• 1-Chapter One
• 2-Chapter Two
• 3-Chapter Three
• 4-Chapter Four
• 5-Chapter Five
• 6-Chapter Six
• 7-Chapter Seven
• 8-Chapter Eight
• 9-Chapter Nine
• 10-Chapter Ten
• 11-Chapter Eleven
• 12-Chapter Twelve
• 13-Chapter Thirteen
• 14-Chapter Fourteen
• 15-Chapter Fifteen
• 16-Chapter Sixteen
• 17-Chapter Seventeen
• 18-Chapter Eighteen

The Slytherin common room was almost empty as Draco entered. A few housemates were lounging on a couch in the corner too involved in their conversation to notice he was back. Crabbe and Goyle were hunched over a table near the stairs to the boys dormitories. Their brows were furrowed, concentrating so hard that Draco could practically smell the smoke pouring from their ears. Pansy sat across from them with her feet up on the table twirling her wand. She glanced over towards him and did a double take. 

"You look like shit." She said looking him up and down. 

Draco had not bothered fixing his hair or tucking his shirt back in after his meeting with Hermione. He ignored Pansy's comment and took his usual seat by the fire. He stared into the flames feeling utterly confused. He had many encounters in his short life but none of them left him reeling like he was now. The way she kissed him, the way she snuggled against him afterwards smiling and laughing, even his own laughter caught him by surprise. He felt alive. 

A frown spread across his face as he realized it could never work. If the Dark Lord had the slightest inkling that he, the son of Lucius Malfoy, was fraternizing with a muggle-born, let alone being intimate with one, his father would pay dearly. He cursed his father for dragging himself and his mother into this war. Draco growled kicking over the coffee table and stormed up to bed. 

***

Hermione sat up in bed yawning as she stretched her arms overhead. She had the craziest dream of a night filled with panting, sweating, and Draco. She laughed to herself, that thought was absurd. A dull ache between her legs as she stood up froze her in her tracks. It happened. It wasn't a dream or a figment of her imagination. Her and Draco had done it. She sprinted to the full length mirror at the other end of the dorm to look herself over as if there would be a huge neon sign across her chest blinking 'Draco Malfoy was here'. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. 

"Morning!" Ginny called bounding over to Hermione already dressed and ready to start her day. "How did it go last night? I tried to wait up for you but I was so exhausted I couldn't even function. Did that asshole give you any trouble?"

"It was fine." Hermione smiled hoping that Ginny didn't notice the flush coming over her face. She pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail as she turned to finish getting ready. Ginny gasped grabbing her arm and yanking her back towards the mirror. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked. As she came face to face with her reflexion a dark red and purple mark on the side of her neck came into focus. 

Hermione began to panic. She opened her mouth to try and explain herself when Ginny shoved her hand over Hermione's mouth. "I don't want to know." She muttered grabbing her wand and casting a healing charm over her neck to help erase the mark. She inspected her work and gave a nod of approval. "It never happened." She announced walking back downstairs to the common room. 

Ginny knew it was Draco that left the mark but she would never say anything to anyone, including Hermione. They had become something like sisters over the last couple of years. As much as Ginny hated to admit it she was scared for her. Nothing good could come of this. 

***

The morning went as well as it could. The classes were grueling and the homework seemed to never stop. Hermione reached over Fred to grab a cup of coffee. "That's your third cup today. It's only noon for Merlin's sake, woman!" He joshed. Hermione gave a sarcastic smile as she made her way back towards Harry and Ron. A high pitched giggle brought her attention to the Slytherin table. Draco was entertaining some of his female classmates leaning in to whisper in their ears and rubbing his hands over their backs. 

Hermione turned back around slamming her mug on the table between Ron and Harry, grabbing her satchel, and walked as quick as possible, without drawing any attention to herself, out the door. Jealousy was not a feeling she was accustomed to. There was no real reason to be. What happened was a one time deal. There was nothing there of substance to keep them tethered to each other. She wished she really believed that. 

She made her way towards Hagrid's cabin for her next class, Care of Magical Creatures. The dark abandoned cabin made matters worse. Hagrid still hadn't returned and everyday he was absent made her anxiety grow. The thought of something bad happening to him caused her to choke up. A loud bustle of students brought her back to her senses. 

"Are you okay?" Harry asked. 

"I'm fine. I just miss Hagrid." She hoped he wouldn't hear the deception in her voice. Like Ginny, Harry could read her face like a book. He pulled her into a one armed hug. "It WILL be okay." He lied. 

They began to shuffle back towards the rest of the class when Draco appeared shoving his shoulder into Harry as if he didn't see him. "Watch where you're going, Potter!" He snarled glancing at Hermione as he strode off to meet the other Slytherins. 

"What the fuck was that all about? I thought you were supposed to be sorting this."

Hermione pulled away and glared at Harry. "Yes, Malfoy and I are attempting to find a middle ground. That doesn't mean that he's going to stop acting like a pretentious prick." She spat. Harry nodded in agreement as the class began. 

Although professor Grubbly-Plank wasn't Hagrid the class was still enjoyable. Watching cocky classmates get attacked by pixies made her day just a little brighter. Of course, Ron and Harry's colorful commentary made it all the better. 

Hermione had finally started to unwind as she walked back into the school until the familiar smell of expensive cologne filled her senses. Draco walked along side of her keeping his eyes forward. "So now I'm a pretentious prick?" He asked out of the corner of his mouth. 

"Haven't you always?"

"I thought that was remedied last night. I don't believe you had much of a problem while our 'meeting' took place."

"Never happened." She retorted quickening her pace keeping her eyes focused on her destination. Anyone who looked at them would think they just happened to be walking near each other, not carrying on a conversation. Draco lengthened his steps to match her speed. 

"Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night." His snide remark had Hermione tiptoeing the line between ignoring him and full out tearing him apart. 

"You are getting dangerously close to earning yourself a slap, Malfoy." She replied grinding her teeth together. 

Hermione was relieved to see Ron on tip-toe waving her over from the other side of the corridor. "Over here, Hermione!" He yelled over the crowd. She turned on her heel fast enough for her bag to 'accidentally' hit Draco in the arm as she hurried to get to Ron. She didn't bother looking back. 

***

The week seemed as if it were crawling by, the classes were rough, the homework load was ridiculous, and Hermione's attempts to elude Draco were tiring. She had a class with him everyday, but somehow managed to duck down and lose herself in the crowd before he could track her down. Although, once Monday rolled around she would be forced to be face-to-face with him in that small stuffy room with no one else around. 

Saturday was upon them and the excitement of Ron's new position as keeper on Gryffindor's quidditch team buzzed in the air. Harry had his last detention the night before but still seemed out of sorts. Harry pulled Hermione to the side away from ear shot looking pale as a ghost. 

"It's hurting again." He whispered touching the scar on his forehead. "Last night I felt like I would faint it was so painful. Umbridge has to be working with Voldemort. The only time my scar hurts that bad is when he's around in some way."

"Try to relax. We'll figure this out." She replied with false confidence. Harry looked up at her with pain and fear in his eyes. "Let's get down to the quidditch pitch before Ron notices we're not there." She hooked her arm in his and led the way. 

***

Draco and his normal gang of Slytherins were on the field shouting and chanting insults as the Gryffindor team practiced. Hermione sat off to the side, her anger slowly bubbling to the surface. She leaned against the side of the stands glaring at him. The team finished with one player being escorted to the hospital wing and Ron looking as if he was going to vomit. Just as she was about to make her move back into the castle a pair of stormy gray eyes locked on hers. 

Draco waved his hand dismissing his cronies as he swaggered towards Hermione. "Enjoy the show?" He sneered stopping a foot in front of her. 

"It would be nice if you could pull your head out of your ass and at least attempt to be a decent human being." She snapped. 

"Where's the fun in that?" He crossed his arms flexing his muscles.

Hermione rubbed her hand over her forehead and sighed. "We'll talk about this Monday. I don't have the time to deal with this right now."

"I'm sure you have time enough for this." He smirked grabbing her around the waist and crushing his lips to hers. 

***

A/N: I'm going to try to keep with the major events that happened in book 5. How the characters react and interact with each other will be different, for obvious reasons ;-) I have a paper to write this week so it might be a few days to a week before I update again. 

Thank you so much for your kind words and ratings! You guys truly make this even more enjoyable to write as it already is