Draco lay in bed listening to the snores of his dorm mates. The sixth year had a lot on his mind. Primarily he was worried about the impossible task he'd been set in a bid to regain his family's reputation. He never wanted to do it, but he was afraid of what would happen if he failed. There were other things on his mind too, but no one knew about them.

Figuring that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep easily, Draco got out of bed and put on his dressing gown and slippers and silently left the dorm.

He knew it was risky to be out of bed and roaming the corridors aimlessly, Filch was still patrolling but he was past caring. He was a prefect and he knew how to avoid the crusty old caretaker.

He stared ahead blankly, letting his feet do the thinking which left his mind free to dwell on his problems. He didn't know where his feet were taking him and he hardly cared.

As he passed a disused storage classroom, a shard of white light flashed over his face. He glanced at the window on the other side of him and saw the big almost full moon. He looked into the classroom and saw a large mirror. The moonlight had reflected off it. Curious, he went into the room and stood in front of the mirror.

Along the top of the mirror were the words 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on woshi'. He turned the words over and over in his mind until they made sense. "I show not your face but your heart's desire." He muttered, chuckling softly. Mirror writing on a mirror, irony abounds.

He looked lower into the mirror, expecting to see his own face but got a shock when he saw someone else looking back at him from it. He smiled softly, and as he watched another person, himself, joined the first and hugged them from behind. He watched himself placing a gentle tender kiss on the person's cheek.

"What are you doing up so late, Malfoy?" there was no mistaking that voice, even though it made him jump.

"Evening Granger." He said coolly, without turning around.

"You didn't answer my question." She said, not as sharply as she usually did. He heard her coming into the room but still he didn't look at her, not wanting to lose the vision in the mirror.

"Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Same. I noticed you were out of bed so I thought I'd follow and make sure you weren't up to any mischief." She waved a piece of parchment.

He chuckled, still not looking at her.

"What is so fascinating about that mirror?" she snapped, clearly annoyed that he refused to look at her.

"I've a feeling it's called the Mirror of Erised or something like that." He said, glancing at her and seeing her flash of recognition. "What?"

"It's nothing. Harry found this mirror when we were in first year. I thought Dumbledore moved it out of the school. What do you see in it?"

He blushed a little. "It's not important." He mumbled.

"Clearly it is to you. Ron looked into it too in first year."

"But you didn't?"

"They found it in the Christmas hols. I wasn't here. I disapproved of them looking into it."

"I suppose if you were to look into it you'd see yourself as Head Girl, passing top and everything."

"Maybe once but not anymore."

"Come here," he smirked stepping aside so she could look into the mirror.

Rolling her eyes she did. She gasped and blushed prettily, looking away after a moment.

"What did you see?" Draco asked quietly.

"It's not important." He smirked as she repeated his phrase.

Draco wandered over to the window, looking out at the dark grounds. He leant against a sheet covered box. Hermione watched him go and then went to perch on an old desk opposite him, looking out of the window too.

"Harry has a theory about you." She said softly. He looked at her, smirking slightly. "He reckons you are a Death Eater."

"I'm not. I have the mark, but I'm not one of them."

"You've been set a mission this year, haven't you? One that's taking its toll on you. I've seen you crying in bathrooms a lot this year."

He looked up at her and gave her a small, genuine smile. "And you didn't say anything?"

"I've cried in bathrooms myself in my time. When a person does that, they just want to be left alone. And I didn't tell the boys because I couldn't bear the gloating and mocking that would follow. It was your secret; therefore it wasn't mine to tell."

"Voldemort wants me to kill Dumbledore. Get the Malfoys back in favour. But the Malfoys don't want to be back in favour. We have no way out so, for now, we must obey his evil whims. Potter is our only way out. Once he kills Voldemort we shall be free to begin again."

She smiled sympathetically. "I had a feeling that was your mission. Also the attempts seemed rather clumsy, so, to me, the assassin's heart didn't seem to be fully in it."

He was silent for a moment. "You see everything and say nothing."

"Is that admiration I hear in your voice?"

He chuckled. "Yes. There's something else I've been meaning to tell you for a while, but I haven't had the courage until now. I'm sorry. Sorry for everything. Sorry for every time I called you mudblood, every insult, everything."

"You're forgiven. I'm sorry I hit you in third year, but you really got to me."

"It's okay. I did deserve it. You've got a good arm, by the way. It hurt for about two days."

She chuckled. "I was teaching you a lesson."

He laughed and nodded his acknowledgement that he had needed it and learnt it.

"Why did you bully me so much? I mean you bullied everyone, but seemed to target me."

He stared out of the window. "It was partly what you are. I'd always been taught that muggle-borns were inferior. As soon as I met you I realised that what I'd been told wasn't true. I was expected to pick on you, by my family and the Slytherins. Also, I'm smart, but I'm not as smart as you. You beat me at everything. I was jealous that you were so good at everything. There is another reason but I'm not telling you that one."

"Doesn't sound like it comes from dislike."

"It didn't. Jealousy, expectations, rivalry; mostly it was just so you'd pay attention to me."

"Why?"

Draco glanced at the mirror. Was this the time? He looked into her brown eyes. "You asked me what I see in the mirror. I see you. And me. Together. Like a couple." He looked away, blushing deeply.

She smiled softly. "You want to know what I see in it?"

He looked up shyly and nodded.

She looked down at her feet, a blush creeping over her cheeks. "I saw you. Kissing me. Looking at me with eyes full of love."

Slowly he smiled. "It was always you. But I always thought I couldn't have you so I tried to suppress what I felt."

"It goes against all my better judgement. I tried to use my logic to find a reason for it, but then I realised, reason's got nothing to do with it. I couldn't control how I felt, but I could hide it. I kept it secret because I knew what they'd say if it came out."

"What would they say?" he smirked slightly.

"Ron would accuse me of 'fraternising with the enemy' again. Harry would probably think you'd put a spell on me or something."

"'Fraternising with the enemy'?"

"Viktor Krum. Not that anything happened, but he still took it personally. You can imagine how he'd be if he found out about this."

"Wouldn't be pretty. But I'm sure they'd forgive you eventually."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep this secret."

She smiled, quirking an eyebrow. "Keep what a secret?"

"This." He leant forwards and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

#

The next morning a package was delivered to Hermione by one of the school owls. She unwrapped it to find a small, ornate, silver hand mirror. There was a note stuck into the rim.

'Mirror, mirror in your hand. Who is the fairest in the land?'

She smirked taking the note out and slipping it into her pocket. She looked into the mirror and for a second saw Draco's face. He winked at her, smirking, before disappearing.

She glanced at the Slytherin table. Draco slipped a similar mirror into his bag. He glanced up at her and they shared a quick private smile. He'd given her a two-way mirror.