Author's note: I have no idea how you actually use this so if anyone would give me information or help me then I wil be grateful!

I like almost any and every couple/pairing. So, if you want some really cool comments on a story or something, tell me what it's called and I'll read it and comment on it!

Speaking of comments I'd love to have them, even the critical ones!

Back to pairings, my favourite (at the moment!) are Draco and Harry.

However this is not a Draco/Harry but a Draco/Hermione story.

So, on with the story...

Chapter One:

"I still can't believe that the both of you are taking Advance Potions next year!" The red head boy exclaimed, looking at his own timetable.

"Ronald, for the last time, drop it!" Hermione scowled at her boyfriend before putting her suitcase in the cubby hole above her.

Ron looked across the compartment at Harry, who just shrugged.

Hermione had been very snappy and impatient ever since the train had left Hogwarts. A lot of the time she looked remarkably close too tears.

Neither of the boys knew what it was because she had closed up, but she had changed. It only dawned upon them the previous night, when they discussing crying, and then they realized that they hadn't seen her cry since their third year, when Buckbeak had been beheaded.

Of course after going back in time they saved the Hippogriff and Harry's godfather who had been framed as a mass murderer. Now, they were leaving their sixth year behind them, and going home to six glorious weeks of the summer holidays before returning to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their 7nth and final year.

Harry saw the look in Ron's eyes and shook his head.

"You know, I don't know what's been going on with you lately Hermione."

Hermione spun round to face her boyfriend. He continued.

"First of all, you didn't talk for weeks, then you didn't eat properly, you still aren't, and now you won't come round mine for the holidays!" Ron moaned, loosing control of his temper and he stood, yelling the final clause of his speech.

Harry, who at this moment in time agreed with two's a company, three's a crowd, saw a look in Hermione's eye, a look that was rarely there, Hermione, too had lost control of her very, very, patient temper.#

"I'll have you know Ron that I have tried getting out of holiday with my parents but they insist on me going, like I have told you a thousand times! And frankly with you being like this I'd rather go there then go back to the Burrow with you!"

Harry sat there, watching the fight in despair.

"Fine then!" Ron yelled.

Then he stepped towards Hermione, towering over her, Harry saw something in Hermione, a flinch, a fear.

"If you don't come round mine this summer, we're finished." He said, quietly, in an almost whisper but it was still sharp and it hurt Hermione even more then his yelling.

Hermione looked into his eyes, her own filled with tears ready to pour out, plea in the chestnut colour.

"I can't." Hermione whispered. She took Ron's hand but he pulled away and sat down in a corner, looking through the window, determined to not look anywhere else.

One more whisper left Hermione's lips. "I'm sorry." And with that she turned and pulled open the compartment door, only to see a confused Malfoy, bumping into him, she looked into his eyes, step round the side of him as tears escaped, and ran down the corridor.

Draco closed the compartment door and sighed. It had to be here somewhere, he would kill Goyle for loosing it.

He reached the last compartment door on the long train and was about to open it when he heard shouting from inside. He instantly recognized the voices as Weasley and Granger.

After thirty seconds of hearing the argument he knew that Weasley was in the wrong.

Draco had an opinion for everything, even if it was just hearing thirty seconds of a couple dispute.

Whatever reasons Granger had for not going to Weasley's they must be important, Hermione Granger never got in a fuss about nothing, and from the wobbly notes she was hitting, it sounded very much like she was in such a state.

The argument died down and very soon after Granger opened the door with such force.

Draco frowned at seeing Granger.

Her chestnut colour eyes were watering and already she had a tear falling down her cheek.

He then realized that she had bumped into his hands were on his arms. She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, only for a second. But in that second Draco saw pain and fear and he wasn't sure how to describe it other than she had no hope in her brown eyes, they were dull if all the life and joy had gone from them.

Hermione stepped to the left and rushed passed him, where she broke into a run down the corridor.

Draco felt, sad. Sad for Granger. He gave Weasley a piercing look before going after Granger.

"Granger!" He chased after, he had know idea why, and was thankful that everyone else was worn out and had retired to their own compartments.

He saw Granger dive into one, and he knew there would be no one in there because it was the prefect one, and, all the current prefects were with their friends in the lower years, saying their final goodbye. Just as the door was about to shut on him he pulled it open, stepping, he closed it quietly behind him.

It was dark in the compartment and with a wave of his wand he turned on the light.

It was a nice dim glow, not bright, but not dull either.

He found Hermione Granger curled up in the furthest corner, head buried in her knees, her arms hugging them tightly. Draco cleared his throat.

"Granger? You all right."

He saw her look up and panic, clearly she had not noticed that he had come into the room behind her.

And Granger not knowing that was just so… was so out of character.

Which clearly meant something was wrong with her.

She didn't bother wiping away her tears that her streaming down her cheeks, she just looked up at him, crying silently, not the normal body heaving up and down or loud wailing noises that every girl in his house made, but just sitting there silently, tears fall.

"I need an answer you know. He paused. "Or not."

He looked over at Granger and within two graceful strides he was kneeling down in front of her.

"Your not all right are you?" He said quietly, brushing a tear from her cheek.

Sighing he stood up. And saw another feeling in her eyes.

Fear.

Was she that scared of being on her own? He had always thought of her being so independent. But he wasn't going to leave, even before he saw that look in her eyes.

Instead he sat down next to her, put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

She buried her face into his chest where she cried even more. Draco put his other arm around her, into a sort of embrace and soothed her.

"Shhhh. It's okay." He didn't even think about what he was doing, he just knew that Granger was upset and that she needed comforting. And even if on the outside Draco was an obnoxious, stuck up, spoilt brat deep down he cared about people, and deep down it broke his heart to see someone he had known for even years in such a state.

He began talking to her, to get her mind off of things, off of whatever it was on her mind. He told her about how in potions he stupidly put night bloom in and then added a blue tit feather.

He carried on from there, just telling her little funny stories, making sure his voice was quiet and soothing. And that was how she fell asleep, in his arms.

Hermione woke up.

She knew she was in the arms of the bully of whom she had been the favourite victim, but at that precise moment, she didn't care.

He had soothed her, he had comforted her, when she needed to be held and be able to have a good cry. She felt like Malfoy was protecting her, Malfoy was protecting her instead of her best friend, her boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend, she reminded herself.

She pushed up off of Draco Malfoy and rubbed her eyes.

"You were only asleep for an hour." He answered, before she had even asked the question.

She was on the edge of tears again. She had to pull herself together, she was Hermione Granger for Christ's sake!

"Your really not okay are you?" He pulled her back into an embrace as tears once more escaped.

It was because he understood that she needed to cry without being seen, but not be alone.

Soon after she stopped, sat back up again and sniffed. Her left cheek was on her knees, which once again had her arms wrapped around them.

"Ran out of tears too cry?! He asked, slightly teasingly, too lift her spirit up.

"You know, if your not going to answer it means that I may well be talking to myself, which results in me being a madman? Do you want me locked up in some loony bin, having lost my mind?" The normal Malfoy would have said it harsh and stiffly but he said it lightly, as a joke.

Hermione thought about it.

Draco Malfoy locked up because he had lost his mind. She laughed at the thought.

Malfoy would never loose his mind.

She couldn't help but laughing as she pictured him wide eyed and confused staring at doctors in white coats.

It wasn't a big laugh just a small one, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

"I'm glad you take comfort in questioning my sanity."

And both of them chuckled, Draco rubbing Hermione on the back, as if too say well done, you laughed.

The door opened and a certain red headed dumper walked in. Draco saw the look on Weasley's face.

"Problem Weasel?"

Hermione could feel Malfoy tense slightly, his arm was still on her back, but no sign of the tension could be seen in his body or face.

"You know I was going to give you a second chance. But seeing you in here with him, well, you can forget about it!" His voice rose towards the climax of his speech, as it often did talking to Hermione nowadays, and he left, slamming the compartment door behind him.

Draco was about to make some snide comment but managed to close his mouth before it came out. He glanced at Hermione. For a moment, she looked like she might cry again, but then he saw a flicker of fire in her eyes, and heard her take in a sharp breath.

"You know what? I haven't done a bloody thing wrong and I'm not going to take crap from someone who is so up himself. If he can't accept that I will not, cannot, spend every bleeding second of every bleeding day with him then he is just a stuck up pompous. He's almost as up himself as you Malfoy." She exclaimed.

Then she realized she had just insulted the boy who hated her but had been there for her in her hour of crying. Malfoy grinned and they both fell back onto the sofa laughing.

"Sorry." She said, after they had calmed down.

"Hermione, you don't need to apologize for anything." Draco lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.

She smiled, it was a small, sad smile. The kind of smile you get when you know you won't get a dog for your birthday, but your disappointed not to see one anyway, the kind of smile you get when you remember your recently deceased grandmother who you loved so much. A sad, small smile of acceptance.

"You don't need to say sorry for anything, anything, unless you feel have too. Okay?"

Hermione gazed into the blue eyes that seemed so soft and filled with kindness.

"Okay." She managed to say.

They held their gaze, Draco's hand still underneath her chin, until quiet suddenly the train stopped.

They both fell onto the floor.

They got up off of the cold tiled floor and shook their heads, smiling.

Hermione rubbed her arms as she realized how cold she was.

"I need to get my stuff." She said, a panic quickly spread her face but it died down as soon as it had come, leaving a worry there.

Draco thought it was funny how he could almost follow a line on her face with his finger, and say, that's where your worry is.

It started in the middle of he left cheek, went in a straight line across her nose to her co right, but it also ran down the delicate bridge of her nose.

She looked at Draco, and he quickly stood up right, not noticing just how closely and observantly he was staring at her worry line until she had laughed.

"You know, I think there might be a room in a hospital for you after all." They both smiled at the comment.

And even though she had laughed, and come up with a comment, he could still see the worry line, and he wanted to get rid of it. Not because it made her ugly or anything, but if the worry line disappeared then he knew she would feel better then she was presently feeling, even if it was just a little better.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked. She looked up at him. She didn't answer, she didn't need too. He watch the line across her cheeks and nose fade slightly until it was hardly there. He smiled, he had made Hermione feel better.

He didn't know why but he felt proud of himself, proud of Hermione. Luckily everyone was too excited to notice that Draco Malfoy was following Hermione Granger to the back of the train.

When they reached the last part of the train they walked past Weasley and Potter.

Weasley completely blanked Hermione and then purposefully nudged Draco.

Potter walked up to Hermione and gave her arm a squeeze before hugging her. "My uncle…" Harry began. Hermione shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, go on go before your uncle has a heart attack. I'll write." Hermione said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Harry gave another her another squeeze before leaving. Just as he passed the boy he rested a hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Listen Malfoy… thanks." He then joined the other hurries kids but not before he saw Draco smile.

They reached the very last compartment and went in.

Hermione tried to swallow a lump in her throat.

Draco saw how nervous she was. She reached for her suitcase and couldn't get it down. She managed to grab the handle, but her body had finally drawn the line. The exhaustion that her body had been building had been up to finally cracked on her. She fell to the floor. Her suitcase remained in the cubby.

"Don't worry. I'll get it down for you." Draco reached up and pulled down the suitcase, it wasn't heavy, and Hermione was strong. So why wasn't she able to get it down?

Hermione watched Draco's lean figure reach for her luggage. She couldn't help but notice the muscles he had. He put the suitcase on the floor and helped her up from it. Instead of letting her go he pulled her towards him gently, with his arm around her waist his other reached for her chin.

He raised her face so she could see him. Bending his neck down slightly his lips meet hers. They were soft, sweet, pure. It wasn't anything more then a light kiss, no tongue or heat or desire or lust.

"See you next year Hermione."

And he turned, leaving her smiling, waving goodbye he left to go in search of his own stuff.

Hermione meanwhile stood in that compartment and her fingers touched her lips. She didn't know why or how but Draco's kiss had made her feel appreciated, made her feel good, made her feel special.

She pulled up the handle on her suitcase and made her way down to the main doors of the now almost empty train. She left the train and found herself on platform 9 and 3/4s.

Once off the train Hermione left the platform, and entered the muggle world.

There were loads of students she knew hanging about in the car park. She saw Harry climb into the back of his uncle's car and wave. She saw Ron with Ginny loading up their light blue car that could fly. She turned away to see Neville with his grandmother in a bright green Beatle. She saw Draco nod at her as he got inside a shiny black limo.

What she didn't see were her parents.

She sat on a bench and waited.

And waited.

After an hour had gone, and then another one, she reached for her mobile phone which was in her pocket.

She flipped it up only to shut it as there were no missed calls or messages. Anxiety grew in her stomach, and as sunset reach the train station she phoned another time, this time her call was answered.

"Hello?" Her mum's voice sounded sharp, fed up.

"Hi mum, I was wondering when you were going to pick me up."

She moved the phone away as she heard her mum scream at her dad.

After their roaring Hermione began to talk.

"Mum it's okay, I'll get the train."

As abuse flowed through the phone and into Hermione's ear she switched off. After the buzzing noise had calmed down and there was silence at the other end Hermione ended the call. "I'll see you tonight." And with that her mother hung up.

No apology or good bye or love you. Sighing, Hermione turned around and headed once more into King Cross station.