A/N: Thanks to: Edwardsoneandonlylove, Loslote, AveryClaire, nature love 95, RavenEcho, XxEvilMasterMindxX, IheartDracoandRon, ReadingIsAWESOME, linaeleanor22, LIZIES and Skylan D Water for reviewing. I've reached the over fifty mark! :D My new goal is a hundred reviews. Thanks, as usual to those who favourited and alerted too. : )

So, I'm not particularly fond of this chapter, but it's going to introduce a new event to happen...exciting! Enjoy!

Chapter Seven:

They didn't sleep through the whole night. Hermione was awoken in the middle of the night by Draco's kicking, tossing and turning. His hair was damp with sweat and his face was covered in tears. "No," he was muttering, "Don't hurt me. No!" He rolled around and kicked some more before Hermione reached over and touched his shoulder softly. He didn't wake up but stopped rolling around. "No," he muttered. "Stop it, please!" His eyes were open, but Hermione knew he wasn't really awake. She knew that he was dreaming about Voldemort. She had seen Harry in the middle of a nightmare about this and hoped that the same tricks would work. She rubbed small circles on his back with her hands and whispered, "Shh, it's all right, shh." He leaned in towards her and she continued soothing him. He closed his eyes again and went back into sleep, this time more quietly. He rolled close to Hermione and she fell asleep with her head next to his chest, her arm still draped over him from her circles.

Hermione woke up the next morning in a pair of strong arms. She looked up and saw Draco, still sleeping, his arms wrapped around her. She didn't know how to unwrap herself without waking him up and was contemplating how to do so when he finally woke up. He took in his surroundings for a moment, realized what—or more specifically, who was in his arms and let go quickly.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"That's all right. Did your sleep get better after your nightmare was over?"

"How did you know I had a nightmare?"

"You were tossing and turning and muttering in your sleep."

"Oh, did I keep you awake?"

"Not for long. I have experience with nightmares like that so I knew what to do. Once I started soothing you, you were fine.

"Soothing?"

"You know, telling you that it's okay, rubbing circles on your back. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, actually...that's the best sleep I've had in a while. Thanks Grang—Hermione."

"You're welcome. Shall we go get breakfast?" Hermione's stomach growled. Draco obviously heard it and smiled.

"I see you're hungry. Let's go." Together they walked to the kitchen.

Over the next few days, Draco and Hermione started to become tentative friends. Hermione discovered that he was second in the class next to her. She also discovered that he liked to read almost as much as she did and had lots of wizarding novel recommendations. They had many intellectual arguments, something either of them rarely got. Neither of them had friends who were very intellectual and enjoyed this type of thing. Today it was House Elf rights.

"They like being the servants of wizards!" Draco said from his armchair in the Library. Recently he had taken to joining Hermione up there.

"Only because they don't know any different," Hermione argued, "They're uneducated and don't know that punishing themselves for making mistakes is wrong."

"How is it wrong? Humans do it too. We get angry at ourselves for making mistakes."

"But we don't punish ourselves physically like they do. Even after Dobby was set free, if he so much as said something bad about your family he would try to punish himself. Their punishment goes beyond normal human punishment."

"Okay, I can see what you're saying, but that doesn't change the fact that they like working for wizards."

"If you educated them and taught them that they weren't automatically the slaves of wizards, I'm sure that some of them would start to see sense. They've been brainwashed for hundreds of years to believe that they are the slaves of wizards and nothing better. That they need to close their ears in the oven for going away for an evening; that they need to iron their hands for telling somebody of their master's plans—which, by the way, could kill somebody."

"But in that case, the elf should have kept his nose in his own business."

"But the plans were possibly going to kill somebody."

"It's still not the elf's business. He's just a servant."

"He was not just a servant! He was still a living creature with thoughts and feelings. House elves can do magic that even wizards can't do. They know when something is good or when it's bad. Take Dobby for instance, he knew that how he was treated was terrible, but couldn't do anything about it until Harry tricked your father into freeing him."

"If they're so smart then why haven't they done something about their treatment before now?"

"They're brainwashed! This treatment has been going on for so many years that they've given up all hope of ever being free from their treatment. And if they try, wizards just put them back in their place."

"Okay, so hypothetically speaking, let's say that the elves-"

Draco was interrupted by the loud crack of a house elf. "Pardon me, master, but Mistress Hermione wished Flipsy to come and get her at one o' clock to go to the Weasleys'."

"Thank you, Flipsy," Hermione said. "We'll continue this argument later, Draco." Hermione left to go to The Burrow.

She arrived to the tall, crooked building and smiled. It was so different from the Manor, but still felt much more like home. She walked in and was immediately ambushed by several big hugs.

"Hermione!" Ginny cried. "We haven't seen you in a couple of days. Was Malfoy absolutely horrid to you?"

Hermione laughed. "Actually no. We talked a lot. We're sort of...friends now."

"You WHAT?" They heard Ron's yell.

"Nice to see you too, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Did you say that you're friends with that git?"

"Yes, I am. He's not that bad, Ron."

"Yes he is! He was a Death Eater, 'Mione!"

"Not by choice!" Hermione said angrily. "He told me his story. And you need to mind your own business."

"When my best friend is married to him it is my business!" Ron's face and ears were turning scarlet.

"You don't know the whole story! Stop making unfair accusations!"

Ron didn't respond but stormed off.

"What's Ron so angry about?" Harry asked, entering the room. "Hi, 'Mione."

"He's angry at me because I'm kind of getting along with Malfoy now."

"You are?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Hermione said defensively. "I am. He told me his story and I have made my own judgements. I think he really does feel guilty about what happened in the war."

"I can't believe you're friends with him!" Harry cried.

"Are you going to get angry like Ron too then, Harry?" Hermione asked angrily. "Because it's none of your business and you two are not the bosses of me. I am allowed to befriend whoever I wish, especially my own husband!" She stalked off angrily to the kitchen where she met Mrs. Weasley.

"Hello, Hermione, dear. I heard your news. I, for one, am glad that you're getting along with him. Don't worry about Harry and Ron. They'll come around. And if they don't, I'll make them." She picked up a wooden spoon. Hermione giggled at the idea of Molly's wrath. Suddenly a flurry of movement entered the kitchen in the form of Ginny.

"Hermione! Don't listen to them!" She cried. "I'm happy for you. Don't worry, Harry is going to regret how rude he was to you," Ginny had a mischievous grin on her face. "As for Ron...mum can deal with him, can't you, mum?"

"Of course, Ginny." Molly had a similar smile on her face. "Why don't you two go up to Ginny's room and catch up."

"All right, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said. "Thanks."

Hermione followed Ginny upstairs. When they arrived in Ginny's room, the redhead flopped onto her bed. "So," she said. "Spill."

"Spill what?"

"The story behind you and Malfoy."

"There's not much to tell. We talked, I learned about what life was like for him during the war, and now we're civil to each other."

"Like what?"

"That's not really my story to tell. Sorry, Gin."

"You're no fun," Ginny pouted.

"So you've said on countless occasions. But what's been happening here?"

"Nothing really. Oh! Guess what Fleur did?"

The conversation continued easily until dinner came. Hermione sat at the table next to George and Ginny and across from Ron. Harry was beside Ron and across from Ginny. Ron was glaring at Hermione but Harry was looking at her sheepishly as though he felt guilty about earlier. Ginny, however, was glaring at him. Molly served them their food and Harry said,

"Listen, Hermione, I'm sorry about earlier. I overreacted. I'm glad that you're not miserable with him anymore." Harry's green eyes were truthful as he looked into her brown ones.

"Thank you, Harry."

Harry smiled and resumed consuming his meal while Ron scowled.

"I was thinking, Hermione," said Molly. "Perhaps we should invite him here for dinner." The entire table went silent. "What?" she asked defensively. "Perhaps you all will see what Hermione sees in him."

"He's not coming here," Ron said.

"It's not up to you, Ronald," Molly said dangerously. "This is my house."

"I think it's a great idea, Molly," said Arthur finally.

"I'll try to get him here," Hermione said, "But I'm not sure if he'll agree. You all know about the feud between the Weasleys and the Malfoys for generations."

"You can try," said Molly.

"Okay," Hermione agreed."I'll try."

"Excellent. Now dig in, I didn't cook this meal so it could go to waste!"

The conversation changed then, thankfully, and Hermione ate her dinner in peace.

"Hello," Draco said when Hermione entered their room when she got home. "Have a good dinner?"

"Yes. Ron and I argued, though." Hermione frowned.

"Oh," Draco made a face at the mention of Ron's name. "What about?"

"I told them that we were kind of getting along now and he went crazy. He just can't accept that you're not as bad as he thinks."

"Oh. I've never understood what you saw in the Weasel anyway."

"He's my friend, Draco! And they're wonderful people. They are my wizarding family. Molly invited you to dinner at The Burrow. Even though she knows that it would only end in disaster. I want you to come. It could be a good way for you to work out your problems with the boys."

"Why would I want to do that? I enjoy hating them."

"But I don't enjoy it, Draco! They're my wizard family and I'm married to you. It's important to me that you get along."

"Well I'm not going over to the Weasley shack. End of discussion."

"Fine," Hermione huffed. She turned away from Draco and crawled into bed, turning off the light beside her. She closed her eyes but couldn't get to sleep. She wished that Draco and the Weasleys could get along. But Draco was just so stubborn. She didn't know why she had ever thought he had changed. He was still the annoying, immature, prejudiced boy she knew. Suddenly, to her annoyance, her tears leaked out of her eyes and onto the pillow. She sniffed and wiped them away.

"Are you crying?" he asked her.

"Maybe," she said. "Just leave me alone, Malfoy."

"Oh, so we're back to last names now, are we?" Hermione ignored him. "Oh, I see how it is. The silent treatment." Hermione ignored him again. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I thought you'd understand that going to the Weasley home is out of the question."

"And why?" Hermione asked angrily. "Why is it out of the question? What is your reason for hating them so much?"

"They're Weasleys and I'm a Malfoy," he said simply.

"That's not a reason! You only hate each other so much because it's been like that for generations! And when I come along and ask for you to just EAT together, you immediately reject it. You don't even know what they're really like. You just know what your family has told you and what they've done to you at school. And you know they only did that because of what you said first. Don't you remember? On the first ever train ride to Hogwarts the first thing that came out of your mouth was something about how your family was better than the Weasleys. You didn't even TRY to break the stereotypical feud between the two families."

"I was only eleven! What was I supposed to say? 'I'm going to break the hundreds of years of hatred to try and befriend the people my father told me to stay away from'? Merlin, Hermione. Hundreds of years of arguing can't be solved with one dinner."

"Why not?"

"Because...it just...can't!"

"See! You don't even have a good reason. You're just too selfish to try and do something for somebody else. I don't know how I ever thought that you were changed from the selfish, arrogant little eleven-year-old that I met on my first day of Hogwarts." Hermione got up, took a pillow and conjured up a blanket. "I'm not sleeping here tonight." She said. She moved to the couch on the other side of the room and made herself a bed. She climbed in and lay down, letting her tears make her pillow wet.

Several minutes later, the pain began. It started out just like pins and needles in her feet, but slowly grew into what felt like severe stabbing in her legs. The pain moved up to her stomach and chest. Inside she felt like she was on fire. It was almost as bad as when she had the cruciatus curse placed on her. She knew what this was. It was the curse. She had to sleep with Draco or she would be in severe pain. She heard Draco cry out in pain from across the room. He was feeling it too. He got up and came over, sitting on the couch with her. The pain stopped.

"Come back to bed," he said softly.

"No," she said stubbornly. "Leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you."

"If you want to sleep tonight, you're going to have to come back to bed."

"I just won't sleep then," she said. "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"I'm not going to let you stay up all night because you can't sleep for fear of being in pain."

"Then you stay up. Just leave me alone!"

"No. Come back to bed."

"I said no, Malfoy. I also said to go away!"

"And I said I'm not going. Why is this so upsetting to you, anyway? You had to have known I would never agree."

"I know, but I don't understand. You have no reason to hate each other."

"I know, but we can't change things."

"Just go and try. If you try...and I mean really try, and you can't then I'll stop pushing you to try to fix this."

Draco sighed. "Fine. I'll go. But don't expect anything to change."

"Thank you!" Hermione cried. "You don't know how much this means to me!" She threw her arms around Draco's neck.

"Okay," he said, prying her off of his neck. "You're welcome. Can we go to bed now?"

Hermione smiled. "Yes."

Ooh, now you've got THAT to look forward too...:D Leave a review!