The talk with the professors took longer than Hermione was expecting. They had been staring at

her strangely the whole time. It creeped her out. The whole time she had just wanted to scream

out that this whole thing wouldn't work between her and Draco. How could it work between

them? Even just to plan a couple stupid festivals. But she hadn't said anything. It was her fault

anyway, she was the one who said that things couldn't get any worse and she knew that she had

just been BEGGING for disaster. She settled back into the compartment. It looked like Luna

had cleared out a long time a go. She once again took out her headphones and notebook, along

with a quill. She noticed Draco sit across from her, arms crossed, but she ignored him. She

knew he was staring at her. She could feel it and he wasn't even trying to hide it. She looked

down at what she had already written

Sometimes I cry louder than I can believe

Salty tears cover me

But it never comes alone, no

It's followed by

My own lullaby

As I fall asleep at night

I sing my lullaby

Though it's not sweet

It's just------

Hermione stopped writing. His eyes were boring into her and she just couldn't stand it anymore.

She took off her headphones and looked up at him, looking deep into his eyes, waiting. He

seemed to be reading her, or trying to. He was undressing her, trying to see her core that she

worked so hard to hide. She glared at him, putting up the barriers. She couldn't let him see her,

not ever. (A/n this is a sentence that will brought up again in other chapters so remember it!)

"What happened to you, Granger?" Draco asked as he leaned forward on his knees, still looking at into her eyes.

"What do you mean?" she said bored, looking down from him, although she knew exactly what he meant.

"You act like a tortured soul," he said bluntly.

She looked back up at up at him and said coolly "maybe I am."

He looked at her in disgust.

"You don't know the word torture, Little Miss Perfect!" he said standing up.

"You don't know anything about me, you git!" she too stood up, almost threatening.

"You come here acting all tough and cool, wearing all black and white. What are you, trying to be punk or something?"

"I'm not trying anything. What do you know? Books aren't my life and maybe I just don't like color anymore. Maybe I think it's pointless."

He blinked at her. The Hermione he knew would never say something like that, especially saying

that books were worthless. He quickly recovered but Hermione had seen the affect it had on

him and she smiled at the thought of surprising a Malfoy. But she was getting bored anyway and

turned back to her notebook to continue where she left off. The rest of the trip was in pure

silence except for the noise form her headphones, but every once in a while Hermione looked

up, only to see fierce gray eyes studying her.

This really annoyed her. Why would he be staring at her? She was covered in cloth from head to

toe practically and her hair was tainted black and swept straight down like a suicide jump. She didn't

think she looked terribly attractive, or at least enough to catch Malfoy's attention but there he

was, eyes unwavering.

The train came to a smooth halt and hermione slowly got up, gathering

her stuff. She was suddenly very tired again. She staggered to stand and gathered all her

remaining strength to stay on her feet. Her world was blacking out. She could see Draco across

the way holding his owl as he checked for all his belongings. Hermione fell sideways, against the

window, hand steadying her slightly, her eyes going in and out of focus. She felt like throwing up

and she clutched her stomach with her other hand. Draco's owl hooted loudly ruffling his

feathers in Hermione's direction. Turning Draco noticed Hermione. Her eyes were glazed over

and she was clutching desperately to herself, trying to stay upright. She wavered again and fell.

Draco's arms wrapped around Hermione's thin waist, and kept her from falling. Her head shot

up and looked at him. Her eyes turned to ice, filled with anger.

"Don't touch me!" she spat pushing him away, she quickly muttered a spell, shrinking her trunk and cat and left the compartment at a sprint.

Draco stood there dumbfounded for once in his life, wondering why she had seemed so

embarrassed, what was she hiding? He heard a thump outside the door and quickly hurried out.

He found Hermione sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. He picked her up and hurried to

find any teacher that could help.

Draco sat in the hospital wing, angry. He was missing the

sorting ceremony all because of Granger. What did she do to herself anyway? He growled

thinking that he should have just left her.

"Don't worry Mr. Malfoy. It was just dehydration. It looks as though she hasn't eaten in days.

This is very serious but we have managed to fix it for now. She should be in your common

room by this evening," the nurse said before leaving.

Draco had almost forgotten that they shared a common room. Great.

But still Draco thought back to what had been haunting him the whole time. It was the feeling of

bones when he caught her. There was no fat or anything. What was Granger doing to herself?