XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Chapter 30 -

He was smiling at her, and holding both her hands in his. She did not know whether to laugh or cry. He confused her so. She said, "You are right, there is no fun in that statement is there?"

"No, the truth is more than fun, the truth is accelerating. The truth is that I love you, too. I really do," he said sweetly. Okay, she smiled. He was a sweet man, after all.

"What time is it?" she suddenly asked.

"No, we will not live by watches or clocks," he said, hiding his watch arm behind his back.

"But, I want to know the time," she said. She moved her body around his, trying to see the watch on his arm.

"Why?" Now he held his arm high above his head.

"I need to know when it's one pm. Will you just let me know when it's one?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked again. He brought his arm back down.

"Because, at one o'clock, 24 hours will have passed. That will be significant to me, so please, let know when it's one." She put her hand on his face, cupping his cheek. He looked at his watch. It was just a bit before ten in the morning. They still had time. Hermione tried to grab his arm once more, to peek at his watch, but he put his arm behind his back again.

"Will you turn into a pumpkin at one?" he asked, with a lazy smile.

"No, but I might turn you into a pumpkin at one," she spoke with a gleam in her eye.

'Promises, promises. You don't scare me, Granger, for you don't even have your wand on you," he said. "Let's go for that walk Wood promised you. It will be more pleasant without him."

"I have to go to the house first," she said.

"Why? Are you going to get your wand?" he asked, twisting her hair around his finger.

"No, I want to get my bracelet. I left it in my room, and for some reason, I want to wear it," she said.

"That's right, wear the bracelet I gave you, so Wood will know you belong to me," Draco laughed.

She grimaced at him, but then smiled. "I belong to no man, Draco."

"You may not belong to me, but I belong to you," he said. He put his hand in his pocket, and fingered the small white stone she gave him. He had decided earlier, when he dressed, that he would carry it with him always. He liked that she wanted to get her bracelet. They walked silently to the house, fingers linked.

When they reached the back door, she said, "Wait for me. I'll be right out." He grinned at her, pulled her to him, and grazed his lips lightly across her cheek, down her jaw, and then to her lips. He did not kiss her; he just let his lips linger above hers for a moment.

"I'll wait for your forever, and I will be counting the seconds until you reappear," he said.

Hermione ran in the house, just as the others started walking over the hill. That was a short game. Harry came running up to Draco and said, "Where's Hermione? Oliver got hurt."

"She's in the house," Draco said. He then noticed Charlie and George with their arms around Oliver, Oliver in between them. They were leading him in the house.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione ran down the stairs. "Oliver hurt his ribs when a stray Bludger hit him. Knocked the wind out of him. Nearly knocked him off his broom."

Hermione walked up to Oliver, and said, "Sit up on the table. Everyone else, out of the room."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I need to examine him, and I don't need a bunch of gawking people on the sidelines. Out!" she said. Mrs. Weasley pointed toward the door to reiterate what Hermione had just said, and everyone started out the door.

"Do you need me to stay, sweetheart?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No, but tell Harry to go up to Ginny's old room and get my medical bag," Hermione said.

Draco remained in the doorway. He wasn't leaving. No matter what. So far, she hadn't asked him to leave. Harry came back down with the bag, and Hermione said, "That's all, Harry. You can wait outside as well." Harry was about to say that Draco was still there, but when he saw the look of jealousy on Draco's face, he decided not to say a word. Instead, he took Draco's arm, and pulled him outside.

"What the hell, Potter," Draco said.

"Let her examine him, and then you can go back inside," Harry said. He sat on the steps of the back door, to make sure Draco didn't pass. Draco remained right outside the screen door.

Hermione helped Oliver remove his shirt. He had a nasty bruise already on his side. She felt his ribs gingerly. "There doesn't appear to be any fractures." She took her wand and said a few spells. "Good, no internal injuries," Hermione said, her hand going back to his side. She then took her wand and healed his wounds, and helped his pain. He took her hand in his, removing it from his skin.

"Hermione, tell me the truth about you and Malfoy," Oliver asked.

She removed her hand from his and said, "That's none of your concern. You'll be fine. Put your shirt back on." She handed him his shirt.

"So, you didn't say how long you had been dating," Oliver said.

"Why does that matter? It's not how long that's important, it's the way we feel for each other that's important," Hermione said, closing her medical bag. Oliver buttoned his shirt, and then jumped off the table. "Thanks, Healer Granger. You have a wonderful touch. I feel good as new." He held out his hand.

She smiled and took his offered hand. He held her hand, instead of shaking it. "So, it's too late, isn't it?" he asked.

She looked confused. "Too late for what?" she asked.

"For me. For us. It's too late," he asked.

"Yes, it's too late, but seriously, Oliver, there was never going to be 'a you and I' anyway, and we both know it," Hermione said. Just then, Draco peered in the screen door. He was interested in what Hermione was going to say to the bastard. Oliver still had her hand. "Please, Oliver, let go of my hand."

"Tell me why? Why him? I told you that I had strong feelings for you," Oliver said.

"Yes, and then you never called again. You took me out for one date, and then you went off with your team, you didn't give me a backwards glance, or a second thought, and that's fine. I love another. I feel like I've been waiting for Draco all my life. I love him," Hermione said. She removed her hand from his.

"He's the son of a Death Eater," Oliver said. "I haven't forgotten what the Malfoys have done, and what they have stood for, and I'm surprised you have."

Hermione hands clenched in fists and said, "Shut up, Oliver Wood! I won't have you saying disparaging remarks about Draco! He was never a Death Eater himself; he was a child when his father followed Voldemort. He's not responsible for what his family did during the war! In addition, he's not the same spoiled, hateful child that he was when we were in school! He's changed. He loves me."

"Really?" Oliver asked, "Tell me again, how long have you two been dating?" He laughed and said, "Because Percy said you just started seeing each other last night. Stop covering. If you don't want to date me, say it plainly, but don't lie and tell me you love someone you don't."

Hermione took a sharp breath in, and just before Draco could enter the house to give Oliver a piece of his mind, Hermione did it for him. "First, Mr. Wood, it doesn't matter how long Draco and I have been dating, because I love him and he loves me, and I don't care who knows it, and I don't care who believes it. You may not understand, and I don't frankly care. I know what I feel is real. Now, please, go back outside, and don't mention this to me again. I have always admired you as a person, so please don't do anything that will skew my view of you as a man."

Draco smiled and sat down beside Harry on the step. "She loves me," Draco said, looking at Harry.

"Yes, it would appear so," Harry said lightly. Oliver opened the door.

"Excuse me gents," he said. They both stood up, so Oliver could pass. Once outside, Oliver said, "Well, Malfoy, you have a good woman in there who loves you a lot. Treat her better than Weasley did, right?" He smiled and offered Draco his hand. Draco shook his hand and walked inside.

Hermione was sitting at the table, with her head resting in her hands. Draco sat beside her, and with his index finger, he drew a line from her shoulder, to her forearm, to her wrist. He took her hand, and kissed the top. "I heard what you said to Wood. So, you defended my honour, huh, Granger?"

She laughed and said, "I hadn't thought of it that way. I thought I was defending my own honour, but I guess you're right." Hermione turned Draco's hand over, and with her other hand, she brushed her fingers lightly over his knuckles. She bent her head, and kissed his hand. She let go of his hand, grabbed his arm, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I didn't know what to say when Oliver called me out about the fact that we had only been dating for a day," Hermione admitted.

Draco leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "You seemed to have found the right thing to say, however. Bully for you, Granger." He put his arm around her, and kissed her cheek. "Are we going for our walk?"

"No. I'm too tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, you know," she said. "Let's grab an old quilt from the closet, and go sunbath in the field by the house, read a book, and then perhaps I can have a little catnap."

"I have a better plan," Draco said, rising from the table, pulling her up as well. "Let's grab an old quilt from the closet, go sunbathing in the nude, burn all the books in the house, and make love."

She shook her head, laughed, and said, "Let's compromise. Quilt, field, sunbathing, and some snogging. No books, and then, maybe a nap."

"How is that compromising?" he asked.

"I mentioned snogging," Hermione reasoned. "I said no books."

"There's a difference between making out and making love, Granger," he said. He took her hand, tucked it in the crook of his arm, and then with his wand he summoned an old quilt from the closet. He said, "Once we get to our destination, I will show you the subtle difference."

"I can't wait," she said.

They walked hand in hand, quilt tucked under his arm, to the same field of wildflowers where they had looked at the clouds the day before. He smoothed the quilt on the ground, took her hand once again, and led her to the ground. They sat, side by side, each quietly considering the other. He reached out and stroked her face, and touched her lips with his fingertips. Her smile disappeared, and he wondered why. He questioned her with his eyes, his hand once again going to her face. She leaned into his hand. She shut her eyes, and fell back on the quilt. "So, Malfoy, show me the subtle difference between making out and making love."

Draco raised one eyebrow, and then gave her a crooked smile. He leaned over her, his hand forever on her face, guiding her, comforting her, touching her. He bent his head and played with her lips, gently kissing them, as if each kiss was a question…are you alright?... is something wrong?...do you love me? He finally received his answer. Her arms went tightly around his neck, and she kissed his with passion and zeal. He moved to his back, and she rolled on top. She put one hand on top of his hair, the other on his chest. She kissed his jaw, his cheek, and then his collarbone. Her other hand went under his t-shirt, touching his heated skin.

She pushed his shirt up, and started kissing his chest, his nipples. He was slightly amused, and incredibly turned on by her ardor. She pulled his shirt over his head, and continued kissing his chest, moving her lips down his stomach. She moved her hand to the top of his jeans, and undid the top button. She reached up, and pulled the straps of her dress over her shoulders, so that they fell down, exposing her bare breasts. His eyes widened. What was she proposing they do? And here, in broad daylight, so close to her friends? She leaned over him, her soft breasts pressed up against his hard chest. Both of their arousals were apparent. She placed her whole body over his, and again began to move her mouth down his chest.

He pushed her away for a moment, and said, "What's gotten into you, Granger?"

She misunderstood, and thought that her initiative was being mistaken as intrusiveness. She sat away from him, her arms over her chest, and said, "I'm so sorry, Draco." She put her arms in the straps of the pink sundress, and pulled it back over her chest. She moved away from him, but he reached out and pulled her back.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing was wrong, but now, I'm not sure," she said, removing her hand from his. She stood up.

"Granger?" He came to stand beside her. He reached down and grabbed his t-shirt, slipping it quickly back on his body.

"Leave me alone, Draco," she said, as she started to walk away briskly. He reached her quickly, and turned her around.

"What in the world has come over you?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing! I guess you don't like my advances, and that's fine. I can live with that," she said, her face red with fury.

He laughed at her. She looked angry. "Hermione, you are such a silly person. What are you hiding?" he asked.

"I'm hiding nothing, what you see is what you get," she said. She felt sad and defeated, and she wasn't even sure why. She wanted to run far away, but he still had her hand. He pulled her up to him.

"I didn't stop you because I wanted to stop," he whispered in her ear. He kissed her cheek. With her still tightly in his embrace, he said, "I stopped you because you would have wanted me to stop, eventually. You would have regretted it and you know that's true. You would have been angry with yourself, and with me, afterwards. We couldn't do that, not here, not now."

She buried her head in his neck. "You know me better than I know myself, Malfoy." She looked up at him and said, "And you're right, I would have regretted that later. But, I think I will regret not doing it more. I'm so confused. You confuse me. Why do you confuse me?"

He glared at her for a moment, and then moved his hands from around her body, down her arms, where he clasped her hands tightly. "It's weird you would say that you're confused, because for the first time in my life, I'm so utterly aware of how I feel, and I'm not confused in the least. I'm enlightened. I'm anti-confused."

She couldn't help but smile. "Now, you're really making up words."

"Enlightened is a word," he said smugly.

"Anti-confused?" she asked.

"Oh, well, that might not be a word," he conceded. "Why are you confused?"

"I'm not so much confused as I am scared. I'm scared that we might not be real, and then I'm scared that we are, I'm confused how we can be in love after spending less than 24 hours together, I'm anxious about what others will think, I'm baffled over the way you feel for me, I'm mystified over whether this is real love. I want to make love to you, right now, out here in the open, not caring who sees, and yet, that's not me at all. I'm CONFUSED!" Hermione threw her hands in the air, and laughed. "What are you doing to me?"

"Hermione, I need you to listen to me," Draco said, suddenly serious. "There are no easy answers here. Everything isn't black or white. It's okay to question things, and be confused. I'm confused, too. Here's a woman, who I previously only gave a passing glance. I thought you were bright and beautiful, but I would never have thought that we would have had a chance together, but here we are, and we do. Let's just let this be out of our hands. Let's just let this be what it will be."

She stared at him for a minute, and threw her arms around him. She kissed his lips and said, "You're right."

"Of course I am."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX