Chapter 5

Sorry that its late guys…I was very busy these hols and it just slipped my mind,hehe…

Draco slowly walked back to the Griffindor common room, wondering how he could show Hermione that he could change and become a better person. For so long now he had always listened to his fathers advice. Actually it was more like his fathers orders. All he had ever wanted to do was make his father proud but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how mean he had been, his father had never been satisfied. He realized now that no matter what he did his father would never be happy. He also realized that his heart had never really been in it. He had tried to be mean spirited but look what where it had brought him. He had never had any real friends; those two oafs that followed him around everywhere could never be termed 'friends'. And the rest of the Slytherins were only friends with him if they knew they could get something out of it. On the whole, he suddenly realized, Hermione actually had a pretty good life. She had great friends, was loved by everyone and had loving parents.

Suddenly he remembered that in a months time he was supposed to be initiated as a death-eater. Just another thing that his father was making him do, the thought probably never even occurred to him that Draco might not want to become a death-eater. All of a sudden he felt almost happy that he was stuck as a cat. Now they would never be able to find him and he would not be forced to become a death-eater.

As he went into the common room (don't ask me how he was able to do that without a translator or something, he's Draco, what can I say) he spotted Hermione sitting close to the fireplace with both Harry and Ron babbling on about something. She was leaning over to hear Harry better and he really couldn't understand it when he felt that, really, she shouldn't have been leaning THAT close to old scarhead. He just wouldn't accept the fact that maybe he was feeling a little jealous. He walked closer and managed to hear Harry's last words " and he's just gone! The teachers have searched every where but all they found were his clothes. Malfoy might be gone forever! Just think, wouldn't that be wonderful?" " Don't count on it Harry, maybe he's planning something big! Some thing really evil!" Ron said with a frown. " Spoilsport!" Grumbled Harry, but he was looking slightly worried now too. Hermione said nothing. She just stared intently at a loose thread on Ron's sleeve.

"Helloooooo? Hermione? Are you okay" Ron asked in a worried voice, waving a hand in front of her face. "Yes Ron, just a bit tired is all," she sighed and stared down at her hands. " Right…well, have any of you seen Ginny?" Ron looked from Harry to Hermione " she keeps on sneaking of to who-knows-where and she hasn't been herself lately…" " Gees Ron, If even you can notice that something's wrong with Ginny then she must be in serious trouble!" Harry joked. " It's not funny Harry!" Ron burst out " I'm really worried, you know, she's my little sister' I have to look out for her now that Fred and George aren't around any more! She's never been like this before, what am I going to do?!" Harry looked slightly startled at Ron's outburst " Okay, okay…let's go see if we can find her, you don't mind do you Hermione?" " No, you go" Hermione murmured, but both Ron and Harry were already half-way to the door and didn't hear her.

" That's not very polite, not even saying goodbye." Draco said as he leaped onto the chair that Ron had been sitting in only moments before. Hermione tuned and glared at him " What would you know about being polite Malfoy , hmmmm?" Not waiting for an answer she jumped up from the chair and ran up the stairs to her dormitory, mumbling something about reading up on Defense against the dark arts.

Draco looked at her vacated seat for a moment. This was going to be harder than he had thought. And what could he do anyway? He was only a cat after all! True, he was a damn good-looking cat, but a cat non the less. He walked up the stairs and into the dormitory thinking hard. " Where is it? Where is it? He heard Hermiones muffled voice from under her big bed where half of her body seemed to be searching. Her legs stuck out from under the bed at a skew angle. " There are only dust bunnies down here….ha…ha…hachoo!" She sneezed and came out from under the bed again. " I wonder where…oh," she had just spotted Malfoy " its you," Draco moved toward her quickly " Yes, its me…can I help you find something?" It felt weird to actually want to help somebody. Hermione evidently thought so to, because she looked at him through narrowed eyes " What are you trying to prove Malfoy?she turned away and started searching through a pile of books." If you must know I can't find my copy of " Truths and Triumphs of modern Transfiguration" ,I can't think where I put it…" " Well, you might want to look under that pile of books in the corner there." He motioned with his head towards a towering pile of books leaned against Hermiones dresser. " It's the 16th book from the top…"

" Er.. thanks…I think" She moved to get the book. When she found that the book was indeed where Draco had said it would be, she looked up with a wary expression at Draco. " What? " Draco said, then turned around and walked to a sunny patch by a window. The whole time he was thinking, I wish that something big would happen so that I can show her that I've really changed. And with this thought he curled up in the sun and went to sleep. Hermione just looked at him for a few moments and then turned away with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Yeah, its kinda weird having him curl up like a real cat and go to sleep in the middle of the day, but when I see cats do this it just looks so sweet … hehe grins Anyway in thenext chapter we find out more about whats going on with Ginny and maybe Draco will get his wish and something big will happen…maybe…

P.S. Would u guys like to read my Susan/Harry one-shot Xmas challange for DC Forums Fanfic?