She's different. There's something going on with Hermione, she's been circling ferret face since we got off Hogwarts Express. Something must have happened to her - maybe last spring or during the summer, and now she's sneaking off with Malfoy and doing - well, not stealing kisses that's for fucking sure. Thank god, Ron can't tell how weak Malfoy's taunts have become.

Is that it then? Is she fucking him?

She left ages ago. She didn't even notice me sitting here. With the decrees and crazy stuff going on, if she gets caught - well - and if she's distracted enough not to see me when she's heading out after curfew - she's on her way to the ferret, though, I'm sure of it. Maybe he'll -

Is it some kind of blackmail? That seems unlikely. Malfoy's clever but it's hard to imagine him outsmarting Hermione.

The portrait is opening and there she is. And, surprise, surprise, here he is as well. I get up and push her out through the portrait hole again and slam the painting shut.

They both look awful. The Inquistorial Squad Badge is gleaming on Malfoy's chest. I poke it angrily until his back is against the wall. There's not a flash of anger in his eyes. The guilt is rolling off of her in waves. "Come on." I turn to find a classroom. " Muffliato ." It doesn't occur to me until I am facing them again that they could just have ignored me, but they didn't, the followed me and here we are. I make the most of it.

"Have you gone insane, Hermione. His father is a Death Eater! He'll turn you in to Umbridge whenever this, whatever the fuck this is - he'll turn me in too! What are you playing at?"

The Ferret's face has drained of color. The way he looks at her would be heart wrenching if he hadn't been a linch-pin for that grotesque toad. Hermione looks defeated. She looks tired.

I know what he's going to say.

"Potter's right - I'm not - I'm not - wish I was someone else - I want to be someone you'd fight for - I - I just want you to enjoy me."

He's gathering himself.

"When they find out, none of these things will matter. They will say 'A mudblood? How is it, Draco? Is she like a wild dog? Is she like an animal?'"

He sneers viciously now.

"I put on such a good show, didn't I? I was going to - tomorrow -" he snickers, "but I guess Potter had to ruin the fun."

Somehow Hermione decides to believe the sneer and not what came before, like she's been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now it's thumped to the floor and she's shrunken in on herself like he really has played some grotesque joke on her.

I have to do the man thing now, so I step up and punch him in the gut. "Go hack to the dorm, wait for me there, Hermione." I don't know why she leaves. It's so utterly out of character, but there is something in her eyes.

Malfoy's folded on the floor trying to catch his breath. I pull him up, shove him into one of the seats, and I sit down in front of him. I'd have keep him dizzy and standing but it's hard to dress someone down who's taller than you.

"That was a bit crude."

He sneers some more. I'm sure he's about to say something about his father.

"You want her to fight for you?"

He tries to look incredulous.

"You want her to fight for you and in the same breath you call her an animal."

The sneer is gone.

"You want her to fight, like you don't have to do some fighting too? You have to fight for you too."

"I can't."

"You can."

The 'you don't know what it's like' is on the tip of his tongue, but frankly I don't care what it's like.

"When I go back and try to put her back together, what am I fixing?"

He tells me. He tells how he pursued her, how they'd laughed and she'd made him feel so good. He tells me how at first he hadn't noticed that she dissociated, and when he had he couldn't stop noticing.

He tells me what a useless piece of shit he is and I don't disagree but I'm not entirely convinced. He tells how he discarded her, that he put her in the infirmary.

There are things he doesn't tell me and if they are the good things Hermione sure won't.

"Tonight, I sent an owl, because I needed to know if any of it had been real. It wasn't, Potter."

And now it does hurt to look at him.

"I don't know why I am telling you this."

"Because I'll beat the shit out of you if you don't," I try for cheerful.

"So you told her you care about her and then that you're too fucking weak to not succumb to the Slytherin group pressure?"

This time I wouldn't haven't been able to go for cheerful had I wanted to.

"Oh, you don't have to answer that."

He's an arse and I want to hate him and I would be able to if it wasn't so obvious that he loves her. He doesn't think he can be someone for her. He thinks there is no way out.

"You have to go back to your normal bullshit, Malfoy."

But he doesn't. She can't tell, but I can. He does what he needs to keep up appearances, but he tries to protect her from getting hurt and he pays for it.