Hermione didn't see Draco again until classes started. Even then it was only from across the room. She tried not to look over at him but it was almost impossible not to. She wanted to know why he hadn't been in the Great Hall for meals, why she hadn't bumped into him around the castle; everything.

She may have been weak in the way of thinking about him but she was much stronger when it came to talking to him. She didn't feel an urge to ask him about all of those things, or even how he was going. The longer she resisted talking to him, the easier it became to endure it.

It was just a moment of weakness. He was an attractive guy and he intrigued her. She wanted to understand, to help him get rid of some of that baggage. After the first night back in class she had so many things running through her mind that she needed to get them out. She needed closure.

She took out a spare piece of parchment and a quill and began staring at the page. It wasn't long before her thoughts started to spill out.

What do I really know about him? I know that he's been through a lot, probably more than I have. I know he has a tenuous relationship with his father, with both of his parents really. He's damaged, he's in pain, but he can't shake off that cruel act, no matter how much I try to help him. I know he can't help it and that wounds like that don't heal overnight. Some of us are only just pulling ourselves together. He may have made me feel good but he also brought me to a place that I thought I had moved past. It was a moment of weakness and I need to focus on my studies. There is no place for him anymore. I thought there was but I can't make myself feel this way. I-

Her quill skidded across the page as Ginny sat down by her side.

"What are you working on?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh nothing, just an essay for my ancient runes class." She lied.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you, I can go if you like." Hermione sensed there was something that she wanted to talk about.

"No, you can stay. What's going on?"

"I just thought that maybe you didn't want to talk to me about some things because of the whole you and Ron thing. Just because he's my brother doesn't mean that I'm going to talk to him, about anything. He's gross and really quite annoying." Hermione let out a small chuckle.

"That's not it at all. I just have a few things on my mind that I'm trying to sort out. If I had something worth talking about I would tell you. Honestly I would." She smiled and Ginny seemed satisfied.

The problem was that she wasn't. They had a fight and suddenly that was it. There was only one person she could talk to.

"Sorry Ginny, I just remembered a book I was going to look for in the library." Ginny looked a little disappointed. "Tomorrow night would you mind telling me about Christmas at your house? Properly, I feel like I missed out a little. You and Harry seem to be back to before."

"I'd be glad to." She was happier to see Hermione leave after that.

Hermione raced from the common room and towards the east wing hallway. She looked up and down the corridors before heading down to the grounds. She wandered part way around the castle until she saw that familiar blonde hair, sitting down by the lake.

"Luna!" She called[RM1] .

Luna turned and gave Hermione a delicate smile as she put down her book.

"Hermione, how lovely it is to see you this afternoon." There has always been something different about Luna.

She wouldn't dare call her 'Loony-Lovegood' as she once had, Luna was anything but loony. She seemed to have more answers than almost anyone else Hermione knew. Maybe it was because she only ever wanted to do what was right, not what was supposed to be done.

She really respected Luna for that.

"H-how are you?" She sat down next to her, the seat really quite cold in the frosty late-afternoon air.

"Quite alright, Neville will be here shortly, we're taking a walk by the lake. He loves telling me all about the different plants and such. It's rather adorable really."

Hermione smiled. They were an odd pairing but in the same way they were perfect for each other.

"Things are going well between you then?"

"Oh yes, Neville's a sweet heart. He gets so nervous sometimes. I have to give him a big old kiss on the nose before he blushes and snaps out of it." Her cheeks flushed lightly.

"Do you ever, I mean, I don't mean to pry…"

"Please, I really don't mind. I have no secrets from you Hermione."

That just made her feel a little guilty. "Do you fight at all?"

"Sometimes, but just about silly little things. Like when I notice he's upset and he refuses to tell me what's wrong. Probably because it was something to do with me but he's too much of a sweet heart to tell me."

"He's been through a lot though."

"Yes."

"Does he… react to that?"

"Hermione?"

"Um, yes?"

"We can talk about Draco if you like." Hermione froze, more so than she already was.

"Wh-what?"

"I won't pretend that I can't see what's going on. I knew back before Christmas when I told you about that old bracelet."

"He still wears that you know."

Luna gave a sly smile. "I know. I know a lot of things about Draco that you wouldn't expect."

Hermione looked over at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

Luna's mouth curled gently into a smile. "It was back in fifth year when we first really had the chance to talk."

Luna

It was in the middle of my fifth year when I really noticed Draco's troubles. The way he had to stop in hallways to steady his breath and his longing looks towards those obliviously ignorant people made it very clear. Of course I didn't start as knowing why. No one knew why. Not really.

The first night I saw him really showing any of his real pain was one stormy night in the summer. Most of the castle was asleep but I was out looking for my shoes. Some of the seventh years had enchanted them to roam around the halls. I heard a crying sort of sound and I thought I had better see what it was.

He was just sitting there, sobbing. That was when I went back to get that bracelet. He was still there when I got back. I put it right beside him and he looked up at me. He was terrified, his eyes were almost pleading and for a moment we just stared at one another. We weren't enemy and we certainly weren't friend, but we were two people colliding at high speed.

He got away as fast as he could, but he took my bracelet. I felt a lot better knowing that he didn't reject an act of kindness. It was two days later when I got a real shock. I was sitting by the lake, it was rather warm, I only had a light sweater. I looked up from my book and I saw him walking over.

His shirt was scraggly and he wasn't wearing his tie and he kept looking back and forth to see if anyone was watching him. I pretended that I was still reading when he cleared his throat.

"About the other day… I… I mean…"

I looked up but I didn't say anything to him, not yet. I wanted to see if he could do it.

"I was just having a… bad day and uh… I just wanted to…" He looked so awkward.

He held up his arm and the bracelet fell out of his sleeve. He pointed to it and gave me a shrug.

"It's okay Draco. I know what you're trying to say. You don't have to." I said softly.

He avoided my eyes and shuffled his feet a little. "Why did you?"

"You looked like you could have a used some comfort."

"I don't need comfort." He said gruffly.

"I know you must be dealing with things that no one can understand."

He didn't respond, he just gave me a quick look and turned back to his feet. "I'm just like anyone else."

"So am I. But when I little I watched my mother get killed by one of her own spells. It was quite traumatic. Lots of people don't really understand. It's not like I go around telling people."

"You just told me."

"I know, I feel like you deserved to hear it. I saw you in a moment of weakness so it's only fair."

He looked up at me and I don't think he fully understood what I was doing for him. He looked up and saw some Slytherins looking over suspiciously.

"You can just walk away if you like. They wouldn't like it if you were here talking to me." He gave a tiny shrug and turned on his heel to leave.

I didn't think much of it after that. Not until he came to see me again.

I was taking a walk in the forest and I heard someone walking behind me. I didn't turn around; if they were dangerous they would have attacked me by then.

"Do you always walk through the forbidden forest alone? Doesn't seem like the brightest of ideas." It was clearly Draco.

I turned to see him walking along and trying to look casual with his hands in his pockets.

"Probably not but people don't seem to take much notice of me." I said as I looked at the light coming through the trees.

"So you walk around the castle at night, you wander through the forest alone and you sit by the lake all day reading. Why don't you just hang around with your friends…like a normal person?" Something about that last part made me think that he wasn't really talking about me.

"I like it out here. I happen to like being by myself." I turned to give him a smile. "The trees are friend enough for me." I took a seat on a fallen log and he stood a few metres back.

"Do you have any real ones?" He gave me a smirk and nodded a little.

"Not really, do you?" He narrowed his eyes and the smirk fell from his face.

"Of course I do. Don't you see all the people I spend my time with?"

"Yes, but they aren't really your friends. If they were wouldn't you be with them rather than here with me? You're lonely." His lip twitched and he didn't say all too much.

I gave him a smile and he walked a little closer and leant against a tree. "Why did you do it?"

"I've already told you. It looked like you could use someone real." I stood up and watched as his brow furrowed.

I walked closer to him but when I got about a foot away he glared up at me and I stopped. "I won't come any closer. As I see it you probably want to be here but you don't want me to me. You don't like me."

"You don't like me."

"Why wouldn't I like you?"

"Why would you?"

"Now you're not really asking any questions, just turning my questions back on me."

"Fine, well for starters I'm not on your side." I could see his chest starting to rise and fall more rapidly and I knew he was getting angry. "You spend the time you're not alone with Potter, and the rest of them." There was something about the way he said that last part that made me wonder.

"I don't think any of that matters out here." I looked around at the trees. They stood so high above our heads. "And I think our sides are closer than you'd care to admit."

The look in his glassy eyes said that I was probably right. He broke our contact and walked back the way we had come.

We had a few more brief encounters over the next few weeks. One in particular stood out.

I saw him sitting in an empty corner of the library. He was white as a ghost and one of his hands was tangled in his hair. He just stared blankly ahead. I walked over to him and sat beside him. He barely acknowledged my presence.

"Things will look up." I said.

All I did was sit with him. I think we were there for an hour. It must have been something to do with his task. He barely even moved.

I saw one tear fall from his eye, but that was all.

"We should get going, dinner will be served shortly." I looked up at him and he looked at me with perhaps the saddest eyes I'd ever seen.

I worry that something broke him back then. There must have been a moment where he just gave up on an alternative and it became impossible to block anything out.

"You can change your future you know, any time you like." I leaned over to kiss him on the forehead.

He felt so cold. I was right about him being lonely. As I pulled away from him he tilted his head up and caught my lips with his. I didn't pull away from him; I think he needed to know that someone was here with him.

For once someone was on his side.

When he broke our embrace I smiled. "Next time you do that it should be with the person you really want to do it with. That person is not me. It's not Pansy Parkinson either." He looked so confused.

"I know more about people than they think. Being alone has its upside. I've seen you looking at her when you don't think she's looking." If I were to accurately describe his expression it would probably be horror. "Oh don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I just think that you shouldn't count anything out." I pecked his lips with mine. "I should probably thank you too; no one's ever thought to do that before, even if they could see someone else in my eyes."

I started walking out of the library to give him something to think about. I had hoped I could give him at least a little bit of hope.