A/N – The reviews are amazing, I love you all. I would love more, so please read and review. It makes my day, seriously. I've been working so hard on this. So here is another chapter for you and I'm working on Chapter Ten and I think you'll like it. My story is going to take a real direction now, so I hope you enjoy it.

"Morning"

Hermione looked up, rubbing her eyes and shivering on the cold ground. She was wrapped in Draco's jacket that he had been wearing last night.

Last night…it all came back to her then. She remembered how simply kissing ended up not being enough and they had began pushing for more. She remembered the smell of his skin and the feel of his hands on her waist, his lips on her lips. Things had gotten further and further out of hand and now it was done and Hermione couldn't find it in herself to regret it.

Then all of a sudden she registered the bright light coming from the sky. It was morning and they were both lying next to the lake, Hermione only covered in a jacket. She looked up and noted that Draco had already gotten dressed once more.

"Don't worry, it's still early…nobody's been out here" he told her, chuckling at the stricken look on her face.

"Oh, good" she breathed a sigh of relief and immediately began dressing herself, feeling awfully conscious of the open space she was doing it in. Draco continued to laugh, apparently her awkwardness amused him.

"Good morning" she said once she was finally fully clothed and not quite as cold as she had been. The sun was streaming down from the sky, it looked like the frost was coming to an end at last.

He smirked, leaning casually against the same tree as last night but with a very different expression on his face.

"Well…this is interesting, isn't it?" he said, passing the jacket she had handed to him back to her. "You're still cold" he explained, rolling his eyes and tossing his wand to the other hand.

"Interesting…" Hermione repeated, draping the jacket around her shoulders and settling down in the grass once again. "It was…I certainly didn't expect it" she smiled ever so slightly and attempted to push some of her hair behind her ear.

"Neither did I actually" Draco replied, examining his wand. "I'm going to kill Amber-Rose. Every time she's right I look like a prat…which is actually surprisingly often"

Hermione giggled, nodding. "She's gong to be pleased, I get the feeling she likes being right"

"Well then…" he said, standing up and shaking the grass off himself. "Do we head to breakfast and give her the satisfaction?"

A chilly feeling crept into Hermione's stomach. She hadn't spoken to Ron and Harry for ages and had been hoping to patch it up with them somehow but now this…How could they ever forgive her for this? It hurt to know that it wouldn't matter to them that she was happy right now. All that would matter was who she had been happy with and it was going to end badly.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ron and Harry…" she muttered, looking towards the ground. She knew that he was probably a little bit pleased that he had this over Ron. It didn't matter to Draco that she was going to loose her best friends if she hadn't lost them already.

"Oh…" his voice trailed off as he tried to find something to say to console her. "I'm sure they'll…get over it"

"They're never going to speak to me again" she exclaimed, head snapping up to look at him with a fiery look in her eye. "They're already not speaking to me but…they're going to hate me. You know they are!"

"Look, Hermione," Draco said, exasperated. "Here is the time where you have to make a choice! It's a shitty choice for you, yes but you have to make it. I'm not going to say that it's me or them, as much as it would piss me off to have you hanging out with them but regardless of whether you have them you've got me. They way you talk about them makes them seem like they're not very good friends"

Hermione shrugged, her heart sinking. When did he get so insightful? It sucked to know that he was right.

"Come on then" she muttered, beginning to walk towards the doors to the Entrance Hall. Draco caught up with her and grabbed her hand. Taking a breath Hermione looked up at him and smiled slightly. It was incredible how things had changed so quickly, but it had and now she had to live with the consequences of wanting what she wanted.

They entered the Great Hall and Hermione loosened her grip on his hand, attempting to let go. He rolled his eyes once more and clasped it tighter. "Stop being pathetic" he muttered.

"Oh my god!" Scarlett was in front of them in a matter of two seconds, intercepting them on their way to the Slytherin table. Amber-Rose was still sitting in her seat with a small smirk on her face and an unreadable glint in her eye. "You two actually…oh my god!" Scarlett was still screaming and causing everybody to look around at them.

"Scarlett, do you have a volume control?" Draco asked, laughing at her.

"I'm sorry but…it was so obvious and then you were being all annoying and avoiding us because you didn't want to admit it and now you guys are together! You are together, right?"

"No, Draco's holding my hand in the middle of a public place with my two best friends who are going to hate me now watching because we hate each other" Hermione said all in one breath. Scarlett blew a strand of hair from her face and then she broke out into a grin.

"You called him Draco!" she squealed, bouncing on her toes. "That's so cute!"

"My name is cute?" Draco asked, amused.

"You know what I mean" she snapped, hitting him playfully. "So, are you two coming to sit with us then?"

"HERMIONE!"

Slowly everybody turned towards the sound. Several occupants of the house tables turned to watch too. Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she saw Ron storming towards them, his face livid.

"Here we go" Amber-Rose said, appearing at Hermione's shoulder. Without really realizing it Hermione gripped Draco's hand tighter. Of course that wasn't going to help her cause.

Harry was following behind Ron, looking astonished and almost as angry as Ron did. Hermione hadn't expected anything less. After all Harry had been in a bad mood these days and did seem to take it out on anybody who did the smallest thing wrong. But this wasn't wrong, it had nothing to do with Harry…this was Hermione's happiness.

"Hey, Weasley" Draco drawled, apparently trying not to laugh. Hermione looked at the ground and let go of his hand, drawing her arms around her torso and fighting not to blush.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ron asked, glaring at her and shifting his eyes back and forth between the two of them. His eyes were slits and his fists were balled at his sides while Harry stood at his shoulder, the sidekick for once.

A giggle came from behind Hermione and she turned to see Scarlett covering her mouth with both hands, a smile still evident on her face.

"What are you laughing at?" Ron shouted, turning on her. Scarlett blinked, embarrassed that she had been heard.

"Um…" she began, actually managing to continue looking Ron in the eye. It seemed she had more guts that Hermione did. "It's just that…the word fuck seemed a bit of an ironic curse word considering the situation." Then she smiled slightly and stepped backwards so that she was behind Amber-Rose.

Both Hermione and Ron's mouths dropped open.

"I'm sorry" Scarlett whispered in response to Hermione's glare. Hermione just huffed and turned back to Ron. He appeared to be waiting for her to defend herself and many eyes were currently on her. She had to step up to the plate now.

"You weren't even speaking to me!" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Both of you, you were just avoiding me. What was I suppose to do? Ruin my happiness by sitting in my dormitory every night and mourning over you. You two believed the rumours and had absolutely no faith in me! You said yourself that I would be dating Draco Malfoy next"

"We didn't think you actually would!" Harry snapped back.

"Oh, well I'm sorry that I didn't spend my whole life crying over somebody too stupid to realize that I had feelings for him!" Hermione threw back, her eyes travelling to Ron. Ron's eyes widened as he stared at her. "I can't control my feelings, okay? But Draco was actually there for me, you two weren't. There had to come a point when I could give up on Ron."

"What the hell are you on about?" Ron asked, his voice quieter. He seemed to have calmed down a little after Hermione's exclamation.

"Oh my god, Ron!" she shouted, unable to calm down herself. "You have to be the thickest person I have ever met! I've spent years hoping you would grow up and ask me out. Last year…at the Yule Ball…how could you not have figured it out then? I thought you felt the same but you never said anything and it drove me mad. The only reason Draco kissed me in the first place was because I said I would rather be with you over him. You just…" she trailed off in exasperation almost on the verge of pulling her hair out.

"What…? I…" Ron stammered, his hands falling loose. Harry was watching him and it was obvious that he had seen this coming. Hermione knew it had been apparent how she felt for years, Harry wasn't blind.

"It's just as I thought" she said, coolly. "You had no idea. Well, I gave up…you couldn't accept that I had to get involved with new people that you didn't really like. My life isn't up to you, Ron and now you're just going to have to live with it"

"So…what?" Harry asked, looking at the group before him. Hermione standing next to Draco Malfoy with Scarlett Maddox and Amber-Rose Height behind them. It was like she had completely crossed over and left them behind. "You're joining them? Becoming Malfoy's girlfriend and their best friend…?" he pointed at Scarlett and Amber-Rose whole folded their arms across their chests and glared at him. "You're siding with them?"

"This isn't a side thing, Harry" she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not evil, I'm not a Death Eater…but I'm not you either. I'm not the hero."

Hermione turned and took Draco's hand again. She led him to the Slytherin table with Scarlett and Amber-Rose walking behind them, shooting smirks back at Harry and Ron as they stood in the middle of the hall. Several Slytherin students were laughing and as bad as Hermione felt for that she was still seething from the attack.

"So…" Draco began, leaning his elbows on the table and grinning at her. "You're my girlfriend then, eh?"

"Sure, why not?" she replied, a half smile appearing on her face and giving him a quick kiss before she turned and began eating her breakfast as fast as she could as class was due to start in a matter of minutes.

Up at the staff table a look passed between Professor Singlia and Dumbledore. Heaving a deep sigh, Singlia lifted her goblet to her lips muttering,

"Finally!"