She hadn't wanted to leave, not really anyway. Hermione had enjoyed just being able to sit with him and occasionally speak without the added pressure of trying to make sure she sounded normal. Malfoy knew that she wasn't so there was no real reason to hid everything like she normally did with her other friends. Malfoy was different; he understood, somehow, and he didn't want her to be perfectly put together at every hour of the day. He simply wanted, it seemed, for her to be real and honest with him.

Hermione often thought of meeting him at Flourish and Blotts and how horribly the day had gone. Malfoy seemed to have forgiven her because he never mentioned it, though every now and then she caught him staring at her hands. Sometimes he was glaring at them. Other times it looked like he wanted to smile.

He was starting to look worse though, which made Hermione feel quite guilty. She knew there was no way to convince him to just stay asleep; Hermione had never seen Malfoy act so stubbornly about something in her life. He claimed, in a rather irritated voice, that he was fine whenever she asked. She could see the bags under his eyes and the way he seemed about to pass out that undermined his words. He was very good at lying though, Hermione noticed, as most of the time he would lie to others when asked what was going on between them. Hermione had heard him at it and she knew she had no right to be upset, as he'd stated that he didn't want anyone to know that they were friends. It bothered her all the same.

She wanted to be his friend, she really did, and it wasn't pleasant to hear him deny it all the time. Hermione didn't really think he even knew that she heard him say there was nothing going on, because he was usually cornered into talking about it. The few times she'd noticed, Malfoy and whoever was questioning him where in a quiet place and no one else was around. However no one ever came up to her; they apparently thought it would be smarter to approach Malfoy than her. Hermione didn't get that though; he was more likely to slip up and hex someone than she was.

Hermione sighed at the thought and looked back at her plate, frowning. The great hall was particularly loud at the moment and she had a growing headache that was irritating her. "Everything all right?"

Neville's concerned voice reminded her of the fact that she was eating dinner with him and Luna, who had decided to join them at the Gryffindor table. "Of course," Hermione replied quickly.

Luna, who hadn't appeared to be listening to anything, shook her head and offered Hermione a friendly smile. "She's concerned about Draco Malfoy," she said, her dreamy tone mixing oddly with the preciseness of her words. "Aren't you?

"I-"

"I think it's quite nice that you are. He looks lonely whenever I see him,"

"Luna I never said I saw-"

"But you look at him every few seconds,"

Hermione glanced at Neville, worried about how he would take Luna's words, but she found that he looked rather amused. "She has a knack for picking up on these things," he whispered, nodding toward Luna who was smiling pleasantly at both of them. "Why are you concerned about Malfoy?"

"I-" She was prepared to deny everything and claim that Luna was wrong, but it was exactly what Malfoy has been doing whenever someone asked him about her. Denying Malfoy like that felt wrong to her; they were supposed to be friends. "It's just that everyone is laughing at him," she explained quickly, beginning to feel silly as she spoke. "And he doesn't mention it, ever, but he doesn't stand up for himself either,"

Neville looked conflicted as he looked over at the Slytherin table. "Well if he's not mentioning it are you sure it's bothering him?"

"Why wouldn't it? People are laughing at him because his father was sent to Azkaban. I think that would make anyone upset, wouldn't it?"

"But if he's not mentioning anything then why would you be worried?"

Hermione kept her silence for a moment, her jaw clenching at the question. Malfoy would most likely be frustrated with her if she went into detail about her feelings on the matter, to anyone really. Especially if Neville went around and told people about what she'd said; it would definitely get back to him then. "We've just been talking this year, that's all. And I-"

"She cares about him Neville," Luna said matter-of-factly, smiling. "Oh, was I not supposed to mention that? Sorry, Hermione, it's just very obvious to anyone that looks,"

Hermione was well aware that she was staring at Luna with her mouth hanging open. She knew, of course, that she cared about Malfoy, but Luna had noticed? It immediately made her wonder if others had noticed too, though if they had no one had mentioned it to her. "Neville I-" she said, feeling the need to explain herself.

He only shrugged, though he looked a bit uncomfortable at the idea. "If that's how you feel I'm not going to be upset or anything," he said, shrugging. It was like what Harry had told her, though she hadn't expected it from anyone else. Harry was her best friend, he was supposed to support her, but Neville didn't really have any obligations. "I guess it's nice of you to try and be nice to him,"

"It's not just because I want to be nice, it's because I-" Hermione stopped suddenly as a large shout of laughter sounded through the great hall. It was loud enough that she knew she wouldn't be heard if she tried speaking. It was the Ravenclaws who were laughing now, and Hermione couldn't help the fact that her eyes immediately narrowed. She was suspicious, now, that whenever people laughed that loudly they were making fun of Malfoy. He definitely didn't deserve to be laughed at. Hermione shifted her gaze away from the Ravenclaws and looked to Malfoy, whose face had gone pink. It bothered Hermione that she could see that from the other side of the hall. She watched as he said something to the other Slytherins, who were beginning to laugh as well, and a moment later he stood up and walked out of the great hall.

The laughter died down as soon as he was gone, and Hermione found herself scowling. She had gone from being irritated with her headache to being furious with the other people in the hall. She didn't know what had happened to make him leave the hall and she had a feeling Malfoy wouldn't want to share with her, but she was irritated all the same. And so, feeling unable to do much else, Hermione stood up and threw her fork down to the table, storming out of the hall herself. The only problem was that she had no idea where he would have gone. Hermione didn't see him walking into any of the side corridors and as far as she could tell he wasn't on the stairs.

She decided to walk through the corridors, as she couldn't imagine Malfoy would just go back to the common room if he was upset, and Hermione had a feeling he was. Of course he was; Malfoy wouldn't just walk out of the great hall like he had if he wasn't at least irritated with something. Hermione knew that she had to find him, as if he let his anger grow she was sure he would end up breaking something else like he had at the beginning of the year. She didn't want him to get hurt again, which was an odd feeling for her. In the past she hadn't cared about Malfoy much and now she wanted him to be okay.

It was probably by chance that she walked past the Room of Requirement when she did, as the door was just beginning to close. It was a wild guess, as she had no reason to believe that it would actually be Malfoy walking through the door, but she thought it was worth a shot. For all she knew it could be Malfoy; he'd spent plenty of time in the Room of Requirement in sixth year. Hermione caught the door and walked in, only to find herself standing in the middle of a bathroom. There was a girl in front of her who looked a little too surprised to be there and Hermione left the room before sighing heavily. She didn't know where to find him, but she knew that- "Damn it, Granger, there's a reason why I left the great hall!"

The incredibly angry voice made Hermione stop almost immediately; she definitely hadn't noticed anyone in the corridor with her though she knew it was Malfoy who was speaking. Apparently going toward the Room of Requirement had been a good idea, because she was going to find him rather soon. She finally thought to turn around and saw Malfoy sitting on the ledge by one of the windows. "I've been searching the castle for you," she said, well aware that her tone sounded irritated.

"I didn't ask you to do that,"

"How many times am I going to have to tell you that friends do these kinds of things?"

"Doesn't matter," he muttered, turning away from her and looking out the window.

If the situation hadn't left Hermione with a bad feeling in the bottom of her stomach, she would have commented on the fact that he was acting a tad dramatic. She was sure they would fight if she said that though, so she kept quite on the thought. "What happened?"

"I'm not up to discussing it, Granger,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor next to him, frowning slightly. "You'll feel better if talk about it,"

"I'm pretty sure I'll feel the same,"

"You don't know that for sure,"

"But I'm fairly certain,"

"Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Malfoy I can and will sit here until you decide to tell me why you stormed out of the great hall,"

Malfoy looked at her, his eyebrows raised and a scowl forming on his lips. "You can sit there all night, if you please, but I'm not saying a damn word,"

Hermione's frown deepened as she looked at him, and he went back to looking out the window. "Malfoy," He didn't even look at her, let alone say anything. Hermione sighed heavily and focused her gaze on her knees as she brought them to her chest. "Look, Malfoy. The fact of the matter is, I care about you," she said, aware that her voice was steadily raising the more she became nervous. She didn't know exactly how Malfoy would take her words because they hadn't really talked about caring about each other in a while. "And because of that I'd like to know if you're upset about something because I would very much like to help you,"

He looked at her then, the surprise that had stolen his features quickly slipping away. "That's a grand proclamation, Granger,"

"Oh shut up, you know it's true!"

"Be that as it may, I don't feel like sharing,"

"Malfoy why are you being so unreasonable?"

"Unreasonable? I didn't realize that's what I was doing. You see, I thought it was perfectly fine not to tell someone everything that's on your mind,"

"That's not what I-"

"It is, Granger,"

She stared at him, her face warming quickly as he looked back at her. "I-"

Hermione hadn't expected him to interrupt her, so she almost kept talking over him. She missed the beginning of what he was saying because of this, but Malfoy didn't seem irritated with her about it. "-something about the article with my father," he explained quietly. "Which was frustrating enough in and of itself, before they went off on how I would follow in his footsteps. Or at least they hoped I would,"

"The Ravenclaws said that?"

"How'd you know it was the Ravenclaws?"

"They were laughing loudly at dinner. It was just a guess, but I'm sorry it was right,"

"It doesn't matter," he said again, frowning at her.

"When they say they want you to follow in your father's footsteps-"

"Azkaban, I would guess," he said. Malfoy stopped looking at her then and switched his gaze to the Forbidden Forest. If Hermione hadn't been paying much attention she wouldn't have heard the hint of fear in his voice. But she heard it, and she couldn't help but stare at Malfoy with wide eyes. She'd never thought he was truly afraid of anything, but it seemed he was afraid of this. And Hermione couldn't see how he wouldn't be afraid; even the idea of going to Azkaban shook her to the core and she hadn't actually done anything wrong. "It doesn't matter what they want though," he said, his voice growing hard as he continued looking out the window. "It's up to the ministry,"

"What?"

"Honestly, Granger, did you think I would just get away with everything that happened?"

"But-"

"They just haven't gotten to me yet, I'm sure. I don't know what will happen when they do but I am sure it will be what I deserve,"

Fury blossomed in her mind before she could even think about what his words could mean. "You were forced into everything!"

He only shrugged and Hermione scowled. She was prepared to say more about the matter when Malfoy decided to speak again. He seemed to grow uncomfortable with the words though, because he couldn't loo at her again. "Someone brought you into it and I got angry. I thought walking out would be better than cursing them,"

"You were angry because-"

He sighed heavily, cutting her off. "I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it. You're going to blow this whole thing out of proportion,"

"No I'm not," she protested immediately.

"Well then promise me you won't mention it. Ever,"

"Fine, then, if you'll promise not to come out at night anymore,"

It was his turn to be surprised. "What?"

"I think I was perfectly clear,"

"I think you were perfectly unreasonable,"

"Oh, are we back to that then?"

"Shut up, Granger," he snapped angrily. "It's not fair of you to ask something you know I won't be able to do,"

"I'm only asking you to do something that's going to benefit you,"

"Benefit me? How will it benefit me?"

"You won't have to wake up so you'll get a full night's sleep. Then you won't look so tired all the time and you won't seem like you're going to fall asleep,"

"As if that's what's going to happen,"

"But-"

"I'll still wake up, Granger, and if you force me to stay in my room at night then I'm going to spend the rest of my night worrying about what's going on with you and if you're okay and-" He stopped, his face warming just as hers had. It was probably something Malfoy hadn't wanted to admit or maybe hadn't even realized, that he would worry about her. She couldn't imagine he wanted her to know that yet. "I didn't mean that," he said immediately. "Shit, Granger, I didn't mean that,"

"Why are you-"

"Because I didn't mean it!"

"Malfoy, I-"

He jumped away from the window, the expression on his face matching the one he'd worn after he'd grabbed her hand that first time. "I didn't mean that, Granger, get it through your thick head. I didn't mean what I said!"

Before Hermione could even think to try and top him, Malfoy was running away from her. "Damn it," she swore loudly, startling the girl coming out of the Room of Requirement. Hermione didn't pay much mind to her though, she was too busy thinking about Malfoy. He would be worried about her, therefore he cared probably more than either of them thought. Hermione had known he cared about her slightly, but she hadn't even thought that he would be worried for her. Which seemed silly now that she thought about it; he'd probably been worried about her plenty of times and she just hadn't thought to connect the dots. Well, the damn dots were connected now and Hermione had no idea what she was supposed to do.