New chapter! :D thanks go to c0lorless r0ses, Aramanth01 and snapplexo for your reviews - really appreciate your feedback! I hope all you guys are enjoying the story so far and please remember to let me know your opinion, I always want to hear it :)

Hermione knew it was Draco knocking on her office door. She'd set up a charm on her office door that allowed her to see through it whenever anyone knocked on the heavy, wooden surface, and the second Draco's face had flashed before her she laid down her quill and stayed as still – and as silent – as she possibly could.

He'd given up eventually. She was supposed to have met him for another tutoring session two days ago, but after what he'd said…

She sighed, leaning back in her chair. The clock on the mantelpiece chimed one – was it that late already? – and so she stood up, stretched, and began changing into her pyjamas. She'd have to sleep in the office again. Filch was prowling the corridors more vigilantly than ever, after the last wizarding war, and Hermione knew that he'd take any excuse to put her in detention.

She fastened the last button on her blue teddy-bear pyjamas and crawled into bed.

There was a sharp rap on her window.

Hermione groaned, throwing off the covers. She hauled herself out of bed, slouching over to the window. Who'd be sending letters at this time of night?

She opened the window.

But she did not find an owl perched on her windowsill, a letter clamped in its beak.

Instead, she found Draco Malfoy, sitting on a broomstick that was hovering, effortlessly still, outside her window.

She gaped at him.

"Granger," he said, a little stiffly, glancing down at her blue pyjamas. Hermione felt the heat creep up into her cheeks – she was starting to wish she wasn't wearing something patterned with little blue bears.

"Hello."

"I wanted to find you earlier, but you weren't in," he muttered, and Hermione's blush deepened. "I owe you an apology, it seems."

The bitter night air stung Hermione's cheeks and tugged at the ends of her wild hair, but she said nothing. When he spoke, Draco's teeth were chattering together so hard that she could barely understand him.

"I'm sorry I said I was ashamed to take help from you," he muttered, "I'm not. Not really."

She raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you say it? Tell me, Malfoy, who exactly is disgracing you when they offer you help: Mudbloods in general, or just me in particular?"

Draco's mouth fell open. He looked like she'd slapped him.

"It's not like that," he snapped, "look, I know I've said – and done – some stuff that's hurt you in the past but that's just it – it's in the past. Things are…difficult, now, but I'm trying to change them for the better, I really am. What happened in the library was stupid and I never should have said it, but that doesn't make me any less sorry for it."

Hermione folded her arms. Her eyes flickered over Draco's face. There was a shadow of a bruise around his left eye, and a cut on his lip that was slowly healing over.

Clearly, things were more difficult for Draco than he was letting on.

She sighed, and stepped away from the window.

"Come in," she muttered, crossing over to the fireplace, "I'll stick the kettle on."

Hermione placed a steaming mug of tea in front of Draco and sat back in the armchair she had conjured, her arms folded. He took it. For a split second she thought he was going to throw it back in her face – a few years ago, he would have done – but he just raised the cup to his thin lips and drank.

He looked awful.

He was clearly freezing, even though she'd stoked up the fire and made him sit next to it – his skin was almost grey, it was so pale. She wondered how long he'd been waiting for her outside her window. His pale skin made the fading bruise around his swollen eye show up more starkly than ever, and the cut across his lip was the only flash of colour in his pale face. He smiled curtly at her by way of thanks, and the cut opened up and started bleeding.

"What happened to you?"

Draco sipped his tea and avoided her eyes. "I flew into the Whomping Willow."

"I doubt that," she said, drinking from her own mug, "I'd have heard about that. It's in full view of the school, it'd be impossible to miss."

He said nothing.

"But I'm willing to bet I wouldn't have heard about a couple of students getting into a fight," she said, fixing Draco's pale face with a shrewd look, "or about someone getting beaten up when there's no witnesses to report it."

Draco choked on his tea.

Hermione leaned forwards. "Look, I can tell people you had a flying accident if you like, Draco, but if you're being bullied you should tell someone about it."

"I'm not being bullied!" he snapped, "Malfoys do not get bullied!"

She snorted with laughter. "Don't tell me you just ran into his fists, then?"

He glared at her. "It's just a couple of fights, Granger! It's none of your business! And how do you know I wasn't the one who started them! I'm a Malfoy: we're much more likely to be the bully than the victim!"

She looked at him very coolly over the top of her cup.

"I'm well aware of that."

He flushed.

"Besides," she said, straightening up, "while that may have been the case a few years ago, I'm inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. I haven't heard you use the word 'Mudblood' since we came back."

For a split second, she could have sworn she saw the corners of his mouth twitch, as if he was fighting back a smile. He opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a hand and jerked her head towards the door. A slow, shuffling sound was seeping through the gap under the door, and as it grew louder, they both heard the sounds of Argus Filch's bitter mutterings about Peeves' latest mess.

Both of them froze, staring at each other.

Slowly, Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket and wrote in the air. Gleaming gold letters hovered in the air silently, spelling out the words:

If he finds me coming out of your office in the middle of the night we'll both be in trouble.

Hermione bit her lip. He was right. Students weren't supposed to be out of bed this late, but that would be the least of their problems. If Draco Malfoy was found sneaking out of her private room in the middle of the night, not only would it be all over the school in a matter of seconds, but she would definitely lose the office and would probably lose her position as Head Girl, along with half – if not all – of the internship offers she'd received. Oh, and, of course, her relationship with Ron would be over.

And that was to say nothing of the repercussions for Draco. She had a sneaking suspicion his recent bruises were the result of someone seeing his attempts to get her to tutor him – probably some well-meaning idiot who thought she needed protecting from a former Death Eater. If he was caught coming back from her room in the middle of the night, it'd be a wonder if he survived until Christmas.

There was only one thing to do.

She waited until Filch's shuffling footsteps had faded, and then let out a sigh.

"All right," she whispered, "you'd better stay here tonight."