A/N- After much consideration and thought, I have decided to change the layout of my chapters. I'm going to put more dividers and etc. in my chapters from now on so it looks better [ lolz ]. Anyways, a BIG thanks to EVERYBODY that reviewed my past chapters. Your feedback means a lot to me!!!

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Chapter Six: True Friends are like Diamonds, Rich and Rare

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Love is like quicksand, the deeper you fall in, the harder it is to come out …

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Hermione turned and fled, tears running down her face as she repeated over and over in her head, this is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening, this is . . .

She panted and heaved as she ran up the stairs to the fourth floor and stopped outside the portrait of the sphinx.

"Potions," she huffed.

The sphinx looked like she was about to say something when another voice called out to her.

"Granger!"

Hermione quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeves and turned, to see Malfoy running towards her.

"Granger," he said again, when he ran over, "I've decided that we need to change the password once again, that sneaking bitch Pansy-"

He stopped when he saw Hermione's face and frowned. Her eyes were red and puffy and he could see tear tracks on her cheeks, where she had not wiped it properly. He supposed that it was another Potty and Weasel problem.

"Uh . . . do you need a tissue?" he asked, not knowing what he should do in situations like these.

She shook her head.

"Oh, well, I guess it's too late, huh? The waterworks have already finished," he said, hoping that she would laugh at his joke.

But what happened next was not the reaction he had hoped for. Instead of giggling, she looked as though she was going to cry again.

"I didn't mean to-" said Draco quickly but it was too late. Tears flooded down her cheeks as the events of that evening came back into her mind.

"I have . . . to go . . . in . . . now," she sobbed and climbed into the portrait hole.

"Hermione!" he called out behind her and followed her inside.

She was walking to her room when he climbed in so he ran up to her and stood in front of her, blocking her path.

"Hermione," he said, looking at her.

She didn't look up.

"Hermione," he tried again.

She looked up, and he saw her expression. Her eyes were filled with sadness, brimming full of tears so they looked like pools of shimmering silver water, her cheeks had tear tracks, more than what she had a few minutes ago, and she was trembling.

He reached out and held onto both of her shoulders, to support her.

"Listen, it was just a joke, don't take it personally, ok?" he said gently.

She nodded.

He let go of her shoulders and reached into his pockets for a tissue and handed it to her.

She took it and smiled the smallest smile at him and wiped her eyes.

"That's better, isn't it?" he asked.

She nodded again, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Thank you, Draco," she said.

"That's alright, it was just a tissue," he said, grinning.

This time, she grinned back and it wasn't a small smile like last time, this was a genuine smile.

He looked at her smiling face.

She looks so happy, she always seems to be so happy, what kind of a horrible thing happened to make her cry like that?

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Hermione woke up the next morning, feeling like she gained no sleep at all over the night. She slowly pulled herself out of her bed and slipped on her fluffy white slippers. She ambled her way into the bathroom and had a nice, hot shower. After she finished, she wrapped a towel around herself and searched for her hairbrush. Not being able to locate it, she remembered that she had left it in the main common room the previous morning. Forgetting that Malfoy usually woke up early then her and it was usually around this time that he left for the Great Hall, she stepped out of her room and walked towards to table where she left her brush. She picked it up and turned when she noticed someone sitting on the couch. She glanced over and saw Malfoy, apparently asleep. She didn't even bother to think why he was sleeping there but could feel herself turning red, even though he was asleep.

Just as she was about to sneak away, Malfoy's eyes fluttered open. His gaze met hers and for a moment, their eyes locked, Hermione not daring to move. Then his eyes traveled down and he saw what was making her blush.

He smiled evilly.

"Well, Granger, I see you've made yourself comfortable. I suppose the dress-code from where you usually live involves a towel wrapped around your body in the early mornings?"

She turned even redder and he smirked.

He opened his mouth to say something else mean but decided against it. He would spare her in case she turned (if possible) even redder.

"I'm going to go to breakfast now," he said, getting up and left.

Hermione just stood there for a few seconds before moving towards her room and locking the door behind her.

Why hadn't Malfoy gone further like he normally would've done? She thought to herself. Well, maybe he's trying to be nice, another part of her mind said. But she just dismissed that weird thought.

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Draco walked down the corridors of Hogwarts castle, towards the Great Hall. He was whistling a tune as the morning's events played itself in his mind.

~~~3 hrs ago~~~

Draco sat up in his bed, gasping for air and shaking. He had that dream again.

He reached on his bedside table for a glass of water and poured it all over his head. He hated the night-times when he would have to sleep. That's why he always slept late and woke up early. Because anything can happen at night, when you're least expecting it.

He slipped out of bed and glanced at his clock. 5:03am.

This was not an unusual time for him to wake up, in fact, it was later then usual. Maybe because his dream had been longer than usual this time. His fluffy slippered feet padded silently on at thick carpet as he made his way into the bathroom and had a nice hot shower.

When he had finished, he packed his bag for school and went out into the main living area. As usual, he had beat Granger to the couch so he sat there and closed his eyes. All of a sudden, he remembered what had happened last night when Hermione was crying and he had tried to comfort her.

But the main thing on his mind was, why did he even try to be nice to Hermione? He sighed to himself.

After a few minutes of just sitting there and hating himself for something he had already done, he decided to take a walk so he set out towards his favorite place, the lake.

To his relief, the lake was deserted of any other human beings so he rested against a large oak tree and decided to nap there until breakfast, glad that the lake wasn't making any weird noises like it sometimes did.

But after just a minute or so of lying there, he heard footsteps approaching him. Groaning under his breath, his eyes shot open and saw Blaise Zabini, stomping towards him.

Why do girls have to stomp all the time? ,he thought to himself. But Hermione doesn't stomp, her steps are as light as a butterfly landing on a flower.

He shook his head to get rid of all thoughts concerning Hermione.

Blaise reached him, her chest moving up and down and her face, red from the walking.

"Blaise," said Draco, nodding at her.

"Draco!" she wailed, "you ignorant . . . selfish . . . bastard!"

Draco stared at her. This was the second time a girl had called him a bastard.

"I waited for you last night! At midnight in the astronomy tower! I waited for ages but you never came!"

"You did?!? Well, I'm sorry," said Draco, not sounding sorry at all.

Blaise didn't seem to notice.

"Well sorry doesn't make up for it," she said angrily.

Then her face changed expression, from anger to thought.

"Well," she said slowly, smiling a bit, "I guess you could make it up to me . . ."

"Really, how?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Well," she pranced down and knelt beside him, "since I'm one of the prefects organizing the Christmas Ball, I was wondering if you would maybe, accompany me that night? We'll walk down the grand staircase together and everyone would look at us! Just imagine the look on Parkinson's face! We would make such a good looking couple!" she said happily.

Draco sighed to himself. Since Pansy had run off and every other girl in the school was either too shy to ask him or too ugly, he mumbled 'ok' and she squealed with delight.

"Oh my God!!! I'm going to the Christmas Ball with Draco Malfoy!!!" she cried happily, "I'm going to decide what to wear," she informed him and ran back to the castle.

Draco just stared after her, wondering what it was that was making that girl so high when he decided he'd better go back inside before someone else comes out and bombarded him.

So he walked back into his dorm and slumped on the couch, closing his eyes when a few minutes later, he heard a door open. Knowing that it was Hermione, he just decided to pretend he didn't hear her but then he heard the footsteps stop for a while and thought that maybe she was going to ask him something so he opened his eyes.

And saw her with a towel wrapped around her middle. His first reaction was to make a snide comment about it but then he stopped himself. Her wet hair was hanging down and since it was wet and limp, she didn't look too bad. Her arms were slim and her legs were well shed as well. He had always thought that the reason Hermione had never bothered with her looks was because she knew that she was naturally ugly but now that he saw her without most of her clothes on, she, he had to admit, looked alright. He became aware that he was just staring at her so he quickly looked at her face again and decided to go along with his first reaction.

He smiled and then said, "Well, Granger, I see you've made yourself comfortable. I suppose the dress-code from where you usually live involves a towel wrapped around your body in the early mornings?"

She blushed and he smirked at her, although at the back of his mind, something was telling him to stop. But Draco wasn't going to stop, he was going to make Hermione feel really crap about coming out with just a towel on. He was about to say something when he caught the look on her face. She was red as a tomato and her eyes were full of fear. Her thin arms trembled slightly and she was biting her lower lip. He decided to give it a rest and left, saying he needed to go to breakfast.

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Hermione walked briskly along the hallway towards the Great Hall. She thoroughly regretted what had happened between her and Malfoy this morning.

And she also regretted using 'Mr Sleeky's Hair Management Cream', or in muggle terms, 'hair gel' or 'mousse'. She had been managing her hair ever since the first day of school and if she was expecting some sort of appreciation or anything like that about her hair, she was wrong.

She reached the Great Hall and walked over to the Gryffindor table, smiling at Ginny as she got closer. But Ginny however, did not smile back. Instead, it seemed as thought Ginny was determined to stare right through Hermione. When Hermione got closer, she realized R&H sitting opposite her, with their backs against her and she immediately remembered what happened last night.

"Hey, boys!"

Hermione turned to see Parvati and Lavender, walking towards them, flashing them two lip-glossed smiles. They both separated once they got to R&H and Parvati sat next to Harry and Lavender squeezed in next to Ron.

Hermione turned away as the four of them chatted like they knew each other for the whole of their lives. But she held her head up, and sat down next to Ginny, shooting her a small smile. Ginny didn't smile back.

Feeling just slightly put down, Hermione stuffed her face, trying to ignore the whispers from across the table.

"-with Draco Malfoy."

"Yeah, yeah, stop saying that, we were there and saw it all ourselves."

"And what is with the hair?"

"She's trying to get noticed."

"Duh, like, obviously."

"But seriously, Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione slammed her fork down on the table. She glared at the foursome, who immediately shut up after her violent action.

She got up and walked out of the Great Hall quickly. She just couldn't believe that her best friends of five years had said those things about her. She blinked away her tears as she walked into her dorm, unaware that Draco Malfoy was there.

She locked herself into her room and got her schoolbag, looking around for a quill and parchment. She couldn't stand not talking to R&H and if they wouldn't let her talk to them, then she would write them a note, explaining everything with an apology.

She shifted everything in her bag but she just couldn't find a quill. She reached into her pockets and drew out a quill, and a piece of parchment.

It was folded twice and she opened it, curious at what it might have on it.

Dear Hermione,

I'm really sorry about the way that I've been acting lately. I know you're going through a rough time so you can always count on me as a friend to be here for you. Meet me outside the broken girls' toilets on the second floor tomorrow night, after dinner. We can talk safely then.

There was no signature.

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A/N- Well, I hope that there was plenty of suspense there. Lolz. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter and the 'new layout'. And also, post who you think the note might be from, 'cuz you never know, who it could be ~_^ Alright, I'm starting to sound a bit weird. I'm sorry if I didn't post soon enough but I was thinking of ideas and also, school kept me busy 24/7. I won't make any promises that the next chapter will be up within a week but there is the slightest, most smallest chance that it could happen. Okay peepz, you know what to do . . . REVIEW!!!!