but i got really busy over christmas break... and thn we came back to school and the internet wasn't working and its been a crazy month and a half.. sorry that it took me so long to update.. but here it is...enjoyyy!

Chapter 4: Shadows and Dreams

Hermione woke in the same clothes as the night before. She wiped furiously at her tear-streaked face and shielded her eyes against the sun coming through the open window. She was still reeling from Draco's revelation the night before and just couldn't wrap her mind around what he had said.

'He's obviously lying' she thought to herself.

'He can't possibly love me' she continued weakly. 'He's probably just trying to use me to get to Harry' she thought feeling a pang of loneliness at her friend's name.

'A lot of good that would do him, Harry doesn't even care about me anymore' she continued.

Her thoughts were cut short by a knock on her door.

"Granger are you up?" Draco asked

"Yes" she replied

"Well I'm going to breakfast, see you in class" Draco said leaving her to her own devices.

She got dressed slowly and then walked down to breakfast with her bag slung over her shoulder. She reached the Great Hall and just sat at the end of the Gryffindor table by herself without looking at anyone.

She ate her toast slowly while glancing at her Defense textbook. She only looked up from her reading when McGonagall came to give out the Timetables. She gave Hermione a smile which the girl returned and then walked away to give the rest out.

She looked at her timetable and sighed. She used to always get excited about getting her timetable because of Harry and Ron's reactions. Thinking of this made her smile sadly as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

She got up and walked toward the Charms classroom without looking back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco watched her carefully from the Slytherin table. He was aware that the Slytherins were talking to him, so he occasionally glanced at them and acknowledged that he had heard them. He watched her leave and sighed heavily. He continued his breakfast in silence and decided on what he would have to do later that night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry watched his best friend sadly. He felt so guilty about leaving her on her own all summer, but what could he do? He couldn't exactly do what he had wanted. Surely she had to understand why he had distanced himself from her. He just couldn't stay close to her anymore. It would do neither of them any good. He watched her leave with a heavy heart and a deep sigh, causing Ron to look over at him. Harry looked at his best friend, who shook his head.

"It was your decision mate" Ron said sadly.

"I know, I just wish it wasn't this hard" the brunette responded.

"Why didn't you tell her. She at least deserves to know why Harry. You have to tell her. Its killing the both of you mate. I see the way you look when you look at her and I can see that she feels abandoned. I hate doing this to her. If you don't tell her then I will" Ron said angrily.

"NO" Harry said loudly, causing many people to look over at him. He gave them all a small smile and then looked back at Ron.

"I will tell her" Harry said sadly "Tonight" he continued and then walked over to McGonagall to talk to her about where Hermione would be patrolling that night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Classes went by at an agonizingly slow pace. She could feel at least four sets of eyes on her during each class. She sighed and continued to take notes as usual.

Her day went by rather quickly after class was over. She went to dinner and then went back to her dorm to do some homework before patrolling. She didn't look up when Draco came in, nor did she attempt to talk to him. When there was about five minutes before they had to patrol she looked up and noticed that Draco was watching her.

She rolled her eyes at his behavior.

"Okay here's the deal" she began and Draco nodded to show he was listening.

"We have to patrol the castle in like five minutes" she said and he nodded again.

"I will cover the top floors and the towers and you cover the bottom floors and the dungeons and we will meet on the fourth floor, how does that sound?" she finished.

Draco nodded "Okay."

She nodded back "Okay."

Then she got up and put her sweater on and walked out the portrait hole to do her patrolling. Draco followed her and then headed towards the dungeons while she headed to the towers.

She walked around for what felt like forever with no one in sight. After giving up, she just skipped the fifth floor and went right to the fourth floor to meet Draco.

She walked up and down the main corridor and realized he wasn't there yet so she leant against the wall and then slid down it.

She sighed heavily and put her head on her knees. She was just about to doze off when she heard footsteps and looked up. When she caught sight of who was walking toward her, her heart starting racing and her breathe caught in her chest before she stood up.

"I thought I would never see you again" she said to the hooded figure coming right up to her and stopping inches away from her.

The hooded figure didn't respond, but she walked right up to him and threw her arms around his neck. She then pulled back and looked into the hood where his eyes would have been had she been able to see them.

"I've missed you terribly" she said before she closed the gap between them and kissed him hard on the lips. She noticed that his kiss was different but didn't think of it as it still sent electricity throughout her body.

She pulled out of the kiss and then heard footsteps coming and panicked.

She looked to the hooded figure who hadn't moved at the sound of the footsteps and she pushed him into an empty classroom and shut the door. When she turned around she nearly passed out in fear. There standing in front of her was another hooded figured. She looked around wildly, hoping that this was just a bad dream that she was going to wake up from.

She nearly screamed when the other hooded figure walked right up to her and kissed her, but she couldn't find her voice, so her scream was swallowed. The hooded figure pulled back and noticed the look of sheer panic on her face.

"Hermione" he said in an all too familiar voice.

She slowly started to calm down.

"It's you" she said slowly and the figure nodded.

"Then who is that in the classroom?" she asked confused.

The figure just stood there confused, so she turned around and opened the door to reveal the other hooded figure sitting on one of the desks and looking at the two people who had just entered the classroom.

The figure standing next to Hermione walked into the classroom and right up to the other figure.

"Who are you?" he demanded while Hermione stood back and watched the confrontation.

The one figure pulled his hood back and Hermione gasped loudly.

"It's me Hermione" he said looking at the girl in question. "I had to talk to you so I put on this robe so I could sneak out of my dorm. I didn't mean to scare you, I thought you knew who I was when you kissed me" he said walking over to her.

She felt like she was going to pass out but the boy reached her and hugged her.

"Harry?" she asked still wishing that this was a bad dream.

The boy hugging her nodded and pulled back.

"I had to talk to you and explain everything but you wouldn't even look at me, so I decided to come and find you while you were patrolling and talk to you" Harry started but she looked past him to the hooded figure across the room who was watching the two friends closely.

Harry saw her look away from him and he turned to the figure and frowned.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked fiercely.

Hermione glanced between Harry and the figure and then back to the figure.

The figure just answered calmly "I have been Hermione's friend over the summer and I have been helping her when you and her other friends abandoned her. I love her" he said.

Harry felt a pang of guilt and he looked to Hermione.

"I'm so sorry Hermione. I will explain everything I promise. Can I just talk to you?" the brunette asked.

Hermione just looked into his emerald eyes and nodded "Sure."

She looked over at the figure standing across the room who had already started walking out of the room. Before she could ask, he answered the question that was on her lips.

"I will see you soon enough" he replied and she nodded.

She watched him leave and then turned back to Harry.

He gave her a small smile and then grabbed her hand.

"I'll start from the beginning then" he said as they sat down in two of the desks.

..i know its a cliffie... but it has to be this wayy.. sorry.. i have started writing harry's explanation so hopefully you won't have to wait that long for an update... thank u for sticking in there and waiting for me.. don't forget to review and let me know what u think.. nd if u think u know what harry is gonna say.. i would love to hear predictions...