Disclaimer: Don't own them….just another attempt to answer the question-what if….?"

Warning: Post War Hogwarts, Mild Violence, Aghast, Lime… all that other good stuff.

Pairing: HGXDM

Author's Note: I just want to thank the people who've read, reviewed, and added my story to their story alerts and also in their favorite story listing. You guys don't realize just how much….. You inspire me. So thank you. Enjoy! =D

Part Twelve

The day of the match had the whole school in a bundle of nerves. The air was tense as everyone from the newly sorted first years to the old returning seventh years made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. No one was staying within the castle that day. Not even one Hermione Granger, who in the past had only attended past games if it had been Gryffindor playing.

When the sun came up, Hermione got herself ready and dressed for the weather, clad in jeans and a grey tank top topped with a light forest green, wool long sleeve jumper. Just as she opened her door, she slipped on her dark olive tinged heelless boots, and was stopped short at the sight of Draco, attractively clad in his Quidditch uniform of green and silver, casually leaning against the back of the lounge sofa.

At the sound of the door opening, Draco glanced up and upon noticing her choice of jumper; he couldn't help but think that the green complimented her soft looking tanned skin. His fingers twitched as Draco felt himself longing for another touch of her skin, even if it was just the feel of her hand within his. But he digressed. As she closed the door behind her, Hermione gave Draco a smile as she approached him, the Slytherin prince standing up straight and returning the smile in kind.

"Good morning."

"Likewise." Draco responded, delighting in the way Hermione usually scrunched up her nose at his use of greeting, or any other old fashioned terms he used, this morning no different.

They both, as was their custom, made their way out of the Head's dorm, and was greeted by the sight of Hermione's two shadows, Leo and Taurus standing guard right outside the door as they did every day ( other than weekends, though Hermione had had a difficult enough time trying to convince them that it wasn't necessary).

"Good morning, Ms. Hermione, Mr. Draco!" The pair chorused, before they put some space between the Head Girl and Boy, opting to walk two to three feet behind the pair. Hermione and Draco responded in kind to the sibling's greetings as they continued their journey to the Great Hall.

Reaching their destination and entering the double doors, Hermione was not surprised to find three fourths of the school had donned the Ravenclaw house colors of bronze and royal blue, which made the occupants of the Slytherin table, all loyally decked out in variations of green and silver, stick out among the masses. As Hermione passed the Gryffindor table, she caught sight of Ron and Harry, who had had noticed her arrival with the Malfoy heir and her two ever present bodyguards. Ron, upon catching her eye stiffened, and turned away, making Hermione sigh inwardly. Harry on the other hand, grinned at her albeit a little apologetically, before glancing at Ron and rolling his eyes, making Hermione laugh and beam at him. The thought that she had not lost both her best friends warmed and comforted Hermione's heart.

Giving a wave to her dark haired friend, and receiving one in turn, Hermione smiled to herself as she took her usual seat beside the Slytherin prince. Wasting no time, he began to eat, the rest of the table joining in breakfast with much vigor. Hermione, who had never a reason to know the other players from the other house teams besides her own, blinked surprising at the sight of Adrian, Theodore, and Blaise all decked out in Slytherin Quidditch robes as well. Though when she really thought about it, she shouldn't have really been surprised that the friends of the blonde heir, not only stuck close to him on the ground, but also played alongside him in the air as well.

Helping herself to some blueberry waffles, Hermione surprised the seventh year Slytherins, and herself, by asking their positions on the team.

"Well, Ian and Theo here are both Beaters." Blaise answered, laughing at the surprised look that the Gryffindor princess exhibited at the information, and rightly so. She couldn't imagine that the two boys, who had been nothing but witty and charmingly funny in her presence, would play such brutal positions on the Slytherin team.

"Don't let their complacency fool you Hermione." Blaise warned good naturedly. "Underneath these two lazy scholars lay complete vipers out there on the field." At the Zabini's depiction of them on the pitch, Theo and Ian merely smirked at each other before turning to the Gryffindor and making various hissing noises, all the while curling their fingers into fangs and holding it to their mouths, lashing out playfully at the girl. Hermione could only laugh as she continued to eat her waffles, not trusting herself to try drinking her juice just yet.

"And what about you, Blaise? Are you a viper out there too?" Hermione teased, finally taking a sip of her juice as the pair of Slytherin Beaters quit their antics in favor of finishing their breakfast.

"Oh no, cara." Blaise chuckled, his black eyes seeming to darken as he stared at her from behind his cup as he took a long sip, before answering her. "Playing Keeper I like to think of myself more like a cobra. I make sure that quaffles, much like fine women, never slip past me unnoticed." At his jesting, Hermione couldn't help but let out a giggle, and a blush as the Italian gave her a good natured wink.

"Oh please!" Pansy snorted, causing the flirty Italian to turn and glare at her. "Vipers, cobras! In the end you're all just a bunch of snakes in the grass aren't you?" The brunette continued to chortle under her breath, and Hermione was surprised to see Daphne politely laughing as well at the comment from behind her hand.

Noting the Hermione's gaze on her, Daphne lowered her hand before giving her a small smile, trying to put forth as much warmth as she could, and nodding to the honey colored Gryffindor. Hermione, feeling Daphne's sincerity, smiled back before finishing off her waffles.

All too soon breakfast was over, and as the students from the other houses began to make their way out of the Great Hall, the Slytherin table waited until Draco and Hermione stood, before doing the same and following suit. The way down to the pitch was full of excited chatter from the emerald clad students; though Hermione couldn't help but notice the number of despairing looks she received from students of the Ravenclaw house. As the Slytherin students made it to their tower stand and began to climb the wooden stairs leading up, the remaining team members broke from the group and heading to their locker room to wait out the start of the match sans their captain.

"Well, good luck out there." Hermione smiled at Draco, as they stood in front of each other, fighting off the urge to throw her arms around him and… and do what she wasn't certain. The Gryffindor bookworm was only certain that the thought of throwing her arms around the blonde Slytherin seemed so appealing at the time.

"Thanks. But I think a little more luck wouldn't hurt would it?" At this Hermione watched as Draco pulled out what looked to be his Slytherin scarf, striped in alternating colors of emerald and silver. Holding it out to her, Draco held her gaze. "Would you tip the scales in our favor just a bit more, Hermione, by holding on to this for me?"

Suddenly, Hermione felt almost naked to his grey eyes that were staring at her quite intently. She was slowly becoming lost in the depths of the grey, and the urge to fling her arms around his neck and do something seized her so violently, Hermione felt quite alarmed. Or she would have, had she not been so focused on breathing correctly. Slowly reaching out for the token of luck, Hermione blushed shyly as she took the scarf into her hands, the material made of the finest silk, unsurprisingly, and quite soft and fluid to the touch.

Draco found himself becoming entranced by her shy demeanor, the expression on Hermione's face one of his favorites. And the mere fact that it was him eliciting such a response from her caused his heart to ache in a pleasant and equally excruciating way. He didn't know whether he wanted to kiss her senseless or run away from her, before maybe running back to her and then kissing her senseless. Yes, the idea of kissing her either way was something Draco longed to do, but again he steeled his resolve. His kiss, his first kiss shared with Hermione was to be nothing short of perfect and magical, if not memorable.

Giving her a smile, he left her standing there, heading to the locker rooms to rejoin his team and give them a pep talk before the match. Hermione had quite forgotten that she and Draco had not been alone, the voice of Taurus right next to her made her shoulders jump.

"You'll be sitting with us today, won't you Ms. Hermione?" Taurus asked, as she peered up at the Gryffindor expectantly. Just as Hermione was going to respond, another voiced answered for her.

"Well, of course she is!" Turning, the two girls caught sight of a smirking Pansy standing in the middle of the passage halfway up, Daphne politely standing off to the side behind her against the stair railing. Hermione, not quite used to the boisterous brunette's tendency to always be around whenever Draco and her were having a private moment, could only blush as Pansy eyed her in a knowing way. Her eyes alight with mirth as if to say -oh yeah. I saw what happened there. I saw everything.

Hermione nodded, and watched as Taurus smiled gleefully before running up and following Pansy and Daphne as they made their way up the rest of the way, satisfied with Hermione's answer, before turning to walk up another set of stairs and out of sight. Thus leaving Hermione alone with a very amused Leo.

Just as the pair was about start their own journey up the sets of stairs leading to the stands, a flash of an all too familiar head of dirty blonde hair and twinkling gray eyes approaching the pair. As the form of one Luna Lovegood stood not three feet away, Hermione was surprised to see the girl clad in nothing but what looked to be a thin orange t shirt with a flowy purple skirt that fell to her knees, black leggings and tattered moccasin flats. Hermione who was quite used to the outlandish fashion sense that the Ravenclaw displayed, looked to Leo to gauge his reaction, and was quite surprised at what she found there.

Instead of the normal strange looks most people tended to give the girl at the first sight of her, Leo it appeared to be regarding Luna with a mixture of curiosity and almost confused expression.

"Hi, Luna." Hermione greeted, and wasn't surprised as the girl turned with a surprised look on her face as though she just noticed the pair was there.

"Hello, Hermione." Luna dreamily replied, before staring up at the tower. "A lot of nargles around today." The Ravenclaw informed casually, almost as one would if they were commenting on the weather, as she continued to glance about the towers thoughtfully.

"Fancy that." Hermione responded, knowing that it was useless to use normal logic around the blonde girl. So instead, she opted to indulge her. Just then the wind picked up, and Hermione shivered, wondering how Luna could stand not even bothering to use a cloak in such weather.

"Ms… Luna?" Leo asked tentatively, his eyes not quite meeting the twinkling ones of the Lovegood girl before him. "Aren't you cold? You should be wearing a cloak with the weather as such."

At that Hermione couldn't help but feel proud of her little Slytherin bodyguard, knowing that there wasn't that many people that were willing to be so kind to the blonde, not even now that the war was over and done with. Most people tolerated the weird Ravenclaw yes, but kind they were not.

"Well I would, but it seems people have been hiding them again." The girl explained rather normally, as though there was nothing wrong or strange about people taking her belongings and making sport of having her find them. Another rather strong gust blew, and Hermione could only tut disapprovingly.

"That's horrible!" Hermione exclaimed, to which the girl just shrugged. "It's all in good fun I suppose Hermione."

Just as Hermione made to take off her own jumper, Leo made to stop her. Curiously, she watched as Leo seemed to struggle with himself for a bit before whipping his own cloak off his person and throwing it onto the shoulders of the blonde Ravenclaw.

"A gentleman should always offer a lady his coat no matter the situation." Leo recited, a pink tinge tinting his normally pale face, his eyes downcast as he seemed to shift about awkwardly. Hermione very content and in awe at the amount of chivalry displayed time and time again by the young Slytherin, could only smile approvingly at the boy.

"Thank you." Luna said to Leo in that ever present dreamy voice of hers. "I should get back to my tower; the match should be just about to start and the nargles predicted it would be an interesting one." And with that, the pair watched as the girl seemed to float back to wherever she had come from with as much grace going as she had coming.

Finally the pair reached the top, and Hermione quickly spotted Pansy and Daphne in the very first row, an empty beside the all-knowing Slytherin brunette, who upon sighting her, quickly began to wave her down. Hermione made her way quite easily, the Slytherin's all too happy to allow the Gryffindor passage among them. As she sat down, Leo himself took a seat right behind the three seventh year girls, right next to his sister, the blush on his face having completely vanished.

"God's you sure took your time!" Pansy exclaimed, to which Hermione could only smile apologetically. "Well you made it before they came out, so I guess you're forgiven. I mean, it's important for us girls to stick together and cheer on our boys, yeah? " Then all at once a rather sly twinkle appeared in her eye that made Hermione feel quite wary. "And besides, you have enough time to put on that lucky token Draco gave you before the game starts don't you Hermione?"

Hermione blushed, and the smug Slytherin gave her no chance to reply. "Well, go on then!" With a little nudge, Hermione slipped the very soft scarf out of her pocket, and slowly, almost reverently slipped it around her neck, the material so wide that it snugly covered her from the tops of her lips and dipping as low as to the very top of her chest. Adjusting it to ensure the wind would not carry it away, Hermione couldn't help but feel warm and slightly breathless.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Hermione realized her mistake too late as the scent of the Slytherin prince evaded her nostrils, the smell causing her to feel extremely light headed. She took another whiff and another, until Hermione was practically inhaling the intoxicating scent of the blonde- a heady mixture of something spicy and at the same time very much natural like morning dew or that of a forest, along with the musty scent that could only be described as pure male.

In the back of her mind, Hermione found herself realizing just why so many of her female counterparts seemed to take such pleasure from owning something to wear from their significant others. The exclusivity of it, the thrill of knowing that item in question had once been on their beloved- and the comfort of having something of their to hold onto when they were not within their presence- Hermione understood all too well now. Taking another deep breath, Hermione watched as the whistle blew and a slew of broomsticks, fitted players donning colors of emerald, silver, bronze, and royal blue, respectively came out onto the field and into the air in front of them. Although there were a handful of them, the Gryffindor princess found herself looking for the only one that seemed to matter at the moment. Catching a flash of that infamous blonde hair, which she was thankful for at the moment as it made finding him all the more easier, Hermione couldn't help the sparks that seemed to spread throughout her body as she saw that the Slytherin prince was staring right back at her, and just as intently. She felt insanely blissful at the pleased expression he bore at noticing his scarf around her neck, causing Hermione to clutch at the material with both hands.

As another whistle sounded to begin the game, and Draco quickly sped off high above the pitch in search of the Snitch, Hermione couldn't deny anymore what her pounding heart was so adamantly pointing out to her- the Gryffindor princess had indeed fallen for the Slytherin prince.

Author's Note: well there you have it, another chapter of the story done. To the reviewer that requested that I throw in some Luna interaction I hope it was to your liking, though I must say that she will not be appearing all that much throughout the story. Sorry. XD I'd also like to say that although I usually update a chapter a day that might get setback to a chapter every two days seeing as I might be starting a new job soon and I'll have to adjust my schedule to fit in the writing. i hope you can forgive me. D=

Don't worry readers, as many of you have pointed out as a concern; the story is FAR from over. I still haven't dove as deep as I intend to into the inner workings of the pureblood society and its psyche… so yeah. No worries. Lmao.

Like always, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next.