So sorry of the ridiculous amount of time I took to update but you know life, it just gets crazy with finals and jobs and all! Anyways, school is over now so the updates will be much faster and hopefully I haven't lost all my readers :(. Again, none of these characters are mine, they belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling and please please a review when you are done that would be GREATLY appreciated!

DRACO

Draco sat propped up on his bed, flipping through the notes that Hermione very neatly hand copied for him. Feeling satisfied, Draco tossed them on his night table and grabbed his robe, which was hanging off the end of his bed and headed for the bathroom. As he closed the door behind him, Draco suddenly noticed how remotely quiet it was in the Head's Wing when he passed by Hermione's room. Shuddering at the thought of the mudblood and weasel together, Draco slipped into the bathroom and dropped his robe, not bothering to shut the door behind him. Turning on the shower, Draco pulled off his shirt and examined his reflection in the mirror. He had had an extremely long day. Although nothing could fully mask his handsomeness, there were dark circles under his eyes that were not there in the morning and blood that had crusted around his hairline. His torso was bruised in some areas and cuts and welts had also begun to reveal themselves. Sighing, Draco stepped out of his boxers and into the shower, letting the hot water run down his body and wash away everything that had happened between the time Hermione left with his dirtied shirt until a few minutes ago.

HERMIONE

Ever so quietly, Hermione slipped out of bed and got dressed, all the while trying her hardest to not wake Ron. Placing one quick peck on his cheek, Hermione tip toed out of the boys' dormitories and headed down to the Griffindor Common Room. The big grandfather clock read 1 a.m. and yawning, Hermione rushed back to the Head's Wing, wanting nothing more than to lay in her own bed, by herself, and sort out all these confusing feelings she was having about Ron, the man she loved, and Malfoy, the man she was forced to live with for the remainder of the year, patrol the halls with, plan events with, but mainly, he was the man who was supposed to be her enemy, and the man whose orders she had to follow or else she would lose her chance at the award at the end of the year. Racing down the hallway, Hermione's mind was busy at work. No matter what she told herself of all the terrible things Malfoy had done to her over the past six years, try as she would, she could not push out the image of him sitting on his bed shirtless, with a smile and patting the spot next to him. However, there was a voice in the back of her mind, reprimanding her ugly thoughts and screaming the name Ron over and over again. A wave of guilt washed over her for thinking about Malfoy when she was with Ron and Hermione suddenly felt very dirty. Muttering the password as she reached the Head's Wing, Hermione who was still consumed in her thoughts, raced up the stairs and headed straight for the bathroom, wanting to shower and wash off any traces of Ron from her body in hopes of easing her guilt, if only by a little. Dropping her cloak in the hallway, Hermione began unbuttoning her blouse and stepped into the bathroom, then hastily kicked off her shoes and tore off her skirt. Completely consumed by the storm happening in her head, Hermione was oblivious to the second party in the bathroom until a cold, menacing voice broke her from her thoughts.

"What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

Startled, Hermione spun around to face none other than Draco Malfoy.

"I..I..I..didn't realize anyone was in here. The door was..open," Hermione stuttered, closing her shirt and reaching for her skirt.

"How could you not realize someone was in here?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes, grabbing a smaller towel off the counter and scrubbing his wet hair with it. "The shower's still running. Don't tell me the mudblood genes are so filthy that your hearing is affected." Draco sneered.

"No, ferret," Hermione spat back, "I happen to have very important things on my mind. I'll come back later."

"Don't bother, I'm done anyways." Draco replied, grabbing his robe from the floor. Hermione noticed that once again, Malfoy was standing before her shirtless. Only this time, he was clad in a towel with water droplets glistening off his muscular body, and his hair falling freely over his eyes instead of gelled back as usual. Blushing ever so slightly Hermione nodded.

Draco slipped on his robe, not bothering to tie it up and as he brushed past her, Hermione's eyes fluttered over to his open robe and to her horror, she saw patches of blue and purple, cuts, and welts.

"Oh my god," Hermione cried out and grabbed Draco's elbow before she could even think about what she was doing or saying. "What in Merlin's name happened to you?"

Draco wrenched his arm away from Hermione's grip, "nothing of your concern," Draco tied his robe shut. "And I would appreciate it if you kept your hands to yourself. Your thoughts too, it's disgusting. You should learn how to hide your expressions more."

Deciding that at the moment, the broken torso of a man was more important than her annoyed ego, Hermione ignored the comment. "I can heal that in a minute. Just hold on a sec-"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Draco spat, "I don't need someone like you, a dirty little mudblood to do things for me. I can do it myself."

"Oh really," Hermione said smugly, holding her wand in one hand and crossing her arms across her chest, "If you don't need me doing things for you then why was I cleaning your shirt and recopying your notes for you?"

"Once again, I don't need you to fix me."

Ignoring his comment once more, Hermione marched out of the bathroom and returned a few minutes later with a thick heavy book that contained all sorts of spells to heal any kind of wound.

"Ok..." Hermione muttered as she flipped through the book. "This spell should do it." She pointed her wand at Draco and was about the recite the spell when she noticed that Draco's chest was smooth as marble and all signs of damage were gone.

"I told you I didn't need your help." And with that, Draco left Hermione standing in the bathroom by herself.

"Stupid git," Hermione muttered as she shut the door and stepped into the shower, completely forgetting about the crisis on her mind earlier.

DRACO

Draco tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep, the image of Hermione clad in her knickers, bra, knee high socks and open shirt kept flashing before his eyes. For a mudblood, she was pretty good looking. In reality, he really didn't have anything against muggleborns. It was his father that had an undying vendetta towards them and expected nothing less from his son. His terrifying Death Eater of a father struck fear into everybody he came across, including his son and his wife, who had no choice but to obey his every wish, because what Lucius wants, Lucius gets, even if through force and violence. Lucius Malfoy did not care for anything or anyone around him; his one and only goal was to please the Dark Lord and he was willing to give up anything to achieve that goal, even if it meant sacrificing his wife and only son.

For the past two years, Draco had refused to become a Death Eater like his father wanted, and because of that, suffered many beatings such as the one he had received earlier that evening. Hogwarts used to a place where Draco could escape his father's evil grasp, but ever since his father discovered the secret passageway that led from Hogwarts right to the Malfoy Manor, his grasp had tightened and stretched further than Draco would have wished.

Many times, Draco have tried to imagine what his life would be like if his father was truly a father who cared about his family and knew how to love, but try as he would, it was impossible for him to picture such a life as he had never been exposed to it.

The clock struck two and Draco was lying alone and awake with his thoughts. Finally feeling fed up, Draco moved his night table aside to reveal a tunnel that led to the kitchens of Hogwarts.

HERMIONE

Two in the morning and Hermione was also awake and alone in the common room, wrapped up in a fluffy bathrobe in the big, comfy armchair in front of the fireplace, absorbed in her own thoughts about her feelings about Ron, her developing desire for Draco, and the unrequited concern she felt when she saw all those wounds on Draco's body. What on earth could have happened to him? Hermione wondered.

"You're up too?"

Hermione turned around at the sound of the voice to see Draco walking down the staircase with a butterbeer in one hand and a plate of food in the other.

"Yeah, things on my mind," Hermione said softly and turned back to face the fire.

Taking a sip of his butterbeer, Draco walked softly over to the couch adjacent from Hermione's armchair and sat down, placing his feet up on the coffee table and putting down his drink. He was just about ready to take a bite of his pumpkin pie when Hermione sighed softly to herself.

Glancing up quickly, Draco noticed how the flames played on her skin and made her glow. Her honey brown eyes lit up and her lips looked rosy and irresistible.

"Want some?" Draco motioned at his pumpkin pie.

"Hmm?" Hermione glanced over, "Oh no, thanks."

Draco shrugged and took a big bite out of his pie, "Guud, yur mishing ot."

'Where did you get food at this hour anyways?" Hermione questioned, "the kitchens were closed hours ago."

"I've got my ways"

"Ok, secret keeper." Hermione chuckled, resting her elbow on the arm of the chair and placing her chin on her open palm.

"So, uhm," Draco cleared his throat. "What was on your mind earlier?" He looked at Hermione, his eyes kind and warm.

Surprised by the way Draco was looking at her, Hermione replied, "You mean what is still on my mind? It's so complicated, I came to Hogwarts this year determined to have the most wonderful year and instead two weeks in and I've already-" Hermione stopped herself there. "Since when do you care about the things on my mind?"

"I, uh-" Draco swallowed the remainder of his pie. "I don't." And the coldness and malice returned to his eyes.

"Of course you don't." Hermione muttered.

Draco wiped his hands on his pants, put his plate on the table and drained the rest of his butterbeer. "As if I would ever care for you." He added as he walked past Hermione. "Another thing, mudblood. Don't you tell a soul about what you saw earlier, in the bathroom."

"Or what?" Hermione snapped, annoyed by his sudden mood swing and her conflicting feelings about him.

"Or I'll tell your pauper, mudblood loving boyfriend how you've been lusting after me."

At this, Hermione's bottled up frustration and feelings rushed to the surface and she sprang up from her seat.

"How pretentious of you," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes at the tall blonde standing in front of her with that infamous smirk plastered across his face. "You think that every single girl in this school is attracted to you don't you? You think you're so great, that, that you can just go and threaten anyone you want?" With every word, Hermione's voice got louder and louder.

"You think that just because you're a pureblood that everyone else is beneath you, don't you? Well think again! EVERYBODY knows what kind of family the Malfoy's are-EVERYONE knows that your father wouldn't even think twice about-"

"ENOUGH!" Draco bellowed, his hands held tightly in a fist at his side, his lips pursed in a tight line and his eyes wild with fury as he stalked towards Hermione.

Frightened by Draco's expression, Hermione involuntarily took a step backwards.

"Remember that little deal we struck?" Draco whispered, standing so close to Hermione she could feel his breath on her nose.

"Yes."

"You do as I say, or you get detention and you lose any chance of that award. Got it?"

When he got no response, Draco grabbed her shoulder roughly and shook her. "I said, got it?"

Hermione nodded stiffly.

"Now you don't tell anyone about anything that happened tonight, or you will regret it. Is that understood?"

"Yes" Hermione gasped, desperately trying to keep her tears at bay.

"Good" Draco replied darkly and stalked upstairs, slamming the door of his room so loudly the sound resonated through the entire Head's Wing.

Overwhelmed by what just happened, Hermione fell into her chair and tried to figure out what just happened. One minute, he was nice and seemed to have change and the next, he was ferocious and back to his cruel, cold self.

DRACO

Up in his room, Draco slammed the door shut and kicked the legs of his bed, suppressing a scream that was just on the tip of his tongue. Throwing himself on his bed, Draco gripped his hair. What was the matter with him? For a minute there he actually wanted to know what was on the mudblood's mind. For a minute he actually wanted to have a conversation. Oh, if his father were ever to find out.. Draco shuddered at the thought. No. That could not happen. No, he would never slip again.. and if he did, he would make sure no one ever finds out about it.

Where there you go.. hopefully I didn't disappoint too much! The story will pick up from here, promise :)