"Hermione, you haven't touched your food. Are you ok?" Harry asked during breakfast. With a day-dreamy stare, Hermione nodded lazily. "I'm just not hungry" she breathed. She could tell Ron was staring at her even though he was eating. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco whispering something to Blaise.

Blaise laughed at something Draco had said but she assumed Draco didn't find it funny. "Whatcha lookin at 'Mione" Ron asked. He tried to follow where Hermione's eyes were looking at and he found himself looking at Draco. "You're not looking at Malfoy now, are you?" Hearing that, Hermione snapped out of her trance. "What? No, no. Look, I'll be right back. I wanna be early for class."
"Yeah, just don't be late" Ron joked. Hermione gathered herself up and started walking toward the oak doors.

Draco saw Hermione leave. He wondered whether she left to actually be early for class or be late by taking a trip to the Pensive Room. Then his eyes wandered to Ron. Talking and laughing with Harry and his fellow Gryffindors. He remembered his deal with Hermione he had struck the previous night. He smirked and stood.

"Where you heading Dray?" Blaise asked. Looking back with his smirk still on his face, Draco shook his head. He walked up to Ron at the Gryffindor table and already, parts of the student body watched. "What do you want Malfoy" Harry spat. "It has nothing to do with you Potter. I came to talk to the Weasley." Draco shot back.

Ron looked up and reddened. "Whatever it is, I don't wanna hear about it" Ron said bluntly. "So, you're saying you don't wanna hear about your precious Granger?" He had looked away from Draco, but once he heard Hermione's name, he turned his head to face the blond once more. "What about her?" His smirk growing bigger, Draco said, "Well, me and Granger had a nice little chat yesterday and she wanted me to tell you that she doesn't fancy you. So your little crush on her is a waste because it's not gonna happen."

Ron stood up and faced Draco. "Liar!" Draco crossed his arms, "Weasley, I wouldn't give a flying rat's ass if she liked you or not. But we put on a little wager. I tell you what she wanted to tell you and I get whatever I want from her." Draco had a plan to make Ron go ballistic. He raised his eyebrow suggestively. "Whatever you want?" Ron asked worriedly. "Whatever I want" Draco repeated, smirk at its largest.

"You wouldn't" Ron said, face stricken with fear. "I don't know what your talking about. Well, now that my half of the bargain was done, it's about time I go fetch my rewards." He turned around and strutted out of the Great Hall, leaving Ron is the worst state.

Hermione sat in Transfiguration class, being the only one there. Then she heard the door open and close. She turned around and saw Draco walking in her direction. "What are you smirking at?" she chuckled. "I think I might've left your little boyfriend devastated." Draco drawled. Hermione knew what he was talking about. "What did you say?" He was silent for a moment or two before he finally spoke. "I told him the facts. You didn't fancy him so he should get over it because it's not gonna happen. Nothing much."

Smiling, Hermione punched Draco's arm playfully. "And what did he do?" she asked. She was listening carefully, wanting to know the details. Draco gave a one shouldered shrug and said "Nothing. He just stood there, gaping like a fish. He called me a liar too." Hermione was starting to laugh. "Oh my gosh. Poor Ron." "Poor Ron? Poor me! I'm the one who's feelings got hurt" Draco said in a mock sobbing noise.

Hermione laughed louder and harder but stopped abruptly once she heard the door open. She and Draco looked back at the rest of the class that were entering the room. With Harry and Ron in the front of the group, Hermione was at her reddest. Draco stood up and ran to his seat as if it made any difference. Ron looked hurt, he looked away and walked to his seat in silence. Harry followed him. The rest of the class entered in whispers, looking at Hermione and Draco.

Susan Bones took her seat next to Hermione and stared at her. "What are you looking at" she snapped. Susan immediately looked away. Professor McGonnagal appeared into the room and walked to the front. She tapped the chalkboard with her wand and the lesson appeared on the board. "Okay class. Today we will be reviewing on our last Transfiguration lesson. Let's see how much you've improved on turning your whistles into watches."

Searching her school bag, Hermione took out her whistle and her wand. Professor McGonnagal was certainly having a field day. The whole class was in whispers and kept on staring at Hermione and Draco instead of their work. To her classmates' surprise, Hermione was unable to turn her whistle into a watch. She has done it before but her mind was being blurred by the whispering and talking and staring.

When the period bell rang, Hermione and Draco thought it was the most relieving sound in the world. They grabbed their things and ran for the door. Unknowing that the other students were talking about this as well. As Hermione and Draco ran, they seemed to have been running at the same pace so they were running shoulder to shoulder. "What you got next?" Draco asked as he continued to run. "Potions" Hermione replied. Draco cursed under his breath and the two ran in the same direction for their next class.

By lunch, Hermione did not go. She couldn't go into the Great Hall and have the whole school whisper behind her back. Although Draco felt the same, he still attended lunch. He was hungry, he couldn't help it. He didn't feel like eating from the kitchen in his living quarters. When he was done eating, he stood up and walked toward the oak doors.
"Oi, Malfoy!" Draco turned around and saw an angry looking Ron coming toward him. "What do you want Weasel-Bee" Draco drawled. Without saying anything, Ron punched him in the face. Stumbling backwards, Draco touched his bloody nose. Enraged, he shot back. He punched Ron in the stomach. Wincing in pain and bending over slightly to cover his stomach, Ron wouldn't give up. He stood up straighter and took Draco into a head-lock.

"What the fuck did I do to you Weasley!" Draco said, gasping for breath. For the time being having Draco in this position gave Ron the opportunity to continue punching Draco in the face and stomach. "You...took...my...girl!" Ron said in between punches. "She was never your girl. She didn't even like you!" Draco somehow managed to get out of Ron's head-lock. He shoved him to the floor. While Ron was on the floor, he gripped Draco's ankles and brought him down too.

A huge circle was around the two fighters. Ron brought Draco's arms behind his back and twisted them. He pushed him to the floor and let him fall on his arms...hard. No one thought Ron was that, that mad. But apparently he was. He took out his wand and pointed it at Draco. "Ron, don't!" Ginny yelled in the background.

On her way to her next class, Hermione heard a faint cheering coming from the Great Hall. She went down there and saw a huge circle around something. She pushed her way through and saw Draco and Ron fighting, both looking hurt and bloody. It looked like Ron had gotten onto Draco who was on the floor and was punching him with all his might.

"Ron! What the fuck are you doing!" Hermione ran over to Ron and pulled him off of Draco. "Ron, have you lost your damn mind?" she scolded, her face pink with fury. "I can't believe you would do this." She went over to Draco and bent over him. His faced was bruised and bloody. His hair was all messed up and his eyes were closed. Hesitantly, Hermione touched his cheek. "Oh my God" she whispered.

She took Draco's arm and draped it around her neck. She picked him up with all her strength. "Wait. I'll help." She looked out into the crowd and saw Blaise push through. He took Draco's other arm and helped Hermione drag Draco to the hospital wing. "Hermione wait!" Ron called. "Piss off, Ron" she called back.

Draco woke up in the hospital wing the next morning. He looked around and saw that his right arm was in a cast. 'What happened yesterday?' He tried to sit up but then the back of his head gave off an immense pain. He winced and lied back down. Then, he remembered what had happened the day before. 'Oh great. Now I'm gonna be known as the punk that got his ass whipped by the weasel.'
Hermione headed to the hospital wing again. She had gone earlier to check up on Draco but he was still asleep. She opened the doors and saw an empty room and only one occupied bed. She walked over to Draco's bed and looked at him. His right arm in a cast, a white cloth patch over his cheek, a red mark on his lip, a black eye and his face was bruised all over.

"M-Malfoy?" Hermione stammered. Draco slowly turned his head to look at Hermione. "What?" he asked tiredly. "How are you feeling?" she asked. Rolling his eyes, he answered, "Oh just brilliant. I always feel cheery to wake up in a hospital bed with my arm in a cast and pain all over." Looking down at her laced fingers, Hermione didn't speak.

"Is there a point to your visit?" Draco asked. "I-I just wanted to say...feel better. When I saw Ron...well...you know, I was furious. I refuse to talk to him now." "I guess he liked you more than we thought." he chuckled lightly. A small smile crept onto Hermione's face. "Yeah, but Ron is also known to blow things out of proportion."

"Look, Malfoy, I'm really sorry for what happened. I was so worried that you would hurt Ron, I didn't even think about Ron hurting you." Seeing guilt in Hermione's face seemed to pain Draco even more. It wasn't her fault he had gotten beaten into a pulp. "You know, when you're feeling better, we can get started" she whispered. "What?" "A deal is a deal Malfoy. You told Ron I didn't like him. So now you get to help me uncover this mystery."

Draco gave a small smirk. "I guess to help you, I have to go through the pain." Hermione laughed and sat at the edge of the bed.

The two sat there in the hospital wing for who knows how long. In that time, both of them learned new things about the other. When Hermione left, she couldn't stop the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. For Draco, she didn't know how she felt. She was having mixed feelings. The person she was talking to just now wasn't the Draco she had once known.
She had once known a vile, nasty, self centered person. Although, the person she was talking to was calm, thoughtful of what he said and was humorous. Malfoy wasn't like that. Draco was.

A week later, September was about to end. Draco was better and Hermione still refused to talk to Ron, much to his disliking. "It was absolutely despicable how he would do that. Sinking down that low. Until he apologizes, I'm not talking to him" Hermione had said one day to Harry. "He has apologized to you a million times."

Wagging a finger in front of Harry, she said "Oh no, not to me." She pointed at Draco across the room. "To him. I'm not the one he injured." Harry sighed and left to go sit with Ron.

That night, Hermione was looking for Draco around the halls. He had not been in the common room all day. She went down to the dungeons and searched for the Slytherin portrait hole. Then she saw it. It was a portrait of Salazar Slytherin himself. He grimaced at the sight of Hermione. "Be gone, muggle-born" the portrait said. "I'm looking for Draco Malfoy." she said, ignoring the rudeness of the portrait.

"The Malfoy boy?" Hermione nodded hopefully. Still with a frown on his face, Salazar replied, "The Malfoy boy has neither entered nor exited this house. Now, be gone." Frowning, Hermione turned and walked away. She returned to the common room and found Draco sitting on the couch reading...again. "It's about time" he said, laughing. Hermione put her hands on her hips. "Where have you been. I had to face Salazar Slytherin down in the dungeon looking for you." Draco closed the book with his left hand (his right was still on a cast) and put the book down.

He stood and opened the door to the left of Hermione's staircase. "You ready?" he asked. Hermione smiled and went through the door with Draco behind her. They entered the Pensive Room and went to the pensive. The butterflies were returning to Hermione's stomach. For the first time, she was not angered that Draco was coming into the pensive with her. Closing in on the silver substance, Hermione and Draco found themselves falling. They landed in a house. Hermione's house to be exact. In her living room.

It was dark outside and the t.v. and the light in the kitchen in the next room was the only source of light. Young Hermione was sitting on the beige carpeted floor in front of the t.v. Hermione's parents were sitting on the grey couch. A polished, wood coffee table separated the adults from the child.

"What are they watching?" Draco asked. Present Hermione peered at the glowing t.v. and watched.

"It was recently reported that a seven-year-old girl that goes by the name of Virginia Ariel Spring was claimed missing yesterday." said a female anchorwoman. "The young girl is three feet and six inches tall, platinum blond hair and grey eyes. She is probably wearing a silver necklace with a red heart and the letter 'V' on it. If you have any reports on the sighting of this child, please contact this number." The t.v. showed the Spring's telephone number at the bottom of the screen.

"It's a shame" Hermione's mother said. "Virginia was such a nice girl." "But what happened? Was she kidnaped?" asked Hermione's father. Her mother shrugged. "No one knows. She just...disappeared." "No one can just disappear mommy" said Young Hermione."What do you mean?" she asked. "What I mean is, Gingy couldn't just disappear like magic. She either ran away or got kidnaped." Then she turned back to face the t.v.

Her mother and father exchanged worried looks and stayed silent. "I actually spoke to my parents like that?" Present Hermione asked. From the couch, her father turned off the t.v., "Hey princess, how about we get to bed?" Young Hermione stood up and so did her father. She took went by his side and started going up the flight of stairs that lead to her room.

Present Hermione and Draco followed. Walking into her room, Hermione gasped. It was so different from the room she had remembered. She remembered a pink room with glitter everywhere and the pink feather boas she used to play dress-up with. Not to mention the posters of her favorite music artists and the boys she found cute.

This room she was standing in was not that room at all. A dark shade of red walls and posters of rock bands that Hermione didn't like and even didn't know about. Glitter was gone. Feather boas were gone. 'Now I know why I had to sleep in the guest room for a whole month and a half when I was 8.' She watched her father tuck in her seven-year-old self into a bed with a dark green quilt. "Damn Granger. What happened here?" Draco asked.

Her mouth open and head shaking, Hermione walked around in circles in the room. 'What did happen here?' She suddenly heard speaking. She looked over at the bed. Her father was bent over, giving Hermione a kiss on her forehead. "What do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked Young Hermione, crouching down to her height on the bed. "I don't know." replied the young one. A smile formed on her father's face. "Well then, don't worry about it. We'll do something fun. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep dad. If you make a promise, you can't break it. You know what happens when you break a promise?" Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, her father shook his head. "If you break a promise, someone is gonna make you pay for your lie. In other words, something really bad is gonna happen." Right now, her father was officially creeped out.
He kissed his daughter again. "Goodnight sweety." He turned off the light and closed the door.

Draco looked at Hermione. She was still in the state of unbelieving. He went over to her and touched her arm. Then her eyes suddenly snapped over to him. "You okay?" he asked. She bit her lip. Then, they were spat out of the pensive. Back in the empty room, Hermione was silent. "Granger." She looked up at Draco. He walked over to her. "I have something to tell you. But I'm not gonna tell you now. You look tired. You should get some sleep."

Noding, Hermione went to leave the room with Draco behind her. "Night" Draco said as he left to his bedroom. "Goodnight...Draco" Hermione whispered after him. Smiling a little, she went to her bedroom. She changed into her pajama's and climbed into bed. Hoping tonight she would get a peaceful sleep. But no such thing happened.

Hours later, Hermione was tossing and turning in bed again. Nightmares kept entering her mind.
She was running through the familiar wood she had ran through before. The familiar chanting of the horrible voice that haunted her. Only it wasn't the promise chanting. It was the 'Miss Mary Mack' song Virginia used to sing. Only, the words. The words were different.

"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack... all dressed in black, black, black. She has a knife, knife, knife... stuck in her back, back, back...she can not breathe, breathe, breathe...she can not cry, cry, cry...that's why she begs, begs, begs...she begs to die, die, die..."
Hermione had fallen again. Again stuck to the floor. The singing is getting louder. She covered her eyes and closed her eyes shut. "Stop it!" she screamed. "Stop it! I didn't do anything!" The singing stopped. Relieved, Hermione uncovered her ears. But then, a powerful wind started. Leaves and branches passed and hit Hermione on her arms and face.

"Hermione, Hermione. I ask you to keep a promise but you stab me in the back. So let's see how you feel when I make your whole world go black" the loud voice started saying. "It's time for payback my witchy friend. Enjoy your life before I make it end!" Now crying, Hermione covered her ears again. "I found my destiny, you found your fate. Now because of you, my whole life is full of hate!"
Sobbing hysterically now, Hermione screamed "Stop, stop! I didn't do anything." As if her words meant nothing, the voice continued its rhyme. "I enjoy my life though, here at home. With friends that aren't you, that understand when I wanna be left alone! But now I feel dead, do you know what would make me whole? One part of your blood, and two parts of your soul."
Then everything faded to black...

"Granger, Granger wake up!" Hermione, who was in her bed, shaking and crying and screaming hysterically, woke up when she heard Draco's voice. She was covered in sweat and her eyes were bloodshot. "What?" Draco looked at Hermione with the strangest face. "You were screaming all night. Then I heard singing this creepy song." 'Oh no' she thought. 'He heard me!'

Then Hermione started crying again. Not knowing what she was doing, she embraced Draco and cried on his shoulder. "It was horrible Draco, just horrible! I keep on having different versions of the same dream every time!" Draco, who was still amazed at Hermione who had called him by his first name, let her cry on his shoulder. She must've been really scared.

"I know this may seen absurd coming from me but you can't just bottle up everything like that. You have to tell someone. Even me for all I care! This is what's gonna happen if you bottle it up all the time. You're gonna explode on the first person you see." Tears still coming down her cheek, Hermione sniffed and nodded. She let go of Draco and looked at him. "Sorry." He shook his head. He looked around and grabbed her towel.

Throwing it at her, he said "I think you should take a bath. For both of our sake." She laughed. She got out of bed and followed Draco out of the bedroom. "Draco" she said. He looked back at her once he reached the common room. "Yeah?" "Thank you. For...you know...letting me explode on you." He laughed and said, "Don't mention it. Literally. Blaise would kill me if he found out." Smiling, she rolled her eyes.
She entered the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

Draco went back into his bed but was unable to sleep. The picture of Hermione's weeping face kept popping into his head. He really didn't want to see that. Seeing her upset made him upset. His head and his heart were saying two different things to him. His heart was saying that he has strong feelings for Hermione and that he should let her know. But his head was saying that he should remember: he was a Malfoy. And Malfoys do not fall in love with people like Hermione.

Mixed feelings were invading his entire body. 'Oh what in the world will I do?'

A/n: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!