Chapter 5:

When Draco awoke the next morning, she was surprised to find Hermione's head softly resting on his chest and his arms around her, holding her close. What the? He didn't know whether he should push her off or just let her stay there. Her gentle breathing tickled his chest and he decided to stay for just a little while longer, something about holding her just felt right, as disgusting as it sounded.

She stirred slightly and Draco held his breath. He felt her eye lids flutter open and sensed her entire body stiffen when she realized where she was. She slowly and delicately tried to pull away, not wanting to disturb him, failing to realise that he was in fact, already awake.

"What? Draco? What happened?"

Draco let out a sigh of relief, she didn't remember last night and so therefore, she would not remember him being nice to her and offering for her to stay with him.

"What the hell Granger? Get out of my bed!" he yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember how I got here, I must have slept walked."

"Well sleep walk back to your own bed will you, this is disgusting, I'll have to wash all my sheets now!" he knew he was being horrible and he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'll just leave then." She said quietly as she got up and exited his room.

Draco watched her leave, his heart aching at the look on her face, but he couldn't let her know that he cared about her. Wait! I don't care about her! I just don't want her to get the wrong idea. If Draco was honest with himself, something he didn't do often, he would have to admit that he did some sort of… feelings towards Hermione, he wasn't in love with her or anything like that, he wasn't even sure if he liked her, he just felt almost a sense of responsibility towards her, not that he'd ever tell her that.

---::---

Hermione walked quickly back to her room, confused and embarrassed. What the hell had she been doing in Draco's bed? She remembered having one of her dreams, and going to see if Draco was alright, but that was about it. She was highly embarrassed about the position she had awoken in. and Draco's reaction. Could he have been more hurtful if he had tried? Hermione still did not understand why he had been so horrible towards her, as far as she knew she had never done anything to Draco to make him act this way towards her. She grabbed some clothes out of her dresser before getting into a nice warm shower, allowing the warm water to wash away her troubled thoughts.

---::---

Draco didn't feel right. His head was dizzy and his skin was sweaty and clammy. He was going to throw up. He raced to his bathroom and knelt down beside the toilet, and not a moment too soon. He continued vomiting long after there was nothing left to vomit. He heard a knock on the door.

"Draco? Are you alright in there?"

This was the last thing he needed, Granger to come in and see him like this, sitting in a puddle of his own vomit and absolutely covered in it. He made no answer and hoped that she would just go away, she was always poking her nose in where it wasn't wanted.

But the lack of answer only seemed to concern her more and she opened the door and let out a gasp.

Draco half expected her to turn around and leave out of disgust and was surprised when she walked further into the bathroom.

"Oh, Draco, are you alright? What a stupid question of course you're not alright." She answered her own question.

Draco was in no state to answer her, all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep for a long time. He felt horrible. So horrible in fact that he didn't even feel embarrassed at Granger seeing him in such a vulnerable condition.

"Do you think you have stopped vomiting?" she asked, kneeling down beside him, but so she was not near the mess on the floor.

Draco only nodded.

Hermione got up and Draco thought she was going to leave, he had to use all his power not to call out to her and ask her to stay. Good, I'm glad she's leaving, he told himself, I don't need that Mudblood to look after me. He then heard the bath running and turned to see that she had not left at all, but rather was running him a bath. Draco tried not to smile, but he could not help it and had to hide his face so she would not see it. He could not understand why she was being nice to him, after the way he had been treating her since she had arrived.

She walked over to Draco once more. "Here, let me help you up."

Draco went to move away from her, he would not have her treating him as though he were some invalid.

She huffed. "Draco, stop being so stubborn, it's obvious you need my help. Let me help you." She begged.

Draco gave in and allowed her to put her arm under his shoulder and around his back, helping him to his feet. He shook a bit, but Hermione only tightened her grip on him and helped him move slowly over to the bath.

She sat him down on the edge and pulled his singlet off him. "I'll call one of the… elves is it? To come and get these for the wash." She told him. "Now I'll help you stand up again so you can take off your pants."

This left Draco in only his boxes.

"I'll turn around so you can take those off and get into the bath."

Draco quickly pulled off his boxers and stepped into the warm bath, immediately feeling his muscles relax. "You can turn around." Draco told her, his voice raspy and dry.

"Alright. Is there anything you would like me to get for you?"

Draco shook his head.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to enjoy your bath in peace then." She said as she started to exit the room.

Draco felt his heart drop, he didn't want her to leave. "No, please. Granger, I mean Hermione, please stay."

Hermione turned around and looked at him in surprise. Draco thought she was going to laugh at him, but she just smiled and replied. "Sure Draco, whatever you want."

She came and sat beside the bath, staring at the wall, trying no to think about what she would be able to see if Draco wasn't covered by a large layer of bubbles. "How are you feeling?" she asked politely, unable to stand the uncomfortable silence any longer.

"A bit better thank you, but I don't think I'll be running in a marathon any time soon."

Hermione laughed and Draco noticed how beautiful she looked when she did, he was tempted to say something but decided against it, he didn't want her to think that he had turned soft.

"Look," he sighed, "I'm really sorry for the things I said to you earlier, I shouldn't have said those things."

Hermione looked at him shocked for a moment. Was Draco apologizing to her? "Th-that's okay." She replied, unsure whether he was just joking with her.

"And thank you for coming to help me, it was really… nice of you." Draco almost choked, Hermione could tell all this apologizing and thanking was difficult for him and that made her appreciate it all the more.

"Really Draco, it's alright. I couldn't have just left you here, even after the way you treated me this morning."

"That's you Granger, always doing the right thing, always trying to help people."

"Really?" she asked, she was always interested to find out what she had been like before she had lost her memory. "Tell me about Hogwarts Draco."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"You know, I have a book in my library, it's called "Hogwarts, A History" and I do believe it was your favourite book while you were at school, you were always reading it, it can tell you everything you need to know. You loved reading."

"I did? I don't think I've even picked up a book since I got here, I didn't know you had any."

"Trust me Granger, we have plenty of books. When I am finished here I will take you to my library if you like and you can pick out some books you might like to read. You always liked to know as much about everything as you could at school, you were always the one with all the answers."

"They'd all laugh at me now then." She replied. "The only thing I know is my own name, and even that sounds strange to me."

"Well, the healers said that there is a chance that all your memories may one day return."

"Maybe…" she trailed off.

Draco didn't say anything for a moment, not entirely sure what to say, he'd never really had a conversation quite like this before, not with anyone, but he liked it, and didn't want to ruin it by saying the wrong thing.

"So what do you do for fun?" Hermione asked him.

"Play Quidditch." He replied.

"What's that?"

"It's a Wizarding sport played on broomsticks…" and so Draco launched into an extremely detailed explanation of Quidditch, a subject which he could talk about all day. Hermione clung to his every word, fascinated. "I don't believe you were a fan of it though." He added as an afterthought.

"Will I get to learn magic?" she asked him.

"You already know it, it's in there somewhere." Draco replied. "If your memory does not return I am sure that there are courses or something that you will be able to take. They are not going to excommunicate you from the Wizarding community because you lost your memory."

"I hope so." She replied. "When we were out in the forest and you lit that fire… I wish I could do something like that."

"Yes well that is an extremely basic spell, but unfortunately one you need a wand for, which you don't have."

"Well, I'm starving." Hermione said, changing the subject, for which Draco was grateful, it was getting a bit awkward.

"Sure if you want to go down and organize the house elves to start making lunch I'll just get out and get dressed."

"Of course." Hermione replied. "Will you be having anything?"

"Just some pumpkin juice thanks, I don't think my stomach can handle anything else."

"Alright, see you soon?"

"Yeah, I'll be right down."

---::---

The afternoon passed with Draco and Hermione spending time talking together, and for once Draco found that her presence didn't annoy him, but rather comforted him.

Hermione too was pleased that he seemed to be much more friendly towards her, especially after the incident that morning. Although she could tolerate his glares and rude comments, she much preferred him being nice to her, something that hadn't really happened since they had met. She found he looked so much more handsome when he was relaxed, not that she didn't already think him extremely attractive. Her feelings scared her though, because she knew she shouldn't become too reliant on Draco, he was just as likely to wake up tomorrow and return to his normal self. Perhaps it was only because he was sick and weak that he was being so nice to her, as much as Hermione didn't want to believe it.

"Well, I think I'll go up and take a bath." Hermione told Draco as she put down 'Hogwarts, A History.' Which she was finding extremely entertaining and informative, and it was answering a lot of her questions.

"Oh, okay." Draco replied and Hermione thought he sounded almost disappointed.

"Is that alright?" she checked with him, not wanting to upset him, but at the same time thinking that if it were to upset him, it would be the stupidest thing ever.

"Like I care that you're off to have a bath Granger. Hurry up and get out of here."

Hermione made no attempt to hide the hurt look on her face, after the great day they had been having, getting along, it was a shame that he had to ruin it by transforming into his usual jackass self. "So we're back to this, are we?" she sighed dejectedly.

Draco looked at her apologetically, although she didn't see it because she was already leaving the library, he really hadn't meant to sound so rude, but he had hated the way he had sounded so pathetic just moments ago.

---::---

Hermione settled herself in the large tub and closed her eyes. It was only moments before she fell asleep…

He had her up against the wall, his hands around her throat. He grinned evilly at her, his blonde hair glistening in the moonlight. "Go ahead Mudblood, scream, no one will be able to hear you." Even if she had tried, no sound would have come out, his grip on her throat was too tight, she was barely managing to breathe as it was. She struggled against him, her head spinning from the lack of oxygen. She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't. "What was that? Didn't quite catch that." The boy sneered and Hermione realized it was Draco. She looked at him in shock and it was as though she was watching in now, she could see Draco holding her up against a wall, his hands around her throat. She ran over to him and screamed at him. "Draco, what are you doing? Put me down!" but he showed no indication that he had heard her. Then he let go of her and let her flop to the ground, gasping for air. "Malfoy," she spat, and Hermione was surprised to hear herself speak in such a way and to see her look at Draco in such a way. "I swear-" Draco laughed at her. "You swear what Mudblood? That your precious Potter and Weasley are going to get me?" and once again he had her against the wall and this time, the look in his eyes said that he wasn't going to let go.

She was just about to run out of air when she awoke to being pulled, rather roughly, out of the bath by Draco. She coughed and spluttered, realizing that she must have slipped under the water while she had been asleep.

"Jesus Granger, what the bloody hell were you trying to do?" he sounded livid, but the look in his eyes told Hermione that he was scared out of his mind.

He wrapped a towel around her, before she could be embarrassed that she wasn't wearing anything, but he hadn't looked anyway, he was too worried about her.

She started crying and Draco pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her as though he would never let her go. She could hear his heart beat against his chest, it was beating so fast.

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep." She whispered, her throat burning. "I had the most horrible dream."

"Don't worry about it now, it's over."

"Lucky you came in when you did, otherwise…" she trailed off.

Draco shuddered, not wanting to think about what would have happened if he hadn't come in. His mother would have killed him, and he guessed he may have been a little upset, not that he would ever admit it.

Hermione pulled away from him slightly and looked up at him. "Thank you." She whispered.

Draco looked down at her. She really was beautiful, there was no denying it, and against his better judgment he began to lean forward, knowing that it was a very bad idea. He thought for a moment that Hermione was going to pull away, but rather she closed her eyes and waited eagerly for his kiss…

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OoOoO whats gonna happen? how are they going to react? well im not telling! you'll just have to wait for chapter 6... coming soon.

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