"Draco," someone called out.

Draco turned around to see who had called him, and saw Hermione running up to him, the sweetest smile he had ever seen painted on her beautiful face. He grinned as she hugged him, and held her in his arms.

"Let's never fight again," Hermione said. She snuggled closer to hear his heart beat, giggling.

"Yeah. I've missed you," Draco said, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he saw a garden of flowers surrounding Hermione and him, the sun shining brightly above them, doves chirping, sparrows twittering, leaves rustling… everything was so perfect.

"I love you, Hermione," Draco whispered. Suddenly, the atmosphere around him grew cold, the flowers and leaves wilted and died in a second, clouds covered the rain, and the birds fell on the ground, dead.

"You!" Hermione yelled, pushing away from him. "I'll never love you, never!" Her eyes were fire red, a wild look on her face, burning with anger.

"But Hermione, I thought-.." Draco started, but Hermione turned and ran away into the darkness, never to return to him.

And that's when he woke up.

Draco shot up from his bed, breathing heavily, sweat dripping down near his ear. He covered his face with his hands and tried to shake off the nightmare. He had been having the same dream over and over again for the past few days, each one of the nightmares ending with Hermione turning around and leaving him in the darkness.

Draco looked around him, and saw that all his roommates were still asleep. He figured it must've still been early in the morning, but he was too afraid to go back to sleep. He got out of bed and tiptoed his way out, heading for the kitchen to grab a snack. He ran down the hallway leading to the kitchen, tickled the little pear in the painting like Hermione had thought him before they broke up, and walked in.

He called out for a house elf, and one came running to him, eyes half open. "Yes, sir?" the house elf said, irritated.

"Just get me some leftovers from the last meal," Draco mumbled. The house elf rolled his eyes and packed up the food quickly, eager to resume in slumber, tossed the bag of food at Draco, and ushered him out.

Draco made his way back to the Slytherin common room, walking slowly to waste time, as he was to wait till the sun rose, which would be in quite a number of hours. On his way up the stairs, he heard someone coming down, and panicked.

Draco turned back quickly and hid in the shadows, afraid it was one of the school teachers or stupid Filch and his cat. But when he saw the shadow figure of the person walking down the stairs, he noticed that the size of the figure was small and fit for a young body, and realized it was probably a student of Hogwarts. He let out a sigh, relieved, and came out of the shadows, revealing himself.

"YOU!" the two students of Hogwarts yelled at the same time, and then hushed each other.

"What are you doing walking around at this time of the night, Weasley?" Draco whispered hoarsely.

"I couldn't sleep. I felt a little hungry, so I came down to grab a bite from the kitchen. What about you, Malfoy? Up to no good again?" Ron hissed.

"Are you blind or just stupid, Weasley? Either way, you still suck. I got hungry too, look," Draco said, and lifted his hand to show the little bag of food. "I took all that was left, so I guess you're gonna have to share it with me then."

Ron was about to comment on how he would never share food with a Slytherin arse, but he felt his stomach grumble against it and gave in.

"Let's go to my common room. Slytherins are pigs; they wouldn't wake up to any sound. I'm sure you amazingly hardworking Gryffindors would crowd in your common room at this time to do future homework, eh?" Draco said sarcastically. Ron didn't answer, and followed Draco in silence.

"Notlef Mot," Draco muttered to the painting on the wall. "It's German," he told Ron. They entered the room and took a seat on the couch, and Ron let out a soft gasp.

"Your couch is so comfortable compared to Gryffindor's! It wasn't so nice before! I still remember the last time I was here when me and Harry turned into Crabbe and Goyle to eavesdrop-.." Ron started, recalling the second year of Hogwarts when they turned into Crabbe and Goyle to spy on Malfoy.

Draco's eyes turned wide and he stared at Ron. "Excuse me!"

"Uh, sorry, I remembered, it was just a dream," Ron quickly covered up.

"Well anyway, yes, it's a new couch. My father sponsored it," Draco said, wondering why they were talking about couches.

Draco laid out the leftovers on the table and they began to feast.

"So, why couldn't you sleep, Malfoy?" Ron asked, attacking a chicken wing.

"I uh, woke up from a nightmare… dreamt about someone.. Uh, I forgot. What about you, Weasley?" Malfoy said.

"Well, I had my mind on uh, someone too… and I just didn't feel tired," Ron answered. It took Draco less than a second to figure out that they were both thinking and longing for the same girl.

"I bet it was Hermione," Ron muttered. "She was the one you dreamt of."

"What makes you so certain?" Draco countered.

"I may act dumb all the time, but I do have the brains for some things. And I know who you were dreaming of," Ron said confidently.

"I know who you were thinking of too," Draco said.

"Why did you cheat on her with Pansy, Malfoy?" Ron asked. "I want to know the truth."

Malfoy sighed. Nobody believed him, and he had a feeling that maybe if he told Ron why, Ron would be able to help him fix things with Hermione.

"We fought, and I got angry at her… so I was walking in the hallway when Pansy seduced me… then she just leaned over to kiss me and I don't know, I was too upset and didn't bother to pull away," Malfoy said sadly. "I wish Hermione had never seen us… and I wish I had pulled away from Pansy."

"Well, too late for that. It's still counted as cheating on her, because you let Pansy take over you. You have no idea how much you hurt Hermione, Malfoy. It's amazing that she's coping with it so well, better than I expected," Ron said.

"I DO know how Hermione feels like! I just want her to forgive me," Malfoy said softly. "You don't understand, Weasley. I love her."

"Well… I love her too."

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"And that's how you can tell if a person is ready to love or not," Professor Trelawney explained. Hermione looked at the time. Another 15 minutes and she would be able to escape Trelawney's torturing.

Hermione glanced at Ron and saw him yawn for the 10th time that morning. She knew Trelawney was absolutely boring, but she had never seen him yawn that many times during class. She leaned over and asked him why he was feeling so tired.

"Didn't get enough sleep," Ron replied slowly, eyes half open.

"What were you doing up all night?" Hermione asked, suspicious.

"Finishing up last minute homework again, that's all," Ron lied.

"I do not tolerate chatting in my classroom. Is there anything you would like to share with us, Ron? And you, Hermione, my least favourite student. One more word and I'll let Filch check up on you two," Professor Trelawney snapped.

"Who ate her arse today?" Ron muttered under his breath.

After class, Hermione, Ron and Harry headed for Transifguration.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna go meet up with Ginny for a second," Harry said, turning around and walking away.

"So, Hermione… I don't mean to bring this up and spoil your mood, but are you still pissed at what Malfoy did?" Ron tried.

Hermione gaped at Ron. "Are you kidding me? Of course I am!"

"But Hermione," Ron said again. "It was sort of a long time ago… and I don't think Malfoy mean it. Maybe Pansy kissed him first, or probably forced him to, who knows? He may be innocent, and you're just mistreating him for no reason."

"What has gotten into you, Ron? You're crazy!" Hermione exclaimed. "Since when were you Malfoy's best friend?"

"I'm just saying-.."

"If you were dating let's say, me, and you found me kissing Harry, how would you feel, hmm? Happy for me? Please Ron. Get some seeds, plant it in your head, water it daily and hopefully you'll grow a brain," Hermione snapped.

Just then, Harry ran up to them. "Hey, I'm back. What were you two talking about?"

Ron and Hermione blushed, looking away.

"Guess it was private," Harry said, giving them a knowing look, and they continued to walk.

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Early morning the next day, everyone gathered at the great hall for breakfast as usual. A short while later, the owls started flying in and dropped of the mail to the recipients. Malfoy barely ever got any mail, but today, a small rolled up piece of parchment arrived for him, tied neatly with a dark green ribbon. Malfoy recognized the initial M on the parchment, and kept in his robes.

"Oh, come on Malfoy, open it," Zabini said.

"I'm lazy, I'll open it later."

"Who cares about some silly letter. Want to play a little game with me, Malfoy?" Pansy said in a sickening, trying-to-be-sweet-but-failing voice. She sat on Draco's lap and played with his hair.

At the table beside them sat Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"Hermione, there's something on your hair, let me help you take it out," Ginny said. "Turn your head."

Hermione turned her head and so happened to be looking in Pansy's direction. Pansy caught her eye and smirked, moved closer to Draco and stuck her tongue out at Hermione, as if to say, "I know you wish it was you."

Hermione turned her head back and looked down at her food. "I'm not hungry anymore. If any of you need me, I'll be in the common room," she said, getting up.

"But Hermione, I didn't get that thing out of your hair yet," Ginny said softly.

"Doesn't matter. I could live with it being on my hair just now without my knowledge, so I can live with it being on my hair now."

Pansy laughed. "Look Draco, Frizzy's jealous."

Draco turned around and saw Hermione storming out of the great hall, tears streaming down her cheeks. He threw Pansy off him, got up, and chased after Hermione. He saw her turning to a corner, but by then it was too late. He made his way to the common room and decided to open his letter then.

Draco knew who had sent the letter, and wondered why he would want to inform Draco about something right now, in the middle of the year.

He sat on the couch and slowly untied the beautiful green ribbon, eager yet worried to find out the contents this letter held. He pulled out the parchment and straightened it, and began to read it.

Son,

There has been a slight change of plans. You are to leave school and move back home. There is something very important in which you must attend. I will pick you up on Saturday night at midnight. I have already informed Dumbledore about this, so do not worry. Do not be late, or you will suffer the consequences.

Your father,

Lucius Malfoy.

"Suffer the consequences?" Malfoy thought aloud. He tossed the letter aside and lied down on the couch. He couldn't process what he had just read. He was moving back home? What about school? What about his friends? What about Hermione?

He knew he had to listen to his father. He wouldn't take no for an answer. Draco sighed and covered his face with his hands. Why did this have to happen to him?

He wondered how he would be able to break it to everyone. Will they miss him or will they not even notice he was gone?

But what Draco really wanted to know was what was so important that his father had wanted him to attend? A wedding? No way. A funeral? He hoped not.

Or could it be… nah. He was sure his father didn't want him to become a death eater. Not now, that is. Draco was still so young.

…Right?

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Hermione hurried down the corridors, rushing to the Gryffindor common room. It was late at night, and she had accidentally dozed off in the library. She didn't like walking in the dark so late at night, so she lit her wand and ran like the wind.

Suddenly, she hit something, and stopped in her tracks. She pointed her wand at the object before her, and saw none other than Pansy Parkinson standing before her.

"Granger," Pansy smirked.

"Parkinson," Hermione said back, gritting her teeth.

"How are you and Malfoy?" Pansy asked, a wide smile on her face.

"I have no time for small talk, Parkinson. Leave me alone," Hermione muttered, walking off.

"You know he loves me," Pansy called after her. "I'm so much better than you, Granger. Isn't that why he chose me over you?"

Hermione ran even faster, trying not to cry. She had no time for this, and no time to start feeling sorry for herself again. She ran up the stairs and accidentally hit her foot on the age of the steps, tripping. And that's when someone caught her.

Hermione looked up at the person who caught her, and realized she was staring into the most beautiful gray eyes she had ever seen. They were so familiar, so welcoming, so pure like water, she could just drown in them. Then she realized it was none other than Draco, her ex-boyfriend and sworn enemy.

"Thanks," Hermione muttered, and continued her way up the steps.

"Hermione, wait," Draco said. Hermione continued to walk up as if she had only heard the wind breeze past her ear.

"Mione, there's something important I have to tell you," Draco tried again, but Hermione quickened her pace.

"Hermione, I'm leaving this school!" Draco exclaimed sadly. Hermione finally stopped and turned around to face Draco.

"For good."

Woo, I'm sleepy. It's like, 3a.m here. Sorry I rushed through it again, and sorry it isn't any longer than my previous chapters… Anyway, please review yea! Oh, and up there, that little German thing Malfoy said to open the door to the Slytherin common room? Yeah, read it backwards )