grovek26 thanks, appreciated. =D

Author's Note:

Look! Another chapter!

I'm really going to try very hard to stick it through until it's finished. But i have a full time job and two children and no time for date nights and playdates AND fanfiction, my longest and most faithful love. But I'll try. At the very least, I'm back in the zone at the moment so enjoy it while it lasts, yeah? I love all of you for staying faithful! And thank you to all of the new followers!

Chapter 12

:Hermione:

Draco was in her next class that day too. And the next one. And then it was time for lunch. She went to her common room and sat quietly in the window seat. She couldn't bear to face the entire school in the Great Hall. Students and professors alike staring at her. Wondering about her. Drawing their own conclusions about where she had been and what was wrong with the Golden Girl. She inwardly had always hated that nickname. What was so Golden about her? She got good grades because she studied her ass off and payed attention in class and had no social life. Not very Golden. She was honest and trustworthy because those were values instilled in her by her parents and because she didn't see the point in lying and needing to remember what lie you told to which person. Also not quite Golden material. She was virtuous because she had no shortage of self respect and because she had no social life and spent all her time studying. Except that now she couldn't care less about her grades, or morals, or virtues. She just wanted to survive this last year of lessons and forget that anyone had ever known her before she was broken.

Hermione sat staring out the window, watching the trees in the Forbidden Forest swaying in what looked like a lovely breeze. She considered going outside to feel it for herself. Then she thought about the people who might see her on her journey outside and nixed that idea. She heard a knock outside the portrait hole and tensed up. But after a few moments Draco came into the dorm and she let herself relax.

She was beginning to find his presence...soothing. And she was very confused by this. Sure they had hated each other. But they were children and children rarely know better even when they should. And he had proved useful during The Final Battle. Showing them to the diadem, informing on Snape's whereabouts. Getting the Slytherin children out safely. Why suffer them the wrath owed to their fathers. The adults were supposed to Know Better. It was their job to protect their children. Not subject them to a war fought with ignorance and prejudice.

Based on Draco's earlier... Confession? Insight? Admission? She had realized he was just a child subjected to an adults hatred. Same as everyone really.

He stopped near the staircase and turned her way.

"I don't have any lessons until midnight. But i could walk you to yours if you have any left..." he stated slowly.

Hermione tilted her head and contemplated his question silently. She just couldn't figure out how such a hateful brat could turn into this...this...shit. She didn't have a word for this. Such a drastic change.

"I just don't understand you," she whispered. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged his shoulders and leaned into the stair rail, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You just seem like you need... Shit, I don't know. Something. And why shouldn't I be able to give you...something. I'm not a bad person. I can be something too. Why not?"

Hermione stared at him. 'I have no words for this either,' she thought to herself. She was still confused. He was an anomaly.

"I only have a Charms class this afternoon. And I know a route less traveled to get there. So I won't need an escort," she told him quietly.

She grabbed her bag and scurried to the portrait hole. Once there she paused and have him a quick, puzzled glance. "Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?" And she hurried off to Charms.

True to her word, Hermione made her way through some dusty passageways, occasionally stopping to paw a cobweb from her face. And she pondered over Draco. Why was it that she found his presence tolerable but Harry and Ron had made her cringe inside? How did he know that she needed "something", as he eloquently put it... Why did he think he could figure out what that something was? He didn't know her. Not anything about her. Except maybe how to push her buttons. Harry and Ron knew her better than anyone. Aside from her parents, maybe. And yet the thought of being around them made her skin crawl. Was is some new, twisted and fucked up part of herself? Was she so accustomed now to being uncomfortable in her own skin that she was seeking it elsewhere? She didn't think that was it thought. Draco didn't make her feel uncomfortable. If anything, he soft of made her feel like maybe it was ok to be fucked up. That maybe she could get past it. Like he obviously had. To go from the wretched boy that he had been, to the understanding person that he seems to have become... Well, you didn't change your stripes like that without getting over a few things. But could she? Was her summer something that a person COULD get over? It sure didn't feel like it at the moment...

Hermione had been so lost in her thoughts that she had arrived at her charms classroom before she anticipated and it jolted her to a halt. She couldn't remember hearing any bells toll. So she must be on time at the very least. Maybe they wouldn't pay her any attention when she walked in. She could hope.

As she walked in with her head down and her bag clutched tightly in front of her, Hermione found herself wishing for the strange comfort that she found in Draco's presence. She found an empty table in the back and sat quickly, placing her back in front of her, wishing it could hide her. She heard a loud cough, a throat clearing and reflexively looked up. Into a pair of angry blues. Ron was sitting with Harry at the table directly in front of her. How had she not noticed them?! And was why Ron staring daggers at her? She glanced at Harry, but he was taking notes. 'Not for long,' she thought as she watched Ron nudge Harry violently and whisper something at him. Harry turned quickly, green eyes softening when they locked with hers. The professor called them to attention and all was put on hold.

Hermione spent the entire lesson dreading its end. She didn't take her book out, didn't take a single note. She had no clue what the professor had even been taking about. She just sat. As still as stone, she sat waiting for the lesson to be over. She just knew there was going to be a confrontation. She just KNEW it. Sure enough, when the lesson ended, they loitered, waiting for everyone to leave. Harry walked over to her table and stood quietly. Waiting.

She looked up to find him watching her, green eyes worried.

"Can i sit?" he asked softly.

Hermione nodded, not breaking eye contact. She could hear Ron muttering to himself somewhere out of eyesight but prayed him no mind. After the scene in her bedroom she had nothing to say to him.

"What's going on Hermione?" Harry stated simply.

She could only stare. No words would form.

"We haven't heard from you since we got to King's Cross. Then you don't show up to Platform 9 3/4. And you're not at the feast. You're not in lessons. And then we find out from some first years that you came in the middle of the night one night. And we STILL don't hear anything from you. And then that day in your bedroom..." he trailed off, finally looking away. His eyes look a little damp.

Hermione could feel herself tearing up. Harry was her best friend. He's right. She should have sought him out. She should confide in him. She all could. But the pity, and the sadness. She didn't need to share that. And he couldn't expect her to. Was it not MORE than obvious that she was no longer that girl from the train station? What DID he expect? That she would laugh and offer to look over his latest essay and all would be normal again?

"Look Harry," she started. "I don't know what to tell you, except that i CAN'T tell you."

"That's BOLLOCKS!" Ron roared from over by the door. "' We're SUPPOSED to be your best friends. But we don't great from you for months, you look like shit, and Malfoy is leading you around the building like a dog on a leash, and you CAN'T TELL US! Some friend you are."

Hermione could feel her face heating up. How DARE he! Some friend HE was! She stood calmly, and gathered her bag with hands that were shaking with anger.

"I'm sorry you feel that way RONALD. But listen closely, my business is my business for as long as i choose to keep it MY business. Unless i decide, of my own accord, to make it YOUR business, Back. The. Fuck. Off. I won't take up any more of your time," she said with barely concealed rage, moving towards the door.

"NO! You don't get to walk out of here until you tell us just what in the bloody hell is going on here!" he bellowed stepping in front of her and grabbing her arm roughly.

Hermione stopped, dead still. She fixed her gaze, which was once more dead and lifeless and far away, on the ceiling. She retreated into herself.

"don'ttouchmedon'ttouchmedon'ttouchme" she whispered.

Harry and Ron stood dumbfounded, unsure of what to do.

"What the fuck is wrong with her?" Ron shouted at Harry, who had come to stand beside her. He placed his hand on her back, trying to comfort her. But her whispers turned into screams.

"DONTTOUCHMEDONTTOUCHMEDONTTOUCHME" she screamed over and over.

Harry removed his hand immediately. He stood staring at this crazy situation, trying to figure out how to handle it.

"What do we do?!" Ron asked. "We should just go Harry."

"Don't be stupid Ron! We can't just leave her here like this!" Harry told him angrily. "Maybe..." he said thoughtfully, "Maybe we should get Draco..." he trailed off.

"Are you insane?" Ron spluttered. "He's probably the one that did this to her!"

"Ron, you're my best mate, but sometimes, you're an idiot," Harry stated matter-of-factly. "You saw for yourself how Draco is with her. Walking her to classes, the way he threw us out of their dorm, maybe he knows something we don't, but he definitely isn't the cause of this."

He fixed Ron with a hard stare. "Quit being a wanker and just go get him!"