Disclaimer:Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me. The plot is my own^^

"I'm sorry," said Draco, his voice full of surprise, "but what?"

"I was wondering if you could cover some of my head duties for me?"

Draco was shocked. Absolutely and completely shocked. Never in his life would he have guessed that Hermione Granger would ask for his help. Of course, he couldn't debate her reasons.

She came to him and asked if he could cover some of her head duties because she didn't feel well and she was too tired. The dark circles under her eyes, her sleeping in classes, and her actually asking for his help were all valid vouchers that she really wasn't up for patrolling the halls in the late hours of the evening and night.

She was humiliated, he could see. Her usually pale face had flushed scarlet, her eyes averted. And as much as her wanted to refuse her, merely to see what she would do, he found himself unable.

Perhaps it was because he just happened to be wherever she was, for they were partners in all the same classes and they shared the same lunch period, but he seemed to notice little things about her over the past few weeks. He noticed when her strength began to wane, that she hardly ever ate, and that she never paid attention to Weasley's bizarre stories. The last of these he noted with an odd sort of satisfaction that could only belong to the feeling of jealousy. He knew that something was wrong, and he didn't have the heart to ask what exactly it was.

"Okay," he replied. His answer seemed to catch Hermione off guard, for she nearly began to protest until she had realized just what he had said.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, just stop falling asleep in class. Every time you fall asleep in Charms, Flitwick glares at me as if it's my fault." Draco's attempt to make her laugh was a success. A real success, not one of those fake laughs that she offers to Weasley.

"Thank you so much Malfoy," she said gratefully, relief evident in her features. "I owe you one."

"Whatever you say Granger," was his seemingly bored response. "Now go to bed. It's getting late, and I didn't take half your head duties so that you could still fall asleep in class. I'm telling you, Flitwick can be pretty menacing when he wants to be. Though why it's me he glares at, I have no idea. You're the one who's falling asleep in his class."

"Right," replied Hermione, heading to her own room. "Night Malfoy thanks again."

Hermione woke up, surprisingly on time, and went to the bathroom, brushed her hair and teeth and filled the glass that was beside the sink with water. This routine, which she did every morning and night, had gotten monotonous since the time when she had first gotten her medicine. She was so sick of taking those stupid little pills that she could throw them out the window of a rather tall tower. Or rather, she could if she dared to see what would happen if she didn't take them.

She swallowed the pill and downed the rest of the water in the glass. Hearing a noise to her right, she turned to see none other than Draco Malfoy standing on the doorway looking uneasily at her.

Wonderful, she thought grimly. Of all the people to find out the one thing that she didn't want anyone to know, it had to be Draco Malfoy, the notorious 'mudblood' hater.

"Shit," she whispered. She was caught, and she knew it.

"What was that?" he asked, indicating to the orange bottle still clasped in Hermione's hand

"Nothing," she replied, hoping to talk her way out of an explanation, "just aspirin. Don't you knock?"

"No, and aspirin my arse. That doesn't come in lovely orange bottles."

Well, thought Hermione, there goes my chance of talking my way out of it. Why did he even know what aspirin was, anyway?

"If whatever you have is contagious, I swear, someone's moving out."

"It's not contagious Malfoy, so just drop it. It's got nothing to do with you." Her tone was harsh, and her words stung. Nothing to do with him? If there was something wrong with her, he wanted to know about it.

Though she probably didn't want to admit it, neither did he for that matter, they had become something like friends over the past month. Did she honestly believe that he didn't care at all about her?

"Draco, please," she pleaded, "please, nobody can find out about this. Please, don't tell anyone what you saw. I-I've gotta go now. See ya in potions." He nodded and let her leave. What could he do if she didn't want him to know what was wrong with her?

The answer came to him as a small orange bottle sitting on the sink counter caught his eye. He could find the reason for Hermione's strange behavior himself. He went to the bottle and began to read.

Hermione walked quickly to the great hall wondering why. Why the hell did she leave the bottle on the bathroom sink? There was only one reason that she could think of. She didn't want to be alone in this. She didn't want to have to fight and fight and not have anyone to pick her up when she fell. And for some reason, she trusted Draco would do this for her.

She had realized over the past month that they had formed an odd form of friendship, that they could get along. She knew that her words hurt him. Who wouldn't be hurt if they were told that they couldn't care about humans, that they didn't have a soul?

She made it to the Gryffindor table and sat between Harry and Ron, who waseating ravenously, of course.

"Hey Harry, Ron," she greeted cheerfully.

"Jeez 'Mione," asked Ron as he shoveled more eggs into his oversized mouth, "how can you be so peppy so early?"

"How are you able to shove so much food into your mouth all at once?" she countered, receiving a chuckle from Harry.

"Yeah mate," added Seamus, "it's gross. Besides, it's not like it's going to disappear if it doesn't all go into your mouth at the same time."

"And it's not healthy," contributed Dean. "If you shove so much food in your mouth, you might choke on it, what would we do then?"

"Not much, I'm guessing," grumbled Ron. "Let me choke perhaps?" Laughs echoed around the table.

Suddenly, Hermione's head began to pound, the pain of it causing her to wince. Assuming that the pain would only worsen, she quickly mumbled an excuse and left the table, briefly hearing Ron comment about over crammed schedules.

She bolted from the great hall and stumbled to her common room. She spoke the password and entered the head's dorms, her hand pressed to her head as she tried to ease the pain. The pounding eased a bit and she became aware of her surroundings with a sense of dread. Draco Malfoy was sitting on the edge of the chair, gazing at her in apparent concern as her vision blurred once more. She braced herself against the wall and Draco began to stand, sensing her loss of balance, but Hermione stayed him.

"I'm fine," she said, raising her other hand towards him. Knowing that the weak gesture was meant to make him stay where he was, Draco sat once more. However, there was no way in Hell that he was going to allow her to stand there, waiting to crack her skull.

"Maybe you should sit down." He gestured to the couch.

"I'm fine," repeated Hermione.

"Humor me." Knowing that Draco would no longer allow her to stand, Hermione made her way to the couch. It didn't escape her notice that Draco was braced to catch her should she fall.

"You read it?" she asked as she sat, already knowing the answer. Draco merely nodded. After a short pause, he opened his mouth, as if to speak, and closed it again, unsure if he could ask the question that was burning in his throat.

"Go ahead, ask it."

"Is it fatal?"

Hermione smiled sadly and nodded. "I have a little more than 10 months left." Her voice sounded so sad, so resigned to the fact that her life was ending at a rapid pace.

"Can't they do something?"

"Nothing can be done. I've already checked with St. Mungos, and they said it was impossible. After all, such thinking is why we keep ourselves hidden from muggles, isn't it?
they would want a magical solution to everything, and that just can't happen." Again, she used that resigned tone, like she had already given up all hope, and for some reason, this upset Draco to no end.

"Of course something can be done," he said without thinking. "You've just got to fight it!" Hermione's calm demeanor vanished instantly as she looked angrily to Draco.

"This isn't the sort of thing you can fight Draco! This is the sort of thing that you fight and fight and you still wind up dead! This is the sort of thing that can't be cured." Her tone became softer. "Besides, what's the point in using the little time that I do have left to fight a losing battle?"

"But it's not a pointless battle," argued Draco. "There are plenty of people who care about you. You're part of the Golden Trio for God's sake!" He looked back to Hermione and his anger dissipated instantly, because on the couch sat Hermione clutching her head in obvious agony, a soft whimper of pain escaping from her lips.

He acted with an alarming speed that surprised even him as he scooped Hermione up from the couch, briefly noticing how light she was, and began running to the hospital wing. Hermione pressed her head against his chest in a futile attempt to lessen the pain.

"Make it stop Draco, please," she whimpered, her head spinning from the pain, tears rolling into her hair.

"Shh," soothed Draco, "you'll be alright. Just try to relax." He paid no heed to how her nails dug into his chest; his first priority was ending her pain. He did notice when her grip loosened and she wend limp in his arms though. He silently cursed the architecture of Hogwarts and ran faster.

After what seemed like ages, he reached the hospital wing and barged into Madame Pomfrey's office.

"Madame Pomfrey, I really need your help!" he shouted, not having the slightest clue as to where the plump nurse was.

"I'll be out in just a minute," he heard from a back room.

"No, it has to be now! I've got Hermione Granger here. Her head began to hurt a-and I think she's passed out." Madame Pomfrey was already closing the distance between them, though.

"Oh dear," she said, "Mr. Malfoy, if you would be so kind as to place her on that bed over there and draw the curtain?" Draco nodded and went to the indicated bed, set Hermione down on it with care and drew the curtains. He paced around the curtained area impatiently until Madame Pomfrey entered with a vial of something that looked positively foul.

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy, you may leave now."

"I'm not leaving."

"Miss Granger will be fine, but you need to leave now."

"You're positive that she'll be okay?"

"Mr. Malfoy, you are preventing me from treating Miss Granger. She will be fine. However, the longer you remain here, the longer she will remain in pain. Now if you please," she indicated to the general area of the door for the second time.

Defeated, Draco exited the curtained area. Deciding that attending classes would be a waste of both his and the teacher's time, Draco decided not to go at all. Instead, he would wait for Hermione to get better.

Hermione woke up and found herself in the bright whiteness of a room that could only be located in the hospital wing. She lay under starchy white sheets and a too-hard bed that merely confirmed her suspicions. She was, without a doubt, lying in a bed located in the hospital wing.

The events that had caused Draco to rush her to the hospital wing came back to her. She could nearly laugh as she remembered Draco's demand that Madame Pomfrey cure her faster. Nearly. Mostly, Hermione remembered the events as one large painful blur. A very painful blur.

Madame Pomfrey entered her area and Hermione quickly decided that nobody should have this much energy, least of all someone who worked in a hospital wing.

"Oh, hello dear," she said, her tone bordered drippy sweet. "I see you're awake."

"How long have I been here?"

"Oh, not terribly long dear, dinner has just passed."

Great, thought Hermione, now she had to make up a believable story as to why she was in the hospital wing for nearly 9 hours.

"Did I get any visitors?"

"Oh yes," answered the plump nurse. "Misters Potter and Weasley stopped by, as well as Miss. Weasley," she finished. Hermione's heart sank the slightest bit. "Oh yes! Mr. Malfoy stopped by too. Quite the popular girl, aren't you?"

Hermione smiled, though it wasn't for the compliment. Just the fact that Draco had stopped by lightened her heart. He was, after all, the one person whom she had decided to tell the entire story to.

"Madame Pomfrey? When can I leave?"

"Oh, well if you're feeling better, you may leave now," answered the nurse, "though I suggest you get something to eat. You must be famished." Or course, Hermione caught to true meaning behind the words.

'You had better eat something. You're underweight, and you know it. I will contact the kitchens.'

Hermione thanked Madame Pomfrey and left for the portrait of fruit that concealed the kitchens and she tickled the pear. The portrait swung open and Hermione stepped into the kitchens, where she was promptly greeted be six house elves. Among those house elves was Dobby, who spoke first.

"Hello misses," he said, "what can Dobby get for misses?"

"Hey Dobby," replied Hermione. Her next few words, she chose with care, remembering Harry's warning about house elves being a little too helpful. "Dobby, I would like two turkey sandwiches with a little mayonnaise and one glass of milk."

"Of course misses, Dobby will be right back with the misses food." When Dobby had said 'be right back' Hermione had been expecting to wait at least a couple of minutes. However, Dobby came back so quickly that Hermione questioned whether he had actually gone anywhere at all. He handed her a plate with her sandwiches on them and the glass of milk. Hermione thanked him and went on her way back to the Head's Dorms.

The moment she walked in, she knew that Draco had been waiting for her. It was something about the way he jumped off the couch and immediately inquired about her well-being. So, as to not prolong his worry, she answered swiftly.

"I'm fine, really. I was just getting some food in the kitchens. I haven't eaten all day."

"Please," said Draco, "don't stop on account of me. It's a rare occasion when you actually eat. I'm glad that you decided to acquire a meal on your own.

"You too?"

"What?"

"You and Madame Pomfrey are both badgering me to eat properly," she replied. "It's annoying."

"Oh no 'Mione," said Draco with a grin, "you're getting it all wrong. We just want to save those poor house elves from the awful sight of the mixed and mangled heap of stuff that was once food on your plate. It must look terrible by the time you finish with it." Hermione didn't argue, her food did look rather…unappetizing once she decided that she was done with it.

"I don't want to get sick," she mumbled. Draco didn't quite hear her.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to get sick," replied Hermione a bit louder. "I always get sick if I eat after I take my medicine. And I don't generally have an appetite either."

"I see," said Draco. "Than I guess well just have to feed you during lunch and dinner." Hermione groaned.

"Thanks for the concern, but I think I'm capable of feeding myself." There was a short pause, which Draco broke.

"Really Hermione, are you sure you're alright? Your head doesn't hurt at all?"

"I'm fine. That's never happened before though. It kinda worries me."

"Join the club," muttered Draco.

"I'm going to the doctor's next Saturday, so I'll ask about it then. It'll probably never happen again though." At that moment, Hermione heard a knock at the door and she went to answer it. She opened it to reveal Ron, Harry and Ginny, all of whom looked quite worried. Ginny threw herself at Hermione with surprising force and launched into how happy she was that Hermione was alright.

"What happened?" asked Harry once Ginny had finished speaking

"Nothing much," replied Hermione, thinking quickly. "I was so worried about making it to class on time that I missed a step and fell down two flights of stairs. Once she fixed my arm, she made me stay the rest of the day to make sure nothing else was wrong."

Harry looked at her strangely, contemplating whether or not to believe her, as Ron complained that she was asleep when they went to visit her. Harry's silence showed that he would believe her, which Hermione was grateful for.

About 20 minutes after they showed up, they left again with plans that Hermione would spend the night in Ginny's room sometime soon and 'be carefuls' from the three of them. When the portrait closed behind them, Hermione gave a sigh of relief. She didn't have to lie to them anymore today.

"Gonna have a pillow fight at the slumber party?" she heard Draco's voice from behind her, a shriek of surprise escaping her.

"You scared me!" she exclaimed

"Of course," he managed to say through his poorly concealed laughter. "Because I've moved oh so far." She glared at him and then she smiled. That smile was much too menacing for Draco to feel comfortable.

"Go ahead, laugh," she said, her tone now threatening. "Just you wait, I'll get you back." She completely planned on it too. She even had a plan. "Well, I'm going to get to bed now." She had to get up early. This, she thought gleefully, would be fun.