Chapter 7

Hi, sorry for not updating in a couple of days, been busy lol well, here is the next installment, hope you enjoy! Thankyouu for all those who have reviewed, faved and alerted so far. Glad you like the story. xx

Everyday. Every single day. That's how much Draco had begun thinking about Hermione. Her understanding and caring attitude was alien to him. Even his own Mother wasn't like that towards him, he knew the reason for that was of his Father, however.

His Father. The reason he had started speaking to Hermione. If his Father hadn't beaten him up and used the Crucio curse on him, he and Hermione would still be at war with one another. Should he be…thankful? No! That would be absurd.

His and Hermione's next meeting together was tomorrow evening. However, Draco felt he couldn't wait that long. He wanted to see her, he wanted the caring behaviour. It was like a craving.

There was a problem with meeting her though, he now had to explain why it was his Father did those things to him. It was because he wanted him to become a Death Eater. If he told that to Hermione, she would most likely turn him and his Father in. A betrayal to his own Father. How would he live with himself if he did that?

The urge of wanting to see Hermione, and the fear of betraying his Father made Draco feel nauseous. He wanted to be sick. What could he do?

He couldn't bare it, from wandering the corridors he ran to the boys bathroom and threw up in one of the stalls.

Hermione and Ron were wandering the corridors together, seeing as they had a free period. Harry elected to stay behind and help one of the Professor's with clearing up the classrooms.

"Harry's mental for staying behind" Ron laughed.

"He was being polite" Hermione defended. "Something you should perhaps try more often, Ronald" her tone was playful.

"I am polite!" he snapped back.

"Okay Ron" she laughed, which Ron even smiled along to. She had a point.

As they walked, Draco came out of the boys bathroom right in front of them. Which caused them to all engage in an awkward stare off. There was the face he wanted to see, however there was a face that he didn't particularly want to see also. To not blow cover, he had to give his usual arrogant look before storming off around them. Guilt consuming him as he did so. He had hoped that Hermione knew he wasn't being rude to her.

"Malfoy's been acting strange" Roy commented. A little unsure of why nothing was said.

"When is he not?" Hermione replied, feeling guilty about saying so, but needed to clear the suspicion. Even though it wasn't hard to say so at the arrogant face he had, that was the face she didn't like.

"Suppose, but, he's not acting…well, Malfoy-ish"

"That's ridiculous. Of course he's acting Malfoy-ish, and besides, I for one and happy to be rid of the Mudblood insults" she confessed as they continued walking.

"Yeah, suppose so"

"Oh!" Hermione gasped. "I just remembered something, I have to go. I will be back" before Ron could get a word in, Hermione had darted off down the corridor they just came down. Not thinking anything of it, Ron just carried on walking.

Hermione had observed Draco's face well enough to see that something was wrong. He was pale, and fragile looking. Something must be on his mind, and she wanted to help. Running long enough, she managed to catch up with him in the corridor he had turned down.

"Draco!" she called out to stop him. He did so without argument, or a look of confusion. He was happy to see her face once again. "What's wrong? You look ill" not the nicest compliment in the world. Nonetheless, he was happy she showed some concern. However, he wasn't too happy that he now had to think of an excuse to tell her.

"Nothing, just feeling slightly sick" he replied, not necessarily lying as that was how he felt like.

"Oh no, you should rest. You do actually look a bit tired, have you not been sleeping?" Draco just shrugged as a reply, which Hermione thought was oddly adorable. She gave a sigh and looked him the eyes. "Why did you have to be so arrogant at the beginning of Hogwarts? That way, I could easily help you in this situation. I'm tired of having to sneak around to talk with you"

What she said upset Draco slightly, that was how he is. Sure, he was being nice to her, but that was because she was doing the same. No need to insult him right in front of him.

"Sorry" he muttered. His tone made Hermione panic slightly. Did she insult him?

"Don't be sorry…that was rude of me" she admitted. "You act arrogant, but you're actually not…are you?" her smile made him feel embarrassed and he laughed nervously to himself, avoiding eye contact.

"You can tell yourself that" he teased.

"But you're not" she played along. "Are you?" she poked his arm playfully, and kept repeating this action until she accidentally got his side, which he flinched from. "Sorry" Hermione giggled. "Forgot you were ticklish"

"How did you - oh right. Second year in the duelling class right?" Draco asked, recalling the time Harry used the Rictusempra spell on him. Quite an embarrassing moment at the time. Hermione nodded and smiled innocently, which made Draco melt.

"Draco…I was wondering, where did you plan on spending Christmas this year?" Christmas? That was a long time from then. However, she did have a good point. Where would he spend it? He couldn't possibly go home after what happened. He never thought about it. "I take it by the long silence, you don't know?"

"No, not yet" he said. "Why?"

"Well, I thought you might have spent it here…given your situation, but maybe, before then. We could actually tell people how about our friendship?" was she serious? Tell people about their friendship? "Then maybe, I could convince Ron to let you spend Christmas with us"

Draco was stunned, how on earth would he answer that? If was sweet that she thought of their friendship lasting that long, but the Weasley's would never accept him in their house in an million years.

"I don't think I would be welcomed" he admitted. Which brought a look of disappointment on her face. "But thanks for the offer"

"That's okay…see you tomorrow" she gave a small smile and walked off.

Had he upset her? That was the last thing he wanted. She had been so nice to him and now he has let her down. Wait, since when was that ever an issue? It was at that moment. Draco could deny it no longer. He had grown feelings for Hermione Granger.

Hope you liked this installment (: more on the way tomorrow. Please leave a review, and thankyouu for reading. xx