AN: To Dixie, thanks for your input on the costumes. though I feel that your idea goes in way too deep. But you did give me a great idea for Draco and Hermione to show some unity.

AN2: Thanks everybody else for the reviews. I hope many more will come!

Draco made his way to the common room very early next morning. He hadn't slept very well. His night had been haunted by nightmares of the horrors he had been forced to face by the Dark Lord.

He made some strong coffee and settled on the sofa with the latest potions magazine in the hope to forget his nightmare. Reading about potions made him think of his godfather. He missed Severus deeply. His death had been painful for Draco.

Severus had always been more of a father then Lucius to him. Severus had been there to support him, listen to him and taught him while his father only cared about what the outside world thought of him. With Severus he could be himself, discuss potions for hours or even just talk about how much his father fuck up everything. Draco missed his evenings with Severus. Every Tuesday night they would go through the potions magazine together and discus the various articles and potions.

The loss of Severus also caused other issues for Draco that weren't even related to him being his godfather. Now that Severus was gone Draco was a little lost as to how to continue his future. He had always dreamed of getting his potions mastery while apprenticing under Severus. It had been something he dreamed off as a child after Severus had shown him what potions could do. During his school years Severus had slowly worked him up to being his apprentice. Now that future was gone and thanks to that bloody dark mark on his arm he couldn't easily get another apprenticeship.

Perhaps I should speak with the new potions professor or the new head of house, Draco thought. Both looked perfectly capable and good professors. The new potions professor was a Potions Master from France who had quite a few discoveries on his name and the new head of House was Professor Vector. He knew she was fair and helpful if he needed something.

The coffee and the articles slowly got him out of his bad mood. By the time he heard Hermione stumble out of her room he was feeling like himself again.

"Oh, thank Merlin. Coffee." He heard Hermione sigh when she walked out of her room.

"It's strong." Draco warned, knowing that his mother hated strong coffee.

"Good. I need the caffeine." Hermione said and poured herself a cup. She leaned against the wall as she drank. Draco took a moment to really look at her. She looked different then in her sixth year. She had grown up, that was for sure. She had curves that showed even through the bulky school robes. Her hair was longer and smoother. The curls still wrapped around her face but instead of being fuzzy they looked sultry and sexy. She wore a little make up and high heels. Draco also noticed her skirt was a little shorter then normal.

"You look good." He said suddenly.

"Thanks Draco." Hermione said while blushing and settled on the sofa next to him. "You look like you had a bad night. Even your hair is wild." It wasn't hard to miss the concern in her voice.

"Thanks." Draco said with a grimace.

"Nightmares?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah." He sighed and set down his cup. It didn't surprise him that she seemed to understand. Hermione had always been very sensitive to what he experienced. However, right now he couldn't talk about his nightmare, not yet. "I should get ready. Breakfast is in fifteen minutes."

Hermione stopped him from getting up and pulled him towards her. She looked him in the eye as she leaned in to kiss him. They didn't break eye contact as he felt her soft lips brush against his. He shivered slightly when he felt her tongue brush his lips. He replied in same fashion.

After a few more minutes of softly kissing Hermione sighed and pulled back. She smiled at him in a way that made his insides go crazy. Her eyes were sparkling and darkened.

"Before you go, Draco. What do you want to do about us?" Hermione asked.

Draco wasn't headboy for nothing, he had always been one of the top students and not that thick. He immediately knew what she was talking about. He liked the idea that she saw them as an 'us' quite a lot but he understood that for them to be an 'us' outside of this room would come with many consequences they did not yet wanted to face, especially for Hermione.

"If I had my way I would walk out of here hand in hand with you." He told her carefully. He didn't want her to think that he was ashamed of being with her or that he didn't care enough for her to go out in public with her. "I'm done with secrets and the whole blood issue. My mother approves of us and the rest of the world can go to hell for my part. However I know that for you it will cause some issues. Especially with certain people being thick and stubborn. Perhaps it is best not to show it too explicitly until you had the chance to talk to them."

Hermione kissed him fiercely again.

"Thank you, Draco. I wasn't sure how you wanted to go about this thing between us. Give me till Halloween. If I haven't convinced the Weasley's by then that you are the good guy then I will just have to let it be. On Halloween there is this masked ball here at Hogwarts and I really want to go with you." Hermione said and suddenly went red. "If you wanted to go with me, anyway."

"Of course I want to go with you, Mia. I would love to dance the night away with you in my arms."

Hermione smiled and nodded.

"That sounds lovely."

"I can keep a secret till Halloween but I would prefer not to keep secrets in here. This is the only place where we can be free."

"I can live with that." Hermione said. "I'm going ahead to breakfast and see if I can catch McGonagall about the meeting tonight before food is served."

"Okay. See you later."