AN: We've reached Hermione's birthday. After what happens at the end of this chapter is resolved next chapter, halfway through the chapter we will jump forward in time again. It's time to move the story along again, I hope your all enjoying it, and thanks for the reviews! I have answered all of them in what I hope is a timely manner! Clumsy!

Hermione awoke to fingers walking softly down her bare back, followed closely by kisses, and warm breath. She rolled over and smiled at Draco. She kissed him, "Good morning." She whispered. "Good morning, yourself. What's on your agenda today?"

She didn't understand how he could possibly expect her to think rationally when he was working on that spot right behind her ear that made her mindless. She persevered this time though.

"I have to go get a dress, Ginny is going to kill me if she finds out I haven't done it yet. If I walk into the party tonight in jeans and a t-shirt, it really will be my last birthday." She said.

He laughed, "Want some company? I'm a pretty good shopping companion, at least that's what mother says. I can pick up a few things myself that way. Plus, I could take my best girl out to lunch for her birthday, and I might have a special gift or five for her!"

"FIVE! You're crazy Draco! But I love you anyway. Of course I would love to have you with me, and share lunch with you. First however, you have to let me up because I need to get going, and I still want to check on Michael before we go, I don't think he's doing very well at all." She stated.

"Give me another kiss good morning and I will let you go!" he teased. She leaned up and kissed him, and then he rolled her all the way under him. Needless to say, it was quite a while before Hermione made it to Michael's room.

Michael was so tired of feeling tired. He hadn't had an ounce of energy in so long, he wasn't even sure if he remembered what it felt like. He was tired of pain, and no amount of pain pills or potion took it away completely. The vomiting was disgusting, and he hated it, but who didn't. Hermione and Draco helped with whatever they could, and they had literally taken on most of his workload for the Diversity class which made him feel bad because they had their own classes as students to deal with too. Hermione was taking more classes than anybody else in 7th year, she had to be feeling the strain but she never once complained.

Sometimes he wondered if all of this was worth it. It would be so easy to quit, peaceful to not feel pain all the time. He even had thought to himself that he wasn't going to survive, that he was fighting a losing battle. It was during those times that he talked to Draco. He was the only one who didn't talk around the issue; he just listened and didn't judge him. Hermione refused to even listen the first time he brought it up, and she would sometimes resort to trying to bully some fight into him when she caught that look in his eyes. Draco though, seemed to understand.

He also had days where he knew with every fiber of his being that this was a temporary trial that he would push his way through and win. Today wasn't one of those days though, today was a tired day, tired of the fight.

Hermione knocked on the picture of the dumb troll who turned and announced her presence to Michael. He answered the door and let her in.

"I just wanted to check on you and see if you needed anything while I'm in Hogsmeade today?" she offered.

"Happy Birthday Hermione. Thanks, if you could pick me up some butter beers and licorice wands that would be great. Sometimes it's the only thing I can eat and keep down. Plus we all know the calories would do me some good." He said with a smile.

Trying very hard to hide the pity she felt for her friend she took the money he gave her because when she tried the last time to buy herself what he asked for it hurt his pride. He really didn't want anybody's pity.

She met Draco in the courtyard and they decided to just walk since it was such a nice day. They held hands and talked about random things. The Quidditch season was a favorite topic of Draco's, as he felt very strongly that this was the season he would help bring home the Quidditch Cup to for Slytherin. They apparently had a rock solid team with him as seeker. He had to give the opportunity to captain the team up in order to teach the class, and that was very hard, but he said that teaching had its benefits as well, making Hermione laugh.

Hermione was walking around looking at all the dresses. She decided that she definitely wanted a dress, not dress robes. Draco was a few racks over looking at God only knows what, as she picked out a pretty black dress. She thought it was cute, and would certainly be a good dress for the occasion. When Draco walked back he was holding a very pretty white dress that came just under mid-thigh, it was a strapless dress however it had a filmy ruffle that started at her left hip that crossed over her right shoulder just at the curve into her arm, and ended on the right side of her back, half way down. She tried on both dresses, but Draco was right, so she bought that dress and paired it with some pink strappy heels with two inch heels, that Draco again picked out.

Next they went to Honeyduke's to get Michael's request and Draco bought her a box of peppermint toads that were her favorite and got himself a good supply of chocolate frogs, toffee's, fizzing wizzbee's, taffy, and treacle fudge. "I like sweets!" he said when she raised her eyebrows at him.

They went to the Hogs Head for lunch, against Draco's better judgment. He felt somewhere of a higher standard and quality was called for on her birthday, but he had let her choose and she wanted to see Aberforth Dumbledore while she was in she had hugged Ab, Draco wondered if he'd ever get over cringing when she hugged other men, he showed them to his best table, with the most privacy for their lunch. Draco was pleasantly surprised when he discovered the food was quite excellent. He hadn't given this place enough credit, he really liked it, once you got past the atmosphere.

Draco stood from his seat and pulled something out of pocket, and pulled out his wand as well, then retook his seat. He tapped the tiny box with his wand and it expanded to its normal size. It was a big square box that was white and had red and green ribbons, which may have looked Christmassy to some, but she understood the meaning and gave him such a warm smile, and her eyes glistened with she opened it, she was surprised to find four smaller boxes and a book she had been meaning to buy herself but hadn't been able to find the time. She thanked him for the book, and pulled each of the other boxes out.

"I wanted you to open these now, because they will go beautifully with the dress you bought for tonight." He hinted.

When she opened the first box, she understood immediately what the other three would hold, and she felt her heart tremble for a moment for the guy sitting across from her, looking at her so sweetly. Inside the first box was a necklace of a pretty dragonfly with pink and diamond gemstones. This was the set of jewelry she had seen but couldn't buy on their very first date, when they were window shopping in London. Sure enough when she opened the other boxes, she held the set. Necklace, ear rings, bracelet, and ring.

She got up from her seat and walked to him, she leaned down and gave him a hug and whispered, "Thank you," tearily.

That night they skipped dinner because there would be food served at her party. Pizza (which for some reason is not a food usually served at school) hot dogs, and hamburgers. All Muggle foods and all Hermione's favorites.

When Draco came to her room to pick her up he took one look at her and put his hand on his chest and said, "WOW!" making her blush prettily. She had left her hair down all the way tonight, something she rarely did because it would start to annoy her, getting in the way. She knew he loved it though, so it fell in soft golden brown waves down her back. The shoes made her legs look incredible as high heels always did for women, no matter how uncomfortable they would be!

He gave her a dozen roses, which she put in a vase with water before they left. She didn't know where they were going, as nobody bothered to even tell her where her party was. But she assumed he knew since he seemed to have a destination in mind. When they turned a corner she understood, the Room of Requirement.

When they entered, her breath stopped. It was beyond beautiful, beyond incredible even. Draco saw her face and explained, "See Neville has this thing he does. I watched him do it, and I still don't understand how. He thinks very clearly and intensely before he enters, and then he walked around and around the room murmuring quietly. As he would walk in circles it began to fill in, it really was crazy to watch, but amazing!"

The room didn't look like a room at all. It looked like a meadow in a forest, with twinkly lights, and moonlight and a bon fire! "How the bloody hell did he get a bon fire" she asked Draco, who only laughed as an answer. There was a dance floor in the very back of the non-room, room. Seamus had a table set up in the corner where he was playing bartender, and Dean was handling the D.J. job of music. Under a tree, yes I said tree and there were a lot of trees, were a pile of presents. Eighteen is as big a birthday in the Muggle world as seventeen was in the wizard world and Hermione was both, so her friends wanted this one to be special, especially since her last wasn't so great.

They did a good job; she had felt special all day. She passed out so many hugs that night to everyone involved. Especially to Gin and Neville, who had put so much hard work into the planning and set up of her party. After a couple hours, she was a bit tipsy and having a ball on the dance floor. Draco took a break while Seamus and Blaize danced with her.

He sought out Ginny because he had made a decision about Hermione and wanted to discuss it with Gin. She was temporarily on bartender duty while Seamus was out dancing with Draco's girlfriend. When she saw him she smiled warmly. It was something he was grateful for, because he never could understand how her friends could just accept him when he'd been such an asshole to all of them. He asked her that before he could stop himself.

"I accept you because she did. I like you because you're not the same prat you used to be. I love you because you make her eyes shine with happiness, and that's all I want for her is for her to be happy. She's my best friend, and she's been through a deeper hell than anyone i know except Harry. I want her to have someone to make her feel special and loved. She picked you and you seem up for the job, so that's why I forgave the past." Ginny told him.

"Well I have every intention of continuing to let her know how much she means to me. Which is why I came looking for you. I need your help with something." He responded. Then he very quietly explained what he wanted to do and how she could help. It would take a lot of self-discipline to keep this secret from Hermione, but Draco thought that both of them were up for the challenge.

Draco and Hermione were looking into each other's eyes during a slow dance when he leaned down and kissed her. It was reminiscent of their first kiss. Just a gentle rubbing of lips, and she sighed when it was done and put her head to his chest and closed her eyes. She didn't think this night could be more perfect.

Until it all fell apart completely, her contentedness was severed in less than three seconds. This is all the time it took for Michael Corner to pass out, and people to start screaming.

Two hours later, Hermione, Draco, Ginny and Neville were sitting around Michael's bed in the hospital wing. Gin and Hermione could be heard sniffling every now and again and the boys looked like they wanted to DO something, but couldn't figure out what to do. Madame Pomfrey said his body was simply exhausted and needed rest. She gave him a few potions and came and checked on him now and again. She was at the bedside now and Hermione asked, "Shouldn't he wake up? He's been unconscious for hours now. That can't be a good sign!"

The older witch just said sympathetically, "He will wake up when his body is ready. It reached such a level of tiredness that it just shut him down so it can recover. He could wake up in an hour, or he could wake up in two days. It's impossible to tell for now."

"He won't die though, right?" she asked her sadly.

"I can never promise that Miss Granger, because things beyond our control happen. I don't think however that he will die from this exhaustion. He just needs plenty of rest and to cut back on his schedule when he recovers. I will talk with the Headmistress tomorrow and see about cutting his class load down." She answered.

Hermione just nodded and reached for Draco. "Come on, let's go get some rest. He's asleep and may not wake up for a while. If he does I'm sure Madame Pomfrey can let us know and we'll come straight back." He said, and Pomfrey nodded.

The foursome left the hospital wing together, but parted ways pretty quickly with Neville and Ginny headed to their quarters, and Draco and Hermione headed the opposite way to theirs.

Hermione asked Draco to stay with her, because she didn't feel like being alone tonight, so she lay with her head on his chest, grateful for him being there as she hoped with everything she had that Michael would recover. It made her miss Fred and Sirius all over again, and she prayed that she wouldn't have to say goodbye to one more friend. She fell into an uneasy sleep that night, filled with dreams that were memories her conscious mind wouldn't let her remember in her wakeful hours.

AN 2: I know this is a short chapter, but it was the hardest one to write so far, and it jumps around but that felt necessary to me. Next chapter is much better!