Chapter 3: Falling

When Hermione arrived back in her room that night, she saw Draco was already there. A relief, as she planned on sleeping. To further pique her interest, he was reading. It was a book by a muggle author, nonetheless.

" So, whatcha reading?" she asked. Trying to make some friendly conversation sounded like a good idea, seeing as they would be forced to see a lot of each other.

" Anna Karenina," Draco replied, not looking up from his book.

" What do you think of it so far?" she asked, letting her eyes wander onto the page and skimming it. Force of habit.

" It's good. The russian to english translation is a little confusing, and the names aren't right."

" What do you mean the names aren't right?" she asked, meeting his silver eyes.

" This guy, Oblonsky, goes by so many different names. It makes no sense. Good, I suppose for a muggle author. Wizards would magically translate it. No errors in our books. But for a muggle, it's alright." Hermione sighed. Of course, Draco was making fun of muggles again, but this time he did include some positive notes. He was making an effort to get along. Hermione looked at him curiously. Maybe there was more to him than she thought.

Draco had secretly been crushing on Hermione Granger ever since fourth year. Unfortunately, he never could act on this feeling, for being positive that she felt quite the opposite. Draco's father had found out, when he caught his son trying, and failing, to write a letter to her to ask her out. Lucius Malfoy had beat him senseless for liking a mudblood. Draco had the crush beaten out of him, but it had stayed, hidden by Draco's fear of abuse. The truth was, he was abused all the time. When your father is a death eater, it tends to do things to you. He remembered a time when his father's death eater pals came over and practiced the cruciatas curse on him. The dark lord himself had Crucio'd Draco. He had scars on his back from whips, And sores on the inside of his mouth from the time his father had made him eat, chew, and swallow a cactus. Draco had been abused for years and nobody, not even Draco's Slytherin friends had noticed. Seeing Hermione this frequently, and learning the things nobody knew about her had reawakened the old feelings. Draco was trying to suppress them, but every sigh, every word she spoke, every time her beautiful lips moved, he was entranced. She was gorgeous. And she hated him.

Hermione sat awake. Draco had been much less hostile at their meeting this evening. He had listened to her note. She still hated him, she truly did. Everything he had done to her, and Harry, and Ron. Everything he did to all of them. He had never been a nice kid. Yet Hermione found herself warming up to him. But she couldn't. Not here, not now. Hogwarts was her home, and a war against it was inevitably coming. Draco didn't even try to hide his Dark Mark, though he did explain that he had not wanted it. But how could she believe him? He was a death eater. She could not fall for a death eater. Hermione snuck out of the room. Going to the library, she flipped open a book. It was time to learn how to conjure curtains.

When Draco awoke, it was to curtains around Hermione's bed. She had no double conjured them while he was asleep. She was already gone to class, he realized. Her shoes had left the place by the door where she had left them. He peeked under the curtain anyway. There was a note on her bed.

Sod off, Malfoy. Stay away from my curtains.

Draco sighed. He went off to shower, noticing the new shower supplies in the bathroom. She had listened to his request, a note left on her bed. She had been trying to make an attempt to be nice to him, but now she seemed to be closing herself off. Ugh. Draco let the warm water ease his worries. He would think about that later. At least she had left him a note. Maybe notes would be their new communication method. He smiled. He still had a chance.

Author Note:

I made it short again, didn't I. Sorry! But hey, two chapters back to back. I posted one yesterday and today! And there is another one coming soon. Sneak peek : Chapter 4: The first kiss! Excited, anyone? That will be out later this week to make up for this short chapter. Leave reviews to tell me your thoughts, give suggestions, or just to say hi. Thank you for reading.