"You ass!" Hermione shrieked, whipping out her wand.

Ron recoiled and his face darkened with anger, "You know, I wouldn't have had to resort to that if you weren't like this!"

Hermione shot spells at him, missing every time because of the tears blurring her vision. A Jellylegs Jinx hit him, making him crumple to the ground. "Dump me before you cheat on me, you piece of troll shit," she spat, walking out of the empty classroom.

She stumbled around the castle, tears streaming down her face. She fell into a room in the old parts of the dungeons. Curling up in a green banner that had fallen, Hermione cried herself to sleep.

"Granger… up… earth… Slytherin… really?" Hermione felt herself being shaken awake. She stretched and blinked sleepily. Looking up, she saw Draco Malfoy standing above her, steel eyes glinting cruelly.

"Malfoy! What are you doing here! Wait, where am I?" she shrieked, staring at the obscene amounts of green surrounding her.

Malfoy snorted, "This," he gestured grandly, "is Salazar Slytherin's private rooms. Might I ask what in the name of Salazar you're doing here?"

"I was… oh yeah," Hermione said quietly before bursting into tears.

Malfoy stood awkwardly above the sobbing girl before sighing dramatically, sitting down, and handing her a silk handkerchief.

"Tell me what's wrong," he said. There was no compassion in his voice, but at least it didn't hold any disgust.

Hermione took a deep breath and wiped her eyes and nose on the handkerchief. She tried to hand it back to Malfoy, but he made a face and shooed it away.

"C'mon Granger, tell me what's wrong," Malfoy said, leaning a bit closer to her.

She backed away and shook her head. "You're Malfoy. You're going to laugh at me and call me a Mudblood."

Malfoy sighed, a long and suffering sigh, "I'm not allowed to be nice once in a while?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and looked sternly at him.

He looked uncomfortable then said quietly, "Fine, and it would be really good gossip. But still, Granger, I'm try-"

"Okay."

"W-what?"

"I'll tell you what happened," Hermione said, taking a deep breath.

Draco leaned in. she could smell the musk of his cologne.

"I was walking down the hall, because I had just finished reading this amazing book, and I like to be philosophical and ponder it while I'm walking, but that's not the point. I heard some noises coming from an abandoned classroom. I looked in, and R-Ron had his… his… hand under her skirt. A-and…" she broke down, tears running down her face.

"Who was she?" Malfoy asked, stroking her hair.

"…" Hermione murmured a name too lowly for him to hear.

"What?"

"Lavender Brown," Hermione sobbed, curling her knees into her chest and clasping her hands in front of her legs.

Malfoy made a disgusted sound.

Hermione let out a choked giggle, and then fell silent. She scooted a little closer and looked up at Draco. He glanced down at her, then away, the faintest hint of pink on his cheeks.

Hermione grinned, then kissed Draco, doing her best to forget about coarse red hair, watery blue eyes, and calloused Keeper's hands.

She felt smooth hands pushing her away. She opened her eyes and saw his apologetic silver eyes shining.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I can't be a rebound. It would be bad for the both of us. I probably could like you, if we got to know each other as… not how it's been for the past seven years, then I could. But not like this."

Tears clouded her eyes again, "I know. I just…"

He gently stroked her hair, "Shh, I know, I understand."

She wiped her eyes, "What time is it?"

Malfoy checked his pocket watch, and then paled, "It's almost lunchtime."

"Oh no!" she shrieked. "I'm late! I need to go!"

"D'you really want to do that?" Draco asked, "I mean, he's going to be there."

Hermione stopped short and said, "C-could I just stay here?"

Draco looked around at the dusty room, "If you really want to."

"I could clean it up!" she said.

Draco raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'll just bring some sandwiches."

"Thanks," she said, getting out her wand and tying her hair back.

When Draco came back half an hour later, most of the dust had been collected into a mound in the middle of the room. Hermione was in the middle of the room, beating dust out of velvet blankets.

"What on earth are you doing?" Draco asked, "Why don't you just use magic?"

Hermione set down the odd looking stick she was using and wiped sweat off of her forehead.

"I just, whenever I was bullied in my Muggle school, I would clean. Almost obsessively. I guess it helps me cope."

Draco shrugged and set down the platter on a rickety old table, "Are you going to Vanish that?" he asked, gesturing at the pile of dust.

Hermione picked up the odd looking stick again and said, "No. Be a dear and do that for me, would you?"

Draco quickly Vanished it and looked around, "There's windows in the dungeons?" he asked, staring at the sunlight streaming through the ornate windows.

Hermione flicked her want and suddenly, it was storming out. "Nope," she said, changing it back to sunlight, "It's like the windows in the Ministry."

Draco's eyes widened. That was extremely advanced magic, and she was only 18.

"Well, d'you wanna take a break? I have food," Draco said, gesturing vaguely at the platter.

"Yes!" Hermione yelled, dusting off her hands.

Draco found two nearby chairs and pushed them up to the small table. Hermione had already devoured a tea sandwich and was working on the second.

"Sit down, take a load off," Draco chuckled.

Suddenly, the doorknob turned. Draco's stomach fell through the floor. The door creaked open. Something hard and wooden rapped him on the head and it felt like an egg's insides were trickling down his body. He looked over and saw no one. He tried to scramble backwards, but warm hands stopped him.

"Keep still and quiet. I've cast a Disillusionment Charm," Hermione hissed in his ear.

He nodded and removed her hands. A white sneaker became visible, followed by pale, calloused hands, a freckled nose, and a shock of orange hair.

Hermione stiffened, "Ron," she breathed.

Ron looked around and cast a spell that sent a shiver up Draco's spine. Ron smirked, then pointed his wand at his forehead and muttered an incantation that set off a purple light. His eyes flashed briefly, and a sadistic grin curled his lips as he stared directly at Draco.

Draco reached for his wand, but Ron flicked his, sending Draco into an armchair, bound in chains. Hermione let out a small squeak, and Ron whirled around. With a wave of his wand, Hermione became visible. She then went limp, and Ron poured a vial in her ear. He whispered some words to her, then Vanished her clothes. Draco gasped.

Ron grinned at him. "Y'see, what's going happen here is that I'm going to make it seem like you two were banging each other. And then I get to be the good guy and comfort poor little Hermione."

Gathering a breath to start yelling, Draco saw Ron flick his wand again, then it all went dark. Next thing he knew, he was stark naked, his arms wrapped around an equally naked Hermione.

*Click*

There was Dennis Creevey, his eyes wide as he took a picture of the two.

"What?" Draco yelled, yanking up the covers that barely concealed his nudity.

"Oh, Ron was right! Poor guy," Dennis said to himself, camera still clicking away.

Wait, Ron? Draco's blood boiled.

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, Inter-House Affair!" the headline of the Daily Prophet screamed the next morning. Draco took one look at the picture of him and Hermione sleeping, and shoved it away, his appetite gone.

"Dray-dray! What's wrong?" shrieked Pansy, reaching for the paper. Draco snatched it away from her grasping hands and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Ron and Hermione were in the middle of the mostly Entrance Hall. One of his hands was almost violently entangled in her hair, his other hand holding her against his body. His eyes were open as they kissed, staring defiantly at Draco. Draco's temper shot up, but he put on a stony façade, as if the amazing girl he could've loved and the biggest prick on the planet were not standing in front of him. Draco knew Ron saw the flash of anger he couldn't suppress, his watery blue eyes were alight with malice.

Draco turned to leave, but a small voice stopped him.

"Draco? Um I mean, Malfoy?" Hermione said.

Malfoy slowly turned around. It sounded like she had been crying.

"What?" he asked, his voice cracking in odd places.

"I d-don't remember what hap-pened, b-b-but I-I love Ron," Hermione said, her eyes red and her cheeks wet.

Draco closed his eyes, quickly turned on his heel, and marched out, shoes clicking on the stone floors.

He lay in his four-poster bed, curtains drawn tight, until Blaise came up and said, "There's a Floo-call for you."

It was Lucius Malfoy. "Pack your things," he snapped, "we're taking you out of that damned school."

Draco nodded mutely, and then did as he was told. By the next day, Draco Malfoy had left Hogwarts in disgrace.

He was sent to southern France, to the all-male counterpart of Beauxbatons. He didn't make any friends. He only talked when necessary, and passed all of his classes with flying colors. After returning to England, Blaise came to visit one day.

"Did you hear about that prick Weasely and the Mudblood Granger?" Blaise said excitedly.

Draco just stared at him intently.

Looking uncomfortable, Blaise went on, "He beat the shit out of her! She's in St. Mungo's ri- hey where are you going?"

But Draco had already left, grabbing his coat and Flooing over to St. Mungo's.

"Could you please tell me where Hermione Granger is?" he asked the kind-looking receptionist.

He had barely heard the numbers when he was gone, walking, almost running, up the stairs. He stopped in front of her room, panting.

"Malfoy!" Harry yelled.

"No," Hermione said in the small voice she had used many months ago, "It's okay. Let him in."

Harry barely relaxed, his hand still on his wand.

Draco didn't notice any of this, just stared at the stark white bandage around her head.

"I know what you're thinking. But, it's not like that. He just- he loves me, he just gets angry sometimes."

"That's not love."

Hermione's eyes flashed, she almost looked like her old self, "You don't know anything about love, Malfoy."

"I know enough."

She just glared at him.

He slowly and deliberately walked over to her, gently cradled her face in his hands and kissed her. Her bandaged hands weakly tried to push him away, then her fingers ended up tangled in his silky, platinum hair. Harry cleared his throat loudly, yanking Draco back down to Earth. He pulled himself away from her, and walked out.

Walking down the hall, he ran into Ron almost literally. Ron didn't comment , just smirked and said, "Visiting your sick mother Malfoy?"

Draco muttered, "Something like that," before hurrying down the hall. He hardly noticed when people started running down the hall in the opposite way he was going until it was a flood. Stopping dead in his tracks, he turned around and ran back toward the room he had just left.

Harry was in the middle of the room, trying to hold back Ron. The red-haired boy's hands were spattered with blood, and there, in the bed, was Hermione, her face covered with blood, her chest no longer rising and falling.

"You little bitch! How could you do that to me? After all I've done for you!" Ron yelled.

He killed her. He had killed her. Draco's fist collided with Ron's nose, before Draco Malfoy walked out, tears falling down his face as he wondered about what could have been. He sighed. Maybe they could be together. Someday, in a different life.

Author's Note: I did it. My first 100% slash free fanfiction. I would like to thank Jack for challenging me to do this, and for all of you for being patient as I do this. Now I can get back to other things, like Lord of the Band Geeks.

Reviews get you cookies! And love! Except cookies are usually better...

Thank you!

Love, Alice