AN: Okay here we go with another chapter! Now I'm sitting here looking at my outlines and such and I realized that I'm not going to be showing certain things that I feel like you all may want me to show. So when I've left out a scene that you would really like more information on, or would really like for me to write it just let me know because I've decided that I'll do a series of one-shots that go along with 'The Sorting'. Missing scenes and the like. So if you feel like I've left something out just let me know in a PM and I'll put it on my list for my other project : ]

I love how at this point everyone hates Ron so much that they didn't notice his initial concern for her when he read the paper. Must mean I'm doing something right! Rest assured for everything I do there is a reason, and he isn't as horrible a person as you think he is.

Also! I am aware of the fact that we are in chapter 23 and there has still not been any smut or anything, but this is a very slow burn and I promise you that it will all be worth the wait! I mean you've stuck around for this long to have to at least trust me a little bit, right?

Sorry about how long this update took, as those of you who follow me on Tumblr know, I had this chapter almost completed before I pressed a bad button that made it all disappear, forcing me to start all over again.

I threw things.

And now we get back to the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the plot blah blah blah

October 13th

Dinner, Great Hall, Draco:

Pansy and Granger had been missing since breakfast, as had the Headmistress, and it was really setting Draco on edge.

Then again, at this point it seemed as if everyone was on edge. The tentative peace's and glimpses of joy that had finally begun to reappear among the students had all but evaporated- leaving behind only a suffocating cloud of depression, fear, and despair. He didn't miss the glares that were being shot discreetly towards the Slytherin table and each new face that turn towards them made Draco want to hurt something. Did they not listen properly? Had no one paid any attention to the fact that families were being attacked from /both/ sides of the war?

No one knew who was behind these attacks; though a sinking feeling in his gut was trying to tell him that Lucius was a part of it. He went over each word in the letter in his mind, but he just couldn't seem to make heads nor tails of any of this. Another thing he couldn't fathom was why he hadn't known that Pansy's parents were dead- had she been hiding it? Or was he honestly that horrid a friend that he'd not noticed anything or ignored it in the news? No, she must have been hiding it.

As a matter of fact, the only person who hadn't seemed surprised at all had been Daphne… but it seemed as if something had happened between her and Longbottom. There was nothing else he could think of that would have she and Theo sitting there at the Slytherin table instead of over with the Gryffindors like they usually were. Now, he didn't really care about the relationship but Daphne seemed as though she would hex the next person who looked at her the wrong way and he liked his bits the way they were, thank you.

Draco was pulled from his thoughts when a glimpse of something white flashed in the corner of his eye. He turned to see that Loony Lovegood had entered the Great hall, swaying and dancing to her own tune, seemingly undisturbed by the pensive moods of the Hall. She drifted and bobbed, making her way over to the Slytherin table, where she spun around to come up behind Draco and bop him on the head.

He was almost too busy spluttering to catch what it was that she said.

"Things aren't what they seem; You are who you are but you're not, he is who he's always been and yet he'll never be the same for all that he'll never change, and that one? That one isn't himself at all but that's because they are more than what he is. Hard to deal with that, you know!"

Draco wanted to jinx the silly chit, but his mind was too bogged down trying to make sense of the gibberish she spat out. He sat there going over every word again in his head while Lovegood continued to prattle on at those who sat with him at the table. Daphne was next.

"You know damn well why you're doing what you are and it's isn't for why you think it is. Now stop it because that thought you're thinking is utter nonsense, meanwhile who knows what'll happen if the damage isn't undone? Bad faith on you, Daphne. Now shoo! Follow the Nargles before your ghosts get back."

He stared in bemused disbelief as a shell-shocked Daphne scrambled to follow the little wisp of a blonde girl's orders. Not a single word she'd said yet had made sense, and her tone hadn't drifted off from the quiet musical dreamy lilt that she used on a day to day basis. He continued to watch on as her attention drifted to Dean.

"Stop being stupid, you think this chance will last forever? You know better than that. Oh, and your team won last night, your sister is writing to tell you… act surprised though, alright?"

Blaise received an enigmatic smile. "Yes to your question, though next weekend would be better. I have a bit of a research project that I'm working on and it really is of the highest importance…."

At this point shed begun to drift away, but not before flicking Theo on the nose and giving him a glare that clearly stated 'I'm watching you' and had Draco wondering despite himself what it was his friend had done to earn the dratted thing. And then she was gone, skipping away to the Ravenclaw table as if nothing had happened, whistling a merry little tune.

For the rest of the meal Draco had to fight an urge to hex Blaise, although he truly couldn't imagine why.

After Dinner, Hufflepuff Common Room, Goyle:

He didn't want to go up to his room, because somehow that made everything feel just a little bit worse. The common room was deserted, and he probably should go to the library and find Millie or something so that he could get some of his homework done, but he just lacked the motivation to do any of it. Instead he found himself lying on one of the window seats tucked away into the corner, out of sight for anyone who would want to come down- this way he wouldn't bother anyone.

Not that his housemates were bad to him or Millie or anything, they were honestly quite amicable. But it wasn't like any of them reached out to try and be friends or anything, they simply interacted when they had to or else left him to his own devices. Things weren't so bad for Millie, but then again she hadn't been as horrible to everyone as he had been.

He wondered how much their opinions would change if they knew that Millie bore the Mark while he didn't. Would it matter? Greg didn't begrudge Millie her happiness though, mostly he just missed Vince. The Vince that existed before the War… before everything had gone mad.

Things were still mad, though, for all that it seemed as if he and Lovegood were the only ones to see it. And honestly who would believe him? Or Lovegood for that matter?

No, it was best just to stay quiet. Stay out of the way. It had worked well enough for him so far, hadn't it?

Loud voices interrupted his thoughts, and once he'd distinguished to whom those voices belonged, Greg was very glad indeed that he'd chosen to hide himself away in the corner.

"-the bloody hell is wrong with you? You don't talk to her for months and then suddenly you're rushing over and-"

"I was worried about her, alright?! I saw the name of the village in the paper and I just… lost it! I didn't want her to be alone when she read it and-"

"Seriously, Ron? I'm surprised you even cared at all, what with the way you've been acting."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?! How could I not care! You weren't there after she'd obliviated her parents, Harry. You didn't see what it did to her and… Merlin I just couldn't think of her having to go through it again," Weasley said, his voice turning rough.

He heard Potter sigh, and he could picture the man running his fingers through his already messy hair.

"Mate… you've got to stop doing this. You're my best mate and you know that I would do anything for you, but Hermione is like my sister. This whole bloody thing has been killing her, killing all of us really. Especially since you can't give us any better reason except for the fact that she's a Slytherin."

"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose! Some days I think I'll try to go over and apologize, which you know I'm not good at, but then I just see her wearing those colors and getting all cozy with them and I lose it and get angry all over again."

"Ron this is 'Mione we're talking a-"

"Don't call her that."

Greg heard Potter groan before he continued. "Fine, Hermione has saved our lives more times than I can even count. She's always been around, always been a part of us. I thought we were done with all the fighting, mate."

"Yeah, well, so did I Harry."

"Then what is wrong with you? I feel like this is sixth year all bloody over again!"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW, ALRIGHT?! Nothing is right, nothing feels right. One moment I'm fine and the next all I have is rage and nothing makes sense and I can't fucking control it!" Weasley screamed, sounding a bit hysterical.

"Then stay away from her. I'm serious, Ron. You stay away from her until you manage to pull your head from your arse, because this is just ridiculous. You think I'm happy she's in Slytherin? No! Anything to do with Slytherin makes my blood boil, and I've been having doubts too and I have no bloody clue where they're coming from or what's happening to all of us, but this? What you're doing? You're splitting everything apart. Get yourself together, and while you do, stay the fuck away from her."

"Harry-"

"No. No more excuses. Ron, if it comes down to it I'm siding with Hermione on this one."

And then there were footsteps, the sound of the door closing, and a cry of rage. Or was it desperation? Greg couldn't tell, but he was left in a unique position. Something was wrong with Weasley, he'd decided this before, but if Potter was turning his back on the man, what good would that do? Greg had experience being all alone, now.

And it was awful.

So he moved from his sofa in the corner to come up next to Weasley, who was still standing in the middle of the room, glaring at the door and breathing heavily. The redhead noticed him and turned, his voice thick when he spoke.

"What do you want, Goyle?"

The violence in his tone almost made him second guess what he was about to do, but what was the worst that could happen? Anything Weasley threw at him couldn't possibly be worse than some of the things he'd witnessed before.

"Come with me to the library, we can get that essay for Slughorn out of the way," he answered, studying the other's reaction closely.

There was no hiding the shock and confusion that took over his features, and for a moment he looked as if he had just been called on unexpectedly in class.

"Have you gone mental? Why in Merlin's name would I want to go with you?" He asked, dumbfounded.

Greg wasn't insulted by the question, considering the fact that a part of his own mind was asking himself the very same thing about Weasley. He sighed and shuffled around for a bit before answering.

"I'm not exactly sure if you've noticed this, mate, but you haven't got a lot of options at the moment," he paused before continuing. "And neither have I."

Weasley was taking so long to answer that Greg was positive that he would say to bugger off. The redhead's gaze was on the ground and Greg was about to turn to leave when a quiet voice spoke up.

"Yeah, alright."

Around 11pm, Head's Dorm, Draco:

It wasn't like he was waiting up for her or anything. It was Pansy that he was worried about, after all. Not Granger.

Draco was sitting in the arm chair of their private little common room, staring into the fireplace… as he had been for the past few hours.

The Weasley ghost had come to stop in for a chat during that time, and he honestly had no idea what that had become acceptable, but he could understand the ghost's boredom. The live one had had to return to their little shop of terrors and brightly colored things for a bit, and until he returned the ghost had found himself with not much to do.

Apparently Peeves was off working on a 'big project' -words that caused a groan to escape Draco's lips because he just knew there would be a mess to clean up afterwards. They still hadn't been able to get rid of the paint on the House tables in the Great Hall, and Draco, for one, was getting tired of eating his meals while the top of his table danced with the Gryffindor Crest.

After the ghost had gone (with a promise to come by again) Draco was left to stare at the flames, doing his best to keep his thoughts from forming because if that were to happen he would be forced to contemplate Lovegood's words from earlier. Words that still made no sense but still sent shivers up and down his spine, possibly because he felt as though he was losing all sense of his own identity... and did he ever even have on in the first place?

The portrait opened and through it came an exhausted Granger- who stopped short the moment she noticed Draco in the room. Or maybe it was because the moment the portrait had opened, Draco had leapt to his feet.

This was already beginning to feel like that first morning in the bathroom all over again.

"Malfoy... were you… waiting on me?" Granger asked tentatively, almost as if she couldn't believe it. And why would she? The chit had no knowledge of the fact that Draco had been set a task by a crazy old hat, a quest that he'd been dutifully ignoring for the most part, but that was honestly beside the point, wasn't it?

"Erm."

Oh, yes, Draco. That was very eloquent, sure to answer all of the questions in her head, not sprout more as raise suspicion to the fact that you're acting like a 12 year-old.

Merlin. Was she smiling? Salazar help him, she was. He was being laughed at by Granger and when had this become his life? Draco felt as if he needed to have a nice long chat with himself about things that were and were not acceptable because it seemed he had completely forgotten.

Her hands were very small…

"Why did you catch me, earlier? Several times actually today you… why?" she asked, and why did she sound so afraid of him?

His mind flashed to the images of her writhing on his drawing room floor, screaming while her eyes pleaded with him to help her and he did nothing. To the image of him about to attack her in the bathroom after she'd brought him back to his senses. Of all the times he'd tormented her over the years… who was he kidding? Of course she would be afraid of him.

"Because I didn't help you when I should have," he said quietly. What was it about this girl that always had words flowing from his mouth without verifying them with his head first? This sort of behavior was not becoming of a Malfoy, and it would not do for it to continue on any longer.

The look on her face, Draco admitted, may have indeed been worth it though. Her mouth popped open into a small little oh of surprise, and her eyes widened just a bit. It seemed as if he wasn't the only one to be caught off guard that night. Granger seemed to be struggling to find anything to say, and the silence was getting a bit thick for his liking, so he continued.

"Your parents?" he asked, hoping that she would know what he meant. She seemed to come back to herself at his inquiry, and nodded.

"They've been moved… Pansy has even decided to accept other muggle-born parents into her manor, if they wish it. But we spent the day getting them settled… I think my father enjoys house-elves a bit too much for my liking," she rambled, as though she was nervous. It was a rather refreshing sight to see, if he was honest.

An eyebrow quirked at her mention of house-elves.

"I do believe that would be something along the lines of a pot calling a kettle black, if I'm not mistaken…"

"Oh, pack it in, I don't want to hear it," Granger said, though there was a laugh written on her face as she did so. The girl began moving up the stairs to her bedroom, yawning, and leaving Draco standing in the common room staring after her. That is until she stopped and seemed to debate something for a bit, if the wavering in her steps was anything to go by. And then she turned her head and said, "Goodnight… Draco."

That infuriating witch was through her door and into her bedroom, where Little Red was already asleep, before what she'd said had fully registered in his mind.

Now it was Draco's turn to be dumbfounded.

AN: I know this chapter is a bit short, and about a month or so late, but I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. I'm on fall break and I hope to crank out another one before I go back to University. Next chapter shows Daph getting back to her Slytherin roots!