A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers! Sorry I made the last chapter a cliff-hanger but it was just too good to pass up! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt, my dears," Nick sobbed as he floated into the room.

Malfoy and Hermione jumped apart and Malfoy shook his head. What had he almost done?

Hermione seemed to recover faster and she smoothed her skirt before turning to the ghost. "No interruption," she said kindly, walking over to him while blushing furiously. To Malfoy, it seemed like she just wanted to get away from him. "We were just rehearsing for our class. What's wrong, Nick?"

"I-I'm looking for Binns," he said, sitting down at one of the desks as best a ghost could.

Hermione gave him a kind smile. "He went to find you. He knew you needed to talk."

"Oh," he sobbed.

"Here, why don't you talk to me in the meantime?"

"I don't know if you can help."

"Maybe I can. What is it?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes an sat back down, grabbing his book and allowing Hermione to go back to her annoyingly caring ways. He looked down at the pages and tried to focus on the words, but he couldn't seem to.

What just happened? he thought silently.

Rehearsal, nimrod,a second voice told him.

I know it was rehearsal, he shot back. But it didn't feel like rehearsal. It felt real. And she's a Mudblood!

You must've really been into your character, then. Nothing else could explain it.

I bet you're right. Mother's been reading me this stuff since I was a kid. She even got Father into it. I guess all those years of Shakespeare just got into me.

Romeo and Juliet was her favorite, the voice agreed. Just be glad that dolt of a teacher didn't give you the another scene that was worse.

What could be worse? he scoffed.

He could've made you do the scene where Romeo and Juliet are in bed together.

Shakespeare didn't write that scene out!

Binns could've had you do your own take on it. Or what about the morning after? That was in the play.

Okay, stop thinking that right now! Having to kiss Granger is bad enough. I don't even want to think of anything else!

The voice laughed in his mind. Sorry, just trying to make the kiss seem less terrible. The sooner you both get it over with, the better.

I couldn't agree more.

Why don't you say something really insulting to her? That will knock the sense back into you.

I haven't lost my sense!

No, but you were afraid what you felt while you were acting was real.

I'm a Malfoy—we don't get afraid.

You know what I mean. Now, just insult her already and let's be done with it!

Should I do it in front of the ghost or wait until he's gone, Malfoy inquired, shooting a look at the still bubbling spirit.

Wait, until he's gone. With any luck, you can scare her just as badly as you did last night!

Malfoy sniggered.

And after that, you might want to have a word with your Godfather. Just to leave nothing to chance.

I'm not that far gone! Alright, Binns is coming back. Once he's gone and he takes that damn ghost with him, I'll say something. Until then, go!

Fine, fine…

"Oh, Nick, I've been looking for you," Binns said as he approached Hermione and Nick.

"I've been trying to comfort him but he really needs you, Professor," she said.

He nodded. "I'll take it from here then. Thank you, Miss Granger." He helped Nick to his feet and they started to leave the room.

"T-thank you, Hermione," Nick blubbered.

She smiled and turned back to Malfoy when they had gone.

"Merlin, Granger, I was thinking that idiot would never leave!" he spat, not yet doing his worst.

"Oh, be quiet." She walked back to the table. "No wonder everyone's always running away from you. You're mean to those you don't even know."

"I happen to like it when people run from me. Why do you think I took my time chasing you last night?" He smirked.

To his surprise, she didn't glare at him and instead, fixed him with a look of confusion. "Why did you do that, anyway? All I did was slap you."

"You make it sound like it was nothing."

"It was nothing. I mean, I slapped you three years ago and you didn't do a thing to me." Realization dawned in her eyes. "Oh, was that because I had Harry and Ron with me? Well, you had two friends with you too, but I had the Boy-Who-Lived on my side." She laughed. "No wonder you ran for the hills."

Anger boiled inside Malfoy. I said insult HER! the second voice yelled in his mind. Piss off! he retorted. "Potter doesn't frighten me," he told her. "I've never run from a fight with him. Actually, if I remember correctly, he's normally the one running from me. Thanks in large part to you being against fighting. Quite the little hypocrite, aren't you?"

"And just what were you intending to do to me last night, then?" she countered.

He smirked. "Don't get your hopes up, Mudblood. It wouldn't have been that. I wouldn't want to risk getting covered in mud, now would I?"

The clock in the room chimed ten and Hermione packed her bags and stood. "You might want to think about something, Malfoy," she said turning to him.

"And that is?"

"That even if I am a Mudblood, at least I'm a Mudblood with people to love and who love me. That's the one I know you don't have. And at this rate? You never will." She turned on her heel and left.