Disclaimer: Yeah... I wish I got paid for doing this instead of my homework...

Blushing

Harry figured it out first. You see, I had just rushed to Potions, and Draco came in a few minutes after me, strutting and not caring that he was late to class in the slightest. As he passed me on his way to his desk, he caught my eye and tapped my notebook lightly.

And then, he had the audacity to wink at me. Wink! As if we weren't taking enough of a risk of someone finding out about our secret relationship already! As if Harry wasn't already beginning to get suspicious of my constant disappearing act. As if it wasn't nearly impossible to be dating the person supposed to be your mortal enemy anyways.

The sneaking around, the living a secret life, the having to pretend you hate each other most of the time… Let me tell you, it's not fun.

So Draco winked at me as he passed by, and I blushed Gryffindor crimson immediately. I ducked my head, pretending to be searching for something in my bag, hiding behind my wall of bushy hair and wishing that I hadn't clipped the front of my hair back this morning.

Harry leaned over to me and whispered, "We're going to have to work on your blushing if you're going to hide your relationship from the rest of the school for any length of time."

I gaped at him, "You don't care?" I whispered back.

Harry shrugged, "He knows that if he hurts you I'll kill him anyways, I'm sure. I don't need to tell him. Right now you're happy, so we'll take the bad if it comes. He might not be all bad, and if you trust him, I s'pose I do, too." Harry chuckled as a note appeared in my notebook from Draco.

I blushed again and Harry snickered next to me. Damn him. Stupid blush.

-

Ginny found out next. We, Ginny and I, had been walking down the hall one Saturday when Draco appeared directly in front of us. He smirked and I bit my lip, trying not to blush as I remembered the dinner we'd shared the night before in the Room of Requirements.

"Bookworm, Measly Weasley, didn't anyone make you pay the toll?"

"Toll?" I repeated, arching an eyebrow. I was used to Draco's comebacks and this one—this one was definitely new.

Ginny had grabbed her wand and was glaring daggers at Draco. I sent him a look that warned him to lay off if he didn't want to be at the receiving end of her Bat-Boogey Hex again.

Draco, of course, ignored the warning I sent him out of the goodness of my heart, pressing his luck. "Yes, of course. You're entering Slytherin territory. Either you have to be pureblood or you have to be pretty. Unfortunately for you, an ugly m-mudblood—" he stumbled over the word and I could see that it physically pained him to call me that, "and a dirt poor blood traitor don't fit the criteria."

I rolled me eyes, "As much as I would love to have a battle of wits with you, Malfoy, you appear unarmed. So why don't you and your bodyguards run along and I won't report you to the Headmaster?" I sent him a sarcastically sugary smile.

Draco and his goons brushed past me, and Draco purposely bumped my shoulder with his as he passed, handing me a note.

The touch of his fingers against mine was enough to send me blushing again.

Ginny looked at me, "Are you okay, Hermione? You look flushed. And were you just flirting?"

I scowled and blushed harder, "Honestly Ginny, it all started about half way through sixth year…"

-

And then, the rest of the school found out…

Our class was only one week away from graduation. Draco and I were one week from escaping most of the prejudices of house lines and peer pressure. Yes, we'd still have to deal with Harry and Ron—well, Ron, at least—but Ginny had promised to help out with that.

I was more worried that the Slytherins were going to view Draco as some sort of traitor and try to hurt him.

And then the bonehead goes and decides that he can't wait one more lousy week.

We were at dinner. Ginny and Harry were sitting across from me, holding hands under the table and I was digging into my apple crisp. Ron was chatting away about Quidditch to no one in particular, when I saw the unimaginable.

Draco was heading over to the Gryffindor table.

Inconceivable! I quoted one of my favorite characters from The Princess Bride, Vizzini.

He was walking quickly, making a bee line towards me.

Inconceivable!

He stopped directly in front of me, stepped up on the bench between Harry and Ginny, then stood on the table, pulling me reluctantly up with him.

I blushed as I was held there by my boyfriend's strong arms. I wanted nothing more than to go crawl under the floor boards somewhere and wait for the gossip to stop. I could already hear whispers, mostly from Lavender and Parvati.

Draco drew me to him and pressed his lips to mine gently, and I froze before kissing him back instinctively. When we broke apart, cheers broke out from the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Heads tables as well as from Harry, Ginny, Blaise, and Pansy Parkington. (Who was neither as stupid nor as ugly as everyone thought.)

Could more than half the school and the entire faculty really just support us at the drop of a hat? Did McGonagall really just hand three galleons over to Snape? Did Dumbledore just wink at us? Inconceivable! Well, except for that last one, I'm beginning to think he's a little looney tunes after all.

And then, proving that I really could use "that word" more times that Vizzini, Draco knelt down on one knee and took my hand. Was he really? Inconceivable!

"Hermione Jane Granger, fellow students at Hogwarts, faculty, and staff," Draco began, earning a sharp rap upside the head, he cleared his throat pointedly and continued, "Hermione, you know that we have been dating for about a one year, four months, seventeen days, three hours, ten minutes, and three—four—five seconds. And this time has been the happiest of my life. Finally I have someone who understands me and loves me for who I am. I know that there might be a lot of people and factors who stand in our way, but together we can totally kill them, hide their bodies, and obliviate or crucio the witnesses. I have total confidence in us, and we make the world's best, most intimidating team. So, will you marry me?"

And even though the proposal was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard (and that's saying something as Ron is one of my best friends), and even though I was blushing so hard that I looked like an over-ripe Weasley, and even though it had just occurred to Draco that he was kneeling in a bowl full of mashed potatoes, he stayed put for my answer. And…I couldn't find the words to do it.

I began to giggle, then laugh, and pretty soon most of the school was laughing with me, and somehow in the midst of all that I managed to nod and choke out the word, "Yes" and Draco lifted me up, jumped off the table, and swept out of the Great Hall like the overly dramatic ferret that he is.

As it occurred to me what had just happened, my fading blush re-blossomed across my cheeks. Draco, the prat, had only one comment—although, I grant, it was a clever one—raising an eyebrow, he quipped, "Won't you be a blushing bride?"