GirlEnigma's fun fact of the day:

I liked the name 'Hermione' even before I started reading Harry Potter! Now you may be thinking 'well Hermione is a pretty uncommon name… Where would you hear it before Harry Potter?' My answer? Hermione was the name of Helen's daughter she had to leave in Greece when she went with Paris to Troy. Of course all of this would lead to the Trojan War but yeah. Hermione is a Greek name I suppose. I'm not sure if it's mentioned in the Iliad but I also read about Hermione in a book called Dead Goddesses. (I think that's the title…)

Of course if you don't know Helen of Troy the most beautiful woman back in the day that Aphrodite picked out especially for Paris to claim then you don't know what I'm talking about.

Subject change!

Awww my first Draco/Herm cute moment in the fic! Whooo! Was it ok? (REVIEW!)

I'm kinda sick right now (ok I am sick) so you'll have to excuse me if I have any errors in this chapter. I just finished my Communicating homework (I had to draw a poster on encoding and decoding. Fun, fun!) And since my dad has not returned with the DVD I have been begging this whole weekend to acquire (AKA Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings 4 disc DVD set w/ deleted scenes!) I figured I'd go ahead and work on my next lil chapter. (By the way I think that if you haven't gotten the Lotr soundtrack yet you should! It's really good.)

I claim the right to disclaim that I don't own anything Harry Potter and I am, in fact, not JK Rowling. (Duh!)

Draco heard a voice calling him, but he was lost. He was lost in a forest of bad memories. Draco was quite use to the layout of this forest. He would come here every time he would dream. But the forest also knew this, so no matter what he did he would always be lost.

Draco sat down, wordlessly, against an old oak tree. He stared up into the sky, watching the leaves change colors and drop to the ground. The wind whistled through the branches and he shivered. It was a cold forest.

He tried in vain to bundle closer to the tree. He tried to warm himself up, but the cold was always there.

"Draco…" a sweet voice called, "Are you hiding from me now?"

Draco blinked. There was a different voice calling him this time. It was still a female voice, but this voice seemed more carefree, more energetic. He lifted his head higher to try and locate the voice.

"Is someone there?" he called into the growing darkness.

"I am always here," the same voice called back.

"Where?" Draco asked, "Let me see you."

"How is it that you can not see what is in front of you?"

"Don't speak in riddles. Be plain! Show yourself!"

"Riddles? I am not speaking in riddles. Your father has poisoned your mind. Every word that is uttered you do not heed. You believe that behind every letter, every syllable is a hidden meaning."

"I don't understand."

"You would not understand, but you will, soon. I will come to you whenever I have the time to spare."

"Time to spare? …Aren't you just a piece of my dreams?"

"Do you think that I come just to you?" the voice laughed merrily, "You may be special, young master, but you are not that special!"

"Please…at least tell me your name!" Draco called, standing up now. He noticed that the forest didn't seem as lonely or as cold now.

"Very well," the voice said clearly, "I am Anaxandria of the Sumnio realm."

"And what is this place?" he asked, looking around still for the source of the voice.

"This is a forest that you created in your mind. Perhaps it is a forest that you have seen somewhere before and perhaps it is not. You come here when you dream every night. I watch over you whenever I have eyes to spare."

Draco sank down again. He didn't like this forest. It frightened him.

"Do not be troubled," the voice said softly. The lady's whisper was carried on every breeze in the forest and seemed to come from every point at the same time, "I know you will find your way."

"Don't leave me alone!" Draco cried out as the last breath of warmth left the forest.

"Wake up!" the other voice called, "Really, Draco, this was your idea for me to come back in the first place. How can you just sleep on like this? Get up already!"

He knew that voice.

"Hermione?" he called, standing up again. Was she lost in this horrible place too? He had to find her! "Hermione!"

Suddenly he was running, glancing around every tree, looking for any signs of the small Gryffindor. He watched for any indication of her cinnamon hair or her chocolate eyes.

"Where are you?!" Draco called out, "Hermione!" Draco yelled, jumping out of his chair in the library.

"Don't scare me like that," Hermione breathed, clutching her robe over her heart, "What do you want? No need to yell."

"I…" he started, sitting back down, "Nevermind."

"Oh?" Hermione said, "Were you…dreaming about me?"

"I don't quite know…" Draco said rubbing his forehead.

"Why don't you tell me about it? Maybe it has some sort of magical purpose. Dreams are important," she suggested.

"Well…" Draco said slowly, "Alright."

"Right. Start from the beginning."

"I was in…a forest. It was a deep, cold forest and I could never get out. Every where I turned looked like the same trees. So, finally, I gave up and sat down at the base of a tree. But then a voice called out to me. Some woman was talking to me in my dreams. I asked her name; I asked her what this forest was; and I asked her not to leave me alone in it."

"What was her reply?"

"She said her name was Anaxandria of the Sumnio realm. She said that the forest was something that my mind made up or maybe something remembered from a long time ago. But as I asked her not to leave she told me that she had other places to be. I felt her leaving because the forest seemed that much colder. Then I remember hearing another voice. It was your voice. So I started to search for you, but…I could never find you. As I called out your name I woke up."

"Sumnio realm…" Hermione said distantly, "Sumnio… Dream realm?"

"That would make the most sense," Draco said wryly.

"You should tell the headmaster."

"Why? It's just a silly dream right? I was just a little shaken. I'm perfectly fine now."

"Listen," Hermione said, "Dreams are important. You never know what they might mean. This wasn't nessicarily a nightmare, but it's still disturbing."

Draco shrugged. He knew that Hermione would probably dig up information about the dream realm even if he declined.

"There's no harm in getting a little information," Hermione reminded him, "Would it really hurt to be prepared?"

"Do what you like," Draco replied in a cold tone, "I'm not interested. We're here to research our group project not dreams."

Hermione sighed in an annoyed manner. He felt a little bad. She was only trying to help him.

"Here we are!" Mary said, flopping a huge book on the table, "Is this big enough Hermione?"

"It's fine," Hermione said curtly, opening the book up, "I'll take the notes."

A few hours passed and we had taken at least 20 pages worth of notes.

"Excuse me," Mary said suddenly, "It's getting late. I have to go Hermione. Will you be alright on your own?"

"Yes, yes," Hermione mumbled, not really paying attention to her.

Mary nodded and smiled thankfully. She then grabbed her things and walked out of the library. Hermione still didn't seem to notice.

"Did you notice?" Draco said, yawning, "Mary has departed."

Hermione's concentration still didn't break. So Draco put his hand over hers and the quill stopped. Hermione's hand trembled a bit but she managed to meet his gaze.

"I said," he repeated, "Did you notice that Mary left?"

"She…left?" she said, looking around for the taller girl, "When?"

"A little while ago," Draco smiled, "I think we've taken enough notes. You can stop now."

"Oh… Oh…right," she said, her voice shaking.

Draco's eyebrows narrowed, "What's wrong?"

Hermione's cheeks flushed with color and she took her hand away. She immediately started packing up her things, "Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Fine," Draco said casually, "But you'd better not do the report all by yourself."

She turned and looked at him, wide eyed, "Y-You predicted me again…"

"You've really got to start sticking up for yourself once and awhile," Draco said, "You can't just go cry to a wall. The wall can't help you. And crying to Potty and Weasel won't help you either. Sure they might solve your problem for you but will that really help you in the long run? What if they aren't there one day? How will you solve your problems then?"

"What are you talking about? Stick up for myself? When did I not stick up for myself?"

"When the other 3 group members basically told you to do it and just get a 100 mark for them. And when you were going to do all the research by yourself. And just now when you were going to do the report by yourself. It's a group project. That means that more than one person should be helping you. You have to stand up and say that you won't do it by yourself. You have to stand up and say that it's their responsibility too."

"Draco…" Hermione sighed.

"Saying my first name to address me now?" Draco grinned wickedly.

"Oh," Hermione said, slapping his shoulder, "Trying to give me advice now?"

"I'm only telling you what's happening. It's not my problem when people take advantage of you," Draco shrugged.

"I'll think about it," Hermione said, "What about you? Are you going to take my advice of looking up some information on the dream realm?"

"Nah," Draco drawled, shaking his head, "I'm good."

"That figures," Hermione sighed standing up, "Give advice but don't take any. Slytherins are so hard to live with."

"From my point of view so are Gryffindors who can't see the obvious," Draco snickered, "You're so smart but sometimes you just can't see something and I start to think how you can be that smart but so thick at the same time."

"You? Think? Amazing," Hermione retorted, "A snake's brain is only about as big as my pinky."

"Well, I'm not a snake, am I?" Draco said, "But I suppose it doesn't matter. You have your knights in shining armor to protect you from the dangerous serpent. I'm just a small piece of the puzzle. But when you're being stepped on all the time don't think I won't come to say I told you so."

"Knights in shining armor? Really, Draco, how do you think of such ludicrous things?" Hermione laughed dryly, "And how will you tell me that you told me so if I have my knights protecting me?"

"Your knights are the obvious Potty and Weasel," Draco said, "And I can easily slid past them without being noticed. They'll be too busy staring at you and daydreaming about you and well we both know you'll never notice them."

"Harry and Ron? Daydreaming about me?" Hermione laughed, "You can't call me thick when you're talking so absurdly!"

"Ah, ah," Draco said waving a single finger, "Don't be so sure. They are most definitely head over heels for you. But you can't see the obvious. They're with you everyday. They're your best friends. How can you not tell?"

"How can you tell?!" Hermione yelled, her cheeks turning a slight pink, "You don't know anything! How can you make such observations when your life seems like a living hell? You're the one being trampled! I'm not the one who can't stand up to his father!"

Draco's cold heart stung a little then. He waited a moment before replying. His tone was soft.

"I'm trampled on for good reasons and at least I know that I am being trampled on," he said, "Anyway Potty and Weasel practically fling themselves at you these days. Not to mention when I made that crack to Potty about doing enough kissing. Do you remember?"

Hermione seemed to recall what Draco was talking about and nodded.

"Harry couldn't even look you in the face and Ron looked completely jealous," Draco sighed, "I'm sure if you just looked for it you would see their little crush floating around in their eyes or in their undying devotion to your every need."

Hermione was silent. She was looking at the ground.

"Now are you done trying to out insult me? I'm very perceptive. I'm only telling you the truth. Make of it what you will."

Hermione turned slightly. Her voice was shaking.

"I'm… I shouldn't have…" she tried to say.

"Forget it," Draco replied looking away from her, "I don't want to hear it."

"Why?" Hermione wailed, "Why do you have to be such an jerk?"

That wasn't the reply Draco expected to hear, "What?"

"You can't even let me apologize?" she asked.

"I only want to hear you apologize to me once," Draco replied, "You'll probably say a million things to me after this and I'll know you don't mean them. So just apologize to me once but only when you've done something that I really thought you meant."

"You're still very arrogant," Hermione sighed, but there was a smile beginning to form on her lips.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Draco asked, grinning a little too.

"Not that bad," Hermione laughed.

"Well," Draco said standing up, "I guess I'll see you later."

"Yes… Yes, I suppose you will," Hermione smiled, "Goodnight, Draco."

He took her hand and quickly kissed it, "Goodnight, Hermione," he smiled slyly, "I'm a gentleman right?"

Hermione was blushing and she stumbled on her own words, "…D-Don't kid yourself…"

Draco laughed and walked out of the library. He got out his wand and twirled it in his hand. This day and went better than he had thought it would. He didn't understand Hermione as good as he played to her but she genuinely inspired and interested him. But she did seem a bit awkward at times. She seemed a bit awkward around him mostly. But that wasn't too unnatural. She must not trust him that much yet. She was however trying her best and had made an effort.