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Burdened By The Last Name Granger	By : countessmarsters Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 3515 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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- 1-Burdened By The Last Name Granger
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Burdened By The Last Name Granger

by Countess Mary

Rating: NC-17

Summary: Draco has once again been bested by Hermione and hides himself in her room to plan his attack. He finds himself falling into her thoughts... literally.

Notes: This was written as my secret santa fic for MsPosada at "Always The Quiet Ones". (I got four out of the five, hun. I hope that's alright.)Also, my pensieve, and I'm not sure if this is going along with J. K. or not, makes it so the person doesn't remember the things they put in there until after they put them back in or watch them in the pensieve. I don't want ya'll to be confused.

Thanks: To Inell for listening to this one as it came to me. To the people who made the music I listened to while I was making this fic because it provided me with much inspiration. To MrsRobinson who is like my very own Harry Potter Lexicon. To Tweyelite who helped me during the hardest corner I've ever written myself into. I know it was really confusing for you babe as I was trying to explain a really long story, but you helped me loads.

WARNING: There's some sex and some angst in this one. If you don't like one or both, please don't read this fic. 'Twould be a bad idea.

~*~*~Part 1~*~*~

He wasn't supposed to be there, he knew this. He was absolutely aware of breaking about 20 school rules in his pursuit of revenge. There was just something about the young witch that just drove him mad. She was constantly raising her hand in class in a completely know-it-all manner which grated on his nerves on a fairly consistent basis. She glared at him for every comment he made from the first time they met on the Hogwarts Express. She was the only person in their year who could say she'd ever gotten the better of Draco Malfoy... the only one.

He'd bribed Winky with a bottle of Swedish vodka to let him in Hermione's room and as Draco sat in her closet, he was very aware of how ridiculous and clich� he was being. He recognized his obsession long before most would have. He simply had to get back at her for turning him into a ferret... and, for the second time, managing to get away with it.

"Just to ruddy annoy me," he said to himself while he stood, covered in her cloaks. He looked around her room as he waited for her return. In one corner stood, not a four poster, like most of the student bedrooms, but an iron bed frame with swirling designs he'd never seen done in metal. There were overlapping designs which both gave strength and beauty to the bed. He imagined all sorts of fun he could have with a woman in that bed. Seconds later, Draco clapped his hands over his mouth to stop from laughing at the state Hermione was in when she walked inside.

She slammed the door shut behind her as she dropped all of her books on her normally spotlessly clean floor.

"Stupid prats," she grunted as she pulled pieces of straw and clods of dirt out of her hair.

A knock sounded on her door and Hermione called, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Mione," Ginny replied. "You alright in there? I saw what happened."

"Yeah, I'm fine, Gin," Hermione said as she opened the door. "I'm just fan-bloody-tastic."

Ginny's face dissolved from concern into laughter at Hermione's disheveled appearance.

"Thanks, Gin," Hermione stated sarcastically. "This is really what I needed right now."

"Sorry, Mione, you just look," Ginny broke into laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you after I get out of the shower," Hermione said as she slammed the door in Ginny's face.

"Do you want me to go to McGonagall about it?" Ginny asked through the solid wood door.

"No, we've got no proof, just don't tell Harry and Ron because I don't want to deal with the two of them right now," Hermione instructed.

"I wonder why?" Ginny kidded from the other side of the door. "See you at dinner, Mione."

Looking into the mirror, Hermione sighed. She had managed to turn her frizzy hair into some semblance of curls in her last seven years at Hogwarts. They were still unmanageable most of the time, but there were rare occasions where her hair looked like the nobility of times gone by. This had been one of those days. She had strolled through the halls with the heightened feeling of a good hair day. It had elevated her mood to the point of not even minding spending three of her classes with Draco. Things had been going great until she had gone up to the owlry to mail a letter to her parents. She had been attacked by Malfoy's goons and it had gone quickly from a good hair day to an ending up in a pile of straw, dirt, and owl droppings... day.

"Mindless idiots," she continued as she started to peel off the dirt encrusted layers of robes and jumpers. They hadn't hurt her, of course, because there were too many people close by, but they had, in a very juvenile manner, pushed her down in the dirt for her latest transfiguration of Draco. Her frown melted into a smile as she thought about the snobby Slytherin having to explain to his Minister of Magic father how he was, again, turned into a floating ferret by a mudblood girl.

"It was worth it," Hermione said to herself. "One little shower and I'll be back in business," she stated plainly as she pulled her hair up into a bun as she laid out new clothes for dinner to replace her dirt covered ones. She grabbed her wand for a moment and walked toward her closet.

"Shite!" Draco thought to himself, but his alarm was put on hold as she veered toward a small cabinet to the right of his hiding place.

Hemione placed her wand to her head and drew a silvery string of thoughts into the swirling bowl. "No more thoughts about that for awhile," she sighed to herself. "At least not while I'm in the shower," she said with a distracted half laugh, "too dangerous a place."

Draco recognized the lights which came into her closet as those given off by placing thoughts into a pensieve. His father had always had his locked in his private office. Draco had come upon him using it as a young child and asked his father what it was and how it worked. A long lecture followed as to the weight of being the eldest Malfoy and what that meant. It was a lecture Draco had often received in his 17 years, but he learned about what a pensieve could do for a person's well being. The ability to spend some time without thoughts of a certain person or event, could do wonders for the stress level. This had resulted in Draco purchasing one of his own to rid himself of thoughts he definitely shouldn't keep lying around.

When Hermione closed the door behind her, towel and toiletries in hand, Draco wondered aloud, "What would dear Hermione be trying to forget just before a trip to the shower?" He stepped out of his protective shelter and stood in front of the oak cabinet which held Hermione's pensieve. Seconds later, he cursed himself for not having paid attention to what she had said the moments before opening it.

"Locked!" he exclaimed in frustration. "Don't know why I'm surprised," he said, knowing the witch was very protective of every spec of privacy she could manage. He stood frustratedly spewing phrases on the off chance that he would actually choose the right one and, quite literally, open the doors to Hermione's most private thoughts. He tried spell words, her friend's names, professor's names, book titles, wizarding world locations, even a few of the Muggle locations he could remember, and then finally gave up.

"Sneaky little Muggle," he sighed. "Might as well have been my name," he laughed and then just for laughs said, "Draco Malfoy."

His eyebrows raised in shock as the doors opened before him. "You would think I would have heard that one by default," he thought as he leaned into the clear bowl filled with Hermione's swirling thoughts and concerns. "What have we got here?" Draco said as he planted a hand on each side of the glass bowl and dropped his head into the deepest part of the pensieve.

Through the tunnel like vision he was presented, Draco could see Hermione sitting on a bench clad in only a towel in the Head Girl's bathroom. She was running a brush through her hair which reached all the way down past her waist. It was slicked wet and lay longer than he had ever seen it because of the weight of the water. She sat looking in the mirror watching herself in a trance like stare.

Moments later, the trance was broken as a noise sounded from behind her. The door to the shower opened and a man stepped out and began walking forward. Draco couldn't see his face as it was pointing away from him and toward Hermione. She had started at the slam of the shower door and turned around to see the tall slender man standing before her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling her towel closer around her.

The man didn't respond nor did he change his course.

"You know you're not allowed in here. How did you get inside?" she demanded but her question went unanswered. The pale stranger seemed to ignore her, but it only seemed to make her more and more excited. A blush raised on her face as he made his way closer and her hands twisted in the ends of her only covering. She stood as he crossed the last few feet between them and he raised his hands into her hair.

Hermione cast her eyes down as the blush intensified on her cheeks. He lifted her chin in a sweet and romantic gesture but then quickly pulled on the tucked in portion of the towel to haul her body to his.

"So, Hermione's not as ivory as we thought, then," Draco said, half surprise and half jealousy clouding his voice. His mind went wild with the possibilities of who this man was. It was no one he recognized and as the embrace became more and more fevered, as Hermione's body became more and more revealed and tangled in this mystery man's hold, Draco couldn't take it anymore. He fell head first into the vision, no longer a casual observer, but a traveler in the churning depths of Hermione's thoughts.

He walked around to see who had caused the person he had always considered a girl to become a woman before his eyes. Jumpers and robes could no longer keep him from creating her curves in his mind. She was skinnier than he thought with small breasts and complimentary curves below her waist. None the less, he found her entrancing. Draco noticed, in these short moments, how lovely her hair looked all slick with water. His eyes nearly bugged out as he watched Hermione spread her legs to allow this stranger to slide his fingers into her depths. His jaw dropped when he came around to the side and saw that the man had no defined face.

"It's a ruddy dream," Draco growled. She had made him nearly crazy with jealousy over a dream. It only made him feel slightly better to know that he hadn't been seeing Hermione's sexual history. He was still consumed with the feelings which had grown in him as he sat in Hermione's mind. Draco had known, going into this quest for revenge, he held an unhealthy obsession for the witch. He wasn't aware of the extent of it until he watched the faceless wizard pull the towel from her quivering body. Draco's body let him know quite immediately of his continuing interest in the nude witch before him.

He watched her head fall back and her mouth open in a sigh of pleasure as the wizard sank to his knees and latched his "lips" over her nipple. Draco saw the flush which was once only on her cheeks spread across her skin from her head to her toes. She was having a very hard time standing as Faceless continued to use his hands in more interesting places. Draco found himself hard and aching as he watched Hermione squirm as she finally collapsed in orgasm and fell onto the bench she had been sitting on before Faceless' arrival.

Faceless lifted his head and smiled at Hermione as he licked his juice covered fingers. Hermione dropped to the floor before him and pulled him into a fierce kiss.

"How can something smile if it has no face?" he wondered to himself.

Draco could hardly believe the ferocity with which Hermione had attacked this non person in her dreams. The attention to detail astounded him as he looked around the room. He was impossibly hard and could hardly stand to watch as the real sex began. Draco became even more disbelieving when his attention was forced back from the spot on the wall he had momentarily been staring at.

"Oh, God, Malfoy," Hermione gasped, "please."

Draco turned his head to find a perfect replica of himself engaging in the most wonderful torture. He was poised to slam into Hermione, but he stood there waiting for her to beg.

"Please, what?" his doppelganger asked.

It was as if the dream man, Faceless, had been molding himself into what Hermione had really wanted. She wanted him. The Head Girl of Hogwarts wanted surprise kinky sex with Draco Malfoy.

"So, that's what you really need, Granger," the real Draco thought to himself. He readied himself to watch the entire sordid affair but pulled himself out of the pensieve. Sounds of the real Hermione again talking to Ginny Weasley out in the hallway outside her door brought him back to the reality of what he had been doing.

~*~*~Part 2~*~*~

"Well, let me know what kind of punishment you have in mind, Gin. I'm just too tired to fight them right now. I've not been sleeping properly, all sorts of weird dreams," Hermione admitted.

"I'll bet," Draco and Ginny chuckled at the same time. Draco secreted himself back into her closet and pulled his invisibility cloak around himself once again.

"Oh, hush, Weasley. I can't believe I told you about that one dream I had. ONE," Hermione said blushing at the memory.

"Well, all I have to say is that the Quiddtch field is never going to look the same to me again," Ginny called as she walked down the hall.

Hermione's head fell into her hand as she shut the door behind her.

"Never again am I going to tell anyone about my secret little issues," Hermione said to herself.

"And what might those be," Draco wondered silently.

"I can't believe I told her about that," she groaned as she pulled the large bath towel off of her body and walked toward her clothes which were still laid out on her bed.

She was slightly more filled out in reality than she had been in her dream. Draco discovered she had a few more pounds on her frame in the most delightful of places.

"I guess I was right about her figure," Draco thought.

As she slipped into her under things and then a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Draco decided he had to have her. There was no way on this Earth that he was going to allow another year go by without taming Hermione Granger.

Hermione finally dressed and then brushed her hair in a very business like manner into a simple bun. She grabbed her wand and headed back to the pensieve to pick up her stray thoughts.

"Draco Malfoy," she whispered and the doors opened once again. Tapping her wand to the bowl, she brought the silver strand to her temple and replaced it.

"Could probably do without this one for now," Hermione said as she tapped the wand against her temple again and drew a different thought from her head into the bowl. She closed the doors to the pensieve, tucked her wand into her pocket, grabbed her jacket and headed out the door.

When he heard her footsteps echoing down the hall, Draco, once again, came out from hiding.

"I wonder what it is this time," he said aloud. "Draco Malfoy," he said with a self satisfied smirk on his face. The doors opened and he quickly stuck his head in the bowl.

This time he was greeted with the sight of the Great Hall. Students from all four houses lined their tables. Everyone seemed to be behaving normally; eating, talking, and carrying on. Draco watched as Hermione got up from the normal place in which The Golden Trio sat and walked over to the Slytherin table. She walked right up to Crabbe, Goyle, and him.

She was wearing the clothes she had just put on in front of him, looked exactly the same, except her hair fell long and loosely down her back.

"So, Malfoy..." she said with a confident grin on her face, "cough up any hairballs today?" As she finished she walked out of the main doors laughing as she went.

The dream Draco rose from his seat in anger and frustration, and followed her out the door. When he closed the doors behind him, he found Hermione still standing on the other side. She reached out and grabbed the collar of his robes and smashed her lips to his. The dream Draco pushed her away from him.

"What're you ruddy doing, you idiot?" the real Draco yelled at himself.

"What makes you think you can do that to me?" dream Draco seethed at Hermione.

"Because you love it," Hermione seethed back as she pulled his shoulder length hair back and latched her lips onto his neck. "You love it when I'm naughty," she said and met his lips again, this time receiving as much ferocity from him as she had given in the earlier kiss.

When they came up for air, the real Draco was heaving just as much as his dream counterpart. He watched as Hermione attacked his double with an intensity he never expected from the young witch. He was glad to be proven wrong, even if it was only in dreams. Her actions betrayed a side to her he would never have dreamed of. As he watched her go down on him, right in the middle of the hallway, without any concern for people walking in on them, Draco decided it was time to see about making some of these fantasies of hers come true. The last thing he saw as he pulled his head out of the pensieve was Hermione sliding her mouth down his cock to meet the coarse hairs at the base.

Standing, once again, in Hermione's bedroom, Draco adjusted himself. He knew he should make a short trip to the bathroom or his own bedroom before going down to dinner and seeing the luscious witch, but he couldn't wait to see her. He closed his robes, again thanking their oversized design for hiding a multitude of sins.

Stepping into her fireplace he grabbed a pinch of the special floo powder Winky had made for him and transported himself back into his own room. He quickly stepped out of the fireplace and began to make his way down to the Great Hall.

~*~*~Part 3~*~*~

Walking through the large doors, he spotted Hermione sitting with her friends in the Gryffindor table. Her hair was no longer in the bun she had put it in only moments ago. It was as if he'd walked into Hermione's vision. It was long and curly, running down her back as she smiled at Ron for some comment he'd just made.

"You really are a genius, Ginny," Harry said as he smiled at his friend.

"Thanks, Harry. You should have come to me, Harry. I would have had that hair all sorted out for you," Ginny said as she ruffled her fingers through his constantly messy hair.

"Oh, come now, Gin," Ron joked, "it looks positively dashing."

"Come off it, Ron," Hermione teased, "you know you've always had a thing for him."

"I must admit, he's rather good looking," Ron deadpanned.

"I rather like him," Ginny said with a smile as she kissed her boyfriend on the neck.

"I should hope so," Harry said as he turned and kissed her.

Draco couldn't watch anymore. Even the small display was making him sick, but he couldn't believe the transformation in Hermione. She looked simple and lovely at the same time. He wondered how many days like this he'd missed by hating her.

He turned without grand gestures and headed for his own table.

"There goes your mystery man," Ginny whispered into Hermione's ear.

Hermione only glared at her as she sideways watched Draco sit down with the two men responsible for her second shower in the day. She glared at the two of them and then allowed herself a moment to look on Draco. He seemed to be concerned about something and she wondered what. The moment before she looked away from him, she thought she saw him stare at her with what looked like longing. She shook her head and turned back to her friends.

"We heard about what happened, Mione," Ron told her.

"What are you talking about, Ron?" Hermione asked trying to play dumb.

"Malfoy's goons attacking you in the owlry," Harry clarified.

"You want me to pound him for you?" Ron asked as he punched his fist into his hand.

"No, Ron. I think I can take care of myself. Please don't do anything. It'll only give him a reason to torment me even further," Hermione begged.

"Okay," Ron said simply.

"Huh?" Hermione said stupidly.

"I told them that if they pressured you about the whole thing that I would broadcast certain summer events which shall hopefully remain unsaid," Ginny explained.

"Aaah," Hermione nodded in realization. "Millicent," Hermione coughed. At the glares from her male companions she said, "Gosh I really ought to see Madam Pomfrey about that cough of mine."

"Hey, the girl really knew what she was doing," Ron tried to explain.

Laughing at the rising red in Ron's face she turned to Ginny and asked, "That works for Ron, but what about Harry?"

"I told him I'd never sleep with him again," she stated matter-of-factly.

"That'll do it," Hermione agreed with a laugh.

"We're here for you, Mione, if you need us," Harry offered.

"I'll be alright, boys. I think I've got something I've got to do right now in retaliation. I'll see you later."

The three of them watched, along with Draco, as Hermione rose from her seat and walked toward the Slytherin table. Draco looked from underneath his hair to covertly watch her make progress toward where he was sitting.

"If it isn't the Mud-ggle," Goyle said and then rolled into a fit of laughter between he and Crabbe.

Draco simply looked her straight in the eye as he waited for Hermione's comment.

"So, Malfoy..." Hermione began, her confidence very obviously at it's height.

"No," Draco answered to her unasked question and then stood up from the table and walked out of the Great Hall.

Hermione just stared at him. She hadn't even asked her question and somehow he knew how to answer and also knew it was best to ignore her.

Crabbe and Goyle were confusedly laughing at their leader's obvious triumph. The pair of them were instinctively aware of Draco's need to be alone after his abrupt departure. After seven years of school together, they'd both come to know his moods and needs as well as their own.

Hermione just glared at them and fingered her wand which shut them up in a hurry. With a smile, she walked out the door after Draco and was surprised to find him still standing outside.

"What was that all ab..." Hermione began.

"Don't even start, Granger," Draco quickly interrupted with a raised hand. "I don't want to fight right now," he said. "I'm not in the mood."

"When has it ever stopped you?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Draco's face split into an appraising and impressed smile. "True," he said honestly. "True."

There seemed to be a change in him, but Hermione wasn't sure why. She had always felt as if she had the upper hand in all situations with Draco. She'd not allowed him to get the better of her since second year, but right now it felt like he was winning the argument and they weren't even talking.

"See you tomorrow, Granger," he said and then turned and walked down the hallway toward the dungeons.

The door behind her opened up to reveal Ginny and Luna.

"What's going on, Hermione?" Luna asked with the same dazed but knowing expression she always had on her face.

"I don't know, Luna." Completely confused at the latest turn of events, Hermione walked upstairs with two of her best friends. "It was like he was psychic or something," Hermione explained. "It felt like d�j� vu."

"You know, d�j� vu is usually triggered by a smell." Luna started sniffing the air. "What?" she asked. "It's true."

"I don't remember smelling something before I went over to the Slytherin table."

"Your subconscious obviously did." Luna looked at her with a wondering stare.

"How funny would it be if Hermione turned out to be psychic?" Ginny joked. "Professor Trelawny would be so proud."

"Ha ha, but I'm not the psychic one, Gin," Hermione explained, "Draco is."

She explained to the two of them what had happened, what she had intended to say, and how Draco had responded.

"It could be a coincidence, Mione," Ginny contended. "You looked like you were going to say something snotty and he knew it, so he cut you off at the punch."

"Maybe you share a connection." At the look the other two girls gave her, Luna threw up her hands. "What? They're constantly fighting. It's like the plot of a bad romance novel."

Reaching her door, Hermione turned back to her friends, "Well, I'm off to bed now."

"Mione it's only eight o'clock," Ginny said in shock.

"I'm tired out from classes and everything that went on today. I don't feel like going to Hogsmede tonight."

"How 'bout we just have a girls' night in tonight?" Luna suggested.

"Yeah, Mione, we could do the whole beauty thing tonight and get all gussied up for the men folk tomorrow." Ginny joked.

"You two have 'men folk' and I don't," Hermione said in a mock whine. "All I have is an active imagination."

"Sometimes that's better than the real thing," Ginny admitted. "Remember my disaster with Colin?"

"Oo, ouch," Hermione groaned. "I guess I'm better off in my own head if that's the alternative."

"So, ladies night, Mione? You can just use Ron for your man folk this time," Ginny suggested.

"Oh, because that worked so well the first time," Hermione kidded.

"Hush," Ginny scolded. "You in?"

"I'm in," Hermione said, finally giving up. "Give me a few minutes to put all of my books and things away, and we can do it in my room."

"Do it? Hermione, I just said beauty regimen, I didn't say I'd have sex with you. Yeesh! Active imagination indeed."

Hermione responded by shutting the door without comment though she heard Ginny laughing at her own joke all the way down the hall.

Hermione began picking up the books she had dropped in her dirt covered state. She mumbled some spell words to take the dirt of off them as she lined them up on the shelves next to her bed. Her mind was still on what had happened with Draco.

~*~*~Part 4~*~*~

"I'm being paranoid," Hermione said to herself as she pulled out nail polish, face mask, a few hair things, and lotion. Changing from her jeans and t-shirt to comfy pajamas Hermione flopped down on the bed for a moment before remembering that she'd put a few thoughts into the pensieve before she left for dinner. Hopping out of bed, she grabbed her wand and opened the cabinet. As the swirling silver thoughts made their way back into her head, her eyes widened at the truly bizarre coincidence of what had happened between she and Draco.

She heard pounding on her door and closed the doors to the cabinet. Opening the door to let Luna and Ginny inside, Hermione said, "The plot thickens."

"What happened?" Luna asked as she walked in and fell onto Hermione's bed.

"I think Draco was in my room," Hermione informed the two of them as she spilled her guts about the fantasy she'd had about Draco and what had taken place in the Great Hall.

"Wow, Mione! That's hot!" Luna said. "Would you mind giving Blaise some pointers?"

"Truly," Ginny agreed. "I don't think Draco was nosin' around in your brain, Mione."

"What's your explanation, then?"

Luna looked at Hermione with a patronizing look. "Mione, you're the first one to tell people to look at things from a scientific angle. Think about it. How would he have gotten in here?"

Hermione looked at her friends and smiled. "What would I do without you two?"

"You'd be stuck with Harry and Ron talking about girls, for one thing," Ginny declared.

"True," Hermione laughed.

The rest of the night was a sea of gossip, beauty tips, and laughter. It was exactly what Hermione needed to take her mind off of everything Draco. She didn't think about him once the entire night and by the time Ginny and Luna left for their rooms, Hermione was fast asleep in her bed.

"Think we should wake her up to say goodnight?" Luna asked. Ginny looked at her with a 'Yeah right' look and then shut the door.

As Ginny and Luna dropped their heads to pillows, Hermione was already dreaming. It was one she'd had before and one she would likely have again. There might as well have been porn music playing in the background. Draco walked, completely nude, out of the Quittich changing rooms. Her mouth watered as he stalked toward her.

She stood from her place in the middle of the field. She had been lying on a Gryffindor picnic blanket, its surface covered with red and gold squares.

"Gryffindor, luv?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"It's my house, Malfoy." Hermione replied.

From nothingness, Draco's wand appeared in his hand. With a few movements, the blanket she lay on was now green and sliver.

"I s'pose it doesn't matter what you're lying on," Draco said as he sat down next to her. "Long as I'm lying on you." He rolled on top of her and kissed her deeply, his tongue sliding along hers in much the same fashion that his very obvious erection slid between her legs.

Hermione started to twist on the blanket as the friction from his moving body started to stimulate her clit. Her juices were providing lubrication for his cock to slide between her pussy lips. He'd not entered her and she was starting to quiver in anticipation of joining with him.

"Oh please, yes," Hermione moaned in his ear.

"Please, Hermione?" Draco snickered as he licked the side of her neck. "What is it you want me to do to you, luv?"

Hermione was absolutely incapable of forming a real sentence as he continued the slow sliding across her clit. She tilted her head as he began to nibble at her neck, driving her even more insane with pleasure

"Please, Draco, please please please please," she begged.

Silencing her cries, Draco kissed her with a ferocity that surprised even Hermione. She could smell his skin as his tongue robbed her of any other thoughts.

Draco put only the head of his cock at her entrance and broke the kiss abruptly.

"Lord, woman, you'll be the death of me yet," he whispered in her ear. She'd been waiting for this. She could feel the breath on her shoulder, the warm wetness of his lips near her ear, when he'd made his declaration. He loved watching her when he first slammed inside her.

Slam!

Hermione jumped up in bed, her dream state broken, at the sound of her bedroom door shutting. Shaking her head and wiping her eyes she stared stupidly at the closed door. Getting up from the bed, she stumbled toward the door. Snatching the door open, Hermione poked her head out into the empty hallway. Looking at her fingers for a moment, she blushed then wiped them on her pajama shorts.

"I need help," Hermione said as she closed the door and fell back into her bed for the night.

Later, back in his own room, Draco held a similar position.

"What am I going to do?"

~*~*~Part 5~*~*~

"I think Draco was in my room," he heard Hermione say. Once again he was in her closet, taking the stupidest of chances. His breath caught in his chest as he heard her tell them the second dream he'd watched. She didn't use many details, but her voice giving her friends the basic layout was enough to bring him back into it. After awhile he couldn't hear what she was saying anymore, it all turned into the moans and sighs dream Hermione had made in the short piece of the pensieve memory he'd seen. He sat on the floor of her closet, his mind racing with the possibilities of what he could do to and with Hermione if he had the chance.

As the night of girly fun progressed, he was kicking himself. Somehow he didn't think he would end up spending the entire night in this tiny space listening to three women gossip and paint their nails. He'd thought, in some insane world, he would be spending the night tying Hermione up to that iron headboard.

As he heard three voices go down to two, he realized Hermione had fallen asleep.

"Think we should wake her up to say goodnight?" he heard Luna say and it was immediately followed by the lights going out and the door shutting. Minutes ticked by like hours as he waited for their voices to fade down the hall.

Draco slipped out of his hiding place and saw Hermione laying on top of the covers wearing a pair of sweat shorts and a t-shirt. They weren't sexy in a conventional way, but seeing Hermione so unguarded was intoxicating. Draco sat in the chair next to her bed and stared at her. She was quietly lying on the bed, surrounded by pillows and the remnants of the evening spent with Ginny and Luna. The rhythmic intake of her breath was a quietly soothing sound. He found himself perfectly happy to watch her breathing. On the inhale he watched her chest rise, outlining her small breasts. When Hermione exhaled, his eyes trailed up to her face to where her mouth fell slightly open. Her lips were small, pink, and enticing. He wanted to touch her so badly, but remained in his seat.

Suddenly, Hermione began to moan in her sleep. It wasn't the sound of a woman being chased by a murderer or some horrible monster. It was the glorious sound of a woman being pleasured. Hermione writhed on the bed as Draco sat in the chair next to her. He felt himself instantly harden as she twisted in her sheets, pleasured by some unseen man.

"What I wouldn't give to be in that sodding bowl," Draco sighed quietly.

Hermione surprised him by throwing the sheets back. Underneath, her fingers were already working in her pussy, trying to take care of an itch that so desperately needed scratching.

"Good Lord," he whispered as he watched her.

Hermione's moans only got more and more insistent as she pleasured herself in front of her captive audience.

"Oh please, yes," she moaned to her imaginary lover. "Please, Draco, please please please please," she begged.

It was the begging that did it to him. Before this year, Draco couldn't imagine Hermione begging him for anything but her life. Now he had a very clear picture of what she was begging his dream self for. He cursed himself for straying into her thoughts as they were becoming his own.

As he watched her come closer and closer to the breaking point he suddenly realized what he was doing. His zipper was down, his hand around his cock as he stroked himself, watching her fingers flying. He uncomfortably tucked himself back into his pants and stood up.

"Lord, woman, you'll be the death of me yet," he whispered in her ear, donning his invisibility cloak. Before he could lose his nerve, he bolted out the door, accidentally slamming it in his hurry to get away from the young Gryffindor before he did something stupid, like join her.

Slam!

He stood in the hallway, cloaked, as she threw open the door and looked around the hall. She was still flushed and shaking from her near orgasm. Her hair had been pulled back into a bun when she'd gone to sleep but her dreamtime adventures had freed curls around her face and down her neck.

Slowly, Hermione looked down at her fingers. They were covered in her juices from the masturbation session Draco had just witnessed. A blush rose in her cheeks as she realized what she must have been doing and what had probably made her dream seem so real.

"Need help cleaning those off, Granger?" Draco thought to himself from only feet away.

"I need help," Hermione said and shut the door in front of him.

Draco smiled to himself as he walked down the hall toward the Gryffindor common room. He was surprised to find lights still on and a fire still blazing.

"Don't know what I was ruddy well thinking," Ron admitted.

"It's one of those book romances, Ron," Harry informed him.

Draco stood, erection deflating, listening to the two of them. Invisibility did have it's finer points, such as watching a sleeping woman finger herself, but sometimes just eavesdropping was good for a bit of a laugh.

"Well really, me and Hermione," Ron laughed. "Harry I must have been crazy."

"Hormones," Harry offered. "Maybe it was hormones."

At the mention of his girl's name, Draco sat down on the floor next to the door. He tucked his legs under him and quietly listened to where the conversation was going to turn next.

"She's a great friend and all, and, oddly enough, a really good kisser, but there was never any spark," Ron told his friend.

"She doesn't want ya either, Ron. You've nothing to worry about," Harry stated.

"I know that, Harry. I'm just falling back into bad habits and I'm counting on my best friend to pull me out of my idiot stage." Ron stood up from his chair and walked toward the fire. "I'm starting to look at her in that way again because I'm used to it and not because I want her."

Harry slapped his head into his hand.

"We just need to find you a girl."

"I know that, but the pickin's are a bit slim here, mate," Ron complained.

"I wouldn't really know," Harry kidded.

"If you start into any kind of conversation on the finer points of my sister, I'm leaving right now and I'm never speaking to you again," Ron warned.

Harry smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it," he kidded. "At least you've gotten some in the last year, which is more than I can say for our third."

"'S true. She hasn't had a boyfriend since me. We were sort of convenient for her, I s'pose."

"She's just busy, man. She's head girl, and all that. And she studies more than any living human being needs to," Harry argued.

"She needs to get some, Harry, and STAT," Ron kidded. Harry gave him an odd look. "What? Don't think I don't remember the face she made this morning before she walked out of the great hall. Hermione made that face before she kissed the life out of me that day after Quidditch practice."

"So, she's thinkin' 'bout somebody, then."

"I wonder who?" Ron kidded.

"Let me see?" Harry said in mock wonder. Ron laughed and then yawned.

"I'm off," he sighed. "Thanks for listening, mate."

"No problem." Harry smiled. "And I'm setting myself up for smacking you upside the head should I see any looks of longing at a certain head girl tomorrow."

"I think we'll be safe," Ron said with a laugh. "Night."

Draco sat on the floor wondering who the two of them had been so obviously been sure Hermione was interested in. He got up from the floor and walked back to his bedroom.

He thought about Hermione in her bed, Hermione in class, Hermione eating breakfast, Hermione talking with her friends, Hermione laughing at one of Seamus' jokes, Hermione crying at Professor McGonagall's funeral...

Hermione.

Hermione.

Hermoine.

"What am I going to do?"

~*~*~Part 6~*~*~

Neither of them got very much sleep that night. Too many dreams.

As they both sat in their Monday morning class, potions, they were both a little tired and groggy though only Hermione was showing it. There were only eight people in their seventh year potions class: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Greg, Cho, Pansy, and Neville who had gotten over his fear of potions after Professor Snape had retired following the end of the war. It made the difference all the more noticeable when Hermione didn't participate in her normal "incessant" manner.

"Today, class," Professor Tonks said from the front of the room, her hair blue with pink highlights, "we'll be finishing the final components of our Lumion potion. The Devil's Snare finally browned this morning, stubborn blighter of a plant."

The other seven students chuckled at their professor. She began to describe the final steps to brewing a potion that would allow them to create wandless light. Greg and Hermione finished with their potion before any of the other pairs even with Hermione's sleep deprived state. Greg was something of a genius as far as potions were concerned. After working with him for half the year, Hermione was nearly convinced he was psychicly linked to their potion ingredients. They made wonderful lab partners even though they didn't exactly get on very well. None of the pairs seemed to get along, much to the frustration and, oddly, delight of their professor.

"Professor?" Hermione asked, raising her hand.

"How many times to I have to tell you, Hermione," she said while looking down her nose at her, "you can just call me Tonks."

"Fine, Tonks, we're finished."

"What a surprise," Harry deadpanned from next to his partner, Cho. They'd only shared one date, but it was enough for Harry to know that she wasn't his type. It was also enough for Cho to come to realize that she was a lesbian. She was now dating a 5th year girl in Ravenclaw. For some reason, Harry and Cho never seemed to get past the whole thing and they still snipped at each other now and again.

"Honestly, Mione, you trying to make us look bad?" Ron added. He had been paired with Pansy Parkinson creating the oddest pairing ever conceived. There was some part of him that was attracted to the small Slytherin, but he'd never admit it, not even to Harry. Their late night talks about Hermione were just another way of occupying his mind so he could collapse into his bed and dream of smooth black hair on his pillow.

"It wouldn't be hard, Weasley," Draco said as his lab partner, Neville Longbottom, poured the final ingredient into their potion.

"We're finished, Tonks," Neville said with ease.

About half an hour later the other two pairs finished with their potions. Tonks stood up from her desk and addressed them.

"We'll test these out on Thursday night when the potion has matured. In the mean time, have a look at the potion we're going to being tomorrow. We'll be working on the Death Draft so be sure to read all of the warnings. I want two scrolls on the precautions needed to prepare this potion."

Seven groans sounded in front of her.

"Cry me a river," Tonks said with a smirk. She looked around the room and saw Hermione lying with her head on the table. Raising her finger to her lips, she tiptoed toward the sleeping Gryffindor.

"Miss Granger?" Tonks whispered in an amused tone. Hermione didn't budge.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled from across the room.

"Wha? Huh? Yes?" Hermione stuttered as she pulled her head up from the desk she'd been napping on.

Tonks' face was fighting between amusement and disappointment. It decided on amusement but then she ordered, "See me after class and ten points from Gryffindor."

Draco snickered with absolutely no cares taken to hide it. Hermione turned around to see him shrug with an innocent smile.

After class, Tonks walked up to Hermione who was still packing her bag.

"So, what's going on, Hermione?" she asked with concern in her voice. "You've never fallen asleep in my class before... or anyone else's class... in the history of the world."

"I'm sorry, professor, er Tonks," Hermione apologized. "I've not been sleeping properly."

"Is there something on your mind?" she asked good naturedly.

"I'm just having these crazy dreams all the time," Hermione half whined.

Draco stood outside the class and smiled. He'd not slept a wink last night either, but it was wonderful to think about the dreams which kept waking Hermione. Tonks continued to press Hermione for information.

"Dreams are known to be predictors of things to come for many people."

"Well, Tonks, if these dreams are prophetic, I'm due for some major life changes here," Hermione said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, those kind of dreams, eh?" Tonks chuckled.

Hermione turned scarlet as she realized she had been as covert as she'd intended.

"Hermione Granger," Tonks admonished. "We worked together to win the war. We crawled through blood and mud. Do you think I'm going to be shocked or scandalized by the fact that your dreams aren't exactly G rated?"

Hermione just burst into spontaneous laughter, hugging the woman she'd come to think of as a friend and sister nearly as close to her as Ginny and Luna. They'd talked a great deal all through her sixth year. She and her family had been sent to live at Grimmauld Place for their own protection right after the Christmas holidays.

Oddly enough, it had been Narcissa Malfoy who had informed them of her husband's plans to use Hermione as a catalyst, the way to bring Harry into the war. Narcissa had been emboldened by Sirius' death and could no longer stay with Lucius. She ended up living with Katie Bell's parents until the fighting stopped. Lucius was still missing, but most people believed him dead as his wand had been found snapped in two beneath the rubble that was once Malfoy Manner.

Hermione basically thought of Tonks as the big sister she never had, she being the only girl at 12 Grimmauld Place other than Hermione's mother. They'd had late night talks after her lessons with a few of the professors who'd managed to get away from school twice a week to keep Hermione up on her lessons. She, of course, spent much of her time reading her course books and knew the material backwards and forwards.

But it was those talks with Tonks which had made the time not quite so unbearable. Tonks had not treated her like a kid. She'd spoken to her and confided in her as if they were long time friends. Hermione had been the one responsible for providing Tonks with her current job. It was her insistent prodding which had forced Tonks to speak to Dumbledore about taking Snape's place when he'd retired after war's end.

"Alright, so who is this guy?" Tonks asked her point blank.

""I don't like him, Dora," Hermione pleaded with her to understand. "I just can't stop dreaming about him. I'm such an idiot."

"You are not an idiot, Hermione. I don't know that I can think of any woman in the world who is less of an idiot."

"You're not going to think that after I tell you that it's..."

"Draco Malfoy," Tonks finished.

"What?" Hermione blanched.

"Oh come on." Tonks gave her a look which was laced with sarcasm and disbelief. "Hermione, with the way you two fight, I'm shocked that you haven't jumped each other mid class!" she said in an exasperated tone.

Draco wondered, from his place outside the door, if he'd been nearly as obvious as Tonks thought Hermione had been being.

Hermione dropped her head into her palm and looked up at Tonks from between her fingers. "But I don't like him, Dora. I just think about shutting him up in some pretty interesting ways."

"Hermione, I know you're only 17 at this point, but even you know there's a huge difference between liking someone and wanting someone."

"I know, Dora, I know. But isn't there supposed to be some other redeeming qualities to a person in order to make a person have delicious dreams about them nightly!?"

"Other than the fact that he and his Mum saved your life?" Tonks pointed out.

"Do you know, I don't ever think about it because it's much too bizarre to believe and I was even there."

"I was there, too, Mione. Believe it."

Hermione sucked in a long, slow breath and then looked at her friend and then decided to reveal something she'd never told any of her friends. "I like the way he fights with me. It keeps my mind off the other things I could be thinking about when he's near me."

Tonks and Draco both wore the same suggestive leer.

"Not like that, you guttermind!" Hermione corrected. "Those thoughts have their place on the rotation, usually when we're fighting, but when he's quiet, and near me, I... I can't stop..."

Hermione was having a difficult time getting the words out. By the time she'd come to the secrets she'd not even shared with Harry... she was already crying. Slow tears began to appear on her lashes.

"My God, Hermione," Tonks said in a more adult manner. "What did he do to you?"

"Draco did nothing, Dora. He..." she sniffed. "He... he... looks too much like Lucius. I see his face sometimes, too, in my dreams. Those are the ones I can't sleep after." She finished with a sob and was immediately pulled into Dora's arms. Tonks flicked her wand and closed the world including a shocked Draco off from anything that followed. Apparently the door closing had been followed by a sound proofing spell because when he put his ear up to the door, he could hear nothing.

~*~*~Part 7~*~*~

"What did that bastard do to her?" he said to no one in particular.

"Talking about someone we know, Malfoy?" Ron said from behind him.

Draco spun around to find Ron, Harry, and Luna standing in front of him.

"What do you want, Weasley?" Draco asked with even more venom than usual. He'd been so affected by what he'd just heard, he had yet to put his mask back on.

"Och, Malfoy. I'd think that you didn't like me," Ron managed through the surprise. He and Draco had managed to put much of the past behind them in the last year. They were not friends by any means, but saving one's best friends does tend to soften the animosity.

"What's the matter, Draco?" Harry asked honestly, having come to care for Draco some after being one of the two best friends Draco had saved. "You seem shaken."

"I'm just bloody fine!" Draco declared and then pushed his way through the three of them and toward his quarters.

"Was that weird, or is it just me?" Luna asked the guys.

"No, that was weird," Harry said while watching Draco's very obviously hasty retreat.

"I wonder who he was talking about?" Ron injected. "Who would make mister 'always in command' get flummoxed like that?"

Luna shrugged and then was nearly knocked over by Hermione exiting the class room.

"Oof," she said as she was quickly caught by Ron. "Thanks."

"Welcome," Ron said without pause.

"What're you three doing here?" Hermione asked, quickly checking to make sure her eyes were clear.

"Come to get you for dinner, Mione," Harry informed her.

"You didn't lose anymore house points, did ya, Mione?" Ron kidded. "Because we were awfully disappointed in your performance."

"Oh shut up, Ron," Hermione ordered with a smile. "I'm the only one of the three of us who's managed to get more positive points than negative." When Ron and Harry started to protest, "Without adding our end of the year 'We Defeated Voldemort Again' points," she added.

Effectively silencing them, she started to walk toward the Great Hall for dinner.

"How long were you waiting for me?" Hermione asked and then was once again nervous about her friends hearing what she'd finally told Tonks.

"No worries about us, Mione. We'd only just gotten there," Harry answered.

"Malfoy was there before we were, though," Ron added. "I think he wanted to give you a hard time for earlier."

"He was standing outside the door and he was pretty pissed off about something. Talked to us like we were all back in first year or something," Harry said with genuine concern.

"You know," Luna supposed, "I don't think he's really very happy." Seeing Hermione she cried, "Mione, are you alright?"

Hermione had become as white as a ghost at the prospect of Draco Malfoy being on the listening end of any part of the conversation she'd been having.

"I'm not feeling so well, Luna," Hermione said quite truthfully. "I think I'll go up to bed early tonight. I've been having a hard time sleeping lately."

"Want some help upstairs?" Ron asked in concern.

"Luna can take me," Hermione declined. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

Linking arms, the two girls started Gryffindor tower.

"What's going on, Hermione? Are you truly tired? You look like you're about to be sick," Luna asked, looking her friend in the face.

"I just need to get to my room, Luna, away from prying ears and I'll tell you everything," Hermione promised.

"Okay."

Once they got to Hermione's Head Girl quarters, Hermione began to cry.

"Hermione," Luna said in shock as she cradled her friend in her arms. They sat on the bed and she let Hermione cry until she was able to start speaking.

"Can you go get Ginny?" Hermione asked pathetically. Her face was red and splotchy from a lack of sleep and crying for the second time that day.

"Sure," Luna soothed. "Are you going to be alright while I'm gone?" Luna was actually afraid for her friend as Hermione wasn't the type for large displays of emotion.

"I'll be okay, Lu," Hermione assured her. "I'm just going to change into pajamas while you're gone."

"I'll be back in a flash, Mione," she said, taking her hand one last time. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it."

Hermione watched as Luna dashed out the door. She pulled off her clothes from the day and put on the black concert t-shirt she'd stolen from her dad the last day of summer vacation. It was much too large for her, and, paired with the grey track bottoms she'd chosen, she looked about forty pounds heavier. They were her comfiest clothes and she had a feeling she was going to need them.

Meanwhile, Luna was bolting down to the Great Hall at a pace that would make a track star proud. When she got to the door, she stopped for a moment to regain her composure and her breath. Taking a step and a deep mouthful of air, she pulled open the door and walked toward where Ginny was sitting, holding hands with Harry.

On her way over, she was pulled into her own man's arms and kissed quite senseless.

"Ten points from Slytherin," Professor Sprout said from behind them. "You've been warned before, Mr. Zabini. No more of that in public."

"Sorry, Professor Sprout," Blaise said in a tone which told her he was not sorry in the least for kissing the woman still in his arms.

"Sorry, professor," Luna said, pushing herself out of his arms. "He just grabbed me."

"I saw it, Miss Lovegood," Professor Sprout said with a disbelieving tone. "Which is why I'm not taking points from Ravenclaw."

"Thank you, Professor," Luna said, smiling.

"Back to your tables, you two," she ordered.

"Yes, Professor," Blaise said quickly and guided Luna toward her usual place at the Gryffindor table. She'd begun sitting there during the middle of sixth year when they'd also begun dating.

When they were out of earshot of Professor Sprout, Luna remembered why she was down there in the first place. "I've got to go, Blaise," she said quickly. "I'll find you later," she promised as she spun out of the hold he had around her waist.

"I haven't seen you in days, luv," Blaise complained childishly. "You're always off with that sodding, Hermione."

"It can't be helped right now, Blaise," she tried to explain, but fell short.

"Tell me one thing," Blaise said with his head down in a sheepish pout.

"What?" Luna said seriously.

"Is she better in bed than I am?" he asked, his face breaking into a smile.

Luna smiled and then stood there as her boyfriend went in to kiss her again.

"ZABINI!" they heard from across the room.

"I'll see you later," she laughed. "Wouldn't want you to lose any more house points because of me."

"Oh, you'll lose something later," Blaise pledged, "possibly several somethings."

"Is that a promise?" Luna intoned as she slid her hand down his chest. Finding a package in his front shirt pocket Luna looked up into her boyfriend's eyes. "What's this?"

"A little something to play with later," Blaise said cryptically.

"Oh really?" Luna said and stood on tiptoe to peak inside. Inside was a small flesh colored something with a pink bow on it. It looked remarkably like... "Blaise, is this a present for me?"

"Oh definitely."

"Must go now!"

She dashed toward Ginny and Blaise turned to go sit at his own table with Draco. He sat down next to the sulking Slytherin and poked him in the side. "Don't look so sad, Draco. Of course, I'll sit with you today. You know how I love you and all, but I refuse to hold your hand!"

"Can it, Zabini," Draco warned. "I'm in no kind of mood today."

"Looks like someone's got a bug up there arse about something," Blaise kidded. He watched Draco's eyes follow Luna's progression over to Ginny Weasley and then watched the two of them fight to keep Harry and Ron at the table. "I wonder what's going on there?" he wondered aloud.

"Does it look like I care?" Draco snapped.

"Not at all," Blaise said in a light tone.

Draco gave him a scalding look and then watched the two girls walk out of the Great Hall unaccompanied.

"If you have a thing for my girl, Draco, it's understandable, but I'm warning you, I'll break your legs."

"What?" Draco said whipping his head toward Blaise.

"Just trying to figure out what's got your panties in a bunch, Malfoy. Is it the Weasley girl, because I thought you had better taste than that," Blaise teased.

"It's not Ginny bloody Weasley," Draco seethed.

"It's Ron Weasley," Blaise gasped. "You've gone round the bend, Malfoy. Come back from the light! It'll be okay. We'll get you some help. There's nothing wrong with being gay, Malfoy, but it's Ron Weasley and that's not to be accepted from any Slytherin."

"Shut up, you two," Pansy said from down the table. "Some of us are trying to eat and your little lover's quarrel is getting kind of loud."

"Sod off, Parkinson," Blaise demanded. "You're just angry because you like the prat."

"And what's wrong with that?" Ron said, red faced, from in front of them. Harry stood next to him as Blaise just smiled back at Ron. It was Draco who answered Ron's question.

"Weasley don't get me started. Would you like an itemized list?" Draco fumed.

"Come off it, Malfoy, I'm here because of Hermione," Ron said pointedly.

"So that's it," Blaise said, finally understanding.

"What about Hermione?" Draco quickly interrupted.

"She's up in her room and Luna came and got Ginny and neither of them will tell us what's going on," Ron explained.

"And this has got what to do with me?" Draco said snidely.

"She was doing just fine until we mentioned that you were outside the classroom when we'd been there waiting for her," Harry informed him.

Draco's color dropped in much the same fashion Hermione's had earlier that day but he regained it in a very Malfoy-like fashion. Neither of the Gryffindors noticed any change in him.

"I haven't a clue what you're talking about, Potter," Draco lied.

"Sod off you two, I was just getting to the good part in Draco's life story," Blaise kidded. "I'm sure it's in there somewhere."

Draco glared at his friend and then began to find his food extremely interesting.

"Fine, Malfoy, but if you've done something to Hermione," Harry warned, "you and I are going to have more than words." From Harry, who was usually so calm and collected, a threat was to be taken seriously.

"Understood," Blaise said in a very military like manner. He even saluted.

"So, Drackie, what's going on?" he asked after Harry and Ron walked back to their table.

"I don't know, Blaise," Draco said honestly.

"Not what's going on with Granger, what's going on with you?" Blaise clarified.

"I don't want to talk about it," Draco said through gritted teeth.

"Tough," Blaise said simply. "I'll be over to your room later tonight where you will tell me what's turned you into a sodding love sick idiot."

"Uh, before we get into any staying-over stuff, there is something you should know," Draco began.

"Is this like, 'I have an early class tomorrow,' or, 'I'm secretly married to a goat?' because tomorrow's Saturday," Blaise joked.

"Funny, Zabini, very funny," he deadpanned.

"Fine," Blaise said while crossing his arms at his friend. "What?"

"It's not going to be pretty," Draco warned. "And there are parts of it that I don't know."

"It's alright, I can deal with the abridged version," Blaise said waving off Draco's comments as he walked away from the Slytherin table.

~*~*~Part 8~*~*~

Back up in her room, changed and on her bed, Hermione sat waiting for her friends to arrive. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain what had happened to her. How they would take it? How could they possibly understand how she could have complete hatred for a man but possibly have the beginnings of an idiotic love with his son? She wasn't sure of these things herself let alone having the ability to explain it to other people. She was going to have to come up with something, and fast, because someone was knocking at he door.

"Oh geeze," Luna exclaimed. "The comfy pajamas. How bad is it, 'Mione?"

"It's bad," Hermione said with a sad sigh. Ushering her friends inside, the three of them took their appointed stations on her bed. They sat with her as she told them, mostly through tears about Lucius Malfoy's abduction of her mother. Neither Luna and Ginny nor Harry and Ron had been told of Hermione's mother's abduction as it was hard enough to keep them at Hogwarts.

"Oh my God, Hermione!" Ginny gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I wasn't allowed to," she explained. "Dumbledore didn't want you four sneaking out of school to help me. Don't even try to deny it, Gin. You know you would have." Hermione interrupted when she saw Ginny about to protest.

"That's true, but we should have been there for you, 'Mione," Luna explained. "Why didn't you tell us after they found her and brought her back?"

Hermione buried her face in her hair. Without looking up, she answered.

"They didn't find her," Hermione said in a near whisper.

"Oh, Mione," Ginny said, pulling her friend toward her. Hermione pushed away from her.

"I can't, Gin. Just don't touch me right now, I don't think I could handle it," she said as the tears began to cloud her voice.

"How did you find her?" Luna quietly asked.

"He left her on our doorstep at 12 Grimmauld Place," Hermione managed.

"How did you know it was Lucius?" Ginny asked, trying to get the story out as quickly as possible.

"He was standing there holding her when I opened the door," Hermione answered. "He stood there and laughed. He looked me straight in the eye and told me how good my mother was and that I should be proud of her. She was barely breathing and the last thing he did before he apparated away was to kiss her cheek before he threw her down on the ground."

Hermione told them when her tears allowed it, how her mother had been kidnapped, beaten, and tortured by Draco's father until she gave up the location of the Order's hideout. She'd fought him off for two weeks before he'd finally cast a truth spell on her and she could do nothing else. He'd cracked ribs, removed slices of skin, and cast the crucio curse on her so many times she'd collapsed from exhaustion. He hadn't left a mark on her face so, to the rest of the world, she would appear the same, but she would be scared for life.

"She..." Hermione sobbed. "He... he... he tried to..." Hermione tried to explain.

"It's okay, Mione," Luna soothed, knowing instinctively that it was now okay to hold her. She pulled Hermione into her lap and smoothed her hair away from her face. "We know."

Ginny cuddled up against Hermione's back and the three of them stayed like that until the morning.

Draco's night had fared much better. He and Blaise had cleared the air, with Blaise knowing most of what Draco had to say. He had been just as intrigued to find out what the "bastard" had done to Hermione.

"I don't understand your issue with her, Draco. Why don't you just go in and kiss the girl? You know she wants to be with you in a very pelvic way," Blaise intoned with a grin.

"But she's scared of me or something because of what my father did to her which I don't even know what he did," Draco tried to explain. Blaise was having none of it.

"Please! You heard the girl tell you that she loves arguing with you because when you're not, she thinks of him. Do you think she'd be having fantasies with you in 'em if she was thinking of him when she thought of fucking your bleedin' brains out?"

~*~*~Part 9~*~*~

"She talk to you yet?" Ron asked Harry the next morning at breakfast.

"Nope," he replied as he took a bite of his sausage. "Ginny either. Don't think they've even come out of Hermione's room yet."

"Think we should take some food up to her room?" Ron suggested.

"That might be nice," Harry agreed. "Though I don't know if she'll open the door for us."

"We could give it a try," Ron supplied. He and Harry gathered a plate to take to the girls. As they walked down the series of hallways toward Hermione's room, Ron looked to Harry. "Good thing she's head girl this year, eh?"

"Why?"

"We wouldn't be able to get into her dorm," Ron explained.

"Still don't understand that one," Harry huffed with an arm full of breakfast. The alarms in the girl's dormitories had thwarted more than one attempt to be with Ginny and he had yet to find a way around them.

When they found themselves in front of Hermione's door they were both at a loss as how to proceed. With a small knock, Ron made their presence known to the room filled with three sleeping girls.

"Hermione?"

A few seconds later, Luna cracked open the door. Her blonde hair was still in a pony tail down her back, strands of it falling in her face. She looked at them through one open eye and yawned.

"What's going on, guys?" she asked, having very obviously just woken up. The door was barely open in front of her as she stood waiting for an explanation.

"Mornin', Lu. We thought you could use a bit of breakfast," Ron explained, holding up the plates of sausages, biscuits, and anything else they could shovel onto their plates.

"Thanks." Luna took the plates from their hands and kissed Ron on the cheek. "What would we do without you?"

"How is she?" Harry asked with obvious concern in his voice.

"She'll be alright," Luna said with a similar concern lacing hers. "You two are going to have to give her some space so she can come to you," Luna added quietly.

"Is it something we did because I know I can be an idiot sometimes, Lu, but you know I don't mean it?" Ron asked quickly.

"No no no. It's not either of you."

"Does this have to do with Malfoy?" Ron asked his tone slightly angry.

"Hermione will tell you all of this when she's ready," Luna whispered.

"Alright, Luna," Harry accepted. "We'll leave you three alone for right now, but tell Hermione we're here for her if she needs us."

"I already know that," Hermione said from behind Luna. Her eyes were puffy from a night of crying in the arms of her friends. She took a biscuit off the plate in Luna's right hand and nibbled a piece off it. "I love you two so much, you know that?"

"We hand an inkling," Harry said with a smile. "You okay, 'Mione?"

"No," she sighed, "but I'm going to be."

Opening the door wide, she invited her two oldest and best friends into her room and into the secrets she'd been hiding. There was no way she could keep this from them anymore.

"I want you to sit and listen without comment until I'm done and then you can say anything you want, but it's too hard to try this with you interrupting me all the time," Hermione instructed.

"We'll be quiet, Hermione," Ron promised.

Ginny sat next to her boyfriend and took his hand as Luna did the same for Ron. "You're going to need it," Ginny's eyes said as she looked up into his confused ones.

Hermione began the story of what had happened last year and didn't stop until all five of them were crying once again. Harry and Ron got up from their spots on her bed and pulled Hermione into a hug that was like a lifeline for the three of them. There was something about being told all of these things so far in the future that scared the hell out of them in reverse. They held onto each other as if convincing themselves they all still existed, that they'd all made it through this together.

"No wonder Malfoy was spooked," Ron said over her head.

"No wonder you were spooked," Harry amended.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Ron asked, pulling out of the hug and looking Hermione in the face.

"Nothing." Hermione said simply. "I know it sounds clich� but I feel so much better just getting this off my chest. I'd been holding onto it for so long..."

Hermione looked as if the weight had been lifted off her. Even her posture had changed in telling them the truth. She'd not been looking forward to the day she would have to tell these two men what had happened to her, but they'd been as good as the golden friends they'd proven themselves to be time and time again.

"Atlas, shrug already!" Ginny said from behind her.

The next day, Hermione walked into The Great Hall with great trepidation. She held her breath as she walked down the long row of tables to reach her four friends. She looked down the last row of tables and saw Draco sitting with his friends. She sighed and sat down with her friends.

While she ate breakfast in more or less the normal way, Hermione, as per her routine, watched Malfoy out of the corner of her eye. She caught him looking at her, too and she just couldn't stand it anymore.

"Some Gryffindor I turned out to be," Hermione said to herself as she got up from the table, excusing herself from her friends, and walked out the door.

Draco watched her exit with interest and quickly realized he had no intention of following her. That was, until Blaise interrupted his cowardly internal monologue.

"Get off your arse, Malfoy," Blaise ordered.

Draco looked at his friend with a fiery look.

"Don't look at me that way, Draco. It's not my fault you're acting like a first year Hufflepuff on this one," Blaise whispered forcefully, throwing his hands up.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at their two leaders with confused looks on their faces.

"Is this about Granger?" Goyle said finally.

Draco and Blaise, who thought they'd been very quiet and covert about the whole thing, looked suprisedly at Goyle.

"What?" Greg said nonchalantly. "The girl turned you into a ferret for a second time and she doesn't get punished for it, I figured you two were planning something."

"Oh," Blaise said with a sigh of relief. "We're planning something, Goyle. You can be sure of that." Looking at Draco he nodded toward the door and raised an eyebrow. "Go."

"Fine, Zabini, I'm going," Draco gritted.

Rather than following Hermione in her track up to her room, Draco, instead, walked down to his own room to pick up his invisibility cloak. Draco stood in front of her door moments later. He knocked and waited to see if she was already inside. When no answer came from the other side, he ran back down to his room, quickly threw a pinch of his special flew powder and popped into Hermione's room. Lucky for him, she hadn't turned up in the minutes it had taken him to get back to his own room.

"Good," Draco said quietly as he found himself alone and the pensieve door open. He leaned into the bowl's swirling contents and found himself in an unfamiliar place. He watched as Hermione walked toward a knock at the door. As the horrific scene played out before him, he could hardly understand how Hermione could find any positive qualities in him as he did bear a striking resemblance to his father. Lucius Malfoy, a man who had tortured her mother to the point that the woman didn't even know her own name anymore. Draco hadn't known all of this had happened. He hadn't know how much a bastard his father truly was. He hadn't known it had been Hermione who had suffered the brunt of Lucius' wrath.

Draco knew something Hermione didn't, something he was sure he would have to tell her someday. Draco knew it was his fault.

~*~*~Part 10~*~*~

"Draco Lucius Malfoy get in here!!" he heard from inside his bedroom. He ran down the corridors of Malfoy Manner and found his father standing next to his bed, right in front of his pensieve. His usually calm and reserved father stood shaking with anger his wand drawn on his own son.

"Yes, Father," Draco said frightened at what his father had managed to learn from the churning thoughts he'd kept out of his mind. Lucius Malfoy was gifted at the art of Legilimency and Draco didn't dare bring home any thoughts or memories which could get him in trouble.

These particular problem thoughts had come to him while studying for his Advanced Potions class. He'd been thinking about the ingredients to the Shrinking Solution they'd been pressed to prepare. Professor Snape had charged Hermione with the task of collecting the daisies they need to chop up in order to create it. She'd come back into the room, her cheeks flushed, holding a bundle of daisies in her hands. She had some dirt on her face from quickly plucking the daisies out of the dirt.

There had been something about that moment, just Hermione flushed from running that had set his imagination running. He'd already left a host of thoughts of what he could have done to create such a state in her in his pensieve at school. While studying the ingredients for a test he was sure Snape was going to give upon their return from the winter holidays, Draco had remembered only Hermione's entrance holding the ingredients to the spell. He had to quickly make a trip to the bathroom and then to the pensieve in his bedroom.

He'd forgotten to lock the cabinet apparently.

His father's eyes were blazing with anger as he began to hurl torturous curses at his son for the thoughts he'd chosen to keep from him.

"A mudblood! A MUDBLOOD!!!" he screamed between curses.

Draco had no idea what his father was even talking about as the thoughts were no longer in his head.

"Father!"

"Stop!!"

"What..." He yelled to try to stop the pain wracking his body.

"Potter's best friend?!" Lucius yelled, kicking him. Draco felt the bone snap in his right arm.

"What are you talking about?! What have I done?" Draco wheezed back through pain-filled gasps.

Lucius grabbed his son by the hair. He tapped the tip of his wand into the pensieve and then pulled all of the stray thoughts into Draco's head. All at once, Draco understood what had caused his father's rage.

"Granger?" Lucius seethed as he shoved his son to the floor. "The mudblood who helped Potter... CRUCIO!!"

Draco shook in pain but did not cry out. He lay on the floor accepting his father's curses. His eyes began to roll back in his head as he understood his death was near.

"My own son fantasizing about a common mudblood! What were you thinking!? She's beneath you, Draco!" Lucius screamed.

"I'm going to die anyway," Draco thought to himself and then sat up and stared at his father. "I was thinking about her beneath me, obviously." Shakily getting to his feet, Draco stared Lucius down and then continued. "I was dreaming about her lips and how they would feel when I kissed her senseless. I was thinking how beautiful she looks when she's laughing. I was thinking about how wonderful it is to argue with her because her cheeks get red and her chest heaves with the labor of the fight..."

He would have continued...

"Avada..." Lucius began, cutting off Draco's word pictures, but he himself was cut off by Narcissa Malfoy.

"Expelliarmus!!" Narcissa yelled and the last thing Draco saw before he went under was his mother's face, tears streaming down as she knelt in front of him. "We'll be alright, Draco. Don't worry. We'll be alright."

He'd woken in the hospital, his skin screaming and his right arm bandaged. He looked to his left and found his mother sleeping in the chair next to his bed. He smiled for a moment before noting her haggard appearance.

"Mother?" he said quietly at first. She didn't move so he tried it a bit louder. "Mother." Still no movement. "MOTHER!" he yelled and then laughed as her head slipped out of her hand and onto the arm of the chair.

"Can't wait round for you all day, woman," Draco kidded as she rubbed her forehead.

"Quiet, you," she said with a grimace. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone ran over me with a team of horses. You?"

"I've seen better days," she whispered with a laugh. The smile on her face fell short of her usual brilliance. Draco knew something was going on. There was something she wasn't telling him.

"What's going on, Mother? Where is he?"

"We don't know," she said with a tired sigh. "We've been looking for him for days now and he's not turned up anywhere. I think he's gone back to You Know Who."

"Who's we?" Draco asked.

"My cousin's friend, Lupin," Narcissa replied. "I believe you had him as a DADA teacher for a short while."

"Longer than some," Draco replied with a laugh. "He was friends with Sirius?"

"And Potter's father as well," Narcissa clarified.

"Oh," Draco said with a disinterested tone. He looked away from his mother's face and sighed his own sigh. It wasn't as if he'd ever really liked his father. He'd still managed to love the man, the two concepts not being mutually exclusive. With Lucius on the run and armed with Draco's most private thoughts about a certain Gryffindor there was no telling what he would do to her... or her family.

"Mother, we've got to warn them!" Draco said, suddenly sitting up in bed, wincing from the pain still settled in his bones.

"Warn who?" Narcissa asked.

Draco began the story of what had set Lucius off on his tirade. His inner most feelings about Hermione came from beneath his pale, now straggly hair as he couldn't swallow looking her in the face.

Narcissa smiled and sat next to her only son. She scooted up next to him and lifted his chin.

"We'll make sure she's safe, Draco," she said as she kissed him on the forehead. The two of them had managed to lay down in his small hospital bed, Narcissa finally able to sleep soundly knowing her son was safe and sound.

She had been true to her word, contacting the Order as soon as the she woke the next morning. Hermione had been taken out of Hogwarts and her parents collected from their home. When they'd finally defeated Voldemort, Lucius had still not been found, even in the ruins of their family home, where the battle had actually taken place.

Hermione returned to school the following fall as if nothing had happened. She tried to put up the fa�ade that she was the same person who had attended Hogwarts all the years before, but she was a bit twitchy these days and Draco finally knew why. She was afraid. She was scared Lucius was going to come back, going to come after her family. Draco was convinced of Lucius' death, but Hermione very obviously was not. There had to be some way to convince her. First things first, though, he needed to change the way some things worked around this castle, work on the Lucius problem later.

~*~*~Part 11~*~*~

The next morning, Draco sat in between Crabbe and Goyle as he normally did. Blaise sat across from him and he already wore a face masked with confusion. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Draco, silently asking him what was going on.

"The war is over," Draco announced casually.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Blaise commented with a raised eyebrow. "Happened just a few months ago, we were all there."

"I mean my war with Hermione," he clarified, looking directly at Crabbe and Goyle. "It's over. If the girl wants to turn me into any number of things, it is to be allowed. Understood?"

"But..." Crabbe began but was cut off by Goyle clearing his throat.

"Whatever you say, Draco," he said with a smile. "You owe me ten galleons, both of you."

"What?" Draco said, his mouth dropping open like a fish.

"Blast," said Crabbe and Blaise in chorus.

"I thought you'd come to your senses much earlier," Blaise chided.

"And I thought we'd have to wait for graduation," Crabbe admitted.

"You mean, you three placed a bet on how long it would take me to end the war with Hermione?" Draco gobbed.

"Nope, we bet on how long it would take you to come to your senses and realize you're in love with the girl," Blaise admonished. "And it bloody took you long enough!"

"How long were we going to have to sit here and pretend to hate the girl after she saved our skins?" Crabbe asked indignantly, crossing his large arms over his chest.

"And it wasn't easy pushing her round and hexing her all those times, though it was pretty funny," Goyle confessed.

Draco's three friends got up from the Slytherin table and crossed over to where Hermione and the rest of her group were sitting.

"Granger," Blaise acknowledged, having had the most friendly a relationship with Hermione.

"Zabini," she said with a nod and a confused expression.

"Crabbe and Goyle here wanted to apologize for giving you such a hard time," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, Granger, thanks for saving our lives and all that," Goyle said with a smile.

"Sorry for pushing in the dirt," Crabbe said quickly.

"What the bloody hell?" Ron whispered to Harry who sat beside him.

"I have a feeling the apocalypse is coming," Harry whispered back.

"You may be right," Blaise whispered in front of him.

Three Slytherins parked their butts at the Gryffindor table for the first time in two hundred years. If Severus Snape had still been a part of the faculty he would have fallen out of his chair. As it was, Dumbledore sat in his chair at the center of the staff table and smiled.

Draco, however, still sat in his seat with his mouth hanging open. Pansy came by and laughed at his gob smacked expression. Taking pity on him, she held out her hand and said, "Come on, we might as well go sit with them."

Draco recovered moments later. "You only want to go over there to sit with Weasley."

"And you only want to go over there to sit with Granger. We're even," she countered.

Not a word had been spoken over at the Gryffindor table since his friend's arrival, and as Draco came up he could see Hermione straining for what to say to cloud over the shock she was feeling. Two days ago, these two men had shoved her down into a combination of straw, dirt, and owl droppings. Today they were sitting at her table like nothing had happened. It was something only a Slytherin could manage, the instant ability to believe forgiveness was assured. Hermione laughed and smiled at Blaise. He'd never sat with them before, but they'd spent quite a lot of time together since 6th year.

"Sorry I've been taking so much of Lu's time, Blaise," Hermione apologized.

"It's alright, Granger, I understand you've had some things on your mind," he said with a wink and a smile.

Hermione's eyes went wide and only seemed to get bigger as she noticed Draco walking over to their table. It appeared today was a the day Hermione's eyes would actually pop right out of her head as Draco Malfoy sat down right next to her and said, "I'm sorry."

Neither Hermione nor anyone else who sat near him knew what he was apologizing for, but it didn't matter. When no one at the table, let alone Hermione, said anything, Draco looked around the table and, in typical Malfoy fashion said, "What? You look like you've never seen me apologize before."

"It's because we haven't," Harry said honestly.

"And I've known you my entire life," Blaise added.

"Well, I'm off," Draco said with a smile that was only unsure in the slightest of bends in his lips. "I'm supposed to meet my mother in Hogsmede today."

Hermione's eyes softened at the mention of Narcissa. She could manage to be angry with Draco at any given moment, but Narcissa she couldn't blame or find fault in. The woman was beautiful, she had been the one to bring her mother back, and she had pushed Harry out of the path of Voldemort's curse.

"Tell her I said hello," Hermione said offhandedly.

"You could tell her yourself, Granger. Won't you be in town this weekend?" Draco teased.

"Oh yes, of course," Hermoine said a bit flustered at the rising color in her neck.

"We'll be at the Three Broomsticks later this evening, you're free to join us," he said as he got up from the table and walked out the door without a word.

"How does he do that?" Ron wondered.

"I'm not sure, Ron," Harry said. "It must be a Slytherin thing because these three seemed to manage it just fine. I've a feeling we would have bumbled around with it."

"No, how does he leave a room with no one able to say anything?" Ron asked.

"That, I happen to know, is a Malfoy trait," came from Pansy who no one had noticed until that point. She sat down next to Ron and smiled. "So, are you ever going to ask me out, Weasley?"

~*~

Hermione caught none of what followed on her way out of the Great Hall. No one caught her departure as they were too busy discussing she and Draco to notice that she and Draco had left.

She quickly changed her clothes and made for the door.

"In a hurry, Granger?" Draco said with a sneer.

"Oh, I was just..." she tried to say, but couldn't think of an excuse. "I'm excited to see your mother, Draco. Afterall, I owe the woman my life."

"Is that so?" Draco doubted.

"Yes that's so," Hermione retorted lamely. How was it that even after his apology which was never to be explained that he could still make her so angry?

"Well, that's settled, then," Draco said turning away from her and walking toward the gate to Hogsmeade.

Hermione grabbed onto his cloak, revealing his T-shirt and jeans. She internally smiled at the Muggle clothing and then stared at Draco with a disproving look. "Why do you continue to do that?"

"What's that, Granger?"

"We're on the same side, Malfoy. You don't have to jump down my throat to get my attention," she chastised.

"Right," he said. "The same side." He walked away from her for a second time and she followed quietly after him for a moment.

"What!?" she yelled. When he turned around she continued. "What is wrong with you?" Her cheeks were red from the cold outside and only deepened in color at her rising anger. "I've done nothing to you! Why do you insist on being an absolute prat to me? Is it the fact that you know no other way to be or is it simply fun for you?"

"I'm not tormenting you, Granger. You think too many things are all about you. I simply don't want to talk to you right now. Is that such a difficult thing for you to understand?" Draco yelled back.

"It's not just today, Malfoy, and you know it," Hermione charged pointing her finger at his chest. "You've treated me like shite since our first day at Hogwarts. I thought the war changed things but this year has been the same as the other six. Excluding your display in the Great Hall today, you've been a great prat the entire time I've known you."

"And you've been a bossy know-it-all from the moment we got on the train together," Draco insisted. "You don't hear me yelling at you about it, now do you?" he yelled.

"What is wrong with you, Malfoy? Why can't we just be friends?" Hermione insisted.

"Because I don't want to be your friend, Hermione!" he yelled and stormed away.

Hermione was stunned, not at the use of her first name, which rarely came from his lips, but at the venom in his voice.

"What did I do to you?" Hermione whispered and paused on the road side. She watched him walk closer to the gate to Hogsmeade and tilted her head. "If he thinks he's gotten the best of me, he's sadly mistaken."

"Hey! Malfoy! Wait up!" she called as she ran toward him.

Draco turned and looked oddly at her.

"What? You've never lost an argument before?" Hermione asked smartly and walked on.

Draco shook his head and caught up with her. He smiled at her deflection of their argument even though he had very obviously hurt her. There was something about her, something that had bothered him from those first moments on the train. It was as if she had no fear of anything at all and it irked him. He'd learned to be afraid very early, Lucius seeing to his teaching. Here was a mud blood who looked to be at home from the start. She'd quickly made friends with the most powerful wizard in the world and continually defeated Voldemort and all of his followers. It was only Lucius she couldn't defeat and Draco cursed the dominant Malfoy genes running through is veins. He wished, not for the first time, that the Black traits from his mother's side had made more of an impact on his appearance. He didn't notice he'd stopped walking until Hermione called to him from the gate.

"You lost?" she teased.

Draco walked up to her and yanked her arm.

"What do you..." she started but neglected to finish as she was being soundly kissed. As if knowing where every sensitive part of his body was, Hermione brought her body closer to his and grabbed onto his neck, rolling her fingers on the very sensitized nerves along it. Suddenly needing air and some clarity, she pushed Draco away from her.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly.

"Well I don't know about the Muggle world, Granger," he said between breaths, "but here we call that a kiss." He was nervous as to what she would say next, but he certainly didn't look it.

"You know what I mean, Malfoy," Hermione said with a slight pout as she put her hands on her hips.

"I love it when you do that," he said with a smile.

"When I do what?" Hermione asked, crossing her hands over her chest.

"When you pout," he said in a low voice.

"I was not pouting, Malfoy," Hermione said childishly. "Quit changing the subject!"

"What was the question, again?" he said with what he hoped was a sexy smirk on his face.

Hermione's face reddened at the look on his face and the anger rising in her chest. "Draco Malfoy, you know exactly what the question is. Why did you just kiss me?!"

"Because I couldn't not kiss you," he said simply.

"Only you could manage a sentence like that and get away with it," Hermione said, not completely immune to his charms, but trying to maintain some of her dignity. What she really wanted to do was snog him senseless along with any number fantasies, though she had never had one about Hogsmeade.

"Can't help it I'm irresistible," Draco said with a confident smile.

"I seemed to have manage resisting you, Draco," Hermione challenged. "Think I'm the irresistible one here."

"No arguments here," Draco said as he took a step closer to her and put his hands around her waist. "Want to practice being irresistible?"

"I just might," she said as she lifted her lips to his. "You may just be the death of me, Draco Malfoy."

The breath from her lips tickled his as she made her declaration. It only whet them even further for the kiss that followed. It wasn't a passionate, romance-novel type, embrace. There were no heaving breasts or wandering hands. It didn't make the kiss any less powerful for both the witch and the wizard involved.

"Draco," they heard called from in front of them. "Draco, is that you?"

They broke apart quickly only to find Narcissa Malfoy standing in front of them.

"Hello, Mother," Draco said quickly. "How have you been? You remember Hermione, of course?"

"Yes, of course I remember Hermione," Narcissa said with a raised eyebrow.

"So that's where he gets that from," Hermione thought to herself before addressing Narcissa directly. "How have you been, Mrs. Malfoy?"

"Oh, I'm quite well, dear. Thought not as well as the two of you it would seem."

Even Draco had the decency to flush at his mother's words.

"So, you've finally told her, then?" she asked.

"Told me what?" Hermione asked.

"You've not told her?" Narcissa said with a disapproving look on her face. "Draco Lucius Malfoy what am I going to do with you? How long are the two of you going to wait?"

"I was just getting to it, Mother," Draco tried to explain. She was, however, having none of it.

"Of course you were, Draco. You're supposed to do the talking before you get to the snogging," she insisted.

"You say to-may-toe I say to-mah-toe," Draco intoned.

"Told me what?!" Hermione insisted.

"I can't believe you, Mother," Draco kidded. "Get out of here so I can tell the girl I love her." He spoke the last four words directly into Hermione's face.

"You wha?" Hermione said numbly.

"I love you, you idiot," Draco said again, agitated at her lack of a equal statement on her part.

"Very romantic, Draco," his mother snickered.

"I think I can do this all by myself," Draco hollered.

"Obviously not," Hermione said. "You can't even tell me you love me without screwing it up."

"Well?" Draco inquired.

"Well what?" Hermione asked.

"If you say what one more time, I'm going to go down to the Slytherin dungeons and never come back," Draco threatened.

"Such a little drama queen," Narcissa charged. "Oh honestly, girl, do you love my son or am I going to have to hex you something fierce?"

"Could we please do this without the audience?" Draco demanded. "I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks like we said from the beginning!"

"Very well, I'll see you two idiots later," Narcissa said with a laugh as she walked down the main road to Hogsmeade.

Draco turned around to see Hermione biting her lip. It was his turn. "What?"

"I don't like you, Malfoy," Hermione began and when Draco tried to start talking, she cut him off with a raised hand. (The only time in their history of knowing one another which this particular gesture worked.) "I don't like you, but I may be in love with you," she finished. "I think about you more than I should, in the most bizarre places, at the strangest times. I can't help but think of your father when I look at you and that's why I didn't say something sooner. Well... that and the fact that you and your friends have made tormenting me into an art form. I don't know what you want from me, Draco."

"Say it again," Draco demanded.

"Say what again?"

"I may be in love with you."

Hermione smiled at his selective hearing and was fairly grateful for it as she had probably shared too much. Draco had heard every word she'd said, but had to let his father's memory stay where it lay. They could talk about that another day. A day when he wasn't trying to convince her to love him.

"I think I love you, Draco Malfoy, as funny as that sounds to say out loud," Hermione admitted. She placed a small kiss on his lips and then smiled up into his eyes. "I can't believe you said it first."

"Did everyone know but me?" Draco demanded.

"Apparently you and I were the last to know," she said kissing him again for the adorable way his lips had curled at his insistence. "I could kiss you forever," she admitted. "I suppose that's something."

"It might ease your mind to know the feeling's mutual."

"It does, somewhat," she said. "So, no more arguing?"

"Of course not," Draco denied. "I love the way your whole face catches on fire when you get angry. I've never wanted to kiss you more in my entire life than just before you turned me into a ferret the second time."

"You are a strange little man, Draco Malfoy, do you know that?" Hermione chuckled.

"Don't even try to tell me you don't like arguing with me, Hermione Granger, I can tell you get off on it," Draco charged.

"I didn't say I wasn't strange. I only said you were," she said, dodging his accusation.

"Go ahead, Granger," he whispered into her ear. "Tell me how you don't love it when I fight with you. Tell me how it doesn't get your juices flowing. Tell me you don't go back to your room and fantasize about..."

It might have been the breath on her ear, it might have been the way the air ran along her neck, it absolutely had something to do with the way his fingers were brushing along her breasts, and it completely boiled her blood the way he was challenging her. Hermione couldn't take it any longer, she pushed him away from her.

"Stop it, Draco," she wheezed. "I can't take this right now."

"You can't take what?" Draco asked, completely confused.

"I can't start a fight with you when I know I can't finish it the way I want to," she said with a knowing smile.

"Well, in that case, you can fight with me whenever you want to," Draco smirked. "In the shower maybe..."

"We've not even started dating and you already know my fantasies," Hermione said, impressed. "Maybe we can work on some of yours as well," she whispered into his ear, moments later just before she pulled away from him for the last time and ran after his mother. "Mrs. Malfoy, wait! We're right behind you."

"She's going to kill me," Draco said with a smile before he took off after the woman he planned on chaining to that iron bed. They only had to get some of that pesky relationship stuff out of the way before they could get to fulfilling both of their fantasies. He was sure things were going to be rocky, at first, but there was something about getting through all of the things they'd both faced that made working out a relationship between them seem so much more attainable. They would be together, maybe not forever, but, if he had anything to do with it, Hermione would no longer be burdened by the last name Granger.
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Burdened By The Last Name Granger