A/N: Hey guys, long time no updates. Did I mention I am so sorry? I was planning on updating all my stories on Father's Day because I was stuck home and grounded, but I got the stomach flu. I had it for a full week. It was extremely boring and painful. Anyways, after that adventure I had to take care of everything I put off, due to me being in bed. I got caught up and then I went out of town for 4th of July. However, last week I was out of town again visiting my grandmother, and that trip was pretty hectic, plus I was sans computer. Also, to top all that off, I had work Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6pm and then when I got home, I was so tired, I wanted to do nothing. But, now I am finally in the groove again, so here is your update.

Anyways, I wanted to thank you all for being patient during my slacking off of writing, so sorry. But, good news is, while I lay in bed wishing to be better, I thought of a bunch of stuff for this story. So, I do plan on making this story long because I want to include all these little things in. Hope you don't mind.

Another thank you to all of you who reviewed. I luv reading them, they make me feel all good inside. Besides, I luv seeing what you guys think of my writing. I would take to time to comment to each of your reviews, but it would take to long and I figured you guys would want an update more. So, I promise to try and comment more on the next update. Thanks again for understanding and reviewing!

Anyways, on with the chapter.

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CHAPTER 14

Draco sat straight up. He could've sworn he heard Hermione scream, but he wasn't sure since he was sleeping. He quickly looked over towards Hermione's bed and saw a lump under the covers.

"Hermione," whispered Draco.

When he got no response, he did it again, but a little bit louder and harsher.

"Hermione!"

"What," answered Hermione.

Draco could tell by her response that Hermione was shaken up, but about what, he wasn't sure.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

When he once again got no response, he decided to attack from a different point.

"Did you just scream?"

"Maybe," answered Hermione. "Did you hear a scream?"

"Yeah, and I thought it was from you," said Draco.

"Well, sorry for waking you and all," snapped back Hermione.

Draco wasn't quite sure why Hermione was being all snappy. He was sure they were becoming friends, and he was pretty sure friends didn't snap at each other.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He figured something had to be wrong for her to be all shaken up and snappy towards him.

"Nothing."

"You don't scream when nothing is wrong."

"Of course I do."

"No you don't?"

"How would you know?"

Draco was at a loss for words, but he was too stubborn to admit defeat, so he went back to answers that would make Hermione mad.

"Because I do," he said.

"Well, you're wrong!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Just as they were starting to get into another yelling match, Professor McGonagall came through the door.

"What is going on here?"

Draco quickly decided to answer. He was hoping he could find out what was wrong with Hermione or get her in trouble. He wouldn't mind that since she was being a brat.

"Hermione screamed and woke me up. I then asked her what was wrong, but she was just mean to me," stated Draco in the most innocent voice he could muster.

McGonagall, looked over from Draco to Hermione, and realized that Draco was most likely telling the truth. Hermione looked shaken up and McGonagall had heard her scream.

"Hermione, would you like to tell me what happened?" asked McGonagall, in her most motherly tone.

Hermione glanced over at Draco and then back to McGonagall.

"Not with him here," she replied.

"Okay Hermione, I can do that. How about you come with me and we can talk about what made you scream."

"What?! No! That's not fair! I want to hear why Hermione is such a sissy!" yelled Draco outraged at the prospect of not knowing why Hermione screamed or her not getting in trouble.

This in turn caused Hermione to become more uncomfortable and glare at Draco.

McGonagall was about ready to scold Draco for upsetting Hermione more, but when she turned to him, his look of anger, confusion, and frustration made him look so cute, she decided to let it pass this one time.

"Draco, this is a special kind of talk, where it is private. If you were in Hermione's place would you want her knowing why you screamed?" reasoned McGonagall.

After a moment of silence, Draco slowly shook his head no.

"That's the way Hermione feels. If she wants you to know then she will tell you, okay. How about you go back to bed, tomorrow is going to be an exciting day."

"Okay," answered Draco as if nothing was wrong.

Draco then rolled over and focused on trying to go back to sleep. McGonagall then took Hermione's hand and helped her out of bed and into her own quarters. When they were seated on a comfy sofa, McGonagall turned to Hermione.

"Now, can you tell me what made you scream? And why you felt uncomfortable having Draco know?"

Hermione looked up to Professor McGonagall, her chocolate brown eyes large and scared.

"I had a nightmare. And I didn't want him to know because he would've made fun of me," she said.

McGonagall nodded. She figured as much, but she wanted to be sure.

"Can you tell me about what?" she asked. She knew this was the second night Hermione had screamed due to a nightmare, and she was hoping that having Hermione tell her about it, would help squash the fear, or at least give her a way to help Hermione squash her fears.

"I don't remember it. Once I woke up I forgot it, but I know it was scary."

"Alright dear, well everything seems to be better, how about we go back to bed. You got such an exciting day tomorrow."

"But, what about my nightmare?"

"It went away. That's why you woke up," reasoned McGonagall as motherly as she could.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay."

"Can you go back to bed now?"

"Uh-huh." Hermione then reaffirmed her answer with a yawn.

McGonagall then lead Hermione back to her room and watched her get into bed. Within seconds, Hermione was back asleep. She then looked over at Draco and saw that he too was asleep. After checking the room one more time, she went back to bed.

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"Ron!"

"Five more minutes," answered Ron sleepily.

Harry groaned and decided he would have to use more persuasion to get Ron out of bed.

"But Ron, Dumbledore fired Snape!"

When Ron jumped out of bed with a look of shock, Harry realized that he might have pushed it with that response. 'All well, got him out of bed.'

"Really?!"

"Nope. I just needed to get you up. We're gonna be late for Potions if you keep sleeping in."

"That's not even funny. You shouldn't tease me like that. Got my hopes up and everything!"

"Well, then you need to lower your hopes. Besides, we got to get going. After Potions we are meeting with Ginny in the off hour to work on something to transform Hermione back to age seventeen," replied Harry.

"Well, then let's go. Sooner we suffer through Potions, the sooner we can help Hermione!"

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The morning had progressed well for both Draco and Hermione. Neither them spoke of what had happened that night. They had just arrived at Snape's classroom since he now had the period off.

"How are today, Uncle Snape?" asked Draco.

"I've been better," answered Snape.

Draco and Hermione then stood in silence. Hermione's was uncomfortable since she didn't know the man and was slightly scared of him. Draco was waiting for instructions. Snape just continued to look at the two, before he turned around and walked to his desk to grade papers. Draco took this as a dismissal and started playing with the few toys he brought with him. Hermione still stood there, confused and a little scared.

"You know you can sit down and play," stated Draco, not looking up from his toys.

"Oh," answered Hermione. But all she did was sit on the chair next to Draco. She didn't bring anything with her except a book, and she had already read it.

Draco saw that she was uncomfortable.

"Do you wanna play with me?" he asked.

"Sure," answered Hermione. "What are you playing?"

"I'm just playing with my dragon toys."

"Oh," said Hermione. She didn't really care for dragons and all.

Draco didn't seem to notice her lack of enthusiasm at having to play with dragons. "I like dragons. They are my favorite animals. Did you know my name means dragon?"

"No. That's pretty cool."

"What does your name mean?"

"I'm not sure. I never asked."

"Oh, well I'm not sure either."

"Will you two hush up. I am trying to concentrate," gruffed Snape.

Draco just smiled at him and went back to his toys. He figured Snape was just in a bad mood. Draco had seen him like that a lot, so it was no big deal for him. Hermione, however, got a little upset but then went to playing with Draco, hoping she could avoid Snape's bad mood.

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"Hey guys, you ready to go back to your room and play?" asked Sam.

It was now four in the afternoon and time for her and Neville to take Hermione and Draco back to their quarters to have playtime there.

"Sam!" yelled Hermione. She then got up and ran to Sam and gave her a hug. She then went and hugged Neville. Draco stood there uncomfortably, as did Neville.

After leaving Snape's classroom, Hermione became more outgoing and comfortable, while Draco drew more into himself, especially if Hermione wasn't around. He was now looking forward to going back to his quarters.

"Well, if you guys are ready, we can leave Lupin to his work and go back to your rooms. Is that good?" asked Sam.

Draco nodded while Hermione voiced her affirmative.

The four then said by to Professor Lupin, who was still diving head first into his paperwork and barely nodded a goodbye, and walked back to Draco and Hermione's dormitories.

"So," asked Sam. "How was your first day spending time with the teacher?"

"Oh it was fun. Well, with Snape it was scary, but then it got better," answered Hermione.

Sam looked at Draco seeing if he would answer, but he was starring at the walls, so she decided he didn't want to talk. She figured if he had any of the traits like when he was seventeen, he wouldn't want to be bugged, and if he didn't answer you, then it was better to drop the subject. Hermione, however, didn't know this.

"Draco, are you going to answer Sam? She asked you a question."

Draco glared at Hermione, and then looked at Sam. "It was fine." He then started walking towards the room ahead of the group.

"What got into him? He was fine all day. Sorry if he is being a meanie," said Hermione towards Neville and Sam. The two just nodded their head.

Meanwhile, Draco had heard what Hermione said, and it made him even madder at her.

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"Sam, our hour is up. It's time for dinner anyways," said Neville to Sam. They had been watching Hermione and Draco in their dormitory. Draco had continued to play with his dragons, although Neville thought he was being extremely violent with them. And even though Draco was six, Neville was feeling somewhat uneasy around the boy.

"Okay," answered Sam.

The two then announced their leave to the two children and left the room.

Hermione looked over at Draco after they left and decided he had been rude long enough.

"Why are you being so rude?" she asked.

"Wasn't being rude," mumbled Draco.

"Excuse me?! Yes you were. You wouldn't answer Sam and then you ignored us the whole time they were here."

"So, maybe I wanted to play by myself."

"Yeah right. You were playing with me all day and suddenly you have attack of the mean attitude."

"What? Attack of the mean attitude? What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. You are just being a jerk!"

"Am not!"

"You know what, I am not doing that again. All we do is argue. We can stop that dumb arguing as soon as you realize you are a butthead and stop being one."

"I am not a butthead."

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not."

"You know what, I don't need to take this from a dumb girl," shouted Draco. He then stood there with an evil grin on his face. "You're a stupid-head!"

Hermione gasped. She thought they had already been through this. She decided to end it now and put Draco in his place.

"I know you are, but what am I?!" she teased with an evil smile.

"A stupid-head," responded Draco.

"I know you are, but what am I?!" she teased again, infuriating Draco even more.

Draco realized where this was going and decided to end it. "Well, you are definitely the stupid one since all you can use is that comeback. You can't even think of a good insult!"

"I could think of plenty of good insults, but you are so stupid, you wouldn't even get them, so they are pointless to use!"

"I don't think so."

"Oh, well how about this. You are definitely the stupider one, since you don't even know what 2 plus 2 is!"

Draco glared at her. She had definitely hit below the belt. He then stuck his tongue out at her and stormed off to bed. He decided the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner he would be away from her.

Hermione watched him storm away and started to feel bad, but squashed the idea. It was all his fault anyways. She then picked up her book and decided to read until Pokey and Poy brought her dinner. Then she would go to bed, and hopefully nightmares wouldn't bug her tonight. She didn't need to give Draco that kind of ammo. She then thanked whomever she could that he didn't use that against her.

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END OF CHAPTER 14

Alright guys, that was a little short. I decided a little shorter was okay on this chapter. It was just something to hold you over until I can pick up the plot and get it going again. I lost some momentum when I put off writing. Which I am so sorry it took so long to get it going, but I just had to refocus, and that was kind of hard. Sorry it took so long to update also. I got plenty of excuses, but I didn't think you would want to hear it. I also plan to update more often, but I got to wait till work is over, which is two weeks. It is hectic, I work 8am-6pm and then I have to have family time, so that is the biggest reason why I have been slacking off. Sorry guys.

Also, I got a new laptop for school, and once I get the wireless internet hooked up, I should be able to write and post more. Since summer is here, I have lost the dictatorship over computer (which is another reason why updates are long-my brother won't get off).

The next chapter should pick up and from there everything should flow. So expect the story to pick up, but the updates might be a little spread out, sorry, but I start college in a month and got a bunch of stuff to take care of. But I am going to try harder to get updates out, no more two month waiting period.

Anyways, thanks again for all the reviews, and look for more updates coming soon.