Chapter 13

Hermione POV

"What was all that?" asked Harry, intrigued. He and Hermione had just hastily left the library after a rather awkward moment with Draco. Harry secretly knew what had happened but was trying to get a first hand point of view on the situation. Hermione was walking quickly in front of him, not meeting his eyes, and avoiding all of his questions.

"For gods sakes, nothing happened, Harry." huffed Hermione. "He was just trying to help me understand a potions concept." They walked a ways in silence before Harry spoke again.

"Do you fancy him?" It was an innocent question, but for some reason Hermione couldn't bring herself to dismiss it. Her hesitation brought a grin to Harry's face. She could tell that the lack of a response was answer enough. Before he could say anything else though, Hermione cut in,

"But you can't tell him Harry, promise me!"

"Why not!" whined Harry. "I think he fancies you back, and truthfully it would be good to see you with someone whos first priority isn't food."

"Because," responded Hermione, "I'm really enjoying being his friend. Yes, I do hope that someday we can be together, but the whole Ron thing just happened and I feel like we should just give everything time to calm down before we start anything. Plus, his mom just died, and I want to be there for him. If something happened between us I don't think I would be able to forgive myself."

In her head, Hermione knew that all of her points made sense. The one that she didn't want to say, though, was her fear that once Draco got over his mother's death, he would go back to being the snake that he previously was. She knew that he had definitely changed, but what if she fell hard for him and he wasn't the same?

In the past few weeks, his caring nature had made such a huge impression on her life. After every class, he was there to escort her to her next class. Even though her two previous best friends had always walked with her throughout their schedule, it had never been this personal. Draco was literally taking time out of his own day to be with her and keep her company. She couldn't remember the exact moment when she had had the revelation that she fancied him, but she was sure that it was somewhere near the time that he had cried in her arms on the top of the astronomy tower.

And that moment of realization had been different than those previous. When she had felt that way about Ron, Hermione had laid in her bed, awake all night, almost ashamed of herself for liking such an emotionless brute like Ron. Even when she had harbored a secret crush on Harry in first year she had dreaded interacting with him, scared that her feelings would get in the way of their friendship.

It was different with Draco. Their friendship wasn't awkward at all, and although she had been familiar with Harry years before she was friendly with Draco, Draco was the one she went to when her parents called telling her that her aunt had died. Draco was the one that she studied with. Draco was even the one with whom she had ventured through a blizzard to reach the owlry. Harry hadn't been replaced, Hermione still did things with him that involved Gryffindor, and other subjects that they had been dealing with for years, (Hagrid, the Invisibilty Cloak, You-Know-Who, etc.) but it was nice to have a friend with whom she had not gone to battle with.

By now, Harry and her were in the Gryffindor common room. There was an armchair facing away from them, towards the fire. Over the top of the chair, Hermione saw a clump of ginger hair and promptly turned on her heel towards the girls dormitories, fearing it was Ron, before she heard the female Weasley's voice.

"Hermione, can we talk?" asked Ginny quietly. Hermione nodded and sat down in front of the fire. Harry took this as his cue to leave, wished goodnight to both of them, and ventured up the stairs to the boys' dorms.

"What's wrong Ginny?" questioned Hermione.

"Well, nothing's really wrong," replied the younger girl, "I'm just really upset over the way that Ron behaved. I heard what he said to Draco and I just wanted to make sure that you know he doesn't represent our family's opinion. I told my mum what he said and she sent him about a dozen howlers about honor and what it means to be a Weasley." Ginny abruptly stopped because Hermione was giggling to herself. "What's so funny?" the redhead inquired.

"Ginny do you seriously think I blame your family for how Ron reacted?" responded Hermione. "Ron made his choice, but I have known you and the rest of your family long enough to know that his views don't reflect your attitude. Thanks for the apology, but really, it isn't needed." Ginny appeared slightly less apprehensive, but still a bit uneasy. Hermione went on. "Look if it means that much to you maybe next time we spend a holiday together Draco can come too so he can see that the Weasleys don't all have Ronald's personality.

Ginny smiled at this. "That sounds good, thanks Hermione. My mum told me to tell you that if Draco needs anything that his dad can't provide him, the Burrow is at his service." Hermione nodded gratefully in response.

"I'll let him know, but if you don't mind, I'm going to go to bed. I need to catch up on my sleep. The big quidditch match is stressing me out."

"Yeah, me as well," replied Ginny, "You have no idea how annoying those Slytherin chasers can be sometimes. Sure they're tolerable now, but they still think that if they get the quaffle, they don't have to pass." Before Ginny could enter a full fledged Quidditch rant, Hermione ascended the steps to the girls dorm.

Two hours later, Hermione still couldn't fall asleep. She had tried everything, reading from her collection of muggle books, drinking a glass of water, even pacing around the room in order to tire herself our, but nothing was effective. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Draco's pale handsome face drawing nearer and nearer to her. If only Harry could have waited a minute more before barging in with her school bag. She wouldn't have to daydream about the situation if it had been able to play out a little longer. Still, here she was, staring up at the stone ceiling of the bedroom, contemplating her love life. That was something that she thought she would never have to deal with. If she couldn't sleep it was usually due to a stimulating lesson, or a possible E rather than O on an assignment.

Hermione looked through her trunk one more time to make sure she wasn't overlooking any possible reading material, and her hands stumbled upon parchment. That's weird, I don't remember packing any parchment in here. She dug it out and realized that it was the Marauder's Map. Harry must of given it to her for safekeeping. Since there was nothing else to do, Hermione unfolded the extensive map and began reading. As her eyes searched for the name she was looking for, Hermione saw Filch and Mrs. Norris searching the dungeons, Ernie Macmillian talking to Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk while Severus Snape briskly paced in front of him.

Finally, Hermione's eyes fell on Draco. He was sitting in the Slytherin common room. Hermione also saw Pansy Parkinson seated near to him. As she watched, Draco's figure moved at almost a sprint up to his dormitory and into his assigned bed. He did not move from that spot. Hermione felt like she was intruding so she decided to give sleep another go. But before she could close the map, her eyes fell on Blaise Zabini's figure walking down a fifth-floor corridor. Watching carefully, for she knew this hallway, Hermione witnessed his dot promptly disappear as he reached one of the walls.

He's in the Room of Requirement. That's the only explanation. Now satisfied that she would be able to sleep, Hermione closed the map and set it back at the foot of her bed. As she drifted off, images of Draco mingled with thoughts of the Quidditch game.