Hermione nearly fell out of bed as she woke up from her dream that night. It was just past midnight according to her clock and normally she would go out and sit on the sofa waiting for Malfoy to come out and join her. He always came out around midnight as well, even if she came out later than him. Hermione had learned that a few weeks ago when she'd gotten a whole four hours and had woken up around one in the morning; he'd looked at her with a bit of surprised and asked where she'd been. That had led to the conversation about when he usually woke, because Hermione really didn't know how he'd managed to come out when she woke. Tonight was one of the rare nights she didn't scream though, which was nice. Maybe the Calming Draught was still working; Hermione didn't really know.

What she did know was that there was no chance she was going to be going out to the common room tonight. She didn't want to go out there and face Malfoy after what she'd said. Friendship? Seriously? Why would she have brought that up? It was like first year all over again, when she'd been so desperate for friends that she'd gone up to anyone and asked them if they could sit together at the next meal or try and sit with other people to study. Most of the time she was rejected, which didn't surprise her as she remembered being quite the annoying kid. And then talking about how she cared about him, in a way; she should have known that would make him angry.

She'd really wanted to hear him say the words back, even if it was a long shot, because she was beginning to like him. She liked the debates that had at two in the morning and the way he actually noticed what was going on with her, unlike her other friends. It had been months and they were still in the dark; somehow it was Draco Malfoy who knew the craziness in her head. Hermione thought that maybe they were a bit more like each other than they originally thought and maybe it was possible for them to be friends, but he quite obviously didn't want that. She should have known that too; it was hard for her to admit that she cared about him after everything that had happened in the past, but he didn't seem the same as he had been. The Malfoy she'd known in previous years probably would have laughed if he found out she was in the hospital wing. But he'd come, even if he didn't stay.

Hermione climbed out of bed and made it quickly before walking to her trunk and looking for a book she hadn't read. Her homework was already done for the next day and she didn't feel like starting on the essay she had due in two days. Hermione sat on the floor underneath her window, glancing at the cloudy sky before opening her book and beginning to read.

It was incredibly boring to just sit around, which was odd because Hermione had always loved to just read. And she realized after maybe an hour that she wasn't bored because she was reading, she was bored because she was sitting alone. She had to remind herself that Malfoy was still sleeping in his room and going out into the common room would only reinforce the idea in her mind that she'd messed things up with him. And it was somehow colder in the common room than it was in her room anyway.

Forcing other thoughts out of her mind, Hermione focused on her book and managed to pass another two hours as she approached the end of the novel. It was good, though she was sure she'd read it two years ago, but the plot was still interesting. She was maybe twenty pages from the end before she decided to go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on her face so she wouldn't keep nearly falling asleep. Just a step away from pulling her door open, there was a knock. Hermione stared at her door in a bit of confusion, as she wasn't sure who she would find knocking at her bedroom door at three in the morning. A pang of fear went through her heart; what if it was McGonagall with bad news about her parents? With that rather unhappy thought she yanked the door open, her eyes slighlty wide and fearful.

It was only Malfoy. He looked just as confused by her looking so odd as she felt about him being there. Malfoy was supposed to be asleep right now, not a care in the world, not looking at her like he was. With a raised eyebrow, his jaw hanging slightly open, and his hair sticking up in weird places, he was quite the sight to see. "Granger what's gotten into you?" he asked, gesturing toward her door and then nodding at her expression.

Hermione let out a breath of relief, though there was a bit of sadness in it too. If it had been McGonagall then she would have at least known what was going on with her parents. "Nothing, I just thought-Well shouldn't you be asleep right now?"

"Excuse me?"

"I thought you'd be sleeping; what are you doing up?"

"I haven't been able to get any sleep, Granger," he said, looking as if he really didn't want to tell her anything about that. But he let the words out anyway and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And I've been waiting for you in the common room since midnight. I thought we would be able to talk but-"

"I'm pretty sure all that needs to be said has been said," Hermione said, frowning slightly. "I was wrong and I was being stupid thinking that we could be friends, I get it. To be honest I don't even know why I brought it up,"

"So you're avoiding me?"

"Yes," she said, shrugging slightly. "Also it's warmer in here than out there so I thought I would stay in my room,"

"Well you've never seemed to have a problem with the temperature before," he said coldly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her.

"And now I do. You should get to bed, Malfoy,"

"Did you even listen to what I said?" he asked angrily, making Hermione's frown deepen.

"Of course I listened, Malfoy-"

"I really don't think you did, because I told you I haven't been able to sleep at all tonight,"

"Well that's something you should figure out. Now if you'll excuse me-"

Malfoy stepped aside to let her pass but Hermione saw that his hands were starting to shake, probably because he was getting angry. "You know, Granger, I'm really getting sick of this,"

"Sick of what?"

"Whatever game you think you're playing here,"

"Malfoy I'm not playing a game,"

He rolled his eyes and Hermione folded her arms across her chest, staring at him only slightly curiously. She was offended by the fact that he thought she was playing with him; she hadn't tried to do that. "Of course you're not," he said. "You keep doing these stupid things like having nightmares-"

"Those are not stupid," she protested, but he ignored her.

"-reading your books when you should be sleeping, allowing Weasley to treat you terribly because you think he needs more support than you do-And damn it, Granger, you keep making me feel like I have to care about you and I really don't want to!"

"I get that," Hermione said stiffly, frowning at him. "I don't really need you to keep telling me. And I haven't done anything to make you feel like you have to care for me,"

Malfoy rolled his eyes again and began to look incredibly uncomfortable. "It is a game to you, Granger, I know it is. What, was this whole thing with Weasley a show? Were you trying to get me involved in your life so you could make a fool of me later on? Because what better way to do that than do what you've done," he said, throwing out a wild accusation.

"How-Are you honestly accusing me of that? What on earth have I done to make you think that?"

"I don't know, Granger, it's a little hard to think when it's three in the damn morning and you've gotten next to no sleep for what feels like forever!"

"No one ever said you had to get up, Malfoy!" she argued back, well aware that their voices were steadily raising. If they didn't quiet down soon Hermione was sure they would wake the entire castle because both could yell fairly loudly. "It was your stupid idea in the first place!"

"I was trying to make things easier for you!"

"Easier for me?" Hermione asked, laughing slightly at the words. "Right, because it's just so much easier to sit with someone who can't stand you when what you really want to do is sleep!"

"If I couldn't stand you, Granger, I wouldn't be staying up. And I wouldn't have stayed up for six hours tonight thinking about you and what I can do to make sure you're not mad at me anymore,"

"Oh, and accusing me of playing with you was your solution? Well I can tell you for a fact, Malfoy, it's not working!"

He was quiet for a moment, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to create a response. "This is stupid, Granger; I came to your door to try and make things right and tell you that-"

"Will you two stop shouting!" Terry said, coming out of his room and slamming his door behind him. Hermione noticed a portrait on the wall shake slightly before she looked back at Terry's furious shouting. "It's bloody three in the morning; no one cares what either of you wants to say, got it? Malfoy leave Hermione the hell alone; if she's trying to get away from you then let her go!" Hermione stared at him, half tempted to tell him to leave Malfoy out of it. She'd never seen Terry so angry before but she could understand being angry if you were woken up so early in the morning. Malfoy opened his mouth to respond and Terry cut him off rather quickly. "Just shut up, Malfoy! You're not even good enough for her, whatever you're trying to do, so leave her the hell alone!"

It happened so quickly Hermione hadn't even seen it coming. One second Malfoy looked so furious that she was afraid he would attack Terry, and the next his shoulders sunk and he nodded slightly. "I know," he said, turning on his heel and walking toward the door leading to the corridors.

"Wait, Terry that was-Malfoy stop-" Hermione said, taking a step toward him, but he kept walking until he was out of the common room. Hermione rounded on Terry then, a furious look on her face that made Terry take a step toward his bedroom door. "How could you say something so cruel? He's just as good, Terry; he's just as good as you and he's good enough for me!" Hermione was the next to leave the common room, looking both ways down the corridor and trying to decide which way Malfoy would have gone. She went left, hoping it was right, and jogged down the corridor to catch up with him. He was absolutely crazy, walking out of the common room in the middle of the night. If Filch caught them they would be in huge trouble. Hermione caught sight of bright blonde hair ahead of her and she began to jog faster. "Malfoy, stop!" she called, her voice barely above a whisper but it was loud enough in the nearly silent corridor. Malfoy just kept walking faster. "Malfoy, stop-Please-I said stop, Draco!" And that was when he froze. It was the first time she'd used his first name to address him and Hermione could tell that it surprised him as much as it surprised her. "Listen, I'm sorry, okay? If you really think I'm trying to hurt you, I'm sorry. But I'm not, Malfoy,"

He turned to face her then as Hermione took a few more steps toward her so they weren't so far apart. He had a shocked and slightly confused expression on his face. "Granger I don't-" He stopped quickly and looked around frowning. "I don't need you to be sorry, Granger. I shouldn't have said all that I did and I know that. It's my own fault,"

"Well I shouldn't have said what I did, still. In my opinion we should just-"

"Did you hear that?" he interrupted quickly, looking around again and frowning. "I thought I heard-"

Hermione froze then too and her eyes widened slightly. "Footsteps," she whispered. "Oh I knew I shouldn't have come out; I knew leaving the common room was a mistake at this time of the night-"

She was cut off by Malfoy grabbing her arm and pulling her through the nearest door. He shut it quietly and stepped back, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. "Of course," he said angrily, looking like he was speaking to himself. "Of course the closest damn room to hide in is a broom closet,"

"Malfoy shut up and stop moving," Hermione instructed. "You're going to knock a bucket over or something and if that's Filch out there he'll definitely find us," Malfoy rolled his eyes, though Hermione could barely tell in the darkness. "When he passes, let's go back to the common room okay? And we don't have to talk about being friends again, I know it makes you upset or something so-"

"It makes me upset, Granger, because I-" Malfoy hesitated as the footsteps they'd heard got closer. "-almost feel sure that I..." He stopped again and Hermione stared at him. He made a small movement that Hermione was sure was the shake of his head, but again in the dark she couldn't be sure. "...want that too," he whispered, sounding just as angry as he had earlier.

"Well don't sound so excited, Malfoy," Hermione said, frowning. If he'd said it a different way then maybe she would have been happier, but he sounded incredibly upset about possibly wanting to be her friend.

"Shut up, Granger," he said, still sounding angry but letting out a small sigh of what Hermione assumed was relief as the footsteps got fainter. "I don't know how you haven't noticed that, but things like this aren't exactly-"

"Easy for you, I know. You've never really been one to say all you're thinking, have you?"

"No. And don't expect that to change if we do become-"

"Friends," she said for him, as she knew he would scowl at the word. "Malfoy if it makes you uncomfortable then we don't have to-"

He ran a hand through his already messed up hair and sighed again. "I don't know exactly how it makes me feel, Granger. But I guess I'll figure it out then, won't I?"

"What?"

"We can try it, I guess. I don't really want you to go telling everyone because they'll only hate me more and I don't need that. And don't expect me to act any differently, but I guess we can call each other that,"

"Friends, you mean,"

"Obviously,"

Hermione smiled slightly before looking toward the door. "Do you think they're gone yet? Whoever it was? Can we please go back to the common room?"

Malfoy didn't respond, he simply opened the door and walked out without hesitation. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow when she didn't follow him right away, though he nodded down the corridor and Hermione finally stepped out of the closet. They walked back through the dark corridors in silence, as neither was really sure what to say about their new situation. When they arrived back Malfoy went in first and walked to his chair, sitting down almost immediately. Hermione paused by the door, her gaze caught on him. He glanced at her after a few seconds and frowned. "Why are you staring at me?"

"There's just something I was wondering,"

"Spit it out then, Granger,"

"Well it's just that you know what we said about friends yesterday, and caring and-" Malfoy rolled his eyes but he didn't say anything and Hermione folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes slightly. "I wanted to know if that meant that you-"

"Before you finish that sentence, Granger, I would advise you to think about the fact that Boot was up not to long ago and he could be listening right now,"

Hermione frowned at him. "But do you?"

"Why do you need to know this so badly, Granger?"

"I'm just curious. About whether you're doing this do just get me to shut up or..."

"I will never say this again, Granger," he said quietly, glancing at Terry's door. "But it's not just to get you to shut up. Now though, I would appreciate it if you stopped talking,"

With a small nod, Hermione walked into her room, grabbed her book, a replacement for the first one, and her blanket before walking back to the common room. She sat down at her spot on the sofa, wondering how to feel about the night, before noticing that Malfoy was already starting to fall asleep.