Last Chapter: "You know Draco-." Blaise suddenly stopped talking at the look on Draco's face. Draco, who had still been watching Nott, had suddenly stood more upright and Blaise could sense that he was suddenly more tense, especially when he saw the glare that he was shooting at Nott turn to a sudden look of horror. "What?"

But Draco didn't answer him because the one thing he promised Hermione was about to come crashing down. Hermione had entered the room seconds ago but Nott had seen her before he had, and now he was quickly approaching Hermione with the same determined look on his face. Draco had to do something and quickly. "Shit." Draco swore, throwing his glass in Blaise's hands and practically sprinting over towards Hermione.

Eleven

April 12th
Day 5

Hermione looked around the room, chewing on her bottom lip as she searched for Draco. He wasn't where he said he was going to be and she suddenly felt frustrated with him, not believing he would disappear into a sea of people who hated everything about her. As she turned her gaze to the right, her eyes suddenly locked with a set of blue eyes. A tall man with Black hair was staring at her, a giant grin on his face, and the worst was Hermione recognized him from Hogwarts. "Hello Nott." She said, faking the kindness in her voice and quickly turning, still searching for Draco.

"You look like you lost somebody." Nott said, still grinning at Hermione.

Hermione continued to look around for Draco as she spoke. "Actually, I did. I can't seem to find my-"

"Your date?" Nott asked as Hermione looked up at him. "You mean Malfoy?" Hermione nodded and Nott's grin grew. "Oh, I saw him disappear outside a few minutes ago. He should be back soon."

"Oh." Hermione said, turning her head to see if she could spot Draco outside. "Well then maybe I should-"

"What do you say to a dance while you're waiting for Malfoy to come back inside?" Nott held out his arm, putting on the most charming smile he could muster.

Hermione smiled back kindly. "No thank you. I don't think my date would appreciate that very much."

"Oh, come on Granger." Nott said. "Malfoy and I were great friends in Hogwarts. I don't think he'll mind a quick dance."

"No thank you." Hermione said a bit impatiently this time, quickly turning on her heel to walk away. Nott, on the other hand, wasn't going to have anybody say no to him. He quickly shot his hand out, grabbing Hermione's upper arm and pulling her back towards him. "Hey! Let me go!" Hermione yelled trying to pull away from Nott's grip.

"Just a quick dance, Granger. What do you say?"

"I already said no." Hermione continued to try and pull her arm away from Nott's grip, but he was to strong.

"Now, Granger-"

"Is there a problem here?" Both Hermione and Nott turned to see Draco standing before him, his eyes glaring at Nott and fist clenched at his sides. "I believe my date said she didn't want to dance Nott."

"Actually she did, Malfoy."

"No I didn't!" Hermione snapped, still trying to pull away from Nott's tightening grip.

"Let go of her Nott." Draco said through his teeth.

"Come on now, Malfoy. You can't have her the whole night."

"She's my date, Nott. If I want to have her the whole night then I will."

"You've always been a selfish bastard." Nott said, pulling Hermione closer towards him, ignoring her protest. "Which is why you should share her and prove that you really aren't the selfish bastard that truly lies on the inside."

"I'm not a thing to be shared!" Hermione yelled, still trying to get away from Nott's grip, looking at Draco for help.

"Nott, remove your hands from Hermione before I remove them for you!" Draco yelled.

Nott clicked his tongue, shaking his head at Draco. "You still haven't learned your manners yet, have-." But Draco had heard enough. He quickly brought his fist up and made contact with the side of Nott's face, catching him off guard and sending him back a couple of steps. Draco quickly grabbed onto Hermione's hand, pulling her behind him and out of Nott's reach before he had time to retaliate. "You son of a bitch!" Nott yelled a couple seconds later, jumping at Draco.

With a shove, Draco was forced back onto one of the tables as Nott came charging at him. Just as Nott was about to hit Draco with a punch, he quickly dove to the side, causing Nott's fist to hit a glass plate on the table and shatter it into pieces. With glass in his fist and a scream of pain, Nott turned back to Draco and punched him in face with the same fist covered in glass. Draco cried out in pain as he fell to the floor from Nott's forceful punch. It only took a couple seconds before Nott was on top of Draco, one hand gripping his shirt to hold him up as the other smashed repeatedly into his face.

Somewhere between the punches, Draco found the strength again to fight back and quickly brought a knee up to Nott's groin, sending him rolling onto his back. Quickly as lightning, Draco was on top of Nott, sending punches into his face and chest to relieve his anger before he got out what he should have gotten out a while ago. Pulling his wand out of his pocket, he pushed the tip of it into Nott's throat. They both laid there, glaring at each other and breathing heavily. It took them a couple seconds to register that it was completely silent in the room, everybody had seen their little tussle. But Draco didn't care, all he cared about what that he had re-secured his chances with Hermione and that he could get the pieces of glass out of his cheek.

"Stay away from Hermione and me, do you understand?" Draco asked Nott, pressing the tip of his wand farther into Nott's neck. Nott didn't respond, just glared back at Draco, but Draco took that as a yes and quickly got up from Nott, turning to Hermione. "Come on Hermione, let's go." He grabbed her hand and with a quick look at Nott, started to lead her out towards the garden.

They walked outside quickly, knowing fairly well that all eyes were on them. When they were finally out of ear shot of the crowd, Hermione stopped walking and turned to Draco. "Let me see Malfoy." She said, turning him so he was facing her.

"I'm fine Granger." Draco said, turning his head so Hermione couldn't see the bruises and chunks of glass still in his cheek.

"Malfoy…." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "You have glass in your cheek." She pointed out.

"No I don't." Hermione quickly reached her hand up and grabbed Draco's chin, turning his head so she could see where Nott had landed his punch. "Ouch! Granger, not so rough!"

"Stop being a baby and let me remove that glass."

"Granger, I'm fine."

Hermione sighed. "What is it with guys always trying to act strong and like nothing is wrong when something actually is?" Draco just stared back at her. "Please let me help you before it scars."

"Alright, fine." Draco said, finally giving into Hermione's please.

Hermione grinned at him then grabbed his hand, pulling him over to a nearby table. Draco sat down in one of the chairs and Hermione sat across from him, pulling the chair closer to him so their knees were practically touching. She took her wand out of her purse and placed it on the table before leaning in closer towards Draco to get a better look at his injury. "Thank you… by the way." She said in a soft voice as Draco flinched from the first piece of glass being removed from the side of his face.

"I've wanted to beat the living daylight out of Nott for years now. He had it coming." Draco said with a smile.

Hermione smiled back. "Yes, well to be completely honest with you, you took a pretty bad beating as well."

"It's alright." Draco said as he watched Hermione remove all the small pieces of glass from his cheek. "I've seen worse."

Hermione laughed. "Me as well. Ron splinched himself once when we were out hunting horcruxes. It was terrible."

"I always knew Weasley was an idiot, but splinching yourself is pretty bad."

Hermione glared at Draco. "Mind you, we were on the run, about to get caught." She paused, taking in a deep breath. "You can't really blame him."

They were both silent for a few seconds, Hermione concentrating on removing the last of the glass from Draco's cheek as he watched her, staring deeply into her brown eyes. "I'm sorry Granger."

"Don't apologize for making fun of Ron. I'm used to that coming from you."

Draco laughed, watching as Hermione pulled the last chunk out of his cheek and pick up her wand. "I'm not apologizing for that."

"What could you be apologizing for besides that?" She asked, looking Draco in the eye.

"I promised nothing would happen to you tonight."

Hermione chuckled, allowing a small grin to form on her face before lightly tapping the tip of her wand to Draco's cheek. "And so far, you've kept your promise." With the look of confusion from Draco, Hermione's smile only grew. "Last time I checked, I was the one who fixed you up, not vice versa."

"You know, if you would have just danced with him then none of this would have happened." He said with a smirk, hoping Hermione would realize he was just teasing her.

Hermione scoffed, folding her hands across her chest and rolling her eyes. "Well if you had actually stayed where you told me you were going to stay, then I wouldn't have had to stand there like an idiot looking for you."

Draco looked slightly taken back by how serious she sounded and admitted a small laugh despite himself. "Granger… I was just messing with you."

Hermione stood up and slowly started to walk away from Draco. "I know." She paused, turning around and smirking at Draco before she started walking away again. "But I wasn't."

"Oh really?" Draco asked, standing up as well and catching up with her.

"Yes really." Hermione said, giving the blonde a small shove to the side when he walked up next to her.

Draco got his balance back from Hermione's shove and walked back over to her. "Technically, it was your entire fault. That whole fight was about you." Draco said, shoving her just like she had shoved him.

Hermione turned to look at Draco, both of them smiling at each other. "That is true, but the fact still stands that none of this would have happened if you hadn't asked me to this party in the first place." She smirked at him, watching as Draco's face fell with defeat. "So therefore, it's your entire fault." At her accusation, she shoved Draco again, only this time harder than the last, and this one caught Draco completely off guard.

He stumbled to the left where both his feet landed on a pebbled rock way. As he tried to catch his balance, he ended up slipping on the pebbles and falling right into the dirt. Hermione couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips as she looked down at Draco laying with his butt in the dirt. "I'm- sorry!" She said in-between laughs, now doubled over and grabbing her stomach as she tried to control her laughter.

"It's not funny, Granger." Draco said, although on the inside he was thinking the exact opposite. Hermione continued to laugh as Draco stayed sitting in the dirt, his arms now crossing across his chest as he watched her with amusement. "Are you done?" He asked when her laughter had somewhat died down.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy." She said, running her hand through her hair as her laughter had almost completely disappeared. "I guess I don't know my own strength."

"I should grab you and pull you down into the dirt with me. I bet you wouldn't think it's funny then." Draco said, rubbing the dirt off his hands.

Hermione suddenly got very serious, looking Draco straight in the eye. "You wouldn't dare." Draco stopped rubbing his hands together when he realized the seriousness in Hermione's voice. He looked up at her with a smirk and watched as she slowly started to back away from him. "Don't you dare, Malfoy." She warned, watching as his smirk grew and he slowly started to rise up from the ground. "This is a brand new dress and if you ruin it I'm going to ruin you."

Draco laughed. "Come on, Granger." He said, approaching her as she backed up from him. "A little dirt never hurt anybody."

"I'm not kidding Malfoy. Stay-." She stopped mid sentence, a scream coming from her mouth as she sprinted away from the blonde who had suddenly started chasing after her. They ran around the garden, both laughing as Draco continued to chase Hermione. Wanting to lose Draco, she quickly hung right and ran straight into a flower bush, crawling on her knees until she came out the other side.

Staying low to the ground, she kept her ears in the air and listened as she heard Draco's footsteps run straight past her hiding spot. She smiled in victory, quickly taking a look around for a permanent place to hide. It didn't take her long to see the huge willow tree sitting by a lake only a few feet away. With a smile, she quickly made her way over towards the tree, pushing her way past the hanging branches and pressing her back against the trunk. She stayed there, catching her breath and keeping an eye out for Draco, when all the sudden, she heard somebody speak behind her. "Hello Granger."

Hermione didn't have time to escape or react before she felt arms come in contact with her and tackle her to the ground. Hermione landed on top of Draco, both her hands resting on his chest while Draco placed his on the small of her back. They looked at each other, both still laughing and completely oblivious to the way they had landed on each other. After their laughter had died down did they finally realize the embrace they were in.

They just stared at each other, neither moving nor making a sound. Brown eyes locked with silver and it seemed like they were trying to read each other's minds. Draco couldn't help but think that now would have been the perfect time to lift his head up and press his lips to hers. He couldn't even help to think that she wouldn't mind, especially since she hadn't jumped off of him the second she realized how close she was. "You look tired, Granger. What do you say I take you home?"

Hermione nodded, pushing herself off Draco and standing up, patting all the dirt from her dress. Draco stood up as well, watching her as she removed the dirt then holding out his hand for her to take. She smiled at him and allowed Draco to lead her out towards the front gate of the Zabini Manor.

Even though Draco had wanted nothing more than to kiss her and his mind was telling him that that was the opportune moment and now it was gone forever, he couldn't help but think that he hadn't made a mistake. He didn't know if it was the sudden butterflies in his stomach or the fact that his heart was telling him no, but he did know one thing for sure. He knew that the plan he told Blaise about might not go exactly as planned. Because that plan was thought up by his mind… and at that very moment, Draco made up another plan to follow his heart.

This chapter wasn't as long as the last one, but hey, you guys still got two chapters in one day and that has to count for something... right?

Please remember to review! For some reason, I can't seem to break the 15 mark and that would be amazing if i could get at least 20... please :D