***Thank you to everyone that has reviewed me, I really appreciate it. And to those of you who have even go so
far as to email, thanks too. And especially to levitating kitty who gives me feedback on aim. And thank you vegeta
for beta-reading for me.

****I know.... This fic just keeps going and going, it was never meant to be this long I swear, I just really got into
the whole Hermione/Draco thing. (And I'm not done yet!) It doesn't help either that Draco won't keep his foot out
of his mouth. I swear...he's a four year old. Instead of going to Hermione and saying "Hermione, this upsets me,
I think we should talk about it." He pushes her down and steals her Barbie doll. (Not literally of course....but you
know what I mean.) Anyhoo....enough from me....

Their Room

by aleximoon
 
 

Chapter 16
All a Game
 

Draco slouched into the library as dusk settled upon the castle. The approaching snowstorm had nearly arrived and
the Headmaster had suggested during dinner that the students should remain indoors until it was over. Draco had
hoped to find Hermione there at the Gryffindor table, as much as he disliked seeing her with those annoying friends
of hers hanging all about her, he would at least have seen her. Draco had been unable to find her after the incident
earlier that morning outside of the library.

She had disappeared almost at once, and if Draco hadn't read Hogwart's A History in his first year, he would have
bet all of the Malfoy fortune that she had simply apparated out of the school. But since that was impossible, Draco
figured that she had to be around somewhere. He had tried to follow her after Crabbe and Goyle had wandered off
in search of an early lunch. But Draco had lost her trail somewhere near the Transfiguration corridor. He spent the
next few hours strolling through the school, there wasn't anyway that he could search everywhere, but having a bit
of an insight into the mindset of Hermione, and her being a Gryffindor at that, he could easily avoid all of the dungeons.
It seemed highly unlikely as well that she had gone to the Astronomy tower, he had overheard her mentioning once to
Potter while passing them in the entrance hall, that she found it awfully drafty. Her strong dislike of Divination and
Professor Trelawney would keep her away from that tower as well. And the girl had too much respect for her
professors to go anywhere near the faculty quarters. So he had searched what was left. But there had been no sign
of her though, no whisper or breath, nothing anywhere.

What he had seen though, was Potter and Weasley, appearing somewhat worried, in the Arithmancy hall. He had
ducked into the shadows of a near by alcove and they passed without noticing him. The two boys had been deep in
conversation.

"Where could she have gone?" Weasley asked worriedly.

"Well, Ginny checked all the girls' bathrooms, so we know she's not there." Potter replied. "And Fred and George
said that they'd keep an eye out for her down near the great hall."

"Like Ginny would tell us even if she did find her. And Fred and George only said that so they could go eat lunch
instead of helping." Weasley grumbled.

"Think we should check the library again? You know how Hermione is."

"Correction, we did know how Hermione was, now that she's taken up with that stupid git though... I mean, she
defended him! Oh, really, Malfoy's not that bad, really we should all throw him a party and give him a bloody medal
for being not quite as evil as we all thought!" Weasley snapped angrily.

"Ron..."

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have said that to her. But she always takes it the wrong way." Weasley looked at the
floor glumly.

"I think, sometimes, you say things the wrong way." Potter spoke quietly.

Draco had needed to bite down hard on his tongue to keep from lashing out at the unsuspecting boys. It was very
tempting to jump out and curse the two Gryffindors from behind, but Draco wasn't stupid. Potter was decent at
spells and he had stood up to the Dark Lord on more than one occasion, and Weasley could throw a mean punch.
And in the back of his mind, Draco could almost hear her voice asking him not to. He had let them move off, hand
clenched so tightly around his wand that it was surprising that it hadn't snapped in half. It was only until much later,
during the dinner, where she hadn't shown up, that he realized what Weasley had said; she had defended him. She
had stood up for him.

A small part of Draco had been pleased when he noticed how glum Potter and Weasley had looked during dinner.
They had obviously not had any luck in finding her either. This small part of him probably would have gloated a bit
more than it did if he hadn't been so worried himself.

So, after dinner, Draco had finally resolved the fact to himself that he simply wasn't going to find her. That wherever
she was it was a good hiding place. Not having anything better to do, he came to the library.

Draco opened the door to their room and stopped. He had expected it to be dark, cold, and empty. Instead, a fire
was blazing in the grate and its warmth was suffusing the room. More surprising than that was a certain Gryffindor
sitting at the table surrounded by tall stacks of books.

The door closed behind him with an audible click. Hermione glanced up at him. An expression that he couldn't read
flitted across her face before it disappeared behind a rather professional smile.

"I was beginning to wonder when you would get here. I've been here for hours." She took a deep breath before
continuing. "I think I might have it. I've come up with several different keys." She held up a stack of parchment
without pausing, "of course, I can't check to see if any of them work without some sort of translation to compare
it too, which is where you come in, of course. You never came though, but you are here now. So if you just want
to start with this one, I think it's our best bet."

She had shuffled through her stack of parchments until she found the one she was looking for. Hermione held it out
to him with a trace of that same smile that Draco didn't quite understand. Several questions were swirling in his head
so Draco asked the first one that came to mind.

"Where have you been?"

"I was having tea with Hagrid this afternoon." She told him primly.

"You went off, in weather like this, without telling anyone, so that you could go have tea with that...that half-giant?"
Draco's relief at finding her was quickly turning into anger.

"The weather wasn't very bad when I went out there. And Hagrid walked me back to the castle later." She spoke
calmly but a telltale flush was rising on her cheeks.

"Oh, so you don't give a single thought to your friends, you just do as you please!" Draco snapped.

"I'm sorry, the next time I'll get a signed permission slip, will that make you happy?" Her calm voice quavered ever
so slightly.

"Don't patronize me, Granger."

"Well then don't act so childish, Malfoy."

Draco glared down at her. Sitting with her back straight and her arms crossed, Hermione looked every bit the
disapproving school-mum. She met his gaze unflinchingly, her chin held high with defiance. Before he could stop
himself, before he could squelch the impulse, Draco's hand touched her chin, and then cupped her cheek. Her eyes
widened, but she angrily refused to look away. The fact that he was now kissing her seemed to take both of them
by surprise. Draco couldn't quite recall when he made the decision to do that, but here they were. He pulled her to
her feet without breaking the kiss. She leaned closer to him and his hands dropped to her waist where they each
took a tight handful of her robe. He was lost in the blissful moment for only a second when he found her suddenly
struggling against him. Draco let her go regretfully.

"Stop it!" She cried out as he released her.

She was looking up at him, her brown eyes filling with tears and the professional tone that she'd had when he'd first
found her was now gone completely.

"You can't keep doing that!" her voice trembled. "You can't keep kissing me, you can't be hateful one moment and
then...and then be like this the next." A tear slipped down her cheek and she rubbed at her eyes angrily. "Here, just
work on these all right?"

Again she held out her stack of parchment to him and this time he took it. Hermione wasn't meeting his eyes now; she
was looking at the floor. As soon as the papers left her hand, she turned from him and started putting away her books.

"You're leaving?" Draco finally found his voice.

Hermione nodded but didn't look up. Her shoulders trembled and Draco stood quietly, not knowing what to do.

"I've already done as much as I can today anyway." Her voice was high-pitched and quavering.

Draco looked down at the papers in his hand. Her tiny writing was scrawled across them. He noticed, quite
suddenly, that his hand was shaking slightly. Draco immediately turned from her and walked around the table. He let
his bag drop onto the table a little harder than he had meant to and the sudden noise brought her eyes up to his. The
warm brown eyes were filled with the self-doubt and pain that she had been trying to hide earlier. Hermione looked
away suddenly and walked to the door.

"They were looking for you. Your friends, Potter and Weasley."

She stopped, listening.

"I just thought that...well, I thought that you should know they were worried about you." Draco watched her closely.

"Thank you." She said before walking out the door.

The door had been closed for several minutes before Draco spoke again in the empty room.

"I think I was worried too."
 
 

Draco worked diligently in the library for the rest of winter break. On the second day he broke the code, well, they
broke the code. But since Hermione was never there, he felt as though he deserved most of the acclaim. Not that
there was much to be had. The books turned out to be person journals, very long-winded, personal journals. Still,
he went to the library daily to translate them. He never stopped believing that she would be arriving soon. Hermione
never came to their room though. If he didn't find the whole fiasco so terribly annoying, he would have been impressed
with her tenacious attitude, but at the moment Draco only found her to be very stubborn. The only bright side that he
could see was that she seemed to be spending even less time with Potter and Weasley than she was with him.

He had noticed almost immediately that she no longer sat with them during meals. She generally sat at one end of the
long Gryffindor table with Weasley's kid sister. And on some rare occasions, she even sat at the Ravenclaw table with
some friends from Arithmancy. Every now and then Draco would catch Potter or Weasley casting worried glances at
her, and it never failed to please him when she ignored then completely. It helped him forget that she was, of course,
ignoring him as well.
 
 

It was the last day of the Christmas holiday when Draco finally saw her again with Potter and Weasley. She was
sitting in one of the virtually deserted courtyards reading a book. He was about to approach when Potter and Weasley
appeared through one of the stone archways. Draco was to far away to hear what they were saying but after a
moment of what looked like a rather heated exchange, Hermione started to cry and the other two boys looked very
relieved.

Draco gritted his teeth as he saw her throw her arms around Weasley and bury her face in his cloak. He grew even
angrier when Weasley hugged her back. And when she turned to give Potter the same treatment, Draco found that
he couldn't hold himself back anymore. He strode forward into the courtyard.

Weasley saw him first. "What do you want Malfoy?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to congratulate you all. The whole school will be thrilled to know that the wonder trio
has finally made up." He drawled coldly.

"Shut up Malfoy." Potter snapped.

"Why don't you make me Potter." He responded with equal vehemence.

Potter let go of Hermione and both he and Weasley stepped towards Draco. The Slytherin wasn't afraid though; he
held his wand tightly inside his pocket and let his anger guide him. But before any of them could say or do anything,
Hermione rushed forward, putting herself between them.

"Please don't fight, Harry, Ron, please." She pleaded with them. She looked to Draco without saying anything; her
large brown eyes said all she needed to say to him. But Draco was too angry too listen, and at the moment, those
warm, knowing eyes only served to make him angrier.

"Do you always have to get in the way Granger?" He asked icily.

She flinched but stood her ground. Weasley pushed past her.

"Don't talk to her like that Malfoy," he hissed.

"I can talk to her anyway that I want to Weasley."

Potter brushed passed her now; Draco noticed that he had now drawn his wand. A part of Draco wondered distantly
why he was doing this, but he was too angry to really put much thought into an answer.

"Now Potter, are wands necessary? Aren't we all friends here?" Draco asked snidely.

"That's really funny Malfoy." Weasley forced a laugh.

"Aren't we friends Hermione?" Draco asked, turning to her suddenly, twisting her name derisively.

She looked away from him without saying anything. And Draco felt somewhat vindicated.

"We should be friends, I know you in ways those two of can't even imagine." He caressed her cheek with the tips
of his fingers and smirked when she blushed. Draco felt triumphant as Potter and Weasley looked at him with shock
and disbelief.

"What's that supposed to mean Malfoy?" Potter asked.

"You know what I mean," Draco responded in a knowing voice and gave the two boys a wink.

There was an angry roar from the two Gryffindors but before either of them could move Hermione did something
that made them all stop. She hit Draco across the face. His light blonde hair fell across his eyes when he looked back
up at her. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was shaking. Potter and Weasley were staring at her in surprise,
but Draco's eyes never left hers. Those brown eyes that seemed to mirror his own soul sometimes.

"I was wrong." She whispered.

Draco wasn't sure if she had spoken loud enough for Potter or Weasley to hear, but at the moment she seemed
completely oblivious to either of them. He was utterly unable to look away from the pretty young girl. She wasn't
making any effort to not cry in front of him, her delicate tears were falling freely. She held him hostage for only
another moment before she turned from him and the others and walked across the snowy courtyard, her head
held high.

Potter and Weasley watched her go in silence. Once she had disappeared through the same archway that they had
come from, they turned back to look at Draco.

"You're really something else aren't you Malfoy?" Potter asked coldly.

Draco noticed that Potter had a tight grip on the back of Weasley's robes, which was probably a good thing as the
red head looked like he could easily bring himself to murder Draco with his bare hands.

"Let's go," Potter muttered to his friend. Weasley looked about to argue but then turned and followed the other boy.

Draco was left alone, glaring down at the snow. She just didn't understand. It wasn't very fair in his opinion. She had
forgiven them. And Draco knew that they were the reason why she had been so upset. But who was she talking to?
Who was she loyal to? The blasted Gryffindors of course. Draco angrily kicked at the snow, but he couldn't help
feeling that he should be kicking himself.
 
 

Draco glanced yet again at Hermione, but as she had been since she had sat down, she was staring straight ahead
and refused to acknowledge his presence. It was the first day back at classes and he had been looking forward to
Arithmancy. True, it was his favorite class after Potions, but more importantly, she couldn't avoid him there. And
yet, much to his great annoyance, she seemed to be doing exactly that.

Professor Vector droned on with her lecture, which was probably very interesting, but Draco couldn't bring himself
to pay attention. It was as if the past several months had never happened. As if this was the first day of the year, and
not the first day of the new semester. Hermione sat as far from him as possible. All of her things lay stacked neatly
at the edge of the desk. Her quill ran back and forth across a piece of slightly curled parchment. He knew what she
was doing; she was shutting out every possible distraction and focusing entirely on the Professor. But there wasn't any reason to pay attention to the Professor. Draco was willing to admit that Hermione probably knew almost as much
about Arithmancy as he did, maybe even more when it came to polynomials. The only reason why she was
concentrating so hard was so that she wouldn't have to think about him. This was a highly egotistical notion of Draco's,
but being a Malfoy, the belief that the world does, in fact, revolve around oneself was an inherited trait. On this
occasion though, Draco was correct.

He glanced at the hourglass that was perched precariously on a tilting stack books on the Professor's desk. Class
would be over soon, and Hermione hadn't even had the grace to look at him. Draco glared at her profile and then
knocked his Arithmancy book to the floor. The sudden racket drew every eye to him, including the ones that he had
hoped for. For the first time in several days, Draco found himself staring into her dark eyes and they weren't pleased
to see him. Hermione glared at him and it was a look that he knew very well. It was the same expression that she
always used to wear concerning him. Her eyes were filled with loathing, and something deeper, pain and betrayal.
She then turned back to Professor Vector and didn't look at him again for the rest of class.

Draco sat glumly as the last purple grains of sand slithered to the bottom of the hourglass and students started to
collect their things. He watched as Hermione quickly made her way down the steps and an idea occurred to him.
Draco jumped to feet and rushed down towards Hermione, taking the steps two at a time. He grabbed her arm and
pulled her back into the class before she could disappear into the thronged mass that was passing in the hall. She
turned to him with an angry remark on the tip of her tongue, but as he had expected, she couldn't bring herself to
say anything in front of their teacher.

"Professor Vector," Draco pulled Hermione over to where she was standing.

"Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, how are things going with your project? Come across anything exciting?" Professor
Vector beamed at them.

"Oh yes Professor, Hermione and I devoted most of our Christmas break to deciphering some old journals of
O'Leary's that he had written in Latin and then coded." Draco smiled back at her and tightened his grip on Hermione.

"I am so glad, to tell you the truth, I was afraid that it might be a bit too advanced for you two. I know that I was
asking a lot."

"Oh no Professor," Draco was using all the Malfoy charm that he had. "After our last progress report, you said
something about coming to see what we have done. And I was thinking Professor, if you don't have a class, that you
might like to come now?" Draco's smile grew wider.

"That is an excellent idea Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger."

Draco grinned as Professor Vector followed him out of the room, his grin turned into a victorious smile as Hermione
began to trail a few steps behind. The trip to the library was rather short. Since they were walking with a teacher, the
other students gave them a wide berth. Professor Vector was very impressed with the translation that Draco had
written up, and virtually glowed at Hermione when she examined her different keys. And then the Professor was gone
on her way, leaving them alone in their room.

"Hermione?" Draco asked softly, she had seemed lost in thought, staring out the window.

With the sound of his voice, Hermione seemed to realize that they were alone. She moved towards the door but
stopped when Draco stepped in front of it.

"No, you're not leaving." He told her firmly.

"Like to see you stop me." She muttered coldly.

"Is that an invitation Granger?"

"You really enjoy this don't you? You really like this game. How typical." She crossed her arms over her chest and
glowered at him.

"What are you talking about?" Draco crossed his arms, mimicking her.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." She seethed. "You just love to play with people. You know Harry
is still angry with me and Ron...Ron won't even acknowledge my presence."

Draco stepped a bit farther to the left, making absolutely sure that the door was blocked before he continued. "I upset
Potter and Weasley? Oh no, however shall I live with myself now?"

"The really sad part about all of this is that I don't really even have a right to be angry with you. You can't help being
the way you are, cold and unfeeling." Her voice quavered again and Draco wasn't sure if was because of anger or
pain, "they were right about you. This is all a game." Her voice trailed off and she looked away from him.

Draco stepped to her silently, she was distractedly wiping at her eyes and didn't notice him and until he ran his hand
through the brown curls that were lining her face. She started back, surprised, but Draco had anticipated that. His arm
had already come to rest around her waist, holding her in place. Hermione didn't even struggle, she had learned that it
was an effort in futility; he was much stronger than her. She gazed at him now with large eyes, afraid of what he
would do.

Draco tilted his head down and lightly kissed her forehead.

"I don't know what this is, but it has never been a game." He whispered softly into her hair before pulling her
completely against him.
 
 
 

Back to Chapter 15
Chapter 17