Author's Note:

This chapter goes to my AWESOME beta reader - nature love 95.

Thanks for the 24 Reviews.

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¨°º¤ø„¸ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ¸„ø¤º°¨
¸„ø¤º°¨ NO LONGER PRETENDING¨°º¤ø„¸
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None of them spoke.

No one dared to breath or move and the stretched silence was killing the two of them.

Draco's heart wrenched at the statement as he paled while Hermione searched his face for any emotions.

Why does it have to be so hard? Hermione thought as her head dropped. She didn't want him to find any of her weakness. Though it was 'pretend', this 'break up' hurt her more than she cared to admit. Her heart was breaking and she hated how attached she was to him unknowingly till now.

She sniffed quietly and bit her tongue to avoid breaking down. Hermione stood there, waiting for Draco to say something. When he didn't, she decided to go before she ended up in a deeper heartbreak state.

The Gryffindor sighed and walked around a stunned Draco. She was just about to unlock the door, but she felt a hand stop her.

"Wait…wait...wait..." Draco said, looking at her with disbelief. "You can't just back out."

"I can and I will." Hermione responded strongly even though her heart was literally shattering.

She tried again to push her way out the room, but Draco trapped her hands in his strong ones. Her brown orbs stared at their hands sadly before looking up at him again. "I'm sorry. I'm just… I'm just… I'm not the one for this 'job', Dra-Malfoy. Plus, Greengrass hadn't been anywhere near you since we started pretending like we're going out."

"No, no, no, you don't know Astoria like I do, she's waiting." Draco argued, his heart breaking into piece by piece as she shook her head.

"Look Malfoy." Hermione sighed."You can't just do that to me. I'm not a thing, a possession or whatever I am to you. I want my life back, something I can have control over."

"You have control of your life; you were the one who was always in control in this." Draco exclaimed desperately. "Just please, Hermione. Stay with me."

"Malfoy, I just can't do this anymore alright?" Hermione whispered, praying to Merlin that she wouldn't cry in front of him as she blinked the tears away rapidly. "I'm sorry."

"Hermione, you can't do this to me." Draco whispered, dejectedly. "We had a deal."

"A deal." Hermione repeated his words, but louder. "Is that what I've been to you all this time? A deal?"

"This is not even about Astoria is it?" Draco realized as he took a step closer to her, leaving no gaps between them.

"Of course it's all about her. She's the main reason why we made the deal in first place." Hermione scowled, tears brimming her eyes as she looked down, trying to control her emotions. "Now, you got what you wanted. She's not bothering you anymore. So, that's the end of our deal."

"No, it's not." Draco hissed, declaring this argument was not over, not by a long shot. Deal or not, it didn't matter anymore. He just wanted to be with her. When he realized he fancied the girl, Thanks to Lovegood opening up his eyes and showing him what right in front of him all along. "It's not over until I have a say in it."

"Just, let me go alright? The deal's done." Hermione mumbled. She tried to go around the Slytherin, but he blocked her every move.

"No, it's not." Draco repeated harshly. "Then what was in for you?" He grasped her and pulled her closer to him. His grey narrowed eyes locked with her brown teary eyes.

"Why do you care?" Hermione sighed as she searched his stormy grey orbs for emotions. What the Head girl saw was anger, anxiety, dread, fear and -something she didn't understand.

"Because I..." He choked. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Never once, had he imagined that the witch standing before his very eyes could make him feel so content, so alive.

'Yeah, just what I thought.' Hermione flinched as she tried to wriggle out of his grip.

"Because you what?" She asked and cursed her voice for being shaky. She didn't want to hear what he had to say. All she wanted to do was to run back to her room and cry her eyes out.

Draco stared into Hermione's watery brown eyes as she waited for him to answer. The usually calm Slytherin took a deep shaky, nervous breath. He took her hands in his and watched with uncertainly as she looked at their intertwined hands with a blank face.

He opened his mouth and was just about to voice his answer out, when Argus Filch walked in with Mrs. Norris.

"Merlin's beard." He muttered, glaring at the two Heads. "Can't even get the patrols done."

"Sorry, Mr. Filch." The Head Girl apologized as she wrenched her hand out of the blonde's tight grip. "We'll be finishing up soon."

"Hmm." the caretaker said. "You better; You Wouldn't want to know what will happen if I reported this to the professors would you?"

She shook her head. Draco seemed unable to answer at the moment, so she replied. "This will never happen again, Mr. Filch."

Hermione held back a sigh of disappointment and ran out of the abandoned classroom to continue her patrol without the Head boy. She looked behind her and saw Filch and Mrs. Norris exit, but didn't see Draco. She shook her head and let a few sobs escape before wiping her tears away.

She enjoyed the silence, while she strolled down corridors by corridors. It gave her time to think back of what had just happened. Thank Merlin, Filch came in. 'I don't think I could of taken anymore'. She shook her head from her thoughts. She knew he wasn't the person he used to be, but a girl can't help but think that maybe change in people wasn't such a good thing sometimes.

She was almost done with patrolling when she heard her name being called from behind.

"Hermione!" Her heart stopped. Why isn't he leaving me alone? She thought and sighed quietly while continuing her rounds.

"Hey! Hey!" Draco gasped for breath as he caught up with her. He grabbed Hermione wrist and pulled on it. It stopped her from moving and he moved forward to look at her. "I've been running around corridors looking for you!"

Hermione didn't reply. He could read nothing from her expressions. It looks as if she had just received a dementor's kiss. Draco groaned and answered her question.

"You want to know why? It's because I'm… I'm falling for you. I like you so bloody much, it hurts." He whispered. "And that scares the living shit out of me, Hermione."

That statement took her by surprise. She looked, but saw nothing as her mind wheeled. She searched everywhere for any ridicule and found none. The silence worked a bit too long. Draco was getting desperate by the second when he wasn't getting any response from her. Then, just as he thought that was it, she replied.

"You do?" She choked as her tears fell freely down her face.

He nodded in response and wiped her tears with his hand that held his wand.

"We're no longer pretending, not anymore." He said softly, pulling her closer to him.

Their bodies collided and he tilted her head up. Slowly and hesitantly, his lips pressed down onto hers. Hermione's eyes fluttered and closed when she felt burning passion running through her body the minute their lips touched.

Hermione's arms snaked their way around his neck and pushed closer to him, holding onto him with dear life. She kissed him back with as much passion and love as he did to her. Draco's arms went around her, holding her up as he held her closer.

Draco nibbled on her lips. She gasped and he took the chance at slipping his tongue into her mouth. While their kiss grew deeper, Hermione's hand wove themselves into his blonde locks as their tongue battled for dominance.

They parted slightly to catch their breath from the kiss. Hermione smiled at him as she played with his blonde hair. They held each other's gaze while Draco held her closer to him.

"If we're no longer pretending, then what are we Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione whispered, breaking their blissful silence.

"I don't know, Ms. Granger." Draco grinned while he tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "But I am willing to find out, if you are."

Hermione nodded hesitantly while biting her swollen lip. Then, she tipped-toed and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. Draco smirked when their lips met.

'And they never finished their patrolling duties that night.' Draco thought before he closed his eyes and returned her loving kiss.

Review!

I know its short, but I hope you're happy with it. Promise next chapter will be longer.