Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but J.K. Rowling does . . . .

A/N: Wow, I was thrilled with the number of responces I got to the last chapter, so like I promised I will not keep you all waiting. Here is chapter 9, I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Chapter 9: Quidditch

Hermione didn't see too much of Draco outside of class in the following week, she couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing. Part of her, the part she normally thought with was glad she wasn't around Draco, she didn't need all the extra stress being around him caused. But another part of her, the part that took over when she was dreaming, seemed to be thinking of nothing but Draco. Much to Hermione's annoyance, this part of her mind also snuck random thoughts about Draco in her head in the middle of the day when she was supposed to be thinking about other things. When this happened, her eyes would glaze over slightly, and she seemed to lose herself.

When the 22nd of November arrived, the entire school was anxious for the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff quidditch match. Everyone knew that there was no contest, but most of the school still showed up to watch. Hermione however was not among them. She didn't seem to enjoy quidditch unless Harry and Ron were playing, and she took the opportunity to begin chopping and grinding the potions ingredients. Yet, as she began carefully chopping the hellbore into perfectly sized slices, she glanced to the fire. She couldn't help but remember the letter Draco had thrown in there, and she knew that today was the day he would face his father again, and she was very concerned about him.

As Draco marched out onto the field he couldn't help but look towards the stands, sure enough, there amidst a sea of black robes Draco spotted the white-blond hair belonging to Lucius Malfoy. Draco's nerves mounted, not because of the match, but because of their meeting afterwards. He shook his head and mounted his broom. The wind was blowing hard and the clouds were exactly the same color as Draco's eyes, the weather seemed to be mimicking Draco's attitude as well, hinting at the storm to come in the near future.

The match was really no contest, Draco had his eye on the snitch the whole time, but he allowed Slytherin to score 5 goals before catching it to end the game. The crowd all groaned loudly except for the Slytherins when Draco caught the snitch, they had all hoped that Hufflepuff would at least score some goals before the game ended. Draco's teammates congratulated him on the field then they all went to change. Draco purposely took forever in the changing room so that he was the last one out, and the only person remaining on the field was Lucius.

"That was a very well played game today Draco" Lucius commented.

Draco made no response.

Lucius, sneered, "Let's take a walk shall we?" he began walking toward the Dark Forest without waiting for Draco to answer. When the arrived at the edge of the forest, in an area hidden from sight, Lucius continued, "some interesting news had come to my attention Draco. And I must say that I am rather disappointed I did not hear it from you."

"And what would that be?" Draco retorted.

"Professor Snape has informed me that you are in the top running for Head Boy next year, I must say I'm rather pleased," answered Lucius smoothly.

"Why is that?" barked Draco, "You've never cared before about anything that doesn't profit yourself."

A cruel smile spread over Lucius' face and Draco knew that he didn't want to hear what was coming next. "Oh but it does benefit me for you to be Head Boy, you see, the Dark Lord is very interested in having spies within the school. If he had a spy that was also Head Boy, he would have access to the most secret information within the walls of Hogwarts, and he would have someone perfectly positioned to deliver Harry Potter to him. So you see it is now crucial to the plan that you become Head Boy.

"And what if I have decided that I don't want to be a part of your stupid little plan anymore?" challenged Draco, gripping his wand as he spoke.

"Ah," replied Lucius with an icy calm voice, "I anticipated that, and I have prepared something that I believe will convince you once and for all that my path is the only choice you really have." Lucius whipped out his wand, pointed it directly at Draco and shouted "glacio exanimus!"

Draco had no time to defend himself, and this was a spell he had never heard before, but it was torture the likes of which he had never experienced. His body was growing cold and stiff, he felt as though his veins were freezing from the inside out. He was colder than he had ever been in his life, including when the dementors had been at the school in his third year. His skin was turning pale blue and he was growing lightheaded. He stumbled to the ground, gasping for breath, and seeing that though it was an uncharacteristically warm night, he could see his breath because he was so cold.

"Do you like my new spell Draco?" taunted Lucius, "of course, I have just created it, so it isn't as powerful as it's meant to be yet. If it worked properly, you would not be alive right now."

Draco coughed; he had begun shivering violently, much to Lucius' satisfaction. "Now tell me Draco, do you consent to enter into the Dark Lords services now?" Lucius questioned with mock sweetness.

Draco gathered all his available strength, looked his father directly in the eye and shouted "Never!"

"Crucio!" Lucius shouted with nothing but hatred in his voice.

Draco didn't have the energy to scream as pain beyond that of anything he had ever felt swept over him. The cold coupled with the knives of pain caused by the cruciatus curse made him wish he were dead. By now he was shaking so violently he appeared to be having a seizure. "Yes!" he breathed in desperation.

"What was that Draco?" Lucius asked releasing the curse.

"Yes, I'll join . . . .no more holding back," sighed Draco dejectedly.

"Excellent, I shall inform the Dark Lord of your commitment, he will be most pleased." With that, Lucius turned, leaving Draco alone, still shaking from the pain, freezing cold, and with blood trickling down next to his eye. He hadn't remembered cutting himself, yet he was sure he could have chopped his entire arm off and not noticed during all that pain.

He forced himself to his feet and stumbled with a great deal of effort to the school. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't go to the common room and have people ask questions, if he went to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey would put him to sleep, but he didn't want to sleep right now. What he wanted was to be alone to be able to think. He decided to head to the private room in the library. He never once considered that Hermione may already be there.

Hermione had tired of chopping hellbore, so she had begun doing research about the missing ingredient again. She was sitting in a chair by the fire deeply involved in the book she was reading. Her attention snapped back when she heard the sound of the door being unlocked. She looked up from her book to see Draco stumble in and land on the couch. He hadn't noticed her; he lay down on the couch with his face toward the ceiling. Hermione was too stunned at first to speak, and then noticed the blood trickling down his face. "My God Malfoy, what happened to you?"

Draco was so surprised that she was there that he fell off the couch and hit his head on the table. "OWW!" he shouted.

Hermione dropped her book and raced over to Malfoy, "I'm sorry are you alright?"

Malfoy groaned, he opened his eyes to see Hermione's concerned face hovering over him in a blur, he tried to speak, but couldn't make a noise. His consciousness was weaving in and out, he used all his remaining energy to climb back onto the couch, and then he was gone.

Hermione was terrified, she tried everything to wake Draco, but nothing worked. She made sure he was still breathing, and thought of ways to revive him. She noticed that his skin has a bluish tinge, and when she touched his head to feel his cut, she was surprised to find that he was cold. She bustled around the room gathering blankets to warm him with, and put them all on him. She couldn't bring herself to leave him all alone, so she remained with him and periodically checked on him to see if he was warming up. Within an hour he felt normal, which was a relief to Hermione.

After an hour an a half Hermione decided to attempt to wake him up, she knelt over him, stroked his forehead and whispered his name. Though she was worried, she marveled at the smoothness of his skin and how peaceful and charming he was when he was asleep.

Coaxed by her soft voice and delicate touch, Draco emerged from his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly and smiled when he saw her face. Hermione breathed a huge sigh of relief upon seeing Draco awake, which caused her to smile back. Draco knew that she had helped him recover and he felt a rush of gratitude toward her.

She sat down on the edge of the couch; she traces the cut on Draco's face, "what did he do to you?" she whispered.

Draco closed his eyes again, he was not angry, but he did not want to describe the events of that morning to her. He breathed deeply, "please, don't make me go into it now."

Hermione nodded, she understood that people did not always like to recount traumatic experiences so soon after they occurred, Harry was like that. "Well I'm glad that you're alright anyway," she whispered. Then she did something that neither of them expected, she leaned down and kissed his forehead gently. Suddenly Draco was wide awake and alert, but uncharacteristically speechless. Hermione meanwhile, realized what she had done, and was equally speechless and blushing furiously. "Er, I, umm, have to go," she mumbled in a rush as she threw her books in her bag and raced out of the room.

Draco didn't know what to think, but he was aware that he was in a much better mood than he could remember having been in for quite a while. With Hermione occupying all his thoughts, he drifted to sleep again.

Hermione raced through the halls toward the common room still unable to believe what she had done. What on earth had possessed her to kiss Malfoy?! She supposed that it was because he had been in trouble, and she had been overcome with emotions. Plus, he had looked so nice and peaceful while he had been sleeping, and hadn't he smiled at her when he awoke? She was still so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Harry Ron and Ginny greeting her when she entered the common room. She stormed across the room and turned with a start only when Harry, Ron, and Ginny shouted her name in unison, "What!" she shouted in shock.

"You alright?" asked Harry with concern.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine," breathed Hermione.

"Where have you been all day? Causing trouble have you?" joked Harry.

"No!" Hermione spat defending herself, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Whoa, relax, I was just joking," assured Harry.

"Oh, of course I knew that, sorry, I was just thinking about something," Hermione apologized.

"What?" asked Ron.

"Nothing," said Hermione tensely.

"We were just thinking about going down to dinner" began Ginny, "wanna come with us? Might help you to relax a little."

"I'm relaxed just fine!" said Hermione stubbornly. When she realized how she had spoken, she continued, "on second thought, dinner would probably be a really good idea. Let me go put my books away first alright?"

"We'll be waiting" Ginny said with relief.

Hermione made her way up to her room, dropped off her bag, and took a couple deep breaths. 'calm down,' she told herself, 'just act like nothing weird happened, and no one will ever have to know.' Once she had relaxed, she returned to the common room where her friends were waiting. "I'm ready now," she followed them out the portrait hole and off to the Great Hall.

She found it very hard to relax during dinner because Ginny kept throwing her curious glances, though she never said anything. Hermione found herself subconsciously glancing over at the Slytherin table several times over dinner, but she never saw Malfoy. There was an uneasy feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with food, part of her wanted to get up immediately and go check on him, but with great difficulty she resisted the impulse. The four were about to get up when a gang of Slytherins passed their table,

"Wonder where he's got to," one of the said.

"It's not like himo skip out on a celebration after he's won a quidditch match," another agreed.

"Does Pansy know where he is?" the first asked.

"No, she's as stumped as the rest of us," the second replied, "I bet you the Gryffindor's did something to him," he shot an angry look at the Gryffindor table.

"Must be talking about Malfoy," voiced Harry after the Slytherins had passed, "wonder why he wasn't celebrating with his house?"

"Yeah, what could he possibly have to do that would be that important?" seconded Ron.

"I don't know" said Hermione, pretending to be as clueless as them.

They sat for another moment, thinking, then decided they really didn't care that much, and got up to return to the common room. Hermione followed, thinking of excuses to return to the library for a while to check on Draco, but when she reached the door she found it was unnecessary because they found themselves face to face with the Slytherin Prince. Hermione saw him from behind Harry and Ron, and she couldn't suppress a small smile. She was incredibly relieved to see that he was alright, he didn't seem to be moving with his usual swagger, but his skin was back to its normal color and he was up and moving. He looked at them, his eyes lingering on Hermione's causing her to blush slightly. He did not speak, he just moved past them, keeping eye contact with Hermione as long as possible without drawing attention from either Ron or Harry. Hermione's attention, however, followed Draco even after he had passed her, maybe it was just her imagination, but she could have sworn that she saw a tiny smile flutter across his lips. Her attention only turned away when Ginny yanked her arm and led her out of the Great Hall.

They walked back to the common room in silence, but when they got there, Ginny pulled Hermione off to the side, "I think we need to have a little chat."

Hermione tried to think of an excuse to get away from Ginny, but she could not, so she conceded. They told the boys that they were going up to their room, for some girl talk. They entered Ginny's room, sat on the bed, and closed the curtains around them to assure some privacy. "What is going on with you lately?" Ginny began immediately, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"I don't know what you're talking about," defended Hermione.

"Hermione, Harry and Ron may be dense, but I'm not, you haven't been acting yourself lately and I want to know why." Ginny continued.

Hermione remained silent, examining Ginny. She debated telling her about her recent feelings towards Malfoy, including how she had kissed him earlier. But that would require confiding a lot of information about Draco that really wasn't Hermione's choice to tell. Plus, she wasn't clear herself about how she felt, or if her kiss had really meant anything.

Ginny could see that Hermione wasn't going to respond, so she continued, "Hermione, you seem to be acting weird every time you go off to study, are you really studying?"

"Of course I am!" Hermione assured with indignation. "I just have a lot on my mind this year with my N.E.W.T. level courses, and my prefects duties, I'm just really busy that's all!"

Ginny, sighed in defeat, she hadn't wanted to say what had been running through her mind, but she felt she had no choice at the moment, "has anything happened between you and Malfoy?"

Hermione's eyes widened in shock, did Ginny know something? She couldn't, could she? Hermione opened her mouth in astonishment, "of, of course not! Where on earth would you get an idea like that?!"

Ginny eyed Hermione skeptically, "Well today for instance, you kept glancing over at the Slytherin table, and then when we saw Malfoy as we were leaving, you didn't stop looking at him, and you blushed a little. Also, he for once didn't say something snotty to us. Plus there have been other things like that as well."

"Think about what you're saying Ginny!" Hermione shouted pretending to be outraged at the very thought of something going on between her and Draco, "would I ever feel anything less than complete hatred for a scumbag like Malfoy?"

"I suppose not," agreed Ginny sounding not entirely convinced, "sorry I suggested it."

"It's okay," said Hermione, "I'm glad to know you're concerned about me anyway, but really, I'm perfectly fine."

After their talk, Hermione wasn't entirely sure she had done the right thing. Part of her would have loved to have someone to talk to about her feelings, and perhaps Ginny would have been able to convince Hermione of how incredibly stupid she was being for thinking that she could like Malfoy. After all, wasn't he the snake who called Hermione a mudblood more than anyone else, wasn't he the one who always taunted Harry and Ron, wasn't he the only one who had ever provoked Hermione to the point of physical violence? Hermione had to be crazy for thinking that Malfoy could ever change. Yet lately, he had also been the one on her mind more often than anyone else, and he had been true to his word and not called her a mudblood since their agreement. She also could not forget the way she felt when he had touched her hand, these were not feelings that she could ignore or erase.

Draco spent the night reflecting on the events following the quidditch match. It seemed as if a week had gone by since the game rather than just a day. After he settled down and wrote about his fathers new method of torture, he found his mind clear to think about Hermione. His heart seemed to flutter in his chest at the thought of her. He still could not believe she had kissed him, he couldn't help smiling at the thought, her lips were so soft. She had actually cared about him enough to stay with him while he was sleeping, and to make sure he recovered. No one had ever cared about him before, he liked the feeling. He wrote about those feelings as well, then feeling much happier than he had anticipated feeling that morning, he drifted off to sleep.

Well, there you go, I hope you all like it. Like I've said before if I keep getting lots of reviews, then I keep updating fast. So please write me a review Thank you!!