Chapter 4-

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Last Time

"NO!!! Do not blame yourself for this! He is the bastard that hit you! You didn't do anything!!!" Draco said. He had no idea why he was getting so angry, but he didn't care. She was wrong.

Hermione looked up and managed to smile. "Thanks. I really needed to tell someone that." she said quietly for fear of him making a rude, cutting comment.

"Right. No problem. So, are you hungry?" he asked as he got up and walked to where he thought the kitchen would be.

Hermione got up and followed him after saying, "Yeah. I haven't eaten in a while."

When they got in the kitchen, Draco made her bacon and eggs. (Hermione had just bought them yesterday. She was getting tired of soup and T.V. dinners)

They ate in silence and Hermione couldn't stop thinking about how nice Draco started being when he heard that her father beat her….

AN-Now…Enjoy!!!

"Draco?" Hermione asked when she finished her food.

"Hmmm?" he replied as he looked up from his meal.

"Umm, I was wondering if you would tell me what happened to you?"

There was a pause before Draco nodded and said, "Yes." Draco paused again before starting his story. "Well, as you know, my father is a Death Eater." Hermione nodded. "Okay, well…he wanted me to join You-Know-Who and I said no. He was very mad and he used the…an Unforgivable on me." Hermione gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. This slightly puzzled Draco. 'She is so naïve.' He thought before he continued. "It's not that bad. He has done it tons of times before." Again she gasped slightly, buy kept her hand from resuming it's previous position over her mouth. Draco suddenly felt the need to convince her that he was not like his father, so he continued. "The problem this time, was that he was madder than he had ever been before, and the more anger or hate you posses the stronger the curse. It has never been that bad before. He usually put the curse on me for only thirty seconds, but this time he left the curse on for several minutes. He has this thing…being the most disgusting, despicable man in the entire wizarding world…he won't lift the curse until I had cried out for him to stop. Then, considering I refuse to give him the satisfaction of watching me beg him to stop, I had to wait until he decided that he had hurt me enough. When he finally lifter the curse, I barely had he strength to move. I knew that if I stayed there, he would force me to join You-Know-Who, so I ran away from him and from that hell hole. After a few minutes of regaining the use of my limbs, I jumped on my broom and started flying. I started feeling lightheaded and then everything went black…I guess you know everything from there." he finished.

Hermione looked horrified. She had no idea what to say. "You actually said no to Voldemort?" she asked finally.

Draco flinched slightly at the name. He saw that there was a distinct fear in her eyes, but there seemed to be something else there too. Could it be admiration… 'No, it must be something else, but what?'

"Yeah." he mumbled.

"Wow, you must be really brave." Hermione said before she was able to stop herself.

Draco looked up and met her eyes once more as his trademark Malfoy smirk covered his face once again. "Do you, the Gryffindor Princess, think that I, the Slytherin King, am brave?" he asked in his normal cocky voice.

Hermione's serene expression suddenly transformed into a deep scowl. "You know what? I think you are just a Slytherin prick and you can forget that I ever said anything that might have came across as a compliment!!!" Hermione yelled as she stood up and headed towards her room.

Draco smirk faded into a frown at her sudden outburst. "Hey, Hermione…I was only joking." he said without thinking as he got up and followed her.

Hermione stopped when she heard his words. She stood with her back to him for a few minutes before turning to face him. "What did you just call me?" she asked.

"Huh?" Draco asked, taken aback by her question.

"You just called me Hermione." she said.

"I did not."

"Yeah you did. You just said 'Hey, Hermione…'"

"So, what if I did."

"Since when did you stop calling me Mudblood?"

Draco just stood there staring at her blankly. Then, after a minute, he said, "Well, maybe since we are living together…we should have a kind of truce or something. I figured that we could at least call each other by their name. We could ever pretend that we never met before…you know like…when you found me…you didn't know me…"

Hermione looked at him in total surprise for a few minutes before she finally decided that it was worth a try. "O-okay."

Draco smirked at her as he closed the distance between them and held out his hand. "My name is Draco Malfoy, what's yours?"

Hermione hesitated for a second before taking his hand and saying, "Hermione, Hermione Granger. It is nice to meet you."

They shook hands quickly, but their hands lingered for just a few seconds longer than needed.

"N-nice to meet you too." Draco said as he took his hand back.

"Now that we officially know each other, what do you want to do?" Hermione asked as she looked around.

"Well, I am kind of hungry." he replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Boys are always hungry." she said as she led the way to the kitchen.

Draco followed her and couldn't help thinking that he liked being nice to her. He tried to shake these thoughts from his head, but he knew that living together would be a lot easier if they weren't constantly yelling at each other.

When Draco entered the kitchen, he found Hermione standing on the counter trying to reach something on top of the refrigerator. Suddenly, her foot slipped on some water and she began to fall. Draco ran over to her and caught her right before she hit the ground. He was amazed at how light she was.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her eyes tightly shut.

Draco lowered her to the ground when she had finally settled down. "Are you okay?" he asked as his arms still held her to him.

Hermione nodded and gave him a weak smile. "I am just afraid of heights and falling…"

"Well, you are safe now." he said, not realizing that he still had his arms wrapped firmly around her.

"Draco, you have to let me go now." Hermione said as she tried to stifle a laugh.

"Huh?" he asked. Hermione pointed to his arms, and he realized that he had been holding her the entire time. "Oh. Sorry." he mumbled as he let her go.

"So, I was trying to reach this pan on top of the refrigerator…could you get it for me?" she asked in an effort to break the awkward silence.

"Sure." he replied as he easily reached up and grabbed the pan.

"Show off." she said as she gave him a playful punch in the arm.

"Hey, what was that for?" he asked as he handed her the pan.

"Just because….on no!" she said.

"What, what's wrong?" he asked as he looked around her, trying to see what the problem was.

"I forgot. I was supposed to go to the store this morning. We have nothing left." Hermione said in an apologetic voice.

"That's no problem. We can go to the store now" he said as he walked towards the door.

"Draco, you can't go. You aren't health enough." Hermione protested immediately.

"What do you mean? I am perfectly fine. Just like my old self. Let's go." Draco demanded.

"Fine, but I am not carrying you again if you decided to pass out again!" Hermione said as she walked towards the door.

"Fine." he said calmly as he followed her out the door.

"Oh, by the way, it is a very long walk." Hermione said with a smile.

"How long?" Draco asked.

"Long enough. I don't suppose that you are up to jogging?"

"Well, it depends on how far away it is."

"I thought that you were back to your 'old self.'" Hermione said in a mocking tone.

"Very funny. Fine, let's see if you can keep up." Draco said as he took off in a sprint down the street.

"Hermione smirked at him and started her steady pace towards the store.