Who could believe anything could be that loud? Hermione shook her head and became aware that the entire class was laughing at her. Her face burnt red with embarrassment and she couldn't take it anymore. She turned abruptly on her heel and stalked off across the grounds to the castle looming up in the distance. As she neared the Herbology glasshouses, a hand caught her by the arm and she spun around to see none other than Malfoy.
'Where are you going?' He asked with a quizzical look upon his face. 'Weren't you interested in that thing?'
'I hold no interest for it whatsoever.' She said coldly as she snatched her hand away. 'I'm not going to stand around while people laugh at me.'
'It was the Gnorkan we were laughing at, not you.' He smirked. 'Hey, I want to talk to you after class about that uh… thing that keeps happening.' His face darkened and he bit his lip. 'You're smart so uh… you should be able to figure it out, uh, Mudblood!' Hermione stared at him for a moment and then burst into tears. A look of horror passed over the boys face; what had he done wrong?!
-
She was crying, of all things to do! What was he supposed to do now? It wasn't as if he had hurt her in- oh. Oh. He forgot about the little fact she got upset when he called her that… but she normally didn't care. Why was she crying now?!
Draco stood looking rather uncomfortable and threw a glance back at the rest of the class. They hadn't seemed to notice that they were gone –what an attentive teacher- so he was stuck there trying to figure out what to do with the crying Mudblood before him. He didn't know what to do! He didn't often see people crying! Then again, she was a Mudblood so why should he care? He- oh wait, she was saying something.
'Aren't you going to say something?' Granger sniffed loudly. He stared at her blankly; why?
'Uh…'
'I mean, this is your entire fault you know.' She continued. What?!
'What did I ever do?!' Draco demanded. How dare she blame him for how she was acting?!
'You're so prejudiced! Why are Purebloods better than Muggle-borns hmm?!!' Hermione spat the last sentence violently and he was taken aback… then again, she had a point. Suddenly he felt bad. Really bad for how he had treated her.
'Hey don't cry; I'm sorry.' He murmured. He stepped closer to her and hugged her. She didn't struggle, but relaxed as he stoked her back and murmured into her hair. She wasn't actually all that bad…
-
They were in the library.
'We'll look under curses.' Hermione decided as she flipped through a book. 'Look for things that mention translocation.'
'Okay.' Draco murmured. It was lunchtime and the two had decided to put aside their differences to figure out what was wrong with him. She had finally realised that he didn't come into her dormitory on his own free will, and she wanted to help. 'Hey I see something here: every time the victim thinks of his greatest fear he is translocated to the exact spot his greatest fear can be carried out. Does that sound right?' He asked.
'Are you afraid of me?' Hermione asked with a hint of amusement in her eyes.
'No.'
'Afraid of the girls' dormitory?'
'No.'
'Anything in there that frightens you?'
'No.'
'It's not the curse then.' She turned the page and took a sharp intake of breath. 'I think I found it!'
'Yeah?'
'People born with this ailment find that at a certain age they are instinctively drawn to those they desire most. No matter how far away they are at nightfall, by morning they awake at each other's side, and oddly, the person they are drawn to, suffers dreams which warn them of their mate approaching.' Hermione looked up sharply at Draco. 'Is that what it's like?'
'Uh… I'm not too sure about the desiring part. I just thought about you and was there.' He frowned and she nodded slowly. Neither of them noticed the two boys by the bookshelf to the rear of them, look at each other with identical looks of shock and horror.
-
'What's going on mate?' Ron demanded. 'It's not normal for those two to get on, and what's this about them being together, or whatever they're saying?'
'I don't know!' Harry cried. 'I'm as stumped as you are… do you suppose she's under a curse?'
'We have to find out a way to break it!' Ron said determinedly. 'That ferret will rue the day he messed with our best friend!'
'Yeah.' Harry agreed. 'Let's go out tonight with the invisibility cloak, and try to uncover something. Maybe we'll be able to get into the Slytherin common room?'
'Why would we want to get in there?'
'Maybe he has a diary or something… I know! We can try and weasel out information from other Slytherins! Come on!' The two ran out of the library, and the two students they were talking about, continued looking through books, trying to figure out what exactly Draco's condition was.
-
Hermione went to bed at the same time as usual, and before she let out her light and drew her canopy curtains, smiled and let herself daydream about Draco truly being hers… he wasn't as horrible as he had been last year. Maybe this year would be different… maybe this year no one would bring her down…
She woke up the next day and sleepily pushed aside her curtain so she could gaze at her clock. It was six AM and she rolled over to pat her cat when-
'ARGH!!!!!!!' Once again she managed to turn her shout of fright into a hiss as she came face to face with Draco. He was peacefully asleep except for a frown. Hermione stuck her head out of the curtains to check if the coast was clear, and was about to drag him out when Lavender appeared and shot her a cheery smile.
'Hi Hermione, what's wrong? You look as though you've seen a ghost.' The girl had her hair in curlers and Hermione quickly composed herself.
'No, no I'm fine.' She smiled and drew the curtains again.
'Are you sure?' Lavender tugged as the curtains and Hermione tossed the comforter over Draco, and then flung them open herself. Lavender seemed taken aback to see her grinning at her.
'I'm just having a lie in.' Hermione explained. Lavender gave her lumpy comforter an odd look.
'Is there something under that?'
'No.' Hermione said quickly, almost too quickly. Lavender fixed her with a steely glare.
'What have you got in your bed, or shall I say whom?' At this comment, one of the other girls woke up.
'Eh? Has Hermione got a boy in her bed?' It was Parvati and Hermione let out an inward groan. Oh no. Together, both girls seized the sheet and pulled it down triumphantly, to find the bed empty apart from a flushed Hermione sitting in the middle. With stifled grumbles they exited the room and Hermione dove over the side to see Draco lying sprawled on the floor. Thank god he had fallen off the bed!!!
A/N: Sorry, that website starts h t t p :And then two slash lines. It won't let me add them for some reason...Anyone got any ideas on how to clean a keyboard? Lol, I felt like adding another chapter… I am so stoked about the number of reviews!!! I love you all!!! :) Lol, next chapter will be Draco's diary, nothing else but that... then the chapter after, I will explain how Harry and Ron got it!! :) Have fun reading!! I'm going to make sure I finish this story completely because of how positive it's being recieved. Normally I'm lazy, but now I won't be. :P