Chapter Three

Disclaimer- Blah flipping blah, I own nothing but the plot.

As Hermione awoke the next morning, she realized what had happened the night before... Draco and her were getting along perfectly fine...

"How weird..." she thought to herself...

Now, as you would think, Draco would be thinking about the same thing, but he wasn't; he had always admired Hermione, now he got a chance to prove it.

So Hermione got up and took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs with thoughts of going to breakfast. But as she got down the stairs, she saw Draco laying on the couch, completely unconscious. She went around to him, to check his pulse, and was glad to know he was still alive, but she was scared about what had happened to him. She cast a spell on him to wake him up, and was gently pushing the hair out of his eyes when he came to.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know... I think I may have hit my head or something," he replied.

"Draco, out of curiosity, and not to ruin anything, but why are we getting along? I mean, everything has always been so weird between us, we were never friends, and you always called me that hateful word..."

"Hermione... I'm sorry for all of that stuff, and I'm sorry for always picking on you and Harry and Ron... Some of it was from being under the cruciatus curse, but then some of it was out of jealousy... I was always jealous of you guys, and how you had such a great and trusting friendship with each other... I always wanted just one best friend, just one person to help me when my dad got overbearing, which was pretty much every day that I was home with him... No one ever saw me for who I was, so no one wanted to be my friends... Even Crabbe and Goyle... They never really liked me, they were just there because they liked to kick people's asses, and so they decided to defend me from everyone... But I'm truly sorry for ever being mean to you, I would take it all back if you'd let me..."

"Wow," was all Hermione could say. "I never knew it was really like that for you... I mean, I've suffered from a lot of my own depression, but I'd never think you did."

"What do you mean?" he asked back.

"I mean, over the summer my dad committed suicide... He was the only person I ever looked up to because my mom was such a bitch to me, and I couldn't imagine why he would commit suicide, and I also couldn't imagine why no one told me about it when he did... I came home to a note on my bed explaining my mother and new step-father's honeymoon to Bermuda that I wasn't invited to, and I just had a shitty summer."

"Well, when my dad died, I wasn't really all that sad about it..." Draco said honestly.

"Well, I didn't deal with it in the best way ever, though... Because it did make me sad... And I hate myself for the things I did..."

Draco, unknowing, asked her what she meant by that.

She told him everything, from beginning to end, about how she cut herself every night, about how she overdosed medicine just to attempt suicide, about how she had no one for the whole summer because Harry and Ron never wrote to her...

"Hermione, I had no idea, but then I mean... How would I? We've never really talked... But I can sort of relate, because I used to do things like that, back when my dad was alive... I'd cut myself just to know I was alive, I'd overdose muggle medicine to get a high off of it to get away from everything... You name it, I've done it... All to relieve my pain..."

Hermione didn't know what else to do, so she just embraced him in a tight hug. "Draco, I will always be here for you, even though Harry and Ron will object... I will always be here to talk if you need me... and I'll always be your friend, best if you will."

"Definitely," Draco said, hugging back as tight as he could. "What do you say we skip classes today? I'm sure Dumbledore will excuse us."

Right then, Dumbledore floo-ed into their dorm and appeared in front of him. "Of course I'll excuse you guys, you're finally the friends you are mean to be, and you need to talk some more. Want to go to Hogsmeade? I'll send you there, if you wish."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other, in silent agreement, and followed the Professor out of the door. He walked them off the grounds and to Hogsmeade, and then floo-ed his way into his office from Honeyduke's.

"I never thought I'd be here with you, Draco, to be honest," Hermione said. "But now that we are, I'm glad we're together here."

They went together to drink butter beers and talk. They had more conversations about their summers, and their home lives, and the like.

"Ever since my father died, my mother has been quite the looney," Draco said. "She must have loved him, even though he didn't love her back. But she takes me to do a lot of fun stuff now that my father isn't there to stop her... Even though, a lot of the time, she's outside, at his grave, 'talking' to him."

"Well, over my summer, I spent a lot of time on the telephone with my dad's dad, talking to him since my real father wasn't there to comfort me, and my mother was God-knows-where doing God-knows-what. A few times, he came out to my house so I wouldn't be so lonely, but he could never stay long because he didn't know about my magic."

It was just going on like this, with painful memories of their summers past, when Hermione noticed it was snowing outside.

"SNOW!" she yelled. "IT'S SNOWING!"

Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her outside, pushing her in the snow and lying down beside her. Even though it had only been snowing for a short while, it was already 4 inches thick, and it was freezing. He grabbed her hand and just laid there with her, not many people around them, for 10 minutes.

"I'm starting to get kind of cold, Draco," Hermione whispered with chattering teeth, but with no intention of ever getting up.

He got up, never letting go of her hand, and pulled her up with him. After wrapping both of his arms around her, one at her waist and the other at her neck, he asked her, "Are you still cold?"

She nodded.

He asked again, "How about now," but before she could answer, he pulled her into a slow, passionate kiss; Hermione only pulled away to say no, and then went right back into kissing Draco again, for he was the best kisser she'd ever experienced.

Giggety giggety goo. How was this? Review review! I so just rhymed.

love shelby!