A/N: Ahahaha I totally suck! I mean, what on earth is wrong with me? I myself are one of those people who will get very annoyed if an author does not finish a story, yet here I am about a year after I apologised in my last chapter for not finishing this one! I bow to you all in deep, sincere, er- slightly amused apologetic uh… yeah, pretty much I'm a bit sheepish. Woo, now I have to read it all again (don't worry, I haven't forgotten the plot, it's just I've totally forgotten what the hell I've written).

"Hang on Granger; I thought this all wasn't real. If it is, that means it has to be that curse where you wake up next to your soul mate!"

"Listen, we'll talk about this later!" Hermione hauled him to his feet and squeezed her eyes shut, too half asleep to figure anything out, just wanting to go back to sleep and forget it all. The last day and a half had been insane and he was here and oh, gosh he was cute in the morning.

"What?" He demanded, unconsciously backing a couple steps away.

"You do feel something real for me don't you?" She blurted out, regretting the words as soon as they came out. It was crazy to expect him to trust her enough to communicate what he felt after only a few weeks of getting to know her. However, Draco stood there with cocked face, regarding her with an amiable demeanor.

"It's either that or I'm stark raving mad, and we both know what we're like when we're stark raving mad, don't we?"

"Eh?"

"Didn't you hear about that? Snape told me all about how I stole a kitten off McG-" He trailed off and laughed. "Of course it's real Grang- Hermione! God, that's the stupidest question I've ever heard."

"But this isn't all because of that stupid curse your father cast on you." Hermione spelt out for him, referring once more to the curse they'd discovered in the library. "What else can it be?"

"No, we're too young to feel that deeply." Draco shook his head adamantly. "This is crazy!" He ran his hand through his white-blonde hair and made towards the Gryffindor portrait hole, running over all recent events in his mind. "I feel something for you Granger, but it can't be that!" He shoved the door open and ran off, not even saying goodbye. Hermione sank wearily into an overstuffed chair by the fireplace and sighed deeply, unable to believe he could yet again, run off.

Guys sucked.

-

Draco made it back to the Slytherin common room in record time and crashed into Blaise who'd obviously been waiting for him.

"Where the heck have you been?" The dark-haired boy demanded. "I thought that curse was solved when Dumbledore did the mass counter-curse! Why are you not in your bed where you should be!"

"Shut the hell up Zabini!" Draco yelled, angry for no apparent reason. "It wasn't that stupid curse Dumbledore thought it was! Apparently Hermione is my bloody soul mate! Sure that'd be nice to have but I am sixth year at Hogwarts! I am NOT old enough to have my SOUL MATE rammed down my throat! And what are you laughing at!"

"You!" Blaise admitted, stifling his laughter with a hand. "Malfoy, you've totally fallen for her. Just admit it!"

"I have admitted it. I am just refusing to admit she is my soul mate."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Blaise asked with a rakish smile.

-

"I hate him! I hate him so incredibly much!" Hermione yelled as soon as Ginny came into sight down the staircase. The young Weasley stared at her in fright but put two and two together and grinned.

"I knew you'd wake up one day but you do realise you're over exaggerating about something right? What'd he do? Not brush his teeth before he went to bed?"

"You know the one thing that drives me mental!" Hermione shouted at her, "the way that everyone doesn't take this serious at all! I mean, there is a bloody BOY waking up next to me EVERY DAY! Boys are forbidden in the girl's dormitories! There is an enchantment that renders them unconscious if they manage to get up the slide! We figured out how to get around that enchantment and if I managed it, what about other girls? Does Hogwarts realise it is turning into an academy of SLUTS!"

"Now you're definitely exaggerating." Ginny admonished. "Hermione, think about what you've just said. You managed to get around the slide because you both happen to suffer from a curse. How many people do you think that curse afflicts? Like 1 in a billion?"

"It's purebloods." Hermione suddenly whispered, ignoring what Ginny was saying and lapsing into deep thought. "I am not a pureblood! I am a muggleborn!" Without waiting for an answer she grabbed a coat from a stand near the portrait hole and tore out quickly in the direction of the library. Ginny didn't even bother to follow her.

-

"But you don't get it Blaise; I think it's just stupid. And the thing that gets me the most is that it affects the purebloods, when we're meant to be the almighty of the wizarding- oh crap!"

"Hmm?" Blaise enquired, curiosity piquing at the lulled tirade.

"Granger, I mean, Hermione isn't a pureblood."

"So?"

"Have you not listened to a word of anything I have ever said! The curse only afflicts PUREBLOODS!" Malfoy almost choked on his own indignation and grabbed a random coat from the stand near the portrait hole (to cover his pajamas of course, just like Hermione) and ran out. Blaise had no idea his friend was running to the library, and only noted that Draco must have finally lost his mind.

-

"What are you doing here!" Draco yelled as he ran straight into Hermione at the section of the library they'd discovered the curse preciously. She dropped several books with a squeak and noticed he was dressed nearly exactly the same as her, so the fright was quelled and she laughed.

"Did you have the same epiphany as me?" She asked him, gesturing to the books. He didn't get it.

"I don't know, but I figured out that it wasn't the curse we thought it was because you aren't a pureblood." He managed and she nodded. Draco fell silent for a moment and then grabbed some books off her and began frantically searching.

It was a school day but neither paid any attention to the bells. It was first for both because Hermione was a straight A student, and Draco was close behind. After she looked through a vast pile of texts she managed to tune out and stared at him reading intently, a little sad that he was so frantic to solve this problem. She actually felt quite an attachment to him but he just wanted out. She sighed.

"I wish I could just let you go. Like, do something to end the curse so you could get what you wanted."

"What?" He looked up at her with blankness, as if he didn't understand what she was going on about.

"Well you obviously don't want to keep waking up near me. I mean, I don't even know if you want to continue dating me!"

"How did you come up with that idea?" He demanded.

"Well it seemed rather obvious!"

"I don't want to be separated from you. I like you, I thought you knew that."

"But you don't love me."

"I don't use the word love. Ever. But I like you."

"You mean like as in really like?" Hermione was beginning to work out what he meant.

"Yeah. But frankly, it's really annoying to have to walk back to my common room every day."

"So you're just annoyed! I thought it was me you didn't like!" She laughed, a soft musical sound, and he smirked at her. She compared it to the Malfoy she'd known all those years before and couldn't believe they were the same person. Suddenly he let out a triumphant shout.

"Listen to this: Similar to the 'True Calling Curse', this one is just an affliction known only to a select few. It's unsure whether it's caused by love, for cases have been known of friends waking up side by side, but people find themselves drawn to another, often for varying reasons, as found amongst case studies. The person they are drawn to suffers from dreams of them approaching, and there is no apparent reason for this, other than the thought the person might be mildly gifted in Divination.

This affliction is like a form of Apparation, but as it is so rare, many wards against Apparation don't detect it. Often our case studies have just had to practice controlling the affliction, to be able to master it. Most who possess it are extremely gifted at Apparation itself, as they naturally possess the ability.

It is thought that the person or persons that the afflicted are 'drawn to' possess the ability themselves, as there has been at least one case where both could Apparate to each other. See vol. 245 for further articles of this nature." He set down the book with a sigh and stared at her. "Well, I think that describes us in a nutshell."

"We're both freaks." Hermione managed, laughing in a slightly shocked tone. "And I thought we were soul mates." Her lip trembled.

"Oh no, don't cry, what's sad about this?" Draco demanded, getting up from his chair and making his way round the table to her.

"It means that any moment you could change your mind about how you feel about me! Before I thought we possessed this unshakable love that only existed in fairytales, and it appears I am right! That love does only exist in fairytales! I am deluded! I am stupid! I am-" Her words were cut off as he kissed her, wiping away sudden tears with his thumb.

"I don't know what you're on about but I like you. Hell, maybe love. I don't know, I'm not a person who uses the word overmuch." He said when he finished, smiling.

"I know I love you." She said resolutely, almost stubbornly. She tilted her head up as their lips met and a shiver ran down her spine. A strand of his blonde hair tickled her face, and laughing, she drew back and pushed it out of his eyes. She stared into their unfathomable depths and was consumed entirely by the look of longing in his eyes. He was the only one for her. She could love no other. She lent into him and sighed happily.

"What can we do?" He asked calmly. "I can‎'t control it."

"There has to be some book." She protested, meaning some book to teach them a way to master the off affliction. He chuckled softly and rested his chin on her head.

"This is not a common occurrence." Draco wrapped his arms around her. "I think I'm the only one, and every morning you're going to find me near you."

"Isn't there a potion?" She asked, referring to the passage he'd just read.

"No, the only sure is if we're together." He obviously didn't invest much faith in his being able to master his own untapped power. "We are, mine you, but I mean really together. I mean marriage and a life together. Here at Hogwarts we're still apart."

"But why does it happen in the first place?" She raised an eyebrow at his offer of marriage.

"You're interesting… so I'm always drawn to you." He wasn't about to admit that the initial reason he'd wound up in her dormitory was because he's idly wondered who her roommates were.

"Remember I have it too." She prompted him, reminding him of the time she'd landed on Blaise's lap in the Slytherin common room.

"Then we are doubly cursed!" They both laughed and she got off his lap and began to stack up all the books they'd got down from the shelves.