RON'S POV:

Soon after kissing Hermione, I realized something… I wasn't tired at all.

So I walked back downstairs. But when I got there, she wasn't there anymore.

I opened the door of the common room and saw her retreating figure heading for the astronomy tower. I followed her, not wanting to scare her.

When she got to the astronomy tower, I heard voices on the other side of the door. It was a male voice that said, "Oh its you, Granger."

I thought it sounded like Malfoy, but the voice was kind and sounded… Warm?

"Draco? What are you doing up here?"

It was Malfoy? But he hated Hermione. Why was he being so nice to her?

"Couldn't sleep, wanted to do some thinking without anyone interrupting." he said, not one once of his usual venom in his words.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Why was she apologizing to that worm! "I'll leave and-"

I heard her footsteps coming back toward the door and I started to run back, but stopped, the anger building even more in me when I heard him say, "No! Stay."

I heard shuffling feet. They were moving farther into the room and it was becoming harder to hear, so I pressed my ear up against the cold wood of the door.

"You see that bunch of stars there?" he asked.

Why did even the thought of them looking at stars together, even if it was by accident, make me angry?

There was no answer that I heard, but then Malfoy said, "They call that one Equelleus. Its Latin for 'little horse'."

That fool… As if there was something Hermione didn't know.

"When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a star."

Why was she telling him this? Didn't she know she couldn't trust him? This whole thing was confusing me and making my stomach hurt. It was twisting in painful knots and then unclenching and reforming into a knot with a different angle.

"Why?" he asked.

He didn't say it meanly, just curiously. His curiosity in her made me sick in a way I couldn't quite explain.

"I wanted to shine so bright that everyone on Earth would look up and admire me and make wishes on me. And I would make every wish come true." she said, her voice soft.

She had never told me this before. Why tell Malfoy? He was the enemy.

"That's quite sweet." Malfoy said, his voice sounding very quiet and distant.

I wanted to punch him square in his stupid face.

There was a long pause and then, "I used to watch the stars when I was little, too."

Malfoy and Hermione had something in common? I must be dreaming.

"Really?" Hermione asked. She sounded as surprised as I felt.

Malfoy just didn't seem like the star-watching type.

"Yes. When I was supposed to be asleep, I would run up to the window when I thought nobody would notice and I would watch the stars. I was completely mesmerized by how shiny and how magical they looked, sitting in the sky where I couldn't go. When I heard my father's footsteps outside my bedroom door, I would race back to my bed and pull the covers up over my head, pretending to be asleep. If my father ever found out… Well, I don't know what would happen, but I'm sure he wouldn't have approved." he said, sounding as though he were lost in another time.

"That's terrible." Hermione said, sounding sorry for him. I wished I could tell her not to be, not to let her guard down around him.

Malfoy sighed and asked, "So how is the whole Ronald situation going?"

It was strange to hear Malfoy say my first name. Stranger to think that she had been telling him about me. And stranger still to think that there was a situation between us.

"What's wrong?" Malfoy asked, sounding concerned and protective. It made me mad to hear him talk to her like that. Like he cared. I cared. He didn't.

But then I processed the meaning of his words. What had happened to Hermione?

"You called him Ronald." She said, sounding puzzled.

"That is his name isn't it?" he asked. He sounded like any other kid that would be talking about me.

But he wasn't, he was a Malfoy. He didn't call me by my first name, he taunted me and made fun of me and my family.

But he faked his innocence and Hermione knew it.

But she just said, "Yes, it is." and then, "Well, we talked just a few minutes ago, actually. He asked if I hated him. I told him I didn't, I couldn't. Then he said that he didn't know what he would do without me. Then he said 'I mean, for help with homework.' and I told him to go to sleep; he really looked terrible. But before he went to sleep, he kissed me on the cheek. I don't think he knows he did, though. He seemed too tired to really be in control of what he was doing."

She had no idea that I knew what I had done. I would just act like I didn't remember for the sake of the awkwardness that was sure to form if I brought it up.

"Did he now?" Malfoy said, sounding amused.

I wanted so badly to burst through the door and beat the little maggot to a pulp.

"Yes. What is it to you?" She said.

It made me happy that she had asked. I was beginning to wonder the same thing.

"I don't know." he said after a slight hesitation. "I guess I kind of consider you… My friend."

I hated him now more than I ever had in my life.

I was counting on Hermione to turn him down and say that they weren't friends, could never be friends.

But all she said was, "Oh. Well… Okay."

Did that mean she felt the same way?

The door cracked open a bit and I hid up against the side of the wall, but neither of them seemed to notice.

I peeked in. They were standing near the window but on either side of it. 'good' I thought. 'separation.'

"Hermione?" he asked, making my face turn red with rage.

He couldn't call her that, they weren't friends.

She jumped a little bit but said, "Yes?"

I didn't like seeing the reaction her name on his lips had on her.

He looked up from under his lashes, his eyes lit up in an odd way. It wasn't the way they usually did, right before he tortured some helpless nerd. It was different.

"Do you hate me?"

She hesitated a moment. "I don't know. I used to think I did, but you seem like you've changed. I don't know if I can actually trust you," that's what I wish I could tell you, DON'T TRUST HIM! "but I would like to. So I guess… No, Draco, I don't hate you."

I swore under my breath, feeling the catch in the word like swallowing a stone.

They sat staring at each other for a long time. The way they never looked away made my temper flare even more.

Then Hermione turned to the window, her hand on the wall. Malfoy copied her on the right side of the window.

But then I saw his hand move toward hers. They were holding hands!

That conniving little rat!

She shivered and he asked if she was cold as he took his jacket off.

I couldn't watch anymore, so I stood and raced back to the common room. I paced angrily, my face red, my palms sweaty and my eyes searching all over the room for something to distract me.

I heard her coming to the room, so I walked to the door.

She opened the door and jumped at the sight of me.

"Hermione." I said, sounding sarcastic and mean.

She flinched. "Ron, what are you doing up?" she asked, sliding past me and entering the room.

"I could ask you the same thing. Or should I ask you what you were doing with Malfoy?" I said, my voice raising a bit, but not enough to wake anyone.

She looked at me with pure rage. "Were you following me, Ronald Weasley?"

Her anger made me falter for a moment. I shrunk back. A woman's anger is more impressive than a man's sometimes. This was one of those times.

But that didn't stop me from being angry.

"Well, what were you doing with him?" I asked, a bit softer this time.

She took a second and my softness seemed to work, she didn't sound near as angry this time.

"He's trying to stop being so evil all the time. He said he doesn't like being the guy everyone hates. He wants to be friends. He's stopped calling all of us such terrible names, he's been being nice."

My voice rose once more. "How can you believe that load of-"

"RON!" she said, not too loudly.

"Well? How do you believe him? How can you be sure you can trust him?" I asked, a bit quieter.

She started to speak, then closed her mouth and stared at a table as though it were a puzzle she couldn't figure out.

"I don't know. I've got a gut feeling. Please, Ron, just trust me, okay? And dont tell Harry."

I couldn't believe I was actually going to listen to her. But she was my best friend and I didn't want to lose her to Malfoy. I was still mad at her holding hands with that creep, but I wasn't going to bring that up lest she ask too many questions about my curiosity.

"Fine." I said, accenting the F too add effect. "But I don't have to like it."

I glared at the stairs and walked up, going to bed.