It's finally here (but only about half of it)! *confetti everywhere* I did my best to recall what was written before my computer died. Are you as excited as me?

Just one thing before you read: I had some problems with Blaise because his character isn't really explored in the books...like...at all. The only way I can describe what I did with him is that I tried my best to make him a nice 26 degrees Celsius/79 degrees Fahrenheit kind of like a mediator.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling.

Five days passed without another incident with Draco. The fact that Hermione saw very little of him probably had something to do with it. Even though there were some shared classes like History of Magic and Charms, she never really saw him; it was as if he was purposely avoiding her. When Blaise Zabini begrudgingly delivered a message to her saying that Draco couldn't meet in the library that night to put together part of the Charms project and didn't give her a reason as to why, her suspicions appeared all the more plausible.

Actually, Draco was purposely avoiding Hermione. For some inexplicable reason, every time he was near her he would get this terrible gnawing feeling in his stomach and his head would throb. Draco had never felt anything like this before and on more than one occasion Blaise had to escort him to the hospital wing to lie down.

The first time Draco was overcome with nausea, Blaise attributed it to a lack of sleep; Draco was tossing and turning the night before and murmuring loud enough in his sleep to wake Blaise. The third time it happened, Blaise knew he had to confront him so while Draco was lying on a bed in the hospital wing Blaise hit him with a stream of questions before he was lucid enough to realise he was being interrogated.

"What's eating at you, mate?" Blaise started. "And don't tell me it's nothing because you said that a few days ago and I'm not buying it." Draco turned away from Blaise in an effort to get him to stop but Blaise grabbed his shoulder and wrenched him back so they faced each other. "Oi!" Blaise's tone changed from worried to stern. "I know something's the matter. First you make me deliver a message to Granger saying you "can't meet her", then you start tossing and turning in your sleep, then you start getting these fits of nausea for which Madame Pomfrey's given you practically every potion to fix it yet nothing works, and now you just decide to shut me out completely." Blaise inhaled deeply and sighed. "Talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Draco said sourly. He didn't like it when people started poking around his private life.

"That's bollocks and you know you it." He sighed again. "Look here. You tell me what's got your knickers in a twist or the next time you're nauseous I'll leave you where you stand. We both know those two gits won't have a clue what to do to help you."

After a long silence and several more nudges from Blaise, Draco finally sat up and spoke. "It's Granger," he said.

"Yeah," Blaise snorted. "I figured that much. What's she done to render you utterly useless?"

"I don't know."

Blaise scoffed. "Liar," he muttered.

"I honestly don't know!" Draco retorted. Blaise sat back in the chair, crossed his arms, and stared at Draco until he came clean. He told Blaise all about the incident in the library, how he saw her change personalities in the brink of an eye and how she withdrew completely after threatening him. He told Blaise about how he apologized the day after just before Charms lesson and how ever since then he feels like he's about to faint whenever he's near her.

Like a doctor with his patient, Blaise just sat back in his chair and nodded his head occasionally to show he was still following the conversation. After a few moments of silence between the two boys, Blaise finally uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

"You started getting this nauseous spells right after the whole wand-to-your-throat thing with Granger?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah."

"Mmhmm," muttered Blaise. He sat back and thought for another moment. "How else do you feel? Other than nauseous."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked with a confused expression.

"Did you feel anything else besides the nausea? Anger? Fear? Sadness?"

It was Draco's turn to think in silence. Did I feel anything else?, he thought. "There was something," Draco said slowly, "but I don't know what to call it."

Blaise crossed his arms and rolled his head around a few times in an effort to loosen some ideas. "Can you describe it?"

"Describe it?" Blaise nodded. "Erm...well...I felt my chest become warm but it was deep in my chest. Sometimes it felt like some other space beyond me was getting warm and the heat from that just appeared in my chest."

Blaise furrowed his brow in thought but he couldn't come up with an explanation for Draco's feeling. He couldn't even make sense of Draco's description. Finally, he came up with a solution. "Meet with Granger tonight in the library. She's always there anyway. Just show up and say you were ill but that you're fine now. I'll go with you in case you feel faint again but I'll stay back a bit. If you can make it through, tell me what you felt."

Every bit of Draco did not want to go through with this plan, but Blaise was smart when it came to these sorts of things so, with much hesitation, he agreed to meet Hermione.

Cliffhanger! Sorta...

This is so much shorter than usual but I left you guys hanging for so long that I felt like I had to post at least something after getting you all excited over the "New Chapter email" when really it was just an apology. I still love you, though.

How did I do with Blaise? Let me know in the reviews!

Any other thoughts? Oh and does anyone have laptop suggestions? Not a MacBook; I'm too poor for a MacBook.