Hermione made her way down to the palace kitchen. The events of the previous night were too much for her, and so she had slept in. It was well past midday and she was beginning to wonder where all of the others were. Even so, she was fine with the peace and quiet.

As she neared the kitchen, however, she began to hear AJ talking.

"Should we go and wake her up?" She asked.

"I don't know." Ron replied.

"Yeah, let's go jump on her." Hermione heard Draco say.

"Malfoy, you better know that Ron told me all about what happened at school last year and I want you to know that you are on very thin ice with the future king." Hermione didn't hear Draco reply, but she could feel his smirk.

"Ok then, we won't worry about it. She'll be fine sleeping. " AJ said after a bit.

"Yeah." Paul agreed.

Hermione had stopped just in front of the kitchen door and was listening to the conversation. She wasn't so sure that now was the best time to walk in. She turned around and began to walk around the palace.

~.~

"I'm going to go and just check on her, see if she's still asleep." AJ said. "You guys are fine to stay here. She might come straight to the kitchen for breakfast when she wakes up. But then again, she might get lost. I'll go searching. I'll be back."

"Wait, AJ, I'll come with you." Paul said. AJ stopped and waited for Paul to catch up to her before opening the door and making her way towards the bedrooms.

"Ok then." The other three boys said together. It was just Harry, Ron and Draco left in the room and tensions were getting high.

"Why did you have to go and do that anyway Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Do what?" Draco asked innocently, but his smirk was very contradicting.

"You know what I mean Malfoy. Stop playing those games with me. Hermione. Why the heck?"

"Don't blame me mate." Draco said. Ron was sitting back and listening, he was greatly regretting not going after AJ and leaving Harry and Draco to fight.

"Why can't I blame you?" Harry asked. "I can blame you for almost anything I want. I know how twisted and evil you are."

"Apparently it's attractive."

"Shut up!" Harry yelled at him.

"You!" Draco yelled back.

~.~

Hermione had returned to the kitchen door and was once again listening into their conversation.

"You are so in trouble when I become king. You snake." Harry yelled.

"Hey, if Hermione wasn't such a ..."

"Don't you dare!" Harry yelled. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at Draco's throat. Draco padded his pockets, but couldn't seem to find his own wand.

"Yes, you would make a good ferret." Harry said.

"Hermione!" AJ yelled. Hermione quickly turned around to see AJ and Paul running up to her. "Good morning!"

"Good morning AJ!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I figured you would come straight to the kitchen. Did you have a good sleep-in?"

"Yes, I did."

"That's good." AJ said and pushed the kitchen door open. "Hey hey hey!" AJ tried to calm things down. All that she knew was that Harry had his wand pointed at Draco's neck and was looking very angry. Draco caught Hermione's eye in a look of desperation.

"Harry is about to turn Draco into a ferret." Ron explained. It was the first time he had spoken since AJ left.

"A ferret? That is the most random animal ever!" Paul said.

"Guys, I'm not allowed to have the animals in the house ok, and much less in the kitchen!" AJ said.

"So we can go outside?" Harry asked.

"No!" Don't turn Draco into a ferret, come on." She tried to reason with them, but Harry wasn't really paying attention.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Because, Harry, it's not right for the future king to do something like that."

"But..." Harry said.

"Can I do it?" Ron asked.

"Of course not Ron." AJ replied, shaking her head. Draco once again caught Hermione's eye as Harry lowered his wand and put it back in his pocket. Before Draco could say a word, Harry's fist came up and punched him square in the nose. The rest of the group heard the loud crack that came with only one thing, a broken nose. Harry and Ron tried really hard to hold back and control their laughter, but they were finding it rather hard. AJ and Paul immediately ran up to Draco and caught him before he fell backward. Hermione just stood there stunned, thinking why in the world she hadn't done that before.

"What the heck Harry? You broke his nose!!!" AJ exclaimed.

"I did didn't I?" Harry said through his rather large grin. AJ shook her head and sighed as she bent down to take a look at the damage.

~.~

Draco's nose had been fixed by the palace nurse and the teenagers were back together outside in the garden. They were walking towards the stables to go for a ride. Draco had the most annoyed look on his face and hadn't spoken since he came out from seeing the nurse. Hermione couldn't help but smile at his facial expression; she couldn't help it if she found him to be attractive, very attractive. Even AJ thought he looked a little cute.

They reached the stable and entered. There were about 15 horses there, each beautiful in its own way.

"Chocolate, Brownie, Princess, Charlotte, Epona and Black Night are the ones we'll ride on today. Charlotte is my horse, Epona is Pauls, and Harry's got Brownie. Hermione, you can ride Princess, Ron, Chocolate, and I believe Black Night will suit you very well Draco." The others giggled and Draco continued his glaring.

Once the horses were saddled and ready, they set out on the trail through the woods.

"The trail is only two horses wide. I'm with Harry, you guys can sort it out amongst yourselves." AJ explained. Draco rolled his eyes. As if any of the others even wanted to ride with him.

"I'll go with Draco." Hermione said. Harry looked back at her with surprise.

"Seriously?" He asked.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Really?" Paul asked. He was a little sad that she didn't want to ride with him.

"No." Draco said.

"What?" Hermione turned around.

"You just want to cheer me up by mocking me. I'm not going to have any of it." Inside Draco wined, he so wanted a ride with her, but this really wasn't the time.

"Draco, I was not..." Hermione tried to explain.

"Yes you were Hermione. I won't let you. You go with Paul."

"Fine, I will." Hermione exclaimed. She couldn't believe how impossible Draco was being. Paul was confused, she was going to ride with him, her boyfriend, but did she really want to? But then again, were they still going out?" After the incident, he had sort of abandoned her. The previous night she had forgiven him, but had she really? Paul was very, very confused.

"Sorry Ron." Hermione giggled. "Enjoy your ride!"

"Will do." Ron said through clenched teeth and a big fake smile. The group mounted their horses and set out on the trail. It wasn't long before they were fenced in by the trees. AJ had said that there was only room for two horses across, but it was really tight still. AJ and Harry were up the front talking, but the others couldn't hear what they were saying.

Behind them it was pretty much silent, besides the noises that the horses were making. Hermione and Paul were in the middle, with Ron and Draco behind them.

The whole ride went pretty much the same way. Hermione was thinking about what had happened. Draco had refused her to ride with him, why? She liked Paul, they were going out. At least, she thought they were. But Draco was Draco and that was that. She couldn't refuse his good looks.

Behind her, Black Night, the horse that Draco was riding, stepped on an unstable rock and buckled at the knees. Draco shouted with fright as he toppled over sideways and fell off the horse.

"Draco!!!" AJ and Hermione yelled out in unison. Fortunately, Draco got himself into the right landing position so that he did not break his arm. He rolled over on his back and then jumped up as quickly as he could so that the horse didn't stomp on him. Paul took immediate action and reared his horse before it got spooked. He tried to reach for Black Night's reigns, but he had reared, turned around and cantered back towards the stables.

"I'll catch him, see if he's alright, then turn him in." Paul yelled at the others before racing off after Black Night.

"OK." AJ yelled back, but she doubted that he heard her. "Paul's really good with catching horses and stuff. He'll get him. It'll be alright." She explained to the others. "Are you alright Draco?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, my shoulder hurts a tiny bit, I'm glad my arm's not broken."

"That was a cool landing technique you used there, I've never seen that before." AJ said.

"That wasn't planned..." Draco said.

"Sure looked like it!" AJ replied.

"Now what?" Ron asked after a moment of silence

"Umm...." AJ thought for a second. "Princess is the only one that will let you double up, even so, we're pushing it."

"That's alright; I'll walk back to the stables." Draco replied.

"No!" AJ said. "I won't let you, come on; we have so much more track to ride. Draco looked up at the person mounted on Princess, she was looking away. He groaned outwardly, but smirked inwardly as he made his way over to Hermione's horse and mounted.

Hermione took a deep breath in when she felt Draco's strong arms around her stomach. She didn't even seem to let the breath out again. After they had started up again, she heard him whisper in her ear.

"Are you going to breathe out?" He asked. Hermione tried to contain her fan girlish squeal. She pushed her mouth shut so that she was sure no saliva was going to escape. Her eyes widened and her exhale was more of a sigh. Draco snickered. This was the perfect time to ride with her. Hermione heard his snicker and jabbed her elbow into his stomach lightly. Draco barely felt it; he just snickered all the more.

AJ and Harry continued up the front, with Hermione and Draco on Princess following and Ron behind them. He wasn't bothered to catch up to them. In a way that Ron wouldn't be able to see, Draco was slightly kissing Hermione's ear. She was trying not to move too much and spook the horse, but it was rather difficult.

Up ahead, AJ and Harry slowed their horses down and a clearing opened in the forest. AJ led Harry around and they came head on towards Hermione and Draco.

"I guess we should go back now, Paul won't come back out. We'll go and find him." AJ suggested.

"Ok." Hermione agreed and she looked back at Draco and Ron to see them nodding their agreement. AJ stopped her horse and waited for Princess and Chocolate to carry Hermione, Draco and Ron out into the clearing before once again entering the trail.