Yours

Harry, Ron and Hermione found the remaining Horcruxes surprisingly fast. Knowing that they were pressed for time, the three barely slept and spent all of their time either researching or finding artifacts. In one month, they had found the locket, which had not been destroyed by the mysterious R.A.B., and instead had been destroyed by Ron, and the diadem, which Hermione destroyed.

They decided to head back to the burrow and to relax and celebrate before the war continued.

They arrived during the middle of an Order meeting and there was silence in the room until Molly Weasley sprang out of her seat and walked over to them. The three smiled, thinking that they would be welcomed back with a hug and kiss. Instead, she smacked each of them on the head and shouted, "Where have you been? We have all been worried sick when you didn't write. For all we knew you were dead!"

"Mum," Ron tried to say, but was cut off as Mrs. Weasley's rant continued.

"And it wasn't as if we had a clue where you were. All you left was an evasive note that told us nothing!"

"Mrs. Weasley-"

"And now you just pop back in here and I hope you know that we demand an explanation! No excuses."

Everyone stared at the three teenagers, who just looked at each other awkwardly. "Well, you see," Harry started uncomfortably. "Ron, Hermione and I have, um, been-"

"Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Maybe it's best if we only tell a few people."

He nodded, knowing that that would be safest.

"We're very sorry to all of you, but if it would be alright, we would like to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Professor Lupin, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Tonks, and Kingsley in private."

The rest of the order left grudgingly. Some mumbling, obviously annoyed, while others whispered excitedly about what they could have been doing.

In a few minutes, everyone had cleared out except Hermione, Harry and Ron and the people they had asked to stay. Once again, silence filled the room until Harry began to speak again.

"Since we've been gone," he said. "The three of us have been searching for the Horc-"

Before Harry could finish speaking an explosion went off outside, throwing everyone to the ground. As soon as she got her bearings back, Hermione stood up quickly and took out her wand. Hearing noises outside, she turned to face the direction they had come from. Looking around her, Hermione saw that everyone else had gotten to their feet as well.

She saw Molly whispered something to Snape, who, although unhappily, cast a quick spell and apparated away. Hermione knew that it was the best thing for him to do. It was most important that he keep his cover.

As soon as he disappeared, the wall Hermione was facing was blown off and death eaters swarmed in. Spells started flying everywhere and Hermione found herself facing countless enemies, luckily none of them were too skilled. Soon more members of the order arrived and though the Order was still greatly outnumbered, the numbers were more even.

Halfway through the battle, Hermione found herself fighting a skilled death eater. The two traded off spells until finally Hermione got the winning shot and he went down. She looked up to find Harry smiling at her, silently congratulating her on a fight well fought. Suddenly, the smile disappeared from his face.

"Hermione!" His voice was mixed with a few others and Hermione turned to look, trying to see what everyone was so worried about.

Her eyes widened as she saw a jet of green light streaming towards her. Not having enough time to dodge it, she braced herself for the impact, but when she got knocked over, it was from a different direction than the spell.

Someone had pushed her, more like tackled, her to the ground, causing the spell to miss by less than a hair.

Hermione opened her eyes, having closed them when the impact came, and looked into the face of the person who had saved her. Hermione found it hard to breathe and she found it impossible to look away from the eyes of Draco Malfoy.

Sometime during the fight, he had lost his mask and now frozen, the two could only stare at each other. Draco was the first to move and all he did was whisper, "Hermione."

Before Hermione could do anything in response, Draco was pulled off her by Harry and Ron.

"What the hell Malfoy?" yelled Ron. Harry just glared.

It seemed as if they were oblivious to the battle that was raging around them. They were all caught up in their old rivalries and to them, nothing else mattered.

Draco stood up slowly and patiently wiped the dirt off of his death eater robe. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Yes, there is," Harry yelled. "I don't know what you want but stay away from our Mione!"

He raised his eyebrows. "So you would rather that I let her die?"

They seemed quieted for a second before Ron looked disgusted. "Like you care about any of our lives."

He shook his head. "I don't. I don't care about your lives."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "But you care about hers?"

Draco just shrugged.

Hermione, who had watched the entire encounter from the ground, stood up. She went unnoticed as they continued arguing. "Don't try to play games, Malfoy. You're a death eater now, fair game," Ron threatened.

"Ron, he did save my life," Hermione cut in softly. All three eyes turned to stare at her. Two in disbelief and the third in a mixture of bewilderment and a little something more. Hermione locked gazes with that third set of eyes and said, "And he saved your lives too."

Harry and Ron could only splutter out incomprehensible words and turn to look at Draco. He looked slightly uncomfortable as he said, "Well, yeah. But the intention wasn't really to save you two."

He turned to look back at Hermione, unable to keep his attention off her for long. Hermione apparently felt the same way for the two were back to staring at each other. Ron started protesting, yelling that he would not believe. Harry on the other hand, looked back and forth between Hermione and Draco.

Draco suddenly hissed and looked at his left forearm. Turning back to the three Gryffindors, he said, "Not that this hasn't been a blast but I have to run." Before he apparated away, he walked over to Hermione until he was less than two inches away. "Don't forget what I said," he told her. "This isn't what I want, but it's what I was forced to have. I hope someday you'll forgive me for it."

Hermione, uncomfortable, did not know where to look. It seemed as if anywhere was better than looking into his piercing stare. He lifted her chin with his fingers gently. "And I hope you'll forgive me for this." He then leaned down and kissed her.

Hermione, despite being shocked beyond belief, immediately reacted and kissed back with as much intensity. The kiss was surprisingly gentle and the two let everything else fall away as they stood there, just being in the moment.

Hermione pulled away first and took a step back, not believing what just happened.

Draco smiled at her, a real smile; waved, and apparated away.

A/N: whoops, sorry that took so long. things have been pretty hectic. Well, actually insanely hectic. But you don't need to hear about all my problems. I hope the kiss at least makes up for it.

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