A/N: I have such rotten luck! You wouldn't believe what happened to me. It was the first of May and I was finishing up this chapter so I could upload this chapter before my birthday. After I did finish this chapter, I delayed uploading it to grab a well-deserved soak in the tub. While I was enjoying my bath, my sister used my laptop and clicked on something. Apparently, it was a virus. It was probably some kind of advanced virus coz by the time I finished my bath, my laptop was rendered useless. I couldn't do anything with it. I couldn't even back up my files! And to think it happened a day before my birthday. I tried using my dad's laptop as I rewrote the chapter, trying to remember everything I had written. But I wasn't that inspired using my dad's laptop. The fact that it wasn't mine was putting me out. Anyway, I browsed the web and even opted to buy online, but the waiting for it to be shipped would kill me! So today (May 23), I finally went in the Sony Style store and bought a new Sony VAIO EA series. I worked on this right away so I could upload it ASAP.

So I apologize for taking so long to update, I promised you before that I had every intention of finishing this fanfic and I will. I also have a new outline for a different dramione, but I won't work on it until I'm done with this.

Anyway, enough with the talking and on with the story. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Wow. It was a tiny word, yet the feelings that came with it was like an explosion. Hermione woke up smiling that morning, her mood matching the bright sunshine outside. She turned to her bedside table and caught a glimpse of the tulips Draco had given her. She had enchanted them to never wilt.

She smiled harder as she remembered the events of last night. Just thinking of the kiss made her heart race and her body tingle especially where his lips had touched hers.

She sat on her bed and grabbed the vase of tulips and examined it closely. It was simple, yet it didn't fail to pluck her heartstrings. As with yesterday, she was at her happiest in a very long time. And they didn't even do anything special. It seemed like she was just happy around him.

Yesterday, she had a chance to get to know Draco in a relaxed setting and although they had a little squabble, everything worked out fine. She thought it was sweet and romantic of him to get her flowers, but hands down, her favorite part would have to be the kiss. It evoked all kinds of emotions in her, some she never felt before with Ron. She felt like she was falling more and more for Draco every day, if that was even possible.

She got up and gave a long stretch. She had to stop thinking of him if she wanted to get things done. Hermione headed down to the kitchen with a spring to her step. She was truly happy and overly in a good mood. She grabbed a kettle to warm water in for her morning tea when she caught sight of her reflection on the glass. Merlin! She looked like a lunatic high on something. If this was the effect of Draco's kiss on her, she would very well end up in an insane asylum.

Hermione sat down and took a deep breath to reign in her very jumbled emotions. Although she was very happy, euphoric even, that she couldn't care less, but she had a lot of things to think about. She'd been pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind ever since she'd admitted that she indeed have feelings for him.

She couldn't deny that her over analytic brain had found something to fret about even though she had promised herself not to think too much. But this one she couldn't ignore. The truth was, she was afraid as she was happy. She was falling way too fast for him. With Ron, it took a while for her to develop feelings for him and it wasn't even that type of feelings. It was probably because she thought they would die in the war that they had kissed and assumed that it was love. But with Draco, it was different. She had never felt anything like that at all. It was a cocktail of emotions that she couldn't quite explain. And to think that she doesn't even know him that well yet. Was it wrong for her to feel something for him this much and this fast despite what he had done to her in the past?

She was taken away from her thoughts when the high pitched whistle of the kettle signaled that it was ready. She prepared her tea and grabbed a box of cookies from the pantry. She couldn't wait until tonight. Not because she missed him terribly already, but because she needed to set things straight with him. She had to tell him about their past if she wanted to have this relationship with him.

Hermione sat across Eva, looking dreamily at the daffodils she found on her porch as she headed to work that morning. She wasn't at all surprised that it had been from Draco. He did after all say that flowers would become a fixture in her life. She opened his note once again and read Draco's oh so sexy cursive.

H., Can't wait to see you tonight. Missing you already. D.

This made her smile even more. She knew it was kind of cheesy (and kind of wrong if she thought about the old Draco saying it), but that was exactly how she felt too.

All Eva could do was look at her with amusement. She was amused at how Hermione's expression would change from dreamy to thoughtful and to joy among others. She was obviously thinking of Draco, Eva thought.

Eva was glad that her friends found happiness in each other, especially Draco. She knew that he had been very lonely for a long time even though he appeared otherwise on the outside. It was hard being away from his family and she could tell it was a missing part of him. But ever since Hermione came into his life, he seemed genuinely happier in contrast to the smiles he gives away. She was also glad for Hermione after hearing what she went through with her ex-boyfriend. Hermione had told her a couple of days ago when Draco was out of town about how she impulsively decided to run away. Hermione was torn and hurting, but she wasn't ready to confront Ron yet. She did break up with him, but she left without closure. Hermione knew that she was over him for a while even before he caught her cheating on her, but what she couldn't face was the possibility that her friendship with him was over too. And she didn't want that to happen.

With that little info, Eva finally understood where Hermione was coming from and when Draco told her about his plans for tonight, all she could do was encourage him to finally tell Hermione his secret. She wanted things to be okay between them and she knew he had to tell her everything for it to work out. Once that's out of the way, they can be together. At least Eva hoped they would. Fingers crossed.

Hermione was replacing back the patient files they had used for that day to the filing cabinet where they belonged when arms snaked from behind her and giving her a hug. She was startled for a second and laughed when she realized that it was Draco.

"You're early."

"Couldn't wait to see you again."

"And I with you. Thanks for the flowers this morning."

"There more where that came from. Anyway, are you ready?"

"Let me go finish up and say good-bye to the girls."

As Draco waited for her outside, he couldn't help but feel nervous about tonight. He went through everything in his mind, making sure that he had done all the preparations for the perfect night. He woke up really early, drove to her cottage to drop the flowers off and headed to his best friend's house. He needed to talk to her. He was nervous about telling Hermione and he needed all the support he could get. Eva had been there for him through thick and thin and he needed her to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

"You can do this, Draco. You've waited for this—for her for a long time. This is your chance so don't let this opportunity pass you by. You deserve to be happy too."

"I will tell her. But what if she doesn't want me when she finds out?"

"You never know if you don't try. You owe yourself that much, Draco. You're a good guy and she'll appreciate that you'd tell her the truth rather than find out from someone else."

"Thanks," Draco gave her a big hug. "…for everything."

"What are you still doing here? Make sure that's one hell of a date and get the girl."

"Where are we going, Draco?" Hermione fingered the blindfold that Draco used to cover her eyes before he drove to their destination.

"It's a surprise. Now stop tugging on that or you'll ruin the surprise." He said as he gently swatted her hand away.

"I hate surprises."

"Trust me, you'll love it."

Hermione felt the truck stop and Draco rushed to the passenger's side to assist her as she exited the vehicle. Draco guided her as they walked. She could hear the wind through the tree, but other than that she didn't know where he had taken her.

She could feel him untie the blindfold and she grew excited, not knowing what to expect. As the blindfold dropped from her eyes, she was breathless. It was a beautiful sight and she felt that this had happened before. Kind of like déjà vu.

It was twilight, the perfect combination of the darkness and the last light of the setting sun. The moon was out, reflecting its fullness on the still lake as stars started to shine in the almost dark sky. She could see fireflies flying along the bushes when she spotted it, a blanket under a tree just beside the lake. Everything was so familiar. It was actually reminiscent of the black lake in Hogwarts, only smaller. It was exactly how she dreamt of it, the dream where she was a fourth year again and they both shared a secret dance under the stars. She knew that it was a dream, but why does she feel like it had happened before? It wasn't just déjà vu. She had a feeling, a tingling sensation at the back of her mind begging to be remembered, but she couldn't seem to find it.

"What do you think?"

"Draco…It's beautiful!"

Draco led her to the blanket under the tree where he had prepared a picnic for the both of them. She was touched with the effort he put into the whole thing. They sat down and Draco got the food from the basket.

"I'm impressed. Did you make all of this?"

"I'm glad you like it, but no, I had a little help with the cooking."

The date started off great. They ate the food Margarette cooked and talked about random things. Draco, being the master of controlling his emotions looked calm, yet his insides were a jumbled mess. He was nervous about his big confession. He wanted to tell her so bad so they could just get on with their lives, but he was scared of what her reaction would be.

They finished eating and ended up lying on their backs and looking at the stars. Hermione pointed to the constellations, telling Draco the story behind her favorites. He turned to his side to look at her and raised a playful eyebrow at her. Still the know-it-all bookworm, he couldn't help but wish that they had been friends when they were in school. He was so deep in thought about what could have been that he didn't notice her turn to her side to look back at him.

"What are you thinking?"

"You." Hermione blushed at his answer, but she smiled at him nonetheless and kept eye contact.

Draco brought his hand up to gently caress her face, holding her gaze. He was hypnotized by this beautiful, brilliant and amazing girl beside him that he couldn't help but lean in closer.

It was only their second kiss, but Hermione felt like they had been kissing for a long time. She couldn't help but notice how totally in sync they are. Draco was charming and smart and someone who she could have an intellectual conversation with. He was someone who she would never get tired of and this made her wonder why she stayed with Ron for so long. At the thought of Ron, she broke away from Draco. She didn't want to, but she had to talk to him first.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" He asked her as she moved to sit down.

"Draco…I have to tell you something." He sat down in front of her, giving her all his attention. She held his hands in hers.

"I really like you, Draco…and I can't help but feel like I'm falling in love with you…"

"Me too—"

"Wait, let me finish. I need to tell you this before anything else. I just got out of a long term relationship with someone a couple of days ago and I don't want you to think that you are just some rebound I want to pass the time with. I like you, I do…I just wanted you to know that."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Draco could tell that there was more to it than what she was saying. He could feel her sadness and he wanted to just kiss it away. But he of all people knew that holding all those emotions inside didn't always just go away by itself.

Hermione was reluctant at first, but in the end she had told him everything, told him how she had an on and off relationship with Ron, how she wasn't in love with him in a long time and just stayed with him just because everybody expected them to end up together, how she caught him cheating on her with another witch and how she broke up with him and ran away. She told Draco that she wasn't ready to face him yet, that she was really hurt that he had cheated and lied to her for who knows how long even though she didn't love him like that in a long time just because she valued their friendship and that Ron didn't feel she deserved the truth. She hated being lied to and she told Draco with a passion that she could never forgive liars.

Draco was attentively listening while he tried to figure out a different game plan. He knew now that she would definitely hate him if she found out that he had been lying the whole time. All his resolve melted away and he knew that he couldn't possibly tell her now. All he could do was give her a tight hug after her monologue.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" Hermione looked up from his chest, feeling so much better now that she had said what she needed to say. Draco smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

"I just wanted to say that I'm kinda falling in love with you too and that I'd wait for you, however long it would take. I know you still have issues to resolve especially without the closure from your friend, but I want you to know that I'll be here for you. Okay?"

"Okay." She smiled at his promise and this time, she kissed him.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter was a bit dragging and totally OOC! i hope you still like it though. I'll try to upload the next chapter as fast as I can. Please review and tell me what you think. thanks :)