Professor Snape was right. Draco was waiting outside the door for Hermione. He had been pacing relentlessly, wondering what was taking her so long. He had no idea what she and the Potions Master were talking about but he had to hope that she wasn't telling him about their relationship otherwise his father would soon be on the warpath.

Had she told Snape what Draco had done to her? Professor Snape already knew about him calling her a Mudblood, but Draco hadn't mentioned Pansy. That would have been enough for the teacher to work out why they had been arguing, so it needed to stay a secret. But Draco was certain that given the amount of time Hermione had now spent in the Potions classroom, his stupid indiscretion was no longer a secret. Would Professor Snape be as disgusted with him as he was with himself, Draco wondered?

He thought back to the night before, remembering the anger that had overwhelmed him as he stormed back to the Slytherin common room still raging about Hermione rejecting him for being a Death Eater when he had turned himself into a blood-traitor for her. He knew he should have stayed to hear her explanation as she had begged him to do, but he had been far too angry for that, which was why he had missed those two key words that had broken his heart when he remembered them this morning and understood just how stupid he had been and how much he had lost.

Calling her a Mudblood had been underhanded and cruel but was a quick win to make him feel better at the time. Taking Pansy to bed had been so much worse, and not just because it had hurt Hermione. But the anger had caused his libido to rage too, and with his new-found fury it had seemed a good idea at the time as he cared only about relieving the frustration Hermione had caused.

That it would cause her pain was a bonus he hadn't even considered when he first grabbed Pansy to give her a kiss, but later, when she started slagging off Hermione, he knew he had not just crossed the line but had erased it and built a brick wall between him and his girlfriend. He didn't care at that moment as he was having too much fun with Pansy, and his anger was keeping him from feeling the guilt that deep inside he knew he should be suffering. All he could think about was his next climax and the need to forget that Hermione even existed.

And now he was stuck between a beautiful and currently ex-girlfriend who wouldn't talk to him because he was a despicable, selfish bastard who had ridden roughshod over her feelings and then cheated on her, and an overeager, slutty limpet who he had no desire to even talk to let alone ever touch again. And unless old Snape said something magical to Hermione there would be no completion of the Potions project and quite probably no Potions exam, or at least not a passing mark, and Draco had no idea how the hell he was going to explain that to his parents.

He sighed and began another circuit of the floor outside the Potions classroom, wishing he had realized at the time what Hermione had said to him. If only he could take it all back, could reverse time and relive it, he would make sure he didn't make the same mistake again. Instead of raging at her for not giving him the intimacy he wanted so much he should have explained how he was feeling and given her the chance to understand that he wanted her so badly it hurt.

And he should have listened to her, should have given her the chance to explain properly, too. That was what he had intended. He had meant to get Hermione to open up to him and give him a clue as to what he could do to make her more amenable to making love, but as soon as she mentioned his being a Death Eater he had taken umbrage and his temper had exploded.

Gods, he hoped Professor Snape was saying something to convince Hermione to give him another chance otherwise, he would lose her forever, and he couldn't cope with that. Not now. He needed her and not just to complete the Potions project. Draco was in love with Hermione — just as he now knew, thanks to those two little words he had missed in his anger and terrible self-righteousness last night, that she was in love with him, too.

In the months they had spent together, ever since the first time she had kissed him, Draco had been happier than he had ever been before in his life. He finally felt complete and he knew it was because of Hermione. It seemed to him that he and Hermione were always destined to be together; surely all the bickering for the previous six years had been the two of them trying to deny their attraction for each other.

And what attraction it was. His heart always beat faster when he glimpsed Hermione for the first time each day, and every time he saw her even after only a short time apart. Blaise was right about him looking at her — he did, every possible moment he could get away with; sometimes unable to believe his luck that this beautiful girl was willing to be his girlfriend, especially knowing how much she disliked it being a secret.

But he hated that, too. He had lost count of the number of times he had become frustrated at not being able to kiss her or even hold her hand in public. He wanted that and more. He wanted everyone to know Hermione was his, that despite everything, despite all the awful things people thought about him, he had something wonderful in his life — something good. But he didn't dare.

Nor did he dare to think about the future, about what would happen if the Dark Lord declared war. He knew that was at the root of Hermione's anxiety, more so than his being a Death Eater, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge that; yet another reason for his anger with her. The problem was that Hermione was right. They were and would remain on different sides, and it was always going to drive a wedge between them.

Now he could see that Hermione had been protecting herself from getting hurt, knowing that greater intimacy would make things even more difficult for them in the long run. You only had to look at how much they were both hurting now to be able to imagine how much worse it would be if they had truly become lovers as he had pushed for so long. Right now he was willing to do anything to get Hermione to talk to him, to agree to take him back. There was nothing more important than this love they shared; there must be a way to allow them to reconcile.

The door opened and Hermione walked out. Draco stared at her, his heart pounding with the joy of seeing her and the terror of what was to follow. Had Professor Snape managed to convince her to hear him out? She had been crying. He could tell that from her red-rimmed eyes and a shard of pain slid into his heart at the knowledge that he was responsible.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her, tell her that everything would be all right, but he couldn't do it. Not because they were in public and might get caught — at the moment he didn't care about that, and if that was all that was stopping him he would do it in a heartbeat. But he didn't want to try and then have Hermione reject him. That would break his heart.

'I am so sorry, my love,' he said quietly, his voice almost breaking with emotion. 'I know you're angry and disappointed with me and you've got every right to be, Hermione. I was a bloody idiot, I freely admit it. But please, give me a chance. Let me apologise to you and try to explain.'

Hermione just stared back at him without speaking. Draco could feel his heartbeat increase so much he wondered whether he might have a heart attack. A ball of ice settled in his stomach as he waited for her to say something.

'Please,' he begged, the misery showing on his face.

Hermione gave a single nod of agreement and motioned back towards the stairs to the Entrance Hall. Draco wondered where she was taking him, then realised that Hermione intended to talk to him on the way to the greenhouses. He frowned. There wasn't a problem with that generally — they usually walked to all their classes together, talking about the project as they went, but this wasn't something he wanted to discuss with other people around. He had already hurt Hermione once and he was fairly certain that talking about it was going to be painful for both of them. They needed to go somewhere they could be alone, somewhere they could talk and probably cry, and hopefully, eventually, hold each other and make up.

'Shouldn't we go somewhere a bit more private?' he asked as they crossed the Entrance Hall heading toward the front door.

Hermione turned her head to look at him. Her voice was weary and resigned as she answered. 'Why? I'm sure you can say what you need to in the time it takes to walk down to the greenhouses.'

'But we both need to talk,' Draco said. 'I didn't listen to you last night and I should have done. You need to tell me what you were going to say before I made a prat of myself — and I need to explain to you why I lost my temper and did such stupid things. I don't think it's something we're going to want to say with other people around, is it?'

Hermione's face was stern as she stared at him. 'We don't have any choice, Draco. If we don't go now we'll be late for class.'

'Then let's not go. Let's skip it and go somewhere more private instead. We can talk there and sort everything out,' Draco suggested.

Hermione shook her head and replied tartly, 'I'm not missing Herbology because of you, Draco. I'm far enough behind with my revision already, and I couldn't concentrate in Arithmancy because of all this so now I'm behind in that, too. I can't afford to miss anything else. Either you explain on the way to the greenhouses or don't bother, it's up to you.'

'But you need to talk as well,' Draco pointed out. 'There won't be time for both of us to speak.'

Hermione sighed loudly, her voice dull and unenthusiastic now. 'You talk on the way down. I'll think about what you said during the lesson. I'll talk to you on the way back up to the castle, then you can think about it while you're in the lab prepping the stuff for the potion.'

Draco's heart fluttered happily at Hermione's mention of the Potions project. Was she going to forgive him after all?

'You'll still work on the project with me, then?' he asked, sounding more hopeful than before.

Hermione stopped halfway down the stairs and focussed intently on Draco. 'I have no choice. Professor Snape told me that if we're not both working on the project when he comes to check on us after school we'll both be in detention every day until the end of term, and he will no doubt take great pains to ensure that it cuts into the revision time for our other exams . . . and he'll fail us for Potions and withdraw us from the exam.'

Draco looked horrified at the implication of her words, his heart sinking once more as he realised she was joining him under duress, not because she wanted to.

'But he can't do that, can he?' he asked quietly.

Hermione gave a bitter laugh. 'This is Professor Snape we're talking about, Draco. He can do whatever he damn well pleases. It would probably make his day to see me fail. He's always hated me.'

Draco's heart soared stoutly at her words and he felt adamant that he would do anything he had to in order to make sure Hermione passed her exam. He was aware that his Head of House was more than capable of being malicious to Hermione when he wanted, he had done it several times over the years and usually to protect Draco, now he thought about it. He didn't want Professor Snape failing Hermione because of his stupidity and selfishness; it wasn't fair.

Determined now, he said, 'Well, we're not going to fail, are we? We're going to finish the project and get an Outstanding mark.'

'I haven't forgiven you for what you said . . . what you did,' Hermione said with a dismissive shrug. She still looked hurt. 'But we do need to get the project completed, so I have to work with you. If you want to apologise and explain, then go ahead. But don't expect me to be jumping up and down and happy about what you're saying.'

'I'm not going to stop apologising until you accept it,' Draco told her. 'I love you, Hermione, and I need you to know that I mean it . . . and that I know I'm a complete knob.'

'I suggest you talk fast, then,' Hermione said as she resumed walking.

Hermione spent the whole of Herbology thinking about what Draco told her on the walk to the greenhouses. She had to admit he had been thorough and heartfelt in his apology. She felt tears welling up as he talked about his night with Pansy and understood why he had wanted to go somewhere less populated to have the conversation. But it was vital that she go to Herbology, she needed to try to keep a grasp on her sanity that was slowly slipping away as her revision time was diminished ever further. So she kept walking and blinked back the tears, determined not to let them overwhelm her however hurtful the things were that Draco admitted to.

After spending the entire lesson ignoring Harry and Ron's concerned looks and not concentrating on her work at all but instead, thinking about what Draco had told her, Hermione took her turn at talking on the way back up to the castle, finally getting her chance to properly explain the issues that had stopped her from becoming intimate with him, both with regards to his allegiance to Voldemort and the fact that any relationship between them could never go much further than it already had.

She knew it left Draco plenty to think about in return. He had told her that he loved her several more times, and although she never said it back, still hurt at his betrayal, she was aware that he knew her feelings for him ran as deep as his for her. He had heard the words that had slipped from her mouth during the argument, without her even realising at the time that she had said them.

Hermione was still angry with Draco, that wasn't going to go away quickly nor would the dull, aching pain she still felt about him shagging Pansy. But she honestly did believe Draco was sorry, for what he had both said and done and that was enough for her to agree to work on the project with him. She wasn't sure it was going to be enough for anything else, but they would see what happened as their work together progressed. With the exams so close now she really didn't have time to think about much else anyway.

She headed for the Potions lab, where hopefully Draco had started brewing the potion. She sped up as she remembered Professor Snape's warning. She had to be there when he arrived to check on them, otherwise any reconciliation between her and Draco would be completely wasted.

Draco chanced a smile in her direction when she entered the room. He was stirring a steaming cauldron, having taken her warning not to wait to heart. Hermione was pleased with this as it meant he really had been listening, and hopefully not just to her advice about the project. She gave him a wan smile in return as she dumped her bag on a spare workbench.

'I take it Professor Snape hasn't been round yet?' she asked worriedly.

'Not yet. But I'm sure he would give us a little bit of breathing space. He's not going to turn up straight away,' Draco replied soothingly as he continued stirring.

'Where have you got to?' Hermione asked him interestedly as she took the project notebook out of her bag along with her quill and ink.

'I've only just started brewing.' Draco looked at his watch. 'I added the bat blood and the valerian root, then after six stirs counter-clockwise and half a turn clockwise I added the armadillo bile and aconite. I've been stirring it for ten minutes now. I have another four to go and then we add the beetle eyes.' He gestured to a bowl containing hundreds of tiny gleaming black spheres. 'Two scoops, plus we need to add the ground bark.' He pointed to another bowl next to the beetle eyes.

'What do you need me to do?' Hermione asked.

'Can you take a look at the next part of the recipe, please? I know it has to brew for an hour or something, but I'm not sure if I need to add anything else first.'

Hermione turned to the huge old Potions book that was open on the workbench in front of her. She pulled it closer and looked at the recipe for the potion they were brewing.

'What about cinnamon?' Hermione asked as she scanned the page. 'You have to add that at the same time as the beetle eyes and the bark and you need to stir each ingredient in separately.'

'Oh bugger, I forgot to get that out. Can you find it please?' Draco said, sounding annoyed with himself for making a mistake. He looked back at the cauldron and frowned. 'I'm not sure this is right, you know,' he admitted.

Hermione, who had been looking for the cinnamon, picked up the jar and walked towards the cauldron. She, too, stared at it for several seconds.

'It looks all right to me,' she said doubtfully. 'I assume it is supposed to be that colour, is it?'

Draco shrugged. 'I think so. The book doesn't mention colour, but it's hard for it to be anything else with all that bat blood.'

Hermione returned to the book and began examining the description to see if she could tell whether it was right or not. The last thing they needed was to have to start again, having wasted another couple of their precious few remaining hours. Despite his calm exterior, Hermione knew Draco was having as tough a time as she was; neither of them was in the best frame of mind for the subtle and tricky art of potion-making.

'We'll just have to see how it goes once the next ingredients go in. It's supposed to turn indigo and have curling steam rising from it just after adding them.' She glanced at Draco, who looked unhappy. 'No point in worrying about it if it has gone wrong. It's not the first time we've brewed a duff potion, and I'm sure it won't be the last.'

'But we're so short of time,' Draco pointed out.

'I know, but we'll get there,' Hermione said, trying to keep her voice positive. She was still upset with Draco, but now they were working on the project again she was keen for things to run smoothly and knew arguing wouldn't make it better. If they stayed at loggerheads they would never get this final potion brewed.

Draco picked up the bowl containing the beetle eyes and added them to the cauldron, the little dark spheres making a swishing noise as they fell. He gave the cauldron a stir, added the dried bark, stirred again, and then finally added the cinnamon that Hermione had measured out. He resumed stirring as he watched the liquid carefully.

Hermione saw the curls of steam begin to rise and felt herself relax, the hard knot of tension in her stomach shrinking somewhat. She heard Draco let out a sigh of relief as the potion turned the exact shade it needed to be.

'It has to brew on medium heat for forty minutes and then we add a tablespoon of doxy eggs and the same of horned slug juice,' Hermione told Draco as she read from the book. 'Then we turn it down to low heat for an hour.' She looked at her watch. 'If we do the doxy eggs and juice and then go to dinner, we can be back by the time it's finished brewing and have the next lot of ingredients ready. We really need to start combining some of the other potions we brewed, too. If we start with the stable ones we'll be able to store them until we do the final combine at the end.'

Draco was at the sink, washing up the bowls he had just used. When they were clean and dry he made his way to the area holding their ingredients and pulled out the jars containing the doxy eggs and the slug juice.

'That's a good idea — the dinner and sorting out the other potions. I wonder what time Snape's going to come round. It'd be sod's law that he comes just after we go to dinner.'

'I didn't think about that,' Hermione said worriedly. She had been updating the notes and put down the quill while she talked to Draco. She drummed her fingers on the table as she thought. 'Okay, new plan. If Professor Snape hasn't come by the time we add the ingredients we'll stay here and do our Arithmancy homework while we wait for him. Then we'll go to dinner after we've added the next lot of ingredients. The potion combining can wait until after we've had dinner. What do you think?'

Draco smiled as he moved closer to her. 'I think you're amazing, Hermione. You're always so logical, it's a talent all its own. It makes me think everything's going to be all right — that we'll manage to get everything done in time.'

He went to wrap his arms around her, an automatic gesture, but Hermione shook her head and moved away. Draco dropped his arms, looking disappointed.

'It's too soon,' Hermione told him quietly. 'I can't—' She broke off, unable to vocalise what she was feeling.

'I'm sorry, Hermione. I just really want to hold you,' Draco said. He sounded as emotional as she had. 'I know you're still angry with me and I understand that. I wish I could take the pain away. I would do anything to do that.'

'There's nothing you can do,' Hermione replied, her voice hard. Then more gently she added, 'You should start sorting out the next lot of ingredients. I need to go to the loo. If Professor Snape comes while I'm gone, stall him.'

She hurried out the door, needing to be away from Draco before the tears flowed again. While they had worked together on the potion she had almost forgotten about what he had done to her, but then he tried to hug her and it all came flooding back. It wasn't that she didn't want Draco to touch her . . . she did. She would have loved to feel his arms around her, holding her tight and telling her that everything was going to be fine. But it wasn't fine and she had a horrid feeling that if Draco hugged her she would completely go to pieces, would make a total idiot of herself, and her mortification level was deep enough already without adding that to it.

Hermione wanted to believe that Draco was truly sorry, not about what he had said — that she had almost forgotten already — but about what he had done with Pansy. But the problem was that he had done it, and only last night, and the idea of him holding Pansy in the same arms in which he held her was too painful to contemplate. How could she know he was sincere in what he told her? How was she ever supposed to trust him when any minute he could get annoyed with her and go off and do it again? She didn't understand how she was supposed to get over this, how she was supposed to forgive him.

She sat in the toilet stall for almost fifteen minutes, her heart breaking once more as she sobbed. She was in love with Draco, that was why what he had done hurt so much, but she just didn't know how to stop it from hurting. As the tears finally dried up Hermione considered what she was going to do. Draco had said he would do anything, and he was obviously ready for just that. She had to make the effort too, had to give him something he could work towards that would redeem him in her eyes. But what? Maybe it would be better if they just got through the project and then went their separate ways. It would certainly be easier, at least in the short term. But what about in the future? But there was no future, not for her and Draco. The future was war, and that would rip them apart more than anything else.

Remembering that Professor Snape was supposed to be visiting, Hermione dried her eyes and made her way back to the Potions lab. She was unsurprised to see him waiting for her.

'So good of you to join us, Miss Granger. We thought you had got lost,' Snape said.

Hermione shook her head. 'I needed to go to the loo, sir. I'm sorry I was so long. I don't think I missed anything crucial, did I?'

'Apart from the time that's slipping away to get your project completed, no,' Snape replied drolly.

'Well, as you can see, we're both here and we're both working,' Draco pointed out.

'I'm glad you both took my advice to heart,' Snape replied. 'Now, let's have a quick run-down on exactly where you are with the project so we can work out how much of an extension you need.'