'What's Granger up to now?' he wondered, and decided to follow her. She might distract him from the conversation he just had with Pansy, and her last words for him.

Some other girl. Yeah right.

Chapter Eleven

Hermione could not believe it. Distraught, she was now aimlessly wandering through the corridors, the same scene playing in her head, over and over again. She had no idea where she was going, she just had to get out of the common room. Catch some air. Who knew.

Hermione's class had ended early. She had been allowed to leave as soon as she had finished writing her essay, and that meant that she had quite a bit of time to see Seamus before dinner.

She smiled at the thought. Entering the common room, she looked out for him but could not find him anywhere. That was odd.

"Parvati, have you seen Seamus?" she asked after having made sure that he really wasn't there.

"Uh yeah I saw him going up to the dorm like, half an hour ago maybe. Could've been an hour though. Or 45 minutes. Who am I to know? He looked tired though you know, maybe he's sleeping. But what do I know."

Hermione gave her a half-smile and thanked her before slowly making her way upstairs. What could he possibly be doing upstairs? Maybe Parvati was right and he was asleep, but it couldn't hurt to check.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, the young girl snuck up to Seamus' bed, where she could see him sitting down with his back facing the door. What exactly was he doing?

She stood there for a moment, taking in the slump of his shoulders and his overall cramped position. Didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong.

"Seamus?"

The young man whirled around, a whole array of emotions playing across his face. Shock, guilt, anger, fear.

"What's wrong?"

"Hermione?" he mumbled, but there was something wrong with his voice. The young girl didn't like it.

Then her eyes fell on the piece of paper that was lying on his pillow, and she frowned.

"Another letter? What does it say?"

"I'm not going home for Christmas" Seamus said somberly.

"What do you mean… I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" She looked around, then decided that nothing she could say would make it better right now. She leaned over to hug him, but he remained still. Softly, she turned towards him to kiss him on the cheek.

Hitting her right in the face was the distinct smell of alcohol. She drew away, searching his face for an answer.

"Seamus…" she whispered, gently.

"No. I don't want to hear it." He closed his eyes and drew in a sharp breath.

"Give me that bottle" Hermione said firmly as she saw him lift it to his lips. He didn't do anything of the sort and drank. Reaching over his shoulder, she tried to grab it from him but was stopped as he grabbed both of her wrists with one hand and held her back.

"Let me go" she said sharply, her eyes burning into his with intensity.

"Why?" He took another swig. He seemed unable to think clearly.

"I need some air" she gasped, suddenly afraid.

"But you're coming back, yeah?" he asked, suddenly not so sure anymore.

"I'll think about it."

He released her, and Hermione almost ran from him. Hadn't it all been getting better? She felt like she barely knew him anymore.

And that was how she had wound up walking through the hallways of Hogwarts. She paid no attention to where she was going, she just needed to move, get away, and think.

Malfoy swore under his breath as he lost sight of the Gryffindor.

'Stupid moving staircases' he thought as he turned a corner. He needed the distraction, and for some reason Hermione seemed like the perfect opportunity to make himself feel better. He hated how she had been avoiding him for the past week, and hated himself even more for thinking that way. Draco merely shrugged. It was a vicious circle.

He turned another corner, running straight into someone. He swore again.

"Ouch" the girl exclaimed, and before Draco could move, she had landed on the floor. Admittedly, it looked quite painful, and he couldn't help but smile. Wasn't it good to be a Malfoy sometimes?

"You seem to be making a habit out of that, Granger. First on the stairs, now here."

Hermione slowly got up and shook her head. This was the last thing she needed, and she hoped Malfoy would leave her alone.

Ignoring him, the young girl brushed some imaginary dust off her skirt and swiftly walked past him.

For a second, Draco simply stood there, but then decided that he would not be treated like that. Besides, hadn't he been looking for her? Now that he had found her, he might as well ruin her evening. Or so he told himself.

"Is it really too much to ask of you to leave me alone for just one day?!" Hermione exploded.

"I don't remember having had the opportunity to harass you in the past few days. I think I deserve this."

"Deserve" Hermione snorted. "And what about making your girlfriend attack me in class today?"

How she had found the time to remember that incident still remained a mystery to her, with all the other things she had on her mind, but it didn't matter. She just wanted to be alone.

"She's not my girlfriend" Draco responded automatically, shaking his head.

"That's not the impression I get, you know. But really, I don't care. Just make sure that next time, whatever goes on between the two of you, I'm left out of it. I have enough problems of my own."

"Mudblood Granger, problems? Isn't your life perfect in every way?"

She snorted again.

"Please." She seemed to think about something else to say, but then kept her mouth shut. Without realising it, she had adjusted her pace to his, and they were now casually walking through the castle. It wasn't exactly a friendly conversation, but she figured that it was better than to be alone with her thoughts.

They walked in silence and Hermione tried to concentrate on the sound that their footsteps were making, resonating back from the cold stone walls surrounding them.

"So why are you here, Malfoy?" she asked, trying to sound uninterested.

"I could ask you the same thing" he replied curtly, looking straight at her. His dark eyes held hers for a few moments.

"I bet your girlfriend's looking for you."

It had the effect she had aimed for. His eyes narrowed and he glared at her.

"Besides, don't you have something better to do than walking through corridors at night with someone like me? Something like, I don't know, going after girls that aren't yours?"

He clenched his jaw. "You don't know a thing about me. So if I were you, I'd keep those thoughts to myself if you don't want to get hurt really bad."

Hermione felt all of her anger and frustration boiling up, taking up the challenge. "I'm not scared of you, you know" she replied darkly.

"Is that so?" he snarled, not looking at her.

"That is so. Now please, I think…" She had meant to say that they should turn back as they were walking towards a dead end, but was interrupted before she could say so.

"Oh no!" Draco swore under his breath before pulling her behind a nearby statue. Hermione tripped, but he caught her arm and held her up, his grip painfully strong on her skin. He was now towering above her, pushing her against the wall. His body wasn't touching hers, but he was way too close for comfort.

"Are you insane?!" she shrieked, but he covered her mouth with a strong hand before she could finish that sentence.

"For once, just listen to me and shut up, alright?" The intensity of his words caught her off guard, and she immediately stood still. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but he simply stood there without moving.

Voices were heard at the end of the corridor, and they were unmistakably coming closer. There was no way they could get out behind the statue without being seen. Maybe they were just walking by… But that was of course nonsense, since this was a dead end. There was only a big painting on the wall at the end of this hallway.

Draco had slowly stepped back from her and was now kneeling beside the statue. He drew his wand and muttered a few words she couldn't hear, and a small opening appeared at the base of the statue.

He grinned, obviously satisfied and looked up at her. Hermione couldn't help but notice the mischievous glint in his eyes, and her fear at being discovered vanished.

With a lazy flick of his hand, the young Slytherin motioned for her to follow him before disappearing in the dark opening. With a quick look back, Hermione decided that this couldn't be as bad as having to listen to a teacher telling her off for wandering around late at night.

"Where are we going?" she whispered, waiting for eyes to adjust to the darkness. She could discern Draco's silhouette walking in front of her, but she had lost all orientation after a few turns. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure about this anymore. Was this really such a good idea? Who knew what he was doing; he might just leave her after one of those endless turns, and she'd be alone in the dark…

"Just wait" came the short reply before Draco fell silent again. It seemed as if he knew exactly where he was going.

Hermione forced herself not to show her distress and straightened up. After a few more minutes of complete silence, a strong, familiar scent wafted through the air. Slightly sweet, but also bitter and strangely attractive.

Draco stopped right in front of her, and she almost ran into him. He started messing with a trap door that she hadn't seen at first, and probably wouldn't have noticed on her own. He let himself through it without looking back to see whether she would follow, and disappeared.

Hermione sighed, but at the same time was curious to see where he was leading her. The smell was getting stronger, and she found it wonderful. She pulled herself up and into a dark room full of vague outlines that looked like bags and containers.

Draco had already sat down in front of one of them and unscrewed a small jar that contained…marbles? He picked one out, examined it and popped it into his mouth.

Honeydukes. That was why the smell seemed so familiar.

Hermione looked around in wonder, and from the corner of her eyes, she could see that Malfoy was grinning slightly. She relaxed, then looked at him and frowned.

"You should pay for these you know."

His grin disappeared, and he popped another "marble" into his mouth. Looking more closely, Hermione realised they were caramel witch eyes.

"And they should close this trap door" he replied as if that gave him the right to simply take whatever he wanted.

He threw an eye at her and snorted when it hit her on the cheek. She shot him a dirty look and got up to inspect the surroundings.

"Lighten up" he advised, reaching for another jar. "I rarely come here, and not many people know about this. I don't actually think anyone does" he mused. "But if that goes against your principles, don't take any of it."

Hermione picked up a jar filled with jelly lizards, and watched in fascination as one of them lazily opened an eye, yawned and went back to sleep.

"Can we just go?" she asked absentmindedly, though she wasn't so sure anymore if she wanted to leave. So many colours, textures, flavours…

"Be my guest. I'm not one to hold you back if you want to go." Malfoy was examining the shelves just like she was, but frowned when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"Oh my god!" Hermione exclaimed, and Draco whirled around in alarm. She had opened a jar of butterfingers and bitten off a piece.

"These are great" she said enthusiastically while Draco shuddered in disgust. They were so sticky and actually looked like human fingers.

"That is actually disgusting" he snorted. Before he could react, Hermione had thrown one at him which hit him on the cheek and stuck there.

"Look, you have something on your face, and it sure as hell isn't pretty."

Draco tore it off his face and reached for the jar closest to him. A label read "fizzy worms", and he smiled wickedly. Ducking, he ran closer to her, another butterfinger missing him by inches.

He opened the jar, grabbed a handful and flung it towards her. The worms stuck to her robes, but to his surprise, Hermione didn't squeal or scream. He knew that most girls would have. Instead, she grinned, reached into a different jar and threw sweet powder at him.

It stuck to his face and hair, and he growled. Hermione laughed and sat down.

"You have no idea how ridiculous you look right now" she breathed, but instead of feeling angry, his mood lifted and he went to sit down in front of her. He shook his head and powder flew everywhere, so that she had to lift her arm and shield her eyes.

"Watch it!" she laughed before looking around thoughtfully. Somehow, she felt strange, light and careless. She wasn't feeling like herself, and a look into Malfoy's eyes told her that he wasn't either. He looked somewhat dazed.

She shrugged it off as a new fit of laughter took hold of her and she could barely restrain herself. 'There must've been something in that powder' she contemplated, but then that thought vanished from her mind and she was left with comfortable idleness.

"There's something on your face. It's not pretty, either" Malfoy quoted and leaned forward as if to brush it off her face. Hermione remained still, and he pinched her nose. "Sorry about that" he snorted, and the young girl glared.

"That wasn't nice" she sniffed and stood up to get another jar. She could really get used to all of these sweets.

"Strawberry snakes" she read. "I'll have one of these…"

She reached into the jar, then pulled it back out as she felt its contents wriggle. Looking at it, she could see a long, shiny snake. It was bright red and rather soft, and looked as if it was made of a very long string of jelly. Even its eyes, tongue and fangs were red and soft.

Draco reached into the container and held his hand there. A few moments later, the snake had rolled itself around his forearm and hissed, obviously comfortable.

"Hey, give me that" Hermione whined, and if she hadn't been so carefree at the moment, she would've been appalled at her tone of voice. She threw herself at him, and he was too slow to fend her off. They ended up as a heap on the floor, Hermione on top of Draco.

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing. She rolled off of him and lay down next to him, staring up at the ceiling. It was a comfortable silence, but that gave Hermione too much space to think.

"Hey, what's an effective way of shutting someone up?" she asked, her thoughts going in circles.

Draco sat up and turned towards her. Then, in a quick movement she could barely follow, he was above her, looking into her eyes. All she could see was his face, and his stormy grey eyes.

"Like this" he whispered, and Hermione tensed.

Her mind was too clouded to make sense of what he was saying. Like this?

And then he reached for her face and stuffed a piece of chocolate into her mouth. Hermione almost choked and started laughing. He joined into her laughter, quietly, and was unable to take his eyes off her face.

Hermione found a fizzy worm on her robe, moved closer to Draco and forced it into his mouth. Her fingers brushed against his lips; they were warm, and softer than she had expected. He looked up at her from under his eyelashes, his smoldering eyes burning her. His hair was tousled, and she caught herself staring.

"We should get going" she suddenly said, turning away to hide the fact that her cheeks were turning bright red.

"Yes, we should" he said lightly. He uttered a spell and a few moments later, the jars had found their respective places on the shelves; it looked as if they had never been taken away. This definitely wasn't Draco's first time in the cellar of Honeydukes. He carefully put the strawberry snake back into its jar and put it away.

Quietly, they both made their way to the trap door and back into the tunnel. Hermione could feel the effect of the powder wearing off and cold reality returning with full force. She would be extremely tired tomorrow.

As they reached the statue, they found the corridor deserted. Draco barely acknowledged her presence. He looked at her over his shoulder, frowned and left her there. Hermione hadn't expected any better from him and went straight back to the common room. Too exhausted to do anything else, she fell into bed and was out in a moment.

Note: I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story so far, despite the fact that I haven't been regularly updating. You're great readers and I appreciate all the support I can get. Constructive criticism is as always very welcome :)

I particularly want to thank GoldenShadowLeaf for leaving me such long comments on my other stories, and I would reply with a pm if they had signed in :P Thank you :)