Disclaimer: I own nothing! Some of the plot is based on the movie "A Walk To Remember," but other than that, the only thing I own is the plot.

A/N: Like I said in the disclaimer, some parts of this is story comes from the movie "A Walk To Remember". This is also gonna be a Draco/Hermione fic. Don't like, don't read, it's that simple. I don't want any hate mail. Anyways, here's the fic…

Words in bold like this – indicate a character's thoughts

Chapter 4 – Realizations

Hermione walked up to the common room as quietly as she could. She knew that Harry and Ron would definitely worry, because she was really late. She also knew that they would both be waiting for her in the common room, and if Ron wasn't there, she knew that Harry would be. Neither of them had known where she kept going in the nights because she refused to tell them. If she did tell them, they would just try to convince her not to go, but for some odd reason, she liked tutoring Draco. They spent an awful lot of time together, and in only a few weeks, they had developed what Hermione thought to be a genuine friendship. But was there anything else there? She did feel an odd sense of excitement every time she met him.

"Hermy, where were you? We were worried sick," Harry said, standing up and snapping Hermione out of her daze. She was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't even realize that she had reached the common room or even said the password to enter for that matter. Hermione looked at Harry as if she had just been suddenly woken.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time," she said.

"Where do you keep going that you have to keep it such a secret?" he asked, sitting on the couch where Ron was sitting. As Harry sat down, Hermione sat next to him and smiled.

"If I told you then it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" she laughed. Harry chuckled, but didn't really find it all that funny.

"We just want to know so that we know you aren't going to be in any danger or anything. We're supposed to take care of you, you know," Ron said.

"Ron, I know my parents took you in and stuff, and I appreciate the big brother act, but it does get kind of annoying," Hermione said. Last summer, Ron's parents had died in the hands of Lord Voldemort. Hermione, who was dating Ron at the time, immediately asked her parents if Ron and Ginny could move in with them since they had plenty of room, and her parents were more than willing to take them in. Ron didn't like the idea at first because he didn't want to be a burden on the Grangers, but when they assured him that he and Ginny would not be a burden and that they are more than welcome to stay, he loosened up to the idea and the more he got used to it, the more he liked the idea.

They had spent a lot of time together that summer, but in the end, they realized that it just wasn't working out for them, and they decided that they were only meant to be friends.

"Sorry Hermione, I'm just used to the big brother thing," Ron said, smiling.

"So, you really aren't going to tell us where you keep disappearing to?" Harry asked, cutting in.

"Nope," Hermione said, shaking her head. "Besides, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Why do I feel so weird about this? Surely Hermione isn't off with some guy. That's not like her at all. She's probably just in the library studying and doesn't want us to bother her, Harry thought, but he couldn't help but feel a little weird. Ron interrupted Harry's train of thought with a big yawn.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Night guys," Ron said, getting up off the couch and walking up to the boys dorm, leaving Hermione and Harry alone in the quiet, dark common room. The fire in the fireplace was beginning to die down.

"Brr…It's getting cold down here. I'm gonna go upstairs and go to bed too," Hermione said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Harry agreed.

"Good night Harry," Hermione said, getting up.

"'Night" Harry replied, following suit and going to bed.

Hermione went up to her dorm. She had a dorm room all to herself since she was Head Girl. Hermione got her pajama's and went to the bathroom to change. She got in bed, but she couldn't stop thinking about Draco. Why is he having this kind of effect on me? Does he really like me? Surely he doesn't like me, I'm just a mudblood after all, Hermione thought, but no matter how hard she wanted to disbelieve it, she couldn't help but feel like he really DID like her.

……………………………………………………

The next day in Transfiguration, Draco kept sneaking glances at Hermione. Hermione caught his eye a couple of times, and she hoped that Harry and Ron wouldn't catch on to Malfoy's odd behaviour because if they did, they would undoubtedly start to question what was going on, and that was a question that Hermione didn't want to answer; actually, it was a question she couldn't answer, because she didn't KNOW the answer.

Later that day after all their classes were over for the evening, the Golden Trio were sitting on the floor of the common room, going through books for their Charms essay. Ron and Harry had really changed in that they actually spent time at their schoolwork and didn't keep blowing it off.

"It's about time you guys spent some time on your books," Hermione said typically.

"Well, if we do it as soon as it's assigned, then we have more time to ourselves," Ron said, surprising both Harry and Hermione. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, you never wanted to study before, and it's just such a big change for you," Harry said.

"Well, I guess Hermione is finally starting to wear off on me," Ron said, smiling and playfully punching Hermione's arm. Harry looked at Ron with a frown and Ron stopped smiling. He mouthed an apology to Harry and continued working on his essay. A few minutes later, Ron glanced up and looked at Harry, nodding his head in Hermione's direction.

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a second? In private?" Harry asked.

"Sure Harry," Hermione said, getting up and walking over to a deserted corner of the common room. "What's up?"

"Well, the thing is, I've liked you for a long time, and I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me," Harry said. Hermione stood there, slightly shocked. "Actually, forget it, this was a bad idea. I knew you didn't like me like that. We're just friends, I get it. Forget I even asked you," Harry said, looking anywhere but at Hermione.

"Harry," Hermione said, tilting his face towards her. "I didn't say no." Harry smiled.

"Seriously? You wanna go out with me?" Harry asked, almost as shocked as Hermione was. Hermione nodded.

"I've liked you for a while too, I just didn't think that you liked me back, so I didn't say anything," Hermione said, smiling. Harry hugged her, and they went over to finish their essay.

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A few days later, Hermione and Harry were sitting on the couch in Hermione's dorm (ahem spoiled Head Girl ahem). As they were making out on the couch, Harry snuck his hand up under the bottom of her shirt.

"Harry, please," Hermione said.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, I just…wanna go slow ok? I rushed into things with Ron, and they didn't work out. I don't want to rush into something again. Sorry," Hermione said. Harry took his hand down.

"It's ok. I understand. I'll wait until you're ready," Harry said.

"Why do you have to be so amazing?" Hermione asked, smiling at him.

"That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you," Harry said, smiling then leaning in to kiss her again.