Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Harry Potter characters, nor am I making any profit off of this story.

A/N: Oh, hey there! Long time no write? I am submitting this, as I am getting ready for my last exam before Spring Break! I plan on writing one to two chapters over the next week and a half, so I hope that makes up for not writing much. Also, special thanks to The Earl of Sandwich- my newest reader/reviewer. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner to your reviews but these past two weeks have been SO busy with school. Thank you for your kind words!

Hermione:

And so, this was how it came to be that Hermione and Draco lived together. At first it was weird. They both wanted to use the bathroom at the same time, or one wanted to wake up earlier than the other. Neither had jobs, so they were around each other all the time. And this, she supposed that this was how the fighting started.

It started simply enough. She had never before noticed the way that his teeth clicked together when he was reading. How hadn't she noticed?

"Draco?" She looked up from her own book and glanced at him. The clicking stopped.

"Mmm?"

"Nothing."

She decided she could ignore it. And then, ten minutes later, she couldn't.

She cleared her throat loudly and turned a page back and forth until he looked up.

"Yes dear?" he asked dryly.

"Stop clicking your teeth."

"Only if you stop running your tongue over your lips after you swallow."

"I don't do that!"

He clicked his teeth together, twice, and she got up and walked away.

Fighting was what had brought them together, but she feared it would slowly pull them apart.

Draco:

He saw her sitting by the window, hands curled around a mug. She wasn't moving, her eyes wide.

"Hermione?"

She came to suddenly, her eyes focusing on the spot behind his head.

"Morning." She whispered.

The light washed her out, and it seemed unnatural for him to be there all of a sudden. But it was his house and he went by her instead.

"Hermione?" he asked again. "You ok?"

Her teeth came out from behind her lips but she wasn't smiling.

"Perfect." She whispered.

He wondered how long she had been out there, and realized that when she had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, she hadn't come back.

He didn't know what to say to her anymore. Nothing he said ever seemed to fix the problem she was having, nor did he even know what her problem was. All he did know was that this wasn't the Hermione he knew from school.

He let his hand rest on her shoulder, and found that she didn't even notice it was there. His thumb moved across her jaw and she held his hand in hers for a moment before letting it go and swinging her feet to the ground.

The moment had passed and she laughed, kissing his cheek and running into the kitchen yelling something about breakfast.

Hermione:

"Remember this?" Harry asked and held up a bottle of Strawberry Hill. A glint of light hit the bottle and reflected the liquid inside.

She stretched out her hands and he grinned, shaking his head.

"Drink straight from the bottle?" he smirked. "We have more class than that."

He disappeared and came back with blue paper cups, decorated with little fish. It reminded her of the pint-sized cups her parents had for mouthwash in the bathroom.

She swallowed her sadness with a whole cup of liquid, and felt the warmth spread through her stomach like hot rain.

"Where's Ginny?"

She shouldn't have asked, and knew it immediately. But it was out there, hanging in the air like forgotten stars and she wished…

"We broke up."

She grabbed the bottle by the neck and tipped an overflow into her cup.

"Why?"

He drank a little of his and she drowned hers, almost not hearing his answer.

"I don't know, Hermione."

"Yes you do."

The room started to buzz. Strawberry Hill was cheap but effective, like drugstore Vodka.

"Sometimes people just don't work out. Sometimes that's how things happen."

"What if…what happens when Draco and I don't work out?"

She reached for the bottle again and tried to pour herself some more. He stopped her and they looked at each other for a while.

"Why when? How are you so certain?"

"Don't you know, Harry? I'm a terribly unhappy person."

Draco:

"Jesus Christ, Hermione. Get down from there!" he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down from off the top of the fridge.

"I was just sitting!" she said, and tugged on the hem of her sleeve.

"On the top of my fridge? You could have fallen!"

"It's not that much of a drop."

"That's not the fucking point. It's not."

She stared evenly at him. She was so calm, and he didn't understand. He could not get himself to understand why he cared so much or why she kept doing this to him.

"Sorry."

"You're scaring me, Hermione."

"I'm a scary person."

He threw his hands in the air, speechless. Words formed in his head, like "stay" and "please" but none came out.

He looked at her instead, taking in every pore, and realized how tired she looked. Her hair hung limp and dark circles ran around her eyes. Even her fingernails had dark half crescents at the end. He disappeared from the room, leaving her running her palms up and down her arms.

When he came back she hadn't moved. He scooped her up and walked into the bathroom. Steam curled up from the tub, which he had just filled. Setting her down on the toilet he smiled.

"Right then. Take it off."

She raised her eyebrow slightly and, her eyes still focused on him, she pulled her shirt over her head and continued peeling and yanking until she was naked.

Even worn out, she was beautiful. The curves of her hips to her legs-her breasts to her stomach, held him breathless. She climbed in the hot water and he had to clench his fists to keep from joining her.

He kneeled down beside the tub and kissed her cheek. She began to cry instantly and he cupped his hands in the water, gathering some and then letting it fall over her hair. Her hair grew dark and damp, clumping and sticking to her cheek. The water grew filmy with the dust of her skin, and it seemed to him that she was peeling off into the water. Shedding and flying high above him-running through his hands like the water he cupped.

Hermione:

She woke up in a good mood. She made breakfast. She changed into clean clothes.
She watched Draco sleep. His chest rose and fell gently, his lips opening and closing. Taking careful steps, she climbed back into bed and rested her head on his chest. His hand came up automatically and stroked her cheek before falling onto her shoulder.

A change had come over Draco, and she wasn't sure he was aware of it. He had become soft as she had become scary. He rarely fought with her anymore; never had a biting comeback to her jabs.

He was human, she realized. Vulnerable. Scared. And she made him that way. She had broken his proud spirit, and she wished more than anything that she could get it back.

Draco:

They were fighting again. Or rather, she was yelling at him. He was standing opposite of her and she was holding a plate from one of his favorite sets. He wasn't sure how it had made it to this point. All he could remember was-

"Look at me!" she screamed. "Draco, fucking look!"

She threw a plate on the ground and pieces flew up in crunching shards. He flinched but kept looking away.

"Stop it." He whispered.

"You're a fucking coward. You're screwing everything up."

She grabbed another plate and threw it at him. He dodged at the last second and the plate hit the wall. A piece caught his shoulder and he yelped in pain.

This seemed to catch her attention. She blinked and took a step closer to him.

"Why didn't you defend yourself?" she whispered.

He held up his hands jokingly. She frowned.

"Where is your wand?" she asked. His heart started beating and she came at him, shaking his coat and searching his pockets. "Where?" she screamed.

"Hermione, I don't…"

She retreated from him and he tried to hold on. Her skin slipped through his and his mind was about to explode. How could he explain and still have her?

"You don't…what? What!"

"I don't have it."

The silence pounded in his ears. She seemed to deflate in front of him.

"I don't understand." She said finally. Her voice was caught on something and wobbled.

"I don't have…anything."

"You don't have your wand…because you left it at home?"

"No."

"No?"

It was quiet again. She sat down on one of the table chairs and he moved closer. She held up a hand, stopping him.

"Hermione…I can't really explain. I mean, you know how that is."

Her head snapped up. Her eyes were blazing angry and he knew, at that second, that he wasn't going to win.

"My secret is a whole hell of a lot different than yours."

"But you admit that you have one."

"Tell me everything."

He shook his head and prayed she'd understand. Instead she stood up again and shoved him backwards.

"Tell me everything!"

"I can't. I just can't, ok?"

"Fuck you." She got up and walked into the bedroom.

"Hermione…what are you…where are you going?"

She had come out and stormed past him again, opening the front door and letting it slam in his face, a cool breeze coming in as she walking out.

Hermione:

She rolled her cigarette in her fingers, listening to the rain. It hadn't rained much that summer, and as September came around, she realized that she missed the rain. She missed London. She missed her flat and her friends, and she missed having her freedom. But what scared her was that she knew she wouldn't be able to leave if she tried.

She put the cigarette between her lips and let it dangle before taking a drag and holding it in until her lungs felt like they might burst. The mist from the rain caused her smoke to extend far into the distance.

Somewhere between that drag and the last, she decided something. She didn't care that he didn't have magic. She didn't want to know why he didn't have magic either. These things had become irrelevant. All she could see was him, cooking for her and their late night smokes; reading on the porch chairs and holding hands while listening to the night breathe.

She stubbed the remaining tube into the ground and threw it in the grass.

"I don't like it when you do that."

She felt him sit down next to her and the space between them was too much for her to handle.

"I don't like it when you lie."

"I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you."

"Why?"

"At first I thought that if I told you I didn't have magic you would get on my back, or tell my family…start trouble. And then we started…whatever this fucking thing is, and I didn't tell you because you…might leave."

She nodded. She knew it was true.

"Hermione…the reason I don't have-"

"I don't want to know."

"You…don't?"

"No. It doesn't matter."