:A/n: sorry this took so long. Hope you like it, but it's pretty boring, but needed to be written to jumpstart writing again. Please review. Thanx much

Chapter 8 – Fluffy Towels and Icy looks

Hermione woke Wednesday morning with a headache. The sunlight burst threw her window and fell right upon her face. She pulled the covers over her head, intending on sleeping a little more. But the pounding in her head was too intense, and didn't allow for sleep. She threw her blanket off her and sat up. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she thought about Draco. She didn't know whether or not to call him her friend. She didn't know why, just all of a sudden, he'd started talking to her. She didn't know what he felt; she didn't know a lot of things.

Grabbing her bathroom supplies, Hermione glanced at her watch. She was early, so she decided to take long shower to try and ease the pain in her head. Oddly enough though, the hot water and strong smelling shampoos made her head pound worse.

After her shower, Hermione wiped the steam from the mirror and looked at her reflection. She had begun to break out, she noticed, and her eyes had slight bags under them. She prodded and poked, pulled and stretched every part of her face, looking for flaws. She finally gave up and went to pick out her clothes.

She was standing in her room with just a towel on, looking for an outfit when she heard a knock on her door. The REGULAR door.

Hermione decided to see who it was before taking the time to dress. She crossed the small room and opened the door just a crack. A boy with flaming red hair stood in front of her. Ron.

Hermione watched as Ron looked from her wet hair, to the yellow fluffy towel stretched over her bust and that fell down to mid-thigh. His eyes followed from the edge of the towel right down to her pink-painted toe nails.

Hermione cleared her throat to get Ron's attention.

Ron's head snatched back up to look Hermione in the eyes.

"Yes, Ron?"

"I, um…" he stammered, "uh, was wondering if, uh, you wanted to go to breakfast with me."

The picture of Ron and Lavender lying together in his bed flashed before Hermione's eyes. She remembered her conversation with Harry about confronting Ron about it today.

Hermione looked down at herself before saying, "Well, I don't think I can go like this." She half-smirked, "And I'm not even close to being ready. Maybe tomorrow or something. I will see you down there though."

Ron looked at his feet, "Oh, uh, okay. Yeah, maybe tomorrow. See you."

"Bye Ron."

Hermione shut the door before Ron had turned and left.

She went back to picking out her outfit as if she had never been interrupted.

Draco awoke Wednesday morning late. The medic that Dumbledore had promised hadn't come until eleven o'clock.

Draco had been sleeping when he heard someone knock on his door. He was about to get up to answer it, when the person just walked in. Luckily, Draco was fully dressed. The medic introduced himself as Medic Sullivan.

Medic Sullivan checked Drano's eyes, nose, throat, and ears. He asked him redundant questions, making Draco want nothing more than to just go back to sleep. After giving Draco a sleeping draught, the medic finally left. Draco took the draught, and lied back onto his pillow.

Soon enough, his eyes felt heavy, his mind started to slow, and finally, sleep engulfed him.

Draco looked at his watch and cursed out loud. He scrambled out of bed and showered quickly. After picking out his clothes, he grabbed his school books and ran out of his room and into the corridor.

Once in the Slytherin Common Room, he slowed to a walk, not wanting to appear as if he cared whether he was late or not. As he passed, a few lingering Slytherins made their way towards him, in hopes of asking him about the Lucifer's Draught yesterday. Draco ignored them as best he could and walked briskly toward the portrait.

He made it to the corridor and started to walk faster. He looked over his shoulder to see if anybody was behind him. Once he was sure he was alone, he broke into a run. He glanced at his watch as he went. He didn't have time for breakfast, so he took off for Aurors in Training Class.

He arrived just in time. He slithered into the classroom, unnoticed and slinked into his seat next to Blaise. Draco noticed Hermione sitting in front of him and remembered her helping him yesterday. He remembered his vow to himself not to talk to her until he had figured things out. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to put her in danger or hurt her.

Class went by as usual. Professor Shacklebolt gave an enormous assignment and practically no time to work on it. With five minutes left in the hour and Shacklebolt finished lecturing, Hermione set to work on her assignment, taking advantage of the remaining time.

Harry and Ron used their time talking about Quidditch, and Draco just sat there. The minutes ticked away and then the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Hermione took her time packing her things, briefly wondering about her scheduled meeting with Draco.

I will go to the Library, and if he isn't there, I will check the Room of Requirement. If he doesn't show up at all, then whatever, his problem, Hermione thought.

Harry and Ron waited as Hermione picked up her things. Once every last book and piece of parchment was stuffed into her book bag, the trio left the room. Hermione glanced back at Draco, trying to catch his eye, but he wasn't looking. He was talking with Blaise.

Harry and Ron said their goodbyes to Hermione and headed off to Potions, and Hermione set off in the direction of the library. She got there and went inside; she set her bag down on a table and sat for a few minutes, waiting. Draco didn't come. After a good 15 minutes of waiting, Hermione picked her bag back up and started toward the seventh floor.

She neared the Room of Requirement and noted that the hallway looked deserted and unused. She approached the door and thought about Draco. She didn't know if it was going to work exactly, but she might as well try. The door handle appeared and Hermione pulled it open.

The usually magnificent room was now a closet. Dark and empty. And no Draco. Hermione closed the door and leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position.

Well, he obviously doesn't want to see me, she thought. He really has no right to act like this, I saved him after all. He wouldn't be here if I wouldn't have done something. He shouldn't be treating me like this. But, I guess what can you expect from a Malfoy? I was stupid to ever think this was going to work.

Hermione stood back up and thought about a room to spend the remainder of her break in. Once again, the door handle appeared and Hermione went inside. This time though, the room was a little study area complete with bookshelves and a table and uncomfortable looking chairs.

She took a seat at one of the chairs and set to work on her AIT homework. After an hour of painstaking work, she finished. She glanced at her watch and she had only five minutes of her break left. She packed up her things and headed out the door just as the bell rang.

Hermione met up with Harry, Ron, and Ginny for lunch. Hermione sat with her back to the Slytherin table and wanted desperately to turn around and see if Draco was there.

Just then, Lavender entered and took her place at the table. Neither Harry nor Ron had noticed her. Hermione thought about asking Ron about it, and then decided that she needed to ask Harry about it first.

Harry and Ron were talking about something that had happened in their potions class and Hermione wasn't too interested, so she turned to Ginny.

"Hey, are you up for that sleep over this weekend?" she asked the younger girl.

"Umm…sure. I don't think I have anything planned for Friday night, does that work for you?" Ginny asked.

It felt weird to Hermione to be talking to Ginny like yesterday never happened.

"Yeah, of course, that's fine. You can come by my room at like 7 or so if you want. Or anytime, it doesn't matter," Hermione replied.

"Okay then, 7 it is," Ginny said, and went back to eating her lunch.

Hermione finished her mashed potatoes and sat in silence until lunch was over. The bell rang and Ron and Harry had started to get up, when Hermione pulled on Harry's shirt sleeve. He sat back down and Ron made a move to also.

"Um, Ron, can I talk to Harry for a minute?" Hermione asked in her sweetest ever voice.

Ron looked disappointed and said, "Uh, yeah. I guess I'll see you in Transfiguration then. Bye Harry." He walked off looking at shoes the whole time.

"Are we going to ask him about him and Lavender? He didn't say anything about it yesterday," Hermione asked.

Harry thought for a moment and then answered, "Well, as much as I want to know about it, I don't know if it's a good idea. If he really wants to tell us, he will."

"So, are we just supposed to go on like we never saw it!" Hermione asked indignantly.

"I guess so," Harry replied, looking into Hermione's eyes.

"Ok, whatever," Hermione said, looking away.

"Hey, don't be like that. I just know that if I were him and you two found something out like that about me, you confronting me about would be that last thing I want. It would be embarrassing and I wouldn't know how to reply," Harry said.

"I just don't think that we should go on like nothing happened. I mean, he's Ron, he's told us everything since first year, why stop now?" Hermione said, sounding somber.

"Hermione, we are all getting older. Some things we need to keep to ourselves," Harry told her.

Hermione thought of the mystery door and her meetings with Draco.

"Yeah, I understand," she said.

Harry looked at his watch and stated that they had better get to their next class.

As Hermione stood up she said, "When Ron asks you what I had to talk to you about, tell him that I was asking about what I should get him for Christmas."

Harry smiled at his best friend and chuckled, "Okay. I'll see you in transfiguration."

"Bye," Hermione grabbed her back and headed off towards the dungeons for Potions.

Hermione entered the room and took her seat and emptied her things out of her backpack. Draco entered the room and was headed toward his seat when he noticed Hermione. He abruptly changed direction and headed toward Professor Snape.

Hermione noticed and watched as the younger Slytherin conversed with the older, uglier one. She couldn't figure out what they were talking about. Hermione became aware that she was staring when Snape turned toward her, and started walking her way. She looked down at the table.

"Miss Granger?" Snape said, his voice oozing with malice, "You will work with Blaise Zabini from now on. Pick up your stuff and move back to his seat."

Hermione opened her mouth to inquire why when the Professor shot her a glare full of evilness. She picked up her things.

As soon as Hermione had left her seat, Draco sat down in his normal one, giving her a glare as she left. She made her way to the back of the room where Pansy Parkinson was packing her things up as well. She passed Hermione on her way to sit by Draco, and smirked. Hermione could tell that Pansy was satisfied that she got to work with Draco.

Hermione set her things down on the table next to Blaise. She had never really talked to him, but already had the assumption that he was an ass.

Blaise looked up at Hermione and smirked. He knew he was going to get a good grade now, working with the top girl in the class.

Blaise had dark hair that fell over his eyes and he had to sweep it away every so often. When he did this, Hermione noticed how dark his eyes were, brown, almost black. His dark hair and dark eyes clashed with his ivory skin, making him look even paler than natural. His lips were a dark shade of pinkish-red and were small like, and he never seemed to smile. Just smirk.

Hermione took her seat and Snape officially started the lesson. He told them how far they should be at this point and how far they should get today. Then, he set them to work.

Hermione went and got the ingredients while Blaise got the cauldron and remaining items.

They proceeded to work in almost silence, only asking each other what was absolutely necessary.

Until Blaise asked, "Do you think we have to drink this?"

Hermione tried to remember back to two days ago when Snape had introduced the assignment. She didn't remember him saying anything about actually using it.

"Professor Snape didn't say anything about it, but knowing him, then yeah, probably," she said.

"If we do, DO NOT ask me any personal questions! I would rather eat rat eyes than spill my guts to some Gryff," he said menacingly.

"I won't if you don't," Hermione said. She hated being told what to do, especially by a Slytherin.

Blaise stopped chopping some root and looked at Hermione, "If you do, I will make sure that I do more than just embarrass you in front of the class, I will make you never want to come back here again. Got it?"

Hermione resisted the urge to back away. Instead she looked right up into his face and said more clearly, "I won't if you don't."

They stood there like that for a few moments, just looking at each other indignantly until Blaise broke the gaze. He went back to chopping his roots, and Hermione stirred the bubbling potion.

They worked on in silence until it was time to clean up. Once every last left-over ingredient was in its place, the class was free to go. Hermione picked up her book bag and headed for the door, watching Draco walk in front of her as she went.

As he turned a corner, he looked over his shoulder and looked at Hermione. Hermione felt chills go down her spine as Draco continued to look at her with a gaze of ice.

Draco quickened his pace and looked away. Hermione mentally shook herself to get ride of the icy feeling. And he continued down the corridor towards Transfiguration, where Harry and Ron were waiting.