Chapter Five

After their bizarre date, Hermione spent the rest of the night in a confused haze. She certainly hadn't expected Draco to be so forthcoming . . . or forward. And yet, in a way, she had somehow known that was exactly what would happen. She was even more confused about her own reaction to the evening. She had walked into it so sure that she didn't like Draco one bit and would be more than happy to humiliate him in ten days' time. But now she held reservations about doing something like that.

Hermione didn't sleep a wink. The next morning, she was grumpy and exhausted, and it showed. She tossed on her nearest clean uniform, glared at her messy hair in the mirror, then stomped down the stairs to the common room. Draco sat on a couch, looking as calm and collected as ever. This only served to sour Hermione's mood further.

"Morning, love," Draco said casually.

"Whatever," Hermione grumped.

Draco looked up at her tone of voice, clearly surprised by the venom he heard in it. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

"Nothing." She stormed over to the table and began stuffing her books into her bag. "Everything."

"Is this because of last night?" he asked.

Hermione spun around, glaring daggers at his too-perfect face. "What do you think?" she snapped.

"Merlin, woman, calm down!"

She scoffed angrily and left the Heads' dorm in a huff. She wasn't really sure if she was angry with Draco for how he'd abruptly left last night or if she was just grouchy in general due to a lack of sleep. She was certain that she didn't particularly care at that moment.

When she arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, her surly demeanor didn't lighten one bit as she ate whatever was nearest. Harry and Ron both eyed her warily for a good half hour before Harry finally said something.

"'Mione, are you all right?" he asked somewhat timidly.

Hermione looked up at him with a deep frown. "What do you think?"

"I think you're not okay. And I think I want to know what's wrong," he said, not breaking eye contact.

It was the strange combination of concern and steely determination that finally broke her. She sighed heavily, lowered her head, and inexplicably began to cry. The fact that she was crying only made her feel worse. She absolutely hated crying, and she didn't even know why she was doing it in the first place!

"Hermione!" Harry said in alarm.

She furiously swiped at her eyes and looked back up at her friend. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't get any sleep last night, and I'm exhausted."

"Why didn't you sleep?" Ron asked.

"I couldn't!" she exclaimed in despair. "I have no idea what's going on with Malfoy, and I was up all night worrying about it!"

Harry frowned. "Maybe you should just call this whole thing off, then. It's not worth it if it makes you this miserable."

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm not going to make any decisions while I'm sleep-deprived."

"Why don't you skip lessons today," Ron said. "You can grab some sleep while Malfoy's not in the next room over."

"Yeah," Harry added. "We can keep watch if you need."

"No, I can't do that. NEWTs are coming up soon, and I've so much homework and revising to do," she said wearily.

"Is there anything we can do to help, then?" Harry asked.

"But—" Ron started.

Harry elbowed his friend in the ribs to shut him up.

"Yeah," Ron said as he rubbed at the spot where Harry had hit him. "Anything we can do?"

"Not really. I'm going to head to class now." She shrugged. "See you there."

Hermione grabbed an extra pastry and excused herself from the Great Hall. Now that she had eaten, she was less emotional, but she was still exhausted. Her feet dragged as she started for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. If only she was the type of girl to skip class for sleep. Before she'd even made it halfway to her classroom, however, she realized she had left her textbook in her common room. With a sigh of irritation, tossed her pastry in a garbage bin and headed the other way.

She mumbled the password when she reached the Heads' dorm and dragged herself inside. Glancing at the clock, she realized she had a lot of time before class was due to start, so she tossed her bag on the couch and slumped beside it. After a moment, she called for a house-elf. A cup of hot cocoa sounded great just then. The little elf bowed low before leaving to retrieve her drink. While Hermione waited, Draco reentered the common room.

"There you are," he said.

Hermione turned her head to look at him. "Here I am."

"Are you all right?"

She sighed. "I'm tired, Malfoy."

He frowned unhappily. "So it's back to my surname now, is it?"

"Can we not?" she asked wearily.

Draco walked over and stood beside the sofa. "Okay, fine. Do you want to tell me why you're so tired?"

"I didn't get any sleep last night, all right?"

"Why not?"

Just then, the house-elf reappeared in front of Hermione with her mug of hot cocoa.

"Thank you so much," she murmured.

The house elf grinned broadly, bowed, and Disapparated.

"So why didn't you get any sleep, Hermione?" Draco persisted.

She dragged a hand down her face. "It's not important. Now will you leave me alone so I can get ready for class?" Without waiting for a response, she reached under the coffee table and retrieved her Defense textbook.

Draco watched her for a few minutes. "All right then," he finally said.

Hermione sighed again. She set her mug down on the table beside her, then opened her book to chapter six to reread the topic for today's Defense lesson. She became engrossed in the text. Draco began pulling things out of his bag and setting them on the table by her side. It irritated her that he couldn't just unpack his bag on the other side of the room.

Hermione waited impatiently for Draco to move his things to the small dining table in the kitchenette. When he was out of the way, she reached for her cocoa and took a sip. It was divine. She propped her book open on the arm of the sofa and cradled the warm mug in her hands while she read. The strange duo fell into a companionable silence—which somewhat unnerved Hermione. But soon the combination of the comfortable atmosphere, the cheery crackling of the fire, and the warm cocoa in her belly had lulled her to sleep.

Draco persistently kept his back to Hermione until the sound of pages turning had ceased. He turned around, pleased to see that his plan had worked. Hermione was resting her head on the arm of the sofa in what had to be an uncomfortable position. With uncharacteristic tenderness, he walked across the room and moved her until she was lying down. He conjured a blanket and draped it over her sleeping form.

He couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't been able to sleep last night. Was it the same reason that he was tossing and turning for hours? What if it was? Did it mean something? Draco shook his head to rid himself of the confusing thoughts, but couldn't help but dwell on the fact that he had done something without an ulterior motive. Seeing Hermione so bedraggled and tired had tugged at something in his chest. Under the ruse of getting ready for the day's lessons, he had hunted for the small vial of Dreamless Sleep that he kept in his bag. When he was sure Hermione wasn't looking, he'd poured it into her cocoa. Honestly, how could making sure she got sleep benefit him in any way? He hadn't even been thinking of that when he'd done it.

What had gotten into him? It hadn't even been thirty-six hours and he was already screwing things up. Draco took a deep breath. What he really needed to do was focus on schoolwork. He had to focus on his priorities. Number one was making sure he didn't lose his position as Head Boy.

The war had been unkind to his family, and being named Head Boy was something that he needed in order to boost his public image. If he didn't repair the Malfoy family's reputation, he would lose everything they had spent centuries working for. The Wizengamot still was not convinced of their rehabilitation, and one little screw up would mean prosecution and the confiscation of all Malfoy property and funds. For the sake of his mother, he had to fix things. She had been very ill since the end of the war, and he knew that if they lost everything, she would not survive. Draco would do anything to protect his mother.

Remembering all of these things helped to strengthen his resolve. He would get Hermione to fall in love with him, but he would make sure to compartmentalize his own feelings. He couldn't afford to lose sight of why this was important. He just wished he had thought of the consequences of losing before he had agreed to the bet.