Oh blah blah blah, the characters are not mine, and if they were do you think I would be writing this? I think not! Except for Benvolio, who is my brainchild (not much of one) and Shakespeare (who is probably rolling over in his grave) owns himself. Anyway, I changed the font, and I was trying my hardest to think of a better reason why I misspell Goyle so much (I spell it Doyle) than my brain working faster than my hands, and I finally figured out that my retarded computer changes it! Sorry to all! I'll try to spot it before I upload next time! Oh yeah, and when the characters seem hyper, I am either quite caffeinated or extremely tired…Have fun!

The laughter was high, cold, cruel, slimy, horrible, taunting, betraying, conniving, despicable, disgusting and not really laughter at all. It was Professor Severus Snape's laughter. He smiled at a glaring Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, why hello, young Malfoy! Pleasing young mudbloods today, are we then? I'm sure your father will be ecstatic! His only son, his little boy, rejoicing over his removement to a filthy mudblood! Oh I can't wait to tell him the news!" Snape sneered. His icy glare froze Draco and Hermione. Draco cleared his throat.

"Professor Snape--I was just worried that something happened at the manor and that's why he was here. And Hermione, she doesn't have anything to do with it! I mistook her for Pansy and since I told her about my worries, I thought she might like to know."

"Oh." Murmured the disappointed professor. "I expect better from you, so I'll be keeping an eye on you, Malfoy." He threatened and then walked into the Great Hall and slumped into his chair at the teacher's table.

Meanwhile, during Malfoy's explanation, Hermione Granger stumbled out of Hogwarts. She ran and did not stop. She didn't know where she was going, not what she was going to do. She just needed to get away. The Hogwarts grounds were large, but basically only had a few places to go. They included the lake, the Forbidden Forest, and Hagrid's house. She opted for the Forbidden Forest.

Not looking at what was passing by her, she dashed around trees and bushes and anything else that just happened to be in her way. The tall pines and oaks loomed above her, blotting out the darkening Heavens. It was dark; none of the last sunlight could leak between the thick branches.

Then, all at once, red-tinted sun hit the girl, illuminating her tear-streaked face. Before her was a sort of clearing, almost a meadow. Her legs suddenly collapsed under her and she felt the full fatigue of all the running she had just accomplished. She promptly fell asleep on a small pile of rocks.

The next morning, Hermione woke up and to her complete surprise, a centaur and a unicorn were watching her. She thought this odd, but they seemed to ignore her and stroll over to the glistening clear pond and take a drink. She took this time to scope out her surroundings. All the sunlight that was shunned by the dark forest seemed to be sucked up into the meadow. It was definitely spring here, with fresh yellow-green grass poking up through the mud and bright flowers brightly peeked up at the shining sun. The sky was a clear azure, decorated with fluffy white clouds resembling baby lambs.

The 16-year-old girl stared up at the puffballs floating gracefully above her. Then she viewed the rocks that she had slept on. They were oddly compiled to look almost like a chair. And they were comfortable! It was obviously the work of magic.

The curious pair of a male centaur and a unicorn walked over to her. The centaur spoke. "You are friend of man of old called Dumbledore?"

"Yes, but I didn't know he owned this part or whatever." She blushed at looking at the handsome centaur's naked chest.

"He spoke those who come here are here for a reason. You are one of medicine?"

"No, not really. But I could help if you need something. I mean, I could try."

"Yes, us you will follow. Why not you look at me?" He looked hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just, uh, you don't have clothes on and…" she blushed once more.

"Fine, 'tis. My name Benvolio be. Name of you is?"

Sorting out the words of his twisted sentence, Hermione laughed at his name. "Benvolio? Yeah, and mine's Juliet Capulet. Read Shakespeare much?" Benvolio cocked his head to the side in puzzlement.

"Man of white and old, Dumbledore, called me so. Said he: 'Benvolio is a good name for a peacemaker.' Yours be Juliet?"

"Oh, I see. No, mine is Hermione." She stuttered.

"Of this you are sure?" He smiled, showcasing his oddly white teeth and throwing back his mane of auburn hair.

Realizing the centaur had just made a joke, Hermione laughed. "Yes, I am. So you need a doctor or something? For what?"

"A unicorn lye in blood. Must help. Climb on Benvolio's back you must to go fast."

"No, that's all right. Really." With that she transformed into her owl and flew above them. Where is he, or, uh, she?

"Follow us." They galloped into the woods with Hermione flying behind. Dodging around trees, she caught up. Upon reaching the site, Hermione swooped down to the forest floor. There lay a pure white unicorn in a pool of silver blood. She gasped and turned to Benvolio.

How long has he been here? he shrugged as she changed back. Then she bent to see if the mystical creature's eyes were dilated. His eyes were a bright green, not unlike Harry Potter's. She panicked and rose. "Um, let me ask you something."

He nodded. "Are all unicorn's eyes one color?" she glanced at the unicorn that stood beside the one laying down, nudging his chin. "Like blue, as that one's are?"

"No. Some are black and some are blue. But no other color but that."

'It's Harry!' she thought. She kneeled down again. "Harry!" she whispered into his ear. When he didn't respond, she began searching for the wound. She spotted the blood leaking from his leg. Ripping a strip off her once white and clean, now brown and torn robe, she wrapped the piece around the gash in his beautiful skin. "Harry!" she tried again. This time his eyelids fluttered and eventually opened. "Harry!" she yelled excitedly.

Hermione? he blinked in rapid succession. Okay, okay, don't scream it out! Where were you last night? Ron and I were out looking for you the whole night! And then I must have run into something, because, well, here I am now! he slowly deformed, and the expression of pain filled his entire face, unicorn and human. She waited until he had finished.

"I'm sorry. I just, well, had to get away." she explained to him about running until she had to stop and then that morning. She left out the parts about Malfoy. When she was done she insisted that he climb upon Benvolio's mighty back. Then she changed back into owl and flew beside him while they delivered him to Hogwarts. But before they got there, at the end of the forest, he insisted they stop.

"Hermione, you will get in so much trouble if they knew you were in the Forbidden Forest over night! Not to mention Ron and I! Hey wait, where is Ron? I hope he is all right. Anyway, I will have to tough it from here and say that I fell off my broom and you found me. Okay?"

Hermione agreed and he limped painfully towards the school of magic. She thanked Benvolio and left with Harry.

About halfway there, they spotted two forms, each coming from opposite directions. As they neared, Harry and Hermione could determine one's red hair, signifying that it was probably Ron. The other one they couldn't decipher whom it was. But this one reached them first; his hood pulled up over his head. At ten feet away, they still didn't know who it was. He yanked down his hood and revealed himself to be Draco Malfoy. Harry moaned.

"Where were you all night? Lots of people were looking for you." Her eyes showed this surprised her.

"Really?"

"Well, basically just Ron and me. And Harry, of course, but then he didn't come back either, so I was, well, sort of worried." By then Ron and gotten there.

"Aww! If it isn't little Malfoy, all worried about the people he likes most!" Ron rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Shut up weasel. See you later Hermione. You too Harry…" he mumbled the last part about Harry. He headed back to the enchanted castle, leaving the trio of Gryffindors to follow. Ron scooped up Harry, but couldn't hold him up and requested the assistance of Hermione.

When Ron and Hermione had finally gotten Harry to Madam Pomfrey and explained what events had occurred, it was lunchtime in the Great Hall. They sat down at their table and the girl began massaging her brow and temples and yawning incessantly. Even though she had slept well the previous night, she was still exhausted as she usually was during the weekends. It was basically the only time that she gave herself to relax and she was fatigued the whole time. She set her head in her arms on the table and closed her tired eyes. But before she could drift off into a peaceful slumber, she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. As she turned around, she saw Harry pointing at Mr. Lucius Malfoy entering the hall and grabbing his son. He dragged him through the door, ignoring the silent stares and glares he was gaining from the professor's table.

She silently rose and followed them, telling Ron that she had Arithmacy homework she was worried about and wanted to finish. She slipped along at a comfortable distance behind them but could still hear Lucius barking at Draco. He tugged him into the Slytherin common room while muttering "Concupiscent Polyglot!" Hermione followed and when she came to the portrait of an aquatic ecosystem, she repeated what he had said quietly and averting her eyes hoping that the spiny fish would not realize who she was.

Lucius Malfoy had his son in a state of shock, unable to fight back. That was the work of a small spell and some embarrassment of being dragged out of a room full of people. But what Lucius seemed to forget was that his son was no longer a small 11 or even 13, but a full 16 and really quite muscular. As soon as Draco saw where he was, he spun around, and before he could even think about what he was doing, and out of habit, he slugged his father. Stumbling backwards with a hand covering up a quickly swelling gray eye, Lucius glared at his son with his good eye. He patted his robe for his wand, but his son spotted it first: lying on the dark green rug. Without a moment's hesitation, he scooped it up and twirled it around in his fingers. Draco's father stared, stunned, but then he smiled, reassuring himself.

"Yes, you might have my wand, but do you know how to use it?" He snorted, obviously doubting this.

"Of course I do! What do you think I've been doing these past 6 years? Screwing around in a big castle? I don't think so!"

"Well, yes, you probably have been, but that's not the point. The point is that you can't do anything to me anyway. And would you do anything to your own father? How heartless would that be?"

"Oh no no, you are in NO place to call ME heartless! You are a tyrannical bastard who doesn't care a pile of dragon shit what happens to anyone but himself and his precious Lord Voldemort! No, not one thought could be spared to a little eight-year-old with no friends whatsoever because you wouldn't let anyone into the manor unless they were your friend's pureblooded kids! Do you have any idea of how that felt? If you do then I feel truthfully extremely sorry for you because, take it from me, it is living hell!" Draco sucked in a breath. The flush on his cheeks combined with an extremely hard glare in his now light icy blue eyes.

Hermione, standing in the doorway, could see it and realized that his eye color changed according to his mood. An angry Lucius flushed also.

"Listen here, little boy! If you think I'm going to let you talk to me like that, you must be crazy! If you even think, for one minute-"

"LITTLE BOY?!?!?!?! I think not! I am, for one, both taller and stronger than you, probably than all the Malfoy family! And I am also stronger and larger intellectually! You might have seen Mother as a stupid blond, but she was smart, and made the worst mistake of her life marrying you! Now look what you have done, you've gone and killed her! I might have gained your absurd facial features, but I have Mother's brain and her family's body! I'm not just some little spoiled rotten brat anymore, father, I am almost a man! And if you think that you can control me like mother, then YOU are the one that's crazy!"

"You are still a spoiled rotten brat, and now an inconsiderate ungracious and ungrateful boy! You are no man by any way!" He stepped forward and snatched his wand, posing it at his son in a horrible way and opening his mouth to utter some dark incantation. Hermione could not stand it any longer; she had to intervene.

"There is no way that you are going to hurt your son, in anyway, ever. Especially now that I'm here!" Her brown hair flew about her face but she didn't even wave a hand to sweep it away. No, taking her hand of her wand would be stupid at this moment.

"Oh yeah, little girl, and what are you going to do about it, you filthy mudblood! Get away from me and my son, I don't need you contaminating his mind with her poisonous thoughts!"

"NO!" Cried Draco, pulling out his wand. "You will not, I repeat NOT call her a mudblood! Not in front of me, anyway!"

"Draco Slytherin Malfoy! How dare you defend a filthy mudblood! My own son!" He looked mortally astonished.

"You know what? I'm SICK of being your son! I'm eternally tired of you sticking your long nose in my business! You try to run my life and control me! It certainly worked as a child, but things have changed, father. I am no longer incapable of standing up for what I believe in or doing what I please! You must try to understand, father, because I cannot continue my life this way."

"I will not be having my son direct me in my actions!"

"Then get out," growled Draco. "And don't come back unless you've changed your mind! Ever! I shall continue my training until I graduate, and then I shall live my own life, not yours!"

"You will regret your choice, Draco. You are no longer my son, so find another name to disgrace. Good-bye forever, Draco." As much as an emotional moment this was, Lucius Malfoy maintained his calm nonchalance and indifference, and turned, walking out of the room, and then the school.

Lucius waited until he was well out of eyesight to look back once. Small tears clouded his eyes. This must have been the first time he had cried since he was a baby, and it felt odd. Suddenly, he straightened himself. This was excess of emotion, and that of which he had no need. The mourning of his son was over; he no longer had any living relations. The Malfoy family was over, nonexistent after his death, which was inevitably soon to come.

Hermione immediately rushed over to a crumbling Draco. He collapsed to the floor, reviewing the past events in his mind, over and over, finding the parts where he could have resolved the situation instead of worsening it. He regretted what he had said, he disrespected his father, and this was sin. He had no family, and after this semester of school, he was alone for a whole summer. This had never happened before, as a child he was extremely sheltered, he couldn't even go camping on the manor grounds without having to take Dobby or some other house elf with him. Now as a young adult, he was always in Hogwarts or if his father went away, the servants would always be there. Therefore, he had never been left alone in his life, and did not have the slightest idea what to do. The obvious solution was to continue his education, and stay at the school during holidays, and go to a friend's house during the summer. But did he have one friend that would do anything for him? No, Crabbe and Goyle both were too thick to fully understand his emotions, and now that his rich father was no longer there, would they still respect him? Doubtfully.

Hermione held him and cried his tears of sorrow, feeling emotion unlike either Malfoys, but the feelings of a close friend's pain. He weeped into her arms, feeling weak and lost. Also self-pitying, what was he going to do? His only good friend had recently been his enemy, and anyone would see through him and see weakness, and this was not a Malfoy emotion. This was unmistakably a Harrison trait, from his mother's side of the family. He respected his mother more than anyone; she had nuances in her that no one knew about but himself.

He missed her terribly, but he pulled himself together. That was obviously not the problem of the day, so he must deal with the more recent one.

Standing up and out of Hermione's arms, Draco cleared his throat and bounded up the stairs towards his dormitory. The girl started to tiptoe after him, but thought the better of it. She could wait, and glancing at her watch, lunch was not due out for another 15 minutes.

About ten minutes later, Draco slumped down the stairs, looking better in appearance, but not in his facial emotions, and that was the effect of sorrow. His blond hair was perfectly spiked once more; his robes clean and straightened.

"I just want to say thank you, Hermione. I don't know what I'm going to do, but from now on, I'm not Draco Malfoy. It's Draco Harrison now. That was my mother's maiden name, so I thought I'd stick with that. I'm not ashamed to be from that family!"

"Oh Draco, I'm so sorry. I feel so bad, I wish I could do something, or even relate. But I can't. But I really do feel extremely bad for you." She gave him a pitiful look.

"Don't look at me that way! This is what I've wanted since I was 14! Before that even! If anything, I'm happy. So feel happy for me, not sad or bad or whatever. I mean, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me! I am out of my father's life forever, and what's better, I can start a new life, with my own personality, and not my father's! For so long, Hermione, I have been influenced by him, I've been in his shadow of the dark arts, and he expected me to follow! So don't pity me, I'm over it. Big loss, someone I have wanted out of my life is finally out, and there is no big death! I'm glad!" He waved is hands and his mouth was almost foaming as he tried to get Hermione to understand what he felt. She cowered.

"Okay, I'm sorry! I was just trying to do what I thought was best. I do feel bad for you, and because know you have no family and no place to go. I am not looking for a fight, so quit trying to make one!" she spun around and ran out. Down the hall, not daring to look up, and right smack into Dumbledore. She muttered an apology without even seeing whom it was. Whomever, she did not want them to see her emotions, which were extremely confused.

"Hermione-" the voice said gently. "I don't know what you saw, but I do know something had happened between the existing Malfoy family members. Would you care to explain to me what that was? I certainly don't think Mr. Malfoy or his son wish to speak to me right now, seeing I'm not their favorite person in the world." Watching her with his caring blue eyes, the headmaster put his arm around her quivering shoulders. She sniffed and looked up, although she already knew who it was.

"He's not his son any longer, Professor." She burst into tears and didn't even realize where he was taking her until a large red-gold bird greeted her, nuzzling her wet face. She was stunned, the bird was beautiful, but it felt like a friend already, even though they had just met.

"Hermione, I would like you to meet Fawkes. He is a phoenix, and my pet. Your friend Harry has met him previously, I believe in your second year, during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. He is very faithful, and seems to have taken a liking to you already! If you'd come into my office, and Fawkes can come along too. You look like you might need someone to comfort you." The gorgeous bird and Hermione followed behind the white haired man.

Inside his round office were two large leather chairs apart from the desk and next to a blazing fireplace. Sinking into one, Dumbledore motioned for the girl to sit in the other. She became comfortable in front of the warm fire and with the loving phoenix on her lap (basically perched on her leg) and started to relax. The headmaster then got up and walked out of the room. She noticed she was tired and just before she drifted into slumber, the old man walked in with two steaming cups of hot chocolate, the best in both wizard and muggle worlds. She groggily sipped hers as he sat back down, putting his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"Hermione, would you mind telling me, before we start explaining, why you followed them?"

"I, uh, well, this is quite a long story. You see, a few days ago, I was sort of depressed and Malfoy-I mean Draco comforted me. Then he told me his troubles with his father and all that. So we are kind of close now, and when I saw the situation, I knew something bad was going to happen. So I followed."

"I see. Go on about Malfoy's feelings towards his father." He took a gulp of his drink.

"Well, he said his father controlled his every move and he hated it, and his personality was not his own. And more like that."

"All right. Now, tell me what you observed in the Slytherin common room. Start by how you got in. This is all very interesting, Ms. Granger." Hermione stroked Fawkes and proceeded to explain.

When she finished, Albus Dumbledore groaned and muttered to himself. "This is very bad. Exactly like Riddle, an orphan…and knowledge of dark magic….hatred of Harry Potter…extremely dangerous……what to do during summer vacation…..dislikes all teachers…except…..SEVERUS SNAPE!" His head popped up in excitement.

"No, he doesn't like Snape very much….it was just an act of keep his father happy." Hermione put in.

Dumbledore looked at her as if asking why she was in the room. "Oh…who then?" Now he was talking more to her.

"I could-"

"No, I couldn't put your parents under that kind of stress…they're muggle…" she blushed but he went on. "They couldn't put up with two wizards in the house….although you aren't allowed to practice…surely I couldn't…..Potter's aunt and uncle are already teed off enough even for him……BLACK!!" the girl almost laughed out loud at seeing how the elder wizard's mind worked. "That's it, my girl! We'll put them both with Black!"

She shot him a bizarre look. "Harry and Draco, in the same house for an entire summer, with an outlaw?"

"Perfect punishment, and if Sirius sees anything dark with Malfoy he'll tell us! Maybe they'll be friends!

"But-"

"Don't you see?! It's the only way, unless Malfoy-"

"He's not a Malfoy anymore, Professor. He's a Harrison now."

"Sorry. Anyway, unless he wants to roam free, and the ministry certainly won't allow that!"

"Well, if it's the only way. But the big question is, where is Black? Do you know? The last we heard of him was right after 3rd year when he sent Davie to Ron-his owl, you know, the small gray one. So unless Harry doesn't tell us when he gets letters, he could be anywhere!"

"True, my friend, very true…"

"WAIT!" Hermione shouted. Dumbledore looked up in surprise. "Mooney-"

"Hermione, what are you talking about? If you are trying to say Professor Lupin, then you should address him that way, unless you have permission. And anyway, he's off somewhere again. The states, I think. Uniting werewolf children, I believe."

"No, no. You mean he hasn't been to see you?"

"What?!" his face went ashen. "He's here?"

"Yes, we saw him the other night at the Shrieking Shack."

"But you couldn't have. For the past few weeks, there's been a full moon, and you can't have gone during that day, because we would've noticed. Unless you did what Sirius and James and Peter did….you didn't!"

She nodded shamefully. "We did…wait, Harry is getting letters, but it couldn't have been more than one….anyway, Sirius told him how he turned to an Animagus. So we did, and we when to visit him….we had a blast, and Mal-sorry, Draco knows-he followed us to Mooney's and saw Harry and me and Ron….." she stared at her empty mug.

"Ron too? Oh dear…do you know something? I'm really quite jumpy…it must have been the chocolate, because you are too. Stay here, I'll get something to calm us down." Hermione tried to keep her jitters down to an appropriate level, but found this difficult and soon a sleepy Fawkes flew up and towards the other end of the circular room.

Dumbledore came back in again with two giant mugs and handed it to her. Expecting it to be tasty, she gulped it down. "Blah! Ugh, this is gross! How can you drink this?" she watched the headmaster take a long swig of his and then screw up his face so it looked like hers felt.

"Well, this is not one of my regular beverages, Ms. Granger. But seeing as though we are practically shaking, it would be better to take something to calm us down. Now drink, and no more complaints." She plugged her nose and tipped the cup back into her mouth. The warm syrup ran down her throat and suddenly she was sleepy yet again.

"Wow. That works fast, doesn't it?"

"Mmmhmmm." Muttered the headmaster. "Well, Hermione, I believe that it's time for you to go to your common room. If I need you, I will find you there, correct?"

"Sure Professor Dumbledore. Anytime." She yawned and went out the way she came. Closing her eyes, she slid down a long spirally slide and ended up on a floor that felt like a giant pillow. Before her was a great green elevator which was open and seemed to be waiting for her. She walked in and it shut and when it opened once more she was in front of the portrait of the fat lady in a pink dress. Muttering the password, she stumbled in and went to her empty dorm room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, she awoke to Draco Harrison peering down at her. As soon as he saw that she was no longer asleep, he thrust a cupful of water at her. "Drink." He grunted.

"Draco - are you all right?" she said after she sipped the liquid.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look Hermione, I just wanted to say thank you for sticking up for me in front of my- Mr. Malfoy." He gulped. She climbed out of her disheveled bedding and stood, stretching and yawning. "I'm really sorry he called you that…"

"Hey, it's nothing. I've been called worse, and plus, it's not even your fault. You shouldn't be apologizing, and I don't expect one from him. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, but it really means a lot to me that you aren't offended, so just…thank you. I guess that's sort of redundant and I'm really not very poetic, so I'm speechless. What you did took lots of guts. I like her girls with guts…" he gently kissed her on the cheek. She turned slightly red but kissed him back. He smiled sheepishly and turned for her to follow him out into her common room.

But he did not stop there. He went to the East tower and she tagged along, though she was unsure if she should have. Draco unlocked the door and went in. On the stone floor were two huge pillows, one soft blue, one dark green. Hermione took the azure cushion and sat down.

"Look, Hermione. I really like you and want to get to know you. So I just thought…"

"This was a nice idea, Mr. Harrison." He smiled at her usage of his new last name. They sat there for the rest of the day, discussing their lives. But Hermione pointedly left out what Dumbledore had told her. Draco explained that he didn't really like Pansy Parkinson, he was just holding Snape over.

At the end of their 'meeting', Draco jumped up. "Hey, we've got to go! We're going to be late for dinner!" reaching his hand down to help her up, his eyes smiled. "Thanks, again, friend." Liking what he felt the first time, he leaned over to kiss her again on the cheek. But instead of getting her cheekbone, she moved and he ended up on her nose. They laughed as Hermione's nose turned bright red.

"You better work on your aim next time!"

"How's this?" He kissed her fully on her mouth, and surprisingly, she let him and returned it. About a minute later, they broke apart in embarrassment, both facing away from each other.

Finally, Draco broke the silence. "I liked it." He simply stated.

"Yeah, me too. Well, see you later, okay?" she hopped down the winding staircase gleefully.