*~*~*~*Heya! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been the week of my birthday so yah…PartyPartyParty. Today, 12/10 is my actual birthday. Yeppz…December tenth! Wheee! Anyways, Still suffering from writers block so this may be a sucking chapter. =P I'm actually listening to Tom Felton now.

Draco left the dungeon but while locked in his room once more, the music of Blackest blaring in his ear again, he couldn't help but picture the couple he had left lying in the dank dungeon.

They had died, together. They're fingers intertwined until they're last breath.

*..::End flashback.::..*

Draco was startled out of his stupor by a loud pounding on the compartment door. Draco cringed internally when he heard the voice on the other side of the door. Apparently Pansy had heard that he had had a small altercation with Hermione and had come to investigate.

"Draco, I heard that the Granger girl was messing with you. Shall I hex her for you?"

Draco couldn't stand it. He didn't want to go out there. In fact, he would be perfectly happy to spend the rest of the hour in the small, cramped compartment if it meant staying away from pug-face. But he didn't want anyone to hurt Hermione. Especially Pansy. She may be stupid beyond comparison but she could hex someone with such vehemence that it made Draco cringe internally.

"Draco! I demand you come out now! You and I both know that you can't hide in there forever Daring. Just come out and let me make everything all better."

She rapped on the door again. What to do? What to Do!

'Wait! I got it!'

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, hastily wrapped package. He whispered the spell and it grew to the size of a large pillow. He unfolded it and threw it over himself. After pressing himself as far into the back as he could, his leg bending around Hermione's trunk, he magically unlocked the door.

"Draco if you don't come out now I'm going to break this door down!"

He waited. And waited. And Waited. Finally, Blaise saved him from an extremely painful leg cramp by hurrying her up saying, " You know Pug- I mean…Pansy. He's probably not even in there. Why don't you just go ahead and check?"

Pug gave him a dirty and slid the compartment door open. Draco held his breath.

"Huh…" Said Pug-Face, "I was sure my Drakey-Pooh was in here.

Draco almost gagged at the supremely horrid pet name that Pug had appointed him. Ugh. He heard someone else next to Pug-Face.

"Excuse but if your done blocking the compartment, could you please move? Some of us actually have things to do."

Oh no. It was Hermione.

"You'd better watch who your talking to, Mud-Blood."

Draco could have cursed her. But he didn't. Alas. Pug-Face and her "Crew" retreated down the aisle. Hermione stepped into the compartment and closed the door. She sat down next to Ezekiel and he hooted more in greeting than anything else.

She took in his glossy black feathers that were almost blue. He had his startling golden eyes trained on her. Around his face there was the classic mask design in a slightly lighter shade and his feathers. His beak was curved and very sharp. Ezekiel was almost as handsome as his owner. Almost.

"I suppose you are a very good looking bird aren't you?"

He hooted and ruffled his feathers. Hermione laughed softly.

"And I bet you know it too."

She stroked his feathers through the cage. Surprised at their silky texture.

"Your owner is a funny sort of character isn't he? One minute he is actually being somewhat decent to me, the next he could probably Avada my ass and not give a damn about it. You know, he's pretty good looking himself. If he wasn't such an arrogant git, he might be worth it. Then again, who would ever want plain, bookworm Hermione?"

She sighed. This was all so confusing.

During Hermione's musings, The cramp in Draco's leg from standing so still at such an awkward angle for so long had grown steadily worse until finally he was about to scream in pain. He wrenched the cloak off and fell onto the floor of the compartment.

Hermione shrieked and stood up.

"You've been standing there, this whole time?! Why didn't you say something, why didn't you tell me to get out, why didn't you tell me you were-"

Draco was on the floor furiously trying to rub the cramp out of his leg. Hermione took one look into his pleading eyes and forgot about how angry she was at him. She knelt down and gently moved his pant's leg up. She ran her fingers gently along his calf. The muscle was twisted and she couldn't even imagine how much it hurt.

Hermione drew her wand and muttered a very complicated sounding spell. She felt the muscle even out and Draco sat up straighter.

There was an awkward silence that Draco was the first to break.

"Thank you. For…"

"Your welcome."

Another awkward silence. Draco sighed deeply and looked as if he had come to some decision.

"Hermione…I haven't always been the most courteous to you-"

She snorted quite audibly then looked contrite.

"Let me finish."

She smiled slightly, "Sorry."

"As I said, I haven't always treated you honorably. I don't claim to be a saint, but this summer some events took place that opened my eyes considerably. I was ignorant and boastful when it came to my family name. Now I see that I was wrong. No matter how honorably my father believes he is acting it does not justify the cruel and unjust acts that he has committed. I am truly sorry for any hurt I have caused you over the past years. It was all based on unfounded delusions of right and wrong."

It was quiet but it was more a thoughtful sort of silence than an awkward one. Finally, seemingly after much deliberation, Hermione spoke.

"You know…You were a bit of an Arrogant ass in the previous years eh? I would be too though if I had such a prat for a father and that thing to deal with every damn day."

Draco was taken aback at the bluntness of her statement.

Hermione laughed out loud at the peculiar expression on his face. It was a mixture of amusement and shock.

"Ah…As I'm sure you are painfully aware, I'm not the same Hermione I was last year am I? Yes, some things have changed over the summer. Including the set up of the "Golden Trio"

Draco raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Care to explain?"

Hermione sighed. "Well, the way that our group has always been, Harry was the hero, Ron is the brave but extraordinarily dense one-"

Draco laughed at this one.

" and I," She continued, "was the clever, intelligent bookworm that had nothing better to do than solve the mysteries that the famous Boy-Who-Lived presented me with."

She paused and looked with coolly masked disbelief at Draco who was wearing an expression of amused interest that held none of the ever present malice that she had come to associate with Draco Malfoy. She continued.

"But I got tired of it. I got tired of waiting for my time in the spotlight, Wondering when I was going to be recognized for something. Sure I was praised for doing so well in my studies and being "The Brightest Witch in a Century" but it was all so…"

"Empty."

She looked up in surprise at Draco.

"You were always just a part of something, never standing alone. You were always just Ron's Crush, Harry's second Best friend. Always so bright, so Praised but never truly recognized. Unfulfilled."

"How did you-"

Draco smiled wryly.

"That's how it was with me believe it or not. The Slytherin prince who never got close to anyone. I was always my Father's Son. That was it. I still am. People are always going to expect me to be cold and distant…and cruel. That's why I change so quickly, that's why I can speak to you like a civilized human being now but as soon as we get in mixed company you have to be nothing more than a Gryffindor to me. You have to be nothing. No one. I can't talk to you, can't even acknowledge your existence unless I'm putting you down and telling you how inferior to myself you are."

The hurt was evident in Hermione's eyes, but it was the truth.

"Well that explains it."

"Yes, that's what you wanted to know isn't it, why I'm such an arrogant git?"

She blushed, so he hadn't forgotten about her little chat session with Ezekiel. Well.

"And no," He said as if reading her thoughts, "I haven't forgotten what you said to Ezekiel. Another thing, you not just plain bookworm Hermione. Your so much more than that."

Draco even surprised himself when he blushed. His pale skin giving off the faintest rosy glow.

'Geeze!,' She thought 'He even Blushes gracefully!'

Draco stood up, finding the small compartment suddenly much too small. He grabbed his school robes and turned back to Hermione.

"I'm sorry…It's just, Your so, I….Have to go."

He reached for the compartment door but Hermione grabbed his hand and he turned around. She stared up into his liquid mercury eyes and he stared down into her golden brown ones. He ran a finger across her silky cheek and she closed her eyes at his touch. He bent, and brushed her lips with his own.

All too soon the feeling was gone. Draco disappeared leaving Hermione alone in the compartment to change and contemplate what had just happened. The Silver eyed, platinum haired Slytherin Prince had just kissed her. Her! Hermione Granger. The most Gryffindor of the Gryffindors, part of the Golden Trio itself!

It was too soon when the train reached Hogsmead station…In the pouring rain.

*~*~*~Okay! Sorry I took forever to update, Things have just been WAY TOO CRAZY! Plus I couldn't get over my Massive WB and I also broke my Computer and had to buy a laptop so I am currently working outside on a park bench in 36 degree weather! Yay!

The Band Blackest has music quite similar to that of MCR, one of my favorites. The Cramp thing on the train was actually something that happened to me. I was hiding behind this big stack of luggage and this guy came in the compartment and I didn't know who he was and he just sat down! I didn't want to scare him so I just stayed there and after like, 20 minutes my friend Casey finally came in and told the guy that that was our compartment. When he left I fell over and started crying my leg hurt so bad. XXP*~*~*~*~*