A/N: I meant to say in the last chapter, sorry for not updating this story in so long! I promise I'll try and update it more frequently. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, I worked really hard on it and it's one of my personal favourites!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 5

Hermione woke early the next day and dressed quickly. She was not in the mood for another face-off with Draco yet. Peeking out her door to check he was indeed still in his room, she stepped out and closed her door behind her. She walked to the door, grabbing her schoolbag and stroking a snoozing Crookshanks on the way. As soon as she stepped outside the Head dorm, she sniffed the smell of freshly made breakfast that was wafting from the Great Hall. When she got there she walked to the Gryffindor table and found Ginny, Neville, Lavender and Seamus already sitting there. Smiling at them all, she squeezed herself in between Neville and Ginny.

"Morning." She greeted.

"Morning." They all chorused back.

"Mione, can you please tell Neville to let me copy his Herbology homework?" asked Seamus, "I don't get it at all and he won't help me."

"There's a difference between helping someone and letting them just copy your work." countered Neville through a mouthful of bacon, "you won't learn anything if you just copy people all the time."

"He's right you know." agreed Hermione.

"Besides," Ginny added, "Professor Sprout will know you've copied. You aren't smart enough to suddenly produce a level of work that's as good as Neville's."

Everyone laughed at this, even Seamus, who half-heartedly tried to whack Ginny on the arm from across the table. Fifteen minutes later, Hermione looked up from the Daily Prophet and saw Draco enter through the grand doors. She huffed when she remembered that she had Transfiguration with him next.

Bloody brilliant.

Draco approached the Slytherin table and greeted his friends. As soon as he sat down, Pansy latched herself onto his arm.

"Good morning you." she cooed, leaning in for a kiss. Fortunately, Draco turned his head just in time and she only caught his cheek.

"Morning Drakie!" Theo mocked, batting his eyelashes at him. Blaise snorted in amusement.

Draco just glared at the two and grabbed a piece of toast.

"Did you sleep well last night?" asked Blaise, who had noticed Draco's complexion, was slightly paler than normal.

"Like a log," Draco mumbled back, but this was a lie. He had woken in the middle of the night with a cold sweat, and had stayed up for what seemed like hours. He had once again dreamed of the day his mother separated him and Stella. 'But Stella isn't even her real name' the annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him, 'and you didn't tell her yours.' Draco rubbed his hand over his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on.

"Listen," Draco said, standing up, "I'm going to head up to Transfiguration early."

"Wait for me." Pansy said. But Draco didn't hear her; he had already started walking to the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Theo asked whilst plucking another sausage from the pile in front of him.

"Don't ask me," Blaise shrugged.

"I bet you it's that Mudblood," Pansy snarled, glaring over at the Gryffindor table, "Imagine having to share a room with that."

Blaise and Theo merely shared an amused expression before they resumed eating. Most of the Slytherins knew Pansy was slightly jealous of Hermione, though the reasons why, none of them knew. But Blaise could hazard a guess. Pansy probably thought Draco and Granger were doing a few more things other than Head duties in that dormitory. She needn't worry though. If Draco was getting some action, Blaise was certain he would be the first of Draco's friends to know. Then Blaise internally laughed at the idea. Draco with a Muggle-born. With Hermione Granger, Gryffindor's princess, a war hero, and a best friend of Potter no less. Yeah, that was about as likely to happen as Theo announcing he was gay.

That evening, Hermione was walking the usual route to her dorm, when she decided to take a detour. 'Maybe it's not there today.' she thought, but her spirit was immediately crushed when she reached her destination.

In her first year, before she had properly met Draco and discovered his personality, Hermione wrote a note to Ace, thinking that maybe Draco would find it and realise who it was from. She carried the small bit of parchment around for days, until she found the perfect spot to hide it. A small crack in the wall, in the left-hand corridor that led to the Great Hall. Hermione had hid it there, for the note was obvious to anyone who was looking directly at it, but the rest of the time was camouflaged. Every few days since she had put it there, Hermione checked to see if anyone had taken it. But as the years dragged on, her hope slowly diminished. But still she did not give up.

And it was still there tonight. Hermione let out a forlorn sigh, then turned on her heel and walked away.

'One day,' she thought as she climbed the stairs, 'one day it won't be there.'

Draco was fuming as he stormed down the corridor later that night. Flitwick had given him detention, the stupid old wart, in the morning during Charms. To Granger's utter delight, he had been caught passing notes to Theo. He had only been released from Filch's dark, dank office five minutes before, and now he was going to fall behind the mountain of homework that he had been given. As he passed the Great hall and stomped down the left-hand corridor, he punched the wall in frustration. He bit back a yelp as pain shot through his fist.

"Fucking shite." he grumbled as he inspected his bleeding knuckles. He looked down and noticed something had fallen out a crack in the wall he had just hit. A note. Bending down, he picked up the note and opened it. As he read the words, he felt his heart leap into his throat.

I'm here too, Ace.