A/n: Thanks again for the reveiws! I love reading them. This chapter picks up with Draco after Hermione leaves the Hog's Head. I hope you like it.
Draco's walk back to the castle was long and uncomfortable. Pansy had taken a grip on his arm in the Hog's Head and had not let go yet. Her nails were digging in to his arm and he wanted her to let go right away. She did not talk to him she just hung on in silence. They walked slowly back up to the castle with Crabbe and Goyle following them at a distance. Draco had hoped to see Hermione, but he had not seen her and was sure that she had run away to the castle as fast as she could. He was sure that she was just about to burst in to tears before she left and Draco felt guilty for that. He hadn't thought of Hermione as someone who would cry at something like that. She was a pretty tough girl and the fact that he had made her cry just made him feel even worse.
When they were back up at the castle Pansy directed him to the common room. When they got back to the common room she cleared it by yelling at everyone. She could be quite forceful when she needed to be. Draco thought again about making Hermione cry and he felt like an ass. He felt like this for what he had done to Hermione and surprisingly he felt bad for lying for Pansy. Draco slumped down into a chair and closed his eyes.
"What the hell were you doing there with her?" Pansy shouted. She was standing above him and looking down at him. Draco could almost see the annoyance bubbling over inside of her.
"I told you that she was tutoring me." He defended himself while trying to keep emotion out of his voice.
"Ok sure," Her voice was dripping in sarcasm. "Why did you say yes? Why didn't you ask for someone else?"
"McGonagall said that I would fail out of the year if I kept on doing badly in her class. She had already assigned Hermione to me so I couldn't changed anything."
"You could have tried to ask for someone else." Pansy crossed her arms across her chest.
"I don't think I could have." There was a pause before Pansy launched into another question.
"Are you guys done tutoring?"
"I don't really think Hermione wants to even look at me anymore, so I think tutoring is out of the question."
"Good." She said smugly.
"No, it's not good. I might fail that class now! Do you want me to not graduate with you guys? Do you want me to be stuck here?"
"No, but I don't want you to spend any more time with her either."
"I know, but she was helping me."
Pansy looked at him and sighed; she sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands. She stayed this way for a few moments. The next time she spoke it was through her fingers and her voice was slightly muffled.
"Please just tell me that you did not actually enjoy spending time with her." Pansy's voice seemed weak and defeated.
"I didn't at first. But she's nicer than I thought. I'm sorry."
"Are you kidding me? You enjoyed spending time with that Mudblood?"
Draco shrugged. "Yes, she's a nice person."
"I cannot believe you. Blood traitor," She spat these words at him.
"Do not call me that Pansy!" Draco stood up and glared at her. "I am not a blood traitor!"
"Then don't ever say that a mudblood is nice. All they are is dirt. You need to remember where you came from."
Draco did not want to make their relationship even worse by defending Hermione, but he hated the fact that she had called them dirt. He also was angry that she had called him a blood traitor. He did not want to start anything with her so he bit his lip and held back his words. He would save them for another time.
This was the second time recently that Draco had an overwhelming urge to break up with Pansy. She was not good for him, but he thought, like so many times before, that he would give it a few more days and see what would happen between them. He thought he owed Pansy that. Because whenever he had these thoughts it was during a fight or right before one. He needed to see if they could be something in between fights. Draco wasn't exactly sure why, but he felt that he owed something to Pansy. He sighed and leaned over to her.
"Is everything all right with us?"
Pansy shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. We'll see." She stood up. "Promise me that you won't see her again?" Her eyes were pleading and they bored in to his.
Draco's stomach clenched and unclenched a few times. "Fine, I won't. I'll try to get help elsewhere."
"Thank you," She almost smiled. "I'm going to go to bed. We'll talk again tomorrow."
"OK." Draco stood up and walked over to her. He hugged her and pulled her close. "I am sorry Pansy. It won't happen again." He whispered this in to her ear. Before he let her go he kissed her on the top of her head. She pulled away and walked back up to her dormitory. "We'll see if you keep that promise."
Draco planned to follow behind her quickly but did not he was too caught in his thoughts. As usual he was not sure if he even wanted tomorrow to come at all. He did not want to have to face Hermione. He also dreaded the talk that Pansy had mentioned that they would have. He knew she would keep on grilling him and forcing him to make promises that he never could keep. He hated their relationship, but it was all he ever knew. They had been connected since first year and he knew that they would never be completely disconnected. She knew too much about him, and he knew far too much about her.