A/N: Hey, I'm back! I should be revising right now (I have an R.E test tomorrow) but I decided that this was waaay more fun. So here's chapter four for you guys. I hope you liked it. ENJOY! Don't forget to review.

THANK YOU: DM-greyeyes-sexiness-XOXO for reviewing :D
THANK YOU: CrunchyMunchers for putting me on favourite story AND for reviewing :D
THANK YOU: lavender elephants for putting me on favourite story
THANK YOU: Team Psyduck for reviewing :D
THANK YOU: MorbidPessimist for putting me on story alert

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's characters places etc. I only own the plot of this story the brilliant J.K. Rowling owns the HP! Not me!

One Unforgettable Year

Chapter 4: Comforting

Info you need to know: "Talking"

Hermione couldn't stop crying for a while and during it all Draco patiently stood there, his arms wrapped around her and stroked her hair soothingly. After a little while though Draco's feet began to hurt from standing still so much. He then gently pulled Hermione along and she was too upset to really care so let him. A couple of students were roaming around the castle now and they stared at Hermione (whose head was tucked into Draco's chest) as Draco walked past with her. Draco either ignored them or glared at them, the latter making them move on quickly.

After a few more minutes' walk they arrived at their destination. Draco nudged Hermione, his way of telling her to look up and away from his chest. She did so, still sobbing slightly and looked ahead of her. There was a portrait there and Hermione had never seen it before. It was a portrait of four animals together. A badger, an eagle, a lion and a snake. The snake and lion were intertwined with one another (meaning the snake had wrapped itself around the lion) and the eagle was carrying the badger in its talons. The two pairs of animals were just standing there staring at Draco and Hermione.

"Passsword?" The snake hissed but not menacingly like the Slytherin one did.

"Pine-fresh." Draco answered; it seemed as the animals were satisfied seeing as they opened the door without any more words (or in the snake's case, hisses). Hermione wasn't sure what this place was but at that moment she trusted Draco. So she let him lead her in the mysterious room.

Hermione gasped when she entered the room. It was a beautiful common room, filled with comfortable looking sofas and a warm cosy lit fireplace. The walls were plain white but on them hung many portraits of all the different things that represented the different houses. There were portraits of the founders of the houses and of the mascots. Hermione thought it was beautiful. But she still didn't understand why it was there or why she and Draco were there. She turned to Draco looking at him questionably. Draco saw the question and grinned.

"It's the prefect – and Head's - common room. Dumbledore thought that if we shared the same common room and the girls' and boys' shared the same sleeping quarters that it would help to unite our houses." Hermione nodded, showing him she understood. Currently there was no-one in there thankfully so she trudged along to one of the sofas and threw herself down, exhausted. Crying took a lot out of you.

Hermione laid down and put her arm over her eyes, shielding them even though there wasn't anything to shield from. Draco silently walked over to her and sat in the armchair next to her sofa. He wasn't sure what he should do or say. He wasn't usually the comforting type. But he had to admit (but only to himself) that seeing Hermione cry had hurt him. He hated it and wanted to see her smile again. Though it looked like that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"You want to talk about it, Granger?" Draco said softly. Hermione didn't remove her arm from her eyes nor give any indication she heard him. But after a few moments silence she sighed. She didn't want to talk about it but at the same time she did.

"Didn't peg you for the listening type, Malfoy." Hermione said also softly. Trying to lighten up the mood and avoid the topic. But that wasn't going to happen with it being Draco.

"There's a lot of types you wouldn't peg me for. Now, spill." He said that last bit more of an order than a plead. Hermione muttered a swear word under her breathe and Draco grinned at the fact he could make Hermione swear.

Hermione didn't remove her arm or look at him anyway; it was like she was speaking to herself alone in the room. Though she knew he was there but he sat there quietly, just listening to her every word. With every second that went past Hermione felt happier that she had defended unity with Slytherin, Draco was already proving that it wasn't a pointless idea.

"Ron got annoyed that I wanted to unite Gryffindor with Slytherin." Was how Hermione had started her answer. Seeing that Draco said nothing and sat there his face plastered with no emotion she had continued. "The Sorting Hat's song made me realise that earlier I was thinking maybe it wouldn't be bad if Harry, Gin, Ron and I befriended you. Then I caught Dumbledore staring and smiling at me, he nodded then looked over to your table then back to mine and nodded again. I knew then that he wanted me to unite Gryffindor and Slytherin. I thought that if Dumbledore thought it was a good idea then it was a brilliant idea so I wanted to see it through.

"So I voiced my thoughts to Harry and the others. Ginny was hesitant but I managed to persuade her without much effort, then Ginny helped me persuade Harry and Ron was the only one left. He got angry at us, thinking that we were crazy to want to befriend the person who had – has he said – tormented us for the last seven years. I told him he was ridiculous and before I could finish my sentence he started to get up and walk away, I went after him and he told me to 'piss off' then walked away again. But I let him that time. I'm sure you know the rest by now." Hermione was on the verge of tears again and Draco could tell not by looking at her (he couldn't) but by her voice. It had started to crack during the last few sentences.

Draco got up and went to sit next to her on the floor, leaning against her sofa. She didn't realise he was there and he kept it that way while he mulled over what to say. Truthfully he wanted to tell her to break up with the dickhead but he knew that if she heard that then she probably would do just that and regret it later. He sighed and said things that he knew she wanted to hear.

"Listen, Granger." Hermione nodded at his soft voice, telling him she was listening. "You know that Weasley isn't my favourite person in the world. Hell I think he's a right dickhead but he is your dickhead. If you still love him then go to him and talk this out. But don't give up on your unity idea, I think it's bloody brilliant and if Ron doesn't then make him realise that it is. But the most important question is do you love Weasley?"

"Yeah, I love him." Hermione said quietly, but sadly. Also it didn't sound as if she herself truly believed in what she had said.

"But are you in love with him?" Draco asked, breaking the silence. Hermione stayed quite for a few minutes, she didn't know how to answer that. She wasn't sure she knew the answer. Sure she loved Ron but was she in love with him? What did that even mean? She sighed and finally removed her arm from her face and looked at Draco. There were still tears in her eyes but not that evident.

"What does it mean to be in love, Malfoy?" Draco looked away from her and shrugged, but then looked back at her, seriousness in his eyes.

"Well, do you always find yourself staring at Weasley?" Draco asked, curiously.

"No. Not really." Hermione said truthfully.

"Do you feel high? Like when you talk about him to little Weasley or whatever do you talk like you've had too much caffeine?" Hermione shook her head.

"No." she said, yet again truthfully.

"Are you always touching him?" he asked another question.

"No. I'm usually trying to stop him from touching me." She asked, frowning now. Getting worried and annoyed that all her answers were no.

"Is he the thing you can't stop thinking about? The only one?" Hermione shook her head again and her frown deepened.

"No." she replied this time in a whisper. "Does this mean I'm not in love with him? Should I break up with him?" Before she could stop them tears spilled (yet again) out of her eyes and she wiped them away furiously. She was wiping her eyes really furiously that they were stinging but she ignored it and continued wiping them with a not-so-gentle touch. Draco could tell this and so he grabbed her hands with one hand and with the other wiped the last tear from her cheek. But gently.

Their eyes locked with each other briefly. Draco didn't remove his hands from hers or her face and Hermione was surprised to find she didn't mind that. She was actually glad that he didn't. They stayed like that for a while, their breathes synchronised, neither one of them particularly wanting to move. Draco was the one to break the silence, though he still didn't remove his hands.

"The most important question: Does he make you happy?" Draco whispered.

"Yes." Hermione whispered and as she did so her eyes fluttered close. Draco slowly removed his hands from her and her eyes flew open again. He smiled at her, though for some reason - unknown to him - he was feeling slightly disappointed. Nothing he couldn't get over though.

"Then it's simply, isn't it?" He said in a matter-of-fact way. She just frowned at him, not thinking it was that simple. He smirked. "If he makes you happy then just stay with him. Though you should go talk it out with him." Hermione smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you, Draco." She whispered into his ear as she hugged him. Draco wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.

"You're welcome, Hermione." Hermione tried to stop the shivers that were threatening to cascade down her spine at the sound of Draco's angelic voice whispering her name but couldn't. She shivered but ignored it, pretending it never happened. Draco noticed this, smirked but didn't tease her. He did enough of that the past seven years.

Right then they heard the door open and they looked over. They froze briefly when they saw whom it was then let each other go as if they were both hot potatoes. The worst possible person to walk in on them at that moment walked in. It was Ron. He saw that they had been entangled with one another and he frowned at that. He glared at Draco but Draco didn't move away from Hermione (though they had stopped hugging) and then he turned his icy cold glare on Hermione. She took a deep breath and willed herself to not cry during any part of this. And hopefully not after as well.

"What the hell was that?" Ron demanded furiously after a few more moments of glaring at them. Draco sighed but remained quiet; he knew this was something Hermione had to deal with. Alone. Though if necessary he would intervene but he would try to keep out of it.

"It was a hug, Ronald. You surely know what that is." Hermione snapped. Ron was surprised at first but then glared at her again.

"Why were you hugging Malfoy of all people? Is that how you planned to unite Gryffindor and Slytherin? Are you going to go all the way and screw him just for your fucking unity plan!" Ron all but screamed at her. Some point during the argument Harry and Ginny had snuck in and – like Draco – stayed in the room, listening quietly.

"How dare you!" she screamed back at him. "I'm not even screwing you! Do you seriously think I'm that type of girl? A girl who screws with guys to get what she wants? How long have you known me Ron? I'm not like that! Heck I won't even sleep with you and we've been together six months! So don't you dare accuse me of sleeping with Malfoy!" she took a deep breathe to calm herself down slightly and continued her speech.

"Malfoy had been comforting me about you! I hugged him to show that I was grateful that he was kind enough to comfort me even though we're not really close at all." Hermione said calmly though inside her blood was boiling with rage.

"Comforting you? What did he just tell you how much of a dickhead I am?" Ron said crossly. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. She was sick of this fight but then again she was still extremely angry with Ron.

"No! He asked me if you made me happy! And you know what my answer was Ron? It was yes!" Ron's eyes widened at that and he immediately looked sorry and as if he was starting to regret ever staring this fight. Tough, was what Hermione thought of that. "I'm starting to change my mind though. You shouldn't be trying to bad mouth Malfoy when he's the one that persuaded me to stay with you!"

"Persuaded you stay with me? I bet he's the reason you needed persuading in the first place!" Ron retorted, he didn't want to keep fighting with Hermione. But the words were leaving his mouth before he could stop them.

"You're the reason that I needed persuading! You're the only one who can't get over the past Ron, not Malfoy! Harry and Ginny are willing to give it a shot! So is Malfoy! You're the only one is isn't big enough to put the past behind you and move one." Ron wasn't sure what to say to that. He hated Draco and he'd be damned if he ever tried to be friends with him.

Hermione by now was stood up and her arms were crossed over her chest. She didn't say anything more either, merely just stared at him. He stared back looking hurt but angry at the same time. At a gaze like that Hermione would usually melt and apologize profusely but too much had been said and she was too annoyed with Ron to do that. So she sighed as she had made up her mind. She wasn't sure how she felt about it but knew that right now it's what they both needed.

"Ron, I think we should break up."

A/N: Cliffhanger! Haha, will Ron accept that or will he fight for Hermione! Find out next chapter! Hoped you liked this one. Remember please review! Thanks

Until next time – Tilda.