Chapter Four

"New Opinions and Unanswered Questions"

A/N: Well, I hope everyone liked last chapter and this one as well. Did you all think I left it at a good cliffhanger? I was going to keep going because I originally had two more pages and none of the Harry/Ron/Ginny interaction but then I decided I wanted a cliffie so I decided to stop it where I did and type the H/R/G section onto the computer, ya no, just make it up as I go. (I have a notebook that I write my chapters in before I type so that wasn't written in there. Do you get what I'm saying? That way I'm somewhat organized and have an idea of what to type before I sit down to actually do it.) but anyway, enough of that! I still have other things I wish to tell you all. I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapters lately and the late updates. I'm trying to improve my writing: better, longer, quicker. I'm really trying. But if you all would review it'd feel like someone's actually reading this and I'm not talking to dead air. So just review and make me happy. Ok! Enough of my mindless blather, just enjoy!

Draco heard Hermione inhale, preparing to say the spell that was sure to cause him some sort of pain. A split second before he heard the words start to come out of her mouth he started to rethink his decision of letting her help him, even though he really didn't have a choice in the matter. So that's why Hermione was so anxious to help me! I should have known better than to trust a mudblood. This is gonna hurt.

"Healious Totalous!"

All of a sudden, Draco felt a mist of some sort surround him. It was heavenly! So relaxing, so cool, so wonderful. He could feel himself becoming as good as new and then the mist disappeared. He slowly opened his eyes. Wow. I guess she's not completely stupid after all.

"Wow."

"What?" Hermione asked him.

"That actually worked. Why did you do that? You helped me." Maybe this won't be such an awful year after all. I guess Granger's not that bad. It will certainly be an interesting year to say the least.

"Of course it did. I mean, I'm no Madam Pomfrey, but I do know the basics. And I already told you, I just didn't like seeing you in pain. I may have an extreme dislike for you but that doesn't mean I want to see you suffer. Now, I'm going to have a look at our new rooms. If you'd care to join me I wouldn't mind.

"I suppose I could grace you with my presence." Draco said arrogantly

Hermione just rolled her eyes at that. Well, he's definitely back to normal. His haughtiness is better than arguing though. Well, most of the time, anyway.

"Well, let's go then." Hermione said.

"I'm not taking orders from you. If we're going to follow someone's commands, it's gonna be mine. Come on."

"Merlin, you frustrate me!" The only response she got to that was Draco's trademark smirk. But nonetheless, she followed. She didn't exactly want to argue at the moment.

First, they took a closer look at the room they were presently in. It was the common room. It had a fireplace at one of the walls. There was a tan couch and a burgundy armchair. Both of which looked very cozy. It would be wonderful to curl up on the couch with a wonderful book and sit and read for a few hours. Speaking of books, there was an enormous bookcase filled to the brink with interesting and old looking books. Hermione could already hear them calling out for her, drawing her in towards them, begging her to read them and devour the knowledge held within the pages. She started to take a few steps in the direction of the books but stopped when she noticed Draco staring at her with an odd expression and his eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Obsessive compulsive?"

"Shut up!" Hermione said playfully trying to hide a slight blush that was creeping up onto her cheeks. Draco just smiled and shook his head.

Wow, he can smile. Here I thought he was just limited to smirking and glares. Ya learn something new everyday.

The walls of their new common room were painted a crème color. It all looked cozy and inviting. There was a door on each side wall. The doors were parallel to each other. On top of one there was a picture of a serpent and above the door on the left wall was a picture of a lion. Obviously, it indicated that the one room was Draco's and the other belonged to Hermione. Their bedrooms. She couldn't wait to see hers.

"I'm going to go check out my room. I assume you are going to do the same? I'll see you in a bit, Malfoy." Hermione said quickly before going off to explore her room. As she had said, Draco went to look at his new bedroom.

Hermione walked over to the door and opened it quickly. She was getting more excited by the minute! Inside she saw the most gorgeous bedroom she had ever seen. The first thing she noticed was the huge bed. It was at least a king size if not bigger and a four-poster with a beautiful canopy. It was the prettiest rose color you could imagine and there was a scarlet comforter. Her carpet was a crème color that looked similar to the walls of the common room. A tall wardrobe and medium sized dresser sat adjacent to each other and both looked to be made of the finest oak. Her walls were a light green. All of the colors of the room seemed to match and compliment each other perfectly. On the far right wall she saw a sliding glass door. Hermione walked over and opened it. It turned out that the door lead to a balcony. She couldn't resist going over to the edge and looking at the view. It was a stunning sight. It seemed like you could see for miles and it was overlooking the lake, which made it all the more exquisite. Hermione imagined herself sitting out here on a bright, sunny day and watching everyone or just reading. Or bringing out a blanket, lying down and staring up at the clear night sky with the moon out glistening brightly. She loved doing that. The sight of the sky at night is just breath taking. Hermione stood there staring longingly at the view for a while.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Hermione felt an arm around her shoulder. Startled, she let out a cry and turned her head quickly to see who it was. What shocked her even more so was the fact that it was the last person she expected, Draco. He didn't seem to notice that she jumped and if he did he didn't show it. He just stared out over the balcony with his arm around her.

"Uh…Malfoy…what are you doing?"

"Looking out over your balcony."

"You have your arm around me."

"I'm well aware of that, Granger."

"What I mean is, why do you have your arm around me?"

"Because you aren't trying to get away from me."

"Oh. But what made you want to come in here and put your arm around me?"

"I honestly don't know. You just looked so lonely standing here by yourself and you have a pretty good view so I figured it wouldn't hurt to join you. And besides, I wanted to tell you something. That's why I came in in the first place."

"Oh. Well what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Ijustwantedtosaythankyouforhelpingmeearlier."

"Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that. A bit slower if you please."

"Well…I just wanted to thank you for helping me earlier. I was brought up to show manners to ladies and I hadn't yet said thanks, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to say it. My mum taught me to be polite and have respect for women so I thought I should do something to show my appreciation."

"Well, where were those manners of yours for the past six years when you were tormenting me and calling me all those awful names?"

"Sometimes I forget."

Hermione just sighed.

"Well, what do you say to exploring the bathroom. Last time I saw it, it was enormous. I'm kinda excited to find out what it looks like now." He said as he slid his arm off from around her shoulders.

"Last time you saw it? When did you see it before?"

"You forget, Granger. I've snogged about every girl in the castle. We have to go somewhere. I've made-out with every Head Girl since first year and we usually come back here. Since we're here for an extended period of time, sometimes I feel the need to look around and get to know where I am so I've seen it every year for the past six years. It changes annually. I figured you would have known that, seeing as how you practically sleep with Hogwarts, A History."

"Yes, I did read about that, thank you very much."

"And I'm also wondering if I'll keep my record of snogging the Head Girl."

"I doubt it, Malfoy. I seriously doubt it. But while we're still on speaking terms, I have something to discuss with you."

"Hmm humm. That would be…?"

"What do you say about a truce for this year. Because if we don't come up with something to cease our constant fighting, we'll drive each other insane and I don't know about you, but I'm rather fond of my sanity."

"What's in it for me?" Well, I don't suppose it could hurt anything. With Father locked up in Azkaban I reckon I can do what I please.

"Is it always about you, Malfoy?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact it is. And if we're going to go through with this, I think we should start calling each other by our first name. It'll seem a might friendlier."

"Fine. But absolutely NO more 'mudblood'."

"No more 'ferret' then either."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Are we going to stand here in the middle of my room and argue or are we going to take a look at the bathroom as planned?"

"Fine. We'll look around the bathroom. Happy now?"

"I'm not the one that started this!"

"Well I wasn't if that's what you're implying."

"Whatever Draco."

"Alright, Hermione!"

"Ugh! One would think you do this on purpose."

"Sometimes I do. It's fun getting a rise out of you."

"Whatever."

By the time they were done fighting the two had made it to the bathroom door. Hermione reached over to the knob and opened it.

"Oh, it's lovely!" Hermione exclaimed.

Indeed it was. The bathtub was the size of a rather nice sized swimming pool. It was certainly better than the prefect's bathroom. Hermione went over to the 'tub' and looked at it. There were all kinds of faucets along the side and each of them, when turned on, would let out different scented bubble baths. There were two sinks in the room. One for each of them, Hermione assumed. Above the sinks were cabinets with mirrors on the front.

"Well, if you're done examining the bathroom, I'd like to go back out to the common room and investigate the bookshelf." Hermione said.

"Sure thing, Gra-I mean Hermione.We have better things to do than stare at a bathroom."

"Ok then. Whatever."

Hermione dashed out to admire the many books that would be having her read them in the next year. She started to look through them and was having a rough time deciding which one to read first because of the wide selection she had. By the time Draco got out to where she was, she was lost in an internal struggle over which book to read first.

"Seventh one from the left, fourth shelf down."

"What?"

"Read that one."

Hermione moved her hand slowly across the books' spines till she got to the directed spot. Charms Through the Ages was the title she found.

"Hmm…looks interesting. How did you know the exact spot of it?"

"I didn't. I just picked a random spot and told you to go to it."

"Oh. Well, thank you anyway…I guess."

"Whatever. I just didn't want you hogging the bookshelf for the next three days because at some point I'd like to get one for myself."

"Why are you so moody! Are you bipolar or something? One minute we're having fun together and the next you're being a complete prat! What are you doing?" Hermione said exasperated.

"If I were you, I wouldn't talk to me like that." Draco said in a dangerously soft voice.

"Why? Why should I listen to anything you say? And incase you didn't notice, you're not me."

By that time, Draco's blood was starting to boil. He was getting angrier by the second.

"Listen, Hermione, you'd be wise to watch my temper. I have an awfully quick one and I happen to be getting very mad. I get dangerous when I'm angry."

"What are you gonna do? Hit me?"

"Never. I'd never hit a woman. But I wouldn't advise making me upset too often. Do you understand me? Good," he said without waiting for an answer," So why don't you just run along and go read your idiotic book. I think you should leave me alone for a bit before I do something rash."

"Oh! How dare you!" Hermione said getting more furious than before at getting told what to do.

They both stood looking at each other rather intensely, trying to stare the other one down. Hermione didn't want to be the one to back down. Her Gryffindoric side forbade it but after assessing the situation in her mind for a few moments, she was debating on whether to look away and go back to her room or not. It was true; Malfoy did look kind of dangerous. In fact, he was beginning to frighten her a tad bit. After a few more moments of arguing between her head and her pride, she decided to back down. Hermione didn't fancy on standing there all night. Draco was so angry at the moment there was no hope whatsoever of him giving up so Hermione had to. So she sighed heavily, turned, and walked away. Sure, her pride was wounded but eventually it would heal. On the up side, she could get back to her room with her book faster and get further away from Malfoy.

"Good night, Draco." Hermione called behind her sarcastically as she walked away, not looking back.

Draco just stared at her retreating back.

When Hermione got to her door, she spared him one last look before forcefully shutting the door, blocking her from his view. Once inside she plopped down on her bed but instead of reading like she had planned a few moments ago she thought about the day. I think I'll just leave this part out when Harry and Ron ask me about my first night in Head Tower. If I told them about Malfoy's little 'outburst' they might try to settle the score.

Hermione knew that if Malfoy ever tried anything with her, her two over-protective best friends would be sure to start a fight. Draco was strong, that was indisputable, and he would become even more so with Quidditch season coming up soon, but if Harry and Ron were exceptionally mad and went after him together, Malfoy wouldn't stand a chance. Because they would be sure to pick a time when Crabbe and Goyle, his two dimwitted bodyguards, weren't around. Sure, Ron would stand up and want to have a go at Draco that minute but Harry would hold off and plan for the right time to attack. He was a better strategist then he let on. They'd crush poor Draco. But wait, when did she care?

A/N: Well, there's the fourth chapter for you! Just short of ten pages. That would make it my longest chapter so far! It has 2,785 words in it! Yay for me! And I just realized that I used a lot of exclamation points. I hope you liked it. And remember, please review! It will encourage me to write more and that means I'll have the chapters out sooner which is always a good, right? Of course! I'm working on the fifth now so review and encourage! Until next chapter, ta-ta!

Stars Around the Moon