Hermione POV

It had been a long day, week, year. Hermione was so tired. She was tired of dealing with all of Ron's moods and jealousy and general meanness. She was tired of Ginny, who was obviously still in love with Harry, sit in denial as she laughed and flirted with him. She was tired of Harry feeling like he had to shoulder all the responsibility—honestly, hadn't she proven to him that she was helpful by now, and that he could come to her for help?

She had been reading the same page for seven minutes, but none of it was sinking in. She was just so tired, and sick of it all, and after another minute's attempt to focus on her schoolwork, she gave in to the pressure building on top of her shoulders and let her head fall onto the desk in front of her. She considered crying, Ron was being such an arse, but she thought better of it. There were people in here who didn't need to see her cry. Instead, she just took several deep breaths, almost drifting off to sleep when Malfoy's voice rang out in the silence of the library.

"Hey, Hermione!" He had made a point of calling her by her first name, while she still called him by his surname. "Working on that Potions essay?" And suddenly he was sitting next to her, pulling out his book and a roll of parchment.

"I…er—yeah," Hermione said groggily. She was, in fact, working on Slughorn's essay, but she wasn't feeling particularly motivated enough to research Veritaserum anymore than she already had. She said this aloud to Malfoy.

"Imagine that—Hermione Granger lacking proper motivation," Malfoy chuckled. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Don't get used to it," Hermione teased. "It's just been a long week," she sighed.

"Trouble in paradise, Princess?" Draco asked.

"'Princess'?" Hermione asked, not sure if she should be offended or not.

"Oh, right, sorry," Malfoy apologized immediately. "It's just…an old nickname for you. From the Slytherins," he explained meekly. Hermione raised her eyebrows. "'Gryffindor's Princess," Malfoy elaborated, clearly worried Hermione was going to yell at him. To his surprise, she burst out laughing. "'Gryffindor's Princess'? Really? That's nothing to feel bad about, us Gryffs all call you 'The Amazing Bouncing Ferret'."

Malfoy chuckled again. "Never going to live that down, am I?"

"I seriously doubt it."

After their laughter subsided and a brief silence ensued, Malfoy asked, "Really, though, what's on your mind?"

"You really want to know?" Hermione was surprised when Draco nodded.

Hermione sighed, "I'm just…ugh. I was so excited to come back here. I really was. I couldn't sleep for days. And now that I'm here, everything is just shite. I've literally been here two days, and I can't wait to be done."

To her surprise, Malfoy started laughing.

"It's not funny!" She said, annoyed at his flippant regard of her terrible week.

"I'm sorry," he said after he regained composure. "It's just...that's what Hogwarts is always like...for me, at least."

"Usually I get here and there's never a dull moment, but-"

"That's your problem, Hermione," Malfoy interrupted. "You and Potter and the Weasel were always running around, fighting trolls and preparing for tournaments and fighting the Dark Lord, that you were never bored enough to realize that sometimes Hogwarts sucks. And you would fight with your friends, sure, but you would never stay mad for long, because you were working on something together and you were forced to move past it. Face it Hermione, you're bored and mad, which is why you've hated these past few days."

"Oh, please," Hermione scoffed. "I'm not bored," she gestured to her homework. "I have so much to get done."

"Homework is boring," Draco yawned. "You need excitement. You miss the rush, don't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You miss the rush of hunting Horcruxes and running from Snatchers. You miss the near death experiences and the fighting and the enemy."

Hermione huffed, and Draco laughed when he saw he had hit a nerve. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"You're an arrogant ferret, you know that?"

"Admit it."

"Oh, all right. Fine. You're right. I...miss the adrenaline." She pulled her potions book onto her lap, dropping her eyes from Malfoy's increasingly more captivating gaze. "But when we were on the run, I missed the studying."

"Only you would," Draco muttered, only to be socked in the shoulder. "Ow. You really know how to throw a punch, Princess,"

"Only you would know," Hermione smirked.

Draco chuckled. "Oh, come on. You've hit someone else, I know it."

"Wrong." Hermione crinkled her nose. "You're the only person I've ever hit."

"Not even Weasley?" Draco said, mouth dropping open.

"No, but not for lack of trying," Hermione said coyly, remembering how Harry had stopped her from pummeling Ron with a Shield Charm.

Draco chuckled.

"You laugh a lot now," Hermione commented as she scrawled the side effects of Veritaserum on her parchment.

"I've always laughed a lot," Draco said defensively.

"I have never heard you laugh before yesterday. I've known you eight years, Draco-"

"Well, I hated you. And I never paid enough attention to know you were funny."

"Why'd you stop? Hating me, I mean."

"You saved my life. Twice."

"Harry saved your life. Believe me, I was all for leaving you to burn in the Room of Requirement forever."

"I don't believe that," Draco said softly.

"You should," Hermione said, meeting his eyes again. She'd never fully realized how pretty his eyes were, or maybe she had never seen them without the malice they had held for her. "After all the hurt you caused me, I was fine with you burning forever."

"I'm sorry. I deserve to burn in hell. I will always be trying to make up for the pain I caused so many people." Something about his tone made Hermione realize that he wasn't just talking about his abuse against Muggle borns.

"You don't have to make it up to me," Hermione said simply. "I've already forgiven you."

"So you would save me now? If we were back in the Room of Requirement?"

"Hmmm...probably not." She wrinkled her nose again. Draco smiled. "You would," he said confidently.

"And why's that?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"You called me 'Draco' earlier," he said smugly.

Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise, but she couldn't deny it. She felt color rise in her cheeks. "So maybe I would," she attempted to shrug it off. "But you know you would save me, too."

"How can you be sure?" Draco asked.

"Firstly, because I really do believe you've changed, secondly, because you've never had it in you to murder anyone, and thirdly...you think I'm funny. And I was right before, even with Slytherins, you don't laugh that often."

Caught off guard, Draco swallowed. "I wouldn't say I've never had it in me to murder anyone," he said sharply. Defensively.

"I meant it as a complement."

There was a pregnant silence.

"You're right," Draco said. "I do think you're funny."

Hermione finished her essay a few minutes later, and agreed to help Malfoy with his. Soon, however, she was resting her head against the table again, fighting sleep. "It's okay, I can finish," Draco said as she apologized for not being much help. "I'll wake you up when I'm done, okay?"

"Mmmkay," Hermione mumbled sleepily.

Forty five minutes later, Hermione felt a hand on her shoulder, gently rousing her from a deep sleep. "Hermione," someone whispered.

"Harry, five more minutes, then I'll take watch...just so tired..." she mumbled against her arm.

"Okay," the voice sounded amused, and the hand kept rubbing circles, now over her back, and as she woke more, she remembered that she was in the library, and that Malfoy was rubbing her back. She stiffened suddenly, as if on instinct, as if she knew something-someone-was about to explode.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Hermione jerked up, suddenly awake, and turned to face a red faced, pissed off Ronald Weasley.

"Ron..." she began wearily.

"Hey, Weasel," Malfoy grinned. "Long time no see,"

Ron wasted no time before punching him in the jaw.

"Hermione, what the hell are you doing? That's fucking Malfoy-"

"I know who it is, Ron," she said through gritted teeth.

"I walk in here, trying to apologize, and I see Malfoy waking my girlfriend up, and she mumbles something about Harry freaking wonder boy Potter, and then snuggles into his shoulder. Tell me one reason why I shouldn't be pissed. As. Hell."

"Well," Malfoy started, "For one, she didn't snuggle into my shoulder,"

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT WORTHLESS DEATH EATER SCUM," Ron snapped.

"Ron," Hermione pleaded. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Ron repeated, gaping. "What's wrong with you? You're the one slutting around with Death Eaters-"

"Don't you dare talk to her like that," Malfoy said, earning him another punch in the jaw. Draco straightened up and stood, staring Ron down. "You have no right to speak to Hermione that way-" Ron's fist connected with Malfoy's face again, but Draco's hands remained at his sides. "She's worth a hundred of you," Draco said softly. He turned to Hermione, "You deserve better." Again and again Ron hit Draco, in the jaw, nose, stomach, bloodying up his face and causing him to clutch at what appeared to be two broken ribs. "Ron, please, stop," Hermione pleaded, trying to hold Ron back, but he just shook her off. "Fight back, you coward," he shrieked as he pushed Draco onto the ground. "Fight back!"

Remembering her wand, Hermione quickly cast a shield charm between Ron and Draco.

Voice shaking, she turned to Ron. "He's right. I deserve better than this. You've changed, Ron, and I can't deal with this new version of you. We...this...we're done." She turned and walked to the nearest bathroom, not even bothering to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry it's taken me forever to upload, the last few weeks have been super busy! There's going to be a lot more Harry/Ginny action coming up, and the story is going to pick up the pace a little bit, I feel like things have been moving super slowly. Please review, I love hearing what you guys think! Also, if you're a Hunger Games fan, check out my new story called Broken Children of District Twelve! xx