AUTHOR'S NOTE: I AM SO SO SO SO SOOOOOO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! A lot of stuff happened in my private life in not a lot of time and I have had absolutely no time for writing any of my fanfiction and I hate that. I am so sorry; please don't all hate me!

I hope this chapter can somehow make up for it.

Thank you to hoshiakari7, daswhoiam, obsessedteenagefangirl and puresteph for reviewing the last chapter.

This chapter is dedicated to Aawara, Doll482223, Im The Ace Of Hearts, PaRaM0rE-0394, SusyQ, f3y-chan, jolipanda, fikesgirl, supzoey, KiyiyaTheHowlingWolf and Mistyfur of ThunderClan.

Tulip

Draco trudged through the forest with Crabbe on one side of him and Goyle on the other, his Care of Magical Creatures book wriggling slightly under his arm. He was actually rather looking forward to this class but of course he would never let anybody know that. Back in his first year although he had been terrified to go into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night for detention, he had been quite excited at the prospect of seeing a unicorn. Creatures like mermaids, dragons and unicorns had always fascinated Draco, although his rather over-protective mother had never allowed him to see any of them first-hand. The dead unicorn he'd seen You Know Who drinking from was the first time he'd seen any sort of magical creature in the flesh. His room back at Malfoy Manor was filled with all sorts of books about a plethora of different creatures and he would read through them to his heart's content during the holidays, wondering what it would be like to fly through the sky on a hippogriff or make friends with one of the mermaids in the Black Lake.

The only thing that made Draco slightly dread this class was the fact that Hagrid was taking it. If it had been Professor Kettleburn then he would have been completely fine, but as it was Hagrid was always going to be biased towards the Gryffindors, especially Potter, Weasley and Hermione, which meant if there was the opportunity for anything exciting to happen, one of the three of them would be Hagrid's first choice.

A few minutes into the lesson and Draco was proved correct. Hagrid brought out a hippogriff called Buckbeak and invited Harry to try and pet him. Draco hung back behind everyone, pretending he wasn't bothered when in reality he was seething with jealousy. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone looking at him. He and Hermione locked eyes for a moment before she quickly looked back round at Harry bowing to the hippogriff.

Hermione had looked confused, and Draco was fairly certain he knew why. Draco and his friends had no issue about teasing Harry about his encounter with a Dementor on the train to school a few days earlier, but even though she had been right next to Potter defending him, Draco hadn't said a word to Hermione, cruel or otherwise. Every time he saw her he still felt a pang of guilt for calling her a Mudblood the year before, even if he had helped save her from the basilisk and bought her a cat.

Draco was snapped out of his daydream when his classmates all started shrieking. Jerking his head round to stare at Harry now on the back of the hippogriff he grunted slightly under his breath. Of course Hagrid would let Potter ride Buckbeak. It wouldn't surprise him if nobody else was allowed a go.

Although annoyed, Draco watched Harry along with the rest of the class as they flew over the grounds of Hogwarts and landed back down in front of them. While the rest of the class applauded as Hagrid helped Harry down, Draco – due to a mix of jealousy, annoyance and an attempt to impress his friends – walked right up to the hippogriff despite Hagrid's calls for him to stop.

"You're not dangerous at all, are you?" he called out to Buckbeak as he walked forward to stand in front of the hippogriff. "You great ugly brute."

Buckbeak locked eyes with Draco and in that moment Draco knew he'd made a mistake. Buckbeak reared up on his hind legs before stomping down on Draco, his hoof clipping Draco's right arm when he raised it to cover his face, the shock sending him tumbling to the ground.

While Hagrid moved forward to calm Buckbeak down, Draco could hear the rest of his classmates screaming in fear of the hippogriff. When Draco saw Hagrid throwing a dead ferret away from Buckbeak to follow he decided to start up the drama. The truth was his arm was in a lot of pain but even with that, mostly due to the fact he really didn't like Hagrid, he made up his mind to make him feel like a terrible teacher.

"It's killed me!" he cried out, scrunching his face up in pain. "It's killed me!"

Hagrid's face was a picture of confusion, worry and helplessness. "Calm down; it's just a scratch!" he insisted, trying to avoid looking at the blood that was now beginning to stain Draco's robe.

"Hagrid!"

Draco stopped squirming and moved his head round to see that Hermione had run forward from where the rest of the class, including Draco's friends, were cowering behind the tree line out of fear of Buckbeak. Hermione looked down at Draco, seeming genuinely worried, before she looked back up at Hagrid. "He has to be taken to the hospital."

Hagrid nodded. "I'm the teacher. I'll do it," he said as he picked Draco up off the floor and began to carry him back towards the school.

"You're going to regret this," Draco promised Hagrid, glaring at him. "You and your bloody chicken."

Hagrid ignored this so Draco glanced back over his shoulder to see Hermione still watching after them with worry burning in her eyes.

Madam Pomfrey had told Draco he was going to be fine but still allowed him to stay in the hospital wing overnight just as a safety precaution. This surprised Draco who had been fairly certain she would insist nothing was really wrong with him and just send him on his way.

Lying in the hospital bed all alone in the middle of the night however was turning out to be very boring. There were no other patients around and the ghosts never tended to come into the hospital wing; apparently they were all slightly scared of Madam Pomfrey.

Suddenly however he heard the door creaking open. Initially thinking it was Madam Pomfrey herself coming to check on him Draco rolled over and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep so she wouldn't scold him. But after the sound of footsteps went away he heard a whispering next to him.

"Draco? Are you awake?"

Draco's eyes shot open to see Hermione standing over him with the same worried look on her face she'd had earlier that day in the forest.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?" he asked, sitting up.

Glancing down he smiled to see that she was clutching a small bunch of pink tulips. Hermione blushed slightly when she saw what Draco was staring at and she set the flowers down on the bedside table.

"I just wanted to check if you were okay," she admitted quietly. "When I didn't see you at dinner I got worried."

Draco's own cheeks flushed slightly red at the idea that Hermione had been looking for him to dinner, but he quickly calmed himself back down. "Well yes, I'm okay. Madam Pomfrey said that the gash on my arm wasn't that deep even though it looked like I lost a lot of blood. The bone in my arm did get chipped though, so she wants me to wear a wrist brace just in case for a little while." Draco grinned to try and lighten the mood. "Though of course I'll be milking it for all it's worth to get out of doing homework."

Hermione giggled slightly causing Draco to smile even more. "Of course you are. I wouldn't expect anything else to be honest."

Draco laughed in response before stopping suddenly, memories of his father's cruel punishment last summer coming flooding back. No, he couldn't be friendly with Hermione. If his father heard about this he would be beaten even worse than last time and he couldn't do that to his mother again.

As such Draco quickly looked down and away from Hermione. "I want you to leave now."

"No."

Such a quick response made Draco's eyes fly up to meet with Hermione's.

"I'm not leaving Draco," Hermione insisted. "You've been acting really strange ever since we arrived. You've had ample opportunities to bully me and you haven't done it once. And I know about Crookshanks."

The last one made Draco look down again in embarrassment. He had been fairly certain Hermione knew he had been the one who had gotten her the cat but he never thought they would actually talk about it.

"So cut the crap Draco," Hermione said. "What's going on?"

"We can't be friends, alright?" Draco yelled, cutting Hermione off before she could say anything else.

Draco's voice echoed around the room. Once silence fell again Hermione spoke up once more.

"Why not? Cause I'm a Gryffindor? Cause I'm a Muggle-born?"

Draco nodded slowly. "Because you're a Muggle-born, but it's not my decision," he replied, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "It's my father. He would kill me."

On reflex Draco's hand moved to his back as he ran his fingers gently over the scars which would probably never fully go away.

But of course Hermione's sharp eyes noticed.

"Take your shirt off."

Draco's eyes widened in shock. "Um, what?!" he spluttered.

"Take your shirt off," she repeated, her eyes not showing any hints of joking around.

Draco's eyes met with hers again and he sighed slightly before proceeding to unbutton his night shirt. He slowly allowed it to fall off his shoulders, grateful that none of his father's damage was visible from the front. Draco did however notice Hermione's eyes quickly running down his toned body before she swallowed slightly and locked eyes with him again. "Turn around," she said, much softer this time.

Draco's body tensed up but he knew he'd come too far to refuse her now; saying no would just confirm he had something to hide anyway so he may as well show her. Slowly twisting himself around he came to a stop with his back facing Hermione, still sitting on his hospital bed with his head hanging low in shame.

"Draco…" Hermione murmured softly before she gently ran her fingers over the scars. Draco jerked at the suddenness of it and Hermione quickly retracted her hand, thinking she'd hurt him. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked.

Draco looked over his shoulder at her and shook his head. "No, it didn't hurt, don't worry. I just…wasn't expecting it, that's all."

Hermione nodded slowly and reached her hand back out, softly caressing the scars all over his back. Draco kept his head where it was so he could watch her, touched at the tenderness and worry in her face.

"…Did your father do this because of me?" Hermione asked quietly.

Draco turned back around and put his shirt back on. "Not exactly. He did it because I helped you."

"The page about the basilisk…" Hermione sighed. "I can't believe he would do this. Doesn't your father love you?"

Draco shrugged. "He does…but he isn't very forthcoming about showing it. My mother begged him to stop but she doesn't exactly have much control in our house."

"We should tell someone-"

"No!" Draco yelled, causing Hermione to jump back. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell, but you can't tell anyone. Please Hermione, I'm begging you. You can't tell anyone."

Hermione didn't look happy about this but she nodded slowly. "Okay, I promise I won't tell anybody. And…this is why you say we can't be friends?" She asked. "Because if your father finds out this will happen again?"

Draco nodded. "I can take it, but I can't put my mother through that again."

Hermione cracked a small smile. "That's really kind of you. But…what if we were friends and we just made sure nobody found out?"

"I don't know Hermione…" Draco said doubtfully.

"Come on, think about it. Crabbe and Goyle aren't exactly the smartest Slytherins around; I doubt they'd notice. And to be honest the same kind of goes for Harry and Ron."

Draco chuckled at that comment and nodded knowing she did have a point. "Well…if we were going to be friends I will still have to bully and insult you…and to be honest I really don't want to do that."

"And to be honest I really don't want you to do that either, but I understand that you have to," Hermione smiled. "And since we're friends now I'll know you don't mean anything you say."

"We'd have to make it believable that we hate each other though," Draco reminded her.

Both of them were silent for a moment before a grin slowly formed on Hermione's face. "I have an idea."

Draco, Crabbe and Pike all stared down at Hagrid's hut, ready to watch the spectacle of Buckbeak being executed. Well, that's why Crabbe and Pike were there anyway. Draco had a very different reason for being there which of course his two friends could never find out about. He didn't particularly want this plan to go ahead but if it stopped his father being suspicious of him then it would be worth it.

"Father said I can keep the hippogriff's head," Draco bragged to his friends. "I'll donate it to the Gryffindor's room."

Crabbe and Pike both laughed at this and Draco smirked slightly under his breath. The two of them really would believe anything.

Approaching footsteps behind them caused Crabbe to look round. "Oi, look who's here," he grinned.

Turning round Draco saw Hermione, Ron and Harry walking towards them, with Hermione leading and heading straight for Draco. The tiny little sparkle he could see in her eyes reassured him that what was about to happen was all part of the plan, and a tiny nod from him confirmed to Hermione that he would play along.

"Come to see the show?" Draco grinned cruelly.

"You!" Hermione cried out. "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"

Hermione walked right up to Draco with her wand out until he was backed right up against a huge boulder and Hermione's wand was pressing into his neck. Draco squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to make it look more real that Hermione was threatening him.

"Hermione, no!" Ron protested. "He's not worth it."

Hermione kept her wand where it was for a few more seconds before slowly lowering it. Draco opened his eyes again as Hermione started to turn away and he began to laugh. With no warning Hermione then whirled around and punched him right in the nose, causing his head to smack back into the boulder.

"Malfoy!" Crabbe cried, he and Pike helping Draco back to his feet before all three of them ran back towards the school.

"Not a word to anyone, understand?" Draco glared at both of them as they ran, to which they both nodded.

Just before they rounded a corner Draco stopped for a moment and glanced back down to where they had just been standing. Hermione was looking up at him too. They both smiled at each other for a split second before Draco continued running.

It had been a full day since the punching incident and Draco hadn't seen Hermione at all. Walking around the school grounds he wondered where she had been, but suddenly there was a huge commotion and what seemed like the entirety of 3rd year Gryffindor came running out of the school building. Ducking behind a wall he saw Potter pulling out a broomstick, and a very nice one at that. It must have been new – his Nimbus 2000 had been wrecked during the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match easier that year. Trying not to tense up with jealous Draco watched as Harry shot up from the ground and began to wiz around the school grounds to the applause of his friends below.

"Draco."

Draco turned round at the sound of his name being hissed and spotted Hermione's head poking out from around a corner. She motioned for him to come over and he did, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody spotted them together.

"Is your nose okay?" Hermione asked immediately, looking rather guilty. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to hit it that hard."

Draco grinned. "Don't worry, it's fine," he promised. "It only popped out of place a little bit and Crabbe is surprisingly good at spells involving fixing things so he got it back to normal as soon as we got back to the common room."

Hermione smiled in relief. "I'm glad. I was really worried. I'm sorry I didn't get to see you yesterday. Harry and I…we were a bit busy."

Hermione looked down as she said this and Draco felt his stomach start to churn. Were Potter and Hermione…?

Hermione looked up at Draco and caught him frowning. Immediately she shook her head, her eyes wide. "No no no! Nothing like that!" she insisted. "We were doing a task for Dumbledore but we're not allowed to tell anyone else about it."

Draco sighed under his breath in relief. "Ah, okay. Sorry about that," he smiled.

Hermione smiled back. "So, did Crabbe and Pike believe you hate me then?"

"Yep, don't you worry about that," Draco replied. "I was trashing you in the common room all night."

Hermione kept smiling but Draco could see the sadness behind it. Without really thinking about it he took one of her hands in his and squeezed it gently.

"You know I wish I didn't have to do that, right?" Draco murmured.

Hermione nodded, smiling for real this time. "I know. I understand that you have to keep the act up, don't worry."

Draco nodded and squeezed Hermione's hand once more before letting it go, nodding over at the crowd of Gryffindors still cheering for Harry. "You should get over there before someone notices you're missing and wonders why you're not with them."

Hermione looked over at her classmates and nodded in agreement before she suddenly threw her arms around Draco and hugged him tightly. Letting go just as quickly she grinned once at Draco before running off to join her fellow Gryffindors leaving Draco standing in the corner, a mixture of both confusion and elation.

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!