(A/N: Hey everyone. I have been able to write chapter 10 after a very busy few weeks. This chapter is definitely Draco & Hermione flirting and perhaps an accident? Inspiration for a few little things in this chapter are from a fabulous song called "Grey or Blue" by Jaymay. Review and thanks!)

Ginny asked for Diana a few times but Hermione would shrug and say she seemed to have disappeared. Dean asked for her because he had found her attractive. Upon hearing this, Hermione burst into a tearful laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Dean…nothing."

He pouted. "She was hott."

Hermione continued to laugh and wondered how Draco would react upon hearing this. Perhaps flattered? You never knew from him.

Ron was sitting in an old arm chair, studying for a Transfiguration test with a grimace on his face. Every few minutes he would roll his eyes and then his mind would wander on other subjects. You could tell it was happening when he stared at his pinky nail for more than one minute. Hermione was staring at him amused because he seemed to be absorbed in his thumb for about five minutes now. Abruptly, he shot his head up and looked at his girlfriend.

"Isn't your mom's birthday tomorrow?" he asked.

Hermione's mouth dropped. She couldn't believe she forgot. She had promised herself to owl her father a letter to leave on her mother's grave. Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "Yes, it-it is…"

"Did you get her anything?"

"N-No…"

"Wow, you do every year."

Hermione held back all her emotions. "This year is a tad bit different…"

"Sweetheart, are you alright? You look flushed," Ron said, concerned. He started to approach her but Hermione ran for the portrait hole.

"The library…I need to get some books," Hermione muttered hurriedly, running out of Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione felt a heavy guilt on her shoulders. Tears were streaming down her face as she ran aimlessly through the hallways.

How could I forget? My mother must be watching over me with shame and sadness. Shit, I thought things were going to get better. I thought I could move on but I can't. Draco…I need your help.

She continued to run until she found herself outside. It was a still yet extremely cold night. Hermione shivered but continued to walk outside. She sat down on the floor and cried. Her shaking hand held up her wand to the sky and she muttered, "Anzeige Draco." A string of sparkling gold light emitted from the tip of her wand and it seemed to search throughout the sky for something. It soon disappeared.

Hermione's shaking hand dropped after the spell, and tears still falling, she lay on the freezing ground and stared up at the glittering silver stars. "Mommy, I love you and I am so sorry."

She felt an eternity pass but soon heard footsteps approaching. "You got my message then?"

"Yes," Draco's husky voice replied. "I knew the spell would come in handy." A gold message in script had appeared in front of him saying, 'I am outside. I need you. Hermione.'

"My mother's birthday is tomorrow. I forgot."

Draco sighed and sat next to her. He picked her limp body up and brought her close. "You're freezing Hermione. Let's go inside."

"No. The cold makes me numb."

Draco sighed again and carried her inside. They sat on the floor, by a staircase. "I don't need you catching pneumonia. Now, about your mother…Look, it isn't your fault. You've been busy lately, busy being happy. Busy doing things you hadn't done since…since she passed. I'm sure that she would never be mad that you forgot. I think she would be angrier that you were not living life."

"You always say the right things."

"I'm the only one that knows, that's why."

"You ruin everything when you bring that up, Draco. I was close to confessing but then this happened and now I can't see myself telling Ron, Harry, and Ginny."

He kissed her forehead. "I just want you to feel like more than one person can be there for you. Also, that you can turn to someone who you aren't pretending to hate."

"Who's pretending? I just haven't told anyone yet," Hermione said.

"The sad truth is we probably never will," Draco muttered.

Hermione didn't reply because she knew it was true. She turned to look at him and he was staring out a window, his eyes fixed on the black sky. "Your eyes are either gray or blue. I'm never close enough to say."

"What?"

"Your eyes…," Hermione repeated, getting close to his face in order to see. He turned away.

"Why are you turning away?"

"Why are you so close?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You twit, I want to see the color of your eyes." She leaned in extremely close and stared into his eyes. "Gray. They kind of shimmer like the stars."

"Oh? Your eyes…they…," Draco mumbled. Her eyes were glossy from tears and he could see himself. "They remind me of chocolate with specs of caramel on top."

Hermione laughed, tears from her previous cry still brimming her eyes. Draco stared at her smiling. She was flushed from crying and the bags under her eyes were slightly swollen. She looked stunning.

Hermione leaned into his face again. "I can't get over your eyes. They are really intimidating, you know? I feel like they pierce right through me."

"Do you like that? That they go right through you?"

"I adore it. It gives me a sort of…safe feeling of vulnerability. Like you'll take care of me."

"I will…," Draco whispered. "Merlin Hermione…you look so beautiful…" Draco placed a finger under her chin and started to lean in. Their lips grazed slightly.

"Hermione?!"

Hermione looked up, frightened and saw a shocked Ginny Weasley. "Oh no."

"Ron sent me to check up on you, to see if you were okay! You're more than okay; you're fucking kissing Draco Malfoy! A Slytherin! Our sworn enemy!" Ginny exclaimed, infuriated.

Hermione shuffled to her feet. "Please Ginny, hear me out. What you just saw was a mistake."

"Would it have been a mistake if I hadn't caught you?"

Hermione hesitated. "I-I don't know…"

"Ron won't accept this. He'll be crushed!"

"No, no, no Ginny don't say anything!"

"Weasley, don't let this information escape the three of us," Draco said suddenly.

Ginny snorted. "Why Malfoy? Scared that your reputation will be tarnished because you were caught seducing a taken muggleborn?!"

"What does that matter?!" Hermione now yelled.

"Just don't tell anyone!" Draco said.

"How can I hide this from my brother?"

"Ginny, just hear me out!" pleaded Hermione. "There's a lot more to this than you think!"

"What, rendezvous in the Astronomy Tower?"

"Yes…," Hermione muttered. "But beyond that! We have never laid a finger on each other. We just got caught up in the moment."

"That still doesn't make this any better!" Ginny said.

Hermione growled. "Just shutup and listen to me!" She sighed and started recapping her entire adventure since the day she told Draco her mother had died. "And then, this happened…"

Ginny gaped at Draco and her. "Why didn't you tell us about your mother?"

"You must understand it's been very hard for me. I only told Draco because it slipped through an angry moment. Even though he has harmed me, he has been there for me…"

Ginny glared at Draco. "You're still a dick."

"And you're still a Weasley," he retaliated.

"Please don't start you two…my head is swimming with garbage right now. I feel just about ready to burst…"

"I'll take you back to Gryffindor Tower," Draco said, offering his hand.

"No, you go back to the swamp you came from. I'll take her," Ginny said sharply, grabbing Hermione's hand and dragging her away.

Hermione stared at Draco blankly. She didn't know whether to smile or to cry even more.

Before stepping into the portrait hole, Ginny looked at Hermione, her eyes pleading. "Please say you still love my brother."

"Ginny, I can't lie to you anymore than I already have. I do love your brother, but there is something missing. I thought that being with him was my salvation from the depression of my mother's death. It was for a while, but I kept falling back into it. Draco pulls me out each time."

"Give Ron a chance. Tell him what's going on and ditch Malfoy. He's scum and probably only wants to pull another stunt like the one in the Three Broomsticks."

Hermione flinched at the painful memory. He had tried to ruin her life. How was she so sure he wasn't trying to do so again?

"We'll see Ginny. Give me time please. I'm falling apart here."

Ginny sighed, nodded, and they both went through the portrait hole together.