Draco opened his eyes and immediately shut them again; warm, yellow light fell across his face. He groaned as he stretched his stiff limbs and sat up very slowly, wincing at the pain in his side.

"Oh, I see you're up." Madame Pompfrey said cheerily as she trotted to his bedside and gently pushed him back against the pillows. "Rest, rest, you've got some nasty injuries. Drink up." she continued, lifting a foul-smelling vial to his lips. He gagged and tried to swallow it faster, the disgusting goop inching down his throat. It had the consistency of snot. Shuddering, he took a long gulp from the water glass handed to him by the nurse.

"That'll help the bruises heal faster, and the bump on your head is nearly gone as well. You had a small fracture in one of your ribs; I healed that when Miss Granger brought you up here last night." Madame Pompfrey said, smoothing his blanket and cleaning up the side table. "Did you know she carried you up the 3 flights of stairs here almost all by herself?" the nurse asked, a note of admiration in her voice. Draco raised his eyebrows.

"Why would she do that?" he asked.

"She was worried about you when you passed out near the Great Hall. She's still asleep over there, poor thing." Madame Pompfrey said, pointing as she hurried the vials and water glass away and returned to her office. Draco turned and saw Hermione's crumpled form curled up in an armchair near the doors.

"Isn't that uncomfortable?" he called. She didn't move.

Sighing, Draco closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come, but it wouldn't. 'What am I going to do all day?' he thought. After pondering for a few moments, he slowly inched out of bed and stood. His whole torso throbbed with pain, and he winced with every step. Slowly shuffling his way to Hermione, he gently shook her shoulder.

"Hey, wake up." he said. She jerked out of her slumber, falling to the floor with a thump.

"What the-?" she croaked. Draco suppressed a laugh as she picked herself up.

"That's not funny." she grumbled. "What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting." she said with a new hint of worry in her voice. She gently pushed him back to the bed and sat in the chair next to him.

"You're worried." he said. It wasn't a question. Her eyes snapped open. Draco watched her face intently, waiting for an answer. Her eyes were red and blotchy, as if she had been crying, and her hair stuck out at odd angles. A horrified look came over her face.

"Oh no! Class! I'm late! I've got to go, I can't-" she began frantically, but Draco cut her off.

"Calm down, Granger, it's Saturday. The first day conveniently fell on a Friday this year." He leaned forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her back down in her seat, where she had been perched to bolt for the door. Hermione gave him a strange look, and then relaxed into the chair.

"I suppose I could stand not having to start Arithmancy and Advanced Potions for a few days." Hermione commented dryly.

"Advanced Potions? Oh, lovely, we have to put up with each other in an enclosed space for an hour every other day." Draco groaned.

"You're in that class as well? How did you get in? Only 10 select students were chosen." Hermione asked him bewilderedly.

"I suppose I have a natural talent. I'm not stupid, you know." he replied sarcastically. Hermione rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair. They passed a few moments in silence before Hermione made an attempt at conversation.

"What happened to your side?" she asked quietly. He looked away and suddenly became very interested in the blanket draped across his legs. Madame Pompfrey must have told her.

"I- I fell off my broom this summer." he said. Hermione looked skeptical.

"Oh... I guess you need more practice if you're going to have any chance at beating Gryffindor at Quidditch this year, huh?" she grinned. Draco gave her a mock look of horror at the suggestion that he needed practice.

"I could beat you bloody Gryffindors with my hands tied behind my back." he stated matter-of-factly. She rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair, something of a smug look on her face.

"Language, Mr. Malfoy." Madame Pompfrey called, leaning out the door of her office and giving the two a pointed look. As she closed the door, Draco gave Hermione an incredulous look.

"I swear, that woman has ears like a damned greyhound." he muttered.

"Ahem." Madame Pompfrey was suddenly at the end of his bed, hands on hips. Draco smiled faintly.

"Time for your medicine, Mr. Malfoy." she said sternly. Draco choked down another dose of the snot-like liquid, gagging audibly. Hermione held back a snicker as she stepped behind the curtain to allow Draco some privacy while the nurse changed the poultice on his side.

'Is Draco telling the truth?' she thought. A worried look settled on her features. 'Malfoy. Not Draco, Malfoy. It's not as if we're suddenly best mates just because I carried him to the Hospital Wing. I want to be friends, though. I'm sick of fighting. But Harry and Ron...' Hermione's thoughts were interrupted as her stomach protested loudly that it had nothing in it but the Chocolate Frog she had nicked from Ron's pile during the train ride.

"Hungry, Miss Granger? I could have a tray sent up." Madame Pompfrey offered as she pulled the curtain back. Hermione nodded.

"Thanks, that would be lovely." Hermione said.

"Could you make it two?" Draco asked from the bed. Madam Pompfrey nodded, casting both of them a smile as she adjourned to her office to owl the kitchens. Pulling out a book and brushing her hair out of her face, Hermione sat on the bed next to Draco's and began to read. Draco, bored out of his mind, allowed her a good 10 minutes before interrupting her.

"Must you read all the time, Granger?" he asked. Hermione cast him an irritated look.

"Must you be so annoying all the time, Malfoy?" she retorted. Sighing, Hermione pulled a charms book from her bag, which the nurse had sent for the night before in case they needed something to do, and dropped it on Draco's lap.

"What am I supposed to do with this, Granger, use it as a footrest?" he asked wryly.

"Either start reading or stop talking." she said, beginning to read again from the potions book spread across her lap. Sighing and rolling his eyes, Draco began to flip absentmindedly through the charms book.

"This is a high level of Charms, Granger, what are you doing with it?" Draco asked.

"I've already read and practiced the spells in this year's book, so Flitwick wrote me a letter with some 7th year book suggestions that I could start on." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Must you be such a... an overachiever all the time?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Must you ask stupid questions?" she replied. Draco began to read again, and before he knew it, he found himself really absorbing the information. It was interesting; Draco would never admit it, but he always wanted to learn more, as much as he could, and he had finished reading the entire library in Malfoy Manor the previous summer. He had spent all summer practicing Quidditch instead, and he noted that he had never read this book before.

"Here you are, dears." Madame Pompfrey said cheerily, jerking Draco from his reverie as she placed two silver trays piled with food in front of each of them before returning to her office.

"The House Elves must have been busy." Draco commented. Hermione pulled a piece of paper from under a plate of treacle tarts and read it, an amused smile spreading across her face.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A note from Dobby. He says he hopes we enjoy the food, and to please not kill each other." Hermione read, grinning.

"Well, I'm not going to kill you, at least not right now. I want to eat lunch first." Draco said dryly. Hermione rolled her eyes at him before starting in on a plate of chicken. When Hermione was finished, she got out of bed and picked up her bag, taking back her Charms book and starting for the door.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked. She gave him a strange look.

"I'm going to have McGonagall show me to our dorm. I'm not spending all day in here." Hermione replied.

"Oh. Well, just make sure it's not pink or anything. And it better not be in Gryffindor colors when I move in." Draco joked. Hermione rolled her eyes and left the Hospital Wing, starting down the spiral staircase. As she approached McGonagall's office, she couldn't help feeling guilty for leaving Draco alone.

'Stop feeling guilty. The less time you spend with Malfoy, the better. We'd probably just sit there berating each other and fighting. I can't stand talking to him, with that smug look on his face. Still... I feel bad for leaving him there with nothing to do. His Slytherin cronies will probably visit him anyway.' she thought. 'I don't have any reason to feel bad. It's Malfoy.' As she argued with her conscience in her head, she turned a corner towards McGonagall's office and felt her body collide with something soft and crashed to the floor.

"Ouch! I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't really paying attention." she said to the person she was almost on top of. Standing up and brushing herself off, she reached out a hand to help them up.

"Hermione?" asked the body. It was Ron. She hoisted him to his feet and helped pick up the books now scattered around them. "Where have you been all day?" he asked. "And you weren't at the feast... neither was Malfoy. What's going on?" he continued.

"Oh, I just, um... Dra- I mean, Malfoy tripped, and I took him to the hospital wing, and just sort of fell asleep." she finished lamely. He gave her a strange look.

"He didn't try to hex you or anything?" Ron asked. Hermione thought he was joking, but then again, it was hard to tell with Ron when Malfoy was concerned.

"No, we talked a little and argued about Quidditch and... yeah." Ron looked as if he was about to ask more questions, but Hermione didn't feel like listening to another rant about Malfoy... God only knows how many times she had listened to the same thing over and over, and she despised Malfoy as well, but their conversations got repetitive... Malfoy is a death eater, Malfoy is coming, better start a fight, Oh look, Malfoy is going into a classroom after class is over, he must be conspiring to murder someone...

"Um, Ron, I've got to talk to McGonagall, so I'l see you later, okay?" Hermione said, hurrying around Ron and down the hall. Ron gave her retreating back one last worried glance before heading outside to meet Dean and Seamus.

'What is going on?'

+++++REVIEWS!!!+++++

Rebell:lol... poor Draco... i wonder whats going on? love this chappy!

Thanks!

Thanks to Rebell for reviewing!!

Charlotte