Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed!! I know it's frustrating that the dreams are interrupted at the best part, but time will come ;).. I'm sorry i didn't update earlier. i usually post them in the morning but now it's like 1:30 am. I couldn't upload my chapter for the whole day..it was driving me nuts!! But anywho, here it is.... (i hope Draco isn't too OOC)

Chapter Seven: A New Change

"I've found a reason to show

A side of me you didn't know

A reason for all that I do

And the reason is you"

Today was the day students would come back from their holiday vacation, and Hermione was overjoyed to see her friends. After breakfast, she went to the Gryffindor common room to wait for everybody to arrive and talk about what they did during Christmas break. She sat on one of the couches and rested her eyes, thinking about the dream she had last night.

This was the second time she had dreamt about him ever since she met him at the Ball. She was getting increasingly frustrated as distractions kept coming to her whenever she was at the best part of her dream, the part she wanted to know the most. She also had other questions that she couldn't understand and answer.

What on Earth would the masked man symbolize in my dream? I wonder if I'll ever know who he is, or if he's going to stay a mystery forever. Could he be thinking of me as much as I think about him? Why is it that every time he was about to take his mask off that I wake up? She was clearly distraught at these thoughts. I wish I had read more of Draco's book. But I still don't understand why he would read it. Wouldn't it be funny if—

Her thoughts got cut off when Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest entered the common room talking loudly about their adventures. They stopped abruptly once they saw that Hermione was there, and were so happy to see her that they ran up to her and gave a huge hug. They missed each other terribly and immediately filled in information about their events to the other.

"Blimey, it was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed to Harry as they both laughed, remembering an incident that happened in The Burrow.

Seeing Hermione's confused look, Harry further explained. "Percy was rambling on and on about his job at the Ministry when we were there. We all got tired of it, so Fred and George sneaked a Ton Tongue Toffee into Percy's snack and—"Harry gave a sidelook to Ron, "and his tongue swelled up ten times its size!! It was madness! He couldn't talk for hours, but waved his hands like mad until Ron's mum and dad came home!" When Harry finished the story, he and Ron laughed all over again, not noticing Hermione's concerned look.

"Oh, and I suppose you two had a role in this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ermm... well, ye—"Harry was about to confess when Ron jabbed him in the arm.

"They did! They distracted Percy while Fred and George slipped the toffee into his snack. I saw the whole thing." Ginny said.

"Ronald Weasley! Harry James Potter!" Hermione scolded playfully at the two boys.

"What! If you were there, you would actually pay us to do it! I couldn't take one more minute of Percy talking about his bloody job" Ron complained with a pout.

"Oh Hermione, how was your Christmas break? It must've been boring staying here in Hogwarts," Harry commented.

"It was quite alright. I admit I didn't have as much fun as you guys but books have kept me company" Hermione had left out her encounter with Draco and her dreams since it probably wouldn't be of much interest. But something in her eyes told a different story to Ginny, something Harry and Ron had overlooked.

"That's our Hermione" the two boys said and laughed.

"Hey Hermione, can I talk to you... privately?" Ginny asked the last part as an afterthought.

"Uhh... sure"

Ginny then led them to her dorm, double checking that there was no one there.

"What's this about?" Hermione asked.

"There's something you're not telling me, is there?"

Hermione had a surprised look on her face, wondering how Ginny could know that something was on her mind. She stood there for a few minutes in silence, considering whether or not she should tell Ginny everything. It would be nice to tell someone, so I could get it off my chest, she thought.

"You know you can tell me anything"

"I know," Hermione paused before continuing on, "there has been something on my mind lately"

Ginny's eyes suddenly lit up. "Really? Do tell!"

"Well... you remember at the Ball there was this dark, caped masked man who danced with me? After we danced together, we went outside to have a little moonlit walk. We only talked for a bit before we...," Hermione hesitated before continuing, "kissed. I've never felt so much attraction for one person before, and it was all from that kiss! He asked me if he could take my mask off, and he was about to, before someone interrupted us."

"Blimey! You still don't know who he is?"

"No, not really but there was something in his eyes that drew me to him. I know I must've seen them somewhere but I just can't place my finger on it. Anyway, that night I had this dream about him..."

"Really? What about?" Ginny asked with much enthusiasm.

"I was just getting to that. In the dream, I was walking outside, enjoying the night sky, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was him! I wanted to know who he was so bad, and asked him to take his mask off so I could see his face. He was slowly taking it off when I got interrupted and woke up. That was the first time. The second time I had the dream, it was almost the same except I was the one that was taking it off. But again, some noise woke me up before I can know who he is."

"That's sad. You should put a Silencing Charm on your room." Ginny suggested, causing both to laugh.

"There's also something else. I was at the library doing my work and I saw Malfoy there. It was strange since he never comes to the library, but what was stranger was that he came over to my table and asked if he could sit there. He never even insulted me." Hermione explained.

"Maybe he just fancies you"

This caused Hermione to blush a bit, remembering her encounter with Draco last night. "Fancy me? I could hardly say that. He hates me, remember? I'm just air to him."

"Maybe he's changed"

"Maybe. But the odd thing was that he was reading a book about dreams and their interpretations. I've read part of it when he wasn't looking, and it said that dreams can reveal any deep secrets or feelings. What do you think the masked man means?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. Suppose Malfoy was the masked man?" Ginny teased.

"No, he would never! He's too busy being a self-conceited git to notice anything else" Hermione said, causing both girls to laugh. In the distance, they could hear a couple of boys arguing and knew Harry and Ron must be playing a heated game of wizard's chess.

"C'mon. Let's go see what the boys are up to" Hermione said as she took Ginny's hand and went down to the Gryffindor common room.

Draco was in his common room for most of the day. He needed time to think, away from his Slytherin gang; after all, he could always meet them at the Great Hall at dinner to brag about his Firebolt T1, the latest and most improved broom in the Firebolt models, that he got from his father. The dream that he had last night occupied most of his thoughts.

Why must every time I get close to knowing who she is, I have to wake up? Is there something that I can't know or that I don't want to know? Where is that bloody book??, Draco thought as he went up to his room to search for the book. When he finally found it, memories of Hermione's flushed face when she handed it to him came flooding back to him. He had enjoyed that sight very much, even though he didn't know why. He also remembered when he insulted her even if he didn't mean it, and seeing that hurt look on her face. Thinking of that made him have a knot in his stomach. He didn't deny that he may start to have feelings for her, but he didn't accept them either. It was something new, something he hadn't felt even for Pansy or any other girl.

I have to apologize to her, Draco thought as he made his way down to the Great Hall.

When he got there, he saw that the golden trio were already at their table, laughing together as if nothing could ever affect them in their perfect world. He stood at the entrance, looking at Hermione, hoping that she would notice... and she did. Their eyes were locked on each other for a minute or so, before Draco decided to take a step forward to her direction. As he did, an arm reached out and yanked him away.

"Draco sweetie, where do you think you're going? Have you lost your mind? You're sitting beside me," Pansy said.

Draco glared at her, wanting in his mind for her to go away, but she just smiled at him. He looked back at Hermione but she was talking and laughing with her friends, as if he wasn't there. He planned to talk to her when she was alone, rather than embarrass himself in front of her two friends, his enemies.

"Draco!" Pansy called out to him. As he turned around, she stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth. "Eat!"

"What in—"Draco paused to spit the food out, "bloody hell are you doing! I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself, thank you very much! After all, I've got two of these bloody things, you know!" he waved his hands in front Pansy's face and stormed out of the Great Hall, leaving her confused and humiliated.

Once he got out into the hallway, he walked much slower. These feelings he had were very unusual, and he didn't know how to deal with them. Suddenly, he heard voices behind him, familiar voices.

"We're going to play another round of wizard's chess, you coming?" one of them asked.

"Okay, but you guys go ahead. I've got to drop something off in my room" another replied.

Wait, I know that voice. It's Hermione! Draco thought with delight. He turned around, and he was right. She was coming towards his direction, while Harry and Ron were going the other way. This was the perfect opportunity to talk to her without having the whole trio together.

"Hey, Gra—Hermione!" He didn't want to make her even more annoyed at him, and decided for once, to use her first name. This caused her to stop dead in her tracks, with a surprised look on her face. He guessed she didn't expect him to call her that.

"What do you want, Malfoy" She said it as more of a statement than a question.

"I called you by your first name, shouldn't you at least call me by mine?" he asked with a smirk.

She gave him a questioning look. "Okay fine. What do you want, Draco?"

He grinned even more when he heard her call him by his first name, but his smile dropped a bit when he realized that the reason he stopped her was to apologize.

He looked down on the ground, unable to meet her eyes since he'd never done this before. "Umm, I... err what I mean is... uh, what I'm hoping is... um—"

"Just spit it out. I don't have all day, Mal-- Draco"

He glanced up at the person in front of him and he knew that he was doing the right thing. "About last night, I'm sorry for calling you mu—well, you know. I didn't mean to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me."

When Hermione stood there with a blank look on her face, he knew that a small apology probably didn't mean anything to her.

He nodded his head sadly as he said, "I understand" and walked away, leaving a very confused Hermione standing in the middle of the hallway.