AN- link to MeMe- /files/product/a1396.gund-abram-19in-teddy-bear-stuffed-animal.jpg link to Bunky- image./otcimg/411151.jpg Don't own Harry Potter, you belong in an insane asylum if you do. :p

Draco and Hermione arrived at their dorms in stony silence. Hermione was about to retreat up to her room, when Draco called her back. Hermione sighed loudly, then said to him, "Come with me to get my sleeping stuff then. We'll just sleep on the couches." Draco followed her dejectedly to her room. When they got up, Hermione exclaimed, "Bloody hell! It's already 3 a.m.!"

When Draco wasn't looking, Hermione nicked her MeMe, a stuffed animal black-colored bear that she couldn't sleep or live without. She named it when she was in her terrible twos, the time when her favorite words were "no" and forms of "me". When she had gotten all of her beddings, pillow, and MeMe, they went up to Draco's room.

Between Draco's gatherings of his nighttime things, when Hermione wasn't looking, he snatched Bunky. It was his baby blanket that he had been unable to sleep or live without growing up. It was a light blue with an elephant in one corner. Right after they settled their beddings, sleep immediately claimed them.

Hermione awoke at 7 with a start. Her alarm was shrieking in her room, she had forgotten to bring it down with her. Forgetting momentarily about the bounds, she struggled to her room only to be snapped back and land on top of Malfoy. Draco's eyes snapped open to see Hermione on top of him, wriggling. "What, in the name of Merlin, is going on?!" the sleepy head boy had also forgotten about the bounds. In an instant, memories came back of earlier today, shocking and embarrassing both teens.

When the spell wore off that was sticking them together, Hermione dragged Draco toward her room to stop the alarm clock. As soon as they stepped into Hermione's room, it stopped immediately. Sighing and disgruntled, Hermione gathered her robes and headed to the bathroom, Malfoy trailing behind.

"Wait, Granger. How the hell is this supposed to work out?!" Hermione froze in her tracks. Her shock turned into anger as she rounded on Malfoy.

"Ughh, freaking Malfoy! Maybe if you just got along with me, this wouldn't have happened! I need my flipping shower but I want you in no proximity to it!"

"Well, isn't it nice to want, Granger?"

Hermione glared, set her clothes on the floor, draped her towel over the shower curtain and got in, fully clothed. From inside, she threatened, "Get close to this curtain Malfoy, and I'm hexing you into oblivion. Don't assume that I don't know how!"

Draco scoffed, "Like there's anything in there I'd want to see, Granger."

Hermione then opened the curtain, still clothed, she slapped the side of his face. With a death glare, she growled, "Shut up you filthy ferret."

Hermione hung her clothes next to her towel, and started the water. About fifteen minutes later, a grumbling Malfoy objected, "Granger. Seriously. Hurry up. I need to take a shower too, and I'm starving."

With a loud squeak, she shut the water off, and wrapped her towel around her. "Come on, I need to get my robes." Draco led the way out of the bathroom. "Hey! I'm not even changed!" Hermione protested, but followed, not wanting to be stuck to him in only a towel. Draco took a much shorter shower than her. Once they were both privately clothed, they headed down to the Great Hall, not exchanging any words.

Once in the Great Hall, Draco and Hermione were both hesitant about leaving each other's sides. Definitely not because they liked each other, but because they doubted that Dumbledore would remember to take the spell off, if he even had any control over it. Scrunching her eyes and taking a deep breath, Hermione cautiously moved six feet away from where Draco stood, rooted, watching her move away.

Hermione exhaled, relieved when nothing happened. The Headmaster watched from the Professor's table, obviously satisfied with his work. Now, Hermione moved buoyantly to where Ginny watched with curious eyes. Harry and Ron were sitting a ways down the table, next to Seamus and Dean. Hermione guessed that Ginny was feuding with them. No sooner had Hermione plopped down next to her, did the redhead bombard her with questions.

"Why did you walk in with Malfoy?! And why were you so scared to leave his side? Did something happen? Did you get enough sleep last night? You look real tired."

"Ginny. Hush," Hermione commanded. "Last night, Dumbledore--" Hermione couldn't explain anything to Ginny. She wanted to, but something nudged the words to the side when she tried. "Dumbledore--" she tried again, to no avail. Thinking for a split second, Hermione dug out a piece of parchment and a quill from her book bag. She scribbled last night's story of Draco and her, when she got to the part about the bounds, she hit the same barrier 'Then, Dumbledore--' intelligible scribbles followed instead of what she wanted to write.

Hermione huffed, she was annoyed. In her mind, Hermione called Ginny. Ginny answered, confused as ever.

'Okay, let's try this again. Dumbledore put a spell on me and Malfoy.' Hermione gushed triumphantly.

'What?! And this happened after you woke up on top of him?'

Hermione half regretted telling Ginny about that incident. 'Yeah. So now we can't be five feet from each other without snapping together. Front to front. The only exception is here. Damn. If I could live in the Great Hall, I would right now. It's like murder being so close to him all the time. I'm so self-conscious, especially after he told me that he basically wanted me out of his life. Sleeping right next to him is crazy. I'm constantly checking that MeMe is never showing.'

'Ah, Mione. I doubt he actually meant that. You guys were perfect friends. I bet he had some other reason for canceling your relationship. Hmm, him seeing MeMe would be a pretty bad thing.'

'Yeah, tell me about it. This would be so much easier to bear if we were on friendly terms. Hmm, no pun intended.'

'HA- MeMe, HA, bear, that's good. Well, if you were on friendly terms, I doubt Dumbledore would have done this.'

'True--'

'Malfoy's glaring at you.'

Hermione turned to rake her eyes among the Slytherin table. It wasn't hard to find him, being the only one glaring at her and being platinum blonde. Hermione shook her head in a question, and Draco jerked his chin angrily at the door.

"See?" Ginny giggled, "He can't wait to spend more time with you."

Hermione glared at Ginny, then Malfoy, who she shook her head at. She didn't want to leave yet, being so free from him felt great.

Seeing that he wasn't getting his way, Draco discreetly pulled his wand out and aimed for her. Hermione narrowed her eyes, challenging him. She saw his lips move, and immediately felt a painful shock at her back. She jumped in surprise. Once again, Malfoy jerked his head. Resigning, and not wanting any more shocks, Hermione stood up. Malfoy then did the same with a smirk on his face.

Walking out, Lavender stopped her with a glint in her eye, "Hermione! Hey. Pansy, Cho, and I would like to hang out with you today. Sound good?"

"Err, when would we hang out?"

"We'll find you."

"Hmm," Hermione had a plan. "Should I get Malfoy to come along?"

Lavender was tempted, "I'll tell Pansy and Cho, and--" Lavender eyed Hermione suspiciously. "What's in it for you?"

Hermione shrugged innocently, "Just happy to be of service to you guys."

"All right." Lavender played it cool, though it was easily seen that she was psyched.

Hermione received another painful shock and saw Malfoy leaning casually right next to the entrance out of the Great Hall. Lavender rushed off to tell Cho and Pansy. Hermione thought, 'Mucus Bellicus' and aimed for Malfoy. Hermione had mastered sending spells with her mind last year. The blonde's hands flew up to his nose, which was fluttering with an array of green, purple, and black wings. True, Hermione's bat bogey hex wasn't as impressive as Ginny's, but then again, whose was?

His nose still fluttering, Draco muttered, "Barbulus" which caused Hermione to sprout a long, think beard. Hermione's eyes grew. 'Engorgio' Hermione aimed for his wand-holding hand. Draco switched his wand to his other hand. By now, they had attracted the eyes of everyone in the Great Hall. The Professors were forbidden to interfere by Dumbledore, who assured them that he would stop the fight if anything got too violent, and to just let them "let it all out."

Draco shouted, "Immobulus!" and Hermione froze. That didn't stop her from firing another spell.

'Impedimenta!' Draco flew back a few feet. Still being in the Great Hall, it didn't matter.

"Levicorpus!" Hermione was frozen and hanging upside down, luckily she chose today to wear pants. Not wanting to be the only one like this, she thought the same spell for Draco. Now both of the Head students hung upside down in the Great Hall for everyone to see. Almost every student could be heard giggling. Colin Creevey was even so bold as to walk up to them and take a picture.

Now, Dumbledore decided to help out. With his mind, Dumbledore lowered both of them safely to the ground. He undid all the curses they had cast on each other. Both Head students stood, waiting for Dumbledore to approach them. They were both embarrassed. When Dumbledore came to them, he placed a hand on each of their shoulders and led them out of the Great Hall, getting many mutters from late breakfast diners.

Dumbledore sighed once out of earshot from everybody else. "As Head students, I do expect better behavior." There was no hint of the normal twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes. "if you both fail to get along further, I will be forced to strip you of Head positions. Here are your new schedules, to accommodate this situation."

The Headmaster handed them both a piece of parchment a walked balk to the Great Hall. Once again, the awkward silence returned. They headed up to their Head dorms, still having a while before their first class, Muggle Studies. With a sigh, and pain evident in her eyes, Hermione stopped in front of the portrait hole. Turning to Malfoy, she asked quietly, "Why can't we just be friends…Draco?" Hermione wanted to show she was sincere, so she had called him by his first name, just like the good old times.

Draco was ashamed of himself. "Err.. Love fest." He didn't really know how to answer Hermione when she seemed this…fragile. Draco sat on the couch that he had slept on, and Hermione sat on hers. After spending more than enough time getting situated, Draco answered, "I just didn't want you getting…" he trailed off and finished in his head, 'Hurt. I didn't want her getting hurt by them. But now, the only one hurting her is me.'

"Getting what, Draco? Attached? Annoyed? Please, help me out. I'm-- I've been so confused."

Draco stared into Hermione's eyes. The normal brown, a warm, welcoming brown, was replaced by a pitiful brown. Like that of an abused puppy. You couldn't just look at her eyes without her sadness pulsing in every fiber of your being. It radiated off of her like a beacon that was just plain impossible to ignore.

"Hurt. I didn't want you getting hurt. By Cho, Lavender, and especially Pansy. Those girls may seem thick headed and materialistic…and they are, for the most part. But, when they plan revenge, they plan it well. And it will take you by surprise and screw you over." Draco finished in a bitter tone, one that screamed there was a story behind it.

"Is that what happened to you? I remember that you said something about it that night." she was referring to the night when their friendship came to an abrupt halt, courtesy of Malfoy. "What did you do to make them all so mad, Draco?"

Malfoy looked up at those brown eyes again. He really wished that she would stop saying his name. He loved the way it sounded when she said it. But every time she said his name, every time she caught his gaze, it weakened Draco's resolve to stay away from her.

"I--I hadn't done anything. Really. I had just distanced myself from them, refused to be a part of their cult." Hermione gave a small, sad smile at his name for their group.

"Then what happ--" Hermione's slow words were cut off by knocking at the portrait hole. She got up and tried her best to put on a plain face, one that showed no pain. She almost succeeded. Malfoy followed, but kept the maximum distance allowed.

Hermione pushed the portrait open to reveal Harry, looking as if he just sprinted from across the castle. Winded, Harry said, "Mione. Come on, you're gonna be late for class!"

A miniscule amount of spark came into Hermione's eyes. "Uhh, Harry, can you just tell the Professor that I'm not feeling well? It's quite true. I may just take off all of today's classes."

Harry sensed that something was off with one of his best friends, and peeked over her shoulder to see Malfoy with the same expression that Hermione had answered the door with. It was a dazed, thoughtful, and down expression. Harry's curiosity turned into concern laced with suspicion. In a more quiet tone, Harry asked, "What going on, Hermione? Are you all right?"

"Yes Harry, I just don't feel well. Please tell Professor Wickliffe that I'll be taking the day off."

"Yeah, tell him the same for me too, Potter." Malfoy's voice caught Harry by surprise, especially since it was a sincere request without insults or name calling. "Err, sure." Harry answered, unable to think of anything else to say, "Well, Hermione, feel better. I'll--err--I guess I'll just see you later then."

Without waiting for a goodbye, Harry left, wanting no more to do with the weird mood. Hermione followed Draco back to the couches. Instead of sitting on the one she just did, Hermione sat next to Malfoy. Placing her hands by her sides on the couch, she felt something unnaturally bumpy. Lifting up a blanket, Hermione revealed a baby blue elephant head that connected to a baby blanket that was wedged in the crack between Draco's back and the couch.

For the first time in his life, Draco blushed crimson. Hermione smiled a real smile, not taunting, but gentle and understanding. "Baby habit?" she asked plainly. Since Draco couldn't find his voice, he just nodded slowly, unsurely. Hermione then got up to her couch and took out a bear whose fur was no longer smooth or shiny because of it's many years of use and Hermione's teething stage when she was little.

Returning to his couch, she placed MeMe delicately on her lap. "This is MeMe," she said in a way that made it seem like the simplest concept in the world. It really wasn't difficult. Draco marveled at her in sheer amazement while pulling Bunky from it's hiding place. "Bunky," he pointed at it. Hermione smiled, and Draco could feel the corners of his mouth twitching upward in the same way.

With that aside, Hermione got back to the serious business again. With support from MeMe, she looked at Draco with those same eyes. "Draco. Please, be my friend again. I'm now aware of any consequences, but I really think it's worth the risk."

She was so sincere, so innocent, that Draco couldn't say anything else but, "Okay."

A/N- Well, hope you liked. Right now, I feel kind of dazed too. Just like Hermione and Draco. Hmm, maybe it's in the water. ;p Heh, well, reviews would be nice! I'm hoping to finish this story up so I can entirely focus on the new one I'm writing. Dang. School started August 7th, so I'm probably going to take longer to update than normal. Sorry. Peace!