Chap 4 up! I hope you enjoy! Still don't forget to review because i still have no idea what i'm doing so... yeah, but anyways i hope you like it. On with the reading. Don't forget to let me know what you think of hermione and her family.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 4: Bad News and The Flashback

The first few weeks were pretty uneventful for the school and Hermione. Her and Draco weren't exactly friends now, but they are getting better at getting along. Sometimes they talked in a civil manner, but other times she still spat rude remarks at each other. Draco seemed to be getting more attracted to Hermione, but didn't show it. Hermione also thought about him and how much better he was acting towards her this year.

About a month after term started, Hermione was coming into the common room from her last class.

"Hello, Draco." she said she walked in.

"Hey, Hermione."

She was heading towards her staircase when there was a knocking at the common room window. Hermione recongnized it immediately. It was her family's owl. She was expecting her brother's owl since they have been sending letters from the start of term.

"Is that your owl?" Draco asked walking over to let it in.

"Yes." she said sounding confused. The owl flew over to her immediately and dropped the letter and left back through the window. Draco closed the window and walked over to Hermione, who was opening her letter. She read the letter and immediately collapsed on the ground, crying her eyes out and dropping the letter.

Draco was confused. He didn't know what to do, so he picked up the letter and began reading it as fast as he could and it read:

Dear Hermione,

We have bad news. Joseph passed away today at 12:43 p.m. He was in a car accident yesterday and he went braindead today. The doctors could't do anything. We know that you got along with him better than anyone else and he with you. He loved you so much and don't forget that. He would've wanted you to be happy and move on. Please take care of yourself and write back. We want to know if you're okay. We love you and send our best.

P.S. We will send a package of things of his so you can have him with you at all times. We love you so much. Don't forget you have your other brothers who also care about you.

Love,

The entire family

Draco read this as fast as he can and immediately went down to comfort Hermione.

"It's okay,Hermione." he said as he directed her on the couch.

"It's not okay."she sobbed,"he was my best friend. How can I live without him?"

"You'll get through it, I promise."

"You can't promise that." she said as he hugged and comforted her.

"How about I help you through it? I've lost family members too."

"What, your mother and father? I thought you hated them?"

"No, not them. I lost a sister too."he said sadly.

"You did? I had no idea." she said looking up at him.

"Yeah, like you, she was my best friend."

Hermione was still crying at the sudden news of her brother.

"It's okay, Hermione. I know it's hard."

She still sobbed.

"Let me help you through this, okay?" he said in complete awe that he wanted to do this, but was glad he said it.

She hesitated and nodded.

After about an hour of her sobbing into his chest, she fell asleep in his arms. He leaned back on the couch and started thinking until the headmaster's head appeared in the fire.

"I heard the news. Is she alright?" he asked Draco.

"I don't know, headmaster," he said uncertain," she said he was her best friend and she wasn't sure she could get through it."

"I see..." he said,"Mr.Malfoy, would you mind taking care of Mrs.Granger tomorrow and you will both have classes off?"

"Sure."

"I kindly thank you for you help, Mr.Malfoy, and I was hoping you could help her by telling her about your experience with your sister?"

"I already told her that I lost her."

"Then can you help her deal with this, then?" he asked hopefully.

Draco hesitated, but nodded.

"I kindly thank you for your services, Mr.Malfoy." and his head disappeared.

Draco knew how hard it is to lose a sibling and best friend. He didn't want to relive it, but he knew he had to because it would be a lot harder for Hermione if he didn't. He decided he would tell her about it tomorrow sometime after she woke up. He sat there on the couch wondering whether Hermione would be okay. He was glad that her brother didn't die the same way his twin sister did when they were 8.

Flashback

"Stop it!" Draco yelled.

"Get out of here now, boy!"his father screamed.

"Not until you stop!"

"I said get out!" his father said and whipped him with his cane.

"AHHHH" Draco could hear his sister scream as his father was beating her.

"Stop!" Draco managed to get out for the hit with the cane was upside the head and it disoriented him.

Lucius turned around and whipped his son again knocking him out this time. He kept beating his daughter and son while his wife was watching the whole thing. Draco's sister, Sarah, was slipping in and out of conciousness as her father was beating her. Narcissa did nothing to stop her husband because she believed he was teaching them a lesson. Sarah was eventually beaten into unconciousness and Lucius left them alone in the room until they awoke the next morning, that is one of them awoke the next morning.

"Sarah?" Draco awoke and immediately was looking for his sister. His vision was hazing from the hits last night.

"Sarah?" he asked again now worried.

He got up and moved over to his sister's body to try and wake her, but she wouldn't wake. He leaned down and put his ear against her heart. Nothing. He leaned his ear down to her mouth to see if she was breathing. Nothing. He immediately knew she was gone and was crying for hours and hours before anyone noticed he was awake.

"Get up, boy." his father said as he entered, pushing him over.

Lucius leaned down to see if she was breathing and noticed she wasn't. He turned to his son and said,"Do not tell a soul about this. You will tell everyone that you both were in an accident, but only you survived. But if you disobey me, you'll be next, understand?" Draco nodded knowing he was serious. And with that Lucius left the room to the crying boy next to his lifeless sister.

End of Flashback

Draco thought about this memory a lot. He didn't want to think about it anymore so he decided to clear his head of it and tried to fall asleep, which he did in about a hour with Hermione still sleeping in his arms.

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Draco awoke first the next morning, knowing he and Hermione didn't have any classes today. He had woken up from numerous dreams of sister. He'd been laying there for a while before Hermione finally awoke.

"Hey." he said noticing she was awake.

"Hi."

"How are you feeling?" he asked nervously.

"Not good." she said and immediately jumped off of him to go to the bathroom and empty her stomach into the toilet. Draco immediately followed and held her hair until she was done.

"Thanks." she said, spitting out the rest of the contents in her mouth.

"No problem." he said as he directed her back to the couch.

Silence.

"Dumbledore came by last night after you fell asleep, he said that we can have the day off on one condition." he looked away from her.

"What's the condition?"

"Uh..." he hesitated, " that I tell you what happened to my sister."

Hermione hesitated, but kept going, "Why was that a condition?"

"He thinks it will help you get through your loss easier...and so do I."

Hermione was still crying. She didn't want to talk about it.

"It really does help to talk about it." he said practically reading her mind.

"I don't want to."

"I know you don't, so do you want me to tell you what happened...to my sister first?"

"Only if you can stand to talk about it."

"Yeah, I can." he said as he recounted his memory to Hermione.

Throught his entire memory, Hermione was in awe that this would happen to anyone. She gasped and sometimes her eyes practically popped out of her head.

"I had no idea, Draco." she said and she leaned over and gave him a hug and saw that his eyes were red.

"I told you there was a lot of things you don't know about me."

She said nothing.

"Does this means we're friends now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I know Harry lost his parents, but it's not the same and only you can understand how I feel about this." she said still crying.

"Good, I was wondering if the truce actually worked or not, considering how we acted."

"Yeah, I know...Truce for real this time?"as she held out her hand.

"Yeah, truce."he said shaking it.

"So when are you going to tell Potter about your brother?"

She was tearing in an instant at the thought of her brother, "They'll probably come by after classes, wondering where I've been all day."

"True. Do you want me to go up to my room when they do?"

"No, they need to get the fact that we're friends now, not enemies anymore."

"Suit yourself, I doubt they'll listen."

"Once they hear about my," she paused and let a tear fall down her cheek, "my brother, that's all they'll care about right now...I hope."

"What do you mean 'I hope'?"

"I don't think they care about me very much."

"Of course they do, have you seen the way they protect you?"

"I think they just want me for their homework or someone to talk to when the other isn't around."she said looking down.

"What gave you that impression?" he asked curiously, not really knowing how they treated her inside the Gryffindor Tower. He only saw how they treated her outside their common room and couldn't agree with her more.

"Remember when you asked me why I look sad all the time?"

"Yeah..."

"I really don't know why I'm sad all the time. I feel alone and unhappy, even when I'm with people and laughing. I put a concealment charm on every week to cover my face."

"What do you cover your face of?" he asked, tooken aback by this news.

She went and picked up her wand and waved it in front of her face. Immediately, bags appeared under her eyes and she looked, if possible, even sadder than before.

"They've never seen me without it on. I started using a couple years ago and have been ever since."

Draco was in awe. He had no idea she was really like this. She always looked happy when he saw her around school.

"Why do you look like this?" he said, just realizing she said she didn't know.

"Because I grew up without any friends and lived with just boys, that is, until my two of my brothers got married, but that hasn't been for long and the wives are older than I am so I don't really talk to them. I grew accustomed to keeping my feelings in and not talking to anyone, but Joseph. Now he's gone just like the others."

"What others?"

"Every time I make this certain connection with someone, they leave me. I can't figure out why, but they do. Keeping all my feelings and stuff in takes a toll on me." she said pointing to her face, "I haven't even told Harry and Ron about this either."

"Why not?"

"They wouldn't understand."

"I see...well, since we're friends now, you can talk to me, okay?"

"Okay, but I doubt I will."

He sighed, "Well, let's do something else to help get our mind's off...things." and at this Hermione once again let go some tears.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"No."

"Uh...do you want me to conjure up a t.v. and a dvd player?"he asked knowing this would get her attention.

"Um...wait a minute, you know about the muggle world?"

"Yup. I told you-"

"-there was a lot of things I don't know about you, yeah, I got it." she said finishing his sentence.

"Okay, then, what movie do you want to watch?"

She thought for a minute.

"Um...The Grudge?"

"Sounds good. Have you seen it before?"

"No, have you?"she said hoping he didn't.

"Nope, only heard of it."

"Great, let's go." and he waved his wand and a t.v and dvd player appeared along with the movie The Grudge.

During the movie, they sat next to each other, but not quite touching. Scary movies always made Hermione jump and the first time she did she accidentally grabbed Draco's hand, but immediately let go. She did this throughout the movie, but not every sudden and scary part. At one time, she grabbed his hand again, but Draco would't let it go. She didn't really notice because she was totally focused on the movie. They stayed like this throughout the movie.

"What'd you think?" he asked.

"Scary," was all she said.

"It wasn't that bad."

"If it wasn't that bad, then why are you still holding my hand?" she smirked.

He immediately let go, "Well, you kept grabbing mine so I just kept it so you wouldn't do it anymore." he lied.

"Right..."

And just then, they heard a knocking at the door. Hermione figured it was Harry and Ron so she told Draco to stay in the room while she got the door.

"Hi, guys." she said to them.

"What happened today?" they asked.

"Uh..." was all she managed as everything came back to her instantly and she started to cry, silently letting tears roll down her face.

"Come in," she instructed them.

They looked at each other, but followed.

"Here," she handed them her letter.

They both read it silently. Once they were done, they each gave her a hug.

"Hermione, I'm really sorry." said Harry.

"Me too." said Ron.

"We know Joseph was your closest brother and how much he meant to you." said Harry sounding truly sorry.

Hermione cried even more, but still managed to stay silent. Just then, the boys took notice of Draco. They didn't say anything rude to each other because Hermione was still there.

"A little privacy, Malfoy?"said Ron.

"No." said Hermione, Harry and Ron looked at each other confused.

"I wanted to make sure you guys understood that we're friends now. We called a truce this morning because he comforted me when I found out yesterday," she let a tear streak down, "and Dumbledore gave us the day off so I could have a day to grieve and he told Draco to...stay and take care of me." she said covering for Draco because she was sure that he didn't want anyone to know about his sister.

"Okay," they said.

"Are you sure you understand this? I don't want you guys starting a fight with each other."

"Yes, Hermione, we understand." Harry said, although he didn't want to agree to this, neither did Ron, but they didn't want her to have something else to cry over.

"Thank you so much for understanding this, you guys." she said still crying.

"You're welcome, Hermione." said Ron, " we're going to go to Gryffindor Tower, do you want to come?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Do you want us to send Ginny up here so you can talk?"

"No, I just want to be alone... Thank God it's Saturday tomorrow." she said as an after thought.

"Okay, but make sure to come get us if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay." and they left back through the portait and she went and sat by Draco once more.

"That went well..." he said.

"Better than I thought. I thought they were going to refuse that we're friends and stalk off."

"Which is why it went well." he smiled.

She smiled weakly back.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked.

"I don't know, you?"

"Me neither."

"Okay, how about something to eat?" he asked.

"I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat sometime, Hermione."

"I will...eventually."

"Hermione." he said seriously.

"Fine, but I'm not hungry right now."

"Okay, how about we waste some energy? Want to go for a ride on my broom?"

"No, I'm way to scared for that." she said in all seriousness. Hermione has always been scared to ride brooms, even though Harry and Ron ride them all the time, but she was never brave enough to ride one.

"Come on, I won't let go of you."

"No, I can't."

"Please?" he asked.

Draco put on his best puppy-dog face and Hermione just couldn't say no. She was always a sucker for those faces, especially since her brothers used it on her. At the thought of her brothers, she quickly wiped a tear from her eye.

"Look, you need not to think about him all the time, Hermione, it doesn't help.

"I know, but if I could help it, I would... let's go on that ride then." she said to keep him from talking more about her brother, she'd been trying really hard not to think about it, even though it happened yesterday.

"Really?"

"Yeah, let's go." she said and stood up and walked up to her room to grab a coat while Draco went to grab his broom. "Come on, Hermione!" he half-shouted to get her down here. She walked down her staircase with a green sweater on.

"Nice choice of color." he smirked.

"I figured you would think that."

Draco opened the window and told Hermione to get on ("Promise you won't let go?") and they went off into the midnight blue sky. You could see all the stars and a full moon in the spot they were in. Hermione always loved being out there, but at the current moment her eyes weren't open.

"You can open you eyes, Hermione."

"I don't want to."

"I told you there is nothing to be scared of and I won't let go."

She opened her eyes.

"Wow. It's beatiful out here." they sat there for a little while just staring at the sky, well, at least Hermione was. Draco was going through his thoughts: Why do I suddenly feel this way without her? he asked himself, Because you like her a lot his conscience replied but why do I like her so much? I never used to and now all I want to do is be with her. he thought, but now you have a connection, you both lost a sibling and a best friend, none of her friends can top that. his conscience replied again, I really need to stop talking to myself.

Hermione was also sorting through her thoughts too while taking in the sky: I'm really starting to like him she thought, very correct and I believe he likes you too, her conscience replied, No way, he doesn't like me, we made a truce and thats the only reason he wants to hang out with me, she thought, you're only trying to convince yourself that, it replied, No I'm not, just because I like him doesn't mean he likes me, why would he like me anyways? she asked herself, you're the only he told about his sister and now you understand each other and thats why you were enemies... you didn't understand each other so you just stayed away from him and he to you, it said to her, I really need to stop talking myself.

Once again, they were looking at the sky, this time both of them were. They had been out for 20 minutes until they started talking to one another.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" she turned to him.

Instead of talking to her, he leaned down and kissed her. She didn't even pull away either. They didn't kiss for long, but once they broke apart, Hermione faced forward and Draco turned his sideways from embarrassment of what he just did.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"Don't be." he turned his to look at her and she was looking back.

"Wha-" but he was cut off by another kiss, this time from Hermione.

"Let's go inside." he said when they broke apart.

"Okay." she said, barely over a whisper.

They went back inside and closed the window. Draco put his broom away magically and they both stood there for a moment before one of the decided to speak first, although neither of them really wanted too because they were unaware of what the other was feeling about the kiss, or kisses.

"I can't believe I just did that." Hermione said, breaking the silence.

"Why not?" he asked curiously and secretly hoping she didn't make a mistake.

"Because you're Draco Malfoy."

"So?"

"So that means we're just supposed to be friends and not falling for each other." she said and left for her room not waiting for a response.

Why does she do that? he thought.

Do what? asked his conscience

I don't know what she's doing to me, but she's obviously doing something because I like her a lot and can't figure out why.

Well, ask her what she feels.

I can't just ask her what she feels.

Why not?

I don't know. and he left for his bedroom.

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I know they rushed into everything fast, but I can't figure out how else to put them together so I rushed into it and decided to make them endure obstacles to see if their love lasts. Well, let me know what you think. Review please.