When Draco returned to the common room, he instantly realised that the disagreement between Hermione and the others was more than she had let on. Hermione was sitting quietly on her own on a small, uncomfortable wooden chair in the corner of the room working on an essay. Harry and Ron were sitting by the fire, laughing and playing exploding snap. The Weasley brothers surrounded the pair, who seemed to be at the centre of attention of those who had stayed at Hogwarts. Draco hurried up the stairs to dump his little day-pack off in his dorm and then rushed back down to where Hermione sat.

'How'ya doing, Hermione.'

'Oh! You're back!' said Hermione.

'Am I?' Draco prodded his chest in jest. 'Yup, seems like it.'

Hermione cracked a small smile, but Draco noticed that her eyes looked redder than ever he had seen them before.

'You alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine.' Was Hermione sniffling slightly?

'Really?'

'Yeah, it's just I've got a lot of work to do, that's all. So now if you'd just leave me be...' Hermione said with a distinct hint of irritation in her voice.

'OK. You know where to find me.' Said Draco, before walking over to where Harry and Ron were reaching the climax of their game.

'SNAP!'

As Harry laid his hand over the last remaining card, the pack in Ron's hand exploded with a force that was loud enough to nearly knock the sofa over. A quick glance over his shoulder showed Draco that Hermione was tutting, probably upset that her peace and quiet was being disrupted.

'Hi guys.'

'Hi Draco, had a good Hols?'

'Yeah, got all the work done I needed to and had a bit of a relax too. How were yours?'

'Yeah, great thanks. I told you that I got a Firebolt, didn't I?'

'Yeah, you might have mentioned it. How is it?'

'No idea, McGonagall confiscated it before I got to have a go.'

'No thanks to her.' Interrupted Ron.

'Will she let you have it back for the match?'

'Don't know. She says it needs stripping down to test for curses.'

'Stripping down a brand new Firebolt. It should be illegal.' Fred weighed into the discussion, rather loudly. In the far corner, Hermione was angrily packing her books up to head upstairs.

'Don't you guys think your being a bit hard on Hermione? After all, she was thinking of your safety when she told.'

'That's not the point- there's nothing wrong with that broom!'

'Have you tested it?'

'You know, Draco, you're sounding just like Hermione at the moment, have you two been co-ordinating or something?'

'No! But surely you'll have the broom back soon?'

'Yeah, but will it be in time for the next match?' Harry asked.

'If it isn't, I'll lend you my broom, don't worry about that. I'll not see Gryffindor's best seeker flying around on a knackered old school broom.'

'Thanks, Draco. But still, a Firebolt. A real, live Firebolt. There's not a better broom in the world.'

'For the moment.' Draco said mysteriously.

'What do you mean, for the moment?' Ron asked, 'what's going to beat this, it's centuries ahead of anything Nimbus can do, and they're the best of the rest.'

'Just wait 'til Cattell brings out his next broom. That'll be fantastic.'

'I still reckon I'd rather have a Firebolt.' Harry countered, 'Do you have any idea how fast it can go?'

'It's cornering you need for quidditch- speed is great for a race, but it's no substitute for handling.'

'Yeah, but a fast broom is loads better than a slow one.'

'Ron, if you can't turn at speed, then you may as well not bother going fast at all, particularly if you're trying to catch a snitch.'

Ron bowed to Draco's superior experience and the conversation turned to the league and how the Cannon's were doing surprisingly well this year- in their last match they had managed to get a no score draw against the Thunderers.

The next morning started early and darkly. The Sun had not yet risen above the mountains around Hogwarts by the time that Draco shuffled downstairs to the great hall for breakfast.

'Morning.' Harry yawned.

'Morning.' Draco yawned back, 'You're up early.'

'I wanted to ask McGonagall about the broom before breakfast- Wood did his nut last night when I told him I hadn't gotten a new one.'

'Yeah, he did, didn't he.' Draco chuckled, 'He was pleased when he heard about the Firebolt though, wasn't he?'

'Not half!' Harry said smiling back. 'Shame she got it confiscated.'

'These things happen.'

'But why do they always happen to me?'

To that Draco had no answer except a shrug of the shoulders and he still hadn't anything better by the time he arrived at Arithmancy. Hermione turned up slightly late and went to sit with one of the Ravenclaws. How odd, she always sat with Draco in Arithmancy. She didn't sit near him or Harry or Ron in any of their lessons that day. Nor the day after that. Nor the day after that. In the end, Draco cornered Hermione in the Library.

'Do I smell bad or something?'

'What? No, of course not.'

'Then why aren't you sitting with me anymore?'

'I just wanted a change, that's all.'

'Well, so long as that's all it is.' Said Draco disbelievingly.

The conversation ended there, seemingly without effect for Hermione still didn't sit with the boys after lunch in lessons or at dinner. The next day, Draco turned up to breakfast early. Hermione was sitting there, morosely eating a bowl of porridge.

'Morning, Hermione. Is this seat free?'

'Yeah, no-one's in it, are they?'

'I suppose not.' Said Draco, still unsure about whether Hermione wanted him there or not. He decided that it didn't matter and sat down. He helped himself to bread and butter and bacon before starting to make himself a sandwich. Hermione didn't say anything.

'Could you pass the brown sauce, please?'

'Here you go.'

Hermione was still subdued, almost sullen.

'What's up?'

'Nothing's up.'

'You might be able to fool McGonagall and Flitwick with talk like that Hermione, but you're not going to fool me that easily. Something's up. What is it?' Draco asked kindly.

'Oh. Nothing.' Hermione replied venomously. 'Nothing at all. I've been abandoned by my friends, so everything is perfect, thank-you very much.'

'Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean abandoned by your friends? What do you think I am?'

'Yeah, it's not as if you've been around a lot. You're siding with them.'

'Huh?' This had puzzled Draco, he had definitely not agreed with Harry and Ron about the Firebolt.

'Well, it's true isn't it?'

'What?'

'You reckon I shouldn't have told McGonagall.'

'I reckon that if you hadn't told McGonagall and something had happened, you'd never have been able to forgive yourself.'

'See. Just what I mean. You're siding with them. Just because I'm a girl and you're all boys.'

'Did you even listen to a word I just said?'

'You're always ignoring me. You're not even sitting with me in class.'

'You weren't sitting with me, I thought you'd stopped wanting to.'

'So? You could have tried.'

'How? Most of the time, we're there first.'

Hermione looked stumped at that.

'Well, they don't like me.'

'They're just being silly and childish. They'll get over it, you'll see.'

'No they won't, Ron said he didn't know why he was friends with me in the first place.'

'His loss.' Hermione smiled at that and seemed to perk up a little bit. Flattery does get you somewhere, no matter what they say.

'Yeah, I suppose it is, isn't it.'

Draco loaded his bacon sandwich with brown sauce, slapped the final slice of bread on top and bit in. The sauce leaked out of the bread and dribbled down the side of his mouth, which made Hermione giggle slightly.

'You've got sauce on your face. Here.' Hermione said, gesturing to the right side of her face. Draco went to wipe the right side of his face with his fingers.

'No, other side.'

The second time, Draco did find the sauce, and he wiped it off his face and then licked it off his finger. Oh, there wasn't anything like it was there? Except gravy perhaps, and pastry. And chocolate. That was pretty good too.

Before Draco's thoughts permanently drifted into food-land, Harry and Ron turned up.

'Oi, what're you doing sitting with her?' Ron yelled at Draco, who ignored him. 'Still sticking up for Hermione are we? Why don't you stick by your friends, rather than with a grass. She'll tell on you in no time, you know.'

Hermione ran out of the Great Hall and Draco followed not long after. In the end he found her sitting on the cold, stone step outside of Arithmancy, crying. Draco sat down next to her, and not knowing what to do to stop a girl from crying, he put his arms around her. She carried on crying, now quietly, now great sobs wracking her body. Draco just sat there, rocking her gently as she cried and cried.

'Hush, now, hush.' Draco said soothingly.

'Why are you doing this?' Sobbed Hermione, 'you d d don't even like me.' But Draco didn't stop, they just sat there for what seemed like ages- it was a Saturday after all, they had nowhere to go. He didn't know why, but just then Ron came round the corner.

'Ooh, got yourself a girlfriend, Draco? That explains why you're sticking up for the know-it-all, then.'

Hermione only started sobbing harder.

'Bugger off, Ron. Can't you see how upset you're making her?'

'Good, perhaps that'll teach her to get other peoples broom stolen by teachers.'

But he did leave after saying that, at least.

Draco continued gently rocking Hermione and rubbed his hands up and down her back a bit, to try and calm her down. Draco didn't understand why she was crying like this. After all, what was the point in crying? It was just a waste of time and energy, really, not to mention how silly it was- what had ever been achieved by crying? He'd always been told that crying was for babies. Hermione was sniffing now, as well as crying, so Draco lifted one hand off of her back and into his pocket.

'Here you go.' Draco said, proffering a handkerchief. Hermione took it and dabbed her eyes before loudly blowing her nose on it.

'Thanks.'

'You're welcome.'

By now, Hermione seemed to have run out of tears, because she stopped crying.

'Feeling better?'

'I think so.'

'Good. Got any plans for today?'

'Nope.'

'Fancy going to visit Hagrid?' Draco suggested, perhaps he would be able to say something to make Hermione happier.

'Alright then.' They walked in silence for a long time. Eventually, they arrived at Hagrid's hut, but he wasn't in.

'Well, what shall we do now? Fancy going for walk and trying again in half an hour? There's a nice little path that goes down the rocky hill by the lake I found the other day- it's got a really nice view- if you don't get vertigo that is.'

'I'm up for that.' Hermione said, the tears of this morning already half-forgotten in the brisk air. They walked over to the twisting path that lead down the bare hillside.

'I don't know why this hill is so bare, do you?'

'No idea. It isn't even mentioned in Hogwarts, a History, so it's probably something boring like it isn't the right type of rock.' Draco nodded in agreement. The wrong kind of rock- that seemed reasonable, after all, they'd had that lecture last week from Professor Sprout about the use of milled granite compost for tentacula, which could kill nearly every other plant.

They climbed down the steep path, which was carved into the very rock, right down to the lake, where they walked for a bit, side by side.

'Do you think it's time to head back yet?' asked Hermione.

'Yeah, why not.'

When they got up to Hagrid's hut, Hagrid still hadn't gotten back.

'Oh well.' Hermione sighed, 'can we go back up to the castle, I'm getting cold.'

'OK.'

When they were nearing the slope that led back up to the castle, Hermione spoke again.

'Thanks for earlier, Draco.'

'Oh, it's not a problem, after all, we can't expect too much from you, you're only a girl after all.'

Draco did not expect what happened next. He thought he'd been being nice. Apparently he hadn't because.

THWACK!

Hermione's hand hit him the side of his face hard, very hard.

'You sexist pig!'

'What?'

'What do you mean "only a girl"? I'll have you know I'm just as good as you are if not better.'

'Of course you are, but you can't deny that girls do get silly from time to time and just start crying.'

'Silly, am I? You clearly think they're better than me. Why don't you just go and be with Harry and Ron?'

'You know, it would be a lot easier if I did- you've seen the stick they've been giving me about it- and that's the least of it.'

'What's been stopping you?' Hermione spat, angrily.

'I thought that you wanted a friend. Clearly I was wrong.' Draco snapped back, before turning around and storming off in the other direction.