Author's note: Okay, This Chapter is for YouKnowWho, because she pestered me forEVER to post this chapter. ANd because while the rest of you are reading this, she's sitting in the dark of her house. She's got a black out. So this one is for her.

ProwlingKitKat noticed thatI buggered up the dates so I've fixed them. And yes, Snogalicious22 This is going to be a Draco/Hermione fic. I just really don't find it in Character for them to to just fall in love. I think it's a long process for fighting and flirting or what YouKnowWho calls flighting. So here's the rest. Enjoy!

Chapter 32 – Septermber The 1st

September the first.

Draco Malfoy sat back in his compartment he was alone for once and quite happy to be so. As soon as he had set one of his dragons hide boots on platform nine and three quarters Crabbe and Goyle had flanked him, up until now. They had left him to his own devices in favor of tracking down the Candy cart and Draco knew from previous experience that they would be gone for the majority of the remainder of the trip. So he was just going to sit down and revel in his solitude for the time being.

The door slid open.

He felt his good humor immediately disappear. He wondered what had happened, why they were back so soon. Perhaps they had been sent away on pain of never being allowed to buy from the candy cart ever again. That had shooed them away last time, but that had at least taken two hours.

Draco had been counting on just two hours for him to read or otherwise just spend sometime alone.

Oh, well.

"My, my" he drawled. "That was uncharacteristically quick. Did they send you out already?"

He looked up expecting to see his thick-headed body guards and instead to saw Hermione Granger-Malfoy. Her chocolate eyes were wide; she obviously had not expected to see him. He eyed her curiously. She looked completely normal, not at all like the eight months pregnant soon-to-be-mother that she was.

"Well this is a surprise." he said recovering quickly. He decided she must be hiding her pregnant belly behind a glamour charm. "Good day, love, you are looking well."

Hermione scowled at him. She had gone all summer with out him and had lost some of her hostility rationalizing that they were stuck together and he had tried to make amends of some sort. He also hadn't been beastly to her for a while. But as soon as she saw him and heard his mocking tone as he looked her from head to tow all her benevolent feelings disappeared and she remembered just why she hated him so much.

Because he was a lecherous, stuck-up git, that's why. AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT.

"That's because for a moment, there, I forgot all about you."

He smirked.

"I'm heartbroken." he said. In a way he rather missed her 'witty' garbs. After all, for the entire summer he had been working and everyone was too busy kissing his arse to banter with him. And all work and no play made Draco a dull boy.

"That's a surprise," she snapped. "I didn't think you had a heart to break."

Draco smirked.

"Oh, now I'm really wounded."

"I know I'm supposed to be saddened by that fact, and yet I'm exhilarated." She said with a wicked smile.

"What is this? The noble Gryffindor priss inflicting mental harm upon another?" he asked incredulously, she could tell he was mocking her. When ever he was actually bring serious, Draco never changed his tone. "Whatever shall Dumbledore say when he hears about this?"

"He won't mind." she said crossing her arms and smiling sweetly. "After all you hardly count. I don't think his empathy extends to one who is not a human being."

"Well, I know that it's hard to believe that someone as perfect as I am can still be considered human-"

That made Hermione narrow her eyes with annoyance, which of course made Draco's eyes almost twinkle with excitement.

"You have your flaws." she interrupted glaring at him. She was beginning to get very, very annoyed at him.

Draco quirked an eyebrow.

"Being perfect isn't about being flawless, love." He said with a smirk. "Its about having flaw in all the right places."

He coupled what he was saying with a slight buck of his hips and lecherous smile.

Hermione didn't seem to get his meaning at first because she just peered at him cluelessly. His seedy smile, however, gave him away and she predictably huffed, scoffed and blushed all at the same time.

Her prissy, virginal reactions to his innuendos never failed to amuse him.

"Draco, is that really all you think about?" she demanded trying to sound firm. "You've been sleeping around haven't you?"

"Let's not get carried away, love." he said with a grin.

She glared at him pointedly.

"Love, you don't even like me. This mockery of a marriage is done simply for the benefit of my son and he is the only one I have obligation to." He said, his mood switching from playful to stormy, the evidences of which he hid carefully. He didn't appreciate her peering into his life. He had enough people doing that already. "And further more, I'm quite sure you don't really care who I'm sticking it to." He purposely used crude words to get the message through that it was simply none of her business. "So what this is is a pregnant moment for the purpose of which, I can't-No-I don't want to fathom."

Hermione recoiled for a moment, he was upset. As in, really very upset. He never used common language unless he was upset.

It didn't occur to Hermione that she could now read a little bit of Draco's emotions. She knew how to decipher the clues. His posture and his voice didn't change, even the playful tone didn't change, but he was closed off and it would be wise to change the subject. Of course, that didn't mean Hermione was going to.

"You have haven't you?" she snapped. "You probably left an entire string of one-night-stand and such all over the continent!"

He rolled his eyes.

"No, love." He said seriously making a point to meet her eyes so that she knew he was serious. "I have not."

Hermione's teeth snapped together with an audible click. She had expected a lewd comment or some sort of barbed retort. His simple, sincere denial surprised her. She wanted to ask him why, but she just couldn't seem to word the question, even in her head, without blushing.

"So." his expressions turned unreadable once again. "How was your summer?"

If she was thrown again at the abrupt subject change she made no mention of it. She responded at first with a glare, but at his prolonged silence decided to answer him.

"Malfoy free." she replied easily.

He arched his eyebrows. He mentally shook his head. She really did love to leave herself open to insults.

"That seems rather impossible seeing as how you, my love,-"

Her eyes widened and then narrowed into slits as she realized just what he was going to say. He had said it before and it never failed to piss her off. She looked like she very much wanted to scream but was holding it back with all her might.

"Don't." she warned poking her index finger at him

"-are very much a Malfoy."

Hermione knew that she was not going to win this battle, so she witched tactics and subjects.

"What did I say about calling me 'love'?"

"Not to do it." he said easily. He was reveling in her complete and utter displeasure. He found his lips twitch into a smile almost unconsciously as she looked like she was going to shoot steam out of her ears. "So what brings you here?"

Hermione took a deep healing breath and counted to ten.

"I was looking for Harry and Ron." she informed him. "And you, where are your-how did you put it? Mindless-adoring fans?" she grinned. He had left her an opening as well. "Don't you feel bad now that they've left you all alone?"

All the playfulness that had been apparent in his mood was gone in an instant. His expression became an unreadable mask once again.

Hermione cocked her head to one side and studied him. His armor had gone up, His expression cold, his voice neutral and his stance closed.

"I prefer it that way."

Hermione found she was interested, in spite herself. She twitched, she was actually uncomfortable when his face went blank. She really would rather deal with his sarcastic comments and witty, razor sharp barbs than his complete lack of any reaction or emotion.

"Do you?" she asked, the scorn and ice in her voice replaced by honest curiosity. Hermione was a kind-hearted friendly person by nature the very idea that someone would rather be alone than with his friends confused her. "You don't like to be with them at all?

"Did you really think that I enjoy spending time with them, Love?" he asked his tone was mildly incredulous.

She nodded slowly.

"They are your friends." she clarified, trying to comprehend what it would be like not to want to be amongst one's friends. After a pause of silence she added an unsure, "Right?"

Draco's laugh was chilling.

"Friends?" he said shaking his head, still chortling coldly. "How very Gryffindor of you." he his voice melded back to laughter. "Honestly."

"What do you mean?" she demanded heatedly. She did not appreciate how he turned something she was proud of being-a Gryffindor-and turned it into an insult. He seemed to be good at that. He managed to also make her intelligence-which she was also proud of into something to be ashamed of.

He also was still laughing.

"I said what I mean, love, I don't like being around my-" his smile didn't each anywhere else on his face. "As you so quaintly call them-friends."

"Well, if you hate them so much why don't you just try and find some new friends." She said rationally.

"So, Love, I never got a straight answer, how was your summer?"

Hermione almost fell out of her chair.

"Are actually inquiring about my summer?" she asked huffily. "this isn't another shoddy subject change?"

He seemed to be having an internal battle, to keep his defenses up or to smirk. To keep his defenses up or to smirk. It was a really difficult choice.

"No, love, I'm actually changing the subject." He said, and smirk it was. "I completely planned on tuning you out three minutes into the" he raised his voice to a comical pitch. "'Oh! It was the best summer ever but only because I got to spend it with the people that I love.'-mantra."

"You know," she replied with an annoyed eye roll. "If you were a little less prickly maybe you could actually have friends."

"There is so much irony here, I could write a poem."

"Irony?" she said. "I though barbed comments and veiled insults were all the tradition with the two of us."

"You brought up the possibility that I may one day have friends. I'm stunned to my very teeth." His smirk deepened.

"You can be stunned to teeth?" Hermione asked, with a pointed arch of her eyebrow.

Draco stared at her for a second and then laughed, with more mirth this time. Shaking his head at her completely ludicrous bitch-y stance when matched with her nonsensical retort.

"What?" she demanded.

Draco didn't stop laughing.

"You know what?" she said crossly. "It really wasn't that fun-"

And just as quick as his laughter came, it stopped.

"Draco, what is going on with you?" she repeated.

Draco did not reply, instead, his head snapped to the side, silver eyes narrowed. A moment later he shook it off, but when he turned back to Hermione, his face was grim.

"So very lion's mane-minded to believe that just because you say that you are friends mean that you are actually friends." he paused and smirked at her. "It's rather like those who believe that just because two individuals are married they love each other dearly." He shook his head. "Obviously, not the case, seeing as how we do not love each other. That sort of idealism has no place here. Run home, little Gryffindor," he said lowly. "Before my friends come and find you."

Hermione eyed him strangely and then left the compartment. She made her way down the corridor keeping her eyes open for Ron and Harry. Just then, she heard some thumping noises, something told her that those were produced by a pair of thug-like Slytherins. She ducked into the nearest empty compartment and watched from the window to see them thump by. They had a reputation of beating on others who got in their way, especially after summer holidays. When they had passed, she quietly slid out of there and continued her search for her friends. It was not until after she had reunited with them that she thought back to her conversation with her pseudo husband.

Had he warned her?

If Crabbe and Goyle had seen her they would have roughed her up for sure and that would have harmed her baby. Had Draco known that? Had he cared enough to help her avoid it?

"Hermione!" Ron called. "Five way exploding snap."

Hermione's smiled and turned her thoughts back to her friends and away from Draco Malfoy.

Back in his car, Draco sat with his 'friends'. Remembering what she had said about them earlier. They had apparently learned of the joy of 'take-out' and had brought back so much food they could have fed the entire population of the Hogwarts express.

And as they ate they talked.

It was actually rather frightening. Like a series of unintelligible grunts between strange squeak sounding things.

Draco wondered why on earth his father thought they were actually smart enough to keep up the oh so important task of being his arse-faced shadows.

"Draco, didn't you find that funny, man? Huh?" Goyle said with a piggish snigger, which turned into an even more piggish snort.

Funny, Draco hadn't thought Goyle had enough neurons to register humor, much less actually get a joke.

Nevertheless, he turned to him and Vince and Greg and fixed them with his icy, steely quartz glare. One that told them that quite frankly, he was not finding anything funny.

"Aw, Greg, you know Draco never finds anythin' funny!" he said. "And askin' 'im, it's like getting salt from a stone or somethin'"

Draco didn't bother to correct him. (blood from a stone.) It was just too much trouble, instead he focused on the scenery that was flashing by the window and did his best to ignore the two ignoramuses currently occupying his compartment..

"Yah, you know how hard it is to make Draco laugh." Goyle said slapping Crabbe with a force that would have probably sent a regular student flying through the window. "Someone's gotta be like, dying or something."

Draco's head popped up. Something that Greg said actually hit him, he tuned out the rest of the statement, but for the very first time in his life, Greg was right. It was hard to make him laugh, and he didn't do it often.

He shook his head in a strange kind of wonder.

She had made him laugh.

Twice.