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Chapter 16 -

Draco was humiliated. He had nothing to be ashamed of, that much was certain, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have minded if Hermione had seen his bare backside, but the scenario playing out in front of him, heavy snogging, rolling down a hill, burrs in his rear, well, that was unacceptable. Furthermore, she wanted to help him remove the splinters from his backside! "Just turn around," he said. "I'm mortified enough as it is." She turned to face the other way, still sitting on the ground. He turned to face the hill in which they had just rolled down. He pulled down his pants. Heaven help him! He said, "Granger, I think we have a problem."

Still sitting on the ground, with her dress in a right fine shape, she kept her back to him and inquired, "What's wrong?"

He stood behind her, with his trousers around his ankles, and his thumbs hooked in the waist band of his black boxers, ready to pull them down, when he saw Harry 'the wanker' Potter walking down the hill, straight toward them. Harry saw the pair in a compromising position; Draco would have to give him that one, so that must be why Potter suddenly started to run.

"It's Potter! He's headed this way, and he looks angrier than a wet hen," Draco said, trying to pull his pants back up, and wincing in pain. Damn. He decided to go ahead, remove his pants, and at least removed the burrs from the slacks.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled as he ran closer. She turned around, and stood up. "Are you okay?"

She looked down. Her dress was ripped in the front, right along the collar, exposing her bra. Now she was mortified. "Harry?" she said. What must he think?

"I'm going to kill you, Malfoy!" Harry spat, removing his wand from his pocket. He ran to Draco, as he had just removed his shoes and his slacks, and was standing there in nothing but his boxers, socks, shirt and tie.

Draco looked up and said, "Go to Hell, Potter."

"Did he hurt you?" Harry asked, pulling her to stand behind him. He put his wand under Draco's chin.

Draco dropped his pants from his hands and said, "Okay, now you have my attention."

"Harry, stop it. He didn't hurt me. Why would you think he hurt me?" Hermione asked.

Draco thought she was being incredibly naïve. Even he knew what it looked like.

Harry said, "I came to look for you, find you on the ground, in a dreadful shape, grass and twigs in your hair, your dress ripped down the front, and Malfoy putting his pants on, standing over you! I'm sorry if I came to the wrong conclusions, Hermione, but it appeared he molested you or something!"

Hermione actually laughed. She bent at the waist and said, "Oh my, that's so funny, Harry. And, he wasn't putting his pants on, he was taking them off, for goodness sakes."

"Granger," Draco said, with Harry's wand still pointed at his chest, and indeed, now pressing hard into his skin, "You aren't really helping things here. Stop laughing and tell him what happened."

Hermione put her hand on Harry's arm, and slowly pulled his wand away from Draco's chest. "Harry, we fell down the hill. That's why I look as if I was hung up wet and put out to dry, and Draco was removing his pants because he landed in a thicket of burrs."

"Actually, Granger, the thicket of burrs came in contact with my backside before we rolled down the hill. When you decided to jump on me and kiss me senseless, you pushed me back into the thickets."

Hermione glared at him and released Harry's arm, which went back to Draco's chest. "Now you aren't helping matters, Malfoy," Hermione rendered.

"I don't care what's going, just stop it, both of you," Harry said, lowering his wand.

"Stop what?" Hermione asked, confused. Draco decided that while they were talking, he would take care of his 'burr' problem. He used a spell to remove the splinters from his own bum.

"Stop this sickening display! This playful flirting, and this, this, well, this yucky, yucky thing you two are doing. It's making me absolutely sick to my stomach!" Harry blanched.

"Harry James Potter, you are such a hypocrite! First, you say you want me to be happy, and then you tell me that I make you sick! For your information, Malfoy has been a real friend to me today. He's taken my mind off the fact that my former boyfriend cheated on me, and then married the slag he cheated with, and that my best friend knew about it the whole time and never told me a thing!" Hermione shouted.

Draco, who was now 'burr' free, pulled on his pants and said, "What the hell does 'yucky, yucky' mean?"

"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry spat, and then turning to Hermione he said, "Listen, I'm sorry I never told you about Pansy and Ron. I couldn't betray his confidence, and deep down, I knew you'd be better off without him."

"Tell her the truth, Potter," Malfoy said, standing close to them, "The truth is that Pansy used to come to the office to meet Weasel, and several times Potter even let them use his house to meet. He more than just didn't tell you, Granger. He encouraged their relationship."

Hermione turned to Draco as he was staring smugly at Harry. He was waiting for her to yell at Harry, so he was shocked when she said, "You knew about Pansy and Ron as well, Draco?"

He looked at her and said, "What?"

"Today, when I told you that Ron started seeing Pansy while we were still dating, you acted shocked, like you had no idea, but that was a lie, you knew the whole time. Did everyone know? Am I the butt of everyone's jokes? Does everyone think I'm just some pitiful fool who was lied to by everyone?" She started to cry.

Draco didn't want her to cry. He wanted her to yell at Harry.

"Good going, Malfoy," Potter said, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

She shoved it off and said, "You're worse than him, Harry."

"Yeah, Potter, you're worse than me," Draco agreed. "Let me tell you why," Draco continued, taking over Hermione's wrath. "You are supposed to be her best friend, and you lied to her, and let everyone think badly about her. Up until today, I wasn't her friend, so who cares if I didn't tell her. I don't think she will ever forgive you." At least that was his fondest hope.

Hermione sat back down on the grass, her back to both men. Harry kneeled down beside her and said, "I'm so, so, sorry, Hermione. I swear I really just didn't want to hurt you. I knew you weren't happy with Ron, and I kept hoping you would break it off with him, before he got a chance to break it off with you. I love you so much, please, forgive me."

She dipped her head lower, and took several deep breaths, to calm her down. She turned to look at Harry and said, "I'm still angry, but I forgive you. I'm angrier with the fact that you think that there's something wrong with my friendship with Malfoy."

He moved to sit down beside her and said, "But, it's Malfoy."

"Harry, he's been so kind today, so sweet, and caring, and incredibly funny. I've had more fun with him in the last eight hours than I've had in the last eight years with Ron. Don't be so negative. If you could accept the fact that Ron was cheating on me, and still be his friend, than shouldn't you still be my friend, just because I've taken up with the lord of darkness?"

"Hey, I'm still here, and I have ears you know, and it's the prince of darkness, thank you," Malfoy said.

Harry smiled and said, "Fine, maybe some of your goodness and sweetness will rub off on old prince over there, and he might turn out to be a halfway decent human being." Harry helped her to stand. He used his wand to repair her dress. He said, "The reason I was looking for you is that as soon as it's completely dark, the Weasleys have fireworks planned. George didn't want you to miss it. He said that he has something planned just for you."

"We'll be right up," Hermione said to Harry. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, and then started up the hill.

He turned around and said, "Hey there, Malfoy, if you hurt her, my wand won't be the only thing you'll have to fear." He walked back up the hill.

"Stupid, Scarface," Draco said, more to himself than to anyone else. He turned back to Hermione and said, "You took up for me. Thanks. By the way, I've had more fun in the last eight hours than I've ever had in my entire life, all thanks to you."

She looked at the ground and said, "Well, isn't that a sweet thing to say."

He grabbed her hand and said, "I have my moments."

"You certainly do," she agreed.

"Let's go watch the fireworks," he suggested. He started to pull her up the hill.

"After the fireworks, the party will probably be almost over, because it'll probably die down pretty soon afterwards," she said, randomly, or so he thought.

"I suppose," he uttered his reply.

"Then the day will soon be over," she said sullenly.

"Sure," he said. He was beginning to get the jest of her words. She didn't want the day to end. Neither did Draco. He stopped walking when they reached the top of the hill. He turned to her. The sky was a dusky purple, and the North Star was visible in the clear evening sky. It was twilight, which meant the day was almost at a close. He held both her hands and without words, he pulled her to him, releasing her hands to put his around her waist. She tucked her arms under his, and placed them up on his back.

She kept her head on his chest and whispered, "I feel like a storybook princess, and the clock is about to strike midnight, and my fairytale will soon come to an end."

"We have a good three hours until midnight," he said lightly. "But, I understand. I don't want this to end, either."

They suddenly heard a loud bang, like a cannon exploding. They looked toward the Burrow, and directly over the house, the firework display started. A large red pinwheel exploded, flashing white and blue as it burst open repeatedly. A second firework, larger than the first, and much higher, flashed before them. Hermione buried her face in his chest.

"Don't you like fireworks?" he asked, concerned.

"No, that's not it."

"What is it?" he asked.

She looked up from his chest, set one hand on his cheek, and said, "It's as if these fireworks are exploding from my heart, and they're expressly for you. Does that make sense?"

Funny little thing, Draco thought. "Perfect sense," he said, kissing her forehead. He turned her in his arms, so she had her back to him, and they stood on the hill, and watched the fireworks explode around them.

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