Hi everyone! Say hello to my first serious fanfic.

This fanfic is different from my others 'cuz it was nooo humor at all. I categorized it as Romance but that't not really the case, since Draco and Hermione were both only thirteen at the time.

Anyway, it's set at the time of HP and the Chamber of Secrets, when Hermione got Petrified.

thanks to all those who read and reviewed my other fanfics... i totally appreciate it.. i'll be updating GMWW next!

Much love,

ThaliaMalfoy

It was lunchtime, and we were eating in the Great Hall.

Not me, though. I lost my appetite after what Pansy told me earlier.

We were walking out of the DADA classroom with the rest of the Slytherins, accompanied by that useless prat of a teacher, Lockhart.

"Draco, I have wonderful news!" Pansy shrieked in that voice of hers that made me want to cover my ears.

I just arched an eyebrow, waiting.

"I found out why the Quidditch match was canceled two days ago! And why the teachers have to follow us around! Granger and some Ravenclaw got attacked by that thing! The Mudbloods are in the hospital wing now, still as statues! Well, I have to admit, they're better that way!" She laughed manically; convinced she was giving me good news.

I let my mouth curl into a gleeful smile. But inside, my blood froze.

I never imagined Hermione would be attacked. I loudly hoped for it in front of my friends, but I never meant anything I said.

"Too bad she wasn't killed," I said in a cheerful voice. "But still, you made my day, Pansy."

She beamed up at me with that ugly face of hers. To make matters worse, she held my free hand, swinging it as we walked. Disgusting.

"So that's why Potter and Weasel looked so miserable lately," Crabbe muttered from behind me. "Excellent."

Later that evening, I sneaked out of the dungeons once our common room emptied. I cast a simple Disillusionment Charm on myself in case I passed by a teacher.

I managed to walk to the hospital wing unnoticed. "Alohamora," I whispered to the locked door. It's a good thing Mother taught me these spells early.

I crept inside, quietly going towards the beds. The nearest person to me was that annoying Creevey kid, lying next to the bed of that Hufflepuff kid. Filch-Flenchy? Frin-Fleshy? I didn't really care.

Opposite his bed was that Ravenclaw prefect that told me off for talking loudly about the Chamber of Secrets a week ago. Then there was Hermione.

She lay perfectly still, her arms rigid by her sides. I went beside her and held one of her hands. It was clenched into a fist and ice-cold.

Now that I was here, I didn't know what to do. Should I talk to her? Say sorry for being the cruel git that I am?

"Evening, Granger," I whispered. There was no change in her face. Of course, she couldn't hear me. Her expression was oddly wary, as if she sensed the Slytherin near her.

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to get attacked. You're supposed to be the smartest one in our year," I muttered. "And now you've got me here, probably about to get caught by Madame Pomfrey, but still thinking about you."

"Yeah, you probably won't believe that even if I wrote it on Dumbledore's face with Permanent Ink. You saw how I try to live up to my reputation as a Malfoy."

I took a deep breath. "You have no idea how much I wish you weren't a Mudblood and as pureblooded as me. Then I could be friends with you. Real friends."

Both of my hands were gripping hers now. "I really like you, Hermione," I confessed to her still figure.

I smiled for the first time that way as images came into my mind. Us walking together in the hallways… Hermione laughing at my joke, and not Potter's or Weasley's… Then, maybe once we're older, holding hands in the classrooms…

Then I remember that she was a Mudblood, supposed to be despised by me, and that I was a Malfoy, hated by all Gryffindors. My mood darkened in an instant, and I dropped my arms to my sides, not touching her.

"But you'll never feel the same for me."

I ran out of the hospital wing, not caring who I woke up, just wanting to get away from the girl who made me feel absolutely... petrified.