A/N: Hey guys! I can't guarentee as speady of an update as this one concerning the next chapter, but I hope to keep the story rolling and not fall so far behind in updating. So enjoy!

Chapter 17

Draco grudgingly entered Potions sitting in the back corner with Blaise. Today they were starting the Potions project that Snape had been telling them about so long ago. He was dreading having to work with Hermione; she would be impossible. He was lucky as it was that Snape had had to postpone starting the project because not enough people in the class had passed the chain of potions required to complete before the project, though then again, that wasn't very lucky. Snape had been furious and assigned a three foot long essay as to the importance of potion competency.

The final bell rang as the last student took their seat and Snape slammed the door shut. Pointing his wand at the blackboard he turned to the class and everyone moved slightly back. This wasn't going to be a fun class.

"Get started." was his blunt statement before going to his desk, burying his nose in paperwork.

Draco sighed and looked over to see Granger comforting her friends before she started to quickly write down the contents on the blackboard. Realizing she wasn't going to come to his spot, Draco reluctantly gathered his things and moved to sit down next to her. Once seated, he began to write the same information to avoid conversation or being stuck with having to gather the little ingredients Snape was allotting them, the rest they had to gather on their own.

He made sure to take his time writing down the instructions when he noticed that Granger was waiting for him to finish. He could tell she was getting impatient and wondered how much longer she was going to stay quite. She huffed in annoyance making him smirk on the inside it was so easy to get her riled. Finally finished, he gently put his quill down leaning back in his chair before looking over at her. Her arms were crossed and her face was already set in a glare making Draco smirk.

"Look if we are going to get through this project we are going to have to learn to work together. So how about we try to keep the insults to a minimum so we can get done quickly and don't have to spend extra time with the other." said Granger.

"Fine."

Granger rolled her eyes exhaling a long heavy sigh, "Let's start on researching where to find all the ingredients we need before we can start brewing the potion. I'll go collect the ones Snape is providing for us."

Draco nodded his head not paying much attention to anything she was saying. Blaise was mouthing something to him which he was trying to decipher. By the time she returned he had still neglected to open his Potions book. He could feel the anger coming off of her, but she kept her mouth shut with obvious difficulty.

"Malfoy I understand your social life is very important for you to maintain, but I believe as Head Boy it is also important to have high grades, so whatever is so interesting Zabini is trying to tell you can wait until after class don't you think?" Granger stated vigorously flipping through her book.

"Okay. What's got your knickers in a twist? Weasel cheat on you?" teased Draco.

Her fists clenched around her quill nearly breaking it in half as she silently seethed choosing her words carefully, "Maybe you should pay attention to your life more instead of the lives of others. Or is yours so pathetic you have to live through others? Shouldn't you be worrying about whether Harry is dead yet or has Voldemort changed his focus?

After all you would know."

Draco turned an icy glare her way the anger washing off of him in waves. The whole room seemed to rumble from the power radiating off of him. His jaw was set firmly and he had to force himself to remain seated.

"Don't talk about things you know little of Granger." gritted Draco.

He noticed Granger looked stricken and the whole class appeared anxious looking around. Snape was staring directly at him silently warning him to stay under control. Draco took a deep breath to try and calm himself, but he could still feel the repressed rage. Schooling his features like his father had taught him to do, Draco returned to his work concentrating on finding the needed information and ignoring Granger.

Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room fiercely working on her Ancient Runes essay while Harry and Ginny played a game of chess. Ron was trying to work on Transfiguration, but appeared to be having difficulty concentrating. After the third sigh Hermione put down her quill and looked expectantly at Ron. Upon seeing he had gotten her attention she noticed he immediately became fidgety.

"Can I help you with something Ron?" asked Hermione.

"I…well you see…Hermione I…would you like…there's a Hogsmead weekend coming up." mumbled Ron.

"Yeah the weekend before the break." replied Hermione.

"Well…wouldyouliketogowithme?" Ron rushed out averting her eyes.

"What?" Hermione hadn't caught a word he said.

Taking a deep breath Ron looked up, "Would you like to go with me?"

Hermione sat stunned. Had Ron just asked her out? She thought they were just friends? Last year this would've have been a dream come true, but now? She just didn't feel that way for him anymore. She didn't know exactly when this change had happened, but after hearing him ask her out she knew it was true.

"Ron…I thought we went together every weekend?" Hermione hated herself for acting like she didn't understand, but she couldn't bear hurting him.

"Oh right…yeah well…guess your right." Ron was intently gazing at the table before leaving for his room.

Hermione sighed feeling horribly guilty. She felt terrible for having to hurt Ron, but she couldn't lead him along. That would be cruel and worst when she would have to tell him. It was better this way. Hermione caught the end of Harry and Ginny's game. They only had eyes for each other at that moment and Hermione had a feeling she would want to leave the Common room soon. She was happy for them though. Harry and Ginny were so right for each other sometimes it made her jealous. She wished there was someone like that for her, but then she quickly reminded herself that she didn't need a guy. She was perfectly capable to be on her own, she didn't need a guy to survive.

Later that night, after returning from the Astronomy Tower, which she still frequented, Hermione entered the Heads Dorm intent on getting on good nights sleep before the next day. All day she would be decorating the Great Hall with the rest of the prefects and Malfoy, along with checking up on the house elves. She knew it was going to be tiring, but Ginny had managed to get her excited to wear the dress she had helped pick. It hadn't matched her mask color so she planned on using a spell to turn the mask the proper color for the night.

The moment she passed through the portrait she noticed that Malfoy was still in the common room. He was sitting in one of the chairs before the fire a book haphazardly resting in his lap his neck turned in an odd angle as he slept. His hair seemed to be radiating against his pale skin. He looked to be in a peaceful sleep and debated leaving him be, but thought better of it. He would have a horrible kink in his neck and would be cramped and achy the rest of tomorrow and she didn't want to have to deal with that. She had enough to do tomorrow anyway.

Hermione silently approached his sleeping form, she picked up his book marking the page he was on and set it on the coffee table. Hesitating on what to do, Hermione gently shook his shoulder. A strong hand was suddenly tightly gripping her wrist a wand digging painfully into her throat. She stood stock still afraid to move listening to his ragged breathing and watching his wild eyes. As recognition shown on his face she felt his grip loosen and his wand drop from her throat. He avoided her eyes instead taking interest in the dying fire.

Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything Hermione decided to explain herself, "I thought you might've wanted to be woken up since you were sleeping in an odd position. I didn't think you would've wanted to be achy with a kink in your neck tomorrow."

Malfoy nodded his head then and proceeded to get up from the chair he occupied. He was about half way up when he winced in pain, not going unnoticed by Hermione.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"Nothing, I'm fine." sneered Malfoy.

"Stop trying to blow me off Malfoy. It won't work. Now what…"she didn't continue what she was saying.

Looking down at his white button down she saw the dark red stain starting to seep and spread across his side. Her honey brown orbs filled with worry met his icy blue ones concealing his emotions.

"What happened to you?" she whispered.

Sinking back into the chair with a sigh Malfoy ran his hand threw his hair, "Granger just leave me alone alright."

Knowing he wasn't going to tell her she decided to not push him at that moment.

"At least let me help you." Hermione said.

"I can take care of myself." Malfoy replied glaring.

She raised her eyebrow at him, "You're being stubborn. Can't you accept some help? I can have you mended in no time and you'll be able to sleep before you know it."

She could tell he was starting to relent and his hand slowly eased off of his side, his other fisted.

"Well come on then. You need to be laying down." said Hermione in a clipped business tone.

She hoped he wouldn't fight her that much on this and anyway she might glean some information about where his wound came from. She had yet to find out that it wasn't just one wound.

Malfoy carefully followed her to his room were she began to set to work gathering a bowl of water, rag, and different healing ointments and gauzes. When she returned with her arms overflowing, Malfoy had already laid down on his bed eyes closed leaning his head against one of the numerous pillows adorning his bed. Hermione quickly and meticulously set up her supplies on his bed side table before setting to work. Chancing a quick look at Malfoy's face, she unbuttoned his shirt only to discover numerous bruises and cuts marring toned chest.

As she carefully removed the garment she forced herself not to gasp at the sight before her. There were at least three deep cuts, which were bleeding again, and many smaller ones accompanying them, along with so many bruises his once pale skin looked black, purple, and yellow. Doing a speedy once over, Hermione also noticed that he had a couple cracked ribs and as a result a slightly bruised lung.

"Malfoy how did you make it around school without anybody noticing these?" questioned Hermione.

Malfoy was glaring icily at her know, venomously replying, "How do you think, Granger? I know my fair share about healing."

Hermione studied his face intently at that moment. He let no sign of the pain he was in show on his face. Only the reopening of one of the deeper cuts had caught him off guard when she had woken him. She wondered when he took his guard down what those silver blue eyes showed. Pain? Anger? Loneliness? Fear? She didn't think she would ever know or that anybody would know. She had a feeling he rarely, if ever, let his mask of impassive arrogance fall.

Setting to work, she began by cleaning the now oozing cuts of dark red. It didn't take long for the bowl of water to be died a diluted red color and the once white linen of the rag to be stained the same dark red of his blood. Waving her wand, she instantly had clean water and fresh rag to finish dabbing at the cuts with; she didn't want to upset his ribs anymore than necessary.

Then, Hermione began to apply different healing ointments for the cuts and bruises, able to heal some with magic, while others would need more special treatment. She reached into a small bag to the side of the foot and pulled out various bottle. Measuring out just the right amount of each one, she helped him swallow the first two potions and documented when and what she administered.

'She would make a good healer.' thought Draco.

The night sky was black as ink by the time Hermione was finishing bandaging him. Glancing over his chest she made sure everything was as it should be before beginning to tidy her things.

"Now, you should rest tomorrow. I can cover for you, but since you are Head Boy all I can guarantee you is a lengthened morning, which I'm afraid will have to do. Do you have any extra blankets in your room or am I going to have to hunt them down?" Hermione finished briskly.

Draco had to surprise the urge to snicker. She had sounded like a mixture of McGonagall and Pomfery. He half expected her to dish him out a punishment any second as well. He nearly burst out laughing when she put her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him, obviously getting irked over the fact that he had yet to answer her.

"Usually house elves bring things like extra blankets to you." he arrogantly replied.

"Alright then," she sent him a challenging gaze, "Dobby! Could you please come here?" shouted Hermione to the room. Dobby was the Head Dorms assigned house elf and so he had told them all they had to do was call for him and he would appear.

Draco's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What the hell are you doing Granger?"

"Getting a house elf of course." she replied innocently.

At that moment Dobby popped into the room by the foot of the bed.

"Missus called Dobby." Dobby said before taking in the scene surrounding him. His tennis ball sized eyes widened in shock and he seemed on the verge of saying something, but instead continued to stare.

"Yes Dobby, thank you for coming. I need another blanket or two please." replied Hermione with a smile.

"Dobby will be right back Missus." and popped away.

Hermione refused to look at Malfoy while they waited for Dobby to return, though that didn't stop her from wearing a look of satisfaction across her face. It was barely two minutes when Dobby was back in front of them a stack of blankets landing besides him.

"Here are the blankets Missus wants. Dobby was so glad when Missus called. Dobby hasn't seen Missus in a long time." Dobby said with eager eyes.

"I promise to come visit the kitchens more often Dobby. Could you do me a favor before you leave?" asked Hermione.

"Anything Missus, Dobby doesn't mind." answered Dobby, who still seemed nervous with the look of Malfoy.

"Could you not mention what this trip or what you saw to anyone?" Hermione's voice slightly pleaded.

"Dobby can do that for Missus."

"Thank you Dobby and I promise I will come to the kitchens more often. I will see you there tomorrow though since I'm checking up on the food preparation for the ball." said Hermione.

"Oh! Missus will love the food! Dobby looks forward to seeing Missus and her reaction to the food!" Dobby was bursting with excitement.

Hermione laughed and a minute later Dobby had disappeared again. Hermione could feel Malfoy's eyes on her as she threw the extra blanket on the bed next to him, but decided to ignore it. She faced him briefly and noticed his wrinkled brow.

'Yep, it is definitely time to give him the Sleeping potion now.' thought Hermione.

"Here drink this." said Hermione holding out the measurement of sleeping draught.

Malfoy eyed it skeptically before downing the concoction in one swig. He seemed to be contemplating asking what had been the cause of his wrinkled brow, when the draught kicked in. Hermione sighed in relief. She really didn't feel like talking with him at the moment.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were snuggled up to each other on the Common Room couch talking quietly with Ron looking on disgusted. Just because he was supportive of his little sister and best friend that didn't mean he wanted to watch them be all couplely. Luckily for Ron at that moment Dean and Seamus walked into the common room. Ron left no time in catching up with the two boys so that he no longer had to witness the doe eyes Harry and Ginny were currently making at one another.

Blaise and Theo sat in the high backed leather chairs of the Slytherin Common Room. Neither were talking, but instead, appeared to be in deep thought about Draco's disappearance. They had seen him earlier that day and planned on meeting up before dinner, except when dinner time came he never showed. There could've only been one reason why their friend hadn't been scene and both of them were avoiding that topic.

They knew about Draco's father randomly paying him visits and trying to get Draco to agree to an initiation date. They had both witnessed the aftermath of one of those encounters. There was a silent agreement between them not to discuss such family matters, for it wasn't unheard of for Blaise or Theo to receive similar treatment from great ol' dad. So both boys sat in silence thinking about their absent friend.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what you think!