Title: Helping Her

Genre: Humor/Romance

Category: Harry Potter

Summary: Draco Malfoy is always the center of attention, not the attention giver. When he and Ron Weasley accidentally turn Hermione into a five-year-old, Draco will have to give all the attention he has to the small girl.

Crys: Um, you guys are totally going to hate me for this chapter. I mean, it's not short or anything, it's just--horrible. Well, maybe kinda short compared to the others. Again, lovig Dani and her awesome betaness. Shame she'll only be here for five more chapters, unless she wants to beta my other stories...

If This Isn't Good: Last words? Uh oh, I wonder wha'ts gonna happen next! Loved the chapter, please do update soon! You're a great writer! (HelloLonely for Chapter 19)

Chapter 20: Una Separazione Basso

Draco woke up and stretched. And that was when he realized that Hermione was not in the bed beside him. She had gone off, no doubt, again. Sighing, he prepared himself to get ready for another day. Pulling his clothes completely on, he checked himself in the mirror and stepped out unto the Common Room. No one was around, the chairs and couch returned to their proper place and Hermione's room door was closed.

Draco took his time getting to the Great Hall, observing the magnificent changes that the professors had done to make the school more vibrant. Opening the Great Hall doors, he took a seat next to Blaise at the Slytherin table.

The boy didn't look too happy and was barely eating the syrupy pancakes on his plate, but pushing them across it with his metal fork and then violently stabbing them. Draco helped himself to a large stack and lathered them with syrup, before asking Blaise, "What's wrong, mate?"

The dark-haired boy sighed at his blonde companion, who was eating pancakes at the speed of light. "Check out my girlfriend at the Gryffindor table." He said, before going silent.

"Oh Blaise is she flirting again?" He joked, but his mouth fell open and the chewed up pancake fell into a puddle of syrup in his plate at the sight.

There was Ginny Weasley, beaming happily and looking fresh in her uniform and sitting next to her, already in uniform, was a seventeen-year-old Hermione Granger, also laughing alongside her sixth year friend. Not the Hermione Granger who had short, springy curls, but the Hermione Granger with long, unruly curls. Draco couldn't think. His mind suddenly collapsed from the bottom of his head and was burned with the sight of Hermione laughing happily at the Gryffindor table. She wasn't five. She was completely normal.

Blaise returned to stirring his pancakes, glaring darkly at them. "She wouldn't talk to me this morning in the Common Room." He said morosely, pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice and stirring his finger through the liquid absently.

Draco couldn't comprehend well. His eyes were on Hermione. At that moment, she turned her head slowly until her dark eyes met his clear ones, and she turned her head away. Ginny looked concernedly at her friend, before the brunette stood and walked out of the Great Hall, her eyes clashing with Draco's before she left. Finally turning his eyes to the front of the hall, he saw Professor Dumbledore stand up and clear his throat.

"At this time, as I have told you, I will be announcing a full list of the dead." Everyone went quiet to listen. "In Slytherin House. Millicent Bulstrode. Anice McGyver. Julia Specker. Theodore Nott. Karla Reyes. Gregory Goyle. Vincent Crabbe. Jocelyn Specker. In Ravenclaw House. Christopher Stone. Lesley Hapler. Laura Hapler. Terry Boot. Kerry Nacelle. Luna Lovegood. In Hufflepuff House. Justin Finch-Fletchly. Amory Kisten. Leahan Moorset. Zacharias Smith. And In Gryffindor House. Seamus Finnegan. Colin Creevey. Jacob Corve. Ronald Weasley."

Many students were near tears and comforting each other at the end of this, but unable to take the news, Ginny stood up from her chair and left the Hall, causing Blaise to follow her.

--

"Ginny!" Blaise called out, causing the girl to turn around. Sadly, she held him to her like a lifeline, crying loudly into his shoulder.

"Blaise--he can't be dead--they must have been lying. Not Ron--not my brother. Please no--" She crumpled in Blaise's arms as they both sunk to their knees in the Entrance Hallway. "Ron didn't deserve to die--he should have been here--" She was cut off by another sob. She looked up to see Pansy Parkinson, tears glistening on her pale cheeks as she knelt down and hugged Ginny.

"Pansy--he loved you--he loved you a lot." Ginny cried softly into the girl's shoulder. "He wanted the best for you--he wanted you, and he deserved you, too. You both deserved to have each other. This can't be possible--I can't be losing him--" The two girls continued to cry in the hallway, Blaise sitting between the both of them.

--

Hermione carefully rethought her whole morning, starting from when she woke up to when she found out that she was actually seventeen and normal, not five and hyperactive.

Hermione woke up, and attempted to sit up. Glancing down at her body, she realized that first, she wasn't five. And secondly, that someone was half draped across her. It was Draco Malfoy. Despite him looking peaceful and harmless, Hermione screamed before remembering that he would hear her and wake up. Carefully moving his hands and legs off of her, she crept out of his room and crept into her own.

Now that she thought about it, she remembered the horrible pain of the Dolattivone Potion. She remembered every excruciating detail of the adventure. Shutting her eyes, she allowed Snuffles to hop into her lap and nuzzle her fingers affectionately.

She rubbed the kitten's black head, wondering to herself. Pansy and Blaise had gotten her Snuffles', two Slytherins. She had completely planned on ignoring them altogether, but it was rather hard to seeing as she shared a Common Room with the Slytherin Head Boy. She guessed everything was back to the way it was.

Dumbledore had talked to her about the work she missed. Half of the classes she didn't attend because of being in the Hospital Wing or in another class and the other half she didn't pay attention to. So, to make her comfortable, he assigned her two tutors after her classes, one from Ravenclaw and the other Hufflepuff.

He had first suggested them to be Draco and Blaise, but Hermione refused, saying that she wasn't able to work well with them. So, after her Potions class today she would be meeting at the Library from one o'clock to three o'clock with Hannah Abbott and after her Arithmancy class, she would be in her room from five o'clock to seven o'clock with Lisa Turpin.

With a sigh, she lay across her bed. It was about ten o'clock and she didn't have Potions until twelve. Watching Snuffles jump off of her pillow and settle in his basket, which she also had to take from Draco's room, she lay her head where the kitten had been.

Well, Snuffles was hardly a kitten. The black and white animal had grown about as tall as a bench and was sleek and pretty. She looked up to distract herself, but caught sight of the lavender scented Kleenex on her shelf. She lay facedown in her pillow, unable to find anything that wouldn't remind her of Draco or Blaise or Pansy, but soon after thinking it, she fell asleep, and her head lolled to the side.

--

Distractedly, Draco made his way slowly back to his Common Room, stopping at the new portrait of a girl with two curly, brown pigtails and bright grey eyes.

"Hello, Draco! My name is Olivia! The password is bubblegum, by the way!" She exclaimed brightly, swinging the portrait open.

The boy walked back into his Common Room and up the stairs towards his room, until he stopped midway and walked towards Hermione's room. Opening the door slowly, he could see the girl splayed out on her own bed. Oh how he missed her, if only he could get her to understand.

Sighing, he shut her door and walked over to his own room. Decidedly, he sat out on the couch in front of Hermione's room, waiting for her to wake up. When he realized there was only twenty minutes before their Potions class and she hadn't waken up yet, he stood and walked over to her room, pushing it open.

Almost adoringly, he reached over and brushed a curl from her face, before shaking her slightly. She groaned and turned sleepily onto her side, covering her face with a pillow. He pulled the pillow away with a lot of effort and shook her again. Blinking sleepily, her round brown eyes met his cool grey onesand she glared immediately.

"What are you doing in my room, Malfoy?" It stung. It hurt horribly. Draco could feel his insides ripping from the heart and outwards as she called him vehemently by his last name. Before this, she would have never uttered the word Malfoy in his presence.

"You'll be late to Potions if you don't hurry." He stated blatantly. The girl ignored him as she piled her books up, but Draco grabbed her wrist from behind. She turned to him with a wicked glare.

"What are you doing?" She asked, as the same time he said, "I want to talk to you." With a sigh, he braced her shoulders.

"Listen to me." Her head was bowed down, ignoring him, but he spoke. "You can't just forget all of that. It's not going to go away or disappear. You're going to have to let us in, Hermione. I care about you a lot--too much to lose you after the Dolattivone Potion. Blaise and Pansy--you can't shut them out! Especially because Ron is dead!"

Her head shot up to meet his eyes and saw that he wasn't joking. "Hermione, we need you." Wordlessly, she pulled her arms away from him, quickly grabbed her Potions equipment and ran out of her room, leaving Draco standing in the middle of it, sad and concerned. With a resigned look, Draco filed out of her room and gathered his books for class.

--

Potions was always dull, since Snape deemed their class unable to work together on potions and forced them to do individual work. Surprisingly, Neville's potions had gotten a tad better, often being an off shade from the original rather than being a corresponding color. Hermione stirring her potion counterclockwise and stopped, putting the contents in a flask and handed it to Snape, who glared darkly at her as she replaced herself in her chair.

Draco concentrated on his potion with Blaise beside him, who was already completed and watching Draco work, occasionally muttering helpful hints such as, "Clockwise once, not twice," or, "One tablespoon, not teaspoon, Draco." The blonde would continue to work on his potion, until he finished it and placed it upon the desk. Sitting back down, he could see Pansy watching the empty chair next to Hermione sullenly.

After Snape dismissed the class, Hermione pushed right past the group, but Pansy wasn't having it. Grabbing Hermione's hand, she whirled the brunette around, causing Harry to stop.

"Listen. I know it's difficult, but Ron is dead! I suppose that you staying away from us is more important than helping us get over his death? Do you know how incredibly selfish that is? You of all people should know about this--you should know that death isn't a time for selfishness, but I see that's another thing you didn't learn when you were five." The girl told Hermione, finally letting go of her hand and walking away, leaving Hermione shocked.

--

The girl had gone off to get ready for her tutoring session, but remembered Blaise's exact words when he sat next to the currently deceased Ravenclaw. She had asked him out of innocence and pure unadulterated wonder, but now she thought that the question had been quite invading, although he provided her an answer.

'I don't know. I can't describe it, and I can't tell you when or whom you'll get it for, but you'll know what it is when you take the time to notice that it's there. It was more like a wall. It built up and up and up until I knew that nothing could get past it but her.' Was that how she felt? Did Draco make her feel any different than Harry? Was he able to get past the wall she had built? With a smile, Hermione greeted Hannah for her study session.

--

On the way back to his room, Draco stopped by the notice board and read the notice there from Dumbledore, before shaking his head and walking ahead. And his thoughts drifted to the announcement on the notice board. A formal event to take place on tomorrow to celebrate the 'Storming of Hogwarts' as everyone called it. He wasn't too keen on going, as Dumbledore required it to be a masquerade. He wasn't a fan of dancing too much at all.

Finally in his own room, Draco contemplated similar words. He had asked Ginny because he was Blaise's best friend. He wanted to know and was curious as to why her attention was mostly on Blaise. She spent plenty of time with him and he didn't want his friend getting hurt if Ginny wasn't serious about him. But she proved that wrong.

'A lot more than I thought I could love someone, but I do. I get so involved and so caught up with him that I do. It's habitual. That's how I realized it.' Draco sighed as he thought to himself. He couldn't possibly love Hermione, could he?

Chapter 20: Una Separazione Basso

Quick Note: Points go to snapehermionelover! She found out that the Fidelius Charm is the friend hiding charm. Fidelius means "faithful friends" in Latin, meaning she could have only cast it if she really trusted Ron as a friend.

Also, points to anyone who can tell me what I meant with the third form of the Dolattivone Potion! Separazione means separation, the (one) of the Dolattivone Potion, and Basso/Una means short/a in Italian as well. Adjectives come before nouns or verbs, so it would be A Short Separation.