It was 3 a.m. but Hermione was still up, working. Again. She was checking her Potions essay for the last time, knowing that she wouldn't find any mistakes, but still she checked. She knew that she was tired and felt herself slowly losing grip. She was just too tired. But wouldn't we all be after several night with verylittle sleep, or almost none?

But nevertheless, she couldn't stop, not now. If she didn't check her essay, she might never have the oppportunity to check it again. Hermione tried to stay awake, but couldn't. So she fell asleep, in the middle of the Head's Common Room, in a couch.

It might have been a dreamless and soft sleep, but it was definately not a long-during one. After exactly one hour she woke again. Completely stressed out. How much time has she lost? She tried to work again, but couldn't focus. One word, said over and over again,, failure, failure, you are going to fail. Said the voice in her head, that she knew all to well.

I'm not going to fail! I am NOT going to fail! She thought, but it was more than a thought, she had screamed it outloud.

Draco was annoyed he was tired, he had never been a very steady sleeper and he could be woken by everything. And this time he was even more annoyed, it was GODDAMNIT GRANGER waking him up, a screaming Granger nontheless. He decided to yell back to her, but when he entered the Common Room he was shocked. There she sat, the Gryffindor Princess, always said to be so strong, a lioness, crying, piles of papers and books besides her. This was not the Granger he was used to, he had always seen the Granger that was 1st in everything, a Granger that was too good for her friends, although she wouldn't she it. A Granger that always knew what she was doing, but now she was lost.

Hermione had, in the meanwhile calmed herself down a bit, and began to organise her piles of books and papers, but never did she seem to find where she was looking for. In herself she muttered: "Where are my books? How can I study when I don't have the right books?". Again Draco thought, the lioness has lost her mind, but where do I fit into this story, I'm not a brave lion, I'm the sneaky snake, that has no other objective than to get what he wants. But then he knew, what he wanted was a happy Granger, not this one, the sad over-worked one.

"Hermione," Draco said with a soft tone in his voice. "Hermione, calm down. Your books are besides you."

"I am CALM, I AM CALM!" She yelled back.

But Draco did not give up: "Hermione, please sit down and relax for a second."

"I...I can't relax... Already...too much...lost...too much time..."

And with this the lioness colided once again. She fell down on her knees and cried. Draco came closer, not really knowing what to do. But an instinct, he had never really felt, was to put an arm around her, and just be there. So Draco sat down besides her, and lay an arm around the crying Gryffindor Princess. And again, from an insinct he had never used, he made hushing sounds, and Hermione calmed down. She clinged to his chest and cried onto his pyjama's, but Draco didn't care, new pyjama's could be bought, the only thing what mattered to him was making the lioness feel better again.

And so they sat there, the brave lioness crying, and the sneaky snake holding the lioness. But then the sneaky snake wasn't that sneaky anymore, he cared. Draco felt, something that he had lost and hadn't felt for quite a long time. He cared, and therefore he was Granger thankful, not that I will ever tell her.

Hermione had stopped crying, but still clinged to Draco's chest.

"I'm sorry for your pyjama's..." She weakly said.

"Doesn't matter lioness, those can be bought again and again."

And then there was the silence again, this time not filled with sobbing noises, but it wasn't a painful silence as well. It was more a compromise.

"Draco, I want to thank you for... well, being here."

"No need to thank me, I'm glad I was there for you."

"But one thing, don't tell Harry and Ron I cried."

"My dear Hermione, I would never if you didn't want me to. And if there is anything else you need, just tell me and I will try to help you."

"Draco... there is indeed one thing I want. Please stay."

Hermione offered Drace her hand, and he took it. She led them to her room and sat down on her bed, she knocked twice on the bed and said: "Come."

Draco walked towards the bed and sat down. Hermione pulled him next to her and so there they lay. Drace opened his arms and she happily crawled into them. Again there was the silence, a thoughtful silence, but never painful. Draco stared into her once-o-so bushy hair, which now was a bunch of soft curls. He heard her breath getting slower and deeper and knew she had fallen asleep. And not soon after her, so did he.

And there they lay, the snake and the lioness, entangled in eachother, his love for her never spoken, and she did not even know, but she had made him feel again, and for that he was thankful, eternally thankful.