Hermione had decided to take herself to the library to do a bit of light reading, it always cheered her up. She was headed back towards the restricted section when she heard a voice that was unmistakable to her ears. She hadn't heard it in quite a while; it felt nice to hear his deep voice again. She couldn't make out the words, but from his tone she thought he sounded angry. She kept a slow and quiet pace heading back towards her destination. His words were getting clearer. He wasn't alone. She heard Blaise talking.

"I mean me calling Hermione that… my brain is leading me to think that you have developed some sort of feelings for her." They were talking about her. She smiled to herself briefly, even though she knew Draco would most likely deflect Blaise's question it was nice to know she would be in his thoughts. She heard his voice come out slow, cool, and calm.

"You know me so well yet your conclusion is completely off base; I don't have feelings, especially not for some girl with bushy hair who was a lousy shag not worth the breath to tell you about it Blaise."

Hermione's anger swelled, she was surprised at how bad she felt hearing those words. She hadn't expected some scene out of a romantic comedy where Draco would confess his undying love for her, and his complete indifference to his parent's prejudices as he took her in his arms and would kiss her passionately, as the screen faded to black. The couple would live happily ever after, as the people watching would feel a renewed faith in love as they exited a dark theater.

But this was the real world, and she expected a lie, or a threat thrown Blaise's way. She was a realist and she often wrangled in her unrealistic dreams. She was not prepared for what she heard. She did not expect to hear the scathing insults hurled at her.

She wouldn't just sulk in a corner pretending she hadn't heard what just came out of his mouth. She was a strong confident woman, who had clearly made a huge error in judgment. She couldn't believe him; she had completely changed her views of him. He had sent so many mixed signals she didn't know which was up or down. But she knew she was angry. She curled her fist around the old book Draco had given her and threw it down next to him with a force and accuracy that would make both Ron and Ginny proud. She quickly turned on her heel exiting the library quickly as the hot tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to forever cascade down her face like a waterfall.

His heart dropped into his stomach. Only one person could've thrown that book. He got up immediately grabbed the book and began to chase after her, hoping she had only heard the bare minimum of the conversation with Blaise.

"Hermione! Hermione!" She could hear his footsteps behind her as he chased after her shouting.

She increased her pace. She couldn't look at him. Hearing him shout after her was stirring up to many emotions. She feared that if she were to look into his icy blue eyes she would crumble. She didn't want to crumble she wanted to move on, whatever pull she felt towards him she would have to find a way to overcome, because he must not feel anything of the sort towards her in return.

"Hermione would you wait! Would you please wait? I didn't know you were there!" He shouted desperately as he caught her arm before she could turn out of the empty corridor.

"Oh you didn't know I was there! That makes it so much better!" She spat her voice dripping with angry sarcasm. She tugged at his grip on her arm unsuccessfully, avoiding making eye contact.

"Hermione what was I supposed to say huh?" His question slightly fishing to be sure of what exactly she had heard. His voice sounded so soft no one would even be sure it was in fact Draco Malfoy. He dripped his head lower to try and look into her eyes; she looked further down to the ground. She was still struggling to release herself from his physical hold on her. Little did he know he had a much stronger hold on her she was battling as well. He tried to place his hand on her cheek to get her to look at him. He felt that her cheek was wet. She was crying. A lump the size of fist formed in his throat. His self-loathing growing, suddenly feeling her soft hand crack against his face, a feeling he had felt before, it stung much more this time around. "You've gotten better at that." He said finally seeing the hurt and anger in her deep brown eyes.

She inhaled sharply her cheeks painted a bright shade of red. "Pretty much anything other than what you said. I mean why not just call me a Mudblood Draco I mean really. Crack against my hair, and making love to me, oh no wait I'm sorry shagging me. I mean come on you can do so much better. I'm not worth your breathe right." She inched her face closer to his with each word she said. By the time she got to the word breath he could feel hers on his lips.

He was relieved she had come in on the end of the conversation, he had no idea how he would handle her if she had heard everything that had been said. But his relief didn't last long because he realized he wasn't in a good position with her hearing what he had said about her. His blood began to boil when he thought that she would really believe his words were his true feelings.

"I got into that whole mess back there because I lashed out at Blaise for calling you that!" He was angry that she would even think he would ever call her that again. He truly just wanted to protect her. "Do you really think I feel that way? C'mon Ms. I know everything , why don't you use that great big brain of yours to think about how that situation back there would've played out if I would've answered him truly."

Hermione swallowed hard looking away from him. He got even closer to her, if that was even possible. "Truly? I don't know what truly is for you Draco!" She yelled in his face. "You could've just ignored him." She offered.

"Don't you think if it was that simple I would've done it? I may not get 100 points every time a question is asked but I'm not stupid I know how to get people off my back." He said angrily.

"Yeah including me right, played me real good didn't you!" She yelled her voice becoming hoarse.

"No I didn't!" He said frantically.

"Yes you did!"

"Woman are you listening to anything that I'm saying?"

"You did Draco! Almost everything you did and said contradicts another thing that you did or said and I never know how to feel about you my brain says one thing I feel another I can't take this anymore! What you said back there was awful and it hurt and I don't want to continue down this road anymore you make me so unsure! And ughh I know I just hit you back there but I wanna do it again you just ughhhhh! You played me! You don't have any sort of positive feelings for me! "

"Ohh you've got everything figured out don't ya Hermione. Well you're certainly one of the smartest people I know but when it comes to figuring out how people really feel about you I think you just might be the dumbest."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but quickly had Draco's hand covering her mouth and her back gently against the wall they were near.

"You can't even tell when someone's in love with you." He said quietly looking into her eyes; he then turned to leave her stunned.

He then turned around and walked a few steps back towards her.

"It's good though, really. Because I'd be putting not only my pathetic life in danger but I'd be putting yours in danger as well. And I won't do that." He finished sternly.

TBC-Please review, thank you to all of the readers who review it is really very nice to hear from you guys. :)