A/N—Alright, I know the last chapter was so extremely short, but bear with me. The deeper into the story I get, the longer the chapters will be. I gain speed that way. And though I did not receive ten reviews (sob), I have decided to post anyways. I do post much faster with more ideas from you!

Thanks a million to my beta, lana-la-banana. Check out her story, New World, New Views—it really rocks.

My other story, Embrace The Darkness, has not been updated in months due to lack of inspiration. I would really appreciate ideas for it, because I think it's going to be deleted and rewrote. And retitled, because the title has no relevance to the story whatsoever. Anyways…

ONTO THE STORY…

Shades of Gray

Chapter Seven—That Confounding Door

          Hermione whirled past the blonde boy the moment Professor McGonagall left through the painting. Throwing herself onto the four-poster bed situated in the middle of her gold and scarlet room, she heard Draco trying to open his door. She rolled her eyes exasperatedly; it was quite obvious that a password had to be made. Hers, she had decided, was "Norbert" in honor of one of the Golden Trio's many escapades. It was easy to remember, and only Harry or Ron would ever have a chance of guessing it. Besides Hagrid, of course. But unlike paintings, these doors wouldn't react to the password being spoken. To activate the door, one must place their hand upon the wood and think of the chosen word. This way the other roommate would never be allowed free reign in the others quarters.

          Hermione stifled a giggle as she heard a very frustrated Draco pound his hand into the mahogany door. She resisted the urge to shriek as a booming voice echoed through her quarters.

"Granger, how do I get into my room?" yelled Draco furiously.

"Well, perhaps the door handle scurried away the moment it saw your fake blonde hair! Merlin knows that many a first year has done the same!" she responded sarcastically. Of course, Hermione knew that his hair was not fake, after seeing a replica of it on his mother at the Quidditch World Cup.

"Just tell me, and I'll leave you alone! And I am naturally blonde!" Hermione laughed, quite smug indeed.

"Let not thy will roar when thy power can but whisper!" A growl of anger emerged from Draco's mouth, shocking the both of them.

"I have no time for word games, Granger! What do you mean?"

"I mean that you have no power over me when you are outside a door that you cannot get through, yelling at me. A simple silencing spell will take care of the yelling part. So truly, it doesn't matter to me whether or not you choose to leave me alone." 

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          Draco threw his hands up, thoroughly fed up and disgusted. He was losing his patience, and fast. Normally he had tighter reign on his emotions, but it had been a trying week. First his father abandons the family, he attacks a bunch of aurors, then he gets locked inside an uncomfortably small room, his mother gets sent to Azkaban, he has to leave his home, he's told that Granger is Head Girl and now his bloody door won't open! This had to be one of the worst weeks of his entire life.  He decided to lower himself and try another method of persuasion. Swallowing his pride, he began to talk in a calmer tone of voice.

"Look, I didn't mean to get so upset. I think we have both have had an extremely bad week and I would appreciate if you would just help me out," Draco forced the words out through gritted teeth.

          He pressed his ear to the door to listen for her response, and could have sworn he heard a small sob. Obviously, he was mistaken when a totally controlled voice answered,

"Try an unlocking spell." He gripped his hands into fists and resisted the urge to attack the door.

"I have already tried an unlocking spell! Just tell me the truth!"

"It is always better to tell the truth…" Draco opened his mouth when she paused, sick of her coy responses, when she finished her sentence.

"…Unless you are a very good liar." He paused. He never thought the day would come when he heard a Gryffindor utter words such as those. All of a sudden, the irony of the situation caught up with him. Here he was, a pureblood and now owner of the Malfoy fortune, practically begging for a muggle-born's help! Draco slid to the ground…and laughed.

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          Hermione sat straight up as laughter resounded throughout her room. Draco Malfoy was laughing in front of her door. And not just smug, evil cackles, but full-blown chuckles! She sprinted to the door and ripped it open, not wanting to miss this occasion. There he was, sitting on the ground, laughing. Do not let anyone tell you that laughter is not contagious, for it is so is so infectious that Hermione could do nothing else but slide to the ground and start laughing as well!

Who would have predicted that Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Slytherin, and Hermione Granger, brains of the Golden Trio, would be rolling on the ground, laughing together? Certainly not Harry and Ron, which explains why they were so shocked, and kind of upset, when they saw them.

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          Harry could not believe it. His best friend and his archenemy were laughing together! As usual, Ron could not control his temper, and it did not help that he had always harbored a bit of a crush on Hermione. Not that she knew. No one knew. Harry was not even supposed to know! That would be the reason why Ron blew up at the two of them the moment his eyes hit them.

"Hermione! What do you think you are doing? You…you're fraternizing with the enemy!" 

          Hermione's head whipped and stared down the stairs, straight into the angry eyes of Ron Weasley. She felt like she should jump up from the plush carpet and start apologizing. But she caught herself as questions formulated quickly inside her mind. Why should she apologize for laughing? What right did he have to yell and judge her?  Ron looked a bit taken aback as Hermione's look changed lighting-quick from guilty to rebellious and quite angry.

"Ronald Weasley! I can laugh with whomever I please too! Why do you think you have the authority to tell me that I can't?" she stated furiously.

"But Hermione!" Ron seemed unable to form any other words, a bit speechless at this unexpected outburst.

"Hermione, Ron's right though! He should be six feet under for the way he's treated us these past years!" Cut in Harry, feeling a bit put out himself.

"Well, it's just too bad that I'm alive and breathing, isn't it?" drawled Draco, not wanting to be left out of a conversation concerning him.

"Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them!" yelled Ron.

"I think you would be included in that category, Weasley. As would you, Potter."  Hermione was a bit surprised at the witty retort that seemed to come quite naturally to him. Then again, it might not be a very good thing that insults flowed freely from a Malfoy's mouth.

"Why you little bouncing ferret! I'll-" This monologue, though extremely entertaining to the portrait of a centaur hanging on the wall, was cut short by another response by none other than Draco.

"Really, Weasley, I would think almost anyone could come up with a better insult than that. It lost its impact years ago. Frankly, it's almost pathetic how often you use the very, very ineffective phrase."

"Will you all just stop it? You two wait outside the portrait. I'll be out after I've calmed down enough not to hex both of you to hell!" Hermione demanded in a strict voice.

"But Hermione-" started Harry. 

"NOW!" Hermione had lost her patience for sure. The boys glanced once at each other, before practically sprinting out of portrait.

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          Ron jumped through the portrait hole and slumped against the wall opposite from it. Did she prefer to defend Draco Malfoy than agree with him? After all these years they had been friends, Ron had always felt a bit something more and had always hoped that she might feel the same way. Perhaps she did, and he could not tell.

          This was going to be the year. The year Ron Weasley told Hermione Granger just how much he loved her.

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          Letting out another small shriek of frustration, Hermione leaned against the wall and glanced over at Draco, who was looking at her with a bit of confusion floating on his face.

"Why didn't you just apologize? It wouldn't have been such a big deal," asked Draco, a bit more curious than he cared to admit even to himself. Hermione sat up primly.

" I…well, it's like I said before. Ron did not have the right to tell me that I could not even laugh with you, for Merlin's sake. He is so controlling! I am getting so sick of this big brother face he always puts on!" Draco looked at her a bit strangely. Draco was many things, and one was being very observant. Perhaps he was the only one who saw it, but he did not think that Ron harbored any brother-like feelings toward Hermione. He hated to confess it to himself, but it was kind of nice not having Hermione automatically step all over him the minute one of her friends was offended. But as she said, it was because she didn't think that Ron had the right to tell her not too.

But perhaps there was something more to it that neither of them knew.

Yet.

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OPTIONS FOR NEXT CHAPTER

1. The students come back to Hogwarts-(Yes, it's ineveitable, but it could happen in a different chapter? But it could move right along.)

2. Hermione gets into a fight with Harry and Ron (especially Ron)

3. Draco looks at her in a bit of a different light after she sort of defended him

4. If the students come back, Hermione gets a bit of attention from guys and Draco feels something. Could it be…jealousy?

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A/N—

Musical Demon--- I think that maybe putting another teacher in would be funny, but would make it get a bit off the track I want the story to go on. Maybe in a different story I'll write that. But I really love input and appreciate the review and idea.

Meg- I try to write in a way that you can get what the characters are thinking, but still kind of look in on the other characters thoughts at the same time. So it's like their POV's in my own quirky way.

KaileyMay- I know, that last chapter was really short, but I just wanted to get something out. This one is longer and I'm going to continue to try and extend the length to some degree.

BrownEyedTook- My most loyal reviewer, thanks again for reviewing.

I NEED REVIEWS PLEASE SAVE ME! PLEASE!

I love encouragement, but criticism and advice really help me out. I can't improve something you don't like if I don't know what I'm doing wrong!!

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REVIEW

- Let not they will roar when thy power can but whisper----I'm not sure who wrote this, except that it wasn't me.

- - Some people are only alive because it's illegal to kill them—again, kind of popped into my head and I know I read it somewhere.