"I was beginning to think you'd lost your way, Granger," Draco said as Hermione made her way over to the couch to sit next to him.

"I was the one who wanted to meet, wasn't I? Harry held me up a bit," Hermione replied as she plopped down next to him.

"Ah, Saint Potter. Of course. Now, why exactly did you want to meet tonight?" Draco asked. He was looking at Hermione curiously. Ever since he had first kissed her, he couldn't stop thinking about her. And now, Granger was willingly sitting with him on the same couch. Draco never thought in a million years that would happen.

"We need to talk," Hermione said.

"Alright. What about?"

"Well, for starters, why not tell me exactly why you kissed me the first time."

How was he supposed to answer that? Draco barely even knew himself why he had kissed her those few nights ago. He barely even remembered that night. All Draco could recall was Granger yelling out that she had a crush on Weasley, and then he had kissed her. He decided to tell her the truth, whatever truth that was.

"To be honest, Granger, I'm not entirely sure why I kissed you. I just did."

"You just did?"

"Precisely."

Hermione was put off by that answer. She wanted him to say more. Obviously, he wasn't going to.

"Okay, well… you said that you stopped caring about blood in Fourth Year. Why?"

Oh no, not this again. Draco really didn't want to answer her, but he figured honesty was the best option right now. Also, Draco didn't want to lie to her. She deserved honesty.

"I stopped caring about blood purity when I saw you at the Yule Ball in Fourth Year."

Well, that was blunt. Draco's answer had taken Hermione completely off guard. She knew he was being honest with her, but why? She thought he would lie his way out of all of her questions, being a Slytherin and all. Hermione stared at him. She just couldn't figure him out. Maybe there was more to him than she originally thought.

"W-when you saw me at the Yule Ball? What do you mean?"

Draco really didn't want to explain this further, but he just couldn't bring himself to lie to her.

"You want the whole truth? I stopped caring about blood, because you, a muggleborn, looked more beautiful than anyone else in the room. When I thought that, I thought something was wrong with me. I kept telling myself that you were just a mudblood and that you only looked good on that one night, but I was lying to myself. After that night, I couldn't help but notice that you are beautiful. Ever since I was little, my father has told me that muggleborns are horrible people -well to him they're hardly people-, he told me that they don't deserve the magic that they possess and that they stole it from purebloods. But seeing you, looking so beautiful that night, made me realize that he was wrong, about everything. And it wasn't just your beauty that made my views change; you're also the best witch this school has. I suppose that's a sufficient enough answer to your question. Now you know."

Hermione was speechless. Draco had called her beautiful. Not once, but five times. She didn't know what to say. Hermione just stared at him, completely dumbfounded.

Draco felt like he had said too much. She was just staring at him! Merlin, he was an idiot. There was no taking it back now.

Mustering up the dignity he had left, Draco continued their discussion.

"Granger? Anything else you need to ask?"

His words brought Hermione out of her trance. Her mind came back to the present and to the question at hand. Was there anything else she needed to say? Yes. A lot of things. But most of those things could wait. There was one important thing she needed to know now.

"What is going on between us? And don't just say 'nothing' because that's a lie. When you kissed me, something changed. I need to know where we stand now," Hermione firmly stated.

Draco hadn't thought about that. What were they? They weren't friends. They weren't acquaintances. They weren't enemies. What in the bloody hell were they?

"I… don't know how to answer that. Yes, something changed when I kissed you, but I don't know what. All I know is that I really enjoy kissing you," Draco finally replied.

Hermione laughed. Not a mocking laugh, but a joking laugh, like one she had shared with Harry and Ron.

"What's so funny, Granger?" Draco asked, slightly annoyed by her.

"Nothing. I just… I… enjoy kissing you, too," Hermione replied, trying to keep in the small chuckle trying to escape her throat.

"Then where are we now? Where does this leave us?" Draco asked.

"Well, I like kissing you, you like kissing me. I'm helping you with this cabinet, so we'll be spending more time together. Maybe we could… I don't know, see where this takes us?" Hermione countered.

Draco pondered her words for a moment and then agreed with her. He had felt something when they kissed, something he had never felt before. Draco wouldn't mind seeing where things went with Granger.

It was getting late. Hermione needed to get a little bit of sleep that night, so she had to leave Draco, even though she really didn't want to. She wanted to stay here with him and talk some more, but she really needed to sleep. Deciding that it was time to go, Hermione rose from the couch. As she did so, Draco's eyes followed her movements. Within a second, he was standing next to her.

"It's late. I'm going to go back to my dorm so… I'll see you tomorrow?" Hermione sheepishly asked.

"Tomorrow, same time. Goodnight, Granger," Draco replied. He then leaned in and gave Hermione one small kiss on the lips. Hermione immediately responded and kissed him back. Pulling away, she gave him a smile and turned to leave. As she reached the door, Hermione looked back and saw Draco was watching her leave. She waved and then left.


Hermione walked the whole way back to Gryffindor Tower with a smile on her face. She was happy. Slightly confused, but happy nonetheless. Finally she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and opened it.


Draco sat back down on the couch after Hermione had left. She had become his little bit of happiness in his messed up world. He couldn't believe that out of all people, Hermione Granger would be the one he had started to develop feelings for. He had decided that after she had left. Draco had feelings for her, and he wasn't sure if she returned those feelings, but he didn't care. Not now, anyway.

As Hermione made her way into the seemingly empty common room, she let out a soft yawn. She was exhausted. Walking passed the burning out embers of the fire, Hermione noticed the arm chair closest to it was occupied, by none other than Ron Weasley with giddy Lavender sitting on his lap. Hermione froze. Ron stared at her.

"Hermione? You realize it's almost two in the morning? Where on Earth have you been?" Ron asked. To Hermione, he sounded annoyed.

"I don't believe that's any of your concern, Ronald," Hermione replied. She quickly walked past the couple and went up to bed. She didn't know that even in the dimness of the room, Ron had seen her swollen lips, and he was not happy about it.


Sorry this chapter is so short! It was more of a filler chapter. I wanted to sort of establish things between Hermione and Draco and I think I got that all explained. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

-kiwilynn13