Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter – pssh! Whatever! She can keep it – who would want Ron anyway? I want Rupert though.

Chapter 9

Since it was still fairly early, the corridors were deserted when Hermione made her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. She was surprised, therefore, to find a rumpled figure on the couch when she entered the room. The closing of the portrait must've woken them up because the figure stirred as she came in.

"Hermione?" Harry mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, Harry it's me," Hermione said softly.

Her reply woke him up and he swiftly walked over and enveloped her in hug.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked, still holding her tightly. "We were so worried about you. I looked everywhere for you after we heard the news."

"I just needed some time to think."

"Ginny said you probably needed some time alone," Harry said letting go of Hermione. They both sat down on the couch. Harry noticed his friend's disheveled appearance. "Are you alright? Were you out in the storm?" He asked. Harry turned to grab his blanket and wrapped Hermione in it. He conjured some hot chocolate and handed a cup to Hermione. Hermione gratefully accepted the drink but remained quiet as she sipped it.

"Tough break, huh" Harry continued wanting to hear her voice to make sure she was okay. He was frantic with worry when he didn't see her after dinner after the results were posted. Only Ginny kept him sane and convinced him that their friend likely needed a moment to herself. He loved Hermione like a sister and he couldn't bear it if something happened to her. So, when everyone fell asleep, he crept back downstairs to wait for her to come in. "Listen – "

"I'm alright Harry, really," Hermione interrupted him with a soft smile. It didn't quite reach her eyes though.

"I'm really sorry Hermione. I know how much you wanted it. Everyone knows you should've gotten Head Girl," Harry assured her. "Genevieve was really sorry about it."

Hermione stiffened at the name. Harry didn't notice.

"The whole common room became quiet when she walked in after dinner," Harry continued. "She knew how everyone felt and was nice about it all. She said she knew you deserved it too but that it was out of her hands. Well, no one could fault her for that. Eventually, people offered their congratulations. Ron though -"

Again Hermione stiffened.

"Ron was a different story," Harry continued. "He was so worried, he ran off to look for you without even waiting for me. I didn't see him come in until just after everyone started going to their rooms after Genevieve's speech. I should go wake him. He would want –"

"No Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "I mean," she continued more softly. "We all had a tough night last night and I'm sure he needs some rest. I need to go to my room too and get some sleep before class starts." She stood up and put her mug on the table.

Harry stood up too and gave her a hug.

"Thanks for waiting up for me Harry. And don't worry. I'm fine, I promise."

"Don't scare me like that again okay?" Harry asked with a small smile. He let go of Hermione and she made her way up to her room.

"Hermione," Harry called making Hermione turn around to face him. "You know I'm here if you need me right?"

"Yeah," Hermione said, trying to smile. "Thanks, Harry."

oOoOoOoOoOo

On the other side of the school, Draco Malfoy tossed and turned all night. After leaving the astronomy tower, he flew directly to a certain window to peek in and make sure she was alright. After seeing her sleeping form, he calmed down considerably. For a few agonizing moments he thought he had lost her. Turns out it was just Granger. He still couldn't believe it. He had just saved Hermione-freaking – Granger. He didn't know what was more shocking – the fact that the brainiac jumped off the tower or that he had risked his life to save her. Granted, he didn't know it was her at the time but he had done it nonetheless. He would've never pegged her as suicidal – she was always so annoyingly perky, except of course, when she talked to him. But, I guess you never know with weird muggles.

The look in her eyes when she looked at him on that broom haunted his thoughts. It was the look of utter defeat. She had totally given up. He knew getting Head Girl was important to her but to kill herself over it? Part of him knew she was too smart for that. That there must be something more than just losing a stupid school title. But Draco tended to ignore that part of him a lot. It always came up with uncomfortable conclusions and, now that he thought about it, usually appeared when Granger was involved. At one point, Draco thought that part of him was probably called a conscience or something, but as he refused to acknowledge its existence, he didn't spare it that much thought. The, other, more comfortable part of Draco told him to just be happy nothing bad happened to a more important person and to put Granger out of his mind. Draco, however, found that difficult. Once in his bed, his mind wouldn't shut up. It kept replaying the events of the night over and over again.

"Why did you do it?"

"Believe me Granger, if I had known it was you, I would've let you die."

"Why don't you just drop me then?"

"I don't want to become a murderer just for you."

"You mean you're not one already?"

You mean you're not one already?

That question shook him to the core. Though it had a sarcastic bite to it, there was an underlying disbelief there that Draco didn't miss. He was used to people thinking the worst of him. It happened so often that most of the time, he didn't care anymore. In fact, a lot times, it worked for him. Most people were so scared of him that they didn't dare defy him. Granger was the only one who ever fought back. She was the only one who could really keep up with him and on some level, part of him was hoping that she was smart enough to see something more in him. Something more than just Lucius Malfoy's son and future Death Eater. Draco scoffed. Of course, she wouldn't. She was just like everyone else – blindly following Dumbledore and Saint Potter, content to live in a black and white world while refusing to acknowledge shades of grey existed. In her world, and in his father's, people were either good or bad, pureblood or not. He was so upset that he had dropped her quite roughly on the tower and flew away.

With a sigh, Draco tried hard to forget about what happened. Forget about her. But Granger's face, her eyes just kept appearing every time he closed his eyes. Her eyes were always so full of life, fiery with passion whether she was studying or yelling in his face. The empty look in her eyes disturbed him more than he cared to admit.

When the first hints of sunrise appeared, Draco still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep and so he gave up. He got up and looked out his window to watch the sunrise. He honestly didn't know how beautiful things like that still existed in such a screwed up world.

oOoOoOoOoOo

There was no way Hermione was going to be able to go back to sleep but she needed a few moments to collect her thoughts before she faced the rest of the day. Since there were a couple of hours left before breakfast she decided to go have a bath in the Prefects' bathroom to clear her mind. After setting everything up, Hermione stepped into the large tub and let the warm water relax her aching muscles.

She couldn't believe Genevieve had the gall to look like she was sorry about what happened. Worse, she was disappointed everyone had believed her. But, she couldn't really expect much from her classmates anyway. They tended to follow the norm blindly and they shied away from things that made them uncomfortable. Genevieve's speech had offered them a way out. Everyone genuinely liked Genevieve but none of them wanted to be the first to congratulate her because they also knew Hermione deserved it too. The speech made them feel like they could be nice to Genevieve (Suck up is more like it, Hermione thought) without completely disregarding Hermione, whom they really only thought of because she was Harry's friend. After all, Genevieve was sorry right? Hermione scoffed.

And Ron! He was a bit more resourceful than she gave him credit for, making Harry believe that he was looking for her.

Harry. She was glad that he really seemed to care about her. She'd have to thank Ginny for keeping him sane last night. She loved him like a brother and didn't want to lose him anymore than he wanted to lose her. She wouldn't be surprised if Ron had only made friends with him in first year because of who he was. She would never tell Harry that though. Ron was his best friend, practically his brother, and the hurt that it would cause would not be worth it. Besides, the rest of the Weasleys, whom Hermione adores, are also Harry's family now and she didn't want to hurt him or them even more. No, she would keep Ron's lies to herself. As long as he was helping Harry and not hurting him, she would leave them alone.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Splash!

Hermione woke with a start.

Oh no! What time is it?

"Ooohhh, what do we have here?"

Startled, Hermione turned around to find Moaning Myrtle swimming around the tub.

"H-hi, Myrtle," Hermione greeted slowly.

"Hi, she says, hmph!" Myrtle pouted. "You never come visit me in the bathroom anymore. Too good for me huh? Just because you're alive." She said the last word acidly.

"I'm really sorry Myrtle," Hermione said getting out of the tub after rinsing herself off.

"Well, you won't be alive for long, McGonagall's gonna kill you for being late to class!" Myrtle said, laughing at her own joke.

Shit!

"Um, what time is it Myrtle?"

"Time?!" Myrtle screeched. "As if I have any reason to keep track of time. All I know is, everyone just finished breakfast so you better hurry along." With that, Myrtle flew away cackling.

Hermione hurriedly dressed into a clean set of her uniform and put her hair into a ponytail. She dashed to her room to grab her books and ran to class.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy was disturbed. When he entered the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, he was perturbed to find that his eyes had automatically scanned the Gryffindor table for a bushy-haired witch. He refused to believe that he wanted to make sure she was alright. He just wanted to make sure his near-death experience didn't go to waste. It would be just like her to throw away his effort by jumping off the tower a 2nd time.

Well, we sure would be better off without her. He thought, not quite believing it.

Despite his efforts, he couldn't help but occasionally glance up to see if she arrived. She never showed up for breakfast. He was getting frustrated now as he walked to class.

Gryffindor courage, my ass. She wouldn't actually let people know she was so weak as to throw herself off the tower over the stupid Head Girl thing is she? He was sure she was going to show up, peppy as ever, ensuring everyone that everything was fine. She wouldn't wallow in self pity today. Not when everyone was expecting her to do just that. Surely, Granger had more pride than that.

Unless she did throw herself off the tower again. The unwanted thought popped up anyway. It took all of Draco's self control not to look over at her empty seat in class. Finally, McGonagall started the lecture.

"Today, we will be learning about – "

The door swung open with a bang, making all the students look toward the back of the classroom. Everyone, except Draco, who was concentrating very hard on not moving his stare away from the parchment in front of him.

"Aahh, Ms. Granger, so nice of you to join us," McGonagall said. "Take a seat."

Draco turned around then. He watched as Hermione flushed red and took a seat at her desk. He had to admit, she looked decent for someone who just tried to kill herself the night before. She had a clean set of robes on and aside from her ruffled appearance, obviously from running to class, she looked quite put together. Draco didn't like the relief he felt when he saw her. He quickly turned his gaze back to the empty parchment in front of him.

As McGonagall continued the lesson, Hermione could feel everyone looking at her curiously. As if they were all waiting for her to breakdown. She tried to look around for a safe, blank spot to look at while McGonagall was talking. As she looked around, she caught Malfoy staring at her. She thought she saw a flash of relief pass through his eyes at seeing her. But it disappeared so quickly she wasn't sure it really happened. He turned his attention back to his desk.

As McGonagall handed out the assignment for the day, Hermione remembered that it was Malfoy who had saved her the night before. She didn't know why, but she felt that she needed to talk to him, if not at least thank him. Luckily, her and Malfoy were the first ones to finish the assignment (which wasn't really a surprise considering they were the smartest ones in their year – Genevieve hadn't finished hers as quickly since she was helping Ron). As Draco stood up to hand in his paper and leave, Hermione followed. Once he was out the door, Hermione quickly tried to catch up with him. She called out when they were a safe distance away from the classroom.

"Malfoy, wait!"

A/N: Ooohhh…what did you think? Please Review!

Again, thanks to all those who review, you guys always make me smile!