Disclaimer: Most of the stuff in this story not mine. I just write with it. Only the plot is a product of my brain mush.

Enjoy! :)

Draco headed up the stairs to the observation tower, seeking tranquility, silence, and somewhere to think. The previous night's actions had scared him. Who had he become? It was not like him to comfort anyone, especially not someone he hated with a passion. Or else, someone he was supposed to hate. She was a mudblood, for goodness' sake! It was unheard of, to say the least.

There was something in her eyes, though. Something that made him want to pour his heart out to her, let him know what she meant to him, so she knew him better than he did himself. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know why. He didn't know where these feelings had come from and why they had arrived so suddenly.

'This isn't me! This isn't who I am!'

Draco looked up to find himself at his destination, unfortunately, already occupied by her. The blonde wondered whether he should do as he had planned and sit there anyway, or come back when she had left. He turned around, deciding that it was best to leave. Hermione probably needed this time alone.

'Why do I care so much? I hate her, remember!'

That hadn't stopped him last time. In fact, she was the reason he was here. As he turned back to Hermione, He ran – realising what was happening – to try and stop her. She jumped off the box where she stood, and Draco dove to catch her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her legs, holding her up high enough so that there was a large amount of slack in the rope. He didn't want Hermione to choke.

'What the hell is wrong with me? She's a mudblood, Draco. She's a mudblood!'

Hermione looked down at Draco, her large brown eyes boring into his, and softly planted a kiss on his forehead. 'Thankyou, Draco'

'I love her. I love her. I do.'

- ~ -

Draco walked Hermione up to the medical ward. Unseen, thankfully, or he probably would have died with embarrassment. It was bad enough that she had made him into a complete and utter wreck, but if someone saw him helping her, he would have been the laughing stock of Hogwarts.

They stopped in front of the large double doors leading to Madam Pomfrey's quarters. 'Can you take it from here, Granger? I- I have somewhere I have t-to be.' Draco lied with impressive difficulty. Hermione nodded, a simple 'Yes' parting her lips, and Draco took that moment as a good opportunity to retire to the Slytherin common room.

Hermione pushed open the door, entered the sterile room and told the Medi-witch what had happened, minus the whole Draco fiasco. It was bad enough that he had seen her hopelessly naked- Not physically of course, emotionally- But if anyone caught wind of him helping her, she would have been the laughing stock of Hogwarts.

A frantic Ginny by her side, Hermione had a thorough check up and was given the all-clear, with the only injury being a sore neck. She was ordered to go back to her dorm and get some rest, while Ginny was asked to watch over her for the next few weeks.

- ~ -

'Watch it, mudblood,' called the Slytherin boy in a teasing manner, 'Next time I won't be so gentle.' He looked to his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, for back up and felt relief when he saw that they were chuckling, following the leader. However, as soon as his gaze fell upon Hermione once again, picking up her masses upon masses of books and schoolwork, his heart leapt down his throat, did a somersault in his stomach, and crawled back up to its rightful place in his now aching chest.

'Look, Malfoy. You have no right to do that to Hermione.' Piped up the ginger boy in defence of his friend. 'I would normally ask that an apology be given, but I know it is near impossible for you to utter anything without it being some sort of snide remark." Malfoy mocked emotional pain, then quickly snapped back to his previous self and prepared to launch a verbal attack.

'It's bad enough that the mudblood has no peripheral vision,' At this he felt something inside of him twang. 'But Hand-me-down Weasley trying to stand up to me- that's nearly as bad, if not worse! In fact, I'd say that the only one of you lot decent enough to even look at me would be Potter, but he hangs around with you two, so I would have to say he is the lousiest out of all three!'

Hermione studied the words and actions of the boy in front of her. This wasn't the Malfoy from before. This wasn't the boy in which she saw so much potential. This wasn't the one who had saved her from herself, and reassured her when she needed help. Although it did bring comfort to know that at least one thing in her life had returned to normal. For that she was grateful.

She turned her attention to the two seemingly anonymous followers planted behind him, nodding their heads and occasionally letting out moans of agreement. This filled her with silent laughter, however short-lived it may have been. No sooner had her mind returned to the insults being thrown at her and her friends, had Draco swooped past them and left, followed by his goons and a few schoolgirl sighs from the first and second year Slytherin girls.

- ~ -

Later that night, Harry and Ron sat in the Gryffindor common room discussing their results in the recent potions test as they waited. They made sure to be quite so as not to wake anyone up. Where was he? It was much later than they had arranged to meet- 11.30- which had been and gone hours ago with still no sign of their associate.

'Maybe he won't show.' The ginger-haired boy thought aloud, 'I mean, this isn't exactly something that he'd normally agree to...' He trailed off, and Harry nodded, contemplating whether to call it a night or stay and see if their visitor shows.

A quiet shuffling came from beside the two boys and Harry promptly turned to see what was making the noise. Ron was not as quick to notice, only turning around as the dark figure crept directly to his side. 'Blimey!' He exclaimed, possibly louder that intended, 'I thought I told you to stop doing that.' This provoked a rather rude remark from the individual.

Harry sighed with relief. 'Finally. We thought you'd never arrive.'

A/N: So terribly sorry for not updating sooner. It is definitely not one of my strong points. I solemnly swear [that I am up to no good] that the next chapter will be up quicker than this one was. Hopefully.

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-Istolethecupcake65256