AUTHOR'S NOTE: So I think I'll have another flashback after this one and maybe end in an epilogue? I kind of want to end it in the future, when Draco and Hermione have kids. What do you think? :)


Flashback: Two weeks prior to the current date.

"So, you're saying you don't even want to try," Draco said to Hermione. They were in her dormitory alone, Draco watching her organize her trunk, though she was not going anywhere.

"Draco, I've told you a million times," Hermione said exasperatedly, "It's just too complicated. I mean, we've been speaking to each other only a couple of times a year…What would everyone think?"

Draco slumped back in Hermione's bed and looked up at the ceiling. He sat up to see her stacking books with her wand.

"Okay, Granger listen: first of all, this year has been unlike any other year."

Hermione blushed, looking at Draco.

"Second of all," he continued, ticking off his fingers, "do you really about what other people think? I mean…you do walk around with that bushy mane every day-" he teased. Hermione opened in her mouth in false shock and tackled him on the bed. They laughed and began to tickle and pinch each other.

"Besides," Draco said finally, his chest heaving slightly from their tickling match, his hand stroking Hermione's hair, "Wouldn't you rather we just tell people - instead of someone accidentally finding us - like this?" He said, and gestured at how they were laying in Hermione's unmade bed. Hermione laughed.

"Hermione! It'd be the Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Princess! We are royalty," Draco said dramatically.

"Good to know you've become so down-to-earth over the years," Hermione said jokingly, and kissed him lightly. Draco closed his eyes and kissed her back.

"You have two weeks to change your answer," Draco said when he pulled away, and got up to leave Hermione's dormitory, a slight grin on his face.