A/N: Hey all! Sorry this update has taken so long - I had family visiting and then I went on vacation, so I haven't been around very much. Anyway, thank you all SO much for the reaction to the last chapter! I love hearing your feedback and seeing how you are all enjoying the story. Keep it up!


"Someone's looking happy," Ginny observed as Hermione practically danced into the Great Hall that evening for dinner. "What's got you up on cloud nine?"

"Nothing," Hermione answered automatically, her cheeks reddening as she fought the urge to glance back at the Slytherin table. The back of her neck prickled, and she was positive that Draco's eyes were watching her. "It's just been a good day."

"You lost house points and had cleaning duty detention." Ron looked at her like she had lost her mind. "How was that a good day?"

"It just was," Hermione said with a wide smile, refusing to let her friends' skepticism bother her. "No reason." She sat down and started loading up her plate with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Ginny leaned in closer with a knowing look and a gleam in her eyes. "Really? No reason?"

"None," Hermione repeated, her heart sinking slightly as she realized that Ginny wouldn't leave this alone. She might be able to fool Ron and Harry, but Ginny was too perceptive.

"Alright, then," Ginny agreed. "Are we still on for the library tonight?"

"Of course. 9 o'clock?" They hadn't made plans to meet at the library - that was just Ginny's polite way of getting Hermione to spill all the details without alerting the boys. Hermione would have appreciated her friend's thoughtfulness if she wasn't so worried about what she was going to say. How do you tell people that you were falling for the rudest, most arrogant wizard at Hogwarts? How do you explain that he was really much better in private?

"I'll be there," Ginny replied with a satisfied smile.

"Mione," Harry asked after a couple moments of silence, "did you talk to Malfoy about leaving you alone?"

"You could always punch him again," Ron added helpfully with a hopeful smile on his face. "That was bloody fantastic, that was."

"I, uh, I certainly did talk to Malfoy," Hermione floundered. She hated lying, especially to her best friends, but there was no way she could tell Harry and Ron that making Draco leave her alone was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

"And?" Harry prompted.

"And I was very clear. He understood exactly what I wanted." It was the truth, but Hermione still felt guilty since she knew that she was deliberately misleading her friends. She had been clear with Draco, but she doubted that all the snogging they had done while cleaning the potions classroom counted as telling him to stay away. However, telling Harry and Ron the truth was not an option, at least not yet. If things kept happening between her and Draco, then eventually she would have no choice, but she could put it off as long as possible.

"Good." Harry nodded approvingly. The conversation moved on to the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It was the most anticipated match of the school year so far, and Hermione was frankly sick about hearing the same strategies over and over again. Besides, she and Draco had plans to meet at the top of their tower directly after dinner. She wouldn't be able to stay long because of Ginny, but her heart still skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him again.

"...burned all of your textbooks." Ron's voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she glared at him.

"You. What?"

"It was a joke!" Ron raised his hands defensively and grinned at her impishly. "You were staring off into space."

"Dreamily," Harry added.

"Probably thinking about ickle Ronnie," Fred jumped into the conversation. Ron's face immediately turned as red as his hair, and Hermione felt a blush heat up her own face as well.

"No way," Hermione squeaked, just as Ron threw a spoonful of potatoes at his brother. Fred dodged, but the potato ball hit George right in the ear.

"Oops…" Ron whispered.

Feeling a massive foodfight coming on, Hermione excused herself before she ended up with a face full of gravy. However, she didn't miss the meaningful glance Ginny shot her, reminding her that she'd better show up tonight and provide all the details.

She sighed, but still couldn't help the small smile on her lips as she started up towards the tower to meet Draco.

Draco paced impatiently around the top of the tower, glancing repeatedly towards the staircase to see if Gr-no, if Hermione had arrived yet.

Not that he was excited to see her or anything. The snogging in the potions classroom this morning had been...he forced himself not to say 'incredible,' but he couldn't shake the thought from his mind. He had definitely gotten carried away, and his teenage hormones had convinced him that he had real feelings for her. That was impossible, of course. This stupid bet was messing with his mind, convincing him that he felt things for someone who was beneath him. Everything he'd said to her about liking her had felt too real for his liking. If it weren't for the bet, he would have left her the second those pesky feelings started cropping up, would have broken her heart like it was nothing. However, now the thought of breaking her heart made something twist painfully inside of him.

"Draco," Hermione's voice called out. He realized that he had stopped pacing and was glaring out at the Hogwarts grounds, and so had stopped watching the stairs. "Hi," she said with a smile as he turned around.

Despite his best efforts at convincing himself that the feelings weren't real, he couldn't help the small, genuine smile that formed at the sight of her. "Hermione," he breathed, reaching towards her automatically. She came willingly into his arms, and he held her close even as he hated himself for the tender gesture. He was supposed to be pulling away from her - only getting close enough to fool her and win the bet.

Finally, Hermione pulled back and looked up at him. "So I didn't imagine this afternoon, then?"

Draco chuckled and grazed his lips across hers. He couldn't help himself, not with her looking all lovestruck up at him. "You're terrible at Potions."

"Someone was being distracting," Hermione countered.

"So you find me distracting?" Draco felt a rush of pride at the thought of the effect he had on her.

"Only in the worst way."

"Still, distracting?" he raised his eyebrow and leaned in to kiss her. She melted into it immediately, eagerly running her hands through his hair and he pulled her closer. He nibbled on her bottom lip, as if asking permission to deepen the kiss, but barely waiting for her answering moan before running his tongue lightly on the top of her bottom lip and grazing the tip of her tongue. Hermione let out a sigh of breath that sent his blood boiling.

However, a second later, Hermione pulled back with a jerk, staring at him.

"What?" he asked, drinking the sight of her looking all disheveled and flushed after their kiss.

"Are you serious about this?" she asked him, slightly breathlessly. "About...about me?"

Draco paused, two conflicting emotions fighting inside of him. He wanted to tell her that he was serious, that his feelings were real. However, he couldn't stop the feeling of guilt at the thought that this wasn't real, and he was using her to win the bet and show Blaise up.

"I...I don't know," he admitted honestly. "I want to find out, though." He needed to buy himself time to figure out what was going on in his head.

"Me too. And that's good enough, for now," Hermione told him. "I just wanted to make sure before I talked to Ginny because we're meeting up tonight and…"

"Whoa, what?" Draco asked sharply, releasing her and allowing her to stumble backwards. "You're telling Ginny? Who else are you bragging to?"

"Bragging to?" Hermione asked tightly, a glint of anger appearing in her eyes. "My friends have a right to-"'

"-can't have you bragging to all of Hogwarts!" Draco cut in, his voice rising. "I've got my reputation to maintain!"

"Well, I'm sorry you've been sullying yourself with me and that I'm such an embarrassment to you!" Hermione retorted loudly. He could see the glint of tears forming in her eyes, but none spilled onto her cheeks. "This was a mistake." She spun on her heel and turned to go.

With a lot of effort, Draco forced himself to lower his voice. "Hermione," he asked softly, "wait?"

"What for?" she asked without turning around. "I was stupid to think you could have changed. You're just as arrogant as ever."

Draco stepped forward and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder, turning her to face him. He couldn't bring himself to apologize - he would never sink that low - but he could try to make things better, or kiss his chances of winning the bet goodbye. Besides, though it was hard to admit, he didn't like seeing her almost cry. "I just don't want this to get out before…"

"...before what?"

"...before...I don't know. If it gets out, the Golden Trio will kill me...not to mention what my father would do…"

Hermione frowned. "It's not like I'm thrilled about telling my friends I've been snogging you," she told him, crossing her arms in front of her. "I just don't know how long I can keep it a secret from them."

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Everything was starting to fall apart, and he still hadn't won the bet. He was close - so close - but he had to seal the deal and prove it to Blaise before he could call it quits. "Do your best."

"That's it? Do your best?" Hermione scoffed. "Great advice."

"Stop snapping at me," Draco snapped. "I'm trying to help."

Hermione bit her lip and looked away. "Why can't we make it through a conversation without arguing?"

"It's your fault," Draco told her with a grin, stepping in closer and trying to lighten the mood. He could visibly see Hermione's breathing hitch as he stepped closer, and his grin turned to a smug smirk. "You're too stubborn and self-righteous."

"And you're a stuck-up jerk," she responded, but there was no bite to her words. Instead, her lips parted slightly, inviting him to come closer.

"You know you think it's sexy." Before she could respond, Draco put his hands around her waist and pulled her to him, capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. He poured all his emotion into it - all his desperation, confusion, desire - everything.

By the time they broke apart, both panting for breath - which did nice things to Hermione's body, he couldn't help but notice - Draco was feeling even more conflicted about where his true feelings for the Gryffindor lay.

Hermione breezed into the library later that night, only a couple minutes late for her meeting with Ginny. She was still feeling lightheaded from Draco's kisses, and she couldn't hide the small smile from her lips. She knew that things were far from perfect - the fact that they ended up yelling at each other more often than not proved that - but she felt hopeful that they would work things out, and that she could be happy. Still, the thought of telling Ginny gave her nervous butterflies.

"Hermione!" Ginny flagged her over to where she sat alone at a small table. "Over here!"

The butterflies started flapping more wildly. She had basically agreed with Draco not to tell anyone, but there was no way she could keep this secret from her best friend any longer, no matter what Draco wanted.

"Sooo?" Ginny asked, wagging her eyebrows up and down suggestively. "Details."

"Not here," Hermione insisted, glancing around. There were a handful of Hufflepuffs at a nearby table engaged in a serious study session, but Hermione knew that if they overheard anything, the gossip would spread faster than a wildfire. "Let's head to the back of the Arithmancy section." Arithmancy was a high-level, difficult elective, and she correctly figured out that the section would be deserted.

"What's the big deal about secrecy?" Ginny demanded as they settled onto a bench together. "Who is this guy? It's not Ron, right? I would know if it were Ron."

"It's not Ron." For a while, she had been smitten with Ron, but then Draco had come along, and her attentions had turned so completely that she had nearly forgotten about her feelings for Ginny's brother. "It's…" she hesitated, feeling a stab of guilt. "Ginny, can I trust you?'

"Of course," Ginny said immediately, looking slightly offended. "You know you can."

"I know," Hermione took a deep breath. "Just...just swear that you won't tell anyone?"

Ginny looked puzzled and slightly concerned. "I swear," she finally said. "What's going on?"

"It's Draco."

"Malfoy?" Ginny leapt off the bench and stared at Hermione. "No. Way."

"It's true…" Hermione said weakly.

"Hermione, did he hex you? Or is he blackmailing you?"

"Of course not! He's really not so bad when you get to know him."

"No, Hermione, he really is that bad. He's a player, and for some reason you're his game. Can't you see that?"

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes. She knew that this was going to be hard, but she hadn't expected such a violently negative response from her best friend. "All I see is that you're refusing to see that Draco may not be such a terrible person. Can't you be happy for me?"

"I would be," Ginny insisted, "if you weren't making a stupid mistake that's going to get you hurt."

Hermione bit her lip and blinked back the tears before they could fall. "My only mistake was telling you," she said stiffly.

Ginny looked hurt. "Hermione, you know I'm on your side. If you're happy, then I'll try to respect that." She didn't sound convincing, but her attempt helped to diffuse Hermione's hurt.

"You won't tell anyone?"

"I won't. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Hermione hesitated, but then admitted, "No, I'm not sure. We fight. A lot. But then we kiss…"

She spent the rest of the evening confiding in Ginny - her worries, her hopes - everything and left with a much lighter heart.


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