Disclaimer: sadly, I do NOT own any part of JKR's wonderful stories, or I would be rolling in a giant pile of cash.

Getting Him to Smile

Ch. 1

Hermione's POV

It was late, about midnight, and Harry, Ron, and I had been roaming the halls of Hogwarts for quite some time. Being as it was a Saturday, well technically Sunday; all the teachers had decided to retire to their rooms, not knowing that when they did this, students practically went off of their hinges, roaming the dark forbidden halls. After walking around a bit more, my fear of being caught by a teacher disappeared, and Harry and Ron had never even bothered to become afraid of this happening in the first place. While I always tended to be the seemingly quiet one on these little adventures, tonight, that was just not the case. Harry, Ron, and I were laughing our heads off, making fun of the teachers, students, and anyone, really. Perhaps we had all just had one too many butterbeers.

"Hey, how about we play a game?" Ron suggested to us.

"Like what?" Harry and I curiously asked at the same time, looking at each other before bursting into fits of giggles. Ron wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Truth or Dare."

We all grinned. "Let's do it", Harry said, high fiving Ron. We then decided to find a quiet spot to play, where no one would run into us or better yet, a professor find us. A few minutes later, we found a small corner by a window, with a pleasant breeze, located close to the lavatories. "Here, quick!" I said, shuffling all of us into the small space. Once we were all settled, we decided to begin our game, Ron offering to go first. Harry smiled at me keenly, leaned over, and whispered in my ear what he thought we should dare Ron. I laughed out loud, and then turned to him.

"We dare you to….sashay into the girl's bathroom, and fix yourself up as a female Hogwarts student, without the use of magic."

Ron glared at us, as if we were insulting his manhood by making him doing this. Hell, we probably were. Grumbling, he got up and walked towards the girl's bathroom. "Damn both of you", he said before going inside and shutting the door behind him. Harry and I laughed till our stomachs hurt. A few minutes later, we both heard a giant splash of water, and a yelp. We both stared at the door, and slowly, Ron came out scowling, hair in a messy ponytail atop his head, and dripping wet. Harry basically died of laughter, while I clutched my stomach, gasping for air.

"Obviously, Moaning Myrtle thought you needed a little help Ron!" I wheezed out at him, tears streaming down my face while I tried to stop laughing.

"Oh sog off 'Mione", he told me, trying pretty hard not to laugh himself. "You're so next", he whispered while drying himself off with his wand. After he finished that, and we had finally stopped laughing, Ron rejoined our little circle and began to think of a dare for me. Surprisingly, I wasn't afraid, and was actually going to accept his dare, no matter what it was.

"Do your worst", I told him, crossing my arms firmly. Harry looked shocked.

"Really Hermione? I never knew you were one for dares", he said, poking me in the shoulder. I smiled. Well tonight, I definitely was. "Blame it on the butterbeer." I told him, laughing.

"Got it!" Ron exclaimed, regaining our attention. He looked at me. "I dare you… to go into the haunted boy's lavatory, on the seventh floor…..and stay there, for as long as you can without getting freaked out. And no screaming." Harry laughed knowingly, looking at Ron.

I shivered internally. I had never been in boy's lavatory, not to mention a haunted one. But I could do this! Especially if I had my wand-

"Oh, and I forgot to mention. No magic."

Shit. I was screwed.

I shook it off, refusing to show Harry and Ron that I was afraid. I could do this. I could do this…..couldn't I?

"Fine. That only seems fair, since you were splashed with toilet water by a female ghost, Ronald." In a haughty tone. Ron grinned satisfactorily.

"We'll see who's the smug one when you come running outta there, wont we Herms?" he replied as him and Harry laughed immaturely. I scowled.

Stupid boys.

As we stood outside of the boy's lavatory on the seventh floor, I began to realize how dark it was. I was never going to admit this to Harry and Ron, but I was scared. I wanted nothing more than to hide behind them and have them protect me. But I knew one thing. I wasn't a quitter. I never have been and never would be, and that's why I was going to do this. To prove them wrong. After all, I was a girl that had fought death eaters; I could sure as hell do this. Death eaters. Wow, thinking about them really wasn't helping my situation right now. I was yanked out of the thoughts when Harry cleared his throat.

"Anytime now I suppose?" he said.

"Shut up Harry", I retorted, giving him my sternest face. "Before I go in, I was just wondering, how am I supposed to get light when I don't have my wand? I can't possibly see in the dark."

"I'll take care of that, Herm, I wouldn't expect you to be in the dark", Harry replied, smiling at me. He had always been the more understanding one out of the two boys.

"You're helping her?" Ron asked him incredulously, eyes widening. Harry chuckled.

"Well you never said I couldn't. And besides, your bathroom wasn't haunted, Ron. "He replied. I opened the door, and Harry pointed his wand inside, giving the place a very small, dim shade of lighting.

"Thanks", I replied, walking into the place. Ron smirked.

"See you in a millisecond", he said.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." I replied sarcastically, before shutting the heavy door behind me. And then I was alone. I leant against the door, which seemed so heavy that it was probably soundproof, and it creaked, scaring me. I shivered again, taking hesitant steps. For as much as I could see, which was only a few feet ahead of me really, it seemed that there was a hallway that led into the bathroom area. Stepping quietly, in my head I sang lyrics from my favorite Muggle songs, which seemed to help. I walked straight into a spider's web, scaring the crap out of me. I wanted to scream loudly, but clamped my hand around my mouth, and backed up against the wall. 'No screaming', I remembered. After a few moments, I resumed my slow, feeble steps. It felt as if my knees were going to give way from under me. I was almost there, I reminded myself. Soon enough, as I reached the end of the hallway, which had taken me about five minutes to walk through, I began to hear things. I paused for a moment, listening intently. I heard shuffling about, as if someone were pacing, and then the water faucet turned on. I heard a bit of gasping, and sniffing. I heard water splashing. And steps. My body tensed. I definitely hadn't been hearing things. Someone, maybe something, was definitely in there.

I wanted to turn and run, to bolt for the exit. But wouldn't they for sure hear me? I wondered if I wasn't fast enough, or if I fell, if they would come after me. Should I stay where I was? I wondered. Should I scream for help? None of these options would work, unless I wanted to be shred to pieces or of course, even better, killed. I sat there, beginning to hyperventilate, my palms sweating. I really wished that I had said no to this stupid dare. I heard a small whimper type noise, and I then realized that it was me who had done it. What if they had heard it? As my suspicions began to deepen, I heard the faucet being closed. The water stopped.

Oh fuck.

I had no other choice. I had to face it, whatever it was. As I slowly leant up against the wall, I braced myself, and took a glance behind the wall. Letting my eyes adjust to the darkness in there, where only the moon provided lighting, shining through the windows, I looked around for this mysterious figure. Slowly, I looked towards the back wall of the spacious bathroom. There under a window, sat a disheveled figure, with their head down, arms laid on their bent knees. A student.

A boy.

I gasped, quietly. I tried to realize who he was, but I couldn't see his face. His shoulders shook a bit, causing his head to shift, his hair catching light from the moon, making it a shade of silvery, platinum. My eyes widened. It couldn't be. By now I hadn't realized it, but I was no longer hidden from him. He hadn't realized me standing there yet. Should I go now, while I had the chance? But obviously my mouth had a different idea.

"Malfoy?" I whispered.

With that, all the lights suddenly came on, blinding me. When I regained my sight, Malfoy was standing there, wand pointed at me. "It's you", he snarled. But he didn't come closer. I had to be careful, after all, it was Malfoy, and he had a wand, which was something I didn't have, due to the circumstances.

"What are you doing here?" he asked coldly, but his tone had lessened somewhat. I didn't answer, but instead took in his appearance. His tie was undone, shirt disheveled, pants and socks. He looked paler than usual, and dead-tired. Though he stared at me meanly, I could see that behind that, there was something else in those icy grey-blue eyes of his. Fear.

Fear of me?

I didn't know what was going on here, and I'm sure he didn't either, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. What was he trying to hide from everyone? From me? Subconsciously, I stepped closer to him. I felt this extremely sharp pang of pain to just….hold him. To tell him that everything was okay, and that he didn't have to hide from me. He looked weak and fragile, and most of all, broken. While I thought about this, I hadn't realized whether he was talking to me or not. I came out of my thoughts to see him still several steps away from me, almost across the room, wand still pointed at my head. I didn't want him to be afraid of me, I thought to myself. Did I know what I was going to do? No, definitely not. But it was worth a try…right?

Keeping the silence between us, I slowly began to walk towards him.

"Keep away from me", he said, jaw clenched. But I kept on walking towards him until I was inches away from his wand. "Did you hear what I just said Granger?" he asked me again, shocked that I was so close to him.

"Draco…." I heard myself whisper. His eyes softened when he realized that I had used his actual name. I always had really. The name 'Malfoy' was only used around Ron and Harry. I felt my fingers touch the tip of his wand, hesitantly, before moving towards his wrist. His eyes followed my hands, shocked. It was when I put his hand down and held it that I heard his wand clatter to the ground.

"What are you-"

And before I knew it, I was hugging him, tightly. I felt his body stiffen under my embrace, but I closed my eyes and hoped that this was going to work. My hands felt their way up to his shoulders to the back of his neck, my fingers resting in his hair. For once, I didn't feel afraid of him, or scared of him. I felt as if he were mine. It felt as if our past encounters with each other melted away and we were starting over.

It felt….right.

Slowly I felt him relax in my arms, and few moments later, I felt his hands snake tentatively around my waist and his head on my shoulder. I sighed, almost as if I was content, stroking his pale hair. What was this? What was this weird attachment that I felt towards him?

"Her…Hermione", I heard him say, his voice muffled by my hair. I took my head off of his chest and looked at him. He looked down shyly, as if he were embarrassed. I held his chin up, forcing him to look at me. I was smiling. And he….grinned? Draco Malfoy grinned? At me? Something was definitely wrong. Suddenly, he seemed brighter, and less morose. But he was still in a state of…..well, whatever he had been in before I got here. I didn't know what was happening, but all I could see was Draco's face getting closer and closer to mine until it couldn't get any closer, and his lips were on mine, and-

"Well then. This definitely wasn't a part of your dare at all, Hermione."

:O So this is my first Multi-Chaptered fanfic you guys! Well? What do you think? Let me know! :D