A/N: I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who have read, subscribed to, and favorited this story so far! And an even greater thank you to those who have reviewed! I really appreciate it.

Chapter Seven

The signal for the end of class had just sounded causing a rush of chatter to fill the Transfiguration room. Cheerful smiles were plastered on many of the seventh years' faces as Tonks had chosen to not assign any work over the weekend.

"No work," Ron repeated what was announced, waiting for Hermione to place her many class notes in her book bag, "Does this mean you won't be tutoring tonight?"

"No, we still learned new spells and concepts today. Usually we go over those a few times," Hermione rolled her eyes.

A number of weeks had gone by since the trip to the Astronomy Tower and Ron had been giving Hermione trouble about the lessons every day since. He didn't like knowing that his girlfriend was alone with a guy, let alone Malfoy, and every day, Hermione would have to remind him there was nothing to worry about. The arguing was slowly pushing them apart and on most days, Ron was already asleep by the time Hermione returned from lessons, having gone to bed early.

"And reviewing a spell or two takes over an hour?" He looked skeptical, peering over Hermione's shoulder in order to throw a menacing glare at Draco who was on the other side of the room.

"No," Hermione wasn't going to lie, "Sometimes we talk."

"About?" Ron asked, tensing up as his hands involuntarily formed fists.

"What does it matter? We talk about life. We talk about death. We talk about books. We talk about how annoying you can be!" Hermione exclaimed, heading for the exit, which happened to be Draco's direction as well.

"Granger?" Draco called as she came closer, "Can I have a quick word with you?"

Hermione turned to Ron. "You don't have to wait for me. I'll see you in a few minutes."

Once again Ron appeared unconvinced but he left anyway.

"He must really hate me," Draco laughed as he watched Ron leave.

"And he has no problem letting me know," Hermione added, "What did you need to tell me?"

"While you two were bickering, I spoke to Tonks. She needs this room for something else tonight so Flitwick's letting us use his room," Draco informed her.

"Okay, I'll see you there, then."

"Have fun dealing with Weasley!" Draco sarcastically said goodbye.

"I always do," Hermione muttered and rushed to catch up with Ron.

The time came that night for Hermione to meet Draco in the Charms classroom. She pulled herself out of Ron's arms and off the couch, waiting for him to complain.

"Will you be asleep when I come back? It is the weekend. You can sleep late, you know?" Hermione asked, surprised that he hadn't said anything yet.

"I don't know, I think I'm becoming more of a morning person," Ron said, rising to meet Hermione.

"Well, goodnight, just in case you are asleep." Hermione kissed him quickly but enough to say that she loved him.

"Goodnight."

Hermione met Draco in the Charms room on time and began summoning books and objects off the shelves. They weren't the ones she had imagined using but seeing as those were in the other room, these ones would have to take their place. During the lesson after the uncomfortable Astronomy Tower incident, Hermione and Draco had agreed on reviewing spell work during sessions rather than just spending time together. They figured they could still use the practice for their N.E.W.T.s.

"We went over transforming parts of objects into animal parts in class today, do you want to do that, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, settling herself in one of the old chairs.

"That sounds wonderful," Draco joked, taking out his wand and pointing it at one of the school books on the table.

After successfully performing the spell, the front and back covers turned into feathery wings and the book fluttered once around the room before Draco turned it back to its original form.

"Your turn," he nodded toward Hermione.

Hermione aimed her wand at one of the cushions used by the first years and transfigured the four corner tassels into a set of canine legs. The half-dog, half-cushion creature sprung off of the table and being surprisingly fast, charged out the open door into the rest of Hogwarts.

"Should we go after it?" Hermione laughed at the thought of a cushion-dog terrorizing the school.

"Probably," Draco agreed and raced with Hermione to catch it.

They spotted the creature sprinting away down the corridor and went after it. It had quite a lot of energy for being part-inanimate object. Finally, they managed to chase it into a section of corridor that happened to be a loop with no other exits.

"You go right, I'll go left and we'll trap it in the middle. Try to be sneaky, alright?" Draco devised his simple plan. Hermione nodded, slightly out of breath, and they took off in opposite directions.

Hermione silently tiptoed around the corridor, her wand out and ready to reverse the transfiguration the moment she saw the thing. She edged near the final turn, preparing to see Draco down the other end and the creature in the middle of them.

Hermione quietly turned the corner and to her surprise came upon two unidentifiable students having an intense snog with hands and other body parts all over the place. In the background, she spotted Draco jogging toward her, holding the defeated cushion. Hermione couldn't just leave, though. As Head Girl, it was her job to stop students from doing things— like having a good snog— in the corridors.

"Excuse me?" she loudly interrupted them, hoping they would pay attention, "I'm Head G—"

The pair separated to see what had interrupted them. Hermione felt every nerve in her body freeze as she met Ron Weasley's guilty blue eyes.

"Hermione! It's not what it looks like!" Ron exclaimed pushing Lavender Brown off of him.

Hermione didn't want to wait for his apology of lies. She couldn't look at him or even open her mouth to rebut for fear that her voice would completely fail if she tried. She forced her legs to move and started running for the solitude of her bed in the Gryffindor Tower as tears burned her eyes.

"You're disgusting," Draco spat at Ron, watching Hermione run, now out of sight. With one swift and determined motion, he swung his fist straight into Ron's face, but before Draco could see how much damage he'd caused, he sprinted after Hermione.

He easily closed the distance between them and found her running up a staircase.

"Granger!" he shouted, trying to make her stop. She ignored him, her sobs audible from afar.

"Granger! Wait!" Draco tried again with little success, almost catching up to her.

"Hermione!" He called with whatever breath he had left and managed to grab hold of her hand from behind.

Hermione ceased running as she spun around in Draco's grip. To his surprise, she threw her arms tight around his neck and buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Draco took her hands, unwound her arms, and went to take a step back. He stopped, though, when he saw her lift her head helplessly to look pleadingly into his eyes.

"I—" he began protesting but never finished as he released Hermione's shaking hands and placed his arms around her trembling frame. The space between them disappeared in an instant as Hermione continued to cry into his shirt. He had no idea what to do. He had never had to comfort anyone in his entire life. Nervously, he rested his head on top of Hermione's and gently stroked her bushy hair.

They remained as they were for some time and eventually Hermione's breathing slowed and her shuddering sobs occurred less often. Draco cautiously lifted a finger to her eyes and brushed away the tears. He couldn't stand seeing her destroyed like this.

The sound of foot steps down the corridor caused Hermione to pick her head up. Her eyes were red and swollen but through her tears she could see Ron approaching. Draco protectively tightened his hold on her as if Ron were going to attack, but Hermione resisted slightly.

"Haven't you hurt her enough for one day?" Draco nearly growled at Ron, noticing blood stains on his shirt and the beginning of a black eye.

Ron ignored him, "I'm not here to beg for forgiveness," he said to Hermione, "I just wanted to talk with you."

Hermione didn't know how to respond. She turned to Draco for help.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he told her, hoping she would refuse.

"I'll talk, but it won't change anything between us," Hermione told Ron. Draco sighed an inaudible sigh and dropped his arms from around Hermione.

"You'll be alright?" he muttered into her ear before she stepped away.

"I think so," Hermione whispered and followed Ron in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower, leaving Draco with a lot on his mind.

Ron made sure to keep his distance from Hermione.

"I actually was going to beg for forgiveness until I saw that I was right," he started, sounding smug with himself.

"Right about what?" Hermione asked, her head still spinning from everything that had just happened.

"You and Malfoy," Ron said, and after receiving another confused look, continued, "And the relationship you two have been keeping secret."

"And which part are you right about? The fact that it doesn't exist?" Hermione's pulse was rising.

"Then what was just going on between you two?" Ron raised an eyebrow, trying to find evidence.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed, "I was crying because of you and he was there to comfort me like any friend would! There was never anything going on. You were just paranoid and jealous and wanted someone to snog because unlike every other girl in this school, I have some dignity and want more than a purely physical relationship!"

"So, you don't have feelings for him?"

Hermione stopped walking. They had reached the Fat Lady's portrait and she didn't want all of Gryffindor to hear their conversation.

"I have feelings for you," she answered, "As hurt and angry as I am because of you, I still love you, but I can't be with you after what you did."

Ron seemed satisfied with the fact that she still loved him and said the password to let them in. "Are we still friends?"

"Friends? We've been friends since first year. Something like this couldn't keep us from being friends. We were only dating for a few months, though, and look at all the fighting we've done. We obviously don't work well as anything more than friends and I'm just going to have to get over you. But I'm not about to run into your arms and forgive you," Hermione confessed, stepping inside the crowded common room.

"So, you still love me but you don't want to anymore and you're really upset with me but we're still friends?" Ron went through his list, making sure he understood.

"Friends that are currently not speaking to each other," Hermione stated and went up to her dormitory.

She lay face down on her bed with the curtains shut, thinking about what Ron had said and what she had told him. It was true, she still loved him, but one thing was bothering her. She hadn't answered his question correctly. You don't have feelings for him? Ron had asked about Draco and Hermione had subconsciously avoided answering it. Why wasn't she able to tell him what he wanted to hear? Did she have feelings for Draco?

For the second time that night, Hermione's eyes flooded with tears of confusion as she remembered how close her and Draco had been just now and at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Had she really fallen for the one she was supposed to hate without even realizing it?