Everything was a mess, and Hermione hated that. She was on thin ice with Harry and Ron, but at least Ginny had stayed out of that argument. Other people thought that she was beginning to go crazy. Her grades had slipped ever so slightly. She was sleeping even less than before because she was worried about everything. Draco Malfoy was confusing her more than anything, but at least they spoke every now and then when they were up in the early hours of the morning. She was beginning to see the effects of not sleeping on him for the past week and a half though and it made her feel incredibly guilty. If there was any way she could get him to go to sleep she would, but he was stubborn and Hermione knew he would notice if she tried to slip him a sleeping potion. He would be absolutely furious if she did that; he'd probably force her to take one too if he found out. Malfoy had an odd thing where he believed if she wasn't sleeping then he shouldn't be sleeping either, and he got extremely irritated with her every time she tried to convince him to go to bed. And the mess only got worse when she thought about her parents.

Malfoy really was confusing her though; she had no idea what was with his actions or why he sometimes started a conversation with her about things that stayed far from personal. She knew that Malfoy had never been one to get into personal things, which she was thankful for. Hermione didn't want to go into detail about her life and she knew Malfoy didn't want her knowing anything about him. It was bad for her curiosity, but she could handle it.

Hermione sighed softly and shook her head as she picked at a bit of pasta. She really did not want to be sitting with Harry, Ron, and Ginny right now and she could see Malfoy sitting by himself. She was half tempted to go over and sit with him but she knew that Malfoy would push her away and she'd be left feeling like a fool. That confused her too; she didn't know why she'd want to sit by Malfoy as it was likely they'd end up arguing, but that didn't change the fact that the thought had crossed her mind. She shook her head again and looked at her plate. Harry and Ron weren't talking to her, probably because she'd stood up for Malfoy earlier that day, but they would get over it eventually. And if they didn't, well, Hermione was already getting used to them not really caring.

She closed her eyes, just for a moment, to get away from seeing the great hall darkening. For a few minutes she heard nothing but screams and shouts, asking where people were, asking for help, begging for their lives. Hermione took a deep breath and looked up, locking eyes with Malfoy. He raised an eyebrow as she continued to stare at him, and she shrugged slightly. His raised eyebrow told her exactly what he was wanting to know: was it happening again? Was she back to seeing things from the battle? With her small nod Malfoy frowned and looked away, and Hermione went back to looking at Harry and Ron. They were both already staring at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ron asked, looking around the great hall as if he would be able to find exactly what she'd been looking at.

"Nothing important, Ron," Hermione sighed, taking a small bite of her dinner as her friends continued to look at her. Ginny was sighing too and Hermione could hear her telling Harry to stay out of the argument, because it was none of his business.

"Obviously it was something, Hermione. Who were you looking at?"

"Ron, calm down. I was just looking around the room," she lied, knowing that would keep Ron from throwing an even bigger fit. "I'm still allowed to look around, aren't I?"

"Not when I'm sure you were looking at Malfoy,"

"Oh please, Ron," Hermione said, frowning at his words. They were true but he didn't need to know that. He would be even more angry if he knew that.

"You're not even trying to deny it this time?"

"Ron-"

"Do you know what's really messed up, Harry?" Ron asked, cutting her off and turning his attention to Harry and Ginny.

"Ron let's not do this right now," Hermione said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

He ignored her and, without waiting for Harry to speak, said, "It's really bad that Hermione's spending so much time with Malfoy when she's supposed to be dating me. And I never thought she would be a traitor, either,"

"Ron, come on mate don't-" Harry tried.

"Oh, a traitor, am I?" she asked furiously, cutting him off.

"Yes, a huge bloody traitor. You're hanging around a Death Eater, Hermione-"

"Well isn't it odd how a Death Eater treats me better than you, Ron?"

"He does not-"

"Yes, he does! In ways that I can't even explain because you haven't taken notice!"

"Maybe I'd take notice if you actually spent a little time with us-"

"I was around you all summer and you didn't notice a damn thing!" she said, standing up and throwing her fork to the table. She felt absolutely furious; how dare Ron accuse her of being a traitor? She'd stood by him after he'd treated her awfully, after he'd used a spell to throw her across the room, and after every horrible thing he'd said. And he was calling her a traitor? Because she'd started talking to a boy he hated?

"Well you were running off to Australia every other week!" Ron said, standing up as well.

"I was looking for my parents!"

"Maybe you wouldn't have had to look for them if you were, for once, a decent person and didn't wipe their memories!"

Hermione froze, blinking as Ron took on a triumphant expression. He'd won, in his opinion. In her mind, he'd lost. Her and her friendship. "I'm done," she said, feeling as if everyone in the hall was looking at her and the way her hands were starting to shake.

His expression disappeared almost immediately. "You're what? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm done, Ronald," she said, managing to take shaky steps toward the door.

"Hermione stop!" Ron said, running to meet her at the door. He blocked her path and narrowed his eyes, shaking his head slightly. "You don't get to just say that. I know what you're doing. You're trying to get me to apologize so we'll stay together, right?"

"No, Ronald. I'm trying to get away from you," she stated, folding her arms across her chest. "Now get out of my way,"

"I-"

"I don't want to hear it," she snapped. "Now move,"

It seemed as if he'd only just realized what he'd done over the past five and a half months, and he stepped aside. Well, maybe only a little though because he still had an angry tone. "Hermione-"

"Not a word," she said. The last thing she saw as she walked out of the great hall was Ron's confused expression.

It took her a moment to realize exactly what she had done. She had mixed feelings on the matter; it was probably bad but she was thrilled to not be attached to Ron anymore. At the same time she'd lost the comfort of having a family that seemed to care for her, something she was desperate for since her parents were nowhere to be found. Maybe Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, and Ginny would understand if she explained, but she wasn't sure Ron's brothers would be as forgiving. Did she need them though? Could she handle just writing the occasional letter to people she'd grown to care for? She would have to and she would have to do it without Ron finding out. Ron would probably be furious if he found out.

Hermione shook her head again and continued toward the common room. It was going to be a long night, considering the queasy feeling in her stomach and the way guilt began to swell in her chest. She'd left Ron; he was still getting over his brother's death. He needed her support and what had she done? Left him without a second thought. "What have I done?" she whispered, rubbing her face with her hands and sighing. She needed to apologize; she needed to tell Ron that she'd been angry and that she hadn't meant a word of what she'd said. Hermione turned around and began to walk quickly back to the great hall. She had to get there before he decided he hated her; she needed to get there before he, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their friends decided they hated her.

She all but ran into Malfoy. She'd been going around a corner and all the sudden he was there. He'd reached out a hand to grab her arm so she wouldn't fall backwards and Hermione stared at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you," she said as he released her arm.

"Doesn't matter," he said, frowning slightly. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"To the great hall-"

"Why?"

"Well I made a mistake, Malfoy. I shouldn't have ended things with Ron and I have to fix it,"

He stared at her, his frown deepening. "Granger you can't be serious,"

"Well really it's none of your concern,"

"None of my concern?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "I'm the one who's going to have to keep going over and yelling at him for being an ass to you, Granger. I don't want to do that anymore. And don't you have enough on your plate without dealing with him?"

"But he lost his brother, he needs my support-"

"Well do whatever you want, Granger," Malfoy folded his arms across his chest and glared at her. She couldn't understand why he looked so angry, as he wasn't affected that much by her decision. "I believe I've said this before, but my opinion doesn't really matter,"

"And I believe I've said before that it does. In a way," she said, beginning to frown as well. "I just... I'm going to feel like a horrible person if I don't go in there and make sure he's okay. He probably won't want to speak to me again; neither will Harry,"

"Oh please; they need you, Granger. What would they do without the brains of your group?"

"They've managed fine in the past,"

"But did come back, didn't they?"

"Well, yes-"

"Then they will this time too. I don't know why you're so worried about Weasley though; he's got a lot more people paying attention to him than you do,"

"But his problems are-"

"If you say they're bigger than yours I'll have to hex you,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and watched as Malfoy unfolded his arms. "Then I won't say it,"

"And stop thinking it too,"

"You don't know what I'm thinking,"

"Well that's true. But I can guess, can't I?"

She nodded, rubbing her arm with her hand as she looked at him. It was definitely one of their longest conversations without an argument, that was true, and what was odd was that Hermione half enjoyed it. It wasn't often anymore that someone talked to her without wanting something or without throwing out an insult. "Yes, you can," she said.

Malfoy smirked and nodded in the direction of the common room. "I don't want you to apologize to him, Granger. So what do you say we go back to the common room?"

"And work on things in silence?"

"I like silence," he shrugged.

Hermione nearly smiled as she nodded. "Me too,"

And that was how she found herself walking back to the common room instead of going to apologize to Ron in the great hall. Malfoy didn't seem to want to speak anymore and Hermione was okay with that; she was too busy thinking about what she'd done to hold an actual conversation. Malfoy sat in the chair when they got there, as usual, after he'd gone to his room to grab something to work on. Hermione had done the same though she sat on the sofa, close to him so Terry and Hannah wouldn't have to if they decided to sit down. Hermione didn't mind sitting near Malfoy but Hannah and Terry weren't his biggest fans, so she thought it was best that she sit by him.

Three hours passed and Hermione finally closed her textbook and rolled up her essay. Hannah and Terry had gone to bed an hour ago and Malfoy was still sitting in his chair, though he was quite obviously trying not to fall asleep. "Maybe you shouldn't come out tonight," she said finally. "You're looking rather tired, Malfoy, and I hate to think that it's because of me,"

He rolled his tired eyes and frowned at her. Malfoy seemed to do that a lot when he looked at her, frown. "You know my feelings on the matter, Granger, so it's pointless to bring it up again,"

"But I can try, can't I?" she asked.

"Shut it," he muttered, standing up and scratching the back of his head. "I'll be up in a couple of hours. I expect I'll see you as well?"

"As if that's going to magically change in one night," she mumbled, standing up as well. They both walked toward their doors and Malfoy reached his first. Hermione hesitated before saying, "And Malfoy? Thanks, for not letting me go back to Ron. I would have been stuck there for ever if I had,"

He shrugged and opened his door. "Well it's not like I wanted to hear him be an ass anymore,"

"But still-"

"Granger, let it go,"

"Malfoy I-"

"Let it go, Granger. It doesn't matter. You're welcome or whatever, it really makes no difference to me whether you thank me or not,"

Hermione frowned but nodded. "All right. Good night then," He nodded in response and disappeared into his room without another word.