A/N: It's been such a long time since I last updated this story that I had to read it all over again to make sure I didn't forget any important details. I'm so sorry about that! To quote Horace Slughorn, "these are mad times, really, mad times". But now I'm trying to make time to update this story on a regular basis. So for now, here's one chapter, and I'll try to post the next one soon-ish.

Anyways, I have a surprise for you – I figured I owe you something nice given how late I am in posting this chapter. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I did hint at it in the note to the first chapter of the story... Unfortunately, I can't include the surprise in this chapter, as it is information Hermione would be privy to but not Draco (and this is a Draco p.o.v. chapter), so look forward to it in the next update, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I wrote it!

Letting you read now!

Chapter 6 – Bury it, I won't let you bury it

(Draco p.o.v.)

Draco was troubled… because of his lack of progress with the Vanishing Cabinet, he'd tried a more direct approach to get to Dumbledore, using a cursed necklace he'd purchased at Borgin and Burke and using Katie Bell for the delivery but the stupid girl had gone and touched the damned thing and gotten herself cursed.

He hadn't intended for the girl to be harmed… and to be perfectly honest with himself, Draco hadn't wanted Dumbledore to be harmed either, but he had to prove to the Dark Lord that he was working hard to get his task done, otherwise the consequences would be too dire to even consider.

Potter was probably on to him, and unfortunately so was Granger. He'd summoned her to the Room of Hidden Things, because it was the most secluded place he could think of, and with all the junk that was there, the chances of her discovering the Vanishing Cabinet were minimal.

She'd just confronted him about the Bell girl.

"Silence won't make you look less guilty, you know", she was saying in that know-it-all voice of hers that at the moment was grating on his already frayed nerves.

"But nothing I say will make you believe me if I say I didn't do it – it's pretty clear you've already made up your mind that I'm the one responsible… or did Potter make you think so?" he asked, closing the space between them so that he could tower over her, hopefully intimidating her into shutting up.

No such luck.

"I have a mind of my own, but I do agree with Harry on this, if you must know."

As irritated as Draco was with her at the moment, he was also pleased to see her brown eyes sparkle with fire as she confronted him – his little Gryffindor was far from being defeated and he was happy that he had this challenge on his hands, to take his mind off of how miserable everything else was in his life.

"Were you trying to make a slave out of her as well with that necklace?" Granger asked and Draco was pleased to notice a tinge of jealousy in her voice.

"First of all, you're anything but a slave, Granger, and second of all, there's no need to be jealous. I have absolutely no interest in the Bell girl. If – and please note the 'if' because this is not an admission of guilt – I did anything to her it was to use her as a messenger and whatever else happened was due to her own idiocy."

"Don't you dare call Katie names, when you freely admit…"

"I do NOT", Draco inferred but was ignored.

"…that you used her to deliver that cursed necklace to some other innocent victim. Who was the intended target? Harry? Ron?"

"Please, as if I'd waste my time on those two louts. Besides, how about you keep your mouth shut for a while, you're giving me a headache."

"Excuse me if I'm upset about a fellow Gryffindor being cursed and what makes it worse is that I just know you did it."

"I'm not going to ask again – keep quiet or face the consequences", Draco warned, his hand twitching around his wand which he was gripping so hard that his fingers were white.

"You should know by now that threats don't…"

She never got to finish the sentence as Draco cast the tongue tying curse on her, pleased at the look of outrage on Granger's face.

"There… much better", he said. "Take a seat now, will you?"

He indicated a precarious three legged chair and was pleased to see Granger having to fight the urge to powerfully fling herself down on the thing for fear it would give way.

"So what do you think of our new meeting place?" he asked and then chuckled.

She looked supremely annoyed at not being able to talk and Draco was savoring every minute of it. He had to get his mind off what he'd done to the Katie Bell.

"The Room of Hidden Things is private and it's convenient because it's on the same floor as your Dormitory so you can get here quickly when I call. As for me, I can explain my presence on this floor by saying I'm patrolling as any good prefect should – not that I care to explain my actions to anyone, but I'm sure I'll eventually get challenged by your fellow Gryffindors."

Draco was sure the Gryffindors wouldn't believe a word of it and would probably accuse him of spying, but he was a prefect, so there wasn't much they could do about his wandering around even if they disliked it.

He sat down next to her rocky chair, simply enjoying sitting so close to her – it was almost like they were friends spending time together of their own free will, even if the reality wasn't anything like that.

"And talking about Gryffindor House, I know you're proud to be a member of it, but I think you would have done well in Slytherin too. I mean, there's that need to be the first in class, and then there's that mischievousness that surprises when you think of how fond you are of rules. For example, you confounded McLaggen during the try-outs, didn't you? I doubt that's proper conduct for a Prefect", he chided playfully, gloating at the look of surprise on Granger's face.

"Don't bother denying it – if you could speak at all, I mean – it would have been obvious to anyone with half a brain… which rules out more than half of the students in this school, but what can one do? They've set the bar too low when it comes to admission to Hogwarts."

Granger clearly didn't agree – her big brown eyes were very expressive so that she could basically talk through them.

"Oh, and since we're on the topic of admitting people to Hogwarts, if you do manage to break the Imperius curse and tell Dumbledore about me being a Death Eater, I'm sure he won't do anything about it. After all, Snape bears the Dark Mark too, and he is a teacher in this very school! So you see, all are welcome here, Mudbloods and Purebloods, Death Eaters too, I'm surprised they don't try to teach magic to Squibs too!"

"You sure love to hear yourself talking… do you love it more than looking in a mirror or is it a tie?" Granger asked waspishly, the effect of the tongue tying curse having worn off.

Draco thought about using Silencio on her this time, but it was more fun to let her speak.

"Funny you should mention ties, Granger, but I'll save that surprise for a little later. To answer your question, it is probably a tie, but there's a compliment in there somewhere because you're basically saying I have what to admire in the mirror so you think I'm handsome, right?"

"Or that you merely think that way…"

"Fine, I won't make you admit it at this moment because you've already confirmed before that I'm… how did you put it? Oh yes, you said that my features are 'aesthetically pleasing.' In any case, please notice that I have no problem admitting I find you attractive."

He reached for her neck, caressing the redness on it with two of his fingers, ignoring her violent flinch at the touch of skin on skin.

"I would hate to see your beautiful skin ruined because of your stubbornness. What took you so long in coming here? Had you come earlier, the chocker wouldn't have heated up to the point where it left your skin red."

"Glad to see you've got your priorities straight – it's the unpleasant shade of red of the skin that you don't like not the fact that your chocked burned me!" Granger said and she actually sounded a little hurt.

Draco didn't want to admit one of the reasons he was feeling troubled was that he hadn't thought Granger would be so contrary as to let herself get hurt rather than come running when he called for her. He didn't want her actually suffering… or maybe he wanted that too… he wasn't very clear on that, he had mixed and confused feelings about her and about his intentions towards her.

The only thing he knew was that he just couldn't leave her alone. He had to be with her, around her, one way or the other.

"So what spell did you use on the choker to make it heat up until it burns?" Granger asked and he realized he'd been lost in thought and silent for too long.

"A variation of the Flagrante curse… not that it's going to help you find a counter curse or anything like that given that the spell is woven into the material of the choker itself."

Draco watched Granger take that information in but soon enough she came up with another question.

"Since you've mentioned variations on spells, did you use a variation of the Protean charm on the origami lion and snake?"

Draco reached into the pocket of his robes and took out a small vial of Murtlap essence. He had it with him just in case, knowing how stubborn Granger could be. He dipped his fingers in the substance and then applied it to the Gryffindor's neck, all around the choker.

"Origami…?" he asked. Draco was sure his blank stare might look comical but he really had no idea what she was referring to. He continued applying the soothing liquid on Granger's neck, enjoying both how her skin felt to the touch as well as the small tremors in her body caused, no doubt, by his fingers on her neck.

"Paper art… it's a Japanese muggle thing…. You'd know that if you took the Muggle Studies class… But never mind that, just answer the question!" she asked as she finally shoved away his hand.

"Yes, it is a variation of the Protean charm", Draco said, unfazed by her attempt to shame him for not giving two sickles about muggles.

"But I thought the objects connected had to be copies of each other for the charm to work!" she exclaimed.

"You thought wrong." He noticed her annoyed look and amended his original statement. "What I mean to say is that yes, that's what all the books say about the Protean charm, but I obviously found a way to work around that little inconvenience. You should stop taking books to the letter."

He could see he touched a nerve mentioning her bad habit of placing too much trust in books, but she obviously decided to ignore that last part of his comment.

"You went to an awful lot of trouble just to customize these paper animals – you could do so much more if you put your mind to it and use it for good."

Draco sighed – she always came back to this topic and he was growing tired of it, although he also felt heartened that she hadn't given up on him… yet.

"I think I did use it pretty good, actually", he said, giving her a charismatic smile which, to his surprise, actually worked for a second – Granger looked dazzled but, in typical Granger fashion, she recovered quickly.

"Argh, I think you're purposefully trying to be thickheaded but we both know you're no such thing so you might as well quit it."

"Is that another compliment?"

"Don't flatter yourself, I really am merely stating the facts."

"All right then, they're complimentary facts!" he said, laughing out loud when her jaw literally dropped at his impudence.

It had been such a long time since he'd laughed like that, and it felt good.

"You're impossible!" she said, in a resigned tone.

Draco wished she'd laugh with him but hoping she'd do anything with him willingly was wishful thinking so he decided not to waste any more time and get down to business.

"So, Granger, are you ready to tell me about Potter's lessons with Dumbledore?"

"I already said I won't tell you anything about it, so don't waste both our times, all right?"

Draco admired how loyal Hermione was and although he didn't want to admit it, he was envious of Weaselby and Potter for having her loyalty and devotion. He swore to himself there and then that before long she'll be as loyal and devoted to him – actually that she'll be MORE loyal and devoted to him than to anyone else.

"Fine by me", he said as he extracted three Slytherin ties from his pocket.

"So that's what your little inside joke about the ties was earlier. What are you doing? Opening a Slytherin tie shop? I thought your family was rich…. Did they disown you after finding out what a horrible person you are?"

She was talking nervously and Draco felt the dark side of him take over as he indulged in the pleasure of knowing he was the one making her nervous and the power he had over her just by keeping her wondering what he'd do next, not knowing and dreading it.

"Very funny, Granger, but my parents would be proud to know I have the Mudblood at my mercy and that I'm having my way with her. So no, these extra ties are actually a gift for you."

"More of your gifts? No, thank you!"

"It wasn't actually an option for you to refuse them. Take off your tie, I liked seeing you wear a Slytherin one the last time we met. After all, if you're to be my pet, we need to match, right?"

"Your pet?!" Granger jumped up from the chair in her indignation. "Not even in your wildest dreams, Malfoy, and I refuse to take off a single article of clothing in your presence, even if it is just a tie".

"Bold statements, but you've forgotten I can simply make you do it using the choker. Not that I need to", he said and then simply ripped the Gryffindor tie from her neck, obviously not caring whether he hurt her or not.

"Now, stand still, I'm going to put the tie on you myself… I don't trust you not to throw it away."

He bent down and worked carefully, taking his time, all the while feeling her agitated breath come out in quick puffs over the top of his head, ruffling his hair.

"Be grateful I'm not using the Imperius curse to make you give up the secret about Potter and Dumbledore", Draco said and felt a quiver of fear go through her.

"I was actually wondering why you didn't do it…" she trailed off.

"But although curiosity was killing you, you said nothing for fear of giving me ideas in case the thought hadn't occurred to me. Really, Granger, I thought we established you have a better opinion of me that that!"

She maintained a stony silence.

"No reason to be baffled, I simply prefer torturing you… I mean, if I got all the information out of you now, there would be no point to our little meetings… or would there?"

"You tell me!" Granger said, an elegant eyebrow arched high.

Draco said nothing, merely smirked as he admired his handiwork.

"Slytherin ties do look good on you. And now for the other ones…"

He took the second tie and bound her hands, while he used the remaining one as a blindfold so that she couldn't see what he was doing.

"You could have just used 'Obscuro' if you really wanted to put a blindfold on me. Are you a wizard or what?"

Draco used a nonverbal Legilimens – he knew it would make Granger hate him if she figured out what he was doing but he needed to know what she was really thinking. Did she despise him and considered him a monster? Or was there hope…?

He caught on to the fact that she had asked him the same thing as the weasel had asked her back in the first year when they were trying to get out of the Devil's Snare and she had been too panicked to think about casting Incendio, instead trying to find wood to light a fire.

"You have some nerve to ask that of a pureblooded wizard", Draco replied. "But I'll forgive your audacity for now. Of course I could have used that spell, but there's just something about seeing you bound with Slytherin ties… like I said, they are a good look on you."

He maintained the Legilimens spell throughout his speech, and could feel that the unknown was worse than anything he could have thought to do to her but then a strange thought passed fleetingly through her mind, which was that perhaps the fact that she was shivering was not out of fear but simply anticipation… like she was eagerly waiting for what he'd do next.

Draco felt hope and quickly ended his spell before she could feel his presence in her mind. In addition to Occlumency, Draco had been studying Legilimency as well and was proficient at both. During his experiments, he'd noticed he could enter a mind undetected, as long as he didn't dig too long or too deep into the other person's mind.

It also depended on how good an Occlumens the other person was, and although he suspected Granger was good at hiding her thoughts, right now she was too preoccupied with what he had in store for her… and, could she also possibly consider him too decent to invade her mind? Perhaps, and he didn't want to let her down, so he made a second vow to himself, that he wouldn't invade her thoughts ever again. He only hoped he'd have the strength to keep this vow.

He didn't hesitate to invade her mouth though, and he put all his frustration into the kiss, not caring that when he finally let her go, she managed to wipe her lips even with her hands tied.

"You know, Malfoy, you might think that this will have some great negative impact on my life, but the truth is that all of these meetings and everything you do to me will soon be nothing but a horrible, distant memory which I will bury underneath other, happier memories with my family and friends".

"Bury it? I won't let you bury it!" Draco promised darkly, as he would prefer her to hate him than forget about him or act indifferently.

Granger's mention of "family and friends", a group of people he was clearly not included in, stirred his jealousy and enraged him, so Draco grabbed her arms and pulled her flush against him, then moving his hands up and down on the sides of her body, wanting to feel her, and to feel her as close as humanly possible. His kisses grew more urgent and he could almost feel a response from her – or maybe he was imagining it.

On a deeper level she might have liked his kisses and touches but on the outside Granger fought him. Unfortunately for her, no matter how smart or knowledgeable at spells she was, her physical strength couldn't match his, so he let his hands continue to wander over her body.

He let her go, eventually, and let her compose herself. He considered telling her how he'd found out about Potter's meetings with Dumbledore. Moaning Myrtle had told him – the ghost was extremely annoying as whiny as she was, but she had proven sympathetic when he'd been in one of his darkest moments, worried about failing the Dark Lord's task and about what he'd do to him and his family.

Her sympathy had gained him an unlikely ally, as she told him how often other ghosts had spotted Potter going to the Headmaster's office. Myrtle herself didn't usually leave the various bathrooms throughout Hogwarts castle, but she did socialize with other ghosts who kept her up to date with the latest gossip. Draco supposed that was how ghosts felt alive again, but he didn't really care about the 'lives' of ghosts, if that was even the proper word to call their continued existence after death.

In any case, Draco wasn't one to give up his sources, so Myrtle's role as his informant would continue to be a mystery to the very curious Miss Granger.

"Sit down", he said, pushing Granger back down on the three legged chair she'd previously occupied.

He knelt in front of her, enjoying the frown he could see on her face above the makeshift blindfold he'd made out of the Slytherin tie.

He placed one hand on each of her legs, just above her ankles, and then slowly moved them up over her calves, then her knees until finally he was squeezing the soft flesh of her thighs.

Granger's pursed lips made it clear that she resented his touch but she was making a valiant effort not to protest out loud.

"Crookedlegs got your tongue?" he asked derisively, hoping to get a reaction from her.

"If you're referring to my cat, his name is Crookshanks. And to answer your question, there's no point in talking to you, just go on with whatever you have planned."

Draco sighed, then removed his hands that had in the meantime wandered up under her skirt, untying her hands and removing the blindfold as well. He was suddenly tired of the game... she was obviously affected by Bell getting cursed so he wouldn't get much out of her in any case.

"I'll let you off easy this time, Granger – so go now, before I change my mind!"

She needed no further encouragements, as she sprang from the chair and practically ran to the doors.

"Oh, Granger?" he called after her and as she turned almost involuntarily he quickly caught up to her and grabbed her by the Slytherin tie around her neck.

"Don't forget to take this off unless you want your Gryffindor friends to think your loyalties have changed. I gather you people are pretty big on loyalty".

She sneered at him much as she had done in their third year, at Hagrid's hippogriff lesson when he'd made fun of Potter about his fear of Dementors, although Draco himself felt unnerved by the ghastly creatures.

Granger exited the Room of Hidden Things while working on getting the Slytherin tie off her – Draco didn't mind if she was going to throw it away, he had a huge supply of them for the next meeting. Come to think of it, if he wanted he probably could open his very own Slytherin tie shop with his current inventory.

He smirked, then turned his attention the Vanishing Cabinet.

Draco hadn't thought he could be more annoyed with a non-entity such as McLaggen more than he already was, when Granger told him she suspected the Gryffindor of being her secret admirer, but one Herbology lesson proved him wrong.

Granger was with Potty and the Weasel, of course, and as they worked on the prickly vines Professor Sprout thought fit to make them tackle, they talked about the latest party hosted by Slughorn. Draco eavesdropped as much as he could from a distance, but he did catch parts of their conversations, including one where the idiotic Weasly suggested Hermione hook up with McLaggen. And then to hear Granger say she'd considered invited Weaselby for the Christmas party only increased his displeasure.

Not that she'd ever invite Draco to be her date for a party, but maybe he could coerce Granger to do so? He dismissed the idea almost instantly because then she'd have to come up with some kind of explanations for her friends and that would be a tall order.

He kept himself busy with his classes, homework, the Vanishing Cabinet, and also Quidditch practice, because if he'd given in to his instincts to call Granger for another meeting, Draco was afraid that he'd cross a line with how dark he was feeling.

The day of the Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch match, he told his team that he was sick so that they had no choice but to make Harper play instead – he'd make sure Harper would be willing by paying him a handsome sum.

Draco enjoyed the practice sessions, but to actually play in a game that counted was something beyond his current state of mind.

He kept on working on the Vanishing Cabinet that day, getting increasingly frustrated with his imperfect results and only late in the night, once he was sure the game would be over did he venture outside. Of course, without him playing seeker, the game shouldn't have taken long, and although he resented it, Gryffindor was sure to have won that round.

Draco's annoyance went through the roof when a couple of giggling idiots almost ran over him – and then his eyes widened in surprise as he noticed it was the Weasel with a girl. The fact that any girl would be interested in him was already a surprise, but lo and behold, it wasn't Granger – thank God – but another Gryffindor in their year, the Brown girl.

It was good that they were too busy smooching and giggling like complete idiots that they probably didn't even register whom they'd run into, nor did they bother to apologize properly although Brown did say a hasty and insincere 'sorry'.

Draco set the information about the Weasel's love interest aside for further analysis in regards to how that would affect Granger, and he was about to take a portrait shortcut to get down to the dungeons when he heard a sob coming from one of the classrooms.

He wondered whether Moaning Myrtle had wondered out so far just to give him some new information – she knew he spent a lot of time in the Room of Hidden Things. Or, could it actually be Granger, affected by the new romance blooming between Brown and Weasley?

He approached the sound and identified it as coming from Classroom 7C. Draco stealthily peeked around the semi open door and despite having considered that option, he was still shocked to see it was Granger who was sobbing. She was sitting on one of the desks, her hands to her eyes futilely trying to stem the tears flowing down her cheeks.

In that moment he should have been thrilled at how heartbroken she sounded, but somehow he found that instead he felt an ache as if he were the one hurting... and he also felt furious with whomever it was that had made her cry... probably the Weasel, no one else was insensitive enough in her circle of friends.

Granger had always seemed as tough as nails, so to see her cry all alone, hidden from the world, was a shock and not something he rejoiced in.

Draco was sure she wouldn't welcome his interference, but he had to do something to get her out of that sorry state. He also wanted to confirm that Weasley was responsible and then make sure the cur understood the gravity of his mistake.

So he opened the door a bit wider and leaned against its frame, making a tsk-tsk sound to make his presence known.

"I never thought I'd see Hermione Granger cry", he said in a tone that would probably be construed as cruel. He needed to provoke her so that she could snap out of her pity party... Draco only hoped his words wouldn't make her cry harder – he wasn't sure he'd know how to handle that situation, but he had a feeling he'd be irresistibly drawn to her, to hold her in his arms and comfort her. Which was pure lunacy.

She instantly stopped crying and quickly wiped away her tears when she heard him, trying to regain her composure.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" she spat. "I thought you were too sick to play in the Quidditch match, so how come you're up and about, looking none the worse for wear?"

"Is that a compliment about my good looks?" Draco retorted, knowing that goading her was the easiest way to get her to recover from her crying spell. "Don't answer that, I remember we've had a similar conversion before and I hate redundancy.", he quickly added, wanting to prod her further.

"Actually, I'm starting to think you're not as confident about your good looks as you'd have everyone believe, what with you needing all this validation, Malfoy!"

Draco liked that she was responding 'normally' to him.

"I just like to hear you say it, Granger. But never mind that! Explain to me why you're crying when Gryffindor won the Quidditch match! If anything, I should be the one bemoaning my teammates' incompetence".

"I don't have to explain anything to you, Malfoy. Just get out of here and leave me alone!"

"Isn't that a bit much to ask considering I haven't summoned you for one of our meetings lately? And you'd do well to answer my question, otherwise we both know I can use more persuasive methods of getting you to tell me... That choker around your neck guarantees it!" Draco said, hoping she wouldn't grow to hate him for blackmailing her in such a manner, but he really had to get to the bottom of the mystery of who made her cry.

After a heartfelt sigh and several moments of tense silence, she finally answered him.

"If you must know, I had an argument with Ronald, that's all... but that was just the tip of the iceberg, the fact that you can blackmail me anytime you want is a bigger problem, and sometimes problems just pile up and you have to let it out or you'll burst!" she exclaimed, frustration clear in her voice. "I'm sure you don't know what I'm talking about, seeing how I'm sure you consider yourself infallible, so just enjoy my admission of weakness, because it's not likely you'll hear it again in this lifetime."

Draco didn't say anything. As it happened, he'd felt the same and all too often that year, given his dire situation with Voldemort basically having him and his family under a death threat, depending on how well his mission went. They were more similar than she knew, but Draco wasn't going to enlighten her with that information.

He was more interested to know how that idiotic Weasel managed to hurt his Granger that bad – the boy was clearly a pathetic excuse of a wizard, completely unworthy of the pureblood status. Granger calling him "Ronald" instead of the usual "Ron" was a good sign, in Draco's opinion, because it indicated she wanted to put some distance between herself and the ginger.

"Can one even argue with Weaselbee?" Draco asked drolly. "That would require him to have the brain and the vocabulary for it, and somehow he doesn't strike me as having either."

A small sound came from Granger, but she quickly put her hand over her mouth to smother it – Draco, however, had heard enough to be sure it had been a startled laugh. He smiled widely, proud of himself for making her laugh, and at the Weasel's expense, no less!

"Well, the disagreement was about Quidditch, the one subject Ronald does have plenty to say about", she admitted, sniffling.

"Oh, so it had nothing to do with him being all over Lavender Brown? Although I think I have that backwards, it was like she was all over him, not that he was complaining!" Draco said derisively.

He didn't want to hurt her any further, but it was unlikely a simple verbal argument could reduce her to tears, and if she really hadn't found out yet about Weasley's new girl, the sooner she got used to the idea, the better for everyone involved.

"You've seen them together?" Granger asked in a defeated voice that didn't sit well at all with Draco.

Why should she care so much about someone she was obviously incompatible with? She was superior in so many ways, it was like they weren't even from the same planet.

"I have, and let me tell you, they seemed to have been made for each other... and neither can hold a candle to you, so really, if that's what's bothering you..." he trailed off, not wanting to push her too hard.

Draco watched the various expressions play across her face as she took a while to think that through and considered her next words carefully.

"It's not what you and Harry think – because yes, Harry thought the same thing, and the whole school will probably make the same mistake. Up until a certain moment I did think that maybe Ron and I could be more than just friends, but ever since the Yule Ball, and then last year, when we were both prefects, I've started to understand that we're better off the way we are now..."

Draco was incredibly pleased to hear it, but he couldn't dwell on her words for too long as she took a deep breath and continued.

"I mean, we are better off the way we were – friends – only now I'm not sure we're even that. There was this incident earlier when I accused Harry of putting Felix Felicis in Ron's juice before the game, but it turns out he didn't."

"Good thing, too", Draco commented, "as that would be illegal!"

"I know that!" Hermione snapped. "Anyway, I've answered your question and then some, and seeing as I'd rather not get into more details, can you just let me return to the Common Room? It's getting late and I'd rather go rest for the night - I have a big day tomorrow."

Draco was appeased that she wasn't heartbroken over a romantic relationship with Weasley, but rather about her friendship with him, so with that knowledge he, too could go to his own bedroom to rest – or dream of her, to make sure his dream would be pleasant and stimulating.

"Sure, go ahead, I'm sure I'll see you again before long in any case, and we can continue this discussion then - as you might imagine, I'm now extremely curious about your 'big day' seeing as there isn't any special event going on that I know of."

He thought he heard Granger mutter a "whatever" as she quickly jumped down from the desk she was sitting on and hurried out the door.

Draco made a gallant gesture of ushering her forward through the doorway as she moved past him and then watched her until she disappeared through the Fat Lady's corridor.

As he wearily headed downstairs he thought to himself it was finally time to call it a day.