Hey everyone!! :D I totally forgot about my hellos and goodbyes in my last chapter. I'm sorry, it's 'cause I'm really forgetful plus I was so excited to get the chapter up! :P Thank you to everyone who has read this story, reviewed it, added it to their favs, added it to story alerts... everything!! Just thank you sooo much, it means so much. Ok sorry that i took a while to update this, I have been fighting extremely hard with this enemy of mine, the names writers block, maybe you've heard of him? :P Well he drives me insane! But anyway, that is the reason that this chapter is shorter than the others and quite badly written too, I'm sorry... :( But you can read it anyway!

Disclaimer: The only place I own any of these characters is in my dreams. I love those dreams so much! But my life isn't a dream (unfortunately) so I don't own any of these characters.


Chapter 4

Hermione pulled Draco's hand out from underneath her top as she heard the portrait door slam shut.

"Hey..." Draco growled, seemingly oblivious to the sound, or else he was just ignoring it, Hermione thought.

"There's someone here," Hermione told him.

"So?" He replied. Obviously he had been ignoring it. Hermione pushed him off her and sat up, just as Blaise walked in.

"What is it Zabini?" Draco growled through clenched teeth. Blaise held up his hands in mock defence.

"Hey sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you guys..." he laughed, "I guess you'll just have to wait for a bit."

"I guess you'll just have to leave!" Draco shot back. Hermione hit him on the shoulder.

"Hey! Stop being rude!" Draco turned to look back at her and when she raised her eyebrows at him he scowled back and slumped down on the couch.

"Thanks Hermione, I didn't fancy being beaten up by him today," Blaise said.

"Don't think you've escaped it," Draco threatened. Blaise mocked terror, which made Hermione laugh. The sound made Draco's insides melt and all his anger vanished in a flash, but he wouldn't let either Hermione or Blaise know that.

"What do you want anyway? Can't you come back later?" Draco moaned.

"Yeah, I guess I could, but that would be so inconvenient for me, so you'll just have to put up with it."

"Hey! I don't have to put up with anything, don't talk to me like that! I don't feel like talking to you anyway."

"Oh please, get down off your high horse, you're not fooling anyone here," Blaise told him jokingly, "Besides, I came to talk to Mione, not to you."

"Hermione!" Hermione said exasperatedly, "What about?"

"Did you tell that Weasley girl about you two, 'cause she keeps giving me those we-share-a-secret looks and it's starting to piss me off. Draco here isn't the only one with a reputation to uphold."

Hermione glanced guiltily over at Draco. He was looking at her accusingly.

"What? She's my best friend!" she said defensively.

"Granger..." Draco growled softly and rubbed his hands down his face in exasperation.

"You told Blaise!" Hermione argued.

"That's because I can trust Blaise," he told her.

"Well I can trust Ginny," Hermione told him, sticking her head back.

"No you can't. She's already given it away, that's why Blasie is here for Merlin's sake!"

"That's because he already knew, but you're right, she messed up there, I'll have to talk to her..."

"Wait a minute!" Draco interrupted her, "You said she was your best friend, I thought Potty and Weaslebe were your best friends? You haven't told them, have you?"

"Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, "I'm not stupid! And Ginny is my best girl friend, she's the one I tell everything do, especially things to do with boys. Talking about that with Harry and Ron would be awkward."

"Oh, well ok then, at least you won't tell those two, but keep the she-weasel on a tight watch, will you? Don't let her tell anyone else!" Draco grumbled. Hermione glared at him. She really wish he would stop insulting her friends and using those stupid names.

"Just get the girl to stop looking at me all the time and I'm happy," Blaise said.

"Look, she just said she would talk to her, there your problem is solved, so you can leave," Draco persisted. He was still a little embarrassed about the way he had acted in front of Blaise the other day when they were talking about Hermione. Blaise may not have minded Draco crying in front of him but he certainly did. He had to make sure he set the record straight again, he was not soft, and he would hate to be the person to make the mistake of thinking he was.

"Fine, fine, I'm going, sheesh!" Blaise replied, messing, "Unless Ms. Granger here would like me to stay and--"

"Get out!" Draco cut him off. Hermione giggled to herself as Blaise backed out of the room, bowing mockingly as he went.

"Ok well I'm going to have a shower," Hermione informed the still moody Draco, who immediately perked up.

"Ok! I'll be in in a second," he told her. Hermione, who had began to walk away turned back around to face him.

"No, I meant on my own," she told him, "I want to think about a few things, besides I do not want to be around you when you're acting like that."

"But..."

"No!" Hermione insisted. Draco glared at her, the down at the floor.

"Stupid stubborn mudblood," he muttered. Then, realising he had said this louder that he had meant to, he glanced guiltily up at Hermione. Her expression had completely changed, she was trying to glare at him angrily but anyone could have seen the hurt that filled face. Draco had never noticed how hurt she had been by it before, he had just liked making her feel bad. Stupid idiot, he thought to himself.

"Fuck you, Malfoy," she said simply, then left him alone, mentally hitting himself for not thinking before speaking.

"Hermione I..." he began calling after her, then stopped when he realised she wasn't listening.

~*~*~

Hermione's tears mixed with the water from the shower as they trickled down her face.

She was surprised to believe that the words he spoke hurt her now even more than they had before. Now, when she knew he didn't mean them, at least she thought she knew. The question that she had been able to stop surfacing suddenly popped into her consciousness. Was this all just a joke? Even though, deep down, she knew that he would never sleep with a muggle-born just for a joke she still couldn't stop herself from at least half believing that this whole thing was just so he could turn around later and laugh at her with his friends.

Though Hermione was the smartest and the most quick-thinking witch of her time, when it came to boys she was completely useless and insecure. There was no boy she knew that liked her for a long enough time to make something of it. She had never really dated anybody properly.

The only person she knew who liked her enough was Ron. She thought she had liked him but that was before Draco, she knew that anything she felt about him was nothing compared to what she felt for Draco. That was something she still couldn't understand, Ron had been her friend for years, Draco had been her enemy for years, he had been the one dent in her perfect school life. She knew now that what she felt for Ron was only friendship, a different friendship to what she had with Harry, but still only friendship.

She sniffed sadly, wishing things didn't have to be so complicated. Wishing that the guy she liked more than anyone wasn't going to insult her every two seconds. After a while her tears dried up and she got out of the shower.

She wasn't angry with Draco anymore, she hadn't really been that angry to begin with, just upset. Now she just felt hurt. She got dressed slowly and flopped down on her bed and stared transfixed at the ceiling. After a few minutes she heard a knock on the door.

"Hermione?" Draco called softly to her. She ignored him. There was a pause. Hermione guessed that he was listening to see if he could hear her.

"Hermione!" he called again, louder this time. She stayed silent, hoping he would go away.

"Hermione I..." he stuttered, then cleared his throat, "I'm... I'm sorry."

Hermione sat straight up, had she heard right? Draco Malfoy had actually said sorry? Her tummy flipped, for her that was all that was needed. She unlatched the door and pulled it open slowly. He was watching her with big, weary eyes, she had never seen him look as innocent as he did now.

"I didn't--" he started but was cut off.

Hermione threw her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, breathing him in. It took a second for Draco to respond by wrapping his arms strongly around her. He had not been expecting this. He thought he would have to say a whole speech before she even considered forgiving him. She also was never this forward, he was always the one who kissed or hugged her, she was always a little hesitant, gazing into his eyes every time before she responded. He hated the way she did that, like she didn't trust him, but he couldn't really blame her for that, he thought to himself.

He sighed contentedly as he felt Hermione's warm breath on his neck. So I guess people were telling the truth, he thought, when they said that one little word could work wonders when you meant it. He hadn't believed them. One word didn't have that much power, but he had been proved wrong, and he found himself unconditionally happy for that. He looked down at the top of the Gryffindor's head, then thought back to what he had said and realised that he really was sorry.

~*~*~*~

Hermione woke up to unfamiliar surroundings. She blinked a few times to trying to see where she was. She was in the common room, lying on a couch in front of the fire. It was only when she felt movement under her head that she remembered why she was here. She looked down into the face of a sleeping Draco. He looked so innocent right now that Hermione couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from him, she stared at him trying to etch the image into her memory.

She remembered back to after he had apologised. She hadn't needed anything else, Draco Malfoy saying sorry was good enough for her. But he wanted to make it up to her. He had made her hot chocolate, the most amazing hot chocolate she had ever tasted and wrapped her in a blanket in front of the fire. Her body had flooded with warmth which had nothing to do with the hot chocolate, it was how he was acting. It reminded her of when she was little, at christmas time when it was cold her mother make them both hot chocolate and they would wrap up in a blanket together beside the fire. This was why Hermione insisted that Draco sit down beside her inside the blanket with her, despite his arguments that he was treating her. They had sat there for an hour, either sipping their hot chocolate quietly or talking about nothing in particular until Hermione had drifted off to sleep.

She smiled. That had definitely been one of best nights of her life.

Draco moaned beside her. She watched him as his eyes opened slowly. She laughed when she saw confusion take over his face. He heard her laugh and his own face took on a smile as his eyes met hers and he realised where he was.

"Oh," he said. He wrapped one of his arms around her, laying her head against his chest. She sighed and drifted back off to sleep, resting against him.

When she woke up he was gone.

At first she thought he was in another room but after she looked around for a while she realised he wasn't anywhere in the dorm. She felt a familiar sense of hurt wash over her. She had been feeling that a lot lately.

She walked down to the Great Hall, determined not to cry this time. As she entered the hall her eyes wandered automatically over the the group of Slytherins sitting together. And there he was, sitting in the middle of them all, smirking, ruling over them. He had them all wrapped around his middle finger and that's how he liked it.

That's the only thing he cares about, Hermione thought to herself as she watched him. Suddenly he looked over in her direction but his eyes darted away as soon as he caught sight of her. That was what made Hermione give in to the hurt she was feeling. It was what made her eyes fill with tears as she turned and stumbled, broken, out the door. What made her decide there was no hope for her, for him, for them, after all.

But she was wrong.

Because of his ability to block emotion from showing in his face no one noticed the change. No one noticed, as Hermione disappeared out of the hall, the guilt that immediately filled and threatened to swallow up Draco Malfoy.

Author note: Ok well, I hope it wasn't so bad that you have been turned off the story completely. Please don't go!! What I was trying to do in that chapter was put a little excitement (wrong word but i can't think of the write one...) in their relationship and i also don't want to make Draco really nice all the time and completely good because that's just not him. So please tell me any time if you feel he's getting to nice. Now, there's just one more thing for you to do! Review! Yay!! Fun!! ^_^ Pretty please do though, nothing makes me more excited than to see i have a review. And i will reply to all of them... promise!

Love you all!

LettersFromNoah xxx