Disclaimer:  I do not own it!  ::sobs uncontrollably::

Conversations

            Hermione paced back in her room, her roommates were all sleeping.  Did he really think that she would fall for something like that?  Did he really think that she could be won over easily?  Did he really think she was pretty?  Stop it!  She mentally scolded herself for allowing her thoughts to wander in that direction.  It bothered her that a guy would try to pull a stunt like that on her.  She was not an easy girl, she respected herself way more than that.  But the thing that was really nagging her was that for a moment somewhere in there, she had actually been enjoying talking to Draco Malfoy. 

            Draco shifted uncomfortably in his bed.  He opened his eyes and realized, that there was a blond head on his chest, and that this was not his bed at all.  Carefully, so as not to wake the sleeping girl he put on his clothes and set out for his own room. 

            He was feeling rather irritable.  Life was boring; simple things ceased to amuse him any more.  He hated it in fact, and he was beginning to loathe himself in the process.  Why was he being so difficult?  Any normal guy would be happy, satisfied at least.  And here he was, far from satisfied and very empty.  He had now reached his room and walked inside. 

            There was an owl sitting on his bed.  The owl was one of his fathers.  Untying the parchment from its leg, he read:

Draco,

            I trust that things are going well and that your assignment is underway.  The Dark Lord wishes to hear at the end of this week how your assignment is coming.  Although I can hardly say I approve of you fraternizing with a filthy mudblood, the girl had better be right where she is wanted and soon! 

                                    Your Father

            He put the letter down, it was not exactly the type of thing he had wanted to be reading after his first day of school.  But, he had come to accept the terse relationship he shared with his father.  The letter did nothing except deepen the void within Draco.    His thoughts wandered to his father; how repulsive it was that he was so much in awe of the Dark Lord that he would allow his son to fraternize with the very group he hated most. His father was weak and merely a follower.  Draco, did not care one way or the other for the Dark Lord, in the same way he did not care one way or the other for muggle-borns.  He was indifferent and simply did what suited him at the time; he didn't understand what all the fuss was about really.  People should worry about themselves.  That's what he did after all.  He didn't care about anyone except himself, and he was pretty sure that no one cared for him except himself. 

            Draco flopped on his bed and pulled the covers up over him.  He knew he was going to have to think of a new plan of attack for the Hermione problem.  Soon enough, an idea came to his head, which he decided to try tomorrow, after classes.

            Still not having made up with Harry and Ron, Hermione made her way to the library after her last class.  The only time those two came in here was with her.  She settled down in her usual table at the back of the room, unaware that there were three people where making their way to the table too. 

            Harry and Ron were making their way to the table at the back of the library, but were stopped dead in their tracks.  Draco Malfoy approached the table first. 

            "Why the little,"  Ron started and made a quick movement toward the table, but was caught by Harry. 

            "No,"

            "And why not,"

            "She's already mad at us, if we go over there now, she'll be even madder."

            Ron knew Harry was right.  They both looked at her and she shot them a look. 

            "We'll talk to her right after dinner.  And we wont mention Malfoy."

            Both boys turned and slowly left the library which would have pleases Hermione very much, had she not been preoccupied. 

            Draco Malfoy casually strode up to Hermione's table.

            "Can I talk to you?"  he asked very politely.

            She was about to say no when she saw Harry and Ron approaching and thought better of the idea.  "…Sure"  she said hesitantly. 

            "May I?" he inquired pointing to the chair.

            "Oh, yeah, sure."

            He sat down and began.  "Hermione I'm sorry about yesterday.  I didn't mean it like that, it's just that, well…"  he leaned his head on his hands over the table.  This had better work.

            Did he actually use her name?  Not Mudblood, not Granger, but Hermione?  This abrupt switch in title is probably what kept her listening to him at the moment.  That and the fact that he looked rather distraught. 

            "It's just what?" she asked softly.

            "It's nothing,  maybe I should go" He turned to leave, but Hermione caught his wrist.

            "It's just what?" she persisted. 

            "Nothing," he said holding his eyes downcast.

            She raised her eyebrows as Draco saw out of the corner of his eye.  Here goes nothing. 

            Sighing, he started: "It's just that sometimes I think that it would be nice to have some one to talk to."  Hermione looked at him, but there were no signs of mockery in his eyes.  He continued,  "I saw you sitting here yesterday, and I remembered that you had been reading one of my favorite books so I thought, that maybe I could talk to you.  In any case I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for yesterday, I didn't mean it like that."

            She had to think about his words, but there was nothing about him that made them unbelievable.  He had been staying to himself most of the time, she noticed that; and wasn't he being nice lately?  Maybe he really did need someone to talk to. 

            Draco could tell by the complex look in Hermione's eyes that she believed him.  Excellent. He thought, now I have her right where I want her.  "I'll let you get back to reading now," and again he turned to leave only to be stopped. 

            "Please,  I'd like you to stay," at this Draco turned around and was wearing what seemed like a smile and was not in the least like the smirk that usually donned his pale face.  "I'm sorry about yesterday too.  I guess I didn't really give you a chance, but why don't we start over.  You can talk to me."

            His smile grew, he was convinced, because she was taking the bait exactly the way he planned, not because she seemed that she was sincere about wanting to listen to him.   It made him feel accomplished; he ignored the fact that there was something in him that picked up every time he saw her smile. 

            They talked for the rest of the afternoon, not about anything in particular,  just a bunch of little things.  Hermione knew a lot about many different subjects, and Draco found her more interesting than most other girls he knew, even if he wasn't ready to admit it.  He was, in spite of himself enjoying this conversation more than he had enjoyed anything in a long time.  This he attributed to the fact that Hermione was one of the only people who could equal his intelligence which made it possible to take about things with her that other people didn't understand.  Hermione was enjoying herself because Draco was smart, witty, rather nice to look at, and much to her surprise interesting. 

            Before long it was time for dinner and the two teens said good-bye  to each other and made their ways to dinner. 

Hermione, Harry, and Ron made up at dinner; Hermione was feeling like they were actually treating her like an adult when they left her in the library.  She had been in a good mood too, for whatever reason.  The three made their way up to the common room after supper.  They settled down in front of the fire doing homework, both boys wanting to know but afraid to ask what happened in the library.  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            After dinner Draco headed up to his dorm, he was in no mood to socialize with the idiots that flooded the common room.  He lay down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.  Before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep. 

            Draco was running down a dimly lit hallway, there was someone he had to get to at the end.  He didn't know where exactly She was, but he had to find her, or she would die!  There were so many rooms, but they were all empty.  Where was She?  She needed him, he could feel her.  He was scared, really scared, a feeling to which he was not accustom.  The fear he felt was for this girl, she might die.  If She died he would die too.  He was so worried, he was loosing hope when he heard a small noise.  Turning to the open door on his left, he noticed a small shadow lying on the floor.  It was Her!  He undid the binding that was holding her hands and feet.  With his help she stood up and flung her arms around him passionately.  "Oh!  I knew you'd come!"  She released him from the hug and found his lips.  The kiss was unlike anything Draco had ever experienced before: he felt as if he could fly.  The feeling was ethereal;  he didn't belong to this world anymore, he was elated.  With her he was no longer simply himself, he could feel the whole universe moving through his veins.  She pulled gently away.  He still couldn't quite see her face, if only she would move into the light.  She took one step towards it and…

            Somewhere a door slammed loudly snapping Draco back into reality.  Crabbe and Goyle walked into the room.  Draco cursed the fools for interruption his dream, he really wanted to see the face of this girl.  It was twice no that he had had the same dream.  He wanted to finish the stupid thing already!  He turned over in his bed, but the dream didn't come again.

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            Hermione tossed and turned in her sleep; she was having a nightmare.   Suddenly she shot bolt upright in her bed.   Her breath was coming in gasps and her bed sheets were twisted around her legs.  She couldn't, for the life of her, remember any of the nightmare, but she did know that it left here feeling scared and alone; anticipating the worst.  Slowly her breathing returned to normal and she calmed the feelings that she was left with.  What ever that was, she hoped it never happened again. 

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Draco rolled out of his bed.  The room was empty, he had waited for his roommates to leave before getting up.  Something about people bothered him, it was probably their stupidity.  He dressed quickly and headed off for his first lesson, grabbing a bagel on the way.  Every where he went he could see the girls gawking at him.  He ignored this, which some how made them want him more.  Well, might as well it couldn't hurt.  He winked casually at a Slytherin girl, who immediately became flustered.  Walking over to her he said, "What's your name?"

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            The girl swallowed before replying softly, "Emily."

            "Would you like to meet me after class?"

            She nodded enthusiastically.

            "Good," he smirked, "Then I'll see you later."  Before he left the girl he bent down and kissed the side of her neck lightly.  Having everyone know him and his family certainly did have its benefits. 

            He found the girl again after lessons, and took her into an unused classroom. 

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            Draco was sitting in the room by himself now.  He had sent the girl out first, and now he was sitting and thinking.  Why did he feel so horrible?  Surely any other guy in this position would be elated.  He could have any girl he wanted, he had certainly proven that enough.  Yet here he was, feeling miserable, empty.  Why?  It's because you don't want just any girl.

 He knew it was true; he was sick of these easy gits who couldn't count to seven to save their life.  There was a need inside of him to be understood, a need for someone he could actually communicate with.  He longed for someone that who actually could match him someone with whom he had to compete.  Now where are you going to find a girl like that?  There weren't any who Draco knew of, all of the girls he knew either laid herself down at his feet or totally hated his guts.  Two extremes which were certainly less than favorable. 

There must be something that would make life interesting, something worth living for.  He sighed and left the room.

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            Hermione looked at the stack of books and parchments that were all nicely piled on her bed side table.  She had finished her homework and already checked it twice, although, there was really no need, it had been perfect the first time around.  Getting up from her bed she made a mental checklist of all her friends:  Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all at Quidditch practice; Lavender and Piviote (AN: sorry I really don't know how to spell her name) were in the bathroom giving each other makeovers; Seamus and Dean had been in the common room talking about Quidditch;  Neville, well who knew where he was; and here she was pacing around her room ready to die of boredom.  She flopped back down and let out a huge sigh and lay there for a while.  I know!  I'll go to the library. 

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            Draco was walking back towards his common room.  He passed some classrooms, a bunch of giggling students, the Great Hall, the library; the library!  Taking two steps backwards he entered through the double-doors.  He started wandering the room, to no where in particular.  His feet had taken him to an empty table at the back, noting it was empty he turned around ignoring the slightly disappointed feeling that he felt.  He walked out of the row of books and rounding a corner, he smacked into someone; both of them landing on the floor amidst a pile of books. 

            Draco looked up and noticed that the someone had been Hermione Granger.  His stomach did a sort of flip-flop to which he wasn't accustom, making think that he may be getting sick.  Hermione had begun to pick up the books,  "No, no let me," Draco said.  She glanced up at him.  She apparently wasn't used to his being nice.  Well it's what I'm supposed to do.  Draco thought, although it might have been more to convince himself then clarify the situation. 

            He carried the books over to the table for her.  Without really waiting for her to ask, he sat down and began critiquing her book choice. 

            Hearing what her had to say, she made a mock astonished look, that was really quite cute, had Draco been admitting it at the time.  She said, "Oh really?" as she became very animated.

            The two of them sat there in the library having a heated discussion, that both of them were thoroughly enjoying, much more than either would admit.  They talked for a long time; they talked straight through dinner and past sundown.  In fact they might have talked straight on till morning, had Madam Prince not noticed them as she was shelving the last of the night's books before closing up.  She hurried the teens out, as they were there way past time. 

            "Well good night then,"  Draco said.

            "Good night!"

            Hermione went back up to the Gryffindor common room; she had to tell the Fat Lady the password twice, because she yawned clear through her first try.  And it was no wonder she was yawning, when she got in the common room it was entirely empty.  Everyone had gone to sleep ages ago.  Mmm…sleep.  Hermione made her way up to her dorm and collapsed on her bed without even changing into her night clothes. 

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Woot!  I just posted a new fic and I got seven reviews already!  Its called Façade!  (check it out!) mmm…reviews!  I love them!  I love them so much that when people review me I tend to read and review their fics too!  I wanted to thank everybody who has reviewed my story thus far: Roxy Surfer, Sokairu, Einahpets, Severniae, and dragonsprincess.  Thank you all!  I luff you guys!  This chapter was sort of in between action, theres more fighting in the next one!  It is so evil!  I like the next chapter betterJ.  Well I hope you guys enjoyed it.  Until next time!

~Atiannala