Howdy! Long time no see! Sorry for the long wait, but I had to rewrite this chapter over twice. But hey, there's no such thing as good writing, but good re-writing. ;) The next chapter will be out sooner than it took for this one to be out. I've already started writing it. Happy Reading!

Thanks to Rachel M, TriGemini, SnOwAnGeL, sushi, Xirleb70, plastic, bassoon1_hotb51, Queen of the Leather Couch, Sam, Anarchy Star, and Chompie for reviewing!

disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own Drusilla Hedgerow, the D'Evereuxs, and the plot. =D

Chapter 7:

The rest of the day didn't go too smoothly for Hermione and Draco, and it all had to do with Harry.

That day Hermione taught Draco how to play football (and he lost 36-0), and Draco taught her how to play quidditch. "If you could only learn how to control your broom you'd be a whole lot better," he told her.

In the evening they were in Hermione's bedroom talking about different books they had read when Hedwig came swooping in through the open window that was letting in the cool night air. Hedwig dropped the letter in Hermione's lap and then left just as fast as she had come.

"Who's that from?" asked Draco. He was lying casually on Hermione's bed next to her.

"Harry," she replied. Draco said nothing.

Hermione opened the letter and read:

Hermione-

I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Sorry, I just had to get that out. I think Ron was getting a bit annoyed with me talking about you like that all the time, so I stopped and everything just sort of built up inside. I know you don't mind me telling you though. Oh, I have a surprise for you. No, I'm not telling you what it is, you'll have to wait and see for yourself. Well, I have to go , Ron and I are having a chess tournament and we're about to start game three. (And yes, he's winning.) See you soon.

Love,

Harry

Hermione smiled as she folded the letter back up, not realizing Draco was still right beside her.

"What?" Draco asked.

Hermione snapped out of her short reverie and looked at Draco. "Oh nothing. He's just happy we get to see each other, that's all."

Draco's spirit lowered, as if a two ton weight had been placed on his chest. "Ah." He slowly rose from the bed and then headed for the door, without even so much as a glance towards Hermione. "I'd better go to bed. It's late and we've got to leave in the morning." Before Hermione could even utter the word "'bye", Draco had already shut the door behind him.

'That was odd,' thought Hermione.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Damn. He was a fool to even think that Hermione was even interested in him in the slightest bit. She was still going out with Potter, and there was no way that she even felt the same way he felt about her. Things were better off the way they were before; at least before he didn't have to deal with the overwhelming feel of loss.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Friday morning came, and at about eleven thirty Hermione and Draco met each other at the fireplace in the living room to floo into Diagon Alley.

"Good morning," said Hermione smiling.

Draco said nothing in return, but instead handed her enough floo powder to get to Diagon Alley and back. Then, taking his own, stepped into the fireplace and with the green flames tickling his body shouted "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared from sight.

'What the hell is his problem?' thought Hermione. 'I thought we were supposed to be friends.' She thought for a moment before realizing that it was because of Harry and his letter that he was acting different. 'But why should that letter be any different? He knows that I love Harry.' And that was just it, its because he knows that she loves Harry. 'Oh my gosh! He can't. I mean, its just not possible....Draco can't like me...not like that anyway....no, no ,no........damn.' She stepped into the fireplace and flooed to Diagon Alley, Draco in her thoughts the entire time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When she got there a short while later, she almost instantly saw Harry and Ron and went to meet up with them. There was no sign of Draco when she stepped out of the fireplace, and she knew that he arrived in the same one she just had. She knew that they were supposed to act like enemies and all, but she figured he must relaly be pissed off to leave in such a rush. He would've normally liked to sitck around and insult Harry and Ron for a bit.

"Hermione!" Hermione turned around just before she was swept up into an enormous hug by Harry, and then Ron. Her thoughts of Draco were completely forgotten.

"Harry! Ron!" she exclaimed. "You don't know how good it is to see you!"

Harry smiled and kissed Hermoine on the cheek. "Where have you been all summer? You usually come to Ron's about 3 weeks ago," said Harry.

Hermione paused before answering. "Oh, I've just been home all summer. Mum and dad didn't really want me to go anywhere since that's the last time I'll be home for summer holidays before going back to school."

"Its okay," replied Ron. "We were just a bit worried, that's all. We didn't want to say anything to you about it though, we figured you had something important to do."

'They bought it.' Hermione smiled before changing the subject. "Let's go get our supplies. We can go to Florish and Blotts last because the books are the last thing on our list." They boys agreed and the three were off.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Draco quickly found himself to have Pansy Parkinson latched to his arm like leech, flirting like mad. He never even liked Pansy, but at least she gave him the kind of attention Draco had wanted from Hermione.

Hermione.

He was so pissed off beyond belief about her and Harry. He knew it really wasn't her fault, but he felt the need to blame her for it. Nonetheless, he didn't even want to speak to her. He wanted her to feel the pain that he did, and he knew just how to do it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hermione spent the day with Harry and Ron, much like they always did in the past before the school term started up again. They made their way into Quality Quidditch Supplies (of course), Madam Malkin's, and then to the Owl Emporium to learn how to properly care for Niaj. "I didn't know you had an owl Hermione," said Harry.

"Yup. I got her this summer from my parents." It wasn't all a lie. She did get Niaj from her parents. "Let's go to Florish and Blotts now," she suggested. Harry and Ron agreed, and in a few minutes time the threesome walked into the shop.

After about an hour, they managed to get all the books they needed and went to stand in line for the cash register. Hermione looked at Ron's stack of books and noticed one there that wasn't on the list. "Ron, what's that?" she asked.

He looked down the the books she was pointing at, took it out of his stack and handed it to her. "I haven't gotten you anything for your birthday yet, and I saw this and wanted to get it for you. You seem to like contoversial stuff."

Hermione looked at the book. When Lightening Strikes: Voldemort's Rise To Power by Drusilla Hedgerow.

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Ron!" She opened the book to begin reading when she heard talking behind her. She turned around to see Crabbe, Goyle, Draco, and Pansy.

"And what's the Mystery Machine Gang up to today?" asked Draco. His cronies sniggered.

"Ugh, Granger why did you ever try smoothing down your hair? It looked better when it was big and bushy," said Pansy, her nose held high to show off her self proclaimed radiance.

"Yeah, right, like I'm going to take advice from a girl who resembles a pug dog," Hermione mused.

Pansy glared at her.

Harry stepped in front of Hermione. "Pansy, just shut up. And shove off Malfoy, no one wants you here," he interrupted.

Draco's temper rose. He really hated Harry at the moment. Well, he always had hated him before, but not ever as much as now. He had to insult him really badly. He smirked as a lightbulb went on in his head.

"Hey Potter, I heard your mum was Voldemort's whore, and that the reason Voldemort killed her was because she started fucking your dad instead of him. Is that so?" he sneered.

Harry began boiling with rage. Hermione saw Harry reach for his wand and, before he could do anything too drastic, she quickly stepped in front of him and glared at Malfoy. "At least someone wanted his mum. I heard that your father had such pity on yours that he forced himself to marry her."

Draco glared at Hermione.

Ron burst out laughing. "All right Mione!"

"Shut up Scooby, no one asked for your input," Draco hissed. He looked at Harry. "Tell your girlfriend to hold her tongue. She should know better than to associate with someone so much higher than herself."

"Oh give it a rest. You overuse the whole 'I'm a rich and powerful Malfoy' thing," she said coldly. "And you have absolutely no right to say untrue things about Harry's parents like that when your own parents aren't all that great."

Draco arched his eyebrow. She wouldn't dare say what he was thinking she would say...would she? "What do you mean, Granger?"

Hermione decided to bring a little of what she knew about Draco's family life into their conversation. That remark about Lily Potter was uncalled for, no matter how pissed off he was. "I know for a fact that your dad beats the crap out of you whenever you don't do something he wants, and you cower and cry like a little child."

Ron and Harry exchanged puzzled looks. "Um, Hermione?", Harry asked, "How do you know that?"

It was a good thing that Hermione was prepared to answer that question (and lie while doing so), because otherwise Harry would have thrown her completely off guard. Hermione turned around. "I don't really, I just thought I'd make him squirm," she whispered.

Draco's face paled. She did it. How could she have? They made an agreement not to reveal anything about anything of that sort, and Hermione broke her promise. Draco clenched his jaw to surpress the anger that was about ready to explode. Instead of cursing her with his wand like he felt like at that moment, he chose to channel his anger towards a single comment...

"Beatings or not at least my parents care about me, unlike yours who haven't up until a few weeks ago," he growled. His plan worked. She was feeling the pain that he was feeling.

'Ouch,' thought Hermione.

"What the hell are you getting at Malfoy?" asked Harry.

Draco shrugged. "Ask Granger. I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you."

"Mione?" asked Harry. She looked up at him. She couldn't tell him, not now anyway. "I have to go," she whispered. She grabbed all her books (including the one Ron was getting her), ran up to the counter and left a pile of money to cover her books, and ran out the door of the shop.

Harry started after Hermione but Draco held him back. "I can assure you she's already gone, Potter."

"How the-" Harry started, but before he could get any further Draco had left money on top of the pile Hermione had made on the front counter, and left the same way Hermione did, leaving a very confused Harry, Ron, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hermione had just sat down in the chair in her room when Draco came bursting in.

"Why the hell did you do that? We had an agreement!" he shouted.

"You had no right to say what you did about Harry's mom. I knew you could be mean, but you went too far," she replied.

"I went to far!? What about you telling everyone how my dad acts at home?"

"And just what the hell did you mean about my parents not caring about me until a few weeks ago? How do you know they don't really care about me?!" Hermione shouted.

Draco silenced himself and stared at Hermione.

"That's what I thought," she said. She sat back down in her chair and picked up the book Ron, or rather herself since she paid for it, got for her.

"Mione," Draco began, but Hermione just ignored him and read the summary on the back of her book.

"Mione please listen to me. I'm sorry about what I said. It's just, I was so jeal-"

"Oh my gosh...This, this can't be right," Hermione interrupted. She didn't even hear what Draco had been saying.

"What's wrong?" asked Draco. He walked over to her and took the book out of her hands.

"Read the back cover," she said, her voice cracking a bit.

Draco flipped the book over and read:

From the nineteen-forties to the present, the life of Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort has been a magnificent yet violently brutal one. From the time the Heir of Slytherin opened up the Chamber of Secrets, The Dark Lord slowly rose to power, gaining followers including what many believe to be his most loyal subjects Peter Pettigrew, Giselle D'Evereux and Gregoire D'Evereux. This book includes an in depth history on his life, and his most recent passion the search for the Elements, the four most powerful stones on earth.

"Ah," said Draco.

Hermione stayed focused on her lap. "Is it true?"

Draco said nothing.

"Is-it-true?" Hermione asked. Her eyes started tearing up.

"I'm afraid so."

Hermione looked up at him, a single tear streaming down her cheek. "Then you were right. They don't care about me." She buried her face in her hands and softly began to cry.

Draco sat down on the ottoman and pulled Hermione into his arms to try and calm her down. "It'll be okay Mione."

"Draco," said Hermione, "I want you to tell me the truth about everything, everything about what you know of my parents and what the Elements are."

Draco nodded. "Okay."

Mwahahahaha! Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Now I bet you're all wondering about a few things. For one, for this Drusilla Hedgerow person to put out book about Voldemort and not call him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" is kind of odd, no? Its supposed to be. You'll find out in the next chapter. Also, I started capitalizing elements because they should be capitalized, I just had never done so before. All right! Now it's time for the reviewing! So click on the little "Go" button on the bottom left hand corner of your screen and tell me what you thought of this chapter. =)

**Emerald Smoke