So stunned that he caught her, Hermione let the bottle slip out of her hands and it flipped to the floor, scattering all the pills everywhere. She stared at Draco like a deer in the headlights. His mouth dropped as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Hermione," he began to say.

"Get out!" she screamed, dropping to her knees trying to hide the pills on the floor. She put the bottle behind her back.

"What the hell Hermione, what the hell are those!"

"J-j-just some advil. I have a headache."

Draco was now standing over her, Hermione was shaking with fear. "Get out of here Draco! I want to go to bed!" she screamed. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it around towards him. Hermione let a helpless cry as he pried one of the pills out of her hand and looked at it closely.

"Advil?" he said sadistically, "Where do you get off lying to me Hermione? This is V."

"Don't be ridiculous!" she tried to refute, "how would you even know?" she screeched accusingly.

"Because my mom had been on them for as long as I can remember!"

"Draco," she said beginning to cry.

"Save it popper." She tried to say something again he wouldn't let her. "All this time, you've been on drugs."

"No! No!" she cried out. "Not all the time I swear! I've been stopping, please Draco just don't do anything."

He stared down into her huge panicked eyes, she looked so terrified. He couldn't believe it. He would have never had guessed in a million years.

Now Draco was honestly in a rut. He was so angry that she would do this to herself 'Doesn't she know how bad these are?' he thought internally. He couldn't believe Hermione wasn't the perfect-in-every-way girl he thought she was. In fact, if anyone found about her and her little drug problem she'd be out of school for sure. She'd be stripped of all her titles and achievements and they'd send her off to St. Mungo's rehabilitation wing for a good year. All this would go on her transcript completely ruining her future and then she'd still have to deal with her parents.

Suddenly, sick satisfaction overcame him. Miss never-done-nothing-wrong was addicted to valium and who knows what else. This is what the evil bastard part of him was hoping for. They weren't as different as everybody thought. Angel Hermione and the Devil Draco, well not anymore.

Draco's bad side felt a surge of authority. He began seeing her on the floor there as weak and pathetic. And he was powerful. His mind started forming malicious ideas.

"Stop your blubbering," he said harshly. He got down to his knees and picked up her chin.

"Tsk, tsk tsk," he chimmed, "Dumbledore will be absolutely heartbroken when he finds out his favorite student had been using illegally prescribed performance enhancements."

Hermione began sobbing softly again, "Please Draco…Please…" she tried to plead.

"And McGonagall will be furious, totally betrayed. And your friends! Oh! It's just so sad. They'll be so mad you lied to them. They won't even know who you are anymore."

"That's why you can't tell them Draco," she said between cries, "please, please, Draco, I'm stopping. I'm not taking them anymore. So please don't tell."

"Stop your begging." Draco said coldly, he let go of her face. "Think of the position I'm in as headboy," he added evilly. "I really should tell, you know, it's my Hogwart's duty, you being a danger to yourself and others and all. Think of all the school rules I'm breaking if I don't tell. As a fellow student I should really be doing you a favor and help you get kicked out of school."

Hermione felt like she was going to be sick. She cried even harder.

"..…But I'm an old softy at heart," said a patronizing Draco, "I'll give it about a week to debate it…" spreading his words like ice over her. "To see if you really deserve to stay. And if you really are going to quit."

He began walking towards her door. "So I'd be a good girl in the meantime 'Miony." He said slyly in a threatening tone.

… … …

'No! Stay awake! I have to think of what to do….." Hermione thought, struggling against the sleep that was overcoming her. She felt like invisible person was pushing her down to her bed as the pills she had just took started working. Her eyes were swollen from crying and she ached all over with dread. She wished she hadn't taken them so bad. Not just because Draco would've never found her like that but because she'd be able to think of something to do to save herself if only she weren't high right then.

She knew that in reality she was in pain, that she should be worried, that she should be formulating some kind of plan on how to convince Draco to forget about the whole thing. But she wasn't feeling reality. She has chosen to alter it and now she regretted it. Never before had she wished that she was feeling pain and was feeling worry. She wanted to feel anything instead of numbness. Because the numbness was so fake, and she was sick of being fake.

Maybe it was Draco who made her finally see, but she just wanted to be herself again. She wanted to stop lying. She wanted to deal with things herself, in a clear state of mind. She couldn't hide from the way the world really was all time. Things get stressful, things get hard, but everyone has trials and feels down or overwhelmed, but at least battling the ordeals of life was real and winning them was real too. Hermione used to be smart, she used to be strong. She used to beat things on her own all the time, and she used to believe she could beat anything, but not anymore. She lost fail in herself long ago when addiction first got a hold of her. She didn't believe she was strong or smart enough to beat anything anymore. Maybe if she had taken a different path she could handle situations better, like the one she had with Draco, before it got a million times worse anyway. She knew she should be worried about what he was going to do with her but the sleepiness was getting stronger by the second.

She cursed herself as she had no choice but to lay down. 'I can't sleep now…," she mumbled through the end of her sobs, 'I've gotta work things out…..' But the pills told her the pillow felt good. She couldn't feel her sore eyes anymore, or her nausea.

'Why did I take them? Why?' she asked herself, she wanted to cry some more but she couldn't. It felt so odd, she knew she should be upset but she wasn't anymore. She taught herself to lie to everyone, even her own mind and body.

She had taken them just then because Draco made her feel so vulnerable, so risky. She didn't know what to do when she was around him, her mind got all foggy and she couldn't think through her choices. She wanted to kiss him, in fact something in her screamed to do it, something that loved the excitement that came from being by him, but what would happen right after? And the moment after that? And then the next day? She didn't know. Maybe nothing would happen, maybe everything would be fine. But what if the consequences were terrible? She just couldn't risk it, she was way too scared of the unknown.

Suddenly she forgot what she was even thinking about. Croonshanks jumped up on the bed and started to paw at her. 'I should feed you', she thought as she tried to sit up. But she felt a draft. 'Brrrr,' she said groggily as she pulled blankets around her. She laid back down, she had forgotten about Croonshanks in a matter of seconds. He pawed at her once more but it was no use, she had already fallen asleep.

Draco laid in bed, doing some self mind control. He was suppressing the guilt he felt. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't there. There was nothing wrong with what he was doing.

Ever since 1st year he had been 2nd place to Hermione. She was always number 1 in class rank, and he fell immediately behind her. Draco knew that they were equally matched if anything, yet he never succeeded in beating her in any other class but potions. He knew it was because people looked at her and thought 'Sweet heroic Hermione Granger, such a good friend, such a hard worker, always nice to everybody'. And then, they'd look at Draco and think 'What an intimidating boy, Malfoy's have a shady past, that kid must be a dark arts supporter, he's not nearly as friendly and innocent as Hermione, let's let her be number one'.

It wasn't fair at all. They didn't even know him. Just because he was a Malfoy didn't mean he was anything like his father. In fact he couldn't stand his father, and in all honesty he was terrified of the dark arts. He was rich, good looking, extremely intelligent and a star athlete. And while he wasn't the sincerest person ever, he had impeccable manners and could be very charming when need be. His dad used to smack him after posh dinner parties if he ever did anything immature. He was well-to-do all the way around, what more did this place want from him?

As soon as goofy looking average-brained middle class kids like Potter and Weasley started being held as prestigious students Draco couldn't believe it. In the upper class where he came from characters like Potter and Weasley wouldn't be tolerated. Sticking noses where they don't belong, intentionally skipping off into dark doom and by pure dumb luck coming out better off did not make you a hero where Draco came from. And then there was Hermione. How could a mudblood be such a talented witch? It just wasn't fair.

No, he shouldn't feel guilty. He got handed a perfect opportunity to set balance to the world by upping Hermione. Soon he would be 1st in class rank, not only that but Hermione would want him more than anything instead of the other way around. Some whispering voice from deep within him questioned how he could be so harsh to something so sweet but he silenced it. Draco told himself that warm good feeling he got from kissing Hermione was just apart of her being so attractive. 'She's an evil sorceress of trickery,' he told himself, 'I bet she makes every man feel that way.'

He was confident that Hermione would continue to take the drugs judging from the way she immediately ran to them after just one intense moment. He assumed she must be very, very addicted. Yes, he had convinced himself to go through with it. He had many things planned for Hermione given the new leverage he held over her head.