A/N: Hey guys! How's it going?! I know. I know. I'm sorry that it's been a couple of days. I've just been super busy with homework, and Lacrosse practice and going to the gym, that it was pretty hard to fit this in. But all of my homework is done, we won the game this morning and I have nothing else to do! So here is chapter 9 for you! And don't worry! Ginny will definitely get what's coming to her. I'm just having trouble deciding what should happen to her. Well tell me what you think. Leave a review! They make me happy to hear what you beautiful people have to say. (:

I own nothing but the plot. JK Rowling owns everything else.

Chapter 9:

The next couple of day passed in a blur for Hermione. She was back in classes but people were looking at her like something was wrong with her. She had passed by Harry and Ron a couple of times, and she couldn't help but notice the stares that they both gave her. They were unnerving. That Saturday morning dawned bright and early.

Hermione woke up that morning and looked outside. A light snow was falling softly towards the ground. She walked over to her closet to grab her clothes before walking into the bathroom. She stood in front of her mirror and took a good look at herself. She still had bruises all over her body. Her arms were still riddled with her cuts. She sighed softly before taking a quick shower. When she was finished she dressed in a pair of black jeans, a long sleeved black shirt and a soft red sweater over it. She then wrapped a matching soft scarf around her neck, and put on matching gloves. She looked at her hair, before swishing her wand and her hair instantly straightened itself out. She then put a black knit hat on top of her head.

When she was satisfied she put her wand into her back pocket, grabbed her bag of money from her room and then walked out into the common room. To her surprise, Malfoy was already waiting there for her. He looked really good in muggle jeans. And he was wearing a black jacket over his shirt, a green scarf and a matching beanie.

He looked up at her as soon as he heard her coming down the stairs and his eyes got wide momentarily before schooling his emotions. "You uh… Ready to go Granger?" He asked. She then nodded her head, and both of them walked out of the common room together in silence.

They both walked down to the entrance hall where Blaise and Luna were waiting for them, and they were both surprised to find the two of them talking. When they were behind them, Draco cleared his throat, and both of their friends turned around. Luna smiled at Hermione before walking up to her and giving her a big hug before whispering in her ear. "I'm so glad you're okay Hermione." She said, before pulling away and giving her a small smile.

Hermione smiled in return before looking at the two boys talking quietly together. "You guys ready to go?" She asked. She was surprised when Blaise smiled at her and started walking again. "Let's go Granger! Lovegood! Draco!" He said, before walking towards a carriage. Draco looked at the two girls and rolled his eyes before following her best friend.

Hermione smiled slightly, looked at Luna and then pulled the younger girl after her and into the carriage that the two boys sat at. The ride up to Hogsmeade was relatively quiet, at least from Hermione and Draco. Luna and Blaise were talking quietly to each other. Hermione looked out of the window and watched the snow fall so she didn't feel Draco's eyes on her the whole ride up.

Reaching Hogsmeade, they all exited the carriage and started walking into the village. "Alright! Where to first? Granger since we came here for your birthday, where would you like to go?" Blaise asked, before looking at her. She was stunned momentarily before a thoughtful look came over her face. "Um… Tomes and Scrolls?" She said hesitantly.

Draco rolled his eyes before smirking slightly. "Figures that you'd want to go to a bookstore Granger. Come on. Let's go." The four of them walked towards the bookstore, receiving some odd looks from their fellow students. She bit her lip and ducked her head slightly, trying to ignore the jeers and sneers from the Slytherins and the ugly looks that the Gryffindors were giving her.

She felt Draco press slightly closer to him, before she heard his quiet 'ignore them.' She looked up at him, but he wasn't staring at her, he was looking straight ahead. They finally reached the bookstore, Hermione getting lost in the shelves, before she picked out three books that she wanted. She walked over to the counter to pay for them, but before she could pull out her money, the woman behind the counter stopped her. "No Miss Granger. They have already been paid for." She said with a smile.

Hermione looked at her in confusion. "Excuse me? How could they be paid for? I just picked them out right now?" "Oh I know that. But they have already been paid for." The woman said before giving her another smile, and bagging her books up for her before handing them to her.

"Who paid for them?" She said.

The woman gave her a knowing smile. "A real cutie did." She then winked and walked away to assist another customer with their products. Hermione was confused when she walked out of the shop.

"What did you buy Hermione?" Luna asked her, a curious look on her face. Hermione looked up at Luna and Blaise before answering. "Well… I was going to buy 3 books, but when I went to pay, the woman said that they had already been paid for." "Hm… That's odd." Blaise said, and he turned to ask Draco a question, when he saw that the blonde was avoiding looking at him. Blaise smirked before shaking his head. "It's a mystery all right." He said to her before smirking once more.

"Hey why don't you and Draco go wait for us in the Three Broomsticks. I want to show Lovegood something." Blaise said, and before either could answer, Blaise grabbed Luna and dragged her off with him.

"Well that was odd. Shall we?" She asked Draco before looking up at him. He looked down at her and nodded before walking with her towards the Three Broomsticks.

DMDMDMDM

He couldn't help but stare at her for most of the time. When she had first walked down those stairs, he didn't know what to think. She looked so different then the nerdy girl that he was used to. And then he had to go and buy her her books! He had told the lady to just put them on the Malfoy tab, but to not tell Granger about it.

He shook his head, and walked into The Three Broomsticks with her before directing her to a table. He then walked away to grab them drinks. He gave her the drink, before sitting down across from her. It was silent between the two, but he noticed her fingers shaking slightly on the table. He then reached out and gripped her fingers between his hands to stop them shaking. He was surprised to find that her hands were warm. Way warmer than he thought, and he also thought that he felt a spark between them when he grabbed her fingers. He knew from the way that she looked at him that she felt the same thing.

"Stop shaking so much Granger. I'm not going to hurt you." He told her in a quiet voice.

She looked up at him, before extracting her fingers from his hands. "I know… I just… I don't know what to think. I'm sitting at a table, with a guy who's supposed to be my enemy. My friends, or the people who I thought were my friends hate me. I just don't know what to think anymore." She whispered.

"They're not really your friends Granger if they don't believe anything you say. Weaselette is the biggest liar I know and yet, somehow they believe her and not you." He said to her. She looked up at him, a small glare in her eyes, before her face completely crumpled. "I know. And I wish they trusted me. But Ginny is Ron's sister… I would make sense that they would believe her. I really did want to die. I still do. I have no one." She whispered that last part, her eyes filling up with tears that refused to fall.

Draco felt his resolve break slightly, as he looked at the girl across from him. She always seemed like she was so strong. Like nothing could break her. But here was a girl who was completely broken. She had a worse life then he himself had, and he didn't know what to think.

Everything he thought he knew about Hermione Granger turned out to be a lie. It wasn't true. The home life that he thought she had, wasn't a great as he thought. He could definitely see now the damage that it did to her, and he didn't like seeing someone that he thought so strong, looking so weak.

He looked over at her before speaking. "Granger look at me." He said firmly. She looked up at him with sad coffee colored eyes. "You're not alone. Potter and Weasley are stupid, for believing her over you. But you are not alone. You have Lovegood. And even if you don't want to believe it, hell, I don't want to believe it, but you also have Blaise and I. We won't leave you alone Granger." He said, his grey eyes boring into hers.

She looked at him, before speaking. "How do I know that you and Zabini won't go back to being the stuck up jackasses that you used to be? How do I know that you won't," she paused for a second. "How do I know that you won't use what you know against me?" She asked with a whisper.

"I won't use it against you Granger. You just have to believe me. I know…" He said quickly when he saw her open her mouth. "I'm a hard person to believe. But I won't use THAT against you. I would never use something like that against anyone." He said, with quiet authority. She looked into his grey eyes again. Searching. She found what she was looking for because she nodded her head. "Thank you Malfoy." She looked up at him and she could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on his face.

"So… Are we trying to be friends then?" She asked hesitantly. He looked thoughtful for a second before holding out his hand to her. "Friends." He said, and she gripped his hand in his before shaking. Before she could pull away he pulled her hand closer to his and looked at it. "You have an incredibly small hand." Was all he said before letting it go.

She blushed slightly but didn't respond.

"What the fuck are you doing here with him?!"

Her head snapped up and she saw an angry Ronald Weasley and a contemplative Harry Potter walking towards their table. "Excuse me Ronald. But my friend and I are enjoying out drinks." She said, in a waspish voice. Ron's face turned as red as his hair.

"Friend? Friend?! He's not your friend Hermione! We're you're friends!" He then pointed between Harry and himself as if that should be obvious.

"We didn't think that the rumors were true Hermione. There were rumors that apparently you were fucking both Malfoy and Zabini but we didn't believe them. But now we see that you are in fact fucking Malfoy! You're such a whore Hermione!" Ron screamed at her, his face turning even redder.

Hermione was about to retort when Malfoy was on his feet in a flash, his wand pointed at both Harry and Ron. "Don't you DARE talk to her like that. You have no fucking idea what's going on between Granger and I. And if by chance something was going on it would be none of your damn business because you and her are no longer friends." Draco said, the rage in his voice prominent.

Ron opened his mouth to say something before Draco cut through before he could. "No Weasley it's your turn to listen. It's because you two believe stupid rumors like that, that your friendship with Granger is no more. You believe rumors from that stupid bint you call a sister, when in reality you should have been asking Granger to give you an explanation. It's your fault that your relationship it broken the way that it is, because you two can't pull your heads out of your asses long enough to ask her." Draco was fuming and continued on before either of the boys could speak.

"Don't come near Granger again, and if I hear that you have done anything to her, and I mean anything at all, you'll wish that Voldemort had killed you both. Get your fucking facts straight before you accuse her of doing anything wrong."

With that Draco grabbed Granger by her hand and stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, leaving two stunned boys in their wake.

Once they were outside Hermione tried tugging on Draco to get him to stop, before finally succeeding and pulling him to a stop.

She looked up at him, assessing him. She didn't know what to think about his rant. Harry and Ron have never stood up for her the way that he just did. She was honestly as a loss for words. They had just decided to be friends and he was already standing up for her.

She looked up at him noticing that he was looking at her before a small blush graced her cheeks. "Thank you." She whispered, her cheeks turning even more red. "That meant a lot." She looked up at him again and saw him give a small nod, before noticing another small smile grace his lips, just a small upturn at the corners but it was better than nothing.

As the two of them made their way back to Hogwarts, they knew that maybe being friends wouldn't be so bad afterwards. Walking back to Hogwarts, Hermione heard a small, "Happy Birthday Granger," come out of Malfoy's lips, before another small smile graced her lips, and she was feeling a little bit happier than she had in a while. She knew that she was going to be okay. It would be hard. But she could do it.