Huge thanks to everyone who left a comment or a review! It is higly appreciated. As always, they would make my day.

And of course, thank you to my betas chocomieux and Nantai.

On another note, I decided to make that tumblr blog I was thinking about earlier. It's lucretiadelis on tumblr and I will post there information if the chapter is late or if there isn't one a week because of health and such.Other than that, you can come and talk to me about everything :) Enjoy!

Hermione was in a good mood when she walked into the classroom. She had had an interview for a scholarship program earlier and it went so well, that she didn't even mind that she had to sit behind Malfoy as the room was already full. It was two minutes before the start of the lecture after all.

Usually, Hermione prefered to be in the room at least ten minutes before the start of the lecture so she could choose her seat. Unfortunately, with the interview taking so long, she simply hadn't managed.

She pulled out her phone despite the professor walking in, having promised to tell her parents, her friends and the Prince.

Usually, she had a policy to not touch her phone during lectures so she wouldn't get distracted. But this was an occasion worth the exception and she reasoned with herself, that she would put it away as soon as she had send those messages. She would be able to concentrate better afterwards if she did.

Hermione typed a quick message for her family and friends, deciding to use the same wording for everyone as it was the quickest solution to copy and paste stuff.

The interview went very well. I am pretty sure I'm in.

She contemplated to add something more for the Prince but decided against it. She could always talk to him about it later.

Hermione sent press and almost jumped out of her seat when a phone somewhere in front of her vibrated.

"What the fuck?" Zabini asked in a stage whisper, loud enough for Hermione to hear it clearly, as he leaned closer to Malfoy. "Don't tell me it's that girl again!"

Malfoy ignored him and pulled out his phone. With a quick glance at the professor he held it up so while he could see the message, Zabini couldn't.

He couldn't have known that Hermione would have free sight at his phone, but she did, and while she wanted to look away, she couldn't. Her eyes were glued to what she saw.

Malfoy darkened his screen after mere seconds, having read the message and typed a quick "that's great". Hermione was frozen in place..

She pulled out her phone with shaky fingers, hoping that she had seen wrong and Malfoy wasn't writing to somebody called Persephone. Hermione gulped when she unlocked her phone but as soon as she saw that she had a new message from the Prince, she knew that was it.

The Prince was none other than Draco fucking Malfoy - the biggest prick she had ever met.

Hermione couldn't breathe, panic rising in her. She grabbed her things with her still shaking hands and stormed out of the room, not caring about the looks she got.

This had to be a joke, a nightmare come true! How could she have texted with Malfoy of all people and not realized it?

Suddenly, everything fell in place. They have been at the same party, had a similar schedule, he had lent out the Secret History when she had wanted it! And the scars! He had gotten them during the fight with Harry that had nearly cost him his life!

Hermione couldn't believe she hadn't realized it sooner - it was so obvious!

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, not too far from the exit. Did he know? Was this some kind of elaborate scheme to embarrass her? If it was, she was wholly and truthfully fucked. If Malfoy was the Prince, Zabini had to be Cass. And everyone else? Theo Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle? Were they all a part of it too?

Hermione's head was spinning as she practically ran home and threw herself onto her bed, turning off her phone. The thing had already done more than enough damage and she needed a break from it. She could always reply to the messages from friends and family at a later date.

Hermione turned on her laptop and put on one of her favourite childhood shows, Sabrina the teenage witch, and curled up on her bed. She needed to distract herself with something and dreaming of a world with magic where she maybe, just maybe, fit in, was a good way to do it.

School and life could wait. After all, she didn't get her heart broken every day. Because it was exactly that - a broken heart, that Hermione was sporting. People rarely understood that you could sport one in the not romantic sense. Hermione didn't see herself as in love with the Prince, that would be ridiculous, but she had liked him as a friend and saw potential there. This kind of broken heart was actually the worst. She had had more than enough of it during her life, when she found out her so called friends called her all kinds of names behind her back.

That was of course before Harry and Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville, and now Jenny. But she couldn't call any of them as she would not be able to explain what was going on.

This was Hermione's personal hell and she had to go through it alone if she didn't want to make everything even worse. At least she had Sabrina.

Draco didn't understand it. Why wasn't Persephone replying to his messages? What had happened? It couldn't be anything he said - the last communication between them had been him congratulating her on the scholarship.

"You should have stayed home if you were going to brood the whole time," Pansy said and popped two fries into her mouth.

"I'm not brooding," he replied but her look told him that nothing he said could convince her otherwise.

"Fine, I am brooding. But only a bit."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Draco looked up from his soda, his mouth slightly agape. It didn't happen every day that Pansy offered to talk about feelings. He had to look really terrible if she did.

"Not really," he said but when Pansy raised an eyebrow at him, he let his head fall down and sighed. "Fine, I want to talk about it. But it's stupid and you can't tell anybody."

"You know exactly I don't tell people anything."

Draco knew that was true - if you told Pansy something important, she would keep it for herself, no matter what. Sure, she used stupid anecdotes and random tales that wouldn't hurt you for entertainment at parties, but the important things? She was going to take them to her grave. That was exactly what Draco needed.

"You remember the girl I met online? The one Blaise teased me about?" Draco asked and when Pansy hummed in confirmation, he continued. "Let's say she stopped replying to my messages from one second to the next. I don't know why. It drives me crazy."

Pansy leaned back and pushed her empty plate away. "Why does it drive you crazy? You never met, right?"

Draco gulped and avoided her eyes and Pansy ran a hand over her face.

"Just how much do you like her?" she asked with a sigh. It was clear she thought he was an idiot, but Draco was used to that. A childhood with her had prepared him for it.

"I like her a lot," Draco confessed, folding up his napkin just to do something with his hands. The whole conversation was making him extremely uncomfortable but he knew he needed to let it out. "As a friend of course. I am not stupid enough to fall in love with somebody I never met."

Pansy snorted and he shot her a dirty look. "I am not!"

"Sure, whatever you say," she replied, waving her hand in dismissal. "Why do you think she stopped texting back?" she asked on a more serious note. "Did you say something idiotic that made her mad?"

Draco grit his teeth. "Not to my knowledge."

Pansy leaned forward again, resting her chin on her palm and reached for one of Draco's now cold fries. "Then what? What are possible reasons for her to quit texting you? A new boyfriend? Did she mention something like that? Or does she have any fears?"

"I don't think there is a boyfriend, new or otherwise," Draco said, and drank some of his soda. "And fears… I don't think she has - oh shit!" the glass fell from his hand and the contents splashed on the table and on Pansy's sleeve.

"I am so sorry!" he said, reaching for the napkins but she only tsked and stood up to go to the bathroom and try to wash out the pink stains, even though they both knew the shirt was ruined now.

Draco stared at Pansy's empty seat, his head spinning as his stomach rebelled. This was terrible! The worst thing that could have happened!

He had worked himself into an outright mess by the time Pansy returned, now wearing only a thin tanktop and carrying her shirt in her hand. Her expression softened when she saw Draco.

"What are you thinking?" she asked and sat down again.

"She knows who I am!" Draco whispered frantically and Pansy's eyes bulged out.

"Are you serious?!"

Draco bit his lip and nodded. It was the only thing that made sense. What didn't make sense was that she didn't come for him. Sure, she had wanted to remain anonymous, but most women threw themselves at his feet, be it because of his looks or his money and that despite his more often than not nasty personality. When he voiced his thoughts to Pansy she rolled her eyes in the most elaborate way, making sure that he understood what she thought.

"There are more than enough women who wouldn't give you the time of the day even if you were the last man on earth. Half of them went to school with us."

"Are you telling me I am looking for someone who knows me and actually hates me?" Draco asked and crossed his arms on front of him. "Let's see… I can rule out Daph, the She-Weasel and- FUCK!" Draco scrambled to pull out his phone.

Pansy rose an eyebrow, cocking her head slightly.

"Please tell me you don't know this scar," Draco said and slid the phone over so Pansy could take a look on the picture.

When she began to laugh, he buried his head in his hands and let out a low groan. If Pansy was laughing, his suspicion had to be right. He had sexted with Granger and liked it! Liked her!

The scary thing was that the thought wasn't as upsetting as he would have anticipated.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, despite not really needing the confirmation. Now that he had realized it, he was surprised he hadn't seen it sooner! Draco shook his head slightly, struggling to process how he had been so blind.

"Yes, I've seen it when we changed for PE," Pansy said with a grave voice and pushed the phone away. "That's Dolohov's work."

Draco looked up at her, shocked. Of course he had heard about Granger's encounter with the madman in the foreplay of the terrorist attack on their school, but he had not known it had been this bad.

"It's not your fault," Pansy reached out for his hand and Draco blinked owlishly.

"You think I blame myself for it?" he asked with honest surprise. He blamed himself for quite a lot, but that encounter wasn't part of it.

"I can't keep track of what exactly you hate about yourself, so I am just guessing," Pansy shrugged nonchalantly and Draco rolled his eyes.

"It's not that bad," he said and Pansy shrugged.

Hermione was reading a book during the lunch break when she saw Malfoy coming towards her. For a second, she contemplated running away but decided to stay where she was to not attract any attention. If she was lucky, he was just passing.

Hermione doubted it, but it was better than freaking out over him coming to talk to her. She forced herself to continue reading, even though she felt like she didn't understand a word of what was written.

"We need to talk," Malfoy said and pulled out a chair, turning it around so he could sit down in one of the most douchebag ways ever with his legs on both sides of the rest and his arms on top of it.

Hermione was really tempted to roll her eyes but she didn't, continuing to pretend that she was reading and hadn't heard him.

"I know you aren't reading," Malfoy said after a while. "Your eyes aren't moving."

Hermione shut her book with a thud and put it onto the table. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice full with hostility.

"You know exactly why I want to talk to you," Malfoy said. "You've been avoiding me."

Hermione let out a low laugh. "Oh really? What a surprise - Hermione Granger avoids Draco Malfoy. In other news, water is wet. I have more than million reasons to avoid you, Malfoy, if you've forgotten. Do you need me to list them all to help with your memory?"

Malfoy grimaced at that. "Stop pretending you don't know what I am talking about!" he hissed and Hermione leaned back, crossing her arms.

She was still panicking on the inside, but she wasn't going to let him see that. Especially as she didn't know what this was about. His sudden appearance and the attempt to talk in private were certainly nothing she had expected. Embarrassing her in front of their class or the professors or taunting her at every chance were more like it. Not this.

"I really don't know what you are talking about," she said and reached for her book, deciding suddenly that it would be better to flee after all. Something wasn't right.

"You got that scar from Dolohov, didn't you," Malfoy said quickly and Hermione, who had been standing up, froze.

"None of your business," she said carefully, avoiding looking at him as she tried to pack her things.

"Granger," Malfoy said with a voice so soft it startled Hermione into looking at him. "You can't pretend nothing happened."

Hermione gulped but slung her bag over her shoulder, her resolve unwavering. "Nothing happened," she said with her coldest voice and walked away.

As soon as she rounded the corner, Hermione began to run. She needed to get away from Malfoy as fast as she could, now that she was 100% sure he was the Prince. His behaviour didn't make any sense and it confused her to no extent.

She hoped he wouldn't try to talk to her again.

Draco was growing desperate with every time Granger walked out on him.

He had approached her the four days after she stopped replying to him for the first time and had tried it three times since then. She had left every time and he wasn't desperate or crazy enough to follow her. Yet.

"This has to stop," Pansy said from beside him. It was Friday evening and they were watching a movie together in Draco's and Blaise's flat.

Blaise was already fast asleep next to them. Draco never understood why he even bothered to watch movies with them because he always fell asleep quickly, but Pansy had explained to him that it was to hit on Theo. As Theo was sick and hadn't been able to join them, Draco wasn't sure that was the real reason. Maybe Blaise was into Pansy - who knew. With Blaise, such things were a mystery until he got his heart broken and wouldn't shut up about it.

"What exactly? Blaise's snoring?" Draco asked, popping some popcorn into his mouth.

"You stalking Granger," Pansy replied, not missing a beat.

"I am not stalking her!" Draco sat up and glared at Pansy.

Even in the dark he could see she rolled her eyes. "You are in denial."

Draco lay back down, careful to not wake up Blaise and pulled up his blanket a bit higher. "I don't know what to do," he confessed. And he really didn't. He wanted to talk about everything with Granger, even if they would never exchange a word afterwards. But he needed closure.

He had tried to ignore her the way she was ignoring him but being ignored drove him crazy to no extent so the result of that was his overwhelming need to talk to her.

Besides, he really missed her. Draco really hated himself for that, but it was true. He hadn't told Pansy yet, but judging by the looks she gave him she knew anyway.

"I am not in love with her," he mumbled and Pansy's eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

"Nobody said anything about you being in love with her."

Draco turned to her with wide eyes. "Did I say that aloud?" he asked. When he saw her expression he groaned and buried his face in his pillow. "I'm fucked, aren't I?"

Pansy reached out to pat him on his head. "If it's any consolation to you, that's like your default state, so it could be worse."

Draco lifted his head slightly to glare at her, but she was already pretending to watch the movie.

He tried to concentrate on the film as well for a while, but they must have missed some major part of it during their talk as he had no idea what was going on. That must be how Blaise felt when he woke up in the middle of their marathons when he needed to pee.

"Pans?" he asked when he couldn't hold it any longer. "How can I make her talk to me?"

Pansy sighed and reached out for the remote control to mute the Tv before she shifted in her seat so she could look at Draco. "You really don't want to give up, do you?"

"I only want to talk to her once. If she never spoke to me again after that, it would actually be preferable. But there are a few things I need to sort out or I won't find peace."

Pansy rubbed her eyes. "You had to pick Granger of all people, didn't you?" she sighed. "But fine. I will help you, you oaf. You owe me one, though!"

"Anything you wish," Draco said, but regretted his hastiness immediately when he saw the glint in Pansy's eyes.

"I will hold you to that."