Draco and Ron were sat in Professor McGonagall's office waiting for her to come back from a quick errand she had to run.

"What have you two been doing?" One of the portraits said.

Ron and Draco looked up to see Professor Dumbledore smiling down on them.

"We were fighting." Draco said.

"Fighting? Well we can't have that." Dumbledore's portrait said.

"I know, Albus, which is why they have been called to my office." Professor McGonagall said.

"Minerva, I'll let you carry on." Dumbledore said and with that he fell asleep.

"Now boys, why on earth did it posses you to cause such chaos at the ball?" she asked.

"Malfoy kissed Hermione." Ron said.

"And that gave you the right to hit him?" McGonagall said.

"Well…."Ron said.

"I saw the kiss in question and to me it just looked like a little innocent kiss. I mean you are aware of the hard work that Hermione and Draco have done, it was nothing more than a thank you I am sure. Now I don't want to see either of you fighting again." McGonagall said.

"Thanks." Draco said.

Ron and Draco got up and walked out of the office, down the stairs and into the corridor.

"Weasel." Draco said.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Where are you going?" He replied.

"Back to my common room." Ron answered before continuing "Hermione's probably in the Great Hall, waiting for you."

"Would she not be waiting for you?" He asked.

"No we're not going out anymore." Ron answered.

Draco felt his heart do a back flip and then he spoke,

"Oh okay then." Draco said.

Ron began the walk back to the common room leaving Draco stood there trying to think things through. If he were to go back to his common room then he carrying on living his life, he'd go back to being Slytherin Prince, a different girl each week, not being happy at all. But if he were to walk to the Great Hall, if he were to say the words he had so longed say to Hermione then he would have a chance of real happiness.

At the same time, Hermione was sat in the Great Hall, also thinking things through. If she were to go and find Ron, try and make her relationship with him work, then at least she would be comfortable, however if she were to go and search the castle for Draco, maybe just maybe, she could become Hermione, the Hermione that had been for so long hiding inside.

"Hi." A voice said from the doorway.

Hermione turned around to see Draco stood in the doorway.

"Hey. I was just thinking about you." Hermione said.

"Me too." Draco replied.

"Thinking about yourself again, Draco, that really is a bad habit." Hermione said.

"No I meant. I was… I was thinking about." Draco trailed off.

"Draco, I know what you meant. Come and sit down." Hermione answered as she smiled at Draco.

Draco walked over to the table that Hermione was sat at and sat on the seat nearest to her.

"Hermione, I have something I need to tell you." Draco said.

"Okay." Hermione said.

"Hermione, I think, no I know, I love you." He said.

"You love me? How can you love me? You're a pureblood wizard, I'm… I'm a mudblood, that's what you've been calling me for the past 7 years." Hermione said.

"Hermione, you think I believe that stuff?" Draco asked.

"Yeah I do." She answered.

"Hermione that pureblood stuff never washed with me." Draco asked.

"You called me mudblood every time we saw each other." Hermione said.

"I had to. It was that or get another beating from my father." Draco said.

"Your father used to beat you?" Hermione said.

"He still does." Draco stood up took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, Hermione studied his chest he was really well built she blushed slightly and then Draco turned around. He slowly took his shirt of and it was then that Hermione saw the marks on his back. There were bruises all over his back; they were black, purple and yellow.

"Oh Draco." Hermione said as she got up and walked over to him.

"I don't want you to think I'm doing this to get your sympathy and pity. No one has ever seen this before." Draco said.

"I'm not going to show pity, or sympathy. Turn around." Hermione said.

Draco turned round slowly and as he did one single tear fell down his cheek. He and Hermione stood just looking into each other's eyes. Hermione moved forward and the leaned into Malfoy. Then they kissed. It was the most passionate kiss that Hermione had ever, ever had. Hermione ran her hands down Malfoy's chest feeling every muscle. Her and Malfoy moved apart panting slightly.

"Wow, that was…" Draco said before trailing off.

"Yeah it was." Hermione said.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Draco said

"Me? Yeah I'm sure this is what I want." Hermione said.

"Okay so, lets go to bed." Draco said.

"Hang on, we've not even gone out on a date yet." Hermione said.

"I meant on our own, not together. I'll meet you at 10 tomorrow morning so we can clear this mess up." Draco said.

"Yeah okay then." Hermione said.

Draco put his shirt back on and then the two of them walked out of the hall hand in hand. They walked a little further still holding hands with each other, then stopped and looked at each other.

"My common room is this way and your is that way so we have to say goodnight." Draco said.

"So we do. Well thank you for such an amazing night, Draco, I don't know that I would have managed to plan this without you." Hermione said.

The two of them kissed and then Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Dancing Fairies." Hermione said to the sleeping fat lady in a happy, cheerful voice.

"Oh, hello Hermione how was the ball?" The fat lady said as she awoke from her slumber.

"It was amazing." Hermione said.

"Good" The fat lady replied as she swung her door open.

Hermione walked into the common room to find Ginny sat waiting for her.

"Oh hey Gin." Hermione said as she saw her.

"Hey. You're smiling, a lot. What happened?" Ginny asked."

"Malfoy came back to the Great Hall for me." Hermione said.

"For you?" Ginny questioned.

"He had something to tell me." Hermione replied.

"And…." Ginny said as she waited for the rest of the story.

"Well, let's just say that I've made my choice and it's an informed one." She answered

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

"We kissed. And it was the most amazing kiss I've ever had." Hermione said.

"Are you sure? This is Malfoy we're talking about, he's been calling you Mudblood since he first met you." Ginny said.

"Me and Draco have talked about that." Hermione answered.

"What, he's told you a bunch of lies like 'oh I don't believe that, it's just my father." Ginny replied.

"In a nutshell, but it's not lies." Hermione said, she was getting slightly frustrated at Ginny's persistence.

"YOU GOT ANY PROOF?" Ginny shouted at Hermione.

"YEAH, THE BRUISES AND CUTS ON HIS BACK FROM THE LAST TIME HE DISOBYED HIS FATHER ABOUT IT." Hermione screamed back.

Ginny stared at Hermione, speechless; eventually she managed to speak,

"Malfoy's father beats him." Ginny whispered.

"Yes. Every time Draco dares to have his own opinion on something, like the mudblood issue. Ginny I really like him, I really, really like him but I don't want to lose my best friend over an issue like this." Hermione said.

"You'd never lose me. I'm your best friend. I might be Ron's sister and he might not be happy when he finds out about this but I want to see you happy. I'll support you in this, every step of the way, no matter where it leads." Ginny said.

"Thanks Ginny, I appreciate it. Now I'm going to bed, I've got to meet Draco at 10 o'clock so we can tidy up the Great Hal." Hermione said.

"Okay, hey, listen do you want me and Harry to help you." Ginny said.

"Yeah okay then, come at about 10.30 though. I'd like to spend some time with Draco on my own." Hermione said.

"Yeah okay then." Ginny said.

Hermione and Ginny said goodnight and then Hermione walked to her Dorm, she got her Pyjamas on and had barely put her head down on the pillow when she fell asleep.