Hey guys! So I honestly really don't like how I handled last chapter's tail end, mostly because it was uncomfortable to write. But sometimes you need the uncomfortable stuff. Sorry! But to make it up to you for that bit, I wrote a bit more that really continues that chapter a little bit, just, well, not.

You'll get it when you read it, I guess. Let me know what y'all think! (And thanks to those who reviewed on the earlier one today, your constructive criticism was very useful in writing this bit!) I might write more tonight, but as you can see this is super short, so I don't know if it'll be enough to post again today, but it shouldn't be a super huge gap again (but I shouldn't jinx myself).

Anyways why do i always have horribly long a/n's eNJOY

Draco's POV

By the time I returned that night, Hermione was fast asleep. As I entered her room to check on her, I sensed the barrier she cast as I passed through it. She had put up a Muffling Charm. I closed the door and went to the couch next to her bookshelf, and settled in for the night. I wasn't going to let her go through this alone.

I had nodded off while reading another book off her shelf, but it wasn't long before her cries snapped me out of my drifting, and I ran to her side, gently shaking her awake. She calmed down more quickly this time, but pulled away from me, turning her face.

"Hermione, I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you sooner. I was just… thinking, a lot. About what you said."

"Draco, I didn't mean that, I was just upset with myself-"

"I understand. I do. You're upset that you couldn't save yourself, aren't you?" She looked up sharply, shocked.

"How did you-"

"Even if we weren't the greatest of friends for seven years, it was seven years. You get to know people, even people you're not close with. Believe it or not, especially your 'enemies.'" She chuckled at that. "But what my point is, what I was thinking about, is that it's okay to let other people save you sometimes. To let others protect you, for you to rely on others. Knowing others will catch you when you fall, and others will bring you back from your nightmares, without judging you," I said, and she grasped my implications. She sighed.

"The way I reacted was childish, half-formed, and not appropriate at all. It was bewildering for both of us, I think, and completely unnecessary. I'm sorry." She replied with sincerity, and I waved away the apology.

"I think you're allowed to be a bit bewildered after just falling off a broom," I said, and she laughed at that.

"I suppose so." She rubbed at her eyes and pushed back her hair, glancing around the room, when she spotted the book laying haphazardly on the couch from where I'd dropped it.

"Were you… already in here?"

"I came in around 12:30. I hope that wasn't…" I trailed off, not knowing how to explain myself.

"No, I mean, I'm glad you did, a bit. Those, um, well, you know, they're not the greatest thing, and it helps, uh, to have someone there to stop it," she stuttered out, and I nodded in understanding.

"Why don't you take down the Muffling Charm, and I'll be just across the hall in my room. That way I'll hear if, you know." She nodded quickly, grateful. She took down the charm, and I squeezed her hand before retreating to my room, leaving the doors open to both our rooms on my way out. We both slept peacefully through the rest of the night, the minor angst-fest resolved.

I was thankful for that, because I wasn't entirely truthful to Hermione when I explained why I was gone. Of course, I wasn't thinking about that the whole time. I was gone far too long for that, but in her sleep-addled mind, she didn't register.

No, I had spent the better part of four hours working on Hermione's Christmas present.

P.S.- Clarification- Tomorrow (in the fic) will be day four of their break. I'll note this again at the beginning of the next chapter, just in case. Love you guys!