AN: Okay, I love you all. I am nothing without your reviews- I am addicted to them. I thank you all for your feedback, and your reactions. Also, I apologize if the conversation between Draco and Blaise gave anyone other than Draco a headache- those two just don't know when to quit.

Also! I have a new story titled 'Something Disney This Way Comes?' It's (you guessed it) the product of my newfound unhealthy obsession with HP characters and Disney songs. I'd love if you all went and took a gander at it! (Yes, it is a Dramione. I'm not THAT cruel… jeez…)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter but if I did- OMG JK ROWLING IS RELEASING A NEW BOOK SO MY DISCLAIMER IS NOT IMPORTANT.

Heads Dorm, Hermione:

45 books, 6 hours of research, 3 trips to the library, 1 argument with Madame Pince later, and she had found it. She'd found it!

Hermione clutched the volume to her chest as she stood up on her bed and began to dance around, bouncing from one foot to the next, spinning in a rather clumsy victory circle. So clumsy, in fact, that she lost her balance and fell hard onto her bed, bouncing and laughing all the while. The fall had hurt some, but she didn't care. She had found it!

And it was perfect!

So caught up in her excitement was she, that it took her a moment or two to notice the feminine laughter coming from her doorway. Hermione yelped and jumped for her wand, pointing it at her doorway where she turned and saw… no one. No one? Why did she see no one?

Wait. Harry. Cloak. Female laughter? Female Harry? Polyjuice? But-

Hermione's mind caught up with her just as Ginny pulled off the Cloak and then crashed to the floor, laughing so hard that her face began to match the color of her hair. Hermione saw the Marauder's Map clutched tight in her friend's hand. While Ginny attempted to fight her laughter, Hermione bit her lip and glanced at all of the books around her room. Should she tell Ginny what she was planning? Would Ginny try to talk her out of it? Could she be trusted?

Wait a moment. Why couldn't Ginny be trusted? Ginny was her best friend, Ginny had always been there for her, even through the breakup with Ron. Ginny was a Gryffindor, surely she could be trusted far more than a Slytherin? But that was it, the reason behind her errant thought. Ginny was a Gryffindor, and she a Slytherin. Sodding House rivalries! This made no sense! Hermione had never paid much attention to them before- but that wasn't quite true, was it? No, she had participated in them, maybe not as much as everyone else, but she had. In fact, it was her old views on Slytherins that were a big reason as to why she hated herself for becoming one. Part of the reason that she claimed to be a Gryffindor whenever she had the opportunity. But to think she couldn't trust Ginny after all they had been through, for no reason other than the fact that she was a Gryffindor? That would not do. Hermione waved her wand and sent the books she had flying into nice, neat stacks. Tidy, but hiding nothing. She had nothing to hide from Ginny.

While Hermione scolded herself, Ginny had made herself comfortable on Hermione bed, and was now giving her a look that clearly told her that she was in trouble. But hadn't she already been given then 'you need to be safer and not throw yourself headlong into McGonagall's wards' speech at lunch? Hermione didn't have to wonder long. One of the many things she loved about her friend was the ability to get to the heart of a matter.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were having nightmares?" Ginny demanded, as worry and betrayal battled it out for leading emotion on her face. Hermione groaned into her pillow. Apparently there was something she had to hide from Ginny.

"How did you find out? Do I honestly look that awful?" Hermione asked, refusing to remove her face from the emerald pillow it was buried in. She felt Ginny tugging at it corners to no avail, she was not coming out of her pillow until this conversation was over.

"Blimey Hermione come out of the pillow! And how I know isn't important, "she said, once again trying to rip away Hermione's safe haven. "Though I do have a thing or two to say about how little you're eating, don't think I haven't noticed."

Hermione was silent. Anything she said at this point would only make matters worse- she had no good reason for not eating as she should. Control, maybe. Loss of appetite, possibly. Some stupid reason Ginny was going to make disappear, most likely. She felt wriggling on the bed and next thing she knew Ginny's head was under the pillow with her.

"You won't come out to see me, fine; I'll come under to see you. Bit stuffy in here, really," Ginny said into the silk. Hermione was suddenly overcome with a huge rush of affection towards the woman lying next to her. A woman who would risk suffocation just to make her friend feel better. In one movement Hermione ditched the pillow and pulled her friend into a tight hug. Ginny returned it, holding Hermione close, filling Hermione with warmth that she hadn't known she had been missing.

"Why haven't you been taking Dreamless Sleep? I know you have some on you," Ginny asked softly, petting the mass of curly brown hair in front of her.

"I just… I feel like I'm letting the nightmares win, if I do. Like that horrible woman has beaten me. So each night I tell myself that the nightmares won't come, but they always do. And it's always the same. The faces of those we lost, and then the battle, and then the Horcruxes, and then her. My throat is raw every morning when I wake up…"

"But it wasn't like that this summer, why did they come back? Is it because you're in Slytherin and it's just creepy as hell down here?"

"No, Gin, it's not that. This summer I never had to sleep alone. I was either with you when I was staying at the Burrow, with Ron and Harry when we were off looking for my parents, and then once my parents were home my mother stayed with me every night. The nightmares only come when I'm alone," Hermione finished lamely.

What must she sound like? Here she was, supposed to be the badass war hero, defeater of Voldemort, and she couldn't even sleep alone. She wasn't even allowed to walk around Hogwarts without a bodyguard because she'll be attacked like Dean. Some Gryffindor she was. What must Ginny think of her?

"Well that's it then," Ginny said, holding Hermione out by her shoulders and looking her in the eye. "I'll just stay my nights here until the memories aren't so fresh, or we think of another option. I'll have to figure out something to do with Daphne, though… I don't trust the Pratil twins not to do something. She's staying the night in the boy's dorm tonight."

"Pratil twins?"

"Yes, it's what Theo calls them. The name fits, don't you think?"

Hermione laughed, and it felt like the truest laugh she had let out since she had gotten back to Hogwarts. Ginny joined her, and while they sat there laughing (though if you were to ask them later they wouldn't be able to tell you just what it was that was so funny) Hermione heard a door close. With a start, she remembered that she had left her door to the bathroom wide open. At Ginny's gasp, Hermione turned around, and had to fight with every ounce of willpower she had not to gasp as well.

Because, standing right in front of her, was Draco Malfoy. A shirtless Draco Malfoy. A shirtless Draco Malfoy with a black towel around his waist. A shirtless Draco Malfoy with a black towel around his waist and his left arm frozen as he apparently stopped still while running his fingers in his hair. Was that his Dark Mark? But the second she thought she saw it and double checked, it wasn't there. Weird. But then he was moving towards them and it didn't matter. Hermione had caught a glimpse of his chest before, but it was nothing compared to this. He was toned, but not drastically so. Ron was all bulky muscle that hindered his movement, but Malfoy was all tight muscle and sinewy movements, that made her feel like he was a predator and she was his prey.

And she did not mind one bit.

Her mouth dropped open a tiny bit, despite how vehemently she ordered it not to. She just couldn't stop looking at him. One hand gripped the towel to his waist, ensuring that it wouldn't fall, and then other now gripped Hermione doorframe as he leaned against it. She had to fight the urge to whimper, beside her, Ginny actually did. It was so quiet that Hermione almost couldn't hear it, but it still happened.

Ginny's whimper reminded Hermione of her presence, and suddenly Hermione panicked. Would he be upset that Ginny was here? Would he cause a scene? Would he please drop that towel? What-no! No dropping of the towel!

"Alright there Granger?" he asked, looking at her with the same look that had been in his eyes when she had her arm on Blaise's jumper. Hermione, note trusting her voice, simply nodded. He turned his gaze to Ginny, then, and Hermione braced herself for the worst. "Little Red. I see you got in alright."

Huh?

Beside her Ginny nodded her mouth still gaping open. Hermione looked back and forth in confusion. What was going on here that she didn't know about? And then it clicked. There was only one person who could possibly know without a doubt that Hermione had been having nightmares. Malfoy had gone to Ginny. Malfoy had heard her screaming. Malfoy knew that she was weak. She could feel her face turn to one of horror and recognition, and when it did, she saw Malfoy falter slightly.

"Goodnight Ladies," he said, before closing Hermione's door and disappearing from the room. She couldn't read the look on his face through the horror on hers.

"Okay, new rule," Ginny said. "Your bathroom door is never allowed to be closed when I am in this room, unless he closes it. I love Harry, but bloody hell!"

"HE WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD YOU?"

Ginny blanched. This, when you think about it, is quite a feat for a Weasley.

"DRACO MALFOY WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD YOU? HE KNOWS?"

"How do you think I got the passwords to get in, Hermione? Really, it's alright. He came to me this morning, told me that Pansy said you were really missing your old friends and that Pansy had ordered him that in order for him to apologize for being such a prat in the beginning of the year. That's all he knows- I was only guessing about the nightmares when I saw the bottle of Dreamless Sleep on your bedside table. The very same bottle that you had this summer. I guessed- you confirmed. Now calm down and stop yelling already!"

Relief flooded her veins and Hermione sagged onto her bed again. She could hear the shower going on next door, and the thrum of the wards that prevented her going in while he was indecent was a strangely comforting sound.

"So, back to the important things, I'm serious about that new rule."

Hermione felt a grin crawl up onto her cheeks as she thought about how delicious he had looked while leaning against her doorframe. It really was a shame that he was a blood supremacist, masochistic, prat.

"Deal."

Bathroom, Draco:

Little Red was in the wrong House. This, Draco knew for a fact. She had to have made a deal to stay in Gryffindor- had she promised to look after the Slytherins? But no… the hat wasn't on her long enough. Maybe the hat knew that there was no point in switching her because there was no way she would stand for it, and she would convince it to let her stay anyway, and he was just saving himself some time.

Still, Little Red was a Slytherin, and that was the end of it.

He had NEVER seen someone take Granger's fuse and cut it- just like that! How did she think of a lie so quickly? He just- he was floored. Little Red now had his complete and total respect, until the end of time. He had almost ruined everything and he didn't even know what it was he might have been ruining. He knew that Granger still hated him, which is great because he hated her too, but there was no denying the fact that when her mouth had dropped open, a jolt was sent straight down to his prick.

Once again Draco cursed the fact that he had seen her in that robe, otherwise he wouldn't be having these reactions.

Even though the shower was on, he was still leaning against the door; he had stopped to listen in to see whether or not he needed to be on the lookout for an attack any time soon. Now that he knew he was in the clear, he should probably get into the shower and take care of the part of his anatomy currently demanding his attention. Draco dropped his towel and the glamour on his arm, once again allowing his Mark to see the light of day. He doubted that either of the girls saw it since their attention was clearly elsewhere, but he still needs to be careful. It wouldn't do to remind anyone.

As he stepped into the warm water, he remembered the reactions he had inspired- even in Little Red, who had Potter. The fact that he may very well have a one up on Potter, even one he couldn't share, was enough to make Draco's whole day. As he shoved his head under the stream of water, his arm drifted downwards, grabbing hold of himself and beginning to stroke, finally giving in to the twisted images that had been plaguing his mind since that first morning.

Draco bit back a groan as his fingers moved over his head and back down his shaft, imagining Granger standing, dripping wet before him. Another pass over his head, and another image in his mind. This time its Granger twisting under him, head thrown back as she is screams his name before biting her lips. Merlin, every time caught her biting her lip he wanted it to be his teeth clamped around it, not hers. Salazar how he wanted to make her scream, wanted to make her writhe in pleasure, he wanted to make her want him and beg for more.

He moved quicker now, images of Granger flying through his mind as he sought out his release. The pressure was building, and his out of practice arm was beginning to cramp, but he didn't care. All that mattered was- ohfuckyes!

He came all over his hand and the shower, breathing heavily because he refused to cry out and alert people to what it was he was doing. Panting, he leaned against the tiles and attempted to catch his breath. He was never going to allow himself to go that long without release again, ever. But then he remembered what exactly it was that he was wanking over, or more precisely whom, and he slammed his head into the tiles. And then he did it again. And again.

It shouldn't matter that he had seen her soaking wet and in a robe that didn't cover much- she was a mud- muggle-born. He couldn't even say the name anymore! What was wrong with him? What had changed to change her from an 'it' to a 'she'? A she that he wanked over?

Draco finished the rest of his shower in misery.

AN: Reviews make me happy. A happy me, writes more.