Draco had only made it a few feet when he heard a regretfully familiar voice calling his name. Draco wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone Pansy, but he felt his angry steps slowing anyway. His relationship or lack thereof with Pansy was complicated. It was true he couldn't stand her fifty percent of the time, but that meant that he could stand her fifty percent more often than he could stand most people.

"Draco!" He turned slowly to face her, and realized instantly that his current expression must be even more livid than he thought. Pansy shrunk back half a step after catching a glimpse of his face.

"What?" He folded his arms and made a half-hearted effort to control his features.

Pansy hesitated for another moment eying him questioningly, and Draco felt the unfamiliar stirring of an emotion that might have been the beginnings of guilt in the type of person actually capable of feeling guilty. She looked a little scared of him in that moment. Draco almost said something, but feeling completely unable to conjure a comforting sentence, he instead simply clenched his mouth shut tighter and waited for Pansy to speak.

Pansy seemed to recover suddenly, her expression returning to its usual pout. "Where are you going?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Draco snapped, hoping Pansy would just give up on him for the evening and leave him alone.

"What's with you lately?" Pansy put hand on her hip and shook her head to flip her fringe out of her eyes. "You're never around, you blow me off, you ignore Blaise, you only talk to Crabbe and Goyle when you need something…"

"Well, that's nothing new," Draco pointed out impatiently.

"Yeah, but now you're not even telling Blaise and I what you're making them do!" She exclaimed, eyeing him closely as if she would suddenly spot all the answers written plainly across his face. "Crabbe let something slip about standing guard, but he seemed too embarrassed to explain, and to embarrass him it must be something really...ouch!"

Draco had seized Pansy's arm and dragged her forcefully around the corner and away from the crowded corridor they'd previously occupied. He pushed her against the wall, not trying to hurt her just attempting to shut her up. He knew it had been a mistake to let anything slip in front of her on the train, now she was just going to be curious all year and make his life that much more difficult.

"Draco, you're hurting me," She stated harshly, struggling against the death grip he still had on her arm. Draco allowed her to shove him away, reminded briefly of Granger and the reason he'd been so angry in the first place. "What's wrong with you?"

Draco forcibly brought his mind back to the present and returned his attention to Pansy.

"Listen Parkinson, just keep your nose out of my business alright? Don't go around talking about things you don't understand where anybody could here you."

She glared at him for a moment before mumbling something he couldn't quiet make out while she straightened her uniform.

"What?" He asked, relaxing slightly as it didn't seem likely that Pansy was going to start shouting his secrets to the world, at least not at the moment.

She looked up and met his eyes determinedly, though her expression betrayed that she wasn't as confident as she wanted to appear. She was a funny one, Pansy. She was almost as sarcastic and elitist as he was, she came from a wealthy and privileged lifestyle and she enjoyed it. They had a lot in common, but the difference was Pansy cared. Pansy cared about living up to her parents expectations, cared about getting good grades, cared about whether or not Draco liked her. And the thing was, her parents were even less affectionate than Draco's father was, classes that came easily to Draco were challenging at best for Pansy, and probably most disappointingly of all, Draco had never been able to decide if he truly had any sort of romantic feelings for her or not. He would flirt when he was bored, seek her out when he needed attention or an ego boost, treat her as just another member of the gang when he only felt like being friends, and ignore her when he didn't feel like any of the above. It wasn't particularly fair, and it wasn't particularly nice, but neither of those things bothered Draco much, at least not usually.

"Don't call me, Parkinson," Pansy snapped, loud enough for him to hear this time.

Draco laughed. He couldn't help it, she was just so predictable. After grabbing her arm, pushing her against a wall, and yelling at her, all Pansy cared was that he had called her by her last name.

"Stop laughing!" She demanded, trying to step around him and make a somewhat dignified exit.

"Pansy," He started, noting with satisfaction that at the sound of her name, she stopped trying to leave, though she folded her arms and continued to glare up at him. "Pansy, just stay out of it ok?"

She turned her head, and stared determinedly down the hallway, but it was obvious she knew what "it" he was talking about.

"Don't ask Crabbe and Goyle questions, they don't know much but they're too thick to keep their mouths shut. And for Merlin's sake, don't talk about it. Just let it be." Draco didn't want to fight with her, in the mood he was in right now a fight would probably result in him hexing her, and that would be unfortunate. But it was incredibly important that he got through to her at the moment, or they would probably both end up dead.

She turned her head towards him again, looking almost hopeful. Draco thought uncomfortably how much she looked like a lost little girl at the moment, looking to him of all people for help.

"I could help you," Her voice was almost a whisper, hopeful and almost pleading, but Draco was already shaking his head tiredly before the words were fully out of her mouth.

"No," He countered shortly, stepping back so that she could leave. "You can't." He ignored her this time as she called after him, heading off toward his original destination. He wouldn't be using Crabbe and Goyle as guards today, even in disguise they were bound to draw attention if they were there everyday. And besides, as Pansy had just illustrated he couldn't really trust anyone to help him in anyway, no matter how much he left that person in the dark. It just made things more complicated, as if that were really even possible.

Draco took a twisted and out of the way route to get to the Room of Requirement. Without even his inept guards to keep a look out, he was even more aware of the possibility that someone might notice how often he was approaching this particular area of the castle. Doing his best to appear casual despite the fact that he was the only one within sight, Draco finally deemed it safe enough to enter the room. He paced back and forth in front of it quickly, focusing his mind on what he needed to do, and then entered the room as the door magically appeared in front of him.

It was an odd relationship he had with this room. It was because of this room that his father was in Azkaban, it was because of what was in this room that he had to spend so much of time stressed to the breaking point. But the Room of Requirement was also one of the few places at Hogwarts where Draco could be really and truly alone, and that was a blessing even if he didn't like to admit it to himself. He had always been the type of person who was at their most comfortable when surrounded by an attentive crowd, and yet now all he wanted was to be left alone. Setting his face in a determined grimace he approached the object he had come to resent, and began for perhaps the hundredth time that year the task that he was beginning to fear was impossible.

It was nearly three hours before Draco realized that he should probably get back to the dungeons before too many people noticed he was gone. The small gold pocket watch he always kept in the pocket of his robes informed him that it was nearly 10 pm and he knew the halls would be patrolled soon. Tucking his watch back in his pocket and removing his wand Draco made his way towards the door cautiously. He was worried that without anyone to check if the coast was clear, he could easily be caught exiting the room, and that just wouldn't do. Draco pressed an ear against the wood of the door, practically holding his breath as he struggled to hear any activity in the hallway. He stayed frozen like that for a few moments, far more nervous than he'd like to admit.

Taking a deep breath than letting it out slowly, Draco steeled his nerve.

"Lumos," He whispered, as his wand began to glow. He knew that at this point the halls would not be pitch black, but a lot darker than they had been. Maybe the founders had wanted to keep Hogwarts an unappealing place to explore by night, because the lighting was less than ideal.

Draco pushed the door open a crack, sticking his head out apprehensively, ready for the worst. He craned his head slowly to the left than the right, trying to examine as much of the surrounding area as possible without allowing himself to be seen if there was someone there. He had just decided it was safe to exit the room fully when he heard a soft sight from a spot near the floor directly in front of him.

Draco jumped and had to stifle the shout that threatened to escape. For a moment he simply froze, waiting for the attack he was sure was about to come. He wasn't sure if he should slip back into the room or stand his ground, so he just remained still, his heart pounding in his chest. Finally after a few moments of unbroken silence in which no attack materialized, Draco gathered his courage and slowly reached out the hand that held his wand. He lowered his wand until the light fell on a slouching figure, leaning against the wall while half-sprawling across the floor. He could see that the person's chest was rising and falling in an even rhythm, and he realized that they were asleep. Then the light fell on the figure's face, and indignant recognition hit him like a brick. Keeping his wits about him he slipped out of the room and watched to make sure the door had faded away before he approached the person he was not happy to see.

"Granger!"

She woke up instantly, sitting up like a shot, eyes wide. She looked up only to be met with his wand that was pointed at her face, and his scowling expression. He saw her take a deep breath, than close her eyes for a moment, as if to collect herself. Suddenly a strange thought occurred to him. It almost seemed like she was relieved that it was him. She had probably been dreaming that some troll was about to beat her brains in, than she'd woken up to see him, and actually considered him to be a better alternative. Draco decided that stupid thoughts like that really weren't useful at the moment, so instead he focused on keeping his wand steady and pointed at Granger.

"Malfoy," She breathed, sitting up a little more, and looking around. "What time is it?"

"Past your bedtime, Granger," He snapped, still not lowering his wand. "What are you doing here?"

"Lower your wand, Malfoy!" She snapped back, swatting at him with one hand and shielding her eyes from the light with the other.

"Don't test me, Granger," He growled, not lowering his wand an inch. "Did you follow me?"

"Stop flattering yourself," She spat, swatting his hand harder this time. "You think I would sit out here waiting for you?"

"Yes," Draco answered instantly, lowering his wand slightly but keeping it pointed at her torso in case he decided that some kind of a jinx was needed.

"Well, I wasn't," She sounded offended but not like she was lying.

"Spit it out, Granger," He didn't understand what she was doing there, and he was just too tired to deal with something that just defied logic like Granger's behavior usually did. "What are you doing sleeping in the hallway?"

She glared at him and started to stand up, but he pressed his wand into her chest, and she lowered herself back onto the floor.

"Oh fine!" She exclaimed, raising her hands and then slapping them back down onto the stone floor, the sound echoing in the relative silence around them. "I wanted to be alone! I wanted to be alone so I thought of the…"

"Room of Requirement," He supplied, keeping his wanted steady. "Your little club used it last year."

She nodded, eyeing his wand before continuing. "But then when I got here it wouldn't let me in! I kept thinking how I needed somewhere to be alone, and it wouldn't let me in! So I knew that someone had to be in there, but I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I just sat down. I must have fallen asleep."

"Why would you want to be alone?" Draco couldn't take any chances, and Granger's story didn't make much sense to him. "I would have thought you'd be having a grand old time telling your little buddies how you put your little Mudblood hands on me and lived to tell the tale."

"Yes, well, you might think that," Granger answered harshly, "But then you don't know me very well, do you Malfoy?"

"Thank Merlin for small favors," Draco agreed, smirking a bit despite himself as some of his initial panic dissipated.

"What were you doing in there anyway?" Granger asked curiously, her eyes narrowing as she searched his face.

"That's none of your business!" He snarled, poking his wand harshly into her shoulder, bending over until his face was inches from hers. He couldn't believe he was having to give the same speech twice in one day, first to Pansy and now Granger of all people. Just like Pansy, Granger shrank back a little, and Draco felt that tiny tugging deep inside of him, like the tiniest beginnings of what could have been guilt in someone else. "I wanted to be alone too, Granger." He finally said, lowering his wand, and throwing the area around them into darkness. "That's why it wouldn't let you in." It wasn't a complete lie, and it seemed to satisfy her.

She nodded, all of the fear gone from expression. "That makes sense, if it let me in the room wouldn't be doing its job for either of us."

There was a moment of awkward silence as neither of them said anything or made a move to leave. Draco was torn between disdain and anger at the girl who had humiliated him in the library, whose mere existence dirtied the halls of his school. And yet, they were both here, both wanting nothing more than to be left alone. The time would come for Granger to get what she deserved, but Draco decided that it wasn't going to be tonight.

Draco spun on his heels suddenly, and started to walk away in the direction of the dungeons.

"Malfoy!" Her voice sounded uncertain, and he stopped despite his best intentions not to. He looked over his shoulder despite the fact that he could no longer see her. His wand was too far away to cast a glow on that portion of the hallway, and it seemed she hadn't yet taken her wand out.

He didn't say anything, but she seemed to sense that he had stopped.

"I'm sorry," Her voice was grudging, as if the last thing she wanted to do was apologize to him. "I shouldn't have shoved you. You weren't being…well, you weren't being anymore of a prat than usual. I was just mad…but…well, it wasn't about you, so, I'm sorry."

Draco considered his options for a moment, sorely tempted to shout something about not needing apologies from Mudbloods but for some reason he didn't. Seeing Granger again had only cemented the anger he felt at the things she had said earlier, and how miserably true they had all been. He reconsidered shouting an insult, but once again decided inexplicably against it.

Instead he merely called back, "You owe me homework, Granger. You had two flying lessons, I only got one essay. I always collect on what I'm owed."

With that Draco stalked off into the darkness, realizing that he was more at home alone in the dark than anywhere else.