It had been week since Draco snuck into the hospital wing to visit Hermione.

And he couldn't get it out of his head.

He even dreamt of her. Every night. The way she smelled. The sound of her voice. It would be absolutely vile if they weren't the only thing granting him any peace in the situation. Sitting in class, looking at her empty seat, practically killed him.

And he couldn't tell anyone.

Normally his dreams were sweet...sometimes even a bit salty. Tonight's was different. His feet were moving as fast as they would take them, weaving in and out of the shadows, trying to escape the ever looming feeling of death that was following him. Tears streamed down his pale cheeks; whenever he opened his mouth to scream for help, nothing came out. He had no idea where he was going, just wandering aimlessly, trying to find safety.

Then he ended up in the hospital wing once more. Before he'd stepped timidly but now, he ran. There was Weasley and Potter hovering over her with Dumbledore and McGonagall. They didn't seem to sense his presence just as he couldn't sense the darkness that'd been following him. Using his icy orbs to scan over their faces he realized now why it wasn't chasing him any longer.

It was here. On their faces.

Pushing past their stone, forlorn bodies he stood over Hermione. Her face was still ice but the rosy tint had faded. So had the light in her eyes. The were the only sliver of hope she was still in there.

"No…" he whispered to her, "You have to wake up."

Now he felt alone. Tearing his eyes from Granger for only a moment, all the others had disappeared. Turning back to the bed - so had she.

"Hello!?" Draco finally found his voice. Calling out to anyone that could possibly hear him. "Hermione?!"

She whispered back to him as if molded with the wind, "I'm here."

Comfort came, but just barely. "Where?" Was he talking to himself.

The air brushed against his ear and his eyes closed. She was here. "Wake up, Draco." Her voice was persistent.

"Wake up, Draco! Wake up!"

He did. Jolting up in a cold sweat, Draco clutched the blanket to his bare chest. The peek of sunrise was shining through his windows. "A bloody nightmare," He muttered to himself. He noticed his hands were shaking. His stomach was sick. "This woman is petrified and can still drive me mad." That thought alone brought a tiniest of smiles to his face. He liked it when she drove him crazy. Made him think.

Hermione Granger could make him a better boy...if he'd just wake up.

Was that what she'd meant? Shaking the thought away, Draco deduced it was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. She couldn't have been speaking to him through his dreams. That was impossible.

That night, Lucius had come to Hogwarts. He was waiting for Draco in the Common Room.

"Where were you lurking?" Lucius had the same tone of judgement dripping from his tone.

Dropping his bag, Draco shrugged. The whole day he hadn't been able to pay attention in his lessons. The nightmare had been playing on a loop in his head. Over and over and over. Hoping to get the thought from his head, Draco had chosen to skip dinner to go for a walk. "I was outside reading." He answered simply. It wasn't as though he could tell his father he was dreaming of a mudblood.

Lucius' face seemed as if he were reading every corner of his son's face, attempting to catch him in a lie.

"What are you doing here, father?"

Sneering, his father explained, "Fudge and I are planning on taking that incompetent excuse for a groundskeeper to Azkaban tonight. I thought I would...check up."

The way Lucius dragged out those last words, looking him up and down, made Draco's skin crawl. Something else was going on; he could feel it. "I'm fine, father."

"I suppose you are." He reached out to touch his son. The moment his palm touch his shoulder, Draco felt it. That same darkness that had been chasing him in his nightmare. Her words then echoed in his head. Wake up.

He shuddered and Lucius pulled back. "Draco." That was his goodbye. Draco stood perfectly still as his father slunk passed him. The air had been sucked from the room and only with his departure did he feel the oxygen returning to his lungs.

Wake. Up.

His body went limp and he fell to his knees. Running his hair through his blond locks in frustration, Draco pulled at the edges. This had to mean something. Was she warning him of danger? He had to know.

He'd have to see her again.

Just as that night, Draco waited for nightfall. Sneaking into the hospital wing, he ran to Hermione's bed just as he'd seen before. It felt eerie. "Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead."

Seeing her, though still petrified, her face brought him joy. Instinctively, Draco reached out to stroke her cheek. They were still rosey; her eyes were still full. There was still a sign of life.

"What are you doing to me?" His voice cracked. It was vulnerable in a way he'd never heard before. "Why are you doing? Get out of my head Granger."

He waited as if she were going to respond. Nothing. Sighing, he touched her hand. "I can't feel this way anymore. It," Draco swallowed back a lump forming in his throat. It hurt him to say such, "It's not right. We can never be."

"Mr. Malfoy."

The greeting came from Dumbledore. Turning sharply to face the professor, his expression dropped. "Professor." Usually he spoke to the man with disgust - something he'd learnt from his father. Tonight, it was of fear and slight shame.

Dumbledore stayed in his place at the doorway though his face said it all. He'd caught Draco and he was...pleased, perhaps? "I was wondering when you would come back."

"I…" Draco didn't know what he would say.

The professor held up a hand to stop him and simply shook his head, "A beautiful thing, romance. Love. It'd be a shame for such a gift to be ruined by selfish pride. A blood bias." Giving the young boy a warm smile, he continued, "You see, Draco, love can be a wonderful dream but in order to fully enjoy, sometimes we have to wake up."

Tipping his head, Dumbledore departed to leave Draco with his thoughts that were now racing. Squeezing Hermione's hand, his eyes looked into hers. It all made sense now.

"Sometimes we have to wake up." He repeated.