Six. Hermione

I woke up the next morning feeling rough. I'd stayed up quite late pondering over what had happened with Harry. I knew it meant nothing but did he? And would everyone else? We couldn't keep this from Ginny and surely he couldn't keep it from Ron. Ron…What was I going to do about him, he'd spent most of the night avoiding me, and everyone else. The news had spread of his ordeal in Potions and neither of us could go anywhere without snide remarks.

I decided that a bit of breakfast might wake me up a bit and make me feel better. I dragged myself out of bed and headed down towards the great hall. I pushed the doors open and was half way towards the Gryffindor table when I was overwhelmed by the feeling that everyone was watching me. Looking around it seemed as though everyone was staring and whispering into each others ears but I blew it off as paranoia.

As I approached Gryffindor's table I noticed the messy hair and glasses of Harry and made a sharp turn to take a seat between Neville and Colin Creevey. Ginny looked at me but I became busied in a book; I couldn't handle confrontation with her, Harry or Ron at that moment. Ginny had liked, well, loved Harry since she met him at the station in our first year. And clearly Ron now liked me.

Being occupied with my book, which I had upside down and was really only staring at while I thought more about what happened with Harry, I did not notice that he was sat next to me. He pulled the book from my hands and I turned to face him.

"Hermione…"

"Harry, I can't talk about this yet." With that I got up and ran to my room. I couldn't handle having that conversation with him yet because I still hadn't figured out what he was thinking. I was hoping he felt the same way I did. But I was worrying that he didn't.

A sudden squawk pulled me out of my state and I looked up to see an owl flying towards me. Jumping up I snatched the owl, which made a disapproving noise, and undid the letter from its bounds. Finally; something that could cheer me up.

I read the mail and instantly butterflies began to fill my stomach.

Six. Draco

it'll all go to plan…there's no need to worry…

I paced back and forth, my hands shaking at my sides. I just didn't know if I could do it. How could I act like a completely different person and how long would I have to wait until I could reveal myself and sort everything out? All I wanted to do was break down and tell her everything but I knew if I did as I usually do, act too fast, it would all be messed up. For a change I had to take things slowly, make sure it all worked perfectly.

I started wondering, dreaming, about the conversations we would have. Being cooped up all that time without civilisation had driven me wild and I was actually craving the attention of Granger. I hated her, I was sure, but there was something in the back of my mind that wanted to know more about her. I hadn't spoken to her face to face but when we wrote to each other she just had a way of making me feel like a better person. I had basically told her, not in so many words, of how my dad treated me and how he expected me to be like him. I was hoping that being that close to the truth would go in favour for me when I showed her who I really was.

I wasn't quite sure of what I was expecting to happen. I wanted her to feel comfortable with me I supposed, I needed her trust. I kind of started to worry that she might like me too much. Buried deep inside me was the urge to hurt her and wind her up like I did at school, but I had to learn to like her; I was going to be on her side…hopefully. I couldn't let her start liking me, it would have ruin things.

I sat down on the floor, my head back against the wall, my eyes closed, focusing on thinking everything through. I had finally had no choice but to try and set up a date to meet up. I was worried that I might scare her off but my time was running short and I had to move quickly. She seemed really happy that I had insisted that we meet up soon; she admitted that she thought I wasn't all to interested so didn't want to initiate it herself. That day we were to meet, at 2 o'clock. I was going to change into 'Damon' and meet her at Honeydukes. We wouldn't be able to be in Hogsmead for long as I didn't want people questioning who I was, as I was meant to be a former Hogwarts student.

I glanced down at the time on my watch; 1:50. My heart leapt up into my throat, I didn't realise the time was so soon. I focused once again on the image that I wanted to become and thought charateristis. Checking that I looked okay one last time in the broken mirror, I left the shed.

Ice coldness washed over my body. I hadn't realised it was so cold out; I kept a fire blazing at all times which gave off an immense heat, something my father showed me. Quickly making my way over to Honeydukes I ran everything over in my head; how I was going to act, what I was going to say. Everything.

I looked ahead and saw the swinging sign of the shop. Taking deep breaths I ploughed onwards. Through the crowd was when I first saw her. At first I thought I was there before her but that voice of hers was so recognisable, unlike the rest of her. She wore slouch fit jeans and a cream polar neck top, she looked amazing. Her body had changed, or maybe I just never noticed it through my arrogance and her baggy robes. Her hair fell in soft brownish blonde ringlets and she had started wearing make-up, which exaggerated her golden chocolate brown eyes. I stopped dead in my tracks, stunned at what I saw. She looked so different.

"No, no, no." She was saying, annoyed. "Listen, you go straight up that road and it's on your left, you can't miss it. Hanging right outside it is a sign of a h-o-g-s-h-e-a-d." The man she was trying to communicate with had become red with anger and was trying to point something out on a piece of paper. She was stubbornly shaking her head and pointing in the direction of the pub.

"Yes." She began. "Like I've told you a million times already; it's straight up the road and on your left." Furious and shouting something in a language which I assumed from what I heard was French; the man shoved the paper into her hands and stormed off.

Laughing to myself nervously I approached her. She turned to look at me, her eyes focused on mine as she asked "Damon?"

Seven. Hermione

I left Hogwarts at 1:30. I was so excited I just couldn't wait around any longer. I was finally going to meet him after talking for so long. When I thought about it it was quite mad how everything had come about. I wasn't quite sure what I expected; I had no idea what he expected.

As I left the castle I was immediately hit by the heavy wind which wiped around my body, lashing my hair in all directions. Great, by the time I met him it would have been frizzy and knotted.

I was 15 minutes early when I arrived outside Honeydukes. Not long after I was there a man from France came up to me with a piece of paper in his hand, which he pointed to enthusiastically. The only words I could make out on the paper was i Hogshead /i and I clicked that he was obviously looking for the pub. Pointing him in the direction I expected him to leave but he gave me a funny look and carried on babbling and pointing to the sheet. It read:

i center Je suis les inspecteur et je suis verifier

la Hogshead pub. Pouvior tu s'il vous plait en plus de temps

response de affaire? /center /i

Having know idea why he was still going on, frustrated I told him again that the pub was directly down the street. Rudely he shoved the paper into my hand and stormed off. This was when I saw him. Laughing nervously he started walking towards me and although I had never seen what he looked like, I knew straight away that it was him.

"Damon?" I asked. He nodded nervously.

I was speechless. For what must have been the first time in my life I was actually speechless. He was, not to sound corny, perfect. Not fit or, bad, as Lavender and Parvarti would refer to him, but perfect. His hair was black and very short; there wasn't enough of it to be styled in any particular way. His eyes were piecing blue/green like the colour azure. Flakes of snow twinkled in them as it fell around us. His jet black eyelashes curled in the way girls would dream to have them. He had on dark, faded jeans and a sky blue jumper which complimented his eyes.

I opened my mouth to speak but no words left my lips. His eyes had me intrigued and unable to speak. They were heavenly and so unique although looking deep into them I felt a shiver of something I recognised, but couldn't place.

He smiled at me and it made my heart melt. He must've had girls falling at his feet with a smile like that. In fact many passing girls stared at him with interest.

I smiled weakly back to him and he let out another nervous laugh.

"What was happening then?" He asked, "With that guy?" I snapped my eyes away from his as reality hit me hard. Oh no, he'd seen that.

"Oh." I said, embarrassed. "He was foreign, I'm not quite sure what he was after but I think it was the directions to the Hogshead pub. He gave me this, it's written in French." I was actually quite let down by myself for not understanding what it said. I had spent nearly all my summer holidays skiing in France.

He looked down at the paper and choked back a laugh. It was very cute.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"He was a pub inspector." He told me. "He wanted to know what you thought of the Hogshead pub." We both let out nervous laughs as he suggested we head for shelter in The Three Broomsticks Pub as the snow had started falling pretty heavily.

We entered the pub and I instinctively headed towards my usual table. I put my hand down on the chair to pull it out when a cold but soft hand was placed on top of it.

"Sorry." Damon said blushing slightly as he quickly withdrew his hand. I had pulled my hand away to and before I could replace it my seat had been pulled out for me.

"Madame."

I giggled as I took my seat saying "thank you," with a wide smile playing across my face.

"Don't tell me." He said standing up, "butterbeer right?" He asked ready to go up to the bar.

"Please." He nodded.

I watched him as he walked off. He truly was perfect. I could see the dirty looks I was getting from passing girls and laughed as I watch Madame Rosmerta as she giggled flirtatiously at something he said. How could someone so perfect be so emotionally scarred? He looked so…innocent. Yes there was defiantly innocence there, yet I could tell he was a bit of a bad boy by his confidence and charm. I couldn't wait to find out more about him.

Seven. Draco

don't trip Draco… b Do not /b trip…

I confidently walked back to the table, she watched me the whole way. It would have been just my luck that I would trip and fall right in front of her. I could feel her watching me at the bar. She already liked me I could tell, but how could she not, I was hot. That spell was amazing. Not that I wasn't hot already. I smirked to myself as I approached the table.

"What are you smirking for?" She asked smiling.

"Oh, nothing." I said. "Just Madame Rosmerta, she never flirted with me when I loo…when I was…the other day." I added with a smile, which faded quickly as she looked at me curiously. I'd messed up there. I couldn't let her think something weird was going on yet. I put on a charming smile as I asked her "so, you must have boys falling at your feet right?"

She choked on her butterbeer after this question and I jumped up to help her but she waved me off saying she was fine.

"Falling at my feet?" She asked as she composed herself as though to say it was completely impossible. "Are you kidding me? Boys don't look twice at me."

"Pfft!" Was my answer to this. Of course I knew she never. But that was before she looked the way she did. "I don't believe that."

She smiled sweetly as blotches of red appeared on her cheeks.

"So, why don't we go back to where you're staying?" Now it was my turn to choke on my drink. I'd have to kick my charm down a notch if she thought that was what I was thinking, already.

"Not. No." She spluttered. "Just to talk you know, because its getting quite packed in here so…Oh never mind, forget I said it." She added, blushing fiercely.

I smirked inwardly (I noticed how annoying I must have been, smirking all the time). This was perfect, it was moving faster than I could have anticipated. But it was kind of weird, this was Hermione Granger. I doubted whether she would have gone to a house with a boy she had just met. Could she possibly have an idea? I let it blow over my head, she couldn't possibly. I led her to where I was staying.

Eight. Hermione

I gasped at the sight of it, how could he live there? How could anyone live there? Rats couldn't live there! He obviously heard my gasp because when I turned to look at him he was staring at me. And I couldn't hide the fact that I thought it was terrible that his family was making him stay there.

"Damon," I whispered. "Oh my God. How could anyone in your family let you live here? Even if you aren't getting along.'

He shrugged his shoulders, I looked into his eyes. I could see the pain and feelings of failure in them and I knew instantly that he needed someone. I could tell that he wanted me to know everything, I don't know how, it was as though I could feel what he was feeling and my heart ached. Before I knew what I was doing I had him wrapped in my arms, or rather I was wrapped in his.

He was about 7 inches taller than me and very muscular. When he hugged me I felt so secure and safe. I had been worrying for months about the up and coming war but it all left my mind the moment he held me. All I could feel was the pain coming from him. And my eyes welled up in sympathy. He was crying.

I felt his body shake and shiver next to mine and I squeezed him closer to me telling him it would be ok. He mumbled something into my head but I couldn't hear it. I was intrigued by how he had showed his emotions so much to me when we had only just met. I suppose that like I did to him, he felt close to me, having spoken through letters for so many months.

After a while he pulled away and turned his back to me. Sadly I walked around to face him; his eyes were looking at the floor. I just watched him. He seemed so nice, how could anyone possibly hurt him? There were some terrible people out there, I could name a few.

He sniffed and brought his head up to look at me. "I need you Hermione."

"I know you need some one Damon how could…" I began.

"No." He interrupted. "I need you Hermione." I looked at him puzzled. "I can't explain right now and please don't ask me too, but there's stuff about me you don't know." I started getting quite worried and thought maybe I'd got my self too deep in over my head. What if he was some weirdo? "I will tell you though, I promise."

Eight. Draco

Just tell her now…tell her now!

I broke down and started crying. I felt pathetic and weak but I wanted to tell her everything. I needed help and I needed it fast. I was dying to just tell her but I knew I couldn't, my plan was working better than I thought so why sabotage it now?

The weirdest thing happened. She started walking towards me, I could tell she was going to put her arms around me and I was actually willing to let her, I wanted the comfort. But as she got closer I was overwhelmed by other feelings; anger, betrayal…fear. They made my head ache as my brain fought over which bit to overcome first and this made me hurt. I don't know how but I was sure I could feel how she felt and it wasn't nice. Her heart and her brain fought over each thing as though she was constantly thinking of ways to overcome things to come. I could feel her worry and the need to have to figure ways out because she was the only one who could. I assumed she felt she was the only one because Potter and Weasel couldn't do any of the thinking. Surely they knew what this was doing to her? So much pressure shouldn't be put on such an innocent person.

So I told her I had things I needed to tell her. I said I couldn't now but I would. I could see the curiosity in her eyes and could almost hear the clogs set off to work in her head.

"Don't try and figure it out." I said. "You never will and besides, you have enough going on inside you." This just made her more curious as she pulled her head back slightly, wondering how I knew.

"How…How could you possibly know what I have going on inside me?" I'd have to tell her, it's not like its some dark magic or anything and I was quite sure she had felt the same feelings coming from me because she had cried, and that's what I had felt like doing.

"I could feel it." I began. "Anger, betrayal and fear. I could feel it ripping you apart as you fight separately with each one, but at the same time. You can't do this to yourself." By now her eyes had filled with tears which began to stream down her face. "Why don't you try listening to them separately?" I gave her an encouraging smile. "Try starting with your heart." Wow, I thought to myself, I don't even know where that came from; I didn't even think it, it just came out. But I knew it would help. Somewhere in her her heart was aching and I had a fine idea why.

"I don't want you feeling sad for me Damon. I also felt how you feel and it's a lot worse." She took a step back and sat down on the floor against the wall. I walked over and sat in front of her.

I wanted to know why she felt the way she did. I had told her so much in my writing but she had only revealed bits and pieces. I looked into her eyes and it was as though she could read my mind.

"I feel betrayed…" She said, "Because…Well everyone feels betrayed at the moment. You know what happened last year of course up at Hogwarts?" I nodded, of course. "But I guess it's still in my head because, now I don't want to seem like I'm going for sympathy because everyone loved Dumbledore." Not everyone, I thought. I hated him. "But I feel like I, or we I should say meaning Harry Potter and Ron Weasley…Do you know them?" I nodded again, listening to her every word. "Well obviously Harry needs him but Ron and I put ourselves into the equation and I can't act like I don't know Voldermort knows who I am." A shiver ran down my spine at the mention of his name and his face flashed into my mind. He was grotesque and could give anyone nightmares.

"Anyway, I feel like I'm less protected now but I can't speak to anyone about it because it seems like I'm being selfish, considering what Harry's going through. And Snape betrayed us all, some more than others and I really thought he wasn't bad. I feel like I betrayed Harry and Ron for not believing them because I think I could have helped if I did. And to top it all off I've just gone and done something completely stupid and betrayed one of my best friends." She finished, surprisingly with no tears in her eyes.

"Wow." Was all I managed to say. "Hermione I…I don't know what to say." She gave a weak laugh. "You shouldn't feel like all this is your fault. None of it is. It's all Vol…Vol…Aww honestly I can't say it." I said deflated. "But you know what I mean. And I understand why you must be afraid, but surely you have people watching you?"

She thought for a moment, I could tell she was wondering whether or not to tell me.

"Yes I do." She whispered so quietly that I had to move closer to hear her. It was as though she was afraid some one was stood right outside the shed listening. "I have people constantly watching me, all sorts of aurors. But to tell you the truth I'm not all that afraid of Voldermort, it's the war that scares me. Well not the war itself, but what it brings. What will happen afterwards? It's going to be massive and could destroy the whole muggle world let alone the wizarding." She looked down at her crossed legs and I could almost see what she was imagining. Voldermort was extremely powerful, we all knew that. But the side of good was also powerful. No matter how much I hated to admit it, I guessed Harry must have been very powerful too. There was something special about him for Dumbledore to put all his trust in him.

"What about the anger?" I asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

Her eyes looked up into mine as they flashed dangerously. There really was anger inside of her. Her breathing came in deep slow breaths and she started shaking her head.

I was shocked when the look in her eyes changed to one I did not recognise. And was even more shocked when she started crying, hysterically. Not knowing what to do I sat there, froze, until she began to speak.

"I can't believe he did it, I'm not even sure why I'm so upset." She spluttered out between her tears. "I didn't even like him, I hated him." Her eyes shifted around. Was she lying? I was sure she was talking about me but I was even more sure that she did hate me.

She pulled out her wand and with a flick a tissue emerged in her hand. She dabbed her eyes and looked at me again. That unfamiliar look slowly vanished and her beautiful…No just her chocolate brown eyes, not beautiful chocolate brown…just chocolate brown eyes replaced it.

"Can we change the subject?" She asked with an attempt at a smile. I nodded, grateful that she didn't want to resume the conversation. But for the rest of the time she was sat there in front of me, all I could do was think about what was really going on in her head…and her heart.