6. Mirror Image

Author's Note: Ahh! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I was so pleasantly surprised not only to find out people still like this story, but that some of you are willing to give me cookies and cupcakes in exchange for updates! Seriously, you guys rock. All of you! xoxo

Now, with that said, I hope you all still like my story after this chapter. Heh. That is all I will say for now. ;)

Disclaimer: In my little fantasy world, I not only own the rights to the Harry Potter books, but I also own the rights to the movies as well. But in my little reality, all I own is this silly little fan fic. :(

The only light emanating through the room at this moment was the moonlight. Was there a full moon tonight, he wondered? There must be. It seemed awfully bright. Although, it would probably seem brighter in his dream regardless, because anything was possible in a dream. For instance, it was possible for Hermione Granger to be staring up at him from the floor right now - because it was just a dream.

Once he had assured himself three times that this indeed was still just a part of his dream, Draco began to breathe again. As he bent down to retrieve his wand, the girl – Hermione – slowly stood up from the floor. He stared at her as she glanced around the room; a curious look adorning her features.

"So much for pleasant surprises," he muttered.

The girl jumped at the sound of his voice and gazed over at him. "Malfoy?"

"So, I take it that the surprise is the fact that you're still here? Or do you have something else planned for me?" he continued.

The girl suddenly looked crestfallen. "I'm…still here?"

"Obviously," Draco replied.

She frowned. She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, as if trying to clear her thoughts. A look of confusion flashed across her face. "I'm still here," she repeated in a whisper. This time, it was not a question; rather it sounded more like an observation. Slowly, she sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands.

Draco sighed in annoyance. This was unlike any other dream he'd had about Hermione before. And he wasn't enjoying it at all. So, he decided to end it. "Well, this has been fun. I'm going back to bed."

The girl took her hands away from her face and stared up at him. But she did not say a word.

He turned to leave but at the last minute stopped, spinning back around to face her. "No, wait, on second thought, I think I'll stick this one out till the end." He plopped down into one of the armchairs across from the couch and smirked at her.

"Stick this one out?" she said, shaking her head. "I don't understand…"

"The dream, Granger. You said you had a pleasant surprise for me, and I would like to find out what that is before I wake up."

"Pleasant surprise? Wake up?" Her look of confusion lingered for a moment before turning into a look of realization. "Wait…you think…you think this is a dream." Again, there was no question in her voice. She was stating it as a fact. "Why would you think this is a dream?"

"Well, hmm. I don't know, Granger. Could it be the fact that I'm sitting here talking to you, even though you're dead?"

The girl's mouth dropped open. "I'm dead?" She paused, then said, "Oh…I'm dead…"

Draco stared at the girl with an amused expression. He didn't like this dream's Hermione. All she really seemed to be good at was repeating everything he said. He stood up from the chair. "On second thought, Granger, I've changed my mind. I'm going back to sleep. Now, just for future reference - if you're going to insist on haunting my dreams, can you at least try and be a little more entertaining?"

"Malfoy, I -"

"Save it, Granger. I'm going back to bed, and I'm going to try and wake myself up from this nightmare." He began to head back toward his room.

"Wait, Malfoy!" the girl called after him. "Stop, please."

For some inexplicable reason, Draco obeyed. Perhaps it was because deep down, he was interested in seeing how exactly this dream would play out. He turned around once more to face her.

She was staring up at him from the couch with wide, excited eyes, and suddenly she no longer seemed as bewildered as she had just moments before. In fact, it looked like she had just had some sort of epiphany, and now she wanted to share it with him.

"This is going to sound really weird, but I think I have it figured out." She did not look at him as she spoke. Rather, it appeared as though maybe she wasn't even talking to him at all, but to herself. Finally, though, she glanced back up at him and said, "Maybe you should sit down for this."

"I don't mind standing," Draco said. "Could you please hurry this up?"

She got up from the couch and immediately started pacing back and forth in front of him. "This is so weird. I mean, you're probably not going to believe me. And I will understand completely if you don't. This all just seems a little surreal -"

"Spit it out, Granger. I'd like to wake up before the weekend is over."

Hermione stopped pacing and looked at him. "Okay, first of all, I know you are thinking this is some sort of a dream. But I can assure you that it is not."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "Trust me, I know when I'm dreaming about you. You see, this has to be a dream, because if it isn't, then my mind is playing tricks on me. See, because you're dead, Granger. Or, at least, you will be in a few seconds. You always do that."

Hermione glanced sideways at him, as if trying to figure out what he was talking about. Giving a slight shrug, she continued. "Look…whoever you think I am…I'm not her."

"Okay…" Draco said, crossing his arms and smirking at her. "Then who are you?"

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Okay, then you are who I think you are."

"But -"

"I have to say this is the most annoying dream I've had in a long time -"

"This is not a dream!" Hermione cried. Her voice was suddenly so loud it caught Draco off guard. "Does this really feel like a dream to you? Honestly, does it? Because it sure feels real to me."

"That's it," Draco said, taking a few steps back from the girl in front of him. "I've had enough of this dream. No offense, but your pleasant surprise sucked." And with that, he turned and headed back to his room, ignoring Hermione as she called out to him once more. He stepped foot inside the door to his bedroom and slammed it shut behind him. This was by far the worst of all the dreams he'd had of Hermione so far, and that included the ones where she died horribly at the end.

Slowly, he crept back into his bed. It seemed weird…going to bed to wake up from a dream, rather than to fall asleep and dream. But since he had so far failed to wake up any other way, he figured perhaps the only way would be to go to sleep in his dream. So he closed his eyes the second his head hit the pillow and pleaded with himself to "fall asleep" as fast as he could. He wanted this nightmare over with.

Before he drifted off to sleep, Draco half-expected to see Hermione appear once more by his side. But she never did. And for that, he was thankful.

It was almost like the night before had never happened.

The morning after Draco had saved Hermione from his two best friends was like every other morning – Draco got up, walked over to the bathroom to take a shower - only to realize it was being occupied by Hermione, and decided instead to grab one of his school books and pretend to be reading it. That way, when Hermione finally came out of the bathroom, she would choose not to speak with him, not wanting to interfere with something as important as studying.

Not that he was avoiding her. No – that was a little hard to do, considering they lived together. Still, he wasn't exactly in the mood to talk with her that morning, for fear that she might start thanking him again for saving her, and thanking him for being…nice to her. Draco cringed at the memory. He had a feeling he would regret everything he had said and done the night before.

The minute he sat down to read, Hermione exited the bathroom, her hair still a little damp from her shower. The second she stepped into the common room, the air was filled with the scent of strawberries and vanilla – no doubt from whatever shampoo and soap she'd used. Draco took in a deep breath, savoring the scent…until he reminded himself that it was Granger he thought smelled so nice, and then decided to breathe through his mouth until the scent died down.

"Good morning," she said brightly.

Draco suppressed a groan. Oh great - she thought they were best friends now. "'Morning," he mumbled back unenthusiastically, making it a point not to look up from his book.

He expected her to start some sort of friendly conversation – one that would last until they had to go to class – but instead, all she said was, "The bathroom is all yours. I'll see you later." And with that, she left.

Draco closed his book and stared after her. That was kind of weird. It wasn't like Granger to not try and spark up some kind of conversation with him. Even on the days they weren't getting along, she would try to talk to him. He thought today of all days she would attempt play her usual buddy routine with him. But perhaps, he figured, she felt as uncomfortable about last night as he did. Shrugging to himself, he decided he really didn't care why she was so antisocial this morning.

After a long shower, Draco headed out for breakfast. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it – mainly because he didn't care to encounter Pansy. Talk about feeling uncomfortable. He had kicked her out last night, right in the middle of a make-out session. And he had to wonder if maybe she was a bit suspicious as to the reason why he kicked her out. Knowing Pansy, she probably thought it had something to do with Granger. She could be quite the paranoid girlfriend when she wanted to be.

Deciding he wanted to arrive to breakfast as late as possible, Draco took the long way to the Great Hall – which involved passing by the Slytherin tower. However, deep down he knew that his little detour had less to do with wanting to be late for breakfast, and more to do with hoping he could catch Crabbe and Goyle by themselves. It was his lucky morning.

The two lugs were just coming out of the portrait hole as Draco approached. At first, they were too busy pushing each other and laughing to even notice him. But once they did, their laughter stopped.

"Has anyone ever told you two that you are a couple of fucking morons?" was Draco's greeting.

Crabbe and Goyle both stopped directly in front of Draco with guilty looks on their faces.

"What the hell were you guys doing last night?"

Crabbe shrugged. "We were just having some fun."

Draco snorted. "Fun? Do you even realize what that fun could have cost you? If you'd been caught by anyone but me, you would have been expelled from Hogwarts. Both of you. And if you had hurt her, your punishment would have been far worse. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Look," Goyle said, "we're sorry, okay? It's not like we set out with a plan to attack her, you know? We were just walking along, minding our own business, and then she appeared out of nowhere – alone and vulnerable. You'd have to be crazy to pass up an opportunity like that."

Draco gritted his teeth at that comment. He had the sudden urge to throttle his friend, but managed to keep his cool. It wasn't safe to attack his best friend in broad daylight. He wasn't about to lose his Head Boy badge over an imbecile like Goyle.

"Yeah, well, if that opportunity ever rises again, you'd better not take it. Do you understand me?" Draco took a step closer to Goyle and stared him down. Next to a couple of hefty boys like Crabbe and Goyle, Draco appeared a bit scrawny. But both boys knew Draco was a lot stronger than he looked. "If you so much as look at Granger the wrong way again, I will make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Goyle frowned and nodded. He took a step back. "I don't know what's happened to you, Draco," he said sadly.

Before Draco could respond, Goyle nudged Crabbe and the two boys quickly brushed past him. As he turned around to watch them go, he caught sight of Pansy, standing not too far away. She acknowledged Crabbe and Goyle with a nod as they walked by, and then looked over at Draco with a pained expression on her face.

"I forgot one of my books," she said quietly as she approached him. It appeared as though she was just going to continue on past him, but she stopped once she was behind him. Without looking at him, she added, "I'm going to pretend that you just threatened Goyle only because you're concerned about him getting expelled."

Draco turned around to look at her. He expected her to look angry, but was surprised instead to see that she looked rather…sad. Fuck. She knew. She had heard the whole conversation, and somehow, she knew.

"Pansy," he murmered. He walked over to her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder, turning her around to face him.

She glanced up at him with glistening eyes. "Do you love her?" she whispered in a shaky voice.

The blunt question took him by surprise. There was no beating around the bush where Pansy was concerned. She was a straightforward kind of girl.

Draco faltered a bit. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The answer should have been easy, and he should have had no problem in just saying no. But he realized suddenly that he was unable to give any sort of answer at all. So instead, he leaned forward and brushed his lips softly against hers. "You're my girl, Pansy."

It wasn't an actual answer, he knew, but it seemed to satisfy her nevertheless. She smiled as she pulled away from him. Without saying another word to him, she muttered the password to the portrait and disappeared behind the door.

Draco sighed. This was certainly the wake-up call he needed. He had been so busy acting like Granger's protective guardian that he never stopped and realized how it must look to people on the outside. He could not afford to have anyone suspecting he had feelings for the mudblood. Not only would it be bad for his reputation, but he shuddered to think about how his fellow Slytherins would handle the news – even if it was inaccurate news - and what they would do to him for it. And what they would do to her.

When Draco finally made it to the Great Hall that morning, he sat next to Pansy, occasionally leaning in to whisper sweet nothings into her ear, to which she would respond with a giggle. He spoke to Crabbe and Goyle as if he'd never threatened them – and since they were a couple of idiots, they went along with it as if nothing had ever happened either. Occasionally, Draco would sneak a glance over to the Gryffindor table, where Hermione was completely oblivious to him. Some of the time, she looked lost in thought; other times she would smile slightly at something someone said to her.

But there was the one time he glanced over at her, and she was gazing across the table at Harry with a smile on her face. Actually, she wasn't just smiling - she was beaming. Harry never seemed to notice, though. He just kept on talking with Ron, probably about Quidditch, and he remained completely ignorant to the fact that the girl in front of him was hopelessly in love with him.

How stupid can one guy be? Draco wondered. He smirked. Obviously, Hermione wasn't going to be taking his advice and getting over Harry Potter any time soon. As soon as that realization hit him, Draco tried to assure himself that he didn't care. But he did care. He cared that she was wasting her time being in love with someone who didn't love her back, instead of glancing up and seeing what was right in front of her.

And suddenly he realized that if he had been able to respond to Pansy's question earlier, his answer most likely would have been yes.

He yawned as he climbed out of bed. He felt surprisingly well rested, despite the restless night of sleep he must have had, due to crazy dreams. He wanted to just forget about it – about the dream, about her. Hell, he just wanted to forget about everything that had happened in the past couple of months. As annoying as his dream had been, it made him realize that maybe it was time he moved on. He'd been wanting to move on for a while now, but he'd never quite had the ambition to do it. But he could not take any more of those dreams. They needed to stop now – for the sake of his sanity. So he planned to do everything in his power to get Hermione out of his mind.

Starting right now. As he walked to the bathroom, he planned out what he was going to do today. It was Saturday, so he didn't have to worry about classes. Perhaps he would go to Hogsmeade with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. Perhaps he could show them that he was still the same old Draco they used to know and worship. As he took a shower, he brainstormed ideas on how to make it up to Pansy for being such a prat to her. He was sure it wouldn't be too hard. For some reason, Pansy was real forgiving when it came to Draco. Maybe it was because she loved him. Or maybe because she just loved the thought of loving him. Either way, she would most likely accept any apology that she got from him, so he wasn't too worried.

As he walked back out into the common room, he thought about how maybe later on, after he'd hung out with his friend for most of the day, he would catch up on some of the schoolwork he'd been avoiding. He thought about whom Dumbledore could possibly be choosing as the next Head Girl, and he hoped she at least wasn't a Gryffindor. He thought about how –

"Good morning."

Startled by the voice that was coming from across the room, Draco jumped slightly and mumbled a few expletives. He spun around and found himself once again face-to-face with Hermione Granger. His breath caught in his throat.

"Still think you're dreaming?"

Draco froze. He suddenly found himself unable to speak.

"It's so weird," she said softly, walking around the common room, running her hands over everything she walked by – the couch, the chair, the table. "So much of this is the same, you know? It's almost like a mirror image."

"W-who are you?" Draco demanded. He was starting to experience déjà vu.

Looking at the girl, she resembled Hermione a great deal, but in the daylight Draco noticed there were quite a few differences as well - starting with the fact her hair was smooth and straight, instead of just a mess of frizzy curls. Her attire, while resembling that of Hogwart's school uniform, was noticeably less…modest, with a skirt that only came down midway on her thigh, instead of to her knees, and a white collared shirt that was unbuttoned at the top. And makeup – this girl was wearing makeup – something Hermione only ever wore when she was attending a special event such as the Yule Ball. She looked like she would have easily fit in with Pansy's clique. But her eyes - her big, brown, sparkling eyes - those were Hermione's eyes. Draco could recognize them anywhere.

"I already told you who I am," she said simply. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"No," Draco said, shaking his head. "You're not Hermione Granger. You can't be."

The girl sighed. "Do you want to sit down this time, maybe?"

Yes, he did want to, because suddenly he was feeling very weak. Because he hated to admit it, but it just didn't feel like a dream this time. But how could this not be a dream?

Slowly taking a seat, he said, "What the hell is going on here?"

The girl - Hermione - began to pace back and forth, much like she had done the night before. "This is going to sound silly and farfetched, and you probably aren't going to believe a word I say, but I had all night while you slept to think of how I was going to explain this so…"

"Okay," Draco interjected, "then explain it to me."

She took a deep breath and began her story…