AN: Wow, major stuff happening last chapter huh! As you have probably noticed by now, I prefer to try keeping my chapters under 3000 words. I just think it's easier to read that way, it's a personal preference, based on how busy life can get sometimes. I can't promise they won't go over that count, just that I aim to keep them that way. Without further ado, I give you chapter 4. Clumsy!

When she had finished and they fully understood and seemed to have no more questions about his health she gathered every bit of Gryffindor courage she possessed and looked up at her three best friends and said something she must get said, they had to know from the beginning. It was the only way the situation would be acceptable for her. She opened her mouth and released the words she was afraid would cause chaos in her world….

"You should all know something else that happened today. I kissed Draco Malfoy today."

That bomb was met with complete and utter silence. She looked up and saw Harry's eyes glazed over, Gin's mouth was hanging all the way open, and Ron's jaw was clenched along with his fists. She knew all three of them well enough to know not to break the silence, to let them recover and then the interrogation would begin. If she was a betting person, she would have laid galleons that Harry would be the first to ask something, good thing she didn't bet!

"Wow 'Mione! How was it?" Ginny asked. And that's the question that broke the floodgates.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOW WAS IT?" yelled Ron as he rose to his feet.

Harry just was looking at her incredulously. "Ron, sit down mate, and quit screaming at your sister, or I swear I will hex you myself!"

Gin leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Thanks, honey. You're so sweet."

Hermione thought now would be a good time for her to speak up; she had gotten the lay of the land so to speak and understood who stood where. Ginny would always be on her side without question which explained her automatic acceptance. Harry would be somewhere in the middle, he wanted her happiness but as a 'brother' and one of her 'boys' he would also always firstly protect her. Ron on the other hand was her best guy friend after Harry and there was murkier ground there as there had been that romantic side to their relationship even though it didn't work. He was also the hothead of the group. So, if she could convince Ron then the others would accept what she had decided about Draco.

She turned to him and said, "Ron, if you sit down, and calm down I will explain."

"I can't wait to hear this!" Ginny whispered to Harry. Ron gave her a look that could kill.

"Two weeks ago when McGonagall asked us to meet her, I reacted just like the three of you when Draco walked in..." she started.

"What he's not Draki poo or some such endearment?" Ron said snidely.

"No he isn't. And if you want me to explain this and include you in my life then you need to let me finish!"

She waited, but he remained silent. A good sign overall. "As I was saying, when I saw he was there as well, I reacted much as you have minus the yelling. He wasn't the way he always was though, not one time did he call me anything. He didn't even speak to me directly, and when has Malfoy ever passed up a chance to insult me, right." She explained.

Harry helpfully answered, "umm, never."

"Exactly. It wasn't until I left that I realized that though. So when we had the next meeting at my house, I paid more attention to it, I waited for the insults about my home and family, especially since he was there a good fifteen minutes before McGonagall. But there were none. He sat quietly on the couch, only asking one question, he wanted to know about the TV." she said.

Ginny looked fascinated with the story, so Hermione sent her a grateful smile and Gin winked at her.

"When the meeting was over, and I showed them my home as is part of the meetings and part of getting to know our diversity. He was curious and asked respectful questions. It was a little funny actually, he was kind of cute trying to figure out why some of my photos moved and some didn't," she chuckled.

Harry and Ginny laughed quietly at that too, while Ron gave a reluctant smile. It gave her hope that he was keeping his mind open.

"After the other two left, Draco asked if we could talk. We did, and he asked me something, that I couldn't answer, then asked if we could call a truce and really work together on the class in peace." She looked up at Harry.

The other two felt the sudden tension when she looked at Harry, and he must have too because he asked her what the question she couldn't answer was.

"He asked why we saved him." She flushed as she answered his question.

Ron and Ginny looked back and forth between the two as they noticed Harry flush as well. There seemed to be a private understanding between Harry and Hermione, and they didn't seem to be willing to share out loud what they seemed to be silently discussing.

"Today, after we found out Michael's news, I needed time to deal with my emotions before I came back here. Draco found me in a meadow falling apart. He held me while I cried myself out, and we talked. I won't share what we said, because it's private, but then he leaned down and kissed me, and I kissed him back. We want to get to know each other, and see what there is between us." She finished.

Gin, ever the perceptive one asked, "Is this what you want 'Mione?"

"It's scary, but the good scary. Yeah, I really do want to explore this." She said, grateful to Gin for the support.

Ron had sat in silence since she had asked him not to interrupt, but he spoke up now. "Can you really just forget everything he's done? Believe that you're not just a Mudblood to him?"

"Ron, no I can't forget any of that and I doubt seriously he expects me to. However, I can forgive. We talked about that too, but that falls under the privacy of our conversation, and I won't share his personal information since it's not my story to tell." She answered him honestly.

Harry and Ron were looking at each other now, and seemed to be having a silent exchange much like had happened between Hermione and Harry moments before that.

Harry broke the silence, and said as comfortingly as possible, "I think we should all take time to think about this. 'Mione, I respect your judgment and trust your intuition. Merlin knows it's saved my life more times than I can count. But, you know there's a lot of bad blood there. I can try to accept this, if you're happy. It won't be easy though, and I just want to ask you to be patient with all of us."

"I do understand Harry. Thank you for trusting me." She said gratefully.

When it was clear that the conversation was over, the foursome headed into the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley with dinner. It was a quiet evening after that, as the friends had much to deal with and they all headed to bed a little early that night.

While Hermione was talking with her friends, Draco had gone home and located his mother in her garden. He was in desperate need of someone to talk to, and she was the best listener he knew. He was in a state of disbelief over what had just passed between Hermione and him. He was a little afraid to tell her, but she'd always been the one and only person he could tell everything to, and she had never once judged him. He watched her as she weeded her garden. She was still so beautiful, she hardly looked her age of 42 years old. There was no gray in her hair, only the slightest start of laugh lines around her eyes. She always looked so soft to him, ethereal.

She looked up as he walked over and sat on the ground next to him, her handsome son.

"You looked troubled sweetheart, what's happened?" she asked as she raised a hand and rubbed his cheek.

"Something I can't quite understand is what's happened. I was hoping we could talk about it. Just, promise you won't get upset Mother." He begged.

"Alright, let's order some tea and sit in the gazebo and talk." She answered him.

After they called a house elf and asked for tea to be served in the gazebo, they headed that way side by side. As they walked Narcissa watched Draco. She knew she was biased, but she was of the opinion that she and Lucius had created the most handsome man she'd ever seen. He was tall, and well-built from years of running and Quidditch. He exercised daily, and it showed. Blond hair and silvery eyes, eyes that held to much knowledge for his age, she knew. She regretted deeply her part in that, she wished she had been able to do more to protect him from his father's blind devotion to the Dark Lord, and from what he had done to protect her, taking the Dark Mark had killed something inside of him. But he'd done it to save her and she wished it could be different.

Having reached their destination and received tea and a plate of his mother's homemade Cauldron Cakes, she knew were his favorite, Draco cleared his throat to get her attention and she looked up at him.

"I kissed Hermione Granger today." He stated hurriedly, much like ripping a band aid from the skin he thought faster would be easier.

She didn't know what to say to that. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't all that surprised. Miss Granger is the only person she knew of to rival her son in intelligence. She knew quite a bit about the girl actually. She had watched from afar as Draco had grown up, and Hermione Granger had constantly been a subject her son would talk about. He complained of her constantly, and Narcissa understood what was happening even though her son and the girl had no idea. Even though he was upset with Hermione, and angry about the Mudblood, she was always on his mind. So Narcissa wasn't as shocked by her son's announcement as he thought she would be. Her response was going to surprise him greatly.

"FINALLY!" she excitedly answered.

Draco was fall on your ass; slap your knee, floored by her answer!

"What?" he gasped!

"Draco sweetheart, for the last seven years that girl is all you could talk about. She angered you, pushed you, slapped you, and confused you. But no matter what, she was always, always in your mind." She answered.

"Exactly, that's why I'm so confused. I like her, even when I know I should hate her." He confessed.

"That is your father and Voldescum speaking, not you." She continued as he started to shake his head, "Draco, you were raised regrettably with prejudice Lucius pushed down your throat. If I had learned earlier that it was just our ignorance maybe I could have prevented it, but maybe it would have made no difference at all, we'll never know, because we can't change the past." she sighed.

He was watching her intently.

"She's a beautiful girl, inside and out. I've rarely if ever come across someone as loyal as she is. Merlin knows she is intelligent enough to keep you on your toes and stimulated. She's kind, forgiving obviously, open minded and generous. What is there to dislike really?" she asked him.

"But….."Draco started, but she interrupted him.

"Honey, just for one moment, forget her blood status. Then tell me what would happen, what if she was a pureblood?" she asked him.

He considered what she asked of him and looking her right in the eye he answered, "I would grab on to her, and never let go. I'm so fucked! Because she isn't pureblood, she is Muggleborn mother!"

"Draco, don't use such common language! It's unbecoming of your station! Now, as for her being Muggleborn, you need to learn to let that go. I don't feel the same way about that as your father, what someone is born as does not equal what they become. It's our decisions more than our birth that makes us who we are." She said softly.

The next thing she said, she said for his own good because it was better to purge it from his system now with her where it was emotionally safe for him. "She made a decision late one night that raised her in my eyes higher than anybody I know. She chose pain and torture, rather than betray a friend. While she suffered, both of us looked on and didn't offer our help. Tell me Draco, how can we possibly be better than her, because of our blood?"

Draco flinched at the mention of the night that tortured his nightly dreams. He had hurt for her that night, and did nothing. It remains his greatest regret in life, greater even than not accepting the offer of help from Dumbledore that night in the tower, which ended in the headmaster's death.

"I know the memory hurts son, I hear your nightmares at night. The answer to blood status is inside you, you just have to accept it." She reached for his hand and gently rubbed it.

"So your honestly saying, if I started dating Hermione you wouldn't be upset, disown me?" he asked, a bit frightened of the answer.

"No, I can honestly say I don't think that there is a better match out there for you. I hoped that you would one day realize this, but it had to be a decision you made, not one I pushed you into."

When Draco was lying in bed dreading the sleep that would bring the torturing nightmare yet again, he thought back to kissing Hermione. It felt so right, he'd never felt like that before. He wanted to keep right on kissing her for forever. He was confused though, his mother accepted her, he believed that, but his whole life he was raised to see her as an abomination. That's not something easy to let go of, so he was enormously conflicted. He didn't find answers that night, but he reached a conclusion that there was nothing wrong with getting to know her, and that is what he would do.

Sighing with resignation, he closed his eyes and fell asleep knowing it was time for the torture. And it came 2 hours later, it always started with her agonizing screams.

AN: There you go my happy readers, chapter 4! If you read and review, than I get happy too! Chapter 5 is coming soon.