"I tried to calm him down, to get him to be quiet. He wouldn't stop, so I told him that he was the closest friend I have ever had. I said that I could never replace him, and I would never turn my back on him in any sense. I think that was enough for him, so he was relaxed again. I don't know what to do about him, I have no idea why he is doing this-- he's changed so much over the summer!"
"listen, Hermione, I know this is hard for you. You won't like what I'm going to say, but I have to say it… You have to stay away from Harry. I know he is a close friend of yours, but couldn't you try to be more distant from him? If he has another tantrum anytime soon, be sure to tell me about it."
"what are you going to do if I tell you?"
"I don't know what I can do, but I'll find some way. I can't let him go around doing this, hurting people. It will probably get worse later, just try to stay away from him."
--------
Hermione and Draco sat together in silence until slivers of pink could be seen in the sky and both of them knew they should be getting back.
"Thanks for being here, but I think we should go now."
"yea" said Draco
They stood up and headed into the castle
"Draco, I know you don't like me much, but I'm really grateful to you for being here for me. I needed to tell someone about this all, and thanks for not blowing up at me and for being so understanding…"
"no problem"
Both of them went back to their common room and got their things. They didn't have any classes together that day, but even so, by the end of the day, Draco was still thinking about Hermione. He had experienced how horrible Harry could be, but Harry was always horrible to him… Was it possible that he would do something of the sort to Hermione too? but why? Draco asked himself over and over again why in the world do I care so much what happens with them? It is none of my business… why do I feel like I have to protect her?
-----
A couple of days later Draco saw Hermione walking down a corridor.
"hey, do you have a class right now?" Draco asked her
"no, why?"
"I, uh, I wanted to talk to you…"
"ok…" she said, a little suspicious "what about?"
"Harry. I just want to know if he's gotten any worse… or if he has gotten any better…"
"no… he certainly hasn't gotten better" she said, looking at her feet "but I don't think he's gotten too much worse either"
"is there anything I can do for you?
"no," she looked up and smiled at him, "thanks for offering though"
"no problem" after a minute or two of standing in silence, Draco said "ok, well I should go now… bye"
"bye Draco"
-----
As Draco was walking back to his common room, a tiny little thought kept trying to creep its way into his mind. Draco kept pushing it back, or trying to push it back, but as he was on his way to his next class and he saw Hermione walking with a couple girls and she looked up and smiled at him, the thought finally came through to the front of his mind.
I like her the thought kept screaming. Draco felt his heart skip a beat, and then went on trying to tell himself to get real.
no, no, no! I DO NOT like her! I DO NOT like Hermione granger…
yes you do, the other thought kept saying you like her a lot
Hermione? Hermione granger? I like her? No way!
there's no use hiding it, tell her about it
Draco kept arguing with himself for a couple of minutes until he noticed a couple of people staring at him and he realized that he must look pretty stupid, so he went into class and tried his best to focus.
-----
At the end of the day, Draco had come up with a conclusion… he in fact DID like Hermione… a LITTLE BIT. its not that big of a deal he kept telling himself I wont tell anyone, and I'll just ignore it for a while… it will go away soon
When a couple of days had passed, Draco felt proud of himself. He had not done anything to increase his feelings for Hermione. He had ignored her completely… he couldn't say that he had insulted her, but he didn't expect himself to. I mean… at least he wasn't being nice to her.
-----
From then on, every time Draco saw Hermione he had to force himself to think Draco, she's a mudblood! A filthy little mudblood! Her parents were muggles!
He hope that this would make him stop liking her, but it didn't help much. Every time he thought this something in the back of his mind kept saying so what? So what if she's muggle born? It doesn't mean anything
Draco forced himself to concentrate on schoolwork in every class he was in with Hermione. He couldn't think about anything that had to do with her, it would only make it worse.
At the end of one Charms class she, Weasley, and Potter were walking out of the classroom in front of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. As soon as potter heard Draco's voice he turned around.
----
Draco walked past Harry and the others silently, but Harry didn't like that.
"oh, come on, Malfoy… are you scared or something?" potter persisted
"I'm not scared" Draco said still walking
Now Harry was following him.
"just throw something at me, Malfoy! What? Have you suddenly gone soft on us? No more insults left?"
Draco was using all his strength to stop himself from taking Harry's bait. He wasn't planning on doing this again. Especially not here… in front of Hermione…
----
"Malfoy! Come back here! You wouldn't want to end up in the Hospital wing like last time, do you?"
"WHAT?" Ron said suddenly
Harry looked over at him, and realized that he had just told Ron and Hermione that he was the one who put Draco in the Hospital the time before.
"you told me he fell down some stairs!" Ron bellowed
"yea…" Harry said nervously "he did…"
"what? I didn't fall down any stairs!" Draco yelled back at Harry
"why did you lie to us, Harry?"
"er" Harry stammered
------
Crabbe and Goyle had apparently just realized that there was an argument going on. So, they tried to help Draco.
"yea! Lying is bad! You are bad!" Crabbe said, and then backed off, looking very pleased with himself.
Harry gave a very harsh laugh. "so, Malfoy, you finally taught your body guard to talk, eh?"
"we know how to talk!" Goyle spoke up "we are talking! T-O-K-I-N-G! ha! See! I'm smart!"
Harry gave another laugh.
----
"shut up, you two" Draco said to Crabbe and Goyle
Ron was still suspicious, though. "Harry, did you curse Draco? Is that why he was in the hospital wing about a month ago?"
Draco was looking from Ron to Harry apprehensively. Was Harry planning on telling the truth? well, if he's not going to tell them, I certainly will Draco told himself.
Hermione was giving Harry and Ron exactly the same look Draco was giving them.
"Harry? Were you ever planning on telling me and Hermione about this?"
"yeah, of course" Harry answered
Hermione must have thought that her staying silent through all of this might have been a little awkward, so she finally spoke up " when, Harry?"