"Whaa? My beau—what?" 'What is he saying? Is he serious? What has gotten into him?! First, he is being somewhat nice, we have a civilized conversation, and now I'm beautiful? Someone has clearly had way too much firewhisky.' That was what Hermione decided. Malfoy was drunk or maybe stoned. Who knows? But something was definitely not normal about this.

"You alright there Granger?" She had been staring at him with her jaw dropped. She shook her head.

"Um yeah, I'm good. Question."

"Answer," Draco smirked.

"What has gotten into you Malfoy?"

"Nothing has gotten into me. And it's Draco thank you very much." Something had definitely gotten into him. She didn't know what he was talking about.

"Malfoy, why have you been being so nice to me? You have been acting so strange." She refused to say his name. Still way too weird.

"Well, I decided that there was nothing wrong with you. I mean you're still a witch. You're very smart and very beautiful. Even if you are a mudblood." 'Crap' He immediately regretted saying that again. He had made some progress and all he got out of it was a swift slap in the face. Then, she stormed out of the hospital wing.

Harry and Ron after Quidditch game.

"Where'd Mione go? She was right by us when Malfoy fell wasn't she?"

"Harry, stop worrying! I know you really, really, like her but she's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"Yeah, I know. But, what if she's in trouble and we're not there to protect her?"

"Bloody Hell Harry, she'll be fine. She'll come to the common room when she's ready don't worry about it." Harry had liked Hermione for awhile. It had just begun as an innocent crush, but over time it had grown to full blown love. Harry would do anything for her and give anything for her to know and feel the same way. But, the only problem was, was that he was no where near brave enough to come forward. That was ironic considering the stuff he'd been through. He'd come face to face with Voldemort several times and he didn't have the guts to tell one of his best friends he had a small, ok incredibly large, thing for her.

Finally, Hermione stormed into the common room, her face tear-stained. "Geez Hermione what's wrong?!" Ron had run to her as soon as she came in. Usually she was calm and collected but she had exploded into the common room crying and in a terrible mood.

"Where does he get off calling me beautiful then calling me a mudblood?! He acts as if he cares and then goes and calls me foul names! UGGGHHHHHHH... the NERVE!" After that she stormed into the girls' dormitory and didn't come out all night. Harry was very concerned for her and would have followed her had it not been for the anti-boy charms all over the girls' dorms. He really liked her and hated seeing her like this. But, he couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy when Hermione had mentioned another guy. There was only one guy who had ever called Hermione a mudblood, but there was no way that he'd act like he cared, let alone call her beautiful. Who else could it be though? He decided to seek out the guy who he had thought it was and question him. So he left the common room and headed right for the hospital wing.

Draco just kept mentally beating himself. It had been going perfectly! She had smiled at him and then, even though she seemed very confused, he could've sworn he saw her blush after he called her beautiful. He didn't mean it obviously. I mean she had big bushy brown hair...or did she? Wait, since when has her hair been like that. Her hair was now a few inches past her shoulders and had perfect ringlets in it. It looked really soft too; maybe if this went well, he'd be able to find out for sure how soft it was. He smiled slightly at the thought of running his fingers through her hair. Ok, so maybe she wasn't all that bad looking. With her deep brown eyes, and curly brown hair. She had a pretty nice body too. He had gotten a nice view of it when she had fallen in front of him. Her robes tended to slide up when she sat, revealing smooth, shapely legs. He didn't mind of course. He started to think that maybe he did mean what he had told her and started to doze off. He was nearly asleep when he heard the door crash open and saw Potter storm through the doors and towards him. 'Okay, seriously, does he ever give up? I didn't do anything! He's probably here to yell at me for angering his precious little Hermione.'

"What did you do to her Malfoy!?"

'Yep, that's why he's here.'

"What are you rambling about Potter, and who are you talking about?"

"You know exactly who I'm talking about. HERMIONE! She came storming into the common room earlier and was crying and saying something about someone calling her a mudblood. And there's only one person who calls her that. You, Malfoy. I really care about her, Malfoy and I swear to God if you ever do anything to hurt her again, I'll hex you to hell and back!" Then, he turned and started to walk away.

"You really like her don't you, Potter? You actually think a girl like her would fall for someone like you?" Harry spun around to face him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Yes actually I think she just might. She also said you were acting like you cared. And if you actually think you have a chance with my Hermione, dream on. She's mine, Malfoy, stay away."

Draco raised his eyebrows at the furious boy in front of him. 'He actually has a crush on the mud—muggleborn. Aw bloody hell, I just corrected myself. And I wasn't even talking out loud. No one would have even heard me and I stopped myself. I swear, this bet is gonna be the death of me.' He watched as Potter stormed away and decided to have a little fun.

"That's what you think." Potter paused for a second then continued out of the wing. 'Well, that was fun.' He thought with a smirk.

Back at the common room, Harry had just told Ron everything that had happened in the hospital wing and they were talking about what Malfoy could've met when he said "That's what you think." Harry had just told him that Hermione was his and that was his response. They decided that he was just trying to anger Harry and that they would talk about it to Hermione the next morning. Until then, they had a 3 foot potions essay to do and they had no idea what it was even supposed to be about.

Draco had been given permission to leave and left to go back to the common room. Blaise and Pansy were there and ambushed him with questions as soon as he got there. They had seen Hermione watch him fall, with a very worried look in her eyes, and then left. They assumed that she had gone to the hospital wing. After Draco had told them what happened, conveniently leaving out the slap, they had very odd looks on their faces. A cross between confusion, amazement, and worry. It didn't look very good. It made pansy look like she had hit her face real hard on something, had her eyebrows lifted to well beyond the middle of her forehead, and then making her eyes a few sizes larger. Draco noticed this and gave her a positively disgusted look.

"DRACO, PANSY, BLAISE!! HURRY! Come to the great hall! Dumbledore is picking a 6th year head boy and girl this year! The seventh years have a special project and aren't gonna be here enough to be the heads!" A little 2nd year had burst into the common room, spoken, and sprinted back out. They all hurried to the Great hall and found all four house tables full and slid into their spots at the slytherin table just in time to see Dumbledore stand up. The whole hall quieted down and was listening intently to what the headmaster had to say.

"Thank you, students, for joining me on such short notice. This year, our seventh years will be involved in a project that will take up much of their time. Because of this, there is no pair that will be available long enough to fulfill the requirements of head boy and girl. So, this year, we have decided to use our top 6th year students for the heads. We will choose our top girl (every glanced at Hermione) and our top boy (several boys received glances). Now, without further ado, our new head girl, Hermione Granger, and our new head boy, Draco Malfoy. (Applause followed) Now would you two please come to my office tonight at 7:15 and I will take you to the head dormitories. Yes, you two will share a common room and a bathroom. However, you will have separate dorms. Thank you all, again, for coming on such short notice. You may leave." With that, he sat down and people began to leave the Great hall.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione had received countless congratulations. She was so happy. She had wanted to be head girl ever since she came to Hogwarts. This was so overwhelming. However, the prospect of sharing a common room and bathroom with her enemy of 6 years kind of dampened the moment. She glanced at her watch. 6:00. she had a little over an hour to enjoy Gryffindor tower with her friends so she decided to go there and enjoy it while she could. When she finally got there, people were waiting with butter beer and snacks. They were all dancing and having a good time but Harry just couldn't get his mind of his situation. He really liked Hermione. But something was going on with Malfoy. He didn't know if Malfoy had any feelings for her or anything but he was definitely corrupting her. And now he was gonna be living with her. He really didn't like this. Maybe if he just told Hermione she'd tell him she felt the same way and she'd completely ignore Malfoy. Hey, he could hope. 'Well, here goes nothing.' Hermione was sitting on an armchair talking with the twins. They were plainly flirting with her and that made him mad. He got even more upset seeing Hermione blush slightly, smile, and then flirt back. He couldn't believe they would do this! They know that he likes her so much and yet they still shamelessly flirt. He approached them and gave George a look that clearly said 'GO AWAY!' George elbowed Fred and nodded in Harry's direction. They say bye to Hermione and walked past Harry. But not before nudging him and giving him very obvious winks.

"H-hey Hermione."

"Hey Harry, how are you?"

"Oh I'm good. Hey, um I gotta tell you something. Um, well it's...ok...well you see..."

"Harry, relax, you know you can tell me anything right? I'm your best friend. You don't need to feel nervous about this at all."

"Yeah, you're right. Ok, well ever since 5th year, when we fought all those deatheaters, I thought I'd lost you. And just the thought made me realize, Hermione I don't know what I'd do without you. I care about you so much Hermione. You are such an important part in my life and you mean more to me than you could ever know. Well, what I'm trying to say is...Hermione, I really really like you. Well actually, I think I might love you." By the end of his speech, Hermione's eyes had begun to water and she had a huge smile on her face. But very quickly, the smiled vanished and her brow furrowed. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"Oh, Harry, that means so much to me. And I love you too. It's just I can't say that I like you as anything more than a friend. Oh Harry I'm so sorry." She stood up quickly and she looked at him, an apologetic look in her eyes.

"Fine, whatever, I don't care! Now go away!"

"Oh, but Harry it's nothing personal, I just think it would be strange. I do love you though but only as a friend."

"Aww, I'm sorry...you must have confused me with someone who cares!" He shouted angrily. Hermione felt her eyes well up with tears and then felt them pour down her face. She glared at Harry before fleeing the common, sobbing as she went. She exited the portrait and down the hall but not before Harry yelled, "YEAH GO CRY TO MALFOY!!"

Hermione still had about 15 minutes before she had to be at Dumbledore's and his office was only about 3 minutes from the tower. So she decided to just explore for awhile. She had a lot to think about. Malfoy thought she was beautiful, Harry loved her. She couldn't have loved Harry like he did her. It was just so weird. He was her best friend and he loved her! She just couldn't see them being any more than friends and it killed her to have to tell Harry that. She had tears streaming down her face from Harry's heartfelt speech, and then having to break his heart. It was just too much for her. She felt terrible. But, she couldn't just pretend to love him just to make him happy. Because then she'd be unhappy. But she had seen the look in his eyes when she had told him she didn't love him. First it was hurt, but then he had exploded at her. Why would he be angry at her? He had no reason to be. Oh, but now she was having second thoughts with Malfoy. She could never like him, but he had been decent to her lately and she was thinking about at least being friends. Of course, telling off Harry then going to make friends with his enemies definitely wouldn't help with his anger. Well, she had done enough thinking for the night. It was time to head to Dumbledore's office.

Draco had an hour after the announcement before he had to meet Granger and Dumbledore to see his new dorm. Although, he was upset to leave his friends, he never was very comfortable in that common room. It was always dark and cold. Not very cozy if ya ask me. He headed back to the common room and decided that he would enjoy what was enjoyable while he could. When he got back, nothing was changed. Everyone was off in their little corners talking, probably thinking of ways to sabotage poor unsuspecting Gryffindors. This thought made him smirk. Good ol' Slytherins. He continued on to his dorm and found that his stuff wasn't there anymore. The house elves must have already moved it to the new common room. He sat on his old bed and started to think about this bet. He didn't like granger, at all. In fact, the whole idea of getting her to love him and taking her to the dance kind of made him sick. Of course, if he didn't take her, Pansy drag him there as her date. 'Ugh, Pansy.' She was so sick. So many times, she had tried to seduce Draco. To make him sleep with her. She had slept with countless guys. Every slytherin guy had been with her, except him, every Ravenclaw guy, most of the Hufflepuffs, and even some Gryffindors. But, contrary to popular belief, he hadn't been with anyone. Even though some people would find this hard to believe, he had morals. He would either wait till marriage or wait until someone who he really cared about, or loved that is. Even he couldn't believe he had made it this long. He was gonna be 18 in a few months and he had had girls all over him since he was 11. Well, now he had to get to Dumbledore's to meet him and granger. So he stood up and left the dorms. But on the way through the common room, he met up with Blaise.

"Dude, Draco you better hurry. I passed the mudblood on the way back from getting something from the library. She was crying! Now would be a good time to take charge, man. Comforting an upset girl will score you some major points. Go for it."

"Wait...you want me to win? Why are you giving me tips?"

"Well, as fun as it would be to prove you wrong and then have you be my servant, even I know how it is to have pansy hanging on your arm and squealing in your ear. And I wouldn't want to put anyone through that," he said with a smirk. "Now go! Hurry, you can still catch her." Draco gave Blaise an appreciative smile and fled the common room.

Hermione was walking towards the office with her shoulders hunched and her head down. Today had been a bad day. First, she had been made head girl, which was good. But now there's all this with Harry. She was just so overwhelmed. And she had head girl duties on top of it now. She felt a lump rise in her throat. But, she couldn't cry. She wouldn't face Malfoy and Dumbledore with tears in her eyes. Especially Malfoy. All these years whenever she would cry, she would glance at him and see him smirk at her. He enjoyed seeing her hurt. And that just made it hurt even more. She let out a small sob and found it hopeless. She would break down seeing him. He always had that stupid smirk on his face and seeing it would just remind her of those times. She put her back against a wall and slid down to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs, and hid her face in her knees. She tried to muffle all her cries to the best of her ability, but it wasn't working well. But everyone would probably be in their common rooms so no one would hear her. She had been crying for a few minutes when she heard someone sit down beside her. She assumed it was Harry or Ron, or some other Gryffindor, so she wiped her tears and looked over at her visitor...

Draco had been roaming the halls looking for her for awhile and finally gave up. He was sure he'd have time to comfort her now being that they would be sharing a common room so he decided just to head to the meeting. His mind started to wander and he had totally forgotten about granger when he heard small sobs coming from a dark corridor. He couldn't see anything but he could find her easily enough. She was crying quite loudly so he could just follow the noises. There was very dim torchlight coming from end and he could see the outline of her meek body curled up on the floor. While he was looking, he was just thinking about thinking up something mushy to say to win her over but when he saw her, he felt something in him. He actually felt bad for her. Maybe if he was lucky, he wouldn't have to make himself sound like a complete idiot. So he approached her and sat down next to her. He watched her as she wiped her tears then looked over at him. He had never seen someone who looked more beat and he decided to take advantage of this. He was going to take Blaise's advice and comfort her. Maybe she'd fall for him faster than he had expected.

She looked over at whoever had sat next to her. 'Malfoy?' She had expected him to look at her and then smirk and then taunt her. Probably say something along the lines of "Aww potter and the weasel don't love you anymore? Poor mudblood." But no, he had a look of concern in his eyes. He actually looked sincere.

"You alright, Granger?" He sounded genuine enough.

"No, I'm really not."

"What's going on?"

"There's just so much crap in my life right now. At home, here, I just can't take all of this!" He thought she would be happy about making head girl. But she was crying about it.

"What's wrong here? I thought you'd be thrilled to make head girl."

"Oh it's not that. That actually made me feel better. It's just, there's that whole Goyle thing. That wasn't the first time something like that happened to me. I was lucky this time. I was able to get away. I wasn't so lucky the other times..." She trailed off. She couldn't believe she was telling him this. But, for some reason, she felt like she could trust him. Over the summer, she had been at a city pool and had been tanning. A guy walked up to her and started to talk to her. At first, it was just innocent conversation. But then he had started to ask her personal questions and move closer. She had asked him to leave her alone and when she did, he had become aggressive. He got a firm grip on her arm and dragged her to the custodial closet. She hadn't gotten away in time. She had lost her innocence to some random guy at a pool, and it wasn't even her choice. That was the worst of it, but other times, her friend, Jack, at home had had a friend over. He had introduced them, and then left to go do something. The guy, Alex, had felt her up against her will and when she told Jack about it, Alex denied it completely. She had been through so much and she just couldn't take it. Now there was this whole thing with Harry. It was just too much. She looked over at Malfoy. He looked so nice. He had a slight frown on his face but instead kept talking.

'Whoa. What does she mean? Has she been raped or something?! What has this poor girl been through?' He couldn't believe she had told him that stuff. He had expected her to just tell him it was nothing and continue to Dumbledore's. But she was telling him everything.

"Wait, what you mean 'other times'? What are you talking about?" Something in Draco's eyes made her trust him, made her think that he wouldn't say anything other than comfort her, and keep it a secret, so she told him everything. As she told him about Alex and about the guy from the pool, she couldn't believe what she was doing. Harry and Ron didn't even know about this. Probably because she knew that they would hunt down the guy and brutally murder them. By the time she had finished talking, she was sobbing uncontrollably. Just thinking back about those times tore her apart. Those had been the worst times in her life and she was spilling them to one of her worst enemies.

She finished her stories and was crying terribly. Draco didn't know what he should do. Should he just tell her everything would be ok? Or should he take another step and put his arm around her or something? He looked over at her fragile body. She was crying into her knees again and her small body was shaking with her quiet sobs. He felt so bad for her. 'Aw screw it.' Draco decided that what she needed right now as a shoulder to cry on and he was the only one there. Not to mention, being the shoulder to cry on would 'score him some major points.' As Blaise had put it. So, very gently he put his left arm around her and gently caressed her arm with his thumb. His free hand was gently sliding up and down her arm. She looked up at him, confused, but soon smiled slightly at him and relaxed into his arms. He smiled back and repositioned himself so she could fit in his arms. She seemed to fit perfectly. He smiled to himself when she put her head on his shoulder and snuggled closer to him. Something about this felt so right. But he couldn't enjoy it any longer. They were about 5 minutes or so from Dumbledore's office and they were supposed to be there...he looked at his watch...now.

"Hey...Granger. As much as I hate to stop this, we have to get to Dumbledore's now." She looked up at him and smiled. She still had tears in her eyes but she had stopped crying. She gathered all her courage, leaned towards him, and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"Thank you." She then stood up and looked down at him. "Well, are you gonna make me walk all by myself?" She attempted a glare, which didn't work very well, but he saw amusement in her eyes. She seemed to feel much better and he was glad that he was the cause of it. Usually he was glad when he was the cause of her pain and now he was happy to have stopped it. This was weird. He stood up and started to walk down the hall to Dumbledore's office, with her right next to him. He looked down at her walking next to him and smiled. This wasn't so bad; he could get used to this.

When they got to the stone gargoyle, they found it already open and started up the spiral staircase. They saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk writing something on a scroll of parchment and patiently waited for him to finish. When he had rolled it up and tied it, he gave his wand a little flick and a beautiful snowy white owl soared in his window, retrieved the letter, and left in the same graceful manner it had arrived.

"Ahh, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, I've been expecting you. Buncha Crunch?" He held out a little blue bag full of crunch chocolates to them. Malfoy gave him a weird look.

"Muggle candy." Hermione whispered to him. They both politely declined the candy and sat down in the plush chairs he had just conjured.

"Well how are my new heads?"

"Good thank you, how are you?" Hermione replied. Draco just nodded.

"I am well thank you very much. Well there isn't much to say right now. Congratulations on your new positions and we will give you your duties and further explain them later. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to your new dormitories." With that he stood and walked out. They followed him to a place in the castle where they had never been. He stopped at a random wall, pulled out his wand and drew an X on a certain brick. He explained that this was so no one else could enter. Even if someone drew the X on the right square, it would only respond to their wands and the professors' wands. After drawing the X, he waited a few seconds and walked right through the wall. Draco and Hermione followed. Their common room was up a long spiraling staircase in a tower on the 7th floor. They finally came to a portrait of two people playing in a field. One wearing maroon, the other green. They were getting along wonderfully and approached the front of the portrait when Dumbledore called them. (ahem "Joel, Kathryn") "Your password will be 'As One'. If you wish to change it, you have to clear it with your partner and the portrait. And, of course, myself or Professor McGonagall. Well, tomorrow is Saturday, so you two will have the weekend to get used to your new surroundings and of course your new roommates. Well, I'll leave you two now. Goodnight." With that, he turned and strode off down the staircase down to the base of the tower. They stood for a second before Draco broke the silence, "As One." Then, they entered the common room.

It had to be the most beautiful thing either of them has seen. It went to a point at the ceiling as it was the top of a tower. It was probably about the same size as the other common rooms but it was much more beautiful. There was an outstanding fireplace where they could both comfortably stand. And there were two big squishy couches. One maroon, the other green. There were bookcases lining the walls and off towards the other side, there were three doors. One said "HG" on it, and the other said "DM". The door in the middle must have been a bathroom. They both went to their separate rooms and found them to be decorated in their favorite colors. They both had another door which led to the bathroom. So, they could get to each other's rooms through the bathroom. Their bedrooms both had canopied king sized beds and then the appropriate wardrobes and dressers. They both met back in the common room after exploring for a bit and flopped on their own separate couches.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Hermione finally broke the silence, looking around the room.

Draco looked at her and smiled, "Yeah, you really are."

Draco had been in a whole other world. He was letting his eyes wonder all over the common room and was brought back to reality when he heard Hermione speak. He couldn't recall what she had said, all he heard was the word beautiful, and the only thing beautiful he could see was her. 'Bloody hell did I just think that?!' "Yeah you really are." 'Bloody hell did I just SAY that?!' He looked over to see her reaction and saw her looking at him with a huge smile on her face.

"Do you have any idea how sweet you are?" She asked him, still smiling.

He smiled back, "What can I say, it's a gift." He watched her blush and look down. He decided to ask the question that had been bothering him since their meeting.

"So, um...You feeling better?" She tore her eyes from her hands on her lap back to his face, "Yes, I am. And it's all thanks to you. So, thank you Malfoy."

"Why can't you call me Draco?"

"Well, I've called you Malfoy all these years and it just seems weird to start calling you by your first name."

"Yes, well, all these years we've been enemies. But I've come to realize that it doesn't matter what kind of blood you have. You're still a witch. And not to mention you're better at magic then me... I have no right in saying you're below me. I was just really ignorant then. So...I wouldn't exactly call us enemies now would you?" It was really killing Draco to say all that. He still had all the same thoughts about blood. But thinking about it, she was better in all their classes than him...nawww purebloods were above everyone else. And he knew it.

'Wow, did he really say all that? Maybe he has changed...but...it was so sudden. I just don't know.' She decided she needed some time to think. So she stood up and gave Draco a weird look when he stood up with her.

"Something wrong?" Draco asked her.

"No, I'm just kind of confused. I have to think of something to say to Harry too and th—"

"Wait, what about potter?"

"He just kind of...well, he told me he loved me and got mad when I said I didn't feel the same way." Her eyes started to well up again as he had told her he didn't care. She felt a tear slide down her cheek and saw Draco lift his hand to brush it away. He put his hand on her shoulder and sat her down.

"What happened?" He asked her sympathetically. She told him what happened at the common room and by the end of her story she was crying softly.

"Hey, hey stop crying. It's ok. If he doesn't understand, he was never a real friend anyways." Hermione had conveniently left out what Harry had said to her about Malfoy. That definitely wouldn't help. But, he did have a point. She just didn't feel the same way and a real friend would understand that.

"That is a very good point. He should understand me! You know what? I'm just gonna ignore him. If he feels bad about what he did to me, which he should, then he can approach me, I'm not gonna make the extra effort. Thank you, Malfoy."

With that, she gave him another kiss on the cheek and headed towards her dorm. When she got to her door she turned around and saw Draco staring at her, smiling. She gave him a small smile and got a wink in return. She blushed slightly and entered her room, closing her door behind her. She got ready for bed, all the while thinking about a guy. You'd think that she'd be thinking about Harry, and how to handle this situation. But no, her thoughts were centered on a certain blonde haired slytherin. She climbed into bed and continued to think about him. Soon she had fallen asleep, still with a small smile on her face.

'Wow, he couldn't believe potter would actually lose his temper like that. Especially with Hermione. Holy crap...I just called her Hermione. Oh well, I actually feel really bad for her. I usually never pity anyone. But she's just been through so much.' He watched her leave. He had gotten another kiss. That's two just today. He found himself smiling thinking about it. She turned around at him and smiled back. He gave her a small wink and chuckled to himself when she blushed and shut her door. He went up to his room and got ready for bed. He tried to think of other things but he couldn't help the certain Gryffindor who kept flashing through his mind. After finding himself unable to rid his mind of her, he found that he didn't mind it all so much. So he let his mind wander and fell asleep smiling that night, dreaming of a beautiful brunette.

The next day at breakfast, Hermione sat with Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati rather than Ron and Harry. She would avoid Harry at all costs if she could. It was going very well and they had barely even looked at each other but then about 10 minutes before they would leave for their first class, Harry approached her. She was telling Ginny something and saw her staring behind her where Harry was standing. Hermione followed her gaze and saw Harry. Her heart sunk, she had been so close! She glared at him, "Can I help you?" She asked him coldly. The girls around her hadn't heard their conversation in the common room but had heard him yell at her, then seen her storm out of the room, so they too were glaring at him.

He was clearly uncomfortable under all their glares, "Um, Hermione, can I talk to you?"

"Go ahead."

"No, I mean...alone."

"Ugh, sure, whatever." She responded rolling her eyes. She stood up and walked quickly out of the Great Hall, Harry following a few steps behind. They walked down the hall some and then went underneath the same staircase where the whole Goyle ordeal had taken place.

"Well, what do you want?" She asked him coolly.

"Look, Hermione, I am SO sorry about what happened. I just took it the wrong way. I should've understood."

"Gee ya think?!"

"I said I was sorry! What else do you want!?" Hermione knew he was sorry, but he had put her through so much, and he wasn't going to get out of it that easy.

"I thought you didn't care..." She said, raising her eyebrows in a challenge. He didn't catch on.

"Oh Hermione you know I do. If I could take it back, I would. I am really sorry."

"Ohhh, don't you worry about it," she said a little too sweetly, "I was only upset for about 10 minutes after our little feud. Malfoy saw me upset and came to my rescue."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, he found me crying in the old charms hallway, and held me till I stopped crying. He's a really sweet guy...you should get to know him."

She gave Harry a smirk when she saw his eyes burn with rage. They were flashing dangerously and Hermione was starting to get worried. She started to walk back to the great hall but was stopped when Harry grabbed her arm very tightly, spun her around, lifted his free arm and hit her hard across the face.