Draco Malfoy's life was suddenly filled with many things to keep him occupied. He had classes to attend and homework to do, which took up most of his time. He had Delegate meetings to attend with Boot, Abbott, and Granger. He had to deal to with idiots in other houses trying to get a rise out of him. And now he had to write constant letters to his mother and a healer he'd met at St. Mungos in his sixth year, looking for sleeping potions and other potions to help Granger. He never said who the potions were for, as he was worried what would happen if that came out, but that didn't stop him from writing. Not only that but he was attempting to stay up every night so she wouldn't be alone. He still didn't want to care, but he couldn't help but admit that the thought of Granger suffering made him uneasy. Unhappy, even; he felt irritated with her friends for not noticing it and with her for doing nothing about it.
All Draco had allowed Granger to notice was him staying up and doing homework. He hadn't allowed her to learn exactly how he was going about getting her better potions, because he wasn't sure how she'd react, but she needed them. He'd gone to Slughorn the day after he'd learned of her problems and gotten everything the old wizard had under the excuse of beginning to feel sick and not sleeping well. He knew that Granger didn't want her situation coming out, or at least he assumed that was what she wanted, so he was keeping it quiet. Slughorn had called him over in the middle of a class to ask how he was doing which made Potter and Weasley look at him oddly, but he didn't care about them.
His mother didn't have the best suggestions for strong potions, though she did tell him very simple things to do if he wanted to feel better. Draco would probably never use his mother's solutions and her idea of rest would not help Granger at all, as she couldn't sleep, but at least she didn't ask too many questions. He was still waiting for word back from the healer he'd met, but Granger was managing.
She did refuse to take the sleeping potions Slughorn had given him though. She was terrified that if she did take them she'd be stuck in a nightmare unable to wake up and while Draco could understand being afraid, he'd never heard of the potions doing that. It was the only time he'd seen Granger afraid though, and he was beginning to enjoy knowing that she wasn't perfect as he'd always assumed she had been. No matter how many times over the past week and a half he'd fought with her over taking the potions she wouldn't do it, which also proved to him just how stubborn she could be. They didn't talk much, besides those arguments were Draco tried to do everything in his power to make her take them, but he was content with that. And while he had only not fallen asleep once in the week and a half he'd been sitting in the common room with her, he knew how she felt about the matter. Granger appreciated what he was doing and he could honestly say this was the only time she'd ever felt appreciation toward him.
Draco was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Weasley's complaining as he entered the library. It had taken Granger three days after he'd found out about her sleeping patterns to make up with Weasley and start hanging around him, Potter, and Weasley's sister again. She didn't talk to him about her life outside of her nightmares, but he understood well enough what was going on. And knowing Granger, she was only still with him because she felt she had to be. He hated that; if given a choice he would force her to break up with Weasley because he was sure that would make her happier, but he couldn't control Granger. He didn't want to either, unless it had to do with her sleeping. It wasn't healthy to operate as she is, and while it nearly killed him to think about, he was worried about what could happen to her if she didn't start sleeping better.
No doubt it was Granger that had dragged Weasley there, she'd done it before, but his loud sound made Draco irritated. The library was supposed to be quiet, not filled with a bunch of complaining and the quiet snaps of if you don't want my help then you don't have to come. That would shut Weasley up for a few moments before he would start complaining again. Granger sat down with her three friends a few tables away from Draco and he frowned; Granger looked even more tired than she had when he'd last seen her at lunch. He'd have to have another try at convincing her to take a sleeping potion, though he knew it wouldn't work. He listened for a while, taking a chance every now and then and glancing at Granger. Once or twice he was sure she was looking at him too, but he pretended not to notice. It looked like Granger was doing the same.
And that worked, for maybe forty minutes. Draco listened to Granger helping her friends with their homework and he realized how pathetic they could be without her guidance. Every now and then he would hear Weasley start complaining and Potter would shut him up, which made Draco feel slightly better. At least Granger had someone watching out for her now, though he had no idea what had happened between the two to make Potter wake up a little, but Draco was slightly pleased about it. He was sure that would mean that Granger would start to hate him again as Potter still seemed to hate him, but at least she would be happy.
He froze at his table, blinking slowly as confusion overtook his mind. He cared about Granger's happiness? Since when did he care about Granger's happiness? Yes he didn't want her to suffer, but happiness was a different story. He shook his head slightly, looking at his essay again and frowning at it. He'd gotten distracted since Granger had walked in, but he needed to focus again. It was due the next day and he didn't want to do it late at night. He would be up, yes, but that didn't mean he wanted to do homework at two in the morning.
"Well maybe I'd get it right, Hermione, if you didn't insist on bringing us somewhere with a Death Eater," Weasley said loudly, bringing Draco's gaze to him. Weasley was already glaring at him and Draco frowned; all he'd done was sat and looked at Granger a few times. Weasley hadn't caught him so Draco knew he was just making a big deal out of him being there because he could.
"Ron," Granger snapped, though Potter had fallen silent on the matter. She said something and Weasley rolled his eyes, but for a few more moments he was silent.
And then, "As if I actually want to breathe the same air as someone responsible for Fred dying,"
Draco stood up then; he wasn't going to allow himself to argue with Weasley. It would upset Granger and apparently he cared about her happiness, so he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. It made him furious as all he really wanted to do was punch Weasley, but he couldn't. He was slightly irritated that Granger had just let him talk, but he couldn't blame her. Weasley, for some odd reason, was her boyfriend and she had to side with him most of the time. He stormed past their table as that was the way to the exit, and he heard a heavy sigh. "Malfoy, stop," Granger said. But he didn't listen. But then there were footsteps following him out into the corridor. "Malfoy, I said stop!"
He came to a halt, his frown deepening as he turned to face her. "What, Granger?"
"You know if you'd been able to hear, you would have heard me tell Ron to shut up,"
"Sure you did. You're going back on your deal, it's okay,"
"I wasn't going back on our agreement, I told him to stop talking. I should have said it right away and I'm sorry that I didn't, but I did say it,"
Draco was about to snap at her when out came Weasley and Potter, Weasley looking furious and Potter looking apprehensive. "You have got to stop doing that, Hermione," Weasley said.
"Ron I'm not having a conversation with you right now," Granger snapped, not even bothering to look at the boy behind her. "Harry will tell you, Malfoy, I stuck to what I said I would do. I told Ron to stop. I told him that what happened to his brother wasn't your fault and that he needed to let the past go,"
"That's a good lesson you should learn too, Granger," he said, his eyes narrowed. He watched as a slightly hurt expression crossed her face, but it disappeared after a moment.
"I know," she said quietly. "Will you just accept my apology so we can move on?"
He wanted to say no, to let Granger experience the rejection he often felt. And yet he said, "Fine," and turned away from her, beginning to walk again.
"I never knew you could be such a pushover, Malfoy," Weasley said loudly.
"Ronald I told you to stop!" Granger said furiously.
"And I told you to stop defending him!" Weasley said, his voice raising.
"You're being horrible and you need to stop; I can't deal with-"
A furious sound came from Weasley and Draco turned around to see a murderous look on Weasley's face. Potter was watching and sighing quietly, which told Draco that either Granger and Weasley had fights like this before or he knew that Granger would be fine. But Draco could see Weasley gripping the end of his wand and the image of Granger being thrown across the great hall came to his mind almost immediately. In six large steps he was in front of Weasley, his wand aimed at his throat. "Use it on her, I dare you," he said angrily.
Silence followed Draco's very angry threat. He didn't know if Granger would be upset over him pulling his wand on Weasley, but at that moment he didn't care. Draco was sure he would have done something worse if Weasley had actually used a spell on her, so at least it hadn't come to that. "Get your filthy hands away from me, Malfoy," Weasley said furiously, trying to push Draco back. It didn't matter though; he was to angry to step back.
"Malfoy he wasn't going to-" Potter tried, sounding incredibly confused.
"His hand was on his wand, Potter, so you might want to shut up," Draco said, his eyes narrowed. "Apologize, Weasley, now,"
"For what?"
"For being an absolute prat,"
"I wasn't-"
"Need I remind you that you threw your girlfriend across the great hall?"
Silence followed once again and Draco almost thought he saw a flicker of remorse on Weasley's face, but it was quickly replaced by irritation. "Why do you care so much about Hermione?"
"I don't," he snapped, though he knew that was beginning to be a lie. "What I care about is getting back to my day. So apologize,"
Weasley finally grumbled out an apology and Draco stepped away, putting his wand back in his pocket and leaving Granger and her friends. He didn't trust that Weasley wouldn't try to use a spell on him, but he did trust that Granger would-He nearly froze again but he managed to keep walking, his eyes wide. He couldn't trust Granger; he got hurt by those he trusted far too often. He wanted to keep his distance with her to avoid, well, everything, but at the same time he wanted to help her.
With his confused thoughts occupying almost all of his mind, he barely heard Granger's sudden shout. She was calling to him and he wanted to stop and turn around, but that would make him seem like even more of a pushover. Draco wasn't a pushover; he despised that word. "Malfoy, please, I want to talk to you!"
"The feeling's not mutual, Granger!" he muttered, taking quicker steps. "Go back to your friends,"
"Malfoy you're being ridiculous today, did you know?" she asked, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stop.
"That's a matter of opinion,"
"No, that's fact,"
"What do you want Granger?" he asked, rolling his eyes as he tore his arm out of her grip. She frowned for a moment but it quickly disappeared.
"I want to know what that was all about. We agreed to make the year peaceful, but you drew your wand, Malfoy. That seemed like-"
"If you plan on saying that I care again then you'll be sadly mistaken, Granger. I don't care," he lied easily.
"Believe me, I understand. You've made that perfectly clear. But even so, you don't just draw your wand for anything-"
"Weasley was going to use it on you, Granger. Maybe you're too blind to see that but I'm not. I wasn't about to stand by and let that happen,"
"Why?" she asked curiously, tucking a strand of her bushy hair behind her ear.
Draco frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "I'll tell you if you take a sleeping potion tonight,"
She scowled and matched his frown. "You know my feelings on that matter, Malfoy,"
"So I won't tell you why. Have a good rest of your day, Granger," He didn't wait for her to say anything else; he walked to the common room and straight to his room, collapsing onto the bed. Staying up each night with Granger was horrible and he needed more sleep. And that sounded, to him, like the perfect way to end the afternoon.