Hermione rubbed her back and bit her lip in indecision. She had to make a decision NOW. RIGHT NOW, before anything else happened. During the past few days they had formed this strange bond… but were it anything more than friendship? She acted on impulse, but he seemed to be more effected by it than her… but… but in the book…

She headed down the corridor towards the library and went to push open the great doors to no avail. They were locked. What the hell??!! Since when did they lock the bloody library? Hermione pounded against the doors and became quite still when she heard a purring… feline footsteps approached her and with panic clutching at her chest, she slipped back down the corridor she'd come. Filch's mutters rose up in the distance and he seemed to be coming closer… what was she to do?!

Okay, the curse, the curse might work both ways… she vanished into an alcove and focused on relaxing… perhaps she would wake up by his side… or… she would get in trouble for being out of bed at night. Her eyes became heavy and her body limp… she breathed in deeply and with a jolt, found herself in someone's lap.

'WHAT THE HELL??!!' The recipient flung her off and she landed on a rug before a blazing fire. A familiar dark-haired boy stared at her in horror and out the corner of her eye she noticed Draco with an amused smirk.

'I can't believe my girlfriend is going around sitting on other guy's laps.' He said in a fake-wounded voice whilst clutching at his heart in mock heartache. 'How could you do this to me?!'

'Where am I?' Hermione demanded. She was in a large room filling with couches and oddly, about three fireplaces all stoked up and roaring with intense heat.

'In the Slytherin common room.' Blaise informed her, regaining his composure. He flipped his hair back and smirked at her. 'Draco relayed upon me some very interesting information.'

'Oh shut up Zabini, I also learnt all about your problem so there's no way you can blackmail us.' Draco snapped. The dark-haired boy looked from one stony face to the other and sighed in defeat. He flung himself backwards onto the couch and resumed a mournful expression.

'What will I do?!'

'What's going on?' Hermione asked him curiously, and then it dawned. 'OH YES!! GINNY SAID SHE FOUND YOU IN HER BED!!'

'Can you keep it down?' Blaise asked with a pained expression. 'I don't want the entire school to know thankyou very much.'

'You have the same curse as Draco!'

'Really?' Blaise muttered sarcastically. The room lapsed into silence and all three stared into the fireplace.

'Um… I don't think I want the other Slytherins to find me here.' Hermione finally managed. Draco wordlessly handed her Crabbe's invisibility cloak. 'Won't he want it back from you?' She questioned.

'Nah, he's probably forgotten he's given it to me.' Draco laughed. Hermione donned the cloak and revelled in the invisibility. Blaise scratched his head in deep thoughts and suddenly a shape shimmered and materialised lying across him on the couch.

-

Minerva yawned and rolled over to push her cat off the bed; he was snoring again! Wait!! Her eyes narrowed and she shot upright, startling the man beside her to wake also. He half screamed, half yelled in terror, and promptly fell out of the bed.

'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??!!' Snape screamed at her. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED??!!'

'YOU ARE THE ONE IN MY BED!!!!!!!!' Minerva screamed back. She clutched her sheets around her and stared at him in horror. 'SEVERUS!! DO YOU FANCY ME????!!!!!'

'HELL NO!!!! OBVIOUSLY ONE OF THE STUDENTS HAS CURSED US FOR A PRACTICAL JOKE!'

'Right.' Minerva got out of bed and flung on a dressing gown. 'We're going to go and talk to Dumbledore; he will know what to do.'

-

Lucius stretched him arms and allowed a self-satisfied smirk to steal onto his face. 'Although the curse is not the same as the True Calling Curse. It doesn't only affect pure-bloods you see… because if it did, Granger could not be my sons 'soul mate'.'

'Intelligent Lucius. I am impressed.' The Dark Lord nodded. He swallowed some more of his wine and tried to ignore his spinning vision.

'I just received word about something my Lord.' Lucius smiled wickedly. 'My spy saw the curse affects Severus Snape… and if he is affected… perhaps Dumbledore?'

'Ah Dumbledore!' Lord Voldermort said with glee. 'If you succeed I will give you any continent you wish… except Europe… and America. You can have a third world country if you wish.'

'Great! It's hotter there anyway.' Lucius was so pleased he didn't notice the look of surprise on the Dark Lord's face. Well come on, he's half snake!! He needs warmth to be able to function!

-

Dumbledore's eyes snapped open as he noticed the odd pulling sensation on him. He kicked back his blankets and fetched his wand. 'Revelus.' He muttered sharply. An odd sign appeared hovering over his body and he removed it with a few choice muttered counter-curses. He shook back his hair and flipped his beard over his shoulder to get it out of the way. He had studied this particular curse that someone had cast on him… it was similar to the True Calling Curse, but it wasn't natural… and plus, he was half-muggle so if someone had thought to trick him… idiots.

-

'YARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!' Ginny scrambled off Zabini's lap and fell on the floor in front of the fire. Hermione gasped and backed away so her flailing limbs could not find her. The young girl backed away from the two Slytherins and glared at them.

'What kind of curse is this?' She demanded.

'Well,' Draco began with a suppressed smile. 'It's called the True Calling Curse. You and Zabini are being drawn to each other because you're soul mates.' He studied the pair of shocked faces before him and dissolved into laughter. 'Don't worry too much,' he waved his arm about and caught a hold of thin air; with a jerk he pulled the invisibility cloak of Hermione and exposed her, 'it's happening to me and Hermione too.'

'WHAT?!' Ginny gaped at the two. 'I KNEW SOMETHING WASN'T RIGHT! YOU ARE CURSED HERMIONE!!'

-

The next day saw everyone crowded into the Great Hall. A pair of Gryffindors kept exchanging glances with a pair of Slytherins, and were so immersed in this they didn't notice Dumbledore stand up until he magically magnified his voice to 'clear' his throat.

'Now I do not normally do this, but I am going to perform a mass counter-curse on the entire school.' He announced. The entire school looked at him as though he was mad, but for Minerva and Severus who simply nodded gravely, and then shot looks that could kill at each other. They were a generation apart for crying out loud!! Like they wanted to continue waking up beside each other!

Dumbledore muttered something to Professor Sprout beside him and she squeaked out a spell. She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded.

'Yes, everyone in the school is here.'

'Good.' Dumbledore waved his wand and the Great Doors slammed shut and locked. It was about now that the students began to get uneasy. He cleared his throat and then, 'AMOVEO PRAVUS!!' The school shimmered in an unearthly azure light and then he took his seat. 'Carry on.' The great doors opened again of their own accord and conversation rose to a roar, people asking others what exactly had just happened.

-

Hermione glanced at Draco and was quite unprepared for the total look of shock that flashed over his face. He rose to his feet and dashed out of the hall, leaving her with only one thing she could do; go after him.

She found him leaning against the stone wall with conflicting emotions playing out like a film strip over his fine features. She touched his arm and felt like lightening struck her as he exploded.

'DO NOT TOUCH ME!!' he roared; shoving her violently backwards and shaking with barely suppressed anger. 'DO NOT TOUCH ME YOU FOUL, FILTHY, MUDBLOOD!!' Hermione gaped at him; stunned. She picked herself off of the floor and backed away.

'The curse is broken.' She whispered. 'I thought it couldn't be broken.'

'Thank heavens that's over.' Draco spat. 'To think I touched you.'

'What?' She asked weakly. 'I thought you'd gotten over… I THOUGHT YOU'D GOTTEN OVER YOURSELF!! BUT YOU'RE STILL THE SAME PRICK YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN!!'

'AND YOU?! YOU'RE STILL THE UGLY LITTLE MUDBLOOD WHO HAS TOO MANY OPINIONS TO SHARE!!'

'AT LEAST I'M NOT SO CONCEITED THAT I THINK WHAT I SAY IS ALWAYS BEST! I AM A PERSON TOO MALFOY AND I THOUGHT YOU REALISED THAT!'

'WHY WOULD I WANT TO THINK OF YOU AS A PERSON?! YOU'RE A MUDBLOOD AND THEY'RE EVEN LOWER THAN MUGGLES!!' He fell silent and stared at her angrily; just asking her to make a retort to the last comment. Hermione gulped and as if in slow motion, her face crumbled. She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and felt again the still-unfamiliar shortness of it.

'Thanks.' She said bitterly. 'Thankyou so much for everything.' She took a shaky breath and spun on her heel in the opposite direction; he watched her go.

-

It was as if he had escaped a fog clouding his vision. He could see her as she was; a muggle and one that he didn't like in the slightest. Somehow, Dumbledore had woken him up so he could see… he could see what she really was… that foul Mudblood.

He watched her go and felt an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach. It couldn't be guilt could it? She reached the end of the corridor and he thought she'd disappear around the corner, but instead she spun to face him.

'YOU ARE A WEAK SPINELESS COWARD!!' Hermione screamed. 'I KNOW THAT YOU LIKED ME BUT YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NOW BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE CURSE TO BLAIM IT ON!!'

'ARE YOU DELUSIONAL NOW GRANGER?! DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD SEE YOU AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE FILTHY MUDBLOOD YOU ARE?!'

'WHAT ABOUT ALL THE STUFF YOU TOLD ME?!'

'WHAT ABOUT YOU?! OOH HUG ME DAMNIT!! HUG ME YOU BASTARD!!'

'How can you be so cruel?' Her eyes were blazing and showed no trace of tears. She reached him in six long strides and smacked him across the face as hard as she could. He fell reeling backwards and rubbed his cheek. Hermione's eyes blazed with something akin to rage…

'How can you be so blind?' He retorted.

'What do you mean?' She asked with confusion.

'We can't be together. There is no way.'

'That's the Draco I know!' She whispered with wistfulness. 'Don't kill him now!'

'The Draco you knew was me under a curse. I said and did things I wouldn't normally do. I am not that person… that was an act enforced by the curse.'

'But it was you.'

'And now this is me. Look, I'm telling you nicely now Grang- Hermione. We can't be! You are a mud- muggle-born, and I am a pureblood. I'm meant to marry one of my own kind, and you can marry another muggle-born. The whole waking up by each other thing was a curse that had us both seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses… that's not real okay?'

'For the last few weeks we've been close Draco. You can't tell me you don't feel anything.'

'I can and I am.' He rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his white-blonde hair. 'See you okay?' He chose that moment to leave and left her standing alone in the corridor outside the Great Hall. Slowly, the student population began to filter out, losing her in its midst… chatter engulfing her and making her feel worse.

She blinked back tears and fought her way to the doors leading outside. She couldn't go to classes now! She had to clear her head… she would travel to the edge of the grounds and try to sort her inner turmoil out.