Disclaimer: I own the plot, nothing else.

She only made it to the front door in the Great Hall before she realized the

ludicrous nature of what she was doing. She was leaving Hogwarts, her home, the only

place where she ever had friends. She was running away, and Gryffindors never ran

away. So with new resign, she stiffened her spine and turned back to the direction of her

rooms. She told herself that she wouldn't let anyone prevent her from getting the future

she deserved, because underneath all of this confusion she was still the same girl. The

girl that values her studies and the sense of accomplishment she gets from doing well.

The girl that has two best friends that have been with her through thick and thin although

she has forgotten that recently. The girl who put countless hours and strenuous effort into

becoming Head Girl so that others could look up to her. The girl that had planning the

Ministry job she would pursue ever since she put one foot onto the train in her first year.

She was all those things before she had gotten involved with Draco, and she would be all

those afterwards. No, she wouldn't leave, no matter how difficult it felt to stay. Because

despite the all consuming nature of her love life recently, Hermione was more than that.

She was more than Draco and Ron's ex-girlfriend, and it's time she remembered that.

After the first peaceful night's sleep she had since she returned to school,

Hermione breezed down to breakfast with a different attitude that Harry and Ron hadn't

seen since the end of last year. It was the old Hermione back. After giving them both a

surprising hug, she apologized to Ron.

"I'm not gonna apologize for wanting to be with someone else, because you're

wrong about that. I don't want to be with anyone right now. But I will apologize for the

way I acted while we were together because I was way too inattentive. I hope you can

forgive me, because I want us all to go back to being friends-the type of friends that we

used to be."

Seeing the first true smiles on their faces that she had seen all year, Ron accepted

the apology. She knew that things were going to be okay between the three of them now.

The next step in getting back to her old self was regaining the cloud of paranoia that

surrounded her when it came to studying.

So for the next few weeks, Hermione threw herself into her homework, getting all

of it done and a bunch of future assignments done as well. She was once again the over

achiever know it all that many had come to know and love. Her Head Girl duties were

given utmost attention, and in her spare time she helped younger students with their

work. But she always made certain to spend time with Harry and Ron, because she

promised herself that she wouldn't lose touch with them after only recently getting them

back.

She only had one problem in her path, take one wild guess what that was. She

hadn't spoken to Draco since that night when she had almost left. She felt bad because

she had done something to him that was very hurtful, but the things he said to her were so

cruel. It crossed her mind a couple times that she deserved all that he said, and more, but

she just couldn't get over the fact that he would actually say that stuff to her. For some

reason, when they had been involved she had forgotten that he was truly like that. That

he was spiteful, and didn't give a damn about what anyone else thought. How she had

fallen in love with someone like that was beyond her comprehension.

But the fact was that she had fallen in love with him, and it wasn't anything like

she had dreamed being in love would be. She was in pain, it felt like her heart was ripped

out of her chest every time she saw him look away from her in disgust. If she could have

gotten rid of the love that she felt in her heart then she would have, but she knew that

wasn't possible. This was the kind of love that lasted forever. The thought didn't excite

her, but instead scared the hell out of her because she didn't know how she was going to

survive the rest of her life if she couldn't be with the person that she loved.

Then there were times that she called herself a fool, believing that stupid prophesy

she had. It could have just been a dream, and yet she had taken it so seriously and had

dumped Draco at the first opportunity. But no matter how many times she called herself

a fool, she still couldn't work up enough regret to say that she would have done anything

differently if put into that situation again. Whether he had needed it or not, Hermione

had saved Draco's life. She had stopped him from loving her, and she had protected him.

It would have been nice to have someone else sharing the agonizing feeling that she was

now, though. But Draco didn't love her; that was the one thing that she was sure of right

now. How could someone love her when they couldn't even look at her?

Draco had been asking himself a very similar question for weeks. How could he

love her when he couldn't look at her without cringing? It wasn't that she disgusted him;

she had just hurt him so much when she had kissed Ron. He couldn't figure it out,

because he caught her staring at him several times every day. Why would she be looking

at him if she didn't still have feelings for him? And if she had feelings for him then why

wasn't she acting on them? The answer of they're being "too different" was bullshit, and

they both knew it.

The irony of the situation was missed on both of them. Hermione went through

her days with her friends and studies, but with no passion. She had a perpetual ache in

her heart, and every time she would see Draco it increased hundred fold. She took

comfort in the fact that she was finally getting back to being the old Hermione, before she

got involved with Draco. And she also took comfort in knowing that her pain and

suffering meant that Draco was safe, because it wasn't possible that he loved her, at least

not anymore. Draco went through his days feeling the same ache that Hermione did. He

buried himself in all of his work and Quidditch, and secluded himself from all of his

classmates and teachers. He comforted himself by saying that he knew Hermione had

feelings for him, no matter what.

Hermione never thought it possible that Draco loved her, and although Draco

thought Hermione might still carry affection for him, he never thought it possible that she

loved him. If they had only realized their mutual love, maybe they could have been

spared some pain. Maybe things would have turned out differently.

AN...yea I'm really sorry about not updating recently, but it's been a crazy month and a half. It's always hard to find time during the holidays, plus my birthday is right after (yes I did get my license), and then I just finished with midterms. I know I said I would update more frequently, and I honestly didn't mean to lie, time just got away from me. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, hope you like this chapter, and I'll try to get the next one up ASAP. I've been toying around with an idea for a new story, where Harry gets transported back in time. No, he doesn't go to Marauders time like most time traveling fics, but instead gets sent to when Voldemort is a baby and he has the option of killing him or not. I don't know if that's really lame or not, just give me some input on it and maybe if enough people like it I'll try to write it. THANKS!!