I know, I know. This chapter took FOREVER for me to post and I'm sorry. *Ducks as rotten vegetables and a random shoe fly over her head* But I've just been crazy busy with school and work and other things that I haven't had time to spend on my little story. But I've just started writing again and I'm super excited about that. I lost my drive for a little while there, but it seems to be back. *crosses fingers and knocks on wood* Hopefully. Well, here ya go… I hope you like it. Some more questions are brought up in this chapter that will be answered later. You know I'm one for the whole 'keep you on the edge of your seats' thing. Haha.

CHAPTER 10:

When Hermione reached her Arithmancy classroom and flew through the door, winded and unkempt, every eye was on her. She could feel her face heating up and rushed to her seat with her head down, vaguely registering that Draco had somehow made it to the class on time.

"Miss Granger. I'm so glad that you decided to grace us with your presence. Would you like to share with us all why you are late?" Professor Vector asked slightly scornfully.

"Umm… My alarm didn't go off this morning?" Hermione answered, her face heating up so much that she was surprised the temperature in the room didn't increase by a few degrees.

Professor Vector just eyed her for a couple seconds. "Very well then. Five points from Gryffindor. Maybe you'll be more punctual next time." She said, then continued on with her lesson about the magical capabilities of even numbers versus odd numbers.

Hermione sighed wearily. All-in-all, she was surprised she'd gotten off so easily, although she attributed it partially to the fact that she was the professor's favorite student and was usually early to class every day. She pulled her books out of her bag and started taking notes like the rest of the class, though she felt Draco's eyes on her the whole time.

"So where were you really?" whispered Alan from his seat next to her.

"My alarm didn't go off this morning," she repeated.

Alan cocked an eyebrow at her, trying to determine if she was telling the truth or not. Whatever his conclusion was, he dropped it and moved on to a different topic…

"So you never answered me about attending the ball with me," he stated, making Hermione wish that he had just kept interrogating her about where she had been that morning.

"Umm, yea. Sorry, Alan, but I can't," she whispered and looked at him apologetically.

Alan's eyes narrowed and he said, "Why not?"

Hermione had to come up with an excuse, and fast. She blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Someone's already asked me."

Alan just kept looking at her and he whispered, "Oh. Okay. Who asked you?"

"Oh. A bloke from Hufflepuff. He heard about the ball early, too, and asked me," she lied, then immediately went back to taking notes.

Alan didn't say anything more after that, but Hermione heard a cough from behind her and knew that Draco was trying to cover up a laugh. Hermione just turned pink and continued staring at her paper. When the bell rang, she took her time packing her things, and ended up being the last one to leave the room.

When Hermione rounded a corner in the deserted hallway on her way to the next class, she let out a squeal when she felt a strong hand grab her arm and pull her into an alcove.

"Shhhh...," Draco whispered, covering her mouth with his hand. "It's just me."

Hermione shoved his hand away from her mouth when she realized who it was.

"And what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing dragging me into a dark corner and scaring the wits out of me?" she demanded.

Draco smirked as he leaned back against the wall, ankles and arms crossed. A stray piece of blonde hair fell into his eyes, and Hermione wanted to brush it away. She registered that Draco looked very Slytherin at the moment, and she didn't know why she found that so damned alluring. Hermione shook her head. She figured her brain must be failing her.

"Just wanted to talk. You never told ME that some Hufflepuff bloke was taking you to the ball," Draco teased, smirk still firmly in place, and looking cockier every second.

Hermione just huffed at him. "Well what else was I supposed to tell him, huh?"

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe, 'I think you're a twit and I would never go to the ball with you, even if you got down on your hands and knees and begged me to'?" Draco laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and was in the process of turning around and leaving the alcove when Draco grabbed her arm again and spun her around. When Hermione collided with his hard chest, she was surprised. He DEFINITELY had not been that close a moment ago. The strangely Lavender-sounding voice in the back of her head was noticing just how hard and muscular his chest was. Must be the fact that he's a seeker. Merlin, do they train those boys nicely or what? Hermione told that voice to shut up.

Her internal monologue was cut short when she looked up into Draco's eyes. The twinkling silver from a moment ago, when he was teasing her, had now been completely replaced with a dark, steel grey. Hermione was starting to feel like a rabbit looking a wolf in the face.

"So do you really have a Hufflepuff date to the ball, Hermione?" Draco purred low in his throat, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from her.

"Of course not," she murmured, unable to pull her eyes away from his.

"Good answer," he growled a second before his lips crushed hers. Hermione's surprise wore away very quickly, replaced with a hunger to make the kiss last for the rest of her life. God, where's that time-turner when it's really useful?, she thought, blissfully.

Before she knew it, Draco's mouth was gone and Hermione's lips were feeling cold, like something very important had been lost to them. She looked up at Draco and forgot all about the loss, too thrilled by the fire burning deep in his beautiful cloudy eyes. It was obvious he was fighting with himself, and it made Hermione feel uncharacteristically giddy that she could have that affect on him.

"So what would you do if I really DID have a Hufflepuff date to the ball?" she teased after he'd gained a little bit more control.

"I would have to show him his place. Maybe lock him in a broom closet for a week or two," Draco replied, and Hermione could tell that he wasn't entirely joking. She found that slightly humourous.

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to end this now, because we both need to get to class," Hermione said.

"Yes. It appears we do," Draco whispered, a little disappointedly. "But don't forget, we're meeting tonight."

"How could I forget that, Draco?" she replied. "But this time we need to be sure that we get back to our rooms before tomorrow morning. Harry and Ron almost killed me this morning when I came in. I guess I really scared them," she whispered, feeling awful about scaring her friends.

Draco didn't know how to reply, not caring one iota what Potter and the Weasel thought about anything, but figuring he shouldn't say as much to her, so he just said, "Don't worry about it. You'll be back before they even know you're missing." Draco smirked again, then spun around and sauntered out of the alcove.

Hermione stood in the alcove for another couple seconds. She sighed, thinking, How could he have such an effect on me? I'm going to have to ask Dumbledore if he did anything more than just connect our minds… Then she remembered that she had to ask Dumbledore about the full extent of that connection too. I'm going to need to schedule an appointment with McGonagall to see if I can speak with Dumbledore alone.

Hermione then left the alcove and headed to Advanced Ancient Runes, the only class she had without Harry, Ron, OR Draco.

.ooOoo.

Hermione found her uncharacteristically giddy mood continuing throughout the whole rest of the day. It didn't escape Harry and Ron's notice, either, especially when she entered their Advanced Charms class with a massive Cheshire cat grin plastered on her pretty face. She couldn't get over the feelings of happiness that washed over her like ocean waves during high tide whenever she thought of the stolen hallway kiss.

Hermione knew that she and Draco were taking a really big risk putting themselves out there like that, but she found it very difficult to care. But I have to care, thought Hermione. We have to be more careful so as to not spark suspicion in any of the Slytherins. We can't have Voldemort knowing what's going on. That thought wiped the smile off of her face for a minute or so, until she thought of the previous night and how amazing it had been to wake up in Draco's arms.

What is going on with me? I would almost think that he dosed me with a love potion or something. Hermione shook that thought off, knowing enough about love potions to realize that the dizzy feeling she got when she was so close to Draco was genuine.

After Advanced Charms, Hermione had Advanced Transfiguration, DADA, and Potions, all with Harry, Ron, AND Draco. Hermione found it very very hard to focus when Draco was so near to her. She could feel his eyes watching her and every once in a while, when no one was looking, she would look back at him and give him a knowing smile, one that said, 'I can't wait until we get away from everyone so we can stop pretending to hate each other.' He replied by returning her smile, upturning one corner of his perfect lips, so that anyone who might be looking would think he was smirking at her, but Hermione could easily tell the difference now.

After her last class of the day, Advanced Potions with Professor Slughorn, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exited the dank classroom in the dungeons and stood outside talking.

"Hey guys, I think I'm going to go talk to Professor McGonagall for a bit. I'll meet you up in the tower in a little while, okay?" Hermione asked.

Ron and Harry just looked at her in confusion.

"Why do you need to see her?" asked Harry, still kind of angry with her over this morning's events. Hermione felt truly sorry that she had scared them so bad, but she knew she couldn't tell them the truth no matter how badly she wanted to.

"Oh, I just need to ask her some things about the NEWTs…" she replied, lying through her no-longer bucked teeth.

Wanting to avoid any and all talk about the horrible tests they would have to take at the end of this year (if they were still at the school, and not searching the world for the horcruxes), Ron quickly said, "Oh, alright then. We'll see you later."

Before Harry or Ron could walk away, Draco and his cronies walked out of the classroom.

"Watch it, Mudblood," Draco purred into Hermione's ear with none of the malice that should have been associated with the word, as he shoved his shoulder into her lightly. She knew that he was just keeping up his Slytherin Prince façade, so she didn't take his words to heart, and instead decided to play along.

"You watch it, ferret boy, or should I remind you just what it feels like to be shoved down Crabbe's trousers?" she threatened, trying to put a sneer on her face, but doubting she was succeeding very well. Crabbe was sputtering and turning red from the humiliating memory she had just dredged up in his thick skull.

Draco looked surprised at her comeback for a second. He threw her a pretend glare, then turned on his heel and walked off with his posse. Pansy turned and sneered at Hermione and Hermione returned the look, this time not having a problem giving the look for real. Merlin, how she hated the ugly little pug-faced girl.

When Hermione turned to look at Ron and Harry, they both were grinning at her. It was obvious that they were no longer angry with her, though she was kind of surprised at how easy it had been to win them over again.

"That was great, 'Mione," Ron laughed, slamming his Neanderthal-sized hand into her shoulder, nearly sending her sprawling. Hermione winced, thinking that Ron's hit had been harder than Draco's had been when he'd shoved his shoulder into her.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to hit you so hard," he said, looking sheepish. It was a look Hermione was getting used to seeing on the red-head's freckled face.

"It's alright, Ron," she replied, rubbing her shoulder, but smiling at him. "Well, I need to get going, but I'll see you two later."

"See you," Harry and Ron replied at the same time. Then the trio went their separate ways, Harry and Ron to Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione to the headmistress's office.

When Hermione reached the statue of the gargoyle, she realized that she hadn't set up an appointment ahead of time, so she didn't know for sure what the password was. She muttered the same one she had used the night they were trained to be animaguses ("Canary Creams"), and the gargoyle happily jumped aside, revealing the moving stone staircase. Hermione silently thanked God for small favors, then stepped onto the staircase.

When Hermione reached the top, she knocked hard on the door and crossed her fingers, hoping that McGonagall was there. After a few seconds she heard a muffled, "Come in!" from inside and opened the door.

Professor McGonagall was rushing around in her bedroom off the main office, and looked up at Hermione, flustered.

"Oh, hello Miss Granger. What can I do for you? I'm sorry to say that I can't talk for long. I've got a meeting downstairs in my classroom in five minutes."

"Oh that's okay, Professor. I was actually coming up here to see if I could speak to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said, gesturing to the portrait of the jovial-looking professor.

McGonagall stopped gathering things, looked like she was contemplating Hermione's request, then pursed her thin lips and said, "I don't see why not. Yes, you may stay up here and speak to him," she replied with a curt nod. "I won't be back for a while so you feel free to stay as long as you wish." The usually grim professor smiled at Hermione, then grabbed her briefcase-like bag and headed out the door.

Hermione sighed in relief, then walked over to Dumbledore's portrait.

"Hello, my dear Miss Granger. How are you today? Pull up a seat so we may chat at eye level," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his baby blue eyes.

"I'm doing well, thank you. How about yourself?" she asked as she dragged one of the heavy dragon-skin chairs over from in front of McGonagall's desk to the portrait.

"Oh, I'm doing very well myself, thank you for asking. Though I don't know how you couldn't do well, being a portrait." The wiry old professor looked like he was genuinely contemplating the concept and wasn't being patronizing in the least. Hermione smiled.

Dumbledore seemed to snap out of his daze, then gazed at her with knowing eyes. "So what brings you up here to speak to me, Hermione?" he asked, though Hermione got the feeling he already knew.

"I needed to speak to you about the mind connection you placed on Draco and myself, Professor. I need to know what more it entails. You see, Draco and I have been having very… abnormal… reactions toward one another and I didn't know if that was a side effect of the spell or not…" Hermione trailed off.

The professor smiled at her. "And do you want to share with me what these feelings are, my dear?" he asked gently.

Hermione flushed pink. "Umm… well, they're… errr… romantic in nature, Professor."

The twinkling got more intense. "I see… Well I'm afraid to say that that kind of feeling is not a side effect of any spell the human me placed on you two. I do believe that those feelings have been hidden inside of you all along, and that being forced to be near each other on a regular basis has brought them out of hiding."

Hermione was surprised. She was certain that these feelings had developed way too quickly to be natural. "Okay… and I wanted to ask you some more things about this mind connection. What did you mean when you said, 'I hope that now you will explore the extent of your minds' connection and use it against Voldemort. You both have more power than you know.'?"

The twinkling continued. "Now that is the real question, isn't it my dear? I'm afraid I cannot explain it, though. That is something you and Mr. Malfoy need to figure out on your own," Dumbledore replied, smiling his 'all-knowing' smile.

Hermione wanted to argue with him, tell him that he was being ridiculous, but deep down she knew that the professor was always right when it came to things like this. She knew in her heart that it was important for her to listen to him. "Yes, Professor," she replied dejectedly.

"Oh, come now, Hermione. I know you can figure all of this out. You're the brightest witch of your age for a reason, my dear. You and Mr. Malfoy will make a powerful pair when you learn the true extent of your connection. There's no doubt in my mind that you two will solve this mystery together. As my dear friend Elias Cunningham used to say, 'When two minds are connected to their full extent, nothing in this world can separate them…'" Dumbledore said, and Hermione could have sworn she saw the twinkling get more intense, though she just wrote it off as a figment of her overactive imagination.

"Thank you, Professor. And it was very nice to speak with you again after so long," she whispered honestly. She truly missed the crazy old man, but she was very glad to have his portrait there for her to speak to when she needed to, even though it wasn't the same. She smiled softly at him and he returned the smile.

"Now I do believe that you have some work to do my dear. I know you'll make me proud. You will figure it out. Don't get disheartened," he advised.

"Yes, Professor," Hermione replied, then got up, pushed the chair back to its original spot, and headed to the heavy door. As she was leaving, she waved goodbye to the old headmaster, but his portrait was empty again. Hermione sighed, walked down the stairs, then headed back to the common room, feeling rather drained after the meeting that hadn't gotten her anywhere. Or so she thought.

.ooOoo.

"So I went to see Dumbledore's portrait today…" Hermione trailed off into Draco's chest. They were laying on the couch in the same room the Room of Requirement had morphed into the previous night, Draco absentmindedly tracing tiny circles on Hermione's spine. Draco was laying on his back, one arm tossed casually behind his head like a pillow, and staring at the ceiling. Hermione was laying with her head on his chest, her body flush against his side. She was extremely comfortable there and she was pretty surprised about that.

"Oh yea? And what did you find out?" Draco asked, slightly curious but mostly just humoring her. He found it difficult to worry about anything with Hermione curled up against him like she was.

Hermione sighed. "Not a whole lot. He mostly just spoke in riddles. I went to see if he would tell me what he meant about the 'full extent of our minds connections'," she mimicked Dumbledore's voice, "from his letter."

"What did he say?" Draco asked, his interest perking up. He stopped the circles and looked down into the top of her head.

"He said that he couldn't tell me," Hermione stated with a sigh. "He said that we would have to figure it out on our own and that he had no doubt that we would be able to. He also said that we would be very powerful when we did figure it all out. Then he quoted one of his friends, saying that when our minds are fully connected, nothing will be able to separate us." She whispered the last part, looking up to meet his stormy eyes.

Draco didn't know what to think, but felt a tremor of… something. He just wished the old fool would be straightforward for once.

"So I guess that means we need to start researching this. Where do you think we should start?" Draco asked.

At the mention of research, Hermione perked up a little bit more. "Well, we should probably go to the library soon and look for books on mind connections or something," she suggested.

"Yea. I guess you're right," Draco nodded once, then went back to tracing his fingers in circles around her back. Hermione sighed in contentment, laying her head back down on his chest. The two stayed cuddled up like that for a couple more hours.

.ooOoo.

When Hermione stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, she still had a dazed look of happiness on her features. Before she had left the Room of Requirement, Draco had stopped her from walking out by snagging her thin wrist in his large hand and spun her around. The kiss he'd planted on her lips had taken her breath away completely. When she'd felt like she was going to die in complete bliss, he'd released her, given her a heated look that took away the rest of the air she didn't know about, and left the room. Hermione'd had to lean against the wall to gain her composure again before she could convince herself she was strong enough to leave the room.

"Have a nice, romantic evening out?" the Fat Lady asked nosily, always dying for a piece of new gossip to spread around throughout the rest of the portraits.

"Ergh… phoenix feathers," Hermione just muttered the password, not wanting to be the butt of gossip for the rest of the week. The Fat Lady just grumbled at Hermione's avoidance, but opened anyway.

When Hermione got inside the common room, she noticed that Harry and Ginny were playing a game of exploding snap, and by the look of things, Ginny was winning. Harry's eyebrows were singed and he had black soot marks on his face, but he was laughing with Ginny, so Hermione knew everything was just fine.

Hermione's eyes trailed over to the couches in front of the fireplace, but what she saw made her snap her eyes away violently, resisting the urge to gag. Lavender was straddling Ron on the couch and had her tongue shoved so far down his throat Hermione was surprised he could still manage to breathe. Hermione silently thanked God that the two were still fully clothed (and obviously back together again, at least in the physical aspect. Hermione was sure Ron learned his lesson about being the crazy bint's boyfriend after their breakup the previous year), but she was still thoroughly disgusted. She shook her head and walked toward Ginny and Harry, keeping her eyes as fixed far away from the two on the couch as possible.

Harry looked up when he heard Hermione's footsteps coming toward him. He had a goofy grin on his face and it made Hermione extremely happy. She had a hunch that things were going to get repaired between Harry and Ginny pretty soon.

"Hey, 'Mione. Where did you run off to?" asked Harry, postponing the game for a minute.

"Oh, nowhere," Hermione lied, blushing madly.

"That's codswallop and you know it," Harry replied, but he was still in a good mood, so he wasn't too frustrated with her. "I bet you were meeting with some bloke and you just don't want to admit it," he teased.

From the corner of the room that Hermione had vowed not to look over at, Ron's voice could be heard.

"Wha? Hermione was meeting some bloke?" Ron joined in the teasing, but there was something else underlying it that Hermione couldn't identify.

"Oh come off it boys. She was probably just in the library doing some extra studying, right Hermione?" asked Ginny, deliberately taking the attention away from the possibility of Hermione being out with an unknown member of the opposite sex. It was obvious that Ginny's words immediately worked. The two boys wanted absolutely nothing to do with Hermione's psychotic study habits.

There was a muffled "Oomf!" heard from the couch, signaling that Lavender had gotten fed up with the conversation and had attacked Ron's lips again. Harry just looked back at the cards in his hands.

"Yea. I was in the library. And now I'm really tired so I'm going up to bed. Goodnight," Hermione stated, then mouthed 'Thank you' to Ginny behind Harry's back and headed up to her room. She really was tired, but mostly she just wanted to lay in bed and think about her night with Draco.

Hermione had absolutely no idea how this had all happened so quickly but she wasn't objecting in the least, anymore. She loved his company too much. She loved how they could spend hours talking about trivial things (they were still timidly avoiding the bigger, tougher subjects, like the fact that she was a muggleborn and he was a Death Eater), but she didn't mind it for now. Mostly she loved how Draco was on the same level as her intellectually. She didn't have to speak in little words for him or get on his case about schoolwork. Not that he would ever allow her to be on his case about anything. Draco may have changed sides and lost his hostility, but he was still Draco Malfoy on the inside, and Draco Malfoy didn't take crap from anyone.

The fact that Draco had kept all of the things that shaped who he was, essentially, while losing all of the bad things that had been planted in him by his upbringing, made Hermione smile, and she fell asleep with images of Draco's slow smile and bright mercury eyes dancing through her mind.

Soooo…. What did you think? It was slightly a filler chapter, but the whole scene with Dumbledore is very important. Silly old wizard and his riddles. Don't worry. Some of them will be answered in the next couple chapters. So you all know how it goes. Review, review, review. Keep me motivated, guys. I don't want to lose this muse again. Keep feeding it and showing it love and hopefully it will keep turning out chapters. Haha. Thank you all for the awesome reviews I've already gotten. You guys are amazing. Thanks!