Diclaimer: i own nothing! i'm making no money off of this. everything belongs to its respected owners.

Chapter 10

The next morning when Draco woke up, he saw that Hermione was already awake, sitting on the edge of her bed, and talking to Dobby. She was giggling about something and Dobby was smiling. Draco sat up and Dobby greeted him before exiting the room.

"What was that about?" Draco asked.

"He brought clean clothes," Hermione answered.

"Then why were you giggling?" Draco asked. (A/N: Paranoid, isn't he?)

"Huh? Why does that matter?" Hermione asked as she stood up from her bed.

"It matters because I deserve to know," Draco said as he stood up.

"Why do you deserve to know? It's no big deal," Hermione said and rolled her eyes.

"It is when you're not telling me."

"Tell you what? There's nothing to tell. Let's go. You're going to be late for breakfast," Hermione said as she turned to the door. Draco gripped her hand to stop her.

"Are you lying to me?" Draco asked as he looked into her eyes.

"No…why would I? Besides," Hermione paused long enough to take her hand back and reach the door. "I'm not into guys shorter than me," she said over her shoulder.

"Wha-…that has nothing to do with this!" Draco defended.

"Yeah yeah, let's go," Hermione said with a sigh.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Draco reluctantly agreed to let Hermione stay with Dobby while he was in his classes. When his classes were done, Draco found Hermione and Dobby talking and Hermione was laughing as Dobby smiled and nodded.

"Let's go," Draco said to Hermione. Hermione nodded in acknowledgment and turned to Dobby.

"Bye, Dobby. I'll see you later," Hermione said to Dobby as she gave him a hug. Dobby said goodbye to both Hermione and Draco before getting back to his work.

"What did you guys do all day?" Draco asked once they were out of earshot.

"I tried to help him, but he refused. We talked most of the time," Hermione said.

"That's all you did?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Pretty much, but it was fun," Hermione said with a smile.

After Draco and Hermione got to their room, Draco started his homework and Hermione read a book. Occasionally Draco would ask for help and Hermione was happy to oblige, although admittedly he didn't really need the help.

"It's almost dinner time," Draco said. Hermione nodded and looked at the door. "What?" Draco asked.

"Dobby isn't here yet," Hermione said without taking her eyes off of the door.

"So?" Draco asked.

"He always comes by around this time," she explained.

"Maybe he's busy," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe," she said sadly.

"Let's go. I'm sure he's fine," Draco said as he walked towards the door.

The pair walked down to the Great Hall and sat at the Slytherin table. Hermione sat quietly while the humans ate.

"Did you hear that that house elf is being transferred to Aracha's manor?" Hermione heard someone say. She pretended to be ignoring them while she listened closely.

"Yeah and I heard the Arachas are really strict," someone else said.

"Yeah, and if one of their workers mess up, they get beaten," the first one said.

"Wow that's intense," the second one said.

"Ha especially since Dobby's a screw-up," the first one said with an annoying laugh. Hermione clinched her fists and suppressed a growl. She continued to listen until she found out where Dobby was going and when. As soon as she got that information, she got up and left. Draco followed her and pretended to not care that she suddenly left.

"Where are you going?" Draco called to her.

"To get Dobby back," Hermione said over her shoulder. Dobby had already left and he was supposed to be there by now. She wasn't going to let the Arachas hurt Dobby.

'I won't lose another person I care about,' Hermione thought.

Draco ran after her until he bumped into Harry. 'Oh great,' Draco thought.

"What's your problem?" Harry asked in disgust.

"Hermione's run off to fight Mr. Aracha to get Dobby back," Draco said without thinking. He mentally slapped himself after he finished.

"I see…come with me," Harry said.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Just do it if you wanna catch her," Harry said as he turned and started walking down the hall. Draco reluctantly followed him and grumbled about having to go with Harry instead of stopping Hermione.

End of chapter 10! finally got back on track, yay! so hope ya like it and please R&R! luv ya! =^^=