Where the Heart Lies

Author Notes: here's chapter three! This one is going to be very long so I hope you have some free time on your hands! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fic at all, except for any original characters. Use them if you want, but I think then you'd be crazah! ;-)

Chapter Three

Hermione's eyes snapped open. She thought she heard something. She looked around her, trying to figure out what time it was. Judging by the dark setting of the room, it was still night. She rolled halfway off the bed and pulled out the bottom drawer of her night stand. She rummaged around blindly for a few seconds before her hand finally came to rest on the watch her mother had bought her for Christmas two years back. She pressed the small knob on the side and the tiny rectangular screen lit up. 3:27 am.

There it was again. Hermione's head shot up and she held her breath unknowingly, straining to make out the strange sounds. It sounded like someone moaning, someone in pain. She quietly swung her legs around and lifted off her comforter. She stood up and the cool sensation of the cold stone tile on her bare feet made her entire body shiver. She was wearing a pair of white cotton shorts and a t-shirt over a black tank top, the first items she had pulled from her trunk once she made it to her room after dinner.

She slowly crept to her door and opened it slightly, sticking out her head and still trying to hear something, anything. She stood there like that for what seemed like forever and just when she was about to forget about all the noises and go back to bed, she heard it once more. It was a whimpering sound, coming from the room across from hers.

She opened her door completely and tiptoed across the common room, carefully making sure not to run into anything. She put her ear to the other door and waited a few seconds in silence, debating whether or not Malfoy's rage would be worth quenching her curiosity. After hearing it again, she made up her mind, turning the handle and pushing it open. She found herself looking at room quite like her own, with only a few differences. It was large with a couple narrow windows covered by deep green curtains on the wall across from the door. A desk and chair were against one wall. Next to it was a grand fireplace with an arm chair facing towards it. A long bookcase loaded with books almost completely covered the other wall. And a king sized bed was against the remaining wall accompanied by a night stand and a trunk at the foot of it.

What drew her attention now was the blonde haired Slytherin lying on the bed. He seemed to be peacefully sleeping at first and Hermione began to wonder if her mind was playing tricks on her. "Ah, Hermione, what are you doing?!" she thought to herself in exasperation. "Everything looks fine - you must have been imagining things! Think of what will happen if Malfoy wakes up to find you peaking in his bedroom! You'll never hear the end of it from the git." She was just about to turn and leave when a stirring made her look more closely at the sleeping boy.

He indeed was not fine. In fact, his face was scrunched up in pain and sweat was literally dripping off his body in tiny beads. Hermione quickly made her way to his bed and placed a hand to his forehead. She immediately flung her hand away though, feeling as though she had just plunged it into a bucket of hot coals. She pulled off her shirt, thankful she had something under it, and began to gently wipe his forehead with it.

"Malfoy!" she half-whispered, half-yelled. "Malfoy, wake up!" She nudged him a couple times before successfully awakening him. His eyes slowly opened and he inhaled deeply. "...Granger...?" he mumbled after his blurry vision focused a bit. He would recognize that voice anywhere, though. His hand went immediately to his forehead, a throbbing pain erupting through it.

"Ssshhh..." Hermione said softly. She may not have liked Draco, but she still could not stand to see anyone suffer, even if he was an annoying prat who probably deserved it.

"What are you-" he managed to say weakly, though he meant it to sound harsher than it actually did. He shut his eyes tight in pain, every word spoken drilling a hole through his skull. Hermione silenced him with a finger pressed lightly to his lips. She momentarily thought that they were unusually soft but rapidly displaced the idea.

"Listen, you're burning up. I'm going to get Madam Pomphrey. I'll be right back." As she attempted to get up (for she had been kneeling on the floor next to his bedside this whole time), he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.

"No," he said forcefully, trying to regain his composure but failing miserably. "I'm fine." Hermione's mouth hung open. She couldn't believe any one person could be so stubborn and thickheaded! But then again, this was Malfoy...

"You are definitely not fine and I am going to get Madam Pomphrey." She tried a second time to get off her knees but his grasp on her wrist held firm.

"No," he said once more. This time, though, there was a pleading edge to his voice. "....please..." Hermione's knees hit the floor once more. Draco Malfoy had never said please to her before, or anything else that might be considered polite such as 'thank you' or 'excuse me'. She was in shock. 'Wow,' she thought. 'He must really be sick!'

She didn't know what else to do, so she sighed and stayed there, watching him. He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing which was becoming very erratic. He couldn't even think straight, his head hurt him so badly. He opened his eyes slightly and saw a pair of intense dark brown ones looking straight into his.

"What are you still doing here, Granger?" Again, the feeble tone his voice had taken since he'd awoken made all his words sound delicate instead of strong.

"I'm not just going to leave you here like this!" Hermione hissed. She tried to wipe some sweat that was falling into his eyes, but he turned away quickly. He regretted that at once, though, because the action caused a sharp pain to pulsate through his head. Hermione put her hands on her hips, obviously getting irritated. "Alright Malfoy, either you let me stay here and do what I can or I march myself down to the hospital wing." She paused, waiting for a reply.

Malfoy thought about this for a total of maybe two seconds and then gave in. He was just too sick to fight with her about it and he didn't want to get Madam Pomphrey involved. He said nothing but rolled over, giving her room to sit on his bed, and closed his eyes again. Hermione gently ran her dampening shirt across his forehead and cheeks, half-surprised that he permitted her to do so. She thought that he would have rather laid there and suffered then obtain help willingly from a mudblood. She placed her hand on his brow once more. He was really running a fever. She gently brush back his bangs, dripping wet with sweat. She gazed at his face. He truly was handsome, even like this. The thought disturbed her. 'What are you thinking! This is Malfoy!' Still...

After a few minutes, Malfoy still hadn't reopened his eyes. "Malfoy," Hermione whispered. No reply. "Malfoy?" He had fallen back to sleep. Hermione sighed. This was probably easier, though, because now he wasn't able to tell her to go away or not to bother him. It was then that she fully realized that he wasn't wearing shirt. 'God, he has some nice abs,' she thought, blushing a vivid color of red. She looked around and noticed the shirt lying in a heap in the middle of the room. She got up and pulled a thin sheet out from under the bed, tossing it over him. Then she went back to mopping up his forehead. Every so often, she would slide her body further and further down on his bed until she was finally completely lying down next to him, her head propped up by her hand while the other one continued to brush back Malfoy's bangs or wipe of beads of sweat.

. . : . . : . .

The sun was just starting to rise over Hogwarts and sunlight streamed through the windows of Draco's room, drizzling light in small patches across the floor. Draco had woken up, but hadn't opened his eyes just yet. He was content to lay there, sleep still trying to hold him. He had dreamt the strangest thing last night. Hermione in a tank top. A small smile crept over his face as he tried to roll over on his side but soon found he could not.

'Guess it's time to wake up then,' he thought lazily. He opened his eyes and held in a yelp. There she was, Hermione Granger, lying next to him on her stomach with one hand underneath her head, fast asleep. He realized that the reason he couldn't get up was because she had her other arm thrown across his chest. He laid there for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to do, his "dream" now turning out to be a reality. He didn't feel like waking her up and going through all the hassle of last night's events, so he just stayed there, examining her.

'She really is beautiful,' he thought against his wishes. He knew that he should not be thinking things like these about mudbloods, especially Hermione. But he couldn't help himself. He let his eyes wander, starting with her face, which was almost completely covered by her silky brown locks, and traveling down her breasts, flat stomach, cute little butt, and long legs, all which were made easier to visualize thanks to the skimpy tank top and tiny shorts she was wearing. He wanted to touch her and the thought disturbed him.

He finally realized that the only way to stop his crazy thoughts was to wake her up. He paused for a moment before brushing the hair out of her face and tucking it all behind her ear. 'She's so gorgeous...- Stop that!'

"Granger," he said quietly. At the sound of his voice, she snuggled closer to him involuntarily, causing his heart to skip a beat. "Umm.... Granger...?" he said again, this time a little louder. Her eyes fluttered open and then went wide. She squeaked before promptly falling out of the bed. Her face popped up seconds later, though, and started stuttering apologies that Draco couldn't really understand. He hoisted himself up into a sitting position, choking on a laugh, but this seemed to only make things worse because, since he was still not wearing a shirt, the sheet slid down and revealed his toned chest. Hermione's eyes grew bigger, if possible, and she quickly ran from the room, still stammering her sorrys.

"Well," he said to himself after the door shut behind her, "That went well."

. . : . . : . .

Hermione was now in her own room, staring at herself in the mirror, her heartbeat racing. "Oh my God" was the first thought that ran through her mind. She took a deep breath and then tried to get ready for school. She had just finished putting on her makeup when she heard a knock at her door. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'He's come all the way over here to shout at me! I can't believe I fell asleep on his bed! What if he tells someone? What if everyone thinks that I'm some kind of slut? What if-' Her thoughts were interrupted by another, more forceful knock. She cautiously opened the door and saw Draco standing there, dressed and ready for class. A small part of her mind was disappointed that he was no longer shirtless.

"You left this in my room," Malfoy said, holding out her t-shirt. In her hurry to leave, she had forgotten all about it. A slight blush tinted her cheeks as she took the item from Draco's hand.

"Malfoy," she began, " I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to-" But she never got to finish saying what she didn't mean to do because Draco had touched a finger to her lips to silence her, which amazed even him. He just had to say it, so he took a deep breath and said:

"Thank you."

The feeling of Malfoy's fingertip against her lips was so enthralling that she almost didn't hear what he had said. But, after it registered, she was speechless. Malfoy, doing what he had gone there to do, turned to leave but was held back by Hermione's hand on his shoulder.

"Malfoy, wait!" He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "Could... could you not tell anyone about.. what happened?" she asked shyly.

"Don't think Potter and Weasley would appreciate us sleeping together?" he said, smirking. The truth was, he hadn't planned on telling anybody anyways. Before she even realized what she was doing, she smiled at him. And not a forced or fake smile either, a genuine smile. She had never smiled at Malfoy before. But then again, Malfoy had never thanked her or joked around with her before either.

"Actually, I just think they'd be rather jealous that they didn't get the chance to sleep with you first," she replied, still all smiles. Draco didn't know whether to laugh or throw up.

"You're sick, you know that, right?" Hermione just giggled. And with that, Draco flashed her another mischievous smirk and headed to breakfast.

. . : . . : . .

"Morning, Harry. Morning, Ron." Hermione had just arrived at the Great Hall and now took a seat across from her two best friends.

"Morning, Hermione," they echoed back. She smiled and grabbed a piece of toast and some raspberry jam in front of her.

"Where are Cal and Marie?" She had just realized that they were no where to be seen.

"Marie had to stop by Professor McGonagall's office and Cal went off with some fifth year hufflepuff girl he met in the hall on the way here," Ron scoffed, jealous that Cal could pretty much snag the attention of any girl he desired. Harry laughed at Ron's obvious jealousy.

"So, how's the whole "head-girl" thing going for you? Is Malfoy treating you alright?" Harry asked, concern showing through his bright green eyes. At first, Hermione's eyes lit up as she was about to tell him of everything that had happened last night, but then she decided against it. There were some downfalls to having two males as your best friends.

"The common room is beautiful! You really must come and see it sometime, you as well Ron," Hermione said, choosing to ignore the second part of Harry's question. Harry noticed this and was just about to say something about it when Marie appeared next to Hermione.

"Morning!" she said cheerily. "What's Cal?" She sat down next to Hermione and started piling her plate high with all sorts of fruits.

"Uh... He made a new... friend?," Ron replied hastily, unsure of whether or not to tell Marie the truth.

"Ran off with the first slut he saw, didn't he?" The three looked at Marie critically, as if they didn't know she even knew that word. She caught them looking at her and shrugged. "He's a good guy, don't get me wrong! It's just... that's what he likes to do, I suppose." She looked thoughtfully now at her grapefruit, like it understood her completely.

"So how did you sleep last night?" Marie said, starting a conversation with Hermione now that the boys were once again deeply engulfed over the battle for the Quidditch World Cup. Hermione almost choked on her bagel.

"Fi-Fine, thanks," she said, coughing it all up while memories flitted through her mind. Going into Draco's room. Obtaining some hands-on nursing experience. Waking up next to him in his bed. Draco without a shirt on-stop, Hermione!! "And yourself?"

"Very well, thank you. You were right about this place. It is very warm and inviting." Marie smiled at Hermione and she smiled back. Marie turned back to her plate full of food when something glittered around her neck, catching Hermione's eye.

"What's this?" she inquired, touching the jewel on Marie's necklace. It was a diamond-shaped crystal, almost like a diamond itself except for the fact that this one sparkled an array of different colors when the light hit it.

"Oh, this? It was a present from my mother before I left," Marie replied casually, fingering the tiny item herself. Before Hermione could question her anymore about it, Harry interrupted their conversation.

"We'd better get off to class. Wouldn't want to be late this early in the quarter." He grinned mischievously at them all. Without another word, the four gathered their books and headed to History of Magic.

. . : . . : . .

I hope you liked it! Please review me because I enjoy reading them! It makes me feel appreciated haha! Welp, that's all for now! Next chapter should be coming along here shortly. Stay tuned! And r&r!

SweetDreamsMuse