Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Hogwarts belong to the talented J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Four-- New Developments

Draco felt his limbs unlock and he climbed to his feet, grateful that body-bind had prevented all movement, holding back-- and therefore keeping Harry from seeing-- the tears which now poured down his face. He sat back down, putting his head onto his knees, on the muddy patch where he had been laying, allowing the rain to seep into him, wishing it would wash more than the dirt from his skin, wishing it would purge the cruelty from his soul.

Finally, as the sobs subsided, began trudging up the path to the castle, even though he would've rather stayed out in the rain. It suited his mood. All the way back, he was wondering why every time he tried to be civil with Potter, he ended up flinging insults at him. Why did seeing the hurt look in Harry's eyes bring him so much satisfaction? The last thing Draco wanted was to be like his father, finding enjoyment in other peoples' misery. He entered the castle, removing his shoes as to avoid angering Filch by tracking in mud.

Draco was so locked up in his own thoughts he didn't notice he had passed the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. He turned a corner just past the dungeons and suddenly connected with something solid. He fell, laying sprawled out on the floor in confusion.

Hermione Granger was kneeling beside him, picking up several books and papers that were scattered about on the floor. "Really," she was saying, "you should pay more attention to where you are going, running into people like that. The least you could do is help me pick--"

"What are you doing here?" he interrupted suspiciously.

She looked up at him. "I went to see Professor Snape. I wanted to find out if he had graded my essay on the Blinding Potion.

"Oh." Draco was still sitting on the floor. Hermione straightened up, put all of her books in the crook of her elbow and offered him a hand. He grasped it, and stood up, not letting go of her fingers.

"Are you... ok?" she asked. "You look, er..."

"What? I'm fine," he replied after a moment.

"You're not fine. You look as if someone has punched you in the stomach. And you're dripping wet! How'd you get wet?"

"It's raining."

She looked up at the solid stone ceiling, and then back at him questioningly.

"I was on the Quiddich field."

She waited, but got nothing else from the blond-haired boy. "Why didn't you use a charm to dry your robes?"

"I er-- well..." Draco suddenly sat down, right in the middle of the passageway, and buried his face in his arms.

"Draco?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

There were footsteps coming. They both looked down the hall towards the sound. They couldn't see anyone yet, but they could hear a warbly voice singing the Hogwarts's School Song.

Draco groaned. "It's Peeves. I really don't want to deal with him right now." He looked around. "Follow me," he said, getting up quickly. He turned away from the footsteps and walked quickly down the hall, turning right, then left, then right again. They had reached a large portrait of a scowling Salazar Slytherin. "Strawberries," whispered Draco. The picture swung out, revealing a doorway. He climbed through, motioning for Hermione to follow. "We can talk in here," he said.

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. I think it used to be the Slytherin Common Room, separate from the dorms. Or one of Salazar's private chambers." The room was large, but not as big as her common room. It was decorated in green and silver, definitely a Slytherin's hangout. There was a doorway at the far end, and a stone staircase on either side of the enormous fireplace. They sat down on a sofa in front of the fire Hermione conjured and remained silent for several minutes.

"So?" Hermione prompted her companion.

"So, what?"

"I asked you what was bothering you, and I assume you were going to answer. That's why we're here, right? To talk?"

Draco stood up and walked closer to the fireplace. "I'm not sure, exactly."

"Not sure why we're here, or what was wrong?"

He chuckled. "Both. I guess we're here because I wanted to tell someone." He turned to face her. "It's not like I have a lot of people to confide in."

"Well then, why were you so upset?"

He sighed. "Like I said, I had been out on the field, and the Gryffindors were out practicing too. We came in at about the same time. I came in because it was raining pretty hard and I was getting a little bored, but Potter accused me of being a spy." He told her the whole story. It came out jerkily at first, but soon the words were pouring out of him in torrents.

"I know I deserved what Potter said to me. He was just telling the truth, really. It's just that..."

Hermione stood up and walked over to him. "What?"

"Everybody likes him so much. He has friends, all of the teachers love him, the Headmaster lets him get away with anything, he's been famous since the day he was born, practically, and his parents, they died to save him. He's just so damn special." Draco paused. "I guess... well, I guess..." He mumbled the last part and looked down at the plush carpet beneath his feet.

"What did you say?"

He looked up into Hermione's face. He saw concern. Kindness. No anger, no pity. "People respect me, but I don't have a lot of friends. Most of the teachers think I'm a bad apple. I've never really done anything to stand out from the crowd, and my dad hated me. Mum is no better. She was indifferent. " Draco paused, wondering how sensitive she was on the subject of family, and if he would upset her. He decided to avoid the topic.

"I wanted to be like Harry. I wanted to be friends with him. On the very first day of school, though, he turned me down. Flat out humiliated me."

It dawned on her. "You're jealous," she said slowly, without criticism.

"Yes, I'm jealous." He sighed, returning to the sofa and seating himself. "It's like they say: Money isn't everything. It can't buy happiness. Or friends," he added as an afterthought. "But this is a pretty nice place, eh?" he asked.

The swift change in subject severed her train of thought. "Yeah," she said automatically. She looked around. "Do you come here often?"

"Yeah. I have most of my stuff here. I didn't spend hardly any time in the dorms last year, except for sleeping. Even then, I sneak down here some nights. Sometimes I just needed to be away from the baby Death Eaters." He mentally chastised himself. This was not what he wanted. First, he goes blabbing all of his Potter Problems, now he was telling her about sneaking out at night. You couldn't be more revealing if you were see-through! he thought to himself. Time to change the subject back to her. "Do you ever feel like that?"

"Like I need to be alone? All the time. That's mostly why I study so much. Books are a good escape." she said. Her stomach gurgled, and she stood up reluctantly. "It must be well past lunchtime. I should probably get going."

Draco stood up, too, not wanting her to leave. "I have some food down here, if you're hungry."

"I should go back to Gryffindor. They're probably wondering where I am." She gathered up her books from where she had left them on the sofa and walked to the door.

"Listen, Hermione..."

She smiled. "I promise, I won't tell anybody anything you've told me. Your secrets are safe with me."

He grinned back at her. "Thanks. I'll see you in Hagrid's class tomorrow, then."

"Right. 'Bye." Hermione paused, wanting to say more. The right words didn't come, so instead, she just stepped out into the hall.

Harry looked at his watch. It was lunch time. He stood inside the castle, debating whether or not to go back to the dorms. He was soaking wet and needed new robes, but if he did, he wouldn't have time to eat. Inspiration struck. Pointing his wand at himself, he muttered "Non aquam" and the water instantly evaporated. Then, he hurried to the Great Hall.

Ginny was already at the table when Harry arrived, but other than that, their usually seats were deserted. "Where's everybody else?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I saw Ron going up to the dorms on my way down here, but I don't know where Hermione is. I haven't seen her since this morning. And Brynna already ate."

Harry grinned devilishly. "At least that leaves us alone, for once." He gave her a quick, dry kiss on the cheek.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, shocked at his display of affection, especially after they had agreed they were going to keep their relationship a secret, at least at first. They had admitted to liking each other at the end of the summer, but thought it would be wise not to act on their feelings. Then, Ginny wrote Harry a note asking if he still liked her, and if he did, would he be her boyfriend? He quickly accepted. He felt the same way about her, but they both thought that they should wait to tell their friends, especially Ron.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, but his new girlfriend just giggled.

Just as Harry sat down, Ron came rushing up. "Harry!" he said.

"Hey, Ron." Harry was relieved his friend hadn't chosen to make his entrance thirty seconds earlier.

"Sorry about leaving you out there with Malfoy; I didn't realize you weren't behind me until I got to the castle," Ron explained, searching his friend's face for anger.

"Don't worry about it," said Harry.

A Hufflepuff approached the table. "Hey, Ron." She blushed. "I saw you practicing Quiddich today. You're really good. Do you mind if I eat with you?"

Ron opened his mouth to say "no," but a Ravenclaw swept up and gave a resounding "yes!" before Ron had a chance to say anything.

"I'm sitting here, today," she said, looking remarkably bold for being such a tiny girl. The Hufflepuff backed off.

"Hey, Brittany," said Ron. "How's it going?"

"Great. Listen, Ron, you wanna meet me in the Astronomy Tower again tonight?"

"Sorry. I've got to rewrite a paper for Snape," he replied.

"The one on Blinding Potions? I've got one you can hand in," she said.

"He'd notice. Plus, I've snuck out for the last three nights in a row." He grinned. "I need my beauty sleep."

Harry looked at his friend. It appeared as though Ron was doing quite fine without the extra sleep. He had grown over the summer, and not just taller; he wasn't so scrawny anymore. His freckles had lightened and girls found his smile irresistible.

Brittany sighed in disappointment. "All right. I'll see you later." She got up and left.

"Not interested in her anymore? Nah, she's kinda boring."

Ginny snorted. "Kinda? All she ever talked about was either you or schoolwork."

"I hope y'all aren't talking about me," said Brynna as she glided up to the table.

"Of course we were," teased Ron. "Where've you been?"

"I went back up to the tower, looking for you," she retorted, smiling at him. "Where did you disappear to after practice?"

Ron smiled mysteriously. "Well, I was making myself a little midnight appointment."

"Ron!" Ginny said disapprovingly. "Didn't you just tell Brittany you needed to do homework?"

"Well, I do, but I'm going to do that after dinner."

"So who are you meeting?" asked Brynna.

"Just a friend." Ron grinned again, picking up his books. "In fact, there she is. I'm going to see if she's going back to the common room. See you later." He walked away quickly and joined a fourth year Gryffindor.

"Gee, Brynna, can't you keep a leash on him or something?" asked Ginny.

"Me? That's not my job!" Brynna spoke with disdain, but her face revealed more.

"If you say so. Are you going up to the common room before our Transfiguration?"

"No, I just got back from there, silly. Also, I want to wait for Hermione. I have a question about Muggle Studies."

"Ok," said Ginny, getting up to leave. "You coming, Harry?" She gave him a Look.

"Yeah. G'bye, Bryn."

They walked out of the Great Hall together. Harry started toward Gryffindor Tower, but Ginny turned down a different corridor. "Hey," he said. "Where are you going?"

"Transfiguration. You have Charms next, right?"

"Yeah, but I thought that you wanted to go back up to the common room."

"Nah," she smiled up at him. "I just wanted a little bit of time with you."

"You're as bad as your brother," he teased.

Ginny smiled slyly. "I know. Sneaking off and telling lies to meet all sorts of guys...."

"What?!?"

She stopped outside of McGonagall's class. "You know I'm kidding."

"Yeah," he agreed. "You'd better be kidding," he said, trying to look suspicious. Ginny just laughed. She kissed his nose and sent him off to class.