Hey everyone here's some romance for you, even thought it's not all that much, but trust me, there shall be romance!

Chapter Nine

Hermione lay on her bed, her hand covering her eyes in an attempt to block out any thoughts that were keeping her from sleeping. It was around three o'clock in the morning, and it definitely wasn't working.

She groaned, and rolled over, ignoring her body's protests. "C'mon, Hermione, sleep." She demanded to herself. This got her nowhere and she soon realised that sleep wasn't going to overcome her any time soon. "Fine." She grumbled and pulled herself and her aching muscles out of bed.

She cracked open her door and peeked out into the hall. Empty. Hermione cursed silently. She'd been hoping Maria would have been there for some odd reason or not, but no such luck. And without a wand, she had no hope of making it around without a few injuries.

"Oh well," She whispered to herself. "A few bumps can't kill you." She soothed herself as she closed her door behind her and crept out into the cold hall.

Feeling around with her hands, Hermione managed to find a stair case and began descending it when she saw a light flicker on in the hall she had passed. Her body froze in fear, mid step. Her hands clamped on to the railing tightly as the footsteps and wand light grew nearer.

"Granger?" A groggy voice asked, peering out from behind his wand. "What are you doing awake?" Draco asked as he stood at the top of the stairs, studying her frozen form.

"I, uh, I couldn't sleep." She said weakly. "What about you, Malfoy? Don't you ever go home?"

He got down to her step and paused, before looking at her. "Aren't you coming?" He tilted his head toward the bottom of the stairs and cocked an eyebrow at her.

She was still frozen in place as his tall figure loomed over her. "I-I – well, I guess." She stuttered out, forcing herself to take a step down.

"Granger, I'm not going to hurt you. You don't have to be afraid of me, you know." He informed. "I'm not that kind of monster."

She laughed a little. "What kind of monster are you then?" Hermione asked in a know-it-all tone Draco knew so well.

He raised an eyebrow and kept walking, his face amused. "You'll just have to find out for yourself, Granger." Draco quipped. "Of course, I'd love to show you." He drawled.

She rolled her eyes and snorted as he led the way down to the kitchen, where they turned on some lights and sat at the table. "Hot chocolate?" She offered, getting herself a cup.

"Yes please." He said politely, mulling over the words he had ready to say. Of course, they soon disappeared when he saw her begin making their hot chocolates. "Granger, why are you doing it the muggle way?" He asked, intrigued.

"It's the only way you're getting it, Malfoy, so stop complaining." She snapped.

He chuckled. "I'm not complaining, Granger, I just want to know why."

Hermione turned to face Draco, eyeing him. "If you must know, I make it the muggle way because it keeps me moving. And I'd rather not forget my heritage, no matter how vile you say it is."

His eyebrows rose higher. "Geeze Granger, I didn't mean any offence, I was just curious."

She turned so he couldn't see the blush in her cheeks as she realised something. "Oh, and I don't have a wand at the moment." She muttered quietly, but he still heard it.

"Why? Where's your wand?"

She sighed as she poured the chocolate into the saucepan. "Viktor has it." She said darkly, clenching her jaw as she thought of the hours of torture and how she was unable to use her wand and get away from him. The memories were powerful enough to make tears slide down her face and make Hermione's knees go weak at the monstrosity of it all.

Draco saw her grip the bench and hold herself up. In a heartbeat, he was on his feet and standing behind her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Granger? Are you alright?"

She pushed his hand away as if it was made of hot coal. "Don't touch me." She warned, still facing away from him.

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to scare you…" He muttered as she busied herself once again with mixing the hot chocolate.

"It's-it's fine." She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "I'm sorry," She began, wiping tears away. "I'm such a sook." She admitted, laughing slightly. "I shouldn't be crying or-or –" She let out a sob.

"No, Granger, it's okay to cry. You're allowed to cry. I would too if that had happened to me." He said truthfully. "And about today… when you got here… I shouldn't have – I mean, I didn't mean to…" He lost his words as she slid down to the floor and began to cry; hugging her knees. The Malfoy heir cursed. "I am so stupid. Merlin, I've made you cry with little effort."

"It's not –" Hermione tried to say, but she was cut off.

"I may as well tape my mouth shut. It should be locked so that I can't do any more damage with my words… Look at what I've done so far with my stupid words! I've made run away so you could go back to-to HIM and now I've made you cry twice in less than –"

"Malfoy!" She said loudly. He stopped abruptly and looked at her amused face and scowled.

"I'm trying to apologise, here." He told her, his face going pink in embarrassment.

"Apology accepted. Now, help me up so I can finish our hot chocolates." She instructed and with a steady arm, he pulled her up from the floor. She stumbled forward and into Draco's hard chest, where he caught her and steadied her with his gentle – she noted – hands.

"I'm sorry." She said, pulling away from his helping hands. She turned back to the stove and poured the hot chocolate out of saucepan and into two mugs. She lowered them to the table just as he sat down.

"Thanks." He said awkwardly.

She nodded and sat down herself, taking a sip of the hot drink she had in front of her. "So, Malfoy, you didn't answer my question. Don't you ever go home?" She asked calmly as he took a sip of his own hot chocolate.

He kept his face expressionless as he answered. "There are… complications at 'home'."

"Complications?" She enquired, quirking an eyebrow.

Draco gritted his teeth. "Yes, Granger, complications." He said. "Things that you don't need to worry your lovely little nose about." He added with a fake smile.

She sighed. "You can tell me. I won't tell anyone…" She whispered conspiringly.

"No." He smirked at her, though it was nothing that could possibly harm anyone, he just didn't want her to know and… And what? Hold it over his head? Blackmail him with it? No, she's too noble for that. Maybe it was… no, it couldn't possibly be that he didn't want her to think less of him. No, that was definitely not it. No. Okay, so maybe it was.

"Please?" She begged, widening her eyes as far as they would go an effectively pulling off the 'puppy-dog look'.

He smirked. "Oh alright." He 'relented'. "Here it is Granger; at home…" he leant closer to her and talked in a whisper.

"Yes?" She asked eagerly.

"At home, I keep a young woman up in a big tower, so she can spin my string in to gold."

She looked at him sceptically, before a smile formed on her face and she snorted with laughter. "You actually know that fairytale?" She asked, still giggling. "And you sounded so… suspenseful when you said it! I actually thought you were going to tell me something that wasn't so far-fetched!" She giggled again.

Draco's smirk was still in place as she got her giggles under control and sat up straight in her chair, red-faced and frazzle-haired. He leant in again. "Want to know the truth?" She nodded, barely controlling her giggles. "There is actually a monster living at my house." That was true. "And she's trying to marry me off."

Hermione's eyebrows rose. "Really? And how is that a 'complication'? Can't you just say no? Why is it such a big secret anyway?"

Draco laughed. "Well, that's not the worst of it. These girls – these charming girls make me run from them. I'm afraid of these girls." He said, looking annoyed. "So, I come here and I completely ignore my mother's constant owls and what-not." He said triumphantly.

"What's so bad about them?" She asked, offended on behalf of these girls.

"What's not bad about them? I mean, Pansy is… one of the good ones. But I just can't bring myself to marry her, let alone any of the others." He explained.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "So, basically, there all these women at your feet, who you run from because you don't want to get to know them?" Hermione asked, still offended for these women.

"I knew you'd say that." He said, a smug look on his face as he downed the rest of his hot chocolate.

She glared at him. "You're a pig." With that, she left him in the kitchen, rolling his eyes.