Some people asked me why Hermione was so mean in chapter four, so here's the answer, lol: She's irritated and annoyed. Even if she won't really admit it, she wants to go with someone to the ball, and being around Draco gets her angry. So, she's not mean, but annoyed.

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Draco laid in bed, looking up at the ceiling of the Hospital Wing. The pain on his arm wasn't as great as before, and his arm was slowly recovering its normal color.

Damn Granger! It was all her fault! If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be here now! If she hadn't looked up at him with those eager brown eyes, if she hadn't tried to be nice, he would've never tried to help her, and he wouldn't have ended up here. She made him want to be nice. It was as if she had some kind of strange power over him, making him unable to be too cold towards her, making him want to be good. He got a strange feeling when he was with her, as if he could just lay back and tell her anything. As if she understood him. And he hated her for it.

He was still thinking over this, when Hermione walked into the Hospital Wing.

"Ten minutes!" Madam Pomfrey hissed.

Hermione nodded, spotted Draco, and walked over to him.

He sat up.

"Hi," she said, smiling.

"Hello, Granger," he said, glaring.

"I, um… how's your arm?" Hermione asked, carefully choosing her words.

"Better," Draco answered simply.

"Can I see it?"

He took it out from under his sheets. It was a violet now, and his hand was back to its normal pale color.

"I'm glad it's better," Hermione said, still smiling.

"Thank you," Draco answered.

Well, Hermione thought, at least he has manners.

There was a moment of silence. No one said anything, they just stood looking off into the distance.

Hermione shifted from one foot to another, not knowing what to say.

Draco glanced at her. She was being nice again. She had come only to see him, to see how he was doing. She had been worried about him. She had made him say 'Thank you' to her, made him want to be nice. He couldn't help it, when he was with her.

"How's the Joggart?" Draco asked, finally.

"Oh," Hermione said, startled. "Bluey? He's fine. I fed him a bit."

"Well, hopefully it'll be satisfied with what you gave him. I wouldn't like it to try and bite my hand off again."

Hermione chuckled. "I think it's quite satisfied. Bloated, even."

Draco's eyes flicked upward again. He was making conversation with Granger. Great. Just what he needed next… conversation with a mudblood. First, that strange feeling. Now, conversation.

Hermione searched for something in her pocket, and took out a small book. On its front, in golden letters, it read Small and Short Stories for Sorcerers of all Sizes'. wiping the dust off its cover, she gave it to Draco.

"Here," she said. "I went to the library before coming by here. I thought you might be bored, so I brought a book."

Draco took it and examined it.

"Thank you," he said.

There it was again. He had thanked a mudblood, and accepted a book from her. He knew it was terrible, but, at the same time, he was amused. Granger had tried to help him with boredom the only way she knew… reading a book. He stopped himself from chuckling a bit just in time.

Hermione shrugged. "I didn't know what you would like reading, so I brought you a book of stories."

He just looked up at her blankly, and she shrugged again.

"Do you know when you'll be able to get out of here?" Hermione asked him.

He locked his gray eyes in her Brown ones. "Tomorrow, probably."

"Good, then we can work on the report about Bluey!"

"Slow down, Granger. I'm not going near that thing again."

"What? But we have to work on it together! It wouldn't be-"

Before she could finish her sentence, someone shoved her aside.

"Draco!" Pansy exclaimed shrilly. "I've been so worried!" she knelt down beside him, and took his arm. "Goodness! It's quite awful, isn't it? Does it hurt much?"

Draco pulled his arm away quickly, and glared at her. "Parkinson, get out."

Pansy whirled around and found Hermione, looking at both Slytherins and rubbing her arm where Pansy had hit it.

"You!" she shrieked. "What have you done to Draco? Why's he here? You probably gave him poison, or… or something!"

Hermione snorted. "Oh yeah, that's right, I poisoned Malfoy." she said sarcastically.

Pansy turned around again and looked at Draco intently. "She poisoned you? Tell Dumbledore!"

"Oh, for God's sake, Parkinson!" Draco said, frustrated. "She didn't poison me! And could you please get out now?"

Pansy stood looking at him for a minute, and then her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, I get it now. You don't want me here, huh?"

"Well spotted," Draco said coldly.

"You'd rather be with that Mudblood!" she yelled, pointing at Hermione. "How could you?" she gave a chocking sob. "I was so worried about you, and-"

She looked straight at Hermione. "It's all your fault!" she shrieked.

Draco hated to admit it, but he had to agreed with Pansy on that one.

Hermione stood, paralyzed. She had a hysterical Slytherin yelling at her, in the middle of the quiet Hospital Wing. What should she do?

Pansy was wailing now. "What have you done to him? You've turned him into a mudblood lover!"

This made Draco angry. Mudblood lover? That was insulting! He clenched his teeth, but didn't say anything.

"What's all this noise?" Madam Pomfrey yelled, making noise herself. When she spotted Pansy and Hermione, she pointed at the door, "Out," she said in a deadly hiss.

"But Madam Pomfrey!" Pansy complained. "This girl has poisoned Draco!"

Draco surprised himself by defending Hermione. "She did not poison me," he said. He didn't yell, didn't say it in an exasperated voice. Draco had a special gift of making himself heard without having to raise his voice.

"Of course she didn't," Madam Pomfrey said, waving her hand. She turned to both girls again. "Out!"

Pansy walked out, still teary-eyed and sobbing.

Hermione turned to face Draco again at the door. "I hope you're better by tomorrow!" she called, and left.

As soon as she did, she sighed with relief. Well! That had gone well! Taking out the Pansy thing, of course.

She had planned to be nice, taking the advantage that Draco was in the Hospital Wing. Maybe, if she was nice, she might somehow twist Draco's way of seeing her. But she knew it wasn't possible, of course. Draco seemed so cold, and unreachable. But it had gone alright. She had even liked being nice to him. And he hadn't been cold towards her. Why, he had even thanked her! She smiled. Maybe things had improved between them. Maybe he wouldn't see her as a mud blood anymore.

No, that wasn't possible. But, at least he hadn't insulted her. That was a start. If they were to be partners at a project, she wanted to get along with him. Even if they had to pretend they liked each other a bit. Not that Draco pretended, of course. But, as long as they technically got along, it was fine with her.

She reached the portrait hole, said the password, and climbed in.

There she found Harry and Ron, looking at their Joggart.

"Hi!" she said cheerily, coming next to them.

"Hey," Ron mumbled. "How was your date with Malfoy?"

Hermione glared at him. Date? Date? That got her started. "I can't believe this!" she exclaimed. "I'm just trying to be nice so I won't have to yell at Malfoy every time I see him, and then you come along as if I were doing something wrong!"

Ron looked at his Joggart. "Right."

Harry looked at Hermione, and whispered. "He can't believe you just went to see how he was,"

Hermione smiled. "Then you don't think I'm being stupid?"

Harry looked at his Joggart again, just like Ron had. "Well, I'm not exactly crazy about it, but…" he shrugged. "I'm not stopping you."

Hermione frowned slightly. Both boys didn't look at her. She turned on her heel and went up to the girls' dormitories. Boys!

Lavender and Parvarti were sitting on Parvarti's bed, giggling furiously. Parvarti was blushing.

"What's up?" Hermione asked them, getting her transfiguration book and sitting on her own bed.

"Sean just asked Parvarti to the masquerade!" Lavender squealed.

"Oh, that's great, Parvarti!" Hermione exclaimed.

Parvarti got redder.

"I knew it was coming," Lavender continued. "It was so obvious he liked you!"

Hermione smiled and started reading tomorrow's lesson, while the two girls next to her went over Parvarti's robes excitedly, saying 'No, this won't do for a dance,' or 'This looks pretty on you'. She tried to ignore that strange feeling of jealousy in her stomach, her eyes fixed on an illustration of a table transforming into a goblet.

***

Hermione waited patiently at the Entrance Hall with Bluey in her pocket. Draco hadn't shown up yet, and, although she had seen him eating at the Slytherin table this morning, she wanted to make sure he was ok.

Then she saw him walking towards her silently, hands in his pockets.

When they were face to face, she smiled.

"How's your arm?" she asked.

"Fine," Draco answered.

They walked out of the castle towards the same tree as the day before without talking. When they had sat under it, and Hermione had taken out a quill and some parchments, Draco took out the book she had given him the other day.

She took it. "Did you like it?"

"It was alright."

She started writing. "Bluey weights about ten pounds now. A bit heavy for its size, don't you think?" she asked, hoping to break the silence.

Draco examined the Joggart. "A bit, maybe."

He was trying to talk as less as possible. He didn't want to make conversation with Granger.

When Hermione finished writing that, she looked at Bluey again. "And his feet a bit bigger."

As she wrote this, Bluey, who was on the grass between them, moved towards Draco, his two big eyes focused on Draco's hand. Draco didn't see him. He was too busy looking at the lake, or, rather, at nothing in particular.

"And, I think-" but Hermione stopped, because she saw Bluey making his way slowly towards Draco's hand. "Don't!" she exclaimed, snatching him.

Draco looked at her. "Don't?"

"Bluey was heading straight for your hand," she explained, touching Bluey's hairs softly. "I snatched him before he could do any harm."

Draco fixed his eyes on the Joggart on Hermione's hand. He had a strong urge to smash the blasted creature into pieces, but he didn't, of course. He had been taught to control his feelings, and to never let them be seen by other people.

"I guess it must've took a liking to your hand," Hermione said, shrugging, seeing Draco stare at Bluey so intently.

"Oh, that's fantastic," Draco said sarcastically. "Just what I need. Another purple-armed session with Madam Pomfrey by my side."

Hermione laughed a little.

Draco glanced at her. He had never made someone laugh except Crabbe and Goyle, but they laughed at anything that sounded weird to them, and they just laughed stupidly, even if there was no reason to. Hermione's laugh was different. It was full of joy and cheerfulness, and her cheeks got red when she did it. He had a strange desire to make her laugh again.

"Just keep it from me," Draco said, this time seriously and (he hoped) coldly.

Hermione nodded, still smiling, and placed Bluey on the grass at her other side, away from Draco.

The only sound now was Hermione's quill as she scribbled on her parchment.

She glanced at Bluey briefly, and continued writing. But her eyes flicked towards Bluey again.

"It's eating the grass!" Hermione exclaimed.

Draco looked at Hermione, without moving. "Is it?"

"Yes!"

"Oh."

Hermione snatched Bluey up again. He was halfway done eating, with some grass poking out of his mouth. He blinked up at her innocently, the green grass poking out of his mouth quivering as he tried to eat it. She started giggling.

"What's the matter?" Draco drawled.

Hermione, in a fit of giggles, just dangled Bluey in the air for him to see.

She looked so innocent, holding the Joggart and giggling.

"Oh."

Still giggling, she set Bluey down, writing what he had just done. She was soon distracted by him again, though, when he started hiccupping.

She chuckled. "A Joggart that hiccups! I have to write this down."

Draco watched her with mild interest as she looked at Bluey and wrote, smiling all along.

After a few moments, Bluey burped- loud.

That sent Hermione, who was already chuckling, into a fit of laughter.

Draco had to admit (although he hated doing so) that it was kind of funny, hearing Bluey burp. He didn't laugh, of course, just watched as Hermione laughed, her cheeks red.

"Granger," he said, finally. "Get on with writing. I have other things to do."

She wouldn't stop laughing, so Draco had to get the parchments and quill from her and write Bluey's burp down himself.

Eventually Hermione calmed down.

"Better?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Hermione answered, smiling. She stood up. "I guess we'd better go. You said you had things to do."

He got up too, and handed her the parchments and quill.

As they walked towards the castle, Hermione gave Bluey to Draco. He put it in his pocket hastily.

"I hope he doesn't bite you," Hermione said.

"If he does, I'll make sure he never does again."

When they reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione started running up the marble staircase. "Bye!" she called. "See you!"

Draco wouldn't have admitted it, not even to himself, but he was looking forward to it.

***

Their next meeting had to be postponed, though, since it rained that day. They agreed to meet next Monday, second week of October.

And on Saturday, after two rainy days, the sky was clear. Not one single cloud in the air.

"Yes!" Harry exclaimed, looking out the common room window. "I'll get to practice quidditch!"

"I was thinking, Harry," Hermione said as they made their way towards breakfast. "How about if we had a little snack outside today?"

"Outside?" Ron asked. "Don't you think it's a bit chilly to be outside?"

She shrugged. "Ok, then. Doesn't matter."

"Maybe another day," Harry suggested carefully. "I'd like to practice quidditch today, if you don't mind."

"Alright," she said, a bit disappointed.

After they had breakfast, Harry went to get his firebolt while Ron and Hermione waited in the Entrance Hall.

When he came back down, the three of them made their way towards the quidditch field.

"I want to have a go on it!" Ron informed them.

"Alright," Harry said. "We could take turns."

Halfway to the quidditch field, Hermione stopped, looking at some bushes.

"Anything the matter?" Ron asked.

"I think I saw a big, puffy ginger tail poking out of that bush," she said, pointing.

"Crookshanks?" Ron asked helpfully.

"Maybe. You two go on. I'll see if it's him, and I'll catch up later,"

"Ok," Harry said, as he and Ron turned to go, both eager to get to the quidditch field as soon as possible.

Hermione walked over to the bushes. As she did, she saw Malfoy leaning against a tree near one of the cliffs, looking either down at the lake or off into the distance.

What was he doing there? Crabbe and Goyle weren't with him, and Pansy wasn't, either. So what could he be doing? Oh well, she thought. None of my business.

She made her way towards the bushes, and rummaged through them, trying to see through all the leaves and branches. "Crookshanks?" she asked. "Is that you?"

No answer.

"Crookshanks!" she called, bending twigs and branches.

She let go of one of them, and she heard it hit something. In a flash, a ginger blur shot out of the bushes and started running away.

It was Crookshanks! But what was he doing outside? Hermione had only seen him get outside of the castle when he was with Sirius on their third year, who was supposedly 'The Grim'.

"Crookshanks!" she called after the ginger cat.

He didn't stop. Just kept on running, towards the cliff.

Hermione gasped. He would fall! If he didn't stop running, he would fall off the cliff into the lake!

She ran after him, "Crookshanks!" she yelled.

But it was no use. The cat didn't stop, just kept running fixedly towards the cliff.

Hermione was close behind him, getting nearer… he was almost at the cliff, and she was close behind. But, just three of four yards from the cliff, Crookshanks must've realized what he was doing, because he suddenly turned and went the other day. Hermione tried to turn around, but it was too late. She couldn't stop running so quickly. She slipped on some mud the previous rain had caused, which dragged her closer to the cliff.

"Hermione!" someone yelled.

And she fell.

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Ok, for anyone who doesn't know, Hogwarts is on top of a cliff, next to the lake. So… if it's on a cliff, that means someone can fall OFF it, right? Lol.

Please review!! Tell me if you liked it! Tell me if I was over dramatic by letting Hermione just fall like that!! Lol ^_^