Hey guys! Firstly, thank you for all your reviews! It's great to hear so many people are enjoying the story! I tend to write as ideas pop up but I'm welcome to suggestions so keep posting! Secondly, HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Okay, so I'm a day late in saying this, but I figured it's the thought that counts. Hope you guys had a wonderful time trick or treating, partying, whatever. Anyway, not my best piece of writing here but some interesting things happen so... enjoy! D

Chapter 9: Misinterpreting Kindness

Draco stood before the full length mirror in his room, fixing the collar of his shirt in an attempt to make himself more presentable. Granted, his uniform was usually immaculate, but today he took extra care as if his impeccable attire would make up for the dark circles around his eyes. 'Pull yourself together' he thought to himself, giving his jacket a final tug before concluding that this was as good as it was likely to get.

It wasn't as if he'd never had nightmares before. With a life like his, he dealt with them everyday, usually while awake. However, the rise of Voldemort and the increase of Death Eater attacks in the past few months had made his living demons haunt him well into the night. Sleep, once the release from the many terrors he faced, had become the partner in crime to everything that sought to make his life miserable.

To top it all off, he knew today would distinctly not be a good day. After all, now that the filthy little mudblood had witnessed last night's episode, the entire student body, or at least those who dared speak against him, would probably have a hay day with that little piece of information. Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Slytherin, had scary nightmares. How pathetic.

However, as he made his way into the grand hall, nothing seemed amiss. No pointing, no staring, no unusual whispering. For that matter, if he didn't know any better, he'd think the little bitch hadn't spoken. Could she be holding the information as blackmail?

He finally spotted her, sitting with the youngest Weasley, chatting away as if nothing were amiss. He noted, however, that she too looked the worst for wear. She yawned, stretched around a little, and fidgeted in an attempt to stay awake. Eventually, she stood up, picking up her many textbooks from the table and nodding to the red head to excuse herself. Unfortunately, her thoughts must have matched his for she spared a glance in his direction at which point there was no hope in hiding the fact that, for whatever reasons, he'd been staring. 'Here goes nothing...' he figured, standing up and following her out of the grand hall.

"What do you want, Granger?" he snarled as soon as they were both outside hall. She looked at him, puzzled. 'Damn her and her feigned innocence! Stupid mudblood'. "Don't toy with me Granger. I asked you a question. What do you want? Your silence for what? Make it quick, I don't have the time nor the patience settling terms with you, filth". She stared at him, a mix of anger and indignation crossing her previously calm expression with an intensity that made him want to back down. 'This is not going to be pretty'. His thoughts were confirmed all too quickly as her hand shot out and before he knew it slapped across his face, hard.

"What could I possibly want from you, Malfoy!". she snapped, tears of anger streaming out her eyes. "Decency? Civility? A tinge bit of humanity? Doesn't seem like too much to ask and yet it certainly seems to much for you to do. And to think, I do one thing out of compassion, out of some crazed instinct to be helpful, and you think it's blackmail!" She looked him over with contempt before whispering in a deadly cold voice: "I want nothing from you. Because there is nothing in you worth any value that could interest me". She turned to leave, tears streaming down her face with an intensity that scared him. Why was she so affected by all this? How had he made her cry? Had he done so before? And for the life of him, for some inexplicable reason, he wanted nothing more than to make sure she never cried again.

"I... apologize" he stuttered as she walked away, making her stop dead in her tracks, her back to him as if not wanting to face him in fear of having misheard. "It is in my nature to assume the worst in people. I am not worthy of your tears. Nor of your... compassion. But a Malfoy, above all, has honor. So for your silence, my civility. Nothing more, nothing less. It's all you can ask of me and it is all I think just to give". With that, he turned and left, wanting nothing more than to leave the presence of her unsettling tears and compose himself before what now promised to be a strange day.