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Disclaimer: as I have said before, I am a lowly pathetic writer. I own nothing. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Except the plot. That's mine! My own, my precious. Oops, wrong fantasy story.

"I was talking about trusting you. I meant that we're stuck here until I can trust you not to hurt me."

"Oh, well, we could be here a long time then." He replied.

She stood up and paced the room. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was late. She pulled a chair towards the fire and curled up.

"What do you think you are doing? Wake up Mudblood! This is all your fault. Wake up!"

"Shut the hell up Malfoy. This is not my fault! Now I'm going to sleep. Shut- Are you singing?"

"Yes! I am not going to let you leave me here in this cage! I am not some animal to be locked up. I am Draco Malfoy and you will respect that!"

"Excuse me! I respect no one that treats others like filth! You are dirt, in fact you and the whole Malfoy bloodline is dirt!"

"At least we're not disgusting half-bloods! Everyone of your kind is lower than dirt, which makes me better than you."

"So you admit you are dirt? Ha, I always knew you understood your place."

"My place? My place? Why don't you come here closer so I can show you my place!"

She stood up, every muscle in her body tense. She picked up the wooden chair and threw it at the bars. She watched him jump back to avoid the chair.

"Shut up Malfoy! You think you're so much better than everyone else. Well, I have news for you! No one likes you! You don't have any friends!"

"That is not true! Blaise and Pansy are my friends! So are Goyle and Crabbe!"

"Oh sorry, but I don't consider people my friends if they're only nice to me because my father pays them to be! Oh, you didn't know that? It's true. I heard Pansy and Blaise talking about it one morning. Then Pansy leaned over and asked me how much I got for being nice to you."

"What?"

"Yeah, if I had known I could get money from this I think I would have started a lot sooner."

She stopped her rant. She could see the pain her words were bringing him. And for a brief moment she almost pitied him. But then she remembered every whisper, every taunt he had ever made towards her. She thought about all the pain and questioning he had brought her. She stood in front of him, nothing separating them but the bars she had put up.

"You really didn't know? Well, now you do. How does it feel? Tell me, how much pain do you feel right now? In this very moment. And while your thinking of that, multiply that by a thousand and you know a small amount of the pain you've cause me. Hurts doesn't it?" she said softly.

She pressed her forehead against the bars, she watched him take a step back, and then sink to the floor. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch the pain fly across his face. No, she old herself. Watch the pain you caused. She opened her eyes and watched him wipe his face. He had been crying, and she had felt happy. She hated herself in that moment. Hated everything that had come out of her mouth. She pushed herself away from the bars and went to the farthest corner. She sat down and wanted to sink into the walls, never to speak again.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was saying. I'm so sorry."

"Shut up. Just don't say anything. You're lying, I know you are! Those people are really my friends. You're just a spiteful bitch because your friends left you."

Her head snapped up hearing those words.

"My friends left because of you. You drive them away. They didn't believe you could really be a nice guy. I should have followed them; looking back I should have believed them."

"Don't blame me for your words. You made them leave; I didn't say one word to them. You can't keep blaming me for everything that goes wrong in your life. You pushed your friends away! You could have gone to apologize that night. Hell, you could have apologized a number of times between then and now. But where are you? Locked in a room with me. Acting like a whore so you can save the day and take revenge on evil, spoiled Malfoy. Don't blame me for your problems."

By this time she and Malfoy were stalking each other, ready to lean through those bars and strangle the other. She was fuming mad, no one had ever talked to her like that. Who was he kidding? It was all his fault. She would get revenge. She lunged at the bars and grabbed his shirt.

"Listen here Malfoy. I am not trying to be a hero. I don't want to be a saint, I want you to take back everything you every said. Admit that you are an arsehole, and take back everything you've ever said against me, Ron, Harry, and every other person."

"You're funny. I never apologize. Why don't you take back everything you just said. About my dad and my fri- abou Blaise and Pansy."

"I already did."

"No, you saw my face and wanted to make me feel better. You're not really sorry. I know when someone is lying. Did you really think I had no idea what my dad was doing? I knew, from the time I was a small child."

"You knew? And you still went along with it? Why?"

"Because, I had to. You don't disappoint my father. He would kill you before you had the chance. Don't give me that look. Don't pity me. I am glad he did. That way, I won't feel regret if/when I decide to backstab them."

"But they're your friends…"

"No, like you reminded me, they are hired by my parents to be nice to me. As you said, I have no friends."

"That's a sad way to think. You need friends, they make life more interesting. You've never had a friend?"

"Well, I thought I had one. And then she locked me in a cage."

"Geeze Malfoy, think you kiss enough arse? You are unbelievable. Me, your friend? We both know that all you wanted from me was to get into my pants. And now that I've eliminated that, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna go and crawl into bed with Pansy? Well, good luck with that. I'm sure she is an excellent lay."

She walked to the fire and curled up, her back to Malfoy. Soon she was asleep. When Hermione woke up she wasn't sure how long she had been asleep. The elf had already come by with food. Malfoy had pushed a plate through the bars towards her. She picked up the plate and began to eat. The food was still warm, and it tasted delicious after her night on the floor. She sat with her back against the bars.

"So, what are we going to do today?" she heard him ask.

"I don't know. Why don't we talk about our favorite things? I was thinking that because we are going to be here for a while, we might as well get to know each other. So what's your favorite color?"

She heard him laugh. The sound was strangely warm; it enveloped her making her giggle.

"Well, after careful consideration I would have to say my favorite color is blue. Not Ravenclaw blue, but a lighter, almost aquamarine blue. What about you?"

"Well, you're going to laugh, but it's green. That rich, dark green. I know, it's so Slytherin."

"Well, who would have thought? The green doesn't bother me, it's just so dark."

"Yeah, but worse than liking green, I hate red. It's an awful ugly color. And it looks atrocious on furniture. I almost puke every time I go into the Gryffindor common room."

"Really? And here I thought every Gryffindor worshiped the damn color."

"Nope, well, not me."

"So… you said before you've had two boyfriends. I have to know, who?"

She laughed, "Well, I dated Victor Krum in fourth year, and then last year I dated Sea- someone else."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. What about you?"

"Well, Pansy thinks we're a couple, but I would rather castrate myself. And other than that, I've just casually dated."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause; Hermione didn't know what to say next. She heard Malfoy sigh. She mimicked his actions.

"So… um, yeah." She said.

"Why do you hang out with those guys?"

"Who?"

"Potter and Weasley."

"Cause they are my friends. I know they don't always appreciate me, but they are the only friends I have. I know they care about me, they just don't always show it."

"Well, it seems we are more alike than we both thought."

"How's that?"

"Well, I have no friends, and your friends treat you like dirt."

"No they don't. They just ignore me. But they don't treat me bad."

"Well, I would think ignoring someone would hurt just as much as if they we're mean to you. In fact more, because it would make you feel like they don't even care."

"Well, you don't understand our friendship! Who are you to critique anyone's relationships? You just admitted to having no friends!"

She stood up and stalked to the far wall. His words had struck a chord. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it did hurt when they ignored her, or left her out of conversations. She turned her head so she wouldn't have to look him in the eyes. He knew that he was right, but worse than that would be admitting it to herself. She couldn't stand to see the hurt in his eyes when she reminded him again that he had no friends. She hated the fact that they were alike, or that they could be anything resembling nice to each other. She didn't like the fact that every time they talked it ended in an argument.

"I'm sorry." A voice whispered.