Harry awoke with his scar prickling, and he furrowed his eyebrows. This happened all the time now, and he was used to it. There was tightness in his chest, and he thought about the dream he had just woken up from. It was the same as usual, but there was one scene in it this time- a split second of a scene, but still it was there nonetheless, burned into his brain. The image that flashed for a short moment across his mind in the dream was of Hermione clutching onto Malfoy. She was just holding him, her fingers nearly clasped to his shirt, like her life was in danger.

"Brilliant." He muttered. He couldn't believe he was put into this Draco-Hermione dream situation too. A groan escaped his mouth when he realized he would have to tell Hermione. The sooner the better.

Harry stepped into his slippers, threw on his robe and made his way to the girls' dormitories. He knocked on the door once.

"Hermione?" he said.

"What is it, Harry?" she croaked. He knew she would be up.

"Can I come in?"

There was a silence, where Hermione was clearly hesitating to let him in, and then Harry heard footsteps and the sound of a door unlocking. Before Harry could smile, or say hello, or hug her, she turned her face away from him and walked swiftly back to her bed and crawled into it. she curled up into a ball.

"Hermione?" she hid her face under the covers now. Harry sat on the edge of her bed and slowly peeled the covers away from her face. She looked him in his green eyes and tried to smile, but it was weak. Harry could see the puffy redness in her eyes and he knew, he knew she hadn't got any sleep that night.

"Hermione! Oh, I'm sorry"

"Its alright" she said sharply "What is it Harry?"

"Oh I just wanted to check on you…"

"Really?" she had a look of doubt on her delicate face.

"Well… I really need to tell you something"

"Shoot"

"I had a dream…"

At those words, Hermione's face morphed into a state of slight panic and she seemed to brace herself for the worst. It was as if that word -'dream' scared her more than anything. It was as if every time she heard it her mind went back to that awful nightmare she had just nights ago.

"It was the same as usual… except for one part. You were in it, just for a split second…" Harry started cautiously. Hermione just stared at him, gripping her blankets, waiting for what she knew would come. Harry was still surprised sometimes at how much Hermione could infer just from expressions and body language. "You were with Malfoy…" his name made her cringe, she sucked in a breath. "The image just flashed across my mind momentairily- you holding onto him… clutching to him for dear life it seemed."

Hermione was furiously biting her lip now, trying hard not to cry, as she still held in her breath waiting for more bad news.

"That's it." Harry reassured.

A deep, heavy breath escaped her lips and the wall she was putting up tumbled. She released her emotions for at least the third time that week on Harry and cried into his shoulder.

"I hate this! I'm so tired of dreaming about him. And now you too! Why is this happening! Why Harry!" she cried into his ear, her voice raspy from lack of sleep due to sobbing and screaming the night before. Harry had never felt so awful for being unable to answer a question in his life. He felt the hope drain out of him and his friend as he said solemnly "I don't know, Hermione, I don't know"

"I told you to leave it and stay out of my bloody mind Zabini!" Draco yelled.

After he returned from the Owlry, Blaise had stopped him just before he reached the safety of his dormitory and questioned him about the letter and, much to Draco's chagrin, the dream.

"Come on, Draco. Just tell me about the dream, it can't be that bad." Blaise said. Something about the way he smiled suggested that he knew it was that bad, and he had said that just to bother Draco.

"Fine!" Draco yelled again, now facing the dark skinned wizard. He knew he would lie. There was no way he would tell Blaise who he was really dreaming about. "I had a dream that I had made a mistake and got my whole family killed, does that satisfy your need to watch others suffer, Zabini?" He spat the last word with so much venom that it sounded like the greatest insult a man could ever give.

Blaise just smiled, thinking he was successful in pestering Draco until he revealed his secret, and turned to make way to his own room.

Draco sighed a sigh of relief as the door to his room shut. Crabbe and Goyle were already fast asleep, snoring like trolls, so he was finally left alone to think in peace.

He played scenes from the dream over and over again in his head, and although an unfamiliar pain invaded his body every time he thought of the dream, he was determined to solve the mystery of it. the cold floor of his manor, Hermione's dying words, him killing his aunt, it didn't add up. Why would he be dreaming of this? Most of the time Draco's dreams were silly and he usually forgot them before the day ended, but this one was impossible to forget. No matter how much he wanted to, the images would never leave his mind. Why did it have to be Granger of all people? Why couldn't it have been Pansy, or Astoria, or even Lovegood for fucks sake, but Granger? That, of all questions, was the one he was most irritated about being unable to answer. So he made a promise to himself that first thing tomorrow he would find Granger again and drag her to Snape's to see if he could help rid of this horrid situation.