AN- Heyhey. I on'tday wnoay arryHay otterPay. OrNay oday I wnoay hatWay appensHay niay egasVay. And I'm sorry that the Populars were kind of being forgotten, but I promise they DO have a big part in this story, just bear with me. : ONWARD!

Hermionehad been excused from the rest of the day's classes by Dumbledore. In a way, Dumbledore being aware of the situation made Hermione feel worse. Luckily for him, Dumbledore decided that it was up to Severus Snape to deal out punishment. All in all, Draco had been forced to go back, though he didn't want to face anyone either, though not for the same reasons, obviously.

Through the rest of his classes, he had received congratulations by the whole Slytherin house and "thanks for putting the Mudblood in her place," from Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. Draco almost hexed both of them into oblivion in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Malfoy passed off the sudden anger as a stomach ache.

In the hall, going to his next class, Malfoy was bombarded by the Populars, who took extra interest in Malfoy. Pansy excused the Cho and Lavender so she could talk to Draco herself. The excused girls looked offended, threw dirty looks to Pansy, and walked away. Once alone, Pansy ran her hand seductively up and down Draco's arm.

She cooed, "That was such a brave thing you did, Drakey. And I'm so glad that you revealed her. Lavender wanted that lesbo to hang with us, but I always knew there was something off with her. Wow, you were so conniving, and so am I. Two people like us. Well, we were meant to be, Draco. I know you feel the same way about me, and that's why you pulled that little stunt. You didn't want our reputation hurt by hanging out with a gay. People would start to wonder, right? Soooo nice of you."

Draco knew Pansy was trying to be seductive, and a while ago, he would have appreciated it, but right now, her voice and words just came out vomit-worthy. He hated the words she was saying and he hated how fake she was. He just wanted to get away. Without a word, he continued to Herbology. She caught up, and took his sudden rush away as embarrassment. She clung to his arms, and rooted her heels to the ground, making him slow down.

"Oh Draco." she sighed dramatically, exhilarated by what she thought was a love game. "Don't be embarrassed. You want to come to my room after class, I have a little present for you," she purred, batting her heavy-laden-with-mascara eyelashes.

"Pansy. I want nothing to do with you, haven't you gotten that yet?" Draco knew he was being harsh, but it was time for some truth. Hurt flashed across her face for a moment, but just like that, it was gone again. "You wouldn't mean those words if this were a year ago. I know you Draco Lucius Malfoy, and. You. Want. Me. Too." in between her last words, her fingers crawled down from his gut, each word taking her fingers a step downwards.

Her caught her hands and dropped them down by her sides. "Pansy, we're barely friends anymore. You've changed, I've changed. We've never been, and never will be." This time, Draco walked away for good, feeling a slight change in his crappy day. Pansy glared after the retreating Slytherin. Before stalking off to her own class she thought 'Fine Draco. If I can't have you, then no one will.'

The slight turn of his day didn't last long, not only was he bombarded with cruel words from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor, but even the teachers were giving him disappointed looks. When he caught Professor Sprout's glare, she quickly looked down and shook her head slowly. In addition, Draco received much cruelty from many of the other houses and sinister acts that Malfoy didn't know they had in them.

In Transfiguration, someone transformed his quill into a nargle that crawled into his shirt and wouldn't stop biting him. Walking down to Care of Magical Creatures with the Hufflepuffs, someone had charmed a hand-sized rock to follow him and continually beat against anything it could reach of Malfoy. There were many more forms of abuse throughout the day, but one was the most memorable. After classes and dinner, Malfoy was on his way up to the Head dorms. He was walking down the last corridor, when he got junk punched--yes. Junk punched. As Draco crouched on the ground, clutching his hurt anatomy, he whined, "Why?" It was a stupid question, but it almost took his mind off the pain.

"You know why!" answered three voices that unmistakably belonged to Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Feeling a bit better, the three scampered off.

--

Around eight o'clock, Malfoy returned to the head dorms to find Hermione on the couch reading a book that was larger than her face. Looking at her brought refreshed guilt of earlier today. He conjured up an arrangements of sandwiches, and announced his presence. "Hey. I brought some food up, thought you might be hungry."

Hermione took a last glance at her book, then closed it and set it upon the coffee table in front of her. She looked up at the newly changed Malfoy. He looked to be in worse shape than her. He had little cuts and bruises everywhere. Hermione compared Malfoy to being caught in a fight with a giant, and losing. He extended his arm to give her the sandwiches, and winced. He was going to be very sore tomorrow.

Hermione took the sandwiches gratefully and picked one of random and placed the platter next to her book. She took a bite of the crunchy peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich (her favorite) and asked, concerned, "What happened to you? You looked like you were mauled by a giant."

"I would choose the giant over reliving today, any time."

Hermione stayed silent as she finished the sandwich. She wasn't too hungry since she had conjured some food for herself earlier.

Draco continued, "I need to make it up to you. And I need to show the school that it was just a lapse of judgment."

"Malfoy, you don't have to." Although they were on first name terms, Hermione felt better using his last name.

"Yeah, actually. I do. It's not just for you, if that's what you think. It's mostly so I don't get beat up for the rest of my Hogwarts years. Sorry if that sounded selfish."

"It's okay. I understand."

"So right now, my plan is…"

As he explained his plan, a dozen emotions flicked across the attentive girl's face. As he finished explaining, Hermione settled for looking unsure.

"Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, isn't it a bit drastic?"

"Nah, it's perfect."

"You could just apologize publicly."

"Well, in a way I am."

"But you don't have to dress up."

After a pause, both teens laughed at the pun.

"But seriously, Malfoy. You're going to be humiliated for life."

Draco pierced Hermione's warm brown eyes with his shining silver-green to show his sincerity. "It's better me, than you."

Hermione gave a resigned sigh and they bid each other goodnight.

AN- Reviews are greatly appreciated! Hope you liked this chapter! I know it was kind of short, but I promise the next chapter is MUCH longer. Get yo peace on, fools! :