AN: First of all, let me appologize for making you wait sooo long. I've been so stressed out and busy lately. Next, I need to appologize again...you see, this is ONLY HALF OF CHAPTER SEVEN! I promise I will post the 2nd half ASAP! The only reason I did this is because I did not want to keep everyone waiting.

Chapter 7: Malfoy's Painful Christmas

Hermione woke up Christmas morning with a frown on her face. There was a pile of presents at the foot of her bed, so she should be happy. However, she was remembering the dream she had, which had been different from any she had that year. In the dream, she was flying on a broom, high up in the air. She looked to her side, and saw a clock, which seemed to be, not only floating, but flying alongside her, just to torment and torture her with the time that read 10:59. She looked down, and saw the Hogwarts Express, which was about to take off. As she sped toward it, she spotted Harry, Ron, and Ginny stepping on the train. She tried to call out to them, but her voice wasn't working. The door to the train slammed shut just as she got to it. The driver looked at her with an evil, toothless grin.

"You're just too late," he said, and laughed. The train took off at a surprisingly fast speed. She looked in the windows as the train passed, and noticed everyone on the train was happy and looked like they were better off without her.

She knew what she had to do. She sped up, and flew as fast as she could to the front of the train, and then she went past it and landed on the tracks. She turned around, and the train was about to hit her. It seemed to slow down, and she noticed the driver, and everyone else laughing at her. It will be better like this, she thought. Everyone will be happy that I'm gone. She heard somebody scream her name, and that's when she woke up. Weird.

Oh well, she thought. It's Christmas; be happy. She opened her gifts, which made her forget her horrible dream, until she only had one left. It was wrapped in silver paper with a green ribbon tied around it. Inside it was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was silver with green emeralds. She made the connection between the colors of the necklace and the wrapping paper. She picked up the necklace to admire it, and found a note underneath it. To Hermione was written on it. She opened it, and began to read:

Hermione,
I hope you love the necklace. Please wear it. It would mean a lot to me, although if you don't want to, then that's okay. But it would be an amazing feeling to see you in it. I love you and can't wait to see you again.

There was a heart below the word again. Hermione smiled. She put the necklace on, and walked over to a mirror. Wow, she thought. It's so beautiful.

She remembered she also got him something. She laughed to herself when she remembered it was a necklace too. It was a golden snitch with a snake wrapped around it. He had told her that his favorite animal was a snake, and that he loved Quidditch, although, when she asked him if he was on his house team, he refused to answer. She guessed that he wasn't though.

The problem with the necklace was that she didn't know who he was, so she didn't know how to send it to him. Instead, she kept it, and decided to give it to him the next time they met.
...

When Hermione got down to the common room, Ron and Harry were already there. They thanked each other for their gifts, and exchanged hugs. She noticed Ron looking at her necklace after they stopped hugging.

"So, where'd you get the necklace from?" he asked her.

"Secret admirer," Hermione replied simply. "Like it?"

"Yeah. It's...nice."

"C'mon, let's go down to breakfast," Harry said. "I'm starving."

They agreed and went down to eat.

...
Hermione was having a great day until right after lunch. Usually a lot of people were gone on Christmas, but for some reason, this year, not many people left.

Even Malfoy stayed, as Hermione found out when she was on her way back to the common room by herself.

At first, she didn't know who was leaning against the wall, facing the window. She figured it was someone who was sad for some reason, but she never would have guessed it was Malfoy.

She saw the boy, and wondered if he was okay. He wasn't crying, but it was obvious that he was very sad. Since he looked, to Hermione, that he needed company, she decided to try to cheer him up. After all, it was Christmas, and she was in a great mood.

"Hey," she said, laying her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" She gasped and jumped back as she realized it was Malfoy.

"No," he said. "I'm not okay." He looked at her, with no emotion in his eyes. Nothing. Not even hate, which is what she usually found in his eyes.

"Er...what's wrong?" Hermione asked, confused at Malfoy's actions. But he stayed silent for several moments, and Hermione thought he wasn't going to talk to her, but then he spoke.

"That's a nice necklace, Granger."

Hermione was confused by the way he was acting; she almost didn't know what he was talking about. She was about to ask, "What necklace?" but then remembered and smiled. "Thanks. I just got it this morning."

"I didn't get anything for Christmas. In fact, I only gave out one gift. But I didn't even get anything from her. I thought she loved me. She's the only person I could talk to. I…I thought I loved her."

Hermione was shocked that Malfoy was telling her all this. They were actually having a conversation. And an important conversation at that. She didn't know what to say to him.

"I…er…don't know why you're telling me this, but I'm really sorry, and I hope everything turns out okay," she said. Malfoy looked at her with glazed eyes. Was he about to cry? In front of her?! She felt terribly sorry for him. "I…won't tell anyone about this," she said, hoping that the fact that nobody would know would make him feel better.

He looked down. "Thanks." He walked away.

Hermione made her way to the common room. That was a weird experience, she thought. She smiled, as she thought about how to put that into words when she wrote it in her diary later. She wrote in her diary everyday. Her smile quickly faded as she thought about the mood Malfoy was in. She immediately shook the thoughts from her head. She didn't need to think about something like that right now. She had other, more important things on her mind.

As Hermione turned the corner, a little girl ran into her.

"Are you Herm-on-ninny?" she asked.

"Hermione," she corrected her. "That's me."

"I have a note for you."

"Who gave it to you?" Hermione asked the small girl.

She smiled. "Sorry. I can't tell you. Bye." The girl turned and ran in the other direction.

Hermione walked the rest of the way to the common room and entered. She felt relief as she sat on the couch and began to open her note.

"Hey."

Hermione jumped. She didn't know anyone else was in the room. She turned to find Harry.

"Oh hey Harry. You scared me." She quickly folded the note, and put it in her pocket.

"Sorry," he said. "So how are you?"

"Okay. Actually really good," she said laughing. "How about you?"

"I'm good."

"How are you doing with Cho?"

"Good, and how are you doing with Ron?''

"What?" This question caught Hermione by surprise and she started to stutter. "I'm…er…not even…uh…with…him-Ron."

Harry smiled. "I didn't say you were. You should've seen your face, though. You know you fancy him."

Before Hermione could start denying it, Ron came through the portrait hole.

"Hey," said Ron. Hermione was sitting on the couch, facing Harry, who was behind the couch. Harry had a huge smile on his face, and Hermione looked really shocked, so it would be hard to pretend that nothing significant was being discussed.

"What's up, mate?" asked Harry.

"Just got back from talking to Jon. You know, the talk about how he better be treating my sister right.

"Really?" asked Hermione. She was going to try to steer the conversation toward Ginny so Ron wouldn't ask what they had just been talking about. "How did that go?"

"Pretty good."

"Was Ginny there when you talked to him?"

"Yeah…so what were you two talking about?"

Damn. Hermione thought. It didn't work. "When? Just now?" Hermione acted dumb. Ron gave her an odd look and nodded his head. "Nothing important." Just a miracle as always she thought.

"Really?" Ron asked, obviously unconvinced.

"Yeah…just…about Harry and Cho," Hermione told him.

"Actually right when you came in here, Hermione was about to confess her undying love to you." There was a pause, and Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. "Just kidding." There was an awkward silence, then they all started to laugh, and Hermione was thankful.

………………………………………

Hermione was glad she was finally alone. Harry and Ron had gone to find Ginny. Or maybe it was Cho. Well they had gone to find someone, and for once, Hermione was glad that, whoever it was, was more important than her.

She opened her note, and finally began to read.

Hermione,

I want to see you tonight. Meet me by the portrait of Sir Tom III, at 11:30PM. I love you.

There was a heart drawn after the last sentence. Hermione remembered the necklace she got him. He probably wouldn't wear it, because it would give up his identity, but she hoped that he likes it.

………………………………..

Hermione was stuffed from the delicious Christmas feast, so she decided to lie down for awhile. She was doing just that, when her stomach had an unexpected sharp pain. She sat up on her bed. No one else was in the dorm room, and that was probably a good thing because she was about to be sick.

After a few moments of sitting on the bed, taking deep breaths, she felt her stomach do a leap, and she ran to the bathroom to throw up.

…………………………………..

"Hermione! Are you in here?!" Hermione heard Ginny's voice. She hadn't thrown up for the last twenty minutes, but her stomach still felt uneasy, so she was sitting by the toilet. "Are you okay?" Ginny asked as she reached the bathroom. Hermione explained to Ginny that her stomach hurt, and Ginny got Hermione some water.

"What time is it, Ginny?" Hermione hadn't thought to look at a clock while she was sick, and was worried it was late.

"Nine-thirty," Ginny answered. "Are you going to be okay, because I was going to meet Jon."

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Hermione said as she followed Ginny down to the common room. "Thanks again."

As Hermione laid on the couch, she heard Ginny say, "That's what friends are for, Hermione."

Yeah, Hermione thought, as she drifted off to sleep. That's what friends are for.

Hermione was wandering around looking for the meeting spot, but she couldn't remember where it was. Some portrait, she thought. She was holding the necklace she got him for Christmas.

Suddenly she thought, why did I get this for him? I don't even know who he is. Then another voice in her head said, because you love him. And he loves you.

She spotted a portrait of a knight. This is it, she told herself. No, wait. I think it was a portrait of a horse. So she kept walking, and soon she found a portrait of a horse. But this didn't feel right either, so she kept walking.

She then found herself standing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, and was about to enter, but couldn't remember the password.

"I know the password," said a voice behind her. She turned and found a cloaked figure.

"Well that doesn't matter anymore. You're here."

"Yes. I am," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione remembered the necklace, but she wasn't holding it anymore, so she started to cry.

"Don't cry."

"I lost it. I'm so stupid. I lost your gift."

"It's okay. You already gave me something." Hermione was confused, but she didn't want him to know that. She loved him, and she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I love you," she blurted out.

"I love you too, Hermione." He turned around, as if he was embarrassed, and stayed like that for a moment, then turned again. "I want to kiss you so bad, but I can't…unless I take my hood off."

Hermione watched as he took his hood off. She thought she saw red hair, but then the Fat Lady started to yell.

"Hermione, wake up!" the Fat Lady yelled. She needs to shut up, Hermione thought. So she turned around, before finding out who her secret love was.

But instead of the Fat Lady, she found Ron yelling at her. "Hermione, wake up! It's already past eleven o'clock!"

Hermione opened her eyes. She was on the couch in the common room, just as she had been when she fell asleep. If it's past eleven, she thought, wouldn't someone had come across me and wake me up by now? Everyone's supposed to be asleep.

She saw Ron. "Finally you wake up. I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes already. It's five minutes 'til eleven-thirty!"

"Five minutes until eleven-thirty…" she mumbled. Her eyes suddenly opened wide. She had to meet him in five minutes. She had to hurry. She checked her pocket to make sure the necklace was there; it was. She looked in a convenient mirror next to the portrait hole, remembered Ron, turned around to face him, and gave him a big hug. "Thanks Ron, love you." Then, she gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ran out of the common room.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this half of chapter seven! PLZ review if you read it and tell me what you think. plz plz plz plz plz!!! I will post the second half ASAP as promised before. Luv ya!!!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own most recognizable.