A/N: okay, I'm sorry I haven't been updating, but I only have a few continuous reviewers, so that gets kinda depressing. If you want me to update more often, (you know who you are) recruit more people to read and review. Its that simple. Okay, I'm not really sure where this is going to go in between now and where it will be eventually. I have a lot of later chapters planned out, but I need ideas for filler chapters. If I don't get ideas, there's going to be about 3 more chapters to this thing, and then it'll be as far as I can get it. And that isn't that far. There's a lot more I want to happen, I just can't get there yet. Please give me ideas!

Sasha: I'm posting now. Keep reading!

HeYiTsChUcHuI90: thank you. I have 'broadened my horizon' as you say. I'm in the middle of writing a book that I want to get published. I write fanfics for fun.

Cajun: thank you, I'm posting right now! You'll see what happens.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor some of the other Ideas. Most of it is mine, though.

Princess of the Rising Sun

Chapter 4: I'm So Confused

"Master, she is awakening. Do you think she will realize..." he trailed off into silence.

"She must not. She must not be allowed to reach her full potential. Do you understand me?" A

high, evil voice was speaking in the darkness. "Get rid of her before she does. If you don't, she

may become too powerful. More powerful than me, even. Make sure she is destroyed."

"Yes master. As you wish." The first voice groveled before the other one. "Do not fail me,

Wormtail."

Hermione was still confused a week later about that one incident with Malfoy. Other things had

happened, as well. Things that were hard to explain, and even harder to understand. They always

happened when she was really angry or sad. Malfoy was leaving her alone, but she wasn't

completely happy. Besides being confused about this power, she was lonely. She couldn't really

explain why she felt this way, she had good friends and all, but she still felt as if she didn't belong.

What she didn't know was that Malfoy was having very similar feelings.

She began having those dreams again, but there wasn't as much anxiety in them. She now knew

there was something missing from it, but she didn't know what. She also kept thinking about the

boy- no man who had stopped her in the Forest. Where did he come from? Why was he there?

And why did he look so much like Malfoy? She had all these questions that were left

unanswered. She also started having weird memory flashbacks of when she was young, but they

couldn't have been real. They were all in some weird place she had never been to, she thought.

'I must be getting really stressed out with all this weird stuff that's been happening. I need to calm

down and put it aside for a while.' But as much as she told herself to forget it, she couldn't stop

thinking about all these occurrences.

It was three weeks before Christmas break, and all the teachers had started piling on the

homework, and there was a lot of it. there was one particularly nasty potions assignment from

Snape that had them all in partners.

"And today, class, we will be starting a new project that will continue until just before the

Christmas break. It shall be handed in the last day of classes, fully completed. Potter, you shall

be paired up with Parkinson. Weasley, Bulstrode. Granger, Malfoy. Longbottom, Montauge."

He continued on with the list, until all the Slytherins had been paired up with Gryfindors. "You

shall be brewing the memory and intuition enhancement potion. Many of you need it. I want it

complete and handed in to me in three weeks. The instructions are on the board, get with your

partners and begin." With that he started moving around the classroom, watching to make sure

they were all doing it right. Hermione and Malfoy hadn't spoken to one another since that

incident quite a while back, and they were on limited speaking levels. Speech was reserved

mainly for "pass the leek juice please" or "you're doing it wrong. Put in three rat spleens, not

two" or similar phrases. It wasn't until a week into the project, in the library during lunch, that

they began talking normally to one another. "Have you heard the newest song by the Weird

Sisters, Granger?" "Please, call me Hermione and I'll call you by your name. In the interest of

getting along so we can get good marks on this project."

"All right then Gran- Hermione. Have you heard their newest song?" "No. I don't really get

what all the fuss is about them. There are quite a few muggle singers that are better."

"Like who?" "Well, there are a few good ones, Lincoln Park, Smashmouth, Matchbox 20,

and a few others."

"Never heard of any of them." "Have you ever been to a theme park?"

"What the heck is that?" "I'll take that as a no. You're seriously missing out, kid. You

haven't lived until you've been on a roller coaster."

"Umm...do I want to know what that is? I don't really like the sound of it."

"Silly. Its a muggle construction. Hmm... I guess you could say its a little like the carts at

Gringotts, but a lot more fun. The carts on a roller coaster or fixed on the track, and the track

goes around in loops. The carts move around the tracks really fast, going around loops, up and

down, even upside down. Its a lot of fun." By this time, Draco had a giant sweatdrop (think

anime-like) and was edging a little ways away from her. "I see. You have fun. I don't think I'd

like that sort of thing." "It can't be that much different from a broom. Its just safer and more fun."

"Well, you have more control over a broom." They both started laughing and Hermione began to

thing he wasn't as bad as they thought he was all those years. He was okay. The more she

thought about that, the more she started thinking about how good he looked. He was pretty hot.

He had nice muscles, was nicely tanned, and lately had stopped gelling back his hair. It hung

loosely and framed his face quite nicely. 'He's really cute. Look at his smile. He's really good

looking.' It was true, he had a nice smile. He just didn't show it very often. 'He's not that bad

once you get to know him. You just have to get through the layers of unfeeling he surrounds

himself in. Ohmygosh! I think I'm falling for Draco Malfoy.' With that new revelation, she

thought about him a lot more. Thing is, he was thinking about her as well.

A/N: I thought i'd try to add a bit of humor in there, hope you like! REVIEW!