Sorry it's taken sooo long, guys!! And I'm not going to bother to give some lame excuse about being busy and all that crap because I know most of you don't care anyways... HUGE thanks to my Beta raetaylor. ILOVEYOU RAE!

Those of you CSI NY fans or just people who are looking around for awesome fanfics, make sure you check out hers! It's called 'Surferette'.

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So remember, READ REVIEW AND BE RUTHLESS. (Virtual cake for everyone that reviews)

Previously on Choices:

Hermione had half a mind to get up and stalk out of the restaurant with her pride still somewhat intact. Half a mind, but the other half was telling her to slip her hand into his pale one still lying open and expectant on the table.

"Well," he prompted. "You have a choice to make, Ms. Granger."

She stared at the paper for what seemed to be hours. Her face wore an expression of something between a grimace, shock, and indifference. The mug of coffee in her hands was burning her, but she didn't seem to notice or care; she simply stared and stared.

She heard a whoosh and some crackling followed by footsteps that approached her from behind. Another copy of the same paper that she was looking at was carelessly slapped across hers on the kitchen counter.

"Care to elaborate?" Harry asked her. Hermione didn't turn to face him, her eyes glued to the headlines. She watched as her hand slipped into Draco's a little gingerly, his fingers locking around it. He leaned forward towards her across the table and put his other hand on top of hers. She did the same; the image of the couple would have made anyone break into a chorus of 'oohs' and 'awws' had it not been Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. The charmed photograph started its loop again, and they both watched as her hand slipped into Draco's once more. Harry looked like he was going to be sick; he looked away from the image. The headline above was bold; 'WARHERO'S ROMANTIC BATTLE'. It was definitely the scandalous work of Rita Skeeter.

"Hermione," Harry's tone became harsher as she still hadn't turn to look at him. "What the hell are you doing? Will you tell me honestly what exactly this thing of yours with Malfoy is?" Hermione chose to ignore him once again, her face betraying no emotion whatsoever. Harry was getting a little bit worried as she looked blankly at the kitchen counter. "Hermione?"

She put her mug of coffee down on the table and winced; she finally felt the burn that the coffee had given her. Lifting up her palms, she saw that they were red and slightly black around her fingertips. Harry took her hands and looked at them, his eyes widening slightly.

"Are you mental, Hermione?" He sat her down on her couch and quickly went to her bathroom, returning with a small vial. "Why were you holding that for so long if it was burning you?" Hermione continued to stay silent and devoid of expressions. He desperately wanted to know what was going on in that head of hers; she usually had plenty to say. "Okay, Hermione. You're starting to worry me."

"Harry, I want to go get my parents."

He stared at her blankly. Okay, he thought. Not exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. "Well, then you should," he assured her. He didn't want to sound insensitive and ignore her sudden comment. "Everything is back to normal now, and they'll be perfectly safe." She nodded in agreement and headed towards the bathroom for a shower.

"Wait, Hermione!" Harry grabbed her arm, his tone somewhat close to a whine. "You didn't answer my question. You told me yesterday before you left that you were pretty sure he was asking you to lunch just to say that there wasn't anything there and then you go around snogging him–"

"I held his hand, Harry."

"Oh, same thing,"

"Hardly," she scoffed.

"From the pictures though, I'm going to jump to the conclusion that you're now dating him." He looked at her and she nodded slowly. "What about Ron?" he asked more intensely. Hermione froze in his grip. "I took the paper away from the house because I thought that you should be the one to tell him anything before Rita Skeeter does."

"I'll talk to him, Harry." she said softly. "I owe him at least that much. But it will break him." she added in a whisper. "Especially since it's Draco." Harry knew this too but it was Hermione's choice in the end; if she chose Draco, then he would trust her.

"So when do we go get your parents?" Harry rubbed his palms together, as if plotting something big. "And how will you track them down?"

Hermione sighed. "They're in Alice Springs; I made sure that they didn't move to the huge cities or else it would impossible to track them down. But it's not a terribly small town either, so it will take some time. We only know their names, though, because I didn't leave anything with them to help me find them just as a necessary precaution." This was probably going to be a difficult hunt but she was determined she would be able to do it. "I'll go to the ministry today and arrange for a portkey to Alice Springs and from there, we'll have to use the muggle agencies and phonebooks to find them."

Harry nodded; it did sound a bit tiresome to have to do this manually, but he would do it for his best friend. She walked into her bathroom; it was already 12 o'clock and she was still in her pajamas. Harry sat on her kitchen stool and took a sip from the mug of coffee Hermione had left on the table. He watched on the paper, through the restaurant glass, as Hermione slipped her hand into Draco's once more.

"Get a room," he mumbled disgustedly to the paper and flipped it over.

Hermione felt the hot water unlock her tensed muscles and relax her mind. But she couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit terrified at what had happened yesterday.

She stared at his hand intensely, as if expecting it to explode in any second. Hermione glanced back at his face; one side of his mouth was curved upwards.

"You know it's only a matter of time, Hermione." He shrugged casually.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

Draco suddenly leaned forward a fraction and looked deep into her eyes. "You kissed two people last night," he said in a low voice, "but you ended up in bed with one of them. What does that tell you?"

She gaped at him as he settled back into his chair, the palm nearly flashing in front of her. Draco looked completely at ease while Hermione could have passed off as being seasick.

The sound of the shower steadily spraying water was comforting as she ran her hands through her hair. She rubbed the soap onto her skin, scrubbing off every bit of distress as she liked to think of it.

Their hands were on top of each others, and Hermione felt the cameras clicking away feverishly. Draco smiled a bit sneakily.

"That was a good choice, Ms. Granger" he gave her a smirk while raising his eyebrow.

His words made her shiver a little but she smiled nevertheless. A month ago if anyone had told her that she would be sitting in a restaurant, holding hands with Draco Malfoy, she would have doubled over with laughter and sent them for a check-up in St. Mungo's.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her.

"About how weird this actually is. After seven years of name-calling and hexing each other, we're sitting here and having a civil conversation." She smiled a bit disbelievingly.

"I must remind you, Hermione, we've done a lot more than have civil conversations." he smirked. She smacked his hand lightly. "So does this technically count as our first date?"

"Hmm," she pretended to ponder. "I guess it does, doesn't it?" Draco's face broke into a smile that was almost blinding; it put the cameras outside to shame. Hermione wondered where this Draco had been there through the torturous years of Hogwarts. He laughed a little bit and said something to her that she didn't hear, because suddenly, her mind was a thousand miles away.

She was friends with Draco Malfoy. She slept with Draco Malfoy. She was now dating Draco Malfoy. Maybe he was right; maybe she was afraid of how fast this had gone. Over the course of one month, they had gone from friends to this (she didn't quite want to call him her boyfriend yet). He was still talking and she tried to tune in again but kept feeling something uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach. Something was telling her to get up and bolt in the opposite direction.

"–I think we should help him out, don't you?"

"Hmm?" Hermione was thrown off as he asked her a question that she didn't know the answer to.

"We should help Blaise get Luna right? He's so obviously into her!" Hermione smiled and agreed. Blaise claimed that she was just a few good shags, but she could see that glimmer in his eyes every time he saw her. Luna said that she didn't really care for him either, but they all knew that she did.

"Those are two stubborn people in denial," Hermione told him. He smirked. "What?" she asked him.

"Funny, you just described yourself." Hermione gave him the best sarcastic look she was capable of. But he was right; that was probably why she felt the need to run every time she saw Draco.

"Hermione!" Harry pounded on the door a few times. "Hurry up; we're going to be late for lunch!"

"Okay, did you make reservations?" she called back to him as she shut of the water.

"Yes, and we have to be there in 20 minutes."

"Alright, I'll be right out." she wrapped the towel around herself and sighed. The shower was supposed to be relaxing but it had just left her feeling more nervous.

"Finally tapped that, huh?"

"Sod off, Zabini."

"It's plastered all over the newspapers; did you expect me to simply skim over that kind of a headline?" Blaise sat down next to his friend who was trying, and failing, to have a peaceful breakfast. "So what did you say that got her into your pants?" Blaise picked up the half-eaten toast from Draco's plate.

Draco snatched back his toast and took a large bite. "What exactly did the newspaper say, anyways? I don't recall anything about 'tapping' anything."

"I was just guessing," Blaise shrugged. "I asked, you got defensive and told me to shove it, so I knew that meant you had." He flashed a fake million dollar smile at Draco who simply took another bite out of his toast. "I've got to say, this came on really fast."

"Oh, so you and Lovegood are just going at snail's pace, aren't you?" Draco retorted. Blaise immediately recoiled a little.

"That's completely different." Blaise looked away. "Luna and I are not doing anything."

"So you don't take a long detour past the quibbler office coming home from work–" There was a smack on Draco's head, but he continued. "–at six instead of the normal time five because–" Smack. "–you know she walks home precisely then?" Draco neatly dodged the plate that Blaise chucked at him and repaired it with a lazy flick of his wand. "You know, you're right, Zabini." Draco changed his tone to one of seriousness. "You and Lovegood aren't doing anything; it's just you who's obsessed with her." He went back to his teasing manner which bothered Blaise to no end.

"Are you finished?" Blaise asked, irritated.

"Unfortunately," Draco nodded at him. "So watch it, before you make fun of my relationship because mine is actually existent."

Blaise simply stared at him for a long moment, his eyes slightly narrowed. Then, he quickly spun around and made his way to the fireplace without a word.

"You know," Draco called to him. "We could go on a double date."

Blaise froze with his hands in the floo powder. Draco could see the desire in Blaise's stance, even with his back turned.

"You, me, Hermione and Lovegood," Draco emphasized. "We could watch one of those muggle movies that all women love." Blaise was still turned away from Draco, hesitant. Draco sighed; he didn't think Blaise understood (either that, or he was in shock), "A double date, Zabini."

Blaise unclenched his fingers from the floo powder and made his way back to Draco.

"Tell me more about this dating business."

"Ron?" she called out to him. The hallway was dark and forlorn and it seemed as though no one had stepped in it for days. Why wasn't anyone brightening up this place? But Hermione guessed that her perspective of the area was possibly related to her mood; anxious, dreading, scared.

"Hey, Hermione!" a cheerful voice greeted her from behind. She spun around to see her favorite redhead making his way to hug her. He wrapped his arms around her eagerly and she tried to hug him back with just as much enthusiasm but it didn't quite come off like that. "Is everything alright?" Ron pulled back and looked into her eyes with concern. Hermione tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

"Let's sit down," she said as she took him by his hand to the sitting area, "we need to talk."

He followed her and sat down, not letting go of her hand. "Why do I feel like this isn't going to be an 'I love you, let's get married and have babies' kind of conversation?" He gave a nervous chuckle and tried to joke; Hermione's seriousness was starting to freak him out a little bit.

"Ron," she began slowly. She took her time trying to form words that she had been practicing for the past half hour; nothing seem to come out of her mouth right then. But her silence was enough for him to understand the gist. She could pretty much see his face fall. "I don't really know how to tell you this but–"

"You don't want to get back together." he finished her sentence, his voice low. He was looking down at the floorboards now. Hermione couldn't look him in the eye either and she looked down at her fidgety hands folded in her lap. "Okay," His voice was still soft. "I understand; I took a little too long." he nodded. Hermione's courage began to crumble. No, she told herself. I have to tell him myself, or he'll feel even worse when he finds out through the papers.

Ron couldn't really believe what was happening; it seemed surreal to him. The Ron-and-Hermione item had always seemed like such a definite. Everyone was so sure that it would end up being Hermione Weasley and they'd see little curly red-head Gryffindor know-it-alls running around.

"Ron, it wasn't exactly about how long it took." Hermione whispered.

"Well, what was it? Did you find someone else?" he asked a little disbelievingly, almost as if the idea was impossible. Hermione tried not to take that tone too personally as she reached inside her coat and pulled out the newspaper that Harry had taken away from Ron this morning. She handed it to him and looked away, not wanting to see his reaction. What she didn't expect though, was to hear the paper slap the table roughly and footsteps headed away from her. There was no screaming? No protests and death threats? He just walked away?

"Ron!" She went after him and heard the door slam. Reaching his room, she knocked on the door several times. "Ron, please open the door." She knew she could have simply blasted it open with her wand, but something told her that would merely aggravate him more. "Let's just talk about this, okay?"

"Talk?" he yelled as he threw the door open. "You want to talk? Let's talk!" Ron stepped into the hallway, his face nearing the redness of his hair. His eyes looked wild and hysterical. Hermione felt herself take a few steps backward. "Let's talk about how you dump me for Malfoy! Let's talk about how you felt the need to tell the paparazzi and reporters before me! Let's talk about the fact that he's Draco Malfoy!" The empty house rang with Ron's shouts.

"Ron, I–"

"You're choosing him over me? I've been by your side for seven years and he's been fighting you for those seven!"

"But–"

"I can't believe you, Hermione! What are you after, his money?"

The sound of Hermione's slap echoed through the halls. "I understand that you're angry," she spoke through clenched teeth. "But that does not give you the right to accuse me of being a gold-digging tramp!"

Ron was silent. He seemed to look a little regretful and Hermione felt so too; maybe she didn't need to slap him.

"I'm sorry, Ron." Her voice softened. "I'm sorry that it had to be this way but I can't help who I fall for." Hermione looked at him as he continued to look at the floor.

"I can't say I'm thrilled; it'll take me some time to get used to it." Ron shrugged. "But I'll try not to hex him into the next century if I see him."

Hermione frowned. Well, she thought. About the best I can hope for, I guess. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, tiptoeing to get closer to his towering head. He didn't return the hug though, his arm stayed by his side and his body was stiff. Just give him some time, Hermione.

One week later

Harry and Hermione stood, staring intensely at the worn out toothbrush. Hermione took a deep breath and looked at her watch again.

"Just about three minutes." she informed Harry who nodded at this information and comfortingly squeezed her shoulder. There was a whoosh from the fireplace and they both turned around.

"Sorry I'm late," Ron jogged breathlessly to Hermione's left. "Are you ready? How much time do we have left?"

Hermione glanced at her watch for the second time. "Two minutes." There was another familiar noise from the fireplace that was engulfed with green flames as Draco stepped through.

"Wow, just in time for a little field trip!" His taunting voice caused Ron to scowl.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" Hermione was sure she hadn't told him about this. She turned to look at Harry who was staring at the ceiling intently. "Harry!"

"I'm sorry! He asked what your plans for today were and I didn't think I'd have to lie to him! It's not a major secret or anything!" Harry's voice became higher as he got defensive.

"Don't blame him, sweetheart. I would have been furious later if I hadn't come on this trip with you anyways, so technically he did you a favor." Draco walked over to her and snaked his arm around her waist. He kissed her temple and looked at his watch. "I suggest we all prepare now." The four of them reached out and touched the old toothbrush. Hermione was glancing warily between Ron and Draco whom she was standing in between; Draco's expression was indifferent while Ron seemed to be debating whether or not to duel him right then and there. Draco leaned down and breathed in her ear, "Don't worry."

She let out a heavy breath. "Next stop, Alice Springs.

E/N: Sorry Susan, it took me forever to edit this but there wasn't much wrong with it! In fact it was a brilliant chapter just a few grammatical errors here and there :) Anyways ily and can't wait for another! –Rae (your brilliant forgetful editor)