Disclaimer: Come on now, you all know I don't own it. No I am just a jobless recent college grad…

A/N: Thank you to everyone who answered my lil question. Since there was no majority either way, I think that I will just write as long of chapter as I have time for, but I will try to make them as long as I can.

You know, I was thinking. If this story were to be acted out, as it is in my head, I think I would want Draco to be played by Ryan Phillipe, that man is just too adorable. Then Hermione would be Jessica Alba (I don't care if she's Hispanic, this is my dream!). Harry can still be Daniel Radcliffe, just aged 5 years (that boy is going to be hot when he's older) and Ron could still be Rupert Grint (I don't know, there is something I really like about him). Ginny would be Lindsey Lohan (she is the only actress I know of with red hair) and Pansy would be Christina Aguilera (when she looked more natural). Blaise would be that hot guy who plays Chad on Passions (honestly, we need a bit more diversity) and I haven't figured out who Millie would be. Ok story time now!

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Hermione skipped dinner that evening in order to get the sleep she had missed the night before. Last night's argument had brought back a flood of memories from her horrible break up with Victor. The whole event would've been much easier if he hadn't endlessly tried to contact her after she had left his house, but because of this, it had stretched on for months. She no longer had any romantic feelings for him, but the memory was still very painful for her.

Hermione sat on her bed listening to some music. She had put on a silencing charm on her door just in case Draco was near. She was ashamed that she had blurted out the reason she and Krum were longer together and she didn't want him to know that she was still thinking about it. See, Hermione listened to certain kinds of songs depending on her mood, and now she was listening to a sad love song. She didn't want Draco to hear it.

"When you left I lost a part of me, it's still so hard to believe, come back baby please, 'cause we belong together…" went the song. Hermione sighed. "I really shouldn't be listening to this right now," she mumbled to herself. Just when she was about to mutter the spell to turn off the player, there was a knock on the door.

"Patefacio" she said while waving her wand at the door. "Come in!"

The door opened and within a few second she could see Draco standing in her door way. She looked at his disheveled appearance and debated to herself whether or not to let him in. She wasn't angry with him for making him cry, just for being heartless as usual.

"I only think of you, and it's breaking my heart, I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm falling apart…" continued the song in the background. Hermione hastily turned off the player embarrassed that Draco heard what she was listening to.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" said Hermione, trying her best to hide her embarrassment.

"I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday." He said.

"I don't want to fight with you right now, Malfoy…" she replied tiredly.

"I don't want to argue either. Can I come in?"

"… yeah"

Draco inwardly gave a sigh of relief. He had been worried that she wouldn't even give him a chance to explain. He walked into her bedroom, turned her desk chair so that it faced her, and sat down.

"well?" Hermione said a bit impatiently.

"I want to apologize about yesterday"

"Oh?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Well not about your date thing, but for what I said about Krum. I didn't know that was the reason you two broke up. I mean, honestly, I knew you had to have broken up with him, not the other way around. He's a brilliant Quiddich player, but other than that he's a bloody idiot."

"But you said something different last night."

"Yeah I know. I say a lot of things I don't mean just to get you angry. But you do remember that I had called him an oaf and a buffoon. You really were too smart for him. Anyway, what I am trying to say is, I really wasn't trying to hurt you. I honestly never thought anything I said could have that affect on you. I just hope that you will accept my apology."

Hermione watched him the whole time he was speaking. She knew he was being sincere. Though his voice was strong and confident, his eyes kept moving back and forth nervously. She decided to wait a little bit before accepting the apology.

"You look tired, Malfoy. Not getting enough sleep?"

Draco groaned inwardly. He knew had known that this wasn't going to be easy. "I didn't sleep much last night; I mean I don't make women cry very often. Well, unless they are crying in pleasure while they are beneath me." He smirked. Sometimes, he just couldn't help but be a smug bastard.

"Ugh! You are disgusting. I will only accept your apology if it means that you will leave. Now get out so that I can get changed."

Draco chuckled. Well, at least he had gotten her mind off that sorry excuse for a wizard. He stood up, left the chair where it was, and walked over to the door. "Be careful on your date tonight, Granger," he said before he closed her door.

Hermione stared at the door a moment after he left. Something was a little off about the way she and Draco were lately. She turned around quickly and headed for the bathroom, she had a lot to do to be ready for her date.

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Hermione walked back to the common room dejectedly, she had had a very long night. The evening had started out perfectly. Jay met her on time in front of the Great Hall (she had told him to meet her there because she didn't want Draco to start flipping out). He had set up a nice picnic in one of the empty classrooms that he had charmed to look like a grassy hilltop. Afterwards, they had danced to music that he had charmed to play. Hermione was elated to have found such a perfect gentleman.

But then he started to get a little too comfortable with her. Trying to touch her intimately, when she obviously had no desire to be touched by him. After all, she had only really gotten to know her. After politely moving away from him a few times, she got fed up and told him to stop. He became really angry, saying some nasty things. So, of course, in Hermione she slapped him and stormed out the room.

Now she just hoped that Draco wouldn't be in the common room when she got into their shared dorm. When she reached to portrait of the lion and the snakeshe said the password "ne jamais juger un livre" ('I really need to get the translation to this' she thought distractedly) and walked into the common room. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw that it was pitch dark and turned toward the stairs that led to her bedroom.

"Have a nice date, Granger?"

Hermione drew in sharp breath, he had deeply startled her. She quickly regained her composure. "Sneaking around in the dark again, Malfoy?"

She heard a chuckle from somewhere on the far side of the room. "I was just about to relight the fireplace. Dozed off while working on my History of Magic essay."

Suddenly the fireplace came back to life and she could clearly see Malfoy looking at her. "I thought you would be out with the boys creating some mischief."

"You seem to have forgotten that they abandoned me this weekend for their girlfriends. But seeing how you aren't prone to being very forgetful, I would say that you are trying to avoid my previous question. So how was your date?"

"It was fine, Malfoy."

"You know you are a horrible liar…"

"Fine, you can rub it in my face that you were right. He was a complete bastard."

"Aww, do you need a hug?"

"Ugh, you know, Malfoy..." she had started before suddenly becoming enveloped in his embrace. She had no idea how he had moved so quickly from the other side of the room with out her noticing. 'Must be all that Death Eater training he went through' she thought absently.

She was surprised with how quickly she relaxed into his arms. Hermione was no fool. She knew more than half the girls in the school would have given anything to be where she was. Draco was gorgeous there was no denying it, with his angelic handsomeness in addition to his dark wizard gone good status; he was the object of many fantasies. If it weren't for his horrible attitude towards, and the fact that she didn't like when men had long hair, she might be one of the girls who dreamed of being with him.

"When I asked if you needed a hug I was actually offering you one," he said softly. "You just looked like you need one." Hermione just stood there not saying a word, still shocked that he had hugged and even more shocked that he wasn't making any moves to let her go. "So what happened?"

"Too make a long story short, he was a perfect gentleman until he started to grope me. I smacked him, he threatened me, and I left." Hermione began to discretely take deep breaths, she could feel her hear rate begin to rise. As she did so she noticed his cologne. She was very surprised that he wore a muggle scent, Acqua Di Gio to be exact; she knew this because it was one of her favorite colognes for men to wear. He wore it well, too well; it was making her even more aware of her body being held close to his.

Draco was silent for a moment and began lightly running his left hand up and down her back. "He threatened you? What did he say?"

"Oh, not much, just that I was a tease, and that I'd pay for leading him on… something like that I wasn't really paying attention." She answered vaguely. She was much too focused on the hand moving along her back.

"You? A tease? I highly doubt you would know how to be one. Vous êtes une fille douce, Granger." Hermione shivered. She would never admit it to Malfoy, but she had always thought that men who spoke another language were extremely sexy. Well men who spoke a romance language were sexy. Whenever Victor had spoken in Bulgarian she was turned off, immediately.

"Did you just insult me in French, Malfoy?"

"If I was going to insult you, I would make sure that you could understand it. No, Granger, I have just said what is truthfully the nicest thing I have ever said to you. But, I didn't want it to go to your head." He pulled away from her at that moment leaving her with a strange feeling of loss. "I'm going to get some sleep, trying comfort you while holding back insults is tiring. Good night, Granger." He began to walk over to the stairs.

"Hey Malfoy?"

"Yes Granger."

"Why aren't we friends?" she asked softly.

Draco chuckled. He turned around and looked at her. "We are friends, Granger. It's just that we are friends who don't really like each other, insult each other, and call each other by our last names. We just have a different kind of friendship. Now, no more warm and fuzziness. I am going to bed." And with that he spun around and went to his bed.

Hermione, once again, stared in the direction that he had gone. 'There is definitely something weird going on between us' she thought.

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Hermione avoided Malfoy for the rest of the weekend. She was still a bit unsettled by the events of Friday evening, well, just the events that concerned Malfoy. Hermione ran through the scene many times over the course of Saturday and Sunday, and each time ended more confused than ever. But she did have to admit, when Malfor was nice, he did seem to have the whole package, girly hair and all. 'Lets just hope he never cuts his hair, 'cause I might be in trouble then' she thought at one point.

So now on Monday morning Hermione walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. She was actually looking forward to being with Harry and Ron after her weekend. She had missed them. The group had made a deal a long time ago that they would always sit at their respective house tables, this way they didn't totally alienate the rest of their housemates. Recently, Hermione became even more glad by this rule, if everyone had sat with their girlfriends/boyfriends, she would have felt totally left out. It wasn't as if she would willingly speak to Malfoy throughout a whole meal. She liked her meals without food being thrown at her, thank you very much.

She could sit with Parvati and Lavender, she supposed, but she couldn't be bothered with them prattling on about how much their clothes cost and how hot Malfoy was. When they had asked if she could set one of them up with him she had shuddered. It was bad enough having to deal with him all the time, but to have to deal with one of snobs as well? She could do without it. Then there was Neville, Dean, and Seamus. As much as she liked the three boys, lately they had taken to blatantly staring at her when in their presence, it gave her the creeps. Pretty much made it hard to have a real conversation with them.

Hermione took her usual place across from Harry and Ron. Since they were talking about new Quiddich strategies she let her eyes wander around the hall. From her seat at the Gryffindor table she could see the Slytherin table clearly. Malfoy was there already, staring at the more populated side of the table, seemingly lost in thought, until Blaise nudged him. They spoke for a short while, Draco with his usual face of boredom while Blaise seemed to be getting more amused with each second that passed. After a moment, Blaise got up from the table, walked over to Ginny and spoke shortly with her, then went back to say something to Malfoy before sitting down and continuing his breakfast.

'I wonder what that was all about' she thought before turning back to her meal.

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Draco was looking down to the end of his table with well concealed interest. There were quite a few new Slytherins in the school this year, after the destruction of a couple of smaller wizarding schools during the war. Usually he made sure to know everyone in his house, but with his Head duties, and along with the fact that he no longer lived in the Slytherin dorm, it was difficult to do so. He would just have to be content with the fact that they all knew who he was. He was trying to figure out which one of these new seventh years had gone out with Granger on Friday, it could be anyone one of the ten guys. While lost in his search he felt a nudge in his ribs.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Blaise with a smirk.

"Nothing, just spaced out I guess"

"So how was your weekend?"

"Pretty uneventful. Look I need you to do something for me?"

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I need you to find out which one of these guys Granger went out with on Friday. I would try, but I know I wouldn't get any answers"

Blaise began to grin. "And why would you want to know that?"

"I want to talk to him about something."

Blaise seemed to get even more amused by this. "What do you want to talk to him about?"

Draco sighed; Blaise could be really annoyed when he wanted to be. "He did something I didn't like, so I want to talk to him about it."

Blaise laughed. "Ok, I'll be right back." And with that he stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table.

Blaise came back a short while later and sat down. He leaned in close to Draco and spoke softly. "That guy sitting across from us, two people down. The one with the close cut brown hair, that's him." He went back to his breakfast.

Draco discretely watched the guy with interest. He had to admit, Granger did have good taste in the looks department. The guy looked fairly tall, maybe about 5'11 give or take an inch and was pretty tan. Draco tuned into his conversation.

"…yeah she is pretty hot for a good girl…bitch wanted it… wouldn't give it up…tease…told her I'd get it from her sooner or later…(laughter)"

Draco heard all that he needed to hear.

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Hermione was half listening to the pair in front of her. She would never understand how they could go on for so long about Quiddich. Just went she was about the zone out she heard a loud gasp and crash over by the Slytherin table. She shifted her gaze quick enough to see Malfoy dragging a guy across the table by the collar of his shirt. She could see him speaking to the guy but couldn't hear what he was saying. She figured it was loud enough so that the only person that could hear was Blaise, who was looking at the scene with amusement.

Hermione wasn't surprised that none of the other Slytherins came to the boy's aid. After all, even the few Slytherin who despised Malfoy for going to the other side during the war were not stupid enough to get on his bad side. But she was surprised by her friend's reactions. Pansy and Millie were continuing their conversation as if nothing happened, Blaise looking like he was seeing the best show ever, and Ginny was just gathering her things together to get to her next class. Harry and Ron's reaction were the strangest of them all. At first it looked as if they were going to both run over there, when Harry stopped Ron.

"Hey, 'Mione. Isn't that the guy you went out with?"

Hermione looked closer at the scene and was shocked that she hadn't noticed before. "Yeah it is."

After she replied the two began to act as if nothing was happening. Even the teachers weren't doing anything; they looked the same as before. 'What is going on here' she thought. As if reading her mind Ron mumbled something about a distraction charm and went on happily talking about Quiddich. Hermione looked up again in time to see Draco dragging a terrified Jay out of the Great Hall.

"What the hell is going on?" she said aloud.

The song in the beginning of the chapter is Mariah Carey's We Belong together. I barely ever see R&B songs in the fanfictions and I think they are perfect for Draco and Hermione stories. And since it is my favorite genre of music if will also have to be Hermione's. Expect more in future chapters!

French translation:

vous êtes une fille douce- you are a sweet girl

Reviews and suggestions are greatly appreciated.