DISCLAIMER: I do not own the loveliness of Harry Potter.

A/N: Yes this is very AU. I know. :)

My mamma always told me to be careful when it came to relationships and love. "Don't play with other people's feelings, and under no circumstances do you let them play with yours," she has always said. I guess that is why, when Malfoy approached me in the library nine months ago and said, "Granger, I have something to tell you," and then proceeded to explain that he has had a crush on me since first year, I was rather wary.

It turned out I had nothing to worry about. I spent a month or so getting to know Draco Malfoy and I discovered that he is really quite a genuinely amazing guy. Bit by bit I fell for him; he won that one effortlessly.

Falling for Draco wasn't a bad feeling, on the contrary it was probably one of the best feelings I've ever felt. Falling for the betrayal of my best friend was so much worse. You see, Harry happened across Draco and I cuddling in a secluded corner of the library (he'd been busy in there with Ginny himself) and he promised he wouldn't say anything to either Ginny or Ron. By the time I got back to Gryffindor Tower however, the entire school knew. Harry looked like he was semi-apologetic but the rest of the house, Ron and Ginny inclusive, shunned me completely.

The entire school tormented Draco and I endlessly. The Gryffindors ignored us, the Hufflepuffs wouldn't take sides, the Ravenclaws were too busy weighing up the pros and cons of our relationship to pay any attention to us, and the Slytherins attempted to ambush me whenever and wherever possible, demanding to know which spell or potion I had used on Draco. He of course took it all in his stride and ignored it, but eventually it got to be too much for me to handle and I lost it at Harry, Ron and Ginny in the Great Hall at breakfast. I screamed something along the lines of "I'm sick and tired of being ignored. If you're done with embarrassing me with the fact I still count you guys as my friends after all the shit you've put me through, I'd appreciate it if you would all grow up and move on! I love Draco! Get the hell over it." I guess I was lucky neither McGonagall nor Snape had come down to breakfast at that point or I would've been in trouble. Dumbledore just smiled, his eyes twinkling amusedly.

After the escapade in the Great Hall my friends started talking to me again, albeit rather reluctantly and everything appeared to go back to normal, save for the Slytherins antics (which I guess were normal anyway). Two weeks after that however, everything went downhill extremely quickly. I was on patrol with Ron as usual and we had caught several hormone-riddled couples in broom closets (which was always amusing to be honest). I'd just finished writing a detention slip for Blaise Zabini and his little lady friend while Ron walked ahead, when he doubled back and almost reluctantly said, "Mione... I think you need to come and see this." The hesitancy in his voice, combined with the urgency made me rush towards him and around the corner, only to stop breathless when I discovered my boyfriend with one hand under the shortest skirt I had seen in my life, the other groping around underneath an extremely tight shirt and his tongue down the throat of Astoria Greengrass. Once I overcame the shock I called out to him, "Draco... What the hell are you doing?" only to be met with a sound that reminded me of a plug being pulled out of a sink, followed by a look of shock, before grasping the cow's hand and running away.

I ignored him for the month following that incident, although I swear it felt longer than that. The whole time it felt like something wasn't right about my ignoring him, and at the time I didn't know whether it was just my heart telling me to forgive him or if it was the way he'd chase after me demanding desperately to know what he had done wrong, seeming to genuinely have no idea. I felt so lost and confused in that period of time; he'd made me so happy for so long and then he went and shattered my heart into a million and one pieces, re-opening my emotional scars of abandonment and making me feel weak thus retreating into myself. The main reason behind me ignoring him was the fact that no matter how many times I tried to tell him it was over, and that if he wanted to date Astoria Greengrass all he had to do was tell me, he would continually reply, "I don't know what you mean about Astoria... I love YOU Hermione Granger." And part of me believed him, which was pushed aside when I remembered what I had seen him do. I couldn't deny the cold hard evidence.

Towards the end of my month of ignoring him, things became quite clear. I ended up receiving a note from Harry asking me to meet him, Ron and Ginny in the Room of Requirement and being so confused as why we'd need to meet there I overlooked the fact that Hedwig had delivered a note to Draco as well.

When I got to the Room of Requirement, Harry, Ron and Ginny were already there so we went in and sat on the couches that the room provided. To my surprise Harry informed me that we were still waiting for one more person to arrive. When Draco walked in, I got up and tried to leave, but Harry grabbed me around the waist sitting me back down. Before I had a chance to speak Harry spoke, "Hermione, I need you to hear me out on this, it's important." He then turned to Draco, "Malfoy, you've probably been very confused this last month, wondering tirelessly to the reason for which Mione hates you –"

"I don't hate him Harry," I couldn't help but interject; I had to tell the truth there.

"—and the reason for that is," Harry continued, "that around a month ago, Hermione and Ron were on patrol and they caught you being rather physical with one Astoria Greengrass."

Draco spluttered, "Wha—but I never... I was never with Astoria, ever!"

I don't think I've ever given anyone a deadlier glare than the one I did at that moment. Arrogant arse, as if he'd never been with Astoria.

Harry continued again, "The reason I'm telling you all this, and the reason you need to hear it too Mione, is that I know it wasn't Draco you saw. He was in detention with McGonagall."

Harry turned to me with an extremely guilty expression on his face.

"Hermione, I am so, so sorry, the Astoria and Malfoy couple you caught... it was Ginny and myself under the influence of Polyjuice Potion. We are so sorry Hermione; we just couldn't accept that it was Malfoy of all people that you had fallen for. We realised, this last month, just how much this has affected you and we wanted to say we are sincerely sorry."

Ron and Ginny, who had both been rather quiet up until this point, muttered, "We're really sorry Mione."

That was the point where I realised what my gut had been telling me, "It wasn't Draco; He wouldn't do that." After a lot of apologising on the parts of Harry, Ginny and Ron, a lot of yelling on my part, followed by a lot of apologising to Draco and making up, Draco and I became closer than ever.

That night, Draco and I met on a spell-warmed picnic rug at the top of the Astronomy Tower, where we made pure, sweet love to each other, for the first time, but definitely not the last.

My mamma always said to be careful when it came to matters of the heart, but I guess I was too careful, because I foolishly overlooked the other important lesson she had given me. "Follow you heart." Luckily Draco held no grudges and I followed her advice throughout the rest of our lives together.