"Dracoooo?" Hermione's voice held out the 'o' for a few seconds more than necessary for her to get his attention. "Have you fallen asleep?" she asked.

Draco kept his eyes closed and restrained himself to not smile.

"Wouldn't it be rather… irrational to talk to a sleeping person, Hermione?" Luna asked her friend. "…Especially a sleeping wizard."

"Luna does have a good point, Hermione," Draco said. He opened his eyes and looked up at the girls. "And, no, I wasn't asleep," he replied, as he got up on his feet. "I was listening to the rain."

Draco pointed to the windows, where it was still drizzling.

The girls nodded in understanding.

"Well, I'm going to head back to my House, now. Need to finish my letter to Father about the new article, so I can send it first thing in the morning," Luna said after a minute or so.

She stepped away from Draco and Hermione.

"Good night, Luna," Draco said.

"See you tomorrow, Luna!" Hermione added with a wave.

"'Night, you two," Luna replied cheerfully. Then, she turned, went up the stairs, and was out of sight.

'I suppose that Luna does give us some alone time on purpose, after all,' Draco thought as he turned to look at Hermione.

"Wow. The past few days have certainly been exciting," Hermione said, sounding exhilarated as she turned to Draco. "Don't you think so?" she asked him. Her hands were clasped together behind her back.

'Well, that's putting it rather bluntly, Hermione,' Draco thought to himself, suppressing a smirk.

"Yeah, it has been." Draco replied, running his fingers through his hair to give his hands something to do. "I hope that it calms down again, soon," he sighed.

Hermione let out a chuckle. "Yes, I suppose that we could use some of the regular old days again," she responded with a smile.

In the next moment, a group of Slytherins, from various years, came out of the Great Hall. Hermione's smile faded as the group started to walk near where Draco and she were standing.

A majority of the Slytherins ignored the two as they walked on. Some of them did look over to the pair. The ones that did, stuck their noses into the air and looked down on Draco and Hermione, smirking.

"Ugh! What's that smell?" One of the students asked.

"Smells like a Mudblood," Answered another one.

The on-lookers cackled at the remark. The group quickly shuffled away, heading towards the dungeons.

In a few minutes, the corridor was empty again, except for Draco and Hermione.

Draco's anger seethed because of his Housemates.

"Come on, Hermione." he said. Absentmindedly, Draco grabbed hold of Hermione's hand as he started to walk away from the Great Hall. He was surprised that she didn't pull her hand back. She just followed him quietly.

Neither of them said anything as they climbed up to the Seventh floor, holding hands. Draco slowed down, so that he was walking by Hermione's side, not making their clasped hands extremely obvious as they went through the castle.

It wasn't until they started to get close to the portrait of the Fat Lady, that Hermione took her hand back and stopped walking.

Draco turned to her to see what had happened.

"I'm sorry, Draco," Hermione said, her voice tainted by sadness.

"For what?" he asked. "You haven't done anything wrong." He looked at her curiously, his head tilted to the side slightly.

"Well…it's just…I see how the others look at you. They treat you right, because of your family and…your heritage. But I see the way that they…look down on you…" she turned away from him. "Especially when you're with me." She was rubbing one arm with the other as she spoke.

"Hermione, do you honestly think that I give a damn about what they say or do?" Draco said, feeling slightly frantic. His eyes shifted around the deserted corridor as he contemplated what he would say next.

"Draco, you're a Pureblood. They make it apparent that you shouldn't have anything to do with a…Muggle-born. Like me."

"Hermione Granger," Draco took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him, "I don't care about what anyone else thinks about me, how they look at me, or how they might treat me."

Draco looked deep into Hermione's eyes. They were tinged with the same sadness that she showed in her voice. Nevertheless, Draco kept staring into her brown eyes. "All that matters to me is you."

He pulled Hermione close to him, wrapping his arms around her. He was sure that she could feel his heart rapidly pounding against his ribcage, but he didn't care. As far as Draco was concerned, Hermione was where she belonged.

"Nothing and nobody could ever come close to the best, compared to you." he whispered.

After a few moments, Draco relaxed his hold on her. Hermione took a small step back, just enough so that she could look up at him. Draco's arms still held onto her, not wanting to let go of this precious moment. He saw that Hermione's eyes were shining with tiny beads of moisture. As she blinked, a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

"What's wrong?" he asked with a whisper. He raised one hand up to her face, caressing it. Then, he followed the trail that the tear had left behind with his finger, removing the proof of its existence. He slowly lowered his hand back down to her neck. Draco gently cupped her neck in his hand.

Hermione smiled up at Draco, her cheeks were colored by a light blush. She shook her head, her hair bouncing with each shake. "Draco…"

House points to my totally awesome beta, A La DarkAngel! ^_^

Thank you all very much for reviews, fav, alerts, ect!