Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters of the book. They are the property of J.K Rowling, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only / Also, I'm not native in english so please let me know of any errors and please review!

Draco was still dancing with Hermione, holding her small frame tight against his chest, when he lowered his mouth to her ear.

"Want to get out of here?", he whispered, watching her peek up at him and nod in consent. He twirled her around, his eyes moving greedily over the shape of her body as he did so. She really looked mouth-watering in that dress, he thought and feeling the familiar thug below his navel, he pulled her close.

"Let's go", he murmured in her ear before leading her out from the Great Hall. Once they were outside he couldn't stop himself and moving his eager hands up her body he pushed her towards a shadowy corner in the end of the passage. Preoccupied as he was, Draco didn't notice they weren't alone. Crouched down behind a bench just feet from them, stood a small house, watching them with beady eyes.

They were standing by one of the large portraits in the passage leading to the kitchen and Ron was talking elatedly to Hannah, Ginny and Harry. He was in the midst of doing his recap of last weekends game against Hufflepuff, when he was interrupted by a loud crack. Kreacher had emerged from the air, making them all jump.

"Kreacher," Harry said after he'd quickly found himself "has something happened? Is it Hermione? Is she alright?

"She's been dragged off by Draco Malfoy," Kreacher reported in a bored voice.

"WHAT?" Ron shouted "Where are they?"

"In the south passage, outside the Great Hall," the elf droned on.

And with one look at each other, Ron and Harry ran up the stairs and charged through the Great Hall, not minding that they were running into people on their way. Sheer panic pulsed through Ron's veins. He'd been expecting Malfoy to seek revenge after his argument with Hermione on that previous Sunday and make no mistake, if that sly piece of shit had so much as broken a single hair on her head, he'd kill him. Running down the south passage, he saw them. Malfoy had Hermione pushed up against the wall and he appeared to be biting her neck. Ron felt a surge of blind rage and in one swift move he'd pulled the man off her and shoved him to the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you freak!" he shouted, panting and stared down at Malfoy, who looked deadly.

"Ron!" cried Hermione, sitting down on the floor next to their sworn enemy.

"What are you doing? Get away from him, he just tried to rape you for Merlin's sake!" Harry growled, pulling her arm. The man on the floor looked stunned.

"Rape her?" Malfoy said in disbelief, looking from Harry to Hermione to Ron.

Something had snapped in Ron when hearing what Harry had said, and he wanted nothing more than to rip the pale-faced man to shreds. But there was something off with the situation and he restrained himself from lunging at Malfoy and looked at Hermione.

"Guys, you've got it all wrong. He wasn't trying to hurt me," she started, struggling with the words when Malfoy cut in.

"We're together. Hermione is my girlfriend," he said, wiping blood away from his lip. No, no, no, it couldn't be, Ron thought, but one quick glance at Hermione confirmed it. She was blushing, clearly embarrassed.

"What?" Harry said sharply, glaring at Malfoy before looking at Hermione "Is this true?"

"Yes," she said in a small voice "and I didn't want you to find out this way".

"Why haven't you told us?" Harry said flatly.

"Well, I was going to", she started and then she cried out "it's just that its Malfoy."

Malfoy's eyes darted to her and he looked annoyed.

"Gee, thanks," he said glaring at her.

"Come on, Draco, you know what I mean. We all used to hate each other!" Hermione pleaded.

"That hasn't changed as far as I'm concerned," Ron said, shooting Malfoy a look of pure loathing.

"Well it has for me. He's a completely different person now, and if you'd only take the time to see that," Hermione started but Harry cut her off.

"Fat chance there, he was a Death Eater, Hermione!" he said coldly. Ron murmured in agreement. Now it was Malfoy's turn to look embarrassed.

"I don't care. People change. Besides, I don't need your permission. I'm not going to stop seeing him," Hermione said with a note of finality. Ron felt nauseous. The thought of her with Malfoy, after all his family had put her though made his stomach turn. At the same time, he could see the battle was lost, once Hermione had made up her mind about something there was no turning back. And it was her life, he thought bitterly.

Hermione felt dizzy, walking to the Room of Requirement hand in hand with Draco. The confrontation with Ron and Harry had left her drained and she felt like a complete idiot, wishing she'd told them weeks ago.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Draco said in an attempt to lighten the mood. She smiled at him appreciatively.

"Yeah, it was real cosy," she said ironically, feeling relived when they finally reached the room, she craved nothing more than some peace and quiet – away from all the drama. They didn't have sex that night, instead they stayed up talking for hours about the future; their career plans, where they would live and how many kids they wanted. Hermione had felt Draco stiffened when she'd brought up that last subject. All and all, it hadn't been a terrible night, she thought before falling asleep with her head resting on his chest.

She woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, it was Saturday which meant she didn't have to stress getting ready. Resting her chin on Draco's chest she noticed him still sleeping and she watched his carved features for a while, thinking she was the luckiest woman alive. As unexpected as their relationship was, she thought she'd always known there was more to Draco Malfoy than first met the eye. The haughty manner, the rants about pure-blood superiority and the persistent bullying had always felt like a façade, a well-rehearsed performance, separate from who he really was. Hermione felt herself starting to get restless, she wasn't very skilled in the art of sleeping in, and she decided to sneak off to the library. The Ministry had sent her some reading material on elf legislation that she wanted to sift through and she was sure Draco wouldn't mind. He, as oppose to her, treasured a good lay-in. She scribbled a note to Draco saying where he could find her before going to Gryffindor Tower to change. Then, after arriving outside the library, wearing a fresh set of clothes, she heard someone come up behind her and spinning round she saw it was Blaise Zabini, who approached her looking victorious.

"Good morning Granger!" he said jubilantly, making Hermione suspicious. Blaise Zabini and she had barely uttered a word to each other and there he was seemingly happy to see her.

"Morning," she said hesitantly.

"You know, I heard about you and Malfoy," he said in a would-be casual voice.

"Oh yeah," she answered.

"Yeah, and I thought I should let you know that he's only toying with you. I mean just the other day he called you an obnoxious bitch saying he didn't want anything to do with you," he said, looking pleased when he saw her freeze. "Anyway, I guess he figured you had some good qualities," he said staring blatantly at her chest. Hermione felt cold. Blaise was a friend of Draco's and she couldn't understand why he'd go out of his way to insult her.

"What is it with you that makes you so special?" he said, drawing closer to her. She wanted to shout for him to back off, but felt too shocked to move. He was close enough for her to feel his breath on her face now and he lowered his tall figure so that his mouth was close to her ear.

"He'll get tired of you soon enough. And you should know that I don't mind leftovers," he whispered before backing away laughing. Hermione stood glued to the spot not daring to move until he'd gone from her sight. After the run-in with Zabini, she had difficulties concentrating on elf legislation, but read through the paperwork nonetheless. She'd settled on a seat in the furthest corner of the library, that way she could keep close watch on the entrance in case he'd come back to harass her some more. She'd never valued the company of Mrs Pinch more than she did that day. Calmed by the sounds the strict librarian made when sorting books and putting them on shelves, Hermione did manage to get some work done.

Draco was still in bed when Hermione returned to the Room of Requirement later that afternoon and as soon as she came close enough to the bed, he pulled her down on it, inhaling the scent of her hair as she landed next to him.

"Where you've been? I've missed you," he murmured.

"At the library. I wrote you a note," she said and he vaguely remembered picking up a piece of parchment from the table and reading it a couple of hours before.

"Right," he said.

"Something happened on my way to the library and I'm not sure I should tell you," Hermione said and Draco suddenly felt wide awake. He felt unnerved by the shakiness in her voice.

"What?" he demanded, sitting up and looking seriously at her.

"Well," she started, glancing nervously at him, and then "I ran into Zabini and he said the most horrible things."

Draco felt his pulse quicken and had to look away from her before speaking.

"What did he say?" he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice light.

"He said that you we're only messing with me and that you thought I was an obnoxious bitch whom you didn't want anything to do with," Hermione said, talking very fast.

"Did he now?" Draco said malevolently, staring at a spot above her head.

"But answer me this, did you say those things?" Hermione asked and he looked back at her.

"Yes, but it was all part of the act. You were the one wanting to keep our relationship a secret, remember?"

"Right," she said, not quite able to keep the hurt from her eyes. Draco felt his chest fall.

"I don't actually think that, you silly girl, I'm crazy about you," he said, tilting her chin up, "you know that."

"I do. And I'm crazy about you too," she said smiling up at him.

Then, remembering what they'd been talking about, he asked:

"Was that all he said?"

"Well" she started, glancing nervously at him again "he asked what was so special about me and told me you would grow tired of me and that he didn't mind leftovers," she finished in a grimace.

Draco hadn't prepared for this and was unable to contain his anger this time. He jumped from the bed and without worrying that it would scare her, he grabbed a vase from the table and smashed it into the wall. The glass scattered over the floor and Hermione looked struck.

"This is all my fault. I should've known," he said in anguish, clutching his hands to his head.

"That's ridiculous, he's your friend, how could you possibly expect him to say something like that?" Hermione said urgently.

"Because he's a bastard that's why. But don't worry Hermione, he won't bother you again," he promised through gritted teeth.

"Great. Now can you calm down?" she asked, gesturing for him to get back to bed.

He nodded defeated, sitting down next to her and thinking that men truly were idiots.