Draco was now heading back to his dormitory that he shared with the Head Girl. He said the password so fast that it came out naturally, all along thinking about what had Dumbledore just said to him. All that information was too good to be true. He never thought that this would be his way out of his dark life, but it is.

He reached his room that had bold letters stamped on the door which read "Head Boy, D.M". He carefully opened the door and just realized what time it was. It was late at night, practically in the middle of the night. He had lost track of time when he was with Dumbledore.

"How does that man sleep?" he said under his breath . He looked out the window and noticed that it was pitch black outside. He cautiously stepped out into his balcony that easily overlooked Hermione's which he was not aware of until now.

There she was sleeping in such a tranquil way that words had lost its meanings. Her face was flawless, without a doubt Draco knew that Hermione was beautiful. "So why is so sad?" that was the question on his mind.

"I want to know you, Hermione" he whispered quietly.

"I want to help you." Draco realized what he had just said and thought to himself that he must have truly changed and have made a complete turn by going to the light side.

He went back into his room and got into his bed.

Quickly yet still slow at the same time, he dozed off but not without tracing that flawless face with his mind.

Hermione took the rose in her hand and looked at it.

"It's not possible" she thought.

"He cannot be here, he's a muggle for crying out loud" she said with more confidence. She put her robes on and went out into the balcony. Carefully she thought about it and decided that it's best to just ignore it and finally move on. So she released this black rose into the cold and frightening air that hung loosely upon Horgwarts grounds.

She looked over Draco's balcony and the fact that she can be so close to him made her feel more secure, more safe. She looked at his motionless form and saw that beautiful blond hair that hung loosely over his pale skin. She stood there wishing that if only things were better between them, if only she can make him see that she's not just a mudblood, if only she can make him understand that there is something beyond blood and money. But that soon was washed out of her head because deep down she knew that he was a Malfoy.

"But he did save me" she said to herself. She hadn't even thought of that, he did in fact save her from Blaize. Would he do that if he didn't change? Not really.

She looked at the time and it was already 7 o'clock in the morning.

"Better get ready then, so much for a good night sleep" she said to no one in particular.

She got in her room and put on a black shirt with matching black jeans. This time her jeans weren't loose at all, they were the exact opposite. She went to her dresser and opened it up to find a bottle of her favorite scented perfume, vanilla.

She sprayed into the air and walked through. Then she picked her hair into a messy bun that made her look even more attractive. She applied some of her make up which was based on cover up, to cover up her scars or wounds and a black eye pencil. She finished with her eye make up and applied some cover up.

"When am I going to stop with this rubbish?" she asked herself. She wasn't very fond of putting on cover up to cover her true features. But she didn't have a choice did she now?

She looked at the time and saw that she had an hour left before breakfast. She instantly grabbed one of her favorite books. Hogwarts: A History, entered the common room.

Draco woke up to no apparent sound, it was a reflex by now since his dad always punished him for sleeping in late. He quickly went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Put on his black shirt and some slacks. He went out into the common room only to find Hermione absorbed in her book. Suddenly he felt himself giving in and formed a slight smile on his lips.

She looks so peaceful and yet she's so troubled. "I wonder if anyone else knows?" Draco wondered. The only reason he knows is because of the fact that she forgot her secret black book and he read some of the things she wrote in there.

She felt someone's eyes on her and suddenly looked up only to be met with a pair of icy blue eyes.

She saw him standing there in his tranquil way with a smile on his face, she knew that smile from somewhere but couldn't connect the two.

She smiled herself and found this very uncomfortable.

Draco realized that she know knew that he was staring at her and the fact that she smiled at him gave him more confidence. 'Since when am I all shy around a girl?' he wondered. "Uhh...you're up early" he said. 'stupid, stupid, stupid things to say, nice going Draco' he thought angrily to himself.

"Yeh I actually haven't been sleeping well all night, so I guess this is what I get" she said still keeping her beautiful smile.

She suddenly got the urge to thank him for what he did but didn't know what she should do. She slowly got up and walked a few towards him.

"Malfoy... I ... just wanted to...to" she was silenced by his hand going up as a signal to stop her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was there." That's all it took for Hermione to drool over his words.

Draco made his way towards the exit, stopped and without turning around to face her he said.

"And Granger" her eyes looked up to be met with his back.

"He won't be a bother to you anymore" with that final statement, he left leaving Hermione to wonder about what could have happened to him.

She gathered her robes, put them on and left to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was walking fast through the hallway when suddenly someone smashed themselves into her.

"Watch it mudblood" it was the cold and vicious voice of Pansy Parkinson.

'Great, that's exactly what I need right now, another encounter with the Lord himself would just do my day' she thought to herself sarcastically. She opened the door that lead her to the Great Hall and went to sit with her friends.

"Hi Harry, Ron" she said with no expression on her face.

"Hermione...is everything all right?" asked Harry.

"What makes you think something is wrong?" she replied.

"Well you haven't been down here a lot and we don't see you in the hallways" he said.

"Yeh, we miss you Mione" said Ron with a mouth full of food.

"Oh I know you guys, but its just this Head Girl business is really taken over me" she replied lying. She hated lying to her friends, especially Harry. She knew that deep down he knows she's covering up for something, but he would never push her into saying anything further... hopefully. "Aww...well you can come back to us anytime Mione, if you want that is" said Ron drinking his Pumpkin Juice.

Harry looked at her suspiciously.

'Why are you hiding from me Hermione?' he thought to himself. 'What's troubling you?'

Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and saw sadness and hurt. She tried so hard to fight back the threatening tears that were about to come but she couldn't. A single tear rolled down her cheek and Harry instantly picked up his hand to brush it off. All along, Ron was ignorant to what was happening between the two.

"Harry...I..." she tried to tell him but she was interrupted.

"Don't worry Hermione, when you feel like talking... I'll be here" he said looking deeply into her caramel eyes.

"Pansy you abhorrent and heinous human, GET OFF!" Draco screamed at the girl who was trying so hard to sit on his lap.

"Fine, but I bet you if I was that filthy mudblood you wouldn't say that, would you Draco?" she said, trying so hard to make a hurtful face instead making a face that looked that some horse had run over it...five times.

Draco thought to himself for a minute. 'How dare she call her that, she's not a mudblood and she certainly isn't filthy'. But he couldn't do anything about that.

"What are you talking about, Parkinson?" he said, trying to avoid the fact that he was indeed looking for a girl dressed in black with caramel hair to match her eyes.

"I can see right through you." With that she left. 'Finally' he thought, at least she wont be a bother to him anymore. Then his eyes landed on Hermione and he noticed that she looked pretty hurt.

'If that Weasel or Potty did something to her...wait a minute, why am I so worried about Granger?' then he saw that she was about to cry and a tear slipped on her cheek. Suddenly he saw Potter's hand wipe that tear away.

'That should be me, wiping her tears away' he thought to himself. He couldn't hide it anymore. Draco definitely had feelings for Hermione Granger.

He got up from his table and walked out of the Great Hall.

"Thank You Harry, I will" said Hermione wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

"Anytime Mione, anytime" replied Harry.

Hermione's eyes shot up as she saw the boy with platinum blond hair exit the Great Hall.

'Why is he leaving?' she thought subconsciously.

She gathered her books and went out of the Great Hall, trying to catch Draco.

She walked around and saw him no where, she checked the watch and found out that she had about 20 minutes to waste. 'Oh well, nothing better than a nice walk'

She walked out onto Hogwarts grounds trying to spot the lake she saw from her balcony.

Hermione walked to the lake and suddenly she saw that single person who she longed to find.

He was sitting on an enormous rock with his hands on both of his legs. He looked so serene as if someone had put a curse on him to stay there, motionless. Draco thought that he was being watched so he abruptly looked up and found Hermione standing there.

"How do you know this place?" he asked her, getting up from his rock.

"I..uh...saw it from my window" she said.

"No you didn't" he said looking away from her.

"You saw it from your balcony." He said looking back at her with a slight smile.

"How did you..."

"Because from your window you can only see the Forbidden Forest and that's about all there is to it. But from your balcony you can see this lake and of course my bedroom including a nice view of my, may I add very comfortable, bed." He said with a smirk on his face.

"That's not true, wait how do you know the view of my window and my balcony?" she said desperately trying to change the subject.

"Well, well Miss Granger, for someone so smart, I'd think you can connect the two. When I carried you to your bed I looked around...only to check if they gave you a better view that me of course, which obviously they didn't" he trying to cover up the fact that he was looking around her room without her permission.

He saw her look confused and suddenly thought of the next best thing to say before she completely understands.

He started heading towards the castle, when at the last moment he turned around and said

"Oh and don't think I didn't see you looking at me at night, Granger" he smiled and left for class.