I'm just gonna go straight into it :)

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(Hermione POV)

I couldn't sleep.

Montague had almost…

I shook that. Nothing happened. Me and my body were fine.

I admired Draco for saving me, protecting my body.

But his words – his "Everything will be okay." – had been lies. He hadn't believed them.

The look in his eyes scared me. They were faraway, distant. Haunted.

I had never seen that look on my face before and it scared me.

"Draco."

I jumped and screamed as I realized someone had opened my curtains and was standing next to me.

"Hey, hey! Shh." A gentle voice came through the darkness. "Sorry. It's just me."

"Blaise, you scared the crap out of me," I laughed it off, my heart still pounding.

"Sorry." He said once again, sheepishly. "Is it okay if I crawl in?"

I raised an eyebrow, but nodded, making room for him.

He got under the covers with me, gently hugging me once he did.

The embrace was purely brotherly and it just felt normal. Like it had happened a million times.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." I laughed. "Don't give me that look. And just because it's dark doesn't mean I can't see you roll your eyes."

He chuckled warmly. "I'm sorry. It's just… there's no way you can be fine." He sighed, suddenly growing solemn. "Why did you tell me the truth, Princess? Why didn't you tell us that it was him? We could have protected you from him. You wouldn't have had to suffer as long as you did."

His friends were so much kinder than I ever thought that they would be. I got the feeling that Draco was too.

"I was scared." I whispered into the darkness. "He… he threatened me with so much, I…"

"Like what?" Blaise asked. "What could he do that was worse than what he'd already done?"

"Do it again."

Those words hung in the air and the heaviness of them weighed down on me, the reality of the situation hitting me hard.

"He could do it again. And Dra- and I couldn't do anything about it." Tears were finding their way down my cheeks. "I couldn't do anything about it."

Blaise's arms tightened around me. "Please don't cry. Not anymore."

"I'm fine." It came out barely audible. "Just… shaken."

"Well, get some sleep. Everything will be better in the morning."

I nodded, tucking my head under his chin.

"Oh, and, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

I froze.

Oh, Merlin. What did I just do?

Blaise just chuckled. "Your secret's safe with me."

(Harry POV)

The next morning, I asked Draco if I could come with him to his and Hermione's little meeting.

He had nodded, pulling gently on the ends of Hermione's hair. "Sure. If you want."

The two of us walked into the library, towards the back and I almost ran into Draco as he suddenly stopped, mid-step.

"Blaise?"

The dark-skinned boy looked at Draco, smiling brightly. "I'm smarter than you give me credit for, Princess."

I wasn't surprised as Draco shot across the room, straight into Blaise's already open arms.

I was surprised, however, when he burst into tears.

"Hey," Blaise whispered, smoothing Hermione's brunette curls. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Daphne and Hermione smiled at the pair, but their eyes were still sad.

Draco laughed into Blaise's shoulder. "I think I've cried more in the past week than I have in years."

We settled in our chairs, conversation in a slight lull. But it was comfortable. We didn't talk about anything serious. Just mainly what classes we were dreading.

Montague's name didn't come up once. But that didn't stop Draco's eyes from glazing over. It didn't stop him from lulling out of the conversation, pulling on Hermione's hair or biting his lip. It didn't stop him from instinctively clutching his arm to his chest.

I noticed as Blaise and Daphne both looked at him, worry and fear in their eyes.

As the time came for our first class, Draco snapped out of his semi-stupor and was suddenly fine, laughing and talking to the girls.

Half-way out the door, Blaise grabbed my arm, pulling me back slightly.

"When this first happened, he did that too. Muttered to himself, eyes all glassy, clutching his arm like that, like he's doing now. Except it was constant.

"Just… keep an eye on him. Keep him safe. If he goes back to that place again, he might not come back this time.

"And, I swear, Potter, if Montague hurts him again, it'll be your head."

(Neville POV)

First class of the day: Potions.

Just wonderful.

Well… I don't guess it was too bad. We had it with the Slytherins. And I, admittedly, without shame, planned to spend the entire period staring at my beautiful little blonde.

I had to smile thinking about it.

He was going to the ball with me. He hadn't acted weird when I hugged him or kissed his cheek. He had held my head.

Ron, Seamus, and Dean kept teasing me, calling me a love-sick school girl, telling me to put my tongue back in my mouth, handing me small pieces of parchment to "wipe away my drool", asking me when I was going to start writing "Mrs. Neville Malfoy" on my essays.

I just rolled my eyes and laughed, happy that they were accepting. Especially Seamus who had, at first seemed to have a vendetta against Draco.

"I'm sorry," He had apologized the night after making the comment about Draco's father. "It's just… he's been so rotten to us. Especially you. But what I said was way out of line. And I feel terrible about it."

Now, sitting at my desk, I had a perfect view of the petite blonde currently sitting next to Zabini.

He was so small. Probably about 5'4 at the most, and he couldn't be more than 100 pounds. His hair was slightly long, no longer slicked back, and it fell into his silver eyes, blocking them from view.

I wanted so badly to push them out of his face, to gaze into those eyes.

His body was slightly feminine – narrow shoulders, small waist, rounded hips – but, gods, it was sexy.

His eyes were large, wide, rimmed by dark lashes. His nose was small, pointed, and his lips were large, pouting. They looked so soft.

I remembered what Hermione had told me about the Sugar Quills.

I wanted to kiss him so badly…

"Longbottom!"

I jumped as Snape screamed my name.

"S-sir?"

"Would you please stop molesting Mr. Malfoy with your eyes long enough to pick a partner?"

The room burst into laughing whether at me or my friends teasing me.

I felt my face darken but looked up in time to see Draco smile at me and mouth 'pick me'.

I raised my eyebrows.

'You sure?'

A nod and small smile.

"Um… Draco."

The room burst into laughter again.

"Mr. Malfoy, are you sure you're alright with this?" Snape asked, eyebrow raised. "Mr. Longbottom's saliva might ruin the potion."

Draco, books already gathered, just nodded, smiling at Snape. "I'm sure." He looked back at me. "I mean, I'm already going to the ball with him."

Snape looked pale, looking at him favorite student in shock. He quickly shook it off.

"Greengrass!"

She squeaked, jumping slightly.

"Pick your partner."

"Um, uh, Granger."

Draco sat in the seat next to mine, smiling brightly at me. "Don't let him bother you." He whispered to me.

His breath smelt like coffee and orange marmalade.

I blushed.

Now I'm just being creepy.

"Do you want me to get the ingredients?"

"No, no. I'll get them."

I stood quickly, knocking my chair backwards and over into the floor.

I felt my face darken that much more as others laughed at me. Draco raised a pale, slender hand to his mouth and giggled lightly.

I quickly moved over to the closet, cursing myself.

Why am I such a klutz? I'm going to make a total idiot out of myself! He's never going to go to the ball with me after this class, much less be my boyfriend.

The thought of him as my boyfriend sent my heart into a frenzy.

Getting to hold him, to kiss him, to wrap my arm around his tiny waist whenever I wanted; getting to move that hair out of his beautiful face; getting to openly call him mine?

My face had to be purple by now.

It was never going to happen.

He was the picture of elegance, of grace, of beauty. He was a regal aristocrat.

I was an clumsy, poor, ugly orphan. What did I have to offer?

I sighed, gathering the rest of the ingredients, before moving back to my seat.

Draco immediately began chopping away, singing some song under his breath.

As if he wasn't perfect enough, his singing was beautiful.

I closed my eyes and listened to him, drifting off into a daydream of swaying with him, one of his elegant hands in mine, another hand on his delicate waist.

"Neville!"

I opened my eyes and looked at the giggling blonde.

"You awake?"

"Y-yeah." I muttered, scratching the back of my neck. "Sorry."

What's gotten into me? I'm being like… super-creepy today.

"Sorry for what?" He flashed his straight, pearly-whites at me.

"Zoning out."

"It's fine. I do it all the time.

"By the way, what color are you thinking over wearing to the ball?"

"Oh, um, I don't really know. I was thinking of maybe just wearing a muggle-type suit instead of dress robes."

Draco smiled. "That would look really nice."

What other things Hermione had told me popped in my head. "Maybe with a aquamarine vest and tie. Or topaz. I can't really decide."

"I'm sure either would look great."

Hmmm. Well, that wasn't really the reaction I was hoping for.

"Do you have a specific color you want?"

"Aquamarine sounds nice." He nodded. "Yes, I think aquamarine will be perfect."

I mentally patted myself on the back.

"And I like the idea of a muggle-type suit. Dress robes are so-,"

The door to Snape's classroom flew open and a man, all muscles and dark hair and blue eyes.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Ten points from Slytherin for your tardiness, Mr. Montague. Please, go sit with Mr. Potter. He will be your partner for this particular lesson."

(Page Break)

By the time the lesson was over, my blood was quite literally boiling.

How the hell did Montague get out of any sort of trouble? He raped one student and attempted to do the same to another!

But more than that, the way he kept looking at Draco – like he was a piece of meat, like he owned him, jealousy and greed in his eyes – made me want to vomit.

As we were dismissed, I watched as Draco's friends quickly gathered around him to shield him from Montague's gaze, just as Hermione's friends did to her.

I was halfway out the door, going to try to catch up to Draco, when I heard, "Longbottom! A moment."

I turned and Montague, an inch or so shorter than me, was in my face.

"Stay away from my boyfriend you fucking pathetic waste of space. If I catch you near him again-,"

"What are you going to do, Montague? Beat me up?"

"Oh, no, Longbottom. That would be too much trouble. I will simply take it out on Draco.

"On second though, go ahead and mess with him so I'll have an excuse. I've had a pretty bad case of blue balls lately."

I teeth began to grind on their on accord. My hands balled into fists. "Stay away from him. If you hurt him again-,"

"What are you going to do? Beat me up?" He was mocking me now.

"I'll make your problem go from blue-balls to no-balls."

That sounded a lot better in my head.

Montague just laughed, making me that much angrier. "I have every right to touch what's mine, Longbottom."

"You do. That's why you can't touch Draco. He's mine."

Once again, a laugh. "Not for long, Neville, dear. I've got a little scheme up my sleeve that will have that gorgeous little slut running back into my arms and straight into my bed.

"Oh, you have no clue how bad I want to fuck him again."

My heart and stomach lurched with the word 'again'.

"So gorgeous. So tight. And you should've heard the sounds he was making." A snicker. "The way he was begging me to stop. How he was whimpering and sobbing like the poor, pathetic little creature he is.

"Maybe next time you can come and watch if he doesn't hate you too much by the time I'm finished."

I couldn't take anymore.

I took a swing at him, but he was too quick for me.

He reached up and grabbed a handful of my hair, pulling roughly before sending me flying into the wall behind me.

He studied the hairs he had ripped out. "These should do nicely." He looked at me, smiling. "Thanks, Longbottom."

He turned to walk away, before looking back. "Oh, and don't worry about Draco anymore. I'll take real good care of him."

(Page break)

There ya go!

Hope you guys enjoy:)

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