Hey everyone!!! Thanks to everyone who has voted so far, but I would really like to see a lot more votes before I close the poll. I mean, seriously, I've gotten at least 1,000 hits since I posted the last chapter and only 20 or so voters!!! Go vote and maybe you'll get another Draco/Hermione kiss!!! (hint hint)

Also, thank you to all of my reviewers! It really motivates me to write more when I check my email and see a ton of reviews waiting for me! :-D

My beta rocks! -But you all already knew that! :-P

And on with the show...

Draco rolled over and yawned. It had been the first night he had slept alone in a week. While he felt rested, since he hadn't had to deal with Hermione's nightmares waking him, he missed the feeling of waking with her warm body clinging to his.

Over the course of a week, Draco and Hermione had gone from merely being cordial to one another, to spending basically every waking minute together. He knew that she needed him, but, if he was honest with himself, he felt like he needed her too. They were closer, but, even though they had shared a kiss in the week previous, Draco had made sure a repeat performance had not taken place. He was still afraid of taking advantage of her vulnerability. He didn't know it, but he was also afraid to open himself up to kiss her again; his wall was slowly coming down brick by brick, but to kiss her again would be like taking a Bludgering Spell to it.

Yes, even though he had already changed a considerable amount, the past week had changed him even more. Not only was Hermione starting to become one of his best friends, but being around Harry wasn't as torturous as it would have been in the past. Ginny was also starting to warm up to him, although he knew she didn't trust him completely. It made sense though since his father had tried to see her murdered, or, at least, imprisoned six years ago. The four of them had actually spent Saturday night and most of Sunday playing Exploding Snap and Wizard's Chess. Ron had, obviously, been absent and no one had seemed to care. Apparently, Harry had filled Ginny in on Hermione's situation after informing Ron quite loudly and publicly, verbally abusing him for the entirety of two hours during which, it must be said, he'd turned every shade between beet red and ghost white that was known to wizarding kind. Initially, Ron had tried to enter the Heads' Tower to apologize, but a quick Patronus sent to McGonagall put an end to that.

He rolled over to look at the clock. Eleven thirty… Hell, I've got only a week left of this, I'm going back to sleep… Except for what had led to it, Draco had really enjoyed being able to sleep in. He yawned. Hmm… why do I feel like I'm forgetting something? It's eleven thirty… Monday… Monday… Why do I feel li- SHIT! Draco bolted out of bed, throwing his boxers on the floor before throwing on a clean set of clothing. He ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth and entered Hermione's room from there. Softly, he shook her awake. "Hey, I've got practice. Will you be okay for a few hours? I can send for Harry…"

Hermione yawned, shaking the sleep form her head. "What…? Oh, uhh, yeah I'll be fine." She shook her head and yawned again, her sleepy eyes unfocused. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Shit, yeah sorry! I've got to go!" He rushed back to his room to grab his gear before running down to the pitch. Luckily, with the help of secret passageways, he made it just in time for the noon practice. How bad would it look if the Captain had been late? Ugh!

The great thing about being Captain was that Draco could do whatever he wanted, not that it had stopped him previously, but now everyone else acknowledged his right to do this too. Right now, he had the rest of his team running drills while he flew high above them, 'looking' for the Snitch. Really, he was enjoying the feel of the wind rushing by him as he dipped and dived through the air. Flying came easily for him, as simple as breathing. The tension and stress form the past week melted from his body and he relished in the feeling; flying always made him feel better. This is my 'window seat.' Hermione's got her way to de-stress and I've got mine… I wonder what she's doing right now. I hope she's alright; hopefully she's still asleep…

Gold glittered in his peripheral and he caught sight of the Snitch. Draco followed after it, although not actively chasing; it would help to practice maneuvers if he didn't catch it too quickly. He moved through his teammates, narrowing missing several Bludgers, which he would berate Crabbe and Goyle about later. Finally, he caught the Snitch right before it started to arc back up, trying to lose itself in the glare the sun. Signaling to the rest of the team, he headed for the ground. They landed around him and waited for his comments. He was just about to speak when-

"Oi, Ferret Boy!" Seven Six pairs of eyes turned to glare at the advancing Ron; Draco chose, as he often had, to ignore him for the moment.

Draco turned his team's attention back to him. "Good practice, get out of here; I'll deal with him. Meet here early Saturday so we can discuss strategy." Without another word, he marched over to meet Ron. "What do you want Weasel!?"

"What do I want!? What do I fucking want!? What do YOU fucking want!? Why the hell can't you leave Hermione alone!? Don't you think she's been through enough without having to deal with you too!?"

It was going to be difficult to keep his voice calm, but he'd learned at a young age to hide what he was feeling. His teammates were still close, and if he yelled, they would come running with wands drawn. "Ron, I'm not the one who called her a 'Whore.'"

"Yeah, you're the one that called her a 'Mudblood!'"

Deep breaths… deep breaths… "I haven't used that word in a long time and I regret I ever used it at all. But that doesn't have anything to do with the situation at hand. You're mad at me because Hermione won't allow you to see her! You should be mad at yourself though, not at me. I was there for her! I held her while she was crying! I had to protect her from YOU! You have no one to blame but yourself!"

Ron was beyond furious. "YOU WERE IN HER ROOM HALF DRESSED!"

"Because I woke up to her screaming! I didn't think putting on more clothes was a priority at that exact moment! The only reason you saw me like that was because she asked me to stay with her!" Draco's face was one of pure hatred and he was having trouble keeping his voice level steady. "Honestly, you're supposed to be her best friend and you're mad at me for helping her. Do you understand how fucked up that is!? I don't have anything left to say to you!" Not wanting to expose his back to an outraged Ron, Draco jumped back on his broom and shot himself back to the castle.

Hermione was in the Common Room when Draco finished with his shower. He was starving and he saw that she had a large spread of sandwiches laid out on the table. He grabbed one and sat down beside her. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem. You look tired…" She brushed a stray hair from his face. "How was practice?"

He groaned. "Great, until the end."

Her brows furrowed. "What happened? Did you get hit with a Bludger?"

He chuckled. "No, although that almost happened quite a few times; I still have to yell at Crabbe and Goyle about that." He rubbed his neck. "It wasn't 'what' happened, but 'who' happened?" Hermione looked at him, obviously confused. "Ron came to 'talk' to me." He grabbed her hand before she could jump up and track down Ron. "You're not going to go hex him." She looked back at him. "Really, I took care of it. It's fine, I promise."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't believe he just won't leave me alone. It's bad, but I'm actually glad he went after you than coming up here. You know… you're sort of awesome." They both smirked. "Crap, now you're going to have an even bigger ego than before!"

"Cute…"

She relaxed her position and propped up her feet. "But seriously… I've been thinking…" His mouth was full so he motioned for her to continue. "Well, thanks to Harry covering for us, everyone is going to wonder what was so important that we needed to miss class. So… I was thinking that, since Halloween is coming up, we could talk to Dumbledore about having a costume party. What do you think?" She bit her lip like she always did when she was nervous.

Wow- that's an awesome idea! "Th-that… Yeah! That is a really, really great idea! I really think everyone will love it!"

His smirk played across her face. "Glad you like it, because I already got approval from Dumbledore while you were at practice."

"You what?"

"Yeah, and he said he'd take care of everything actually. He said that our only job is to have fun; he thought we both had enough to deal with already."

"Seriously? Well, hell, that's awesome!" Why is she biting her lip again? "You know, if you bite your lip any harder, you're going to cut it. What's wrong?"

"I, ummm… Will you be my date?"

Yes! Yes! Yes! "I…" Wait, it's too soon! It's too soon for her to get involved with someone like this… isn't it?

"It's okay… Just forget I asked…" She turned her head to look away from him.

"I- No! Hermione, look at me!" Draco pulled her chin towards him when she wouldn't do it herself. "I like you! I really like you! The only reason I hesitated was because I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too soon for you…"

A sparkle flickered in her eyes. "Really? You like me?"

"Yes." Draco pulled her into a hug. "Yes, Hermione, I really like you and I would love to be your date to the party!"

GIVE ME COSTUME IDEAS!!! Ha, this won't be for a few chapters, but I like to at least plan stuff out in my head in advance... If you give me a good costume idea AND IT'S THE ONE I USE, I'll give you full credit in my A/Ns!!! And... I'm not completely promising anything, BUT if it works out I'll also give you a preview of that chapter... (I'm saying that I'm not going to promise anything because when I get a chapter done, I like to get it up ASAP, but if you're the 'winner' I'll try to hold off updating that chapter so you get a preview...)

Yeah, oh, and reviews make me verrrrrrrrrrrrrry happy and motivate me to get new chapters up faster! (hint hint) So push that little green button and give me some love (or hate, if there was something you didn't like...)