A/N: Beware, confessions of love ahead! :D And Skeeter's causing trouble as ususal.

Thank you to my beta Cecelia Everhart and everyone who reviewed.

Enjoy!

22. Trouble in Paradise

Hermione woke slowly and peacefully. Her fingers were intertwined with Draco's, even in sleep. In that moment, she realised how much she loved to wake up next to him. It made her feel as if the days past wouldn't haunt her anymore and the future days were survivable. He made her feel strong, strong enough to face the days ahead of her, even with the whole mess with Ron and the other Weasleys.

She inhaled his scent deeply and enjoyed the moment for a second longer. Then, she opened her eyes. Draco was still fast asleep. Slowly, like a cat, she raised her head and leaned on her elbows to watch him. She felt as if she could stay like this forever and never stand up, avoiding the realness of reality and all the awkward moments, where she didn't know what to say or what to do, where the memories would claim her and make her fearful and broken.

Cautiously, she leaned over him to kiss his lips gently. Instantly, he woke.

"Mhm, morning," he whispered. "I'd love to wake up like this every morning."

She smiled and kissed him again.

"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked, opening his bright silver eyes.

"You're here with me, that's all," she answered, feeling so safe und so fulfilled inside.

A smile danced on his lips. Suddenly, he sat up, pulling her up with him. "Are you okay?"

She knew he referred to her birthday party. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Yes, they hurt me, but I'll get over it. I always get over it."

He pulled her closer so that she could lean against his chest. "I wanted to thank you, Hermione," he breathed into her hair. His fingers slowly trailed down her arms and, finally, intertwined with hers. "All my instincts tell me that they're right, that you shouldn't choose me, but then everything inside me fights that feeling because …" He pressed her hand, "…I don't want to lose you."

Carefully, she turned so she could see his face. A worried frown had appeared on his features. With her fingertips, she smoothed out the lines on his forehead. "You don't need to thank me, Draco. I'm unable to leave you, even if I wanted to. You have me all wrapped around your little finger."

His gaze turned even more serious, and, suddenly, she was afraid that she had said something wrong.

"I need to tell you something." He swallowed, and her breathing accelerated. Was it something bad?

"I couldn't really sleep yesterday, so I had a lot of time to think about it…" he continued, his back of the hand caressing her cheek. "You don't need to answer or … do anything. I just want you to hear it."

Her insides clenched expectantly. "Okay."

"I think I'm in love with you. I, Draco Malfoy, love you, Hermione Granger." He chuckled. "Isn't that the weirdest thing you've ever heard?"

Her heart missed a beat and then continued beating at double speed. Had he just said he loved her? That couldn't be. "Do you mean that?" she whispered thickly.

"Of course, I do. It took me nearly a year to tell Astoria, but with you … it's so easy, like breathing." He smiled so bright and happy, that it made her ache inside. She had sworn to herself to never fall in love again after Viktor, to never be that vulnerable, to never allow her feelings to cloud her judgement again. But with dating him, she had broken this oath, and now she was just about to break it again by falling harder than she'd ever thought she would. However, she couldn't say it – at least, not yet.

"It's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard. I think it's the most miraculous, the most beautiful thing, someone has ever said to me. But Draco, I …"

"I know, love," he said softly. "I didn't tell you, so you'd reply the same or do anything for me. I just … I just needed you to know."

His confession made her breath catch in her throat. How could he be so selfless? How was it possible that he felt in such a way for her? It was an enigma.

Slowly, she leaned forward and kissed him with all she had. She couldn't tell him yet, but she could show him.

Draco was just about to leave his office and floo to Hermione's place a few days later when Blaise caught him.

"Hey, Draco, wait!" Blaise grabbed his arm and pulled him to one of the apparition points. "Come with me."

Before Draco was really ready, his friend turned and apparated with him. When Draco could breathe again, he hissed, "What the hell, mate? I could've splinched."

"Well, you didn't." Blaise looked around, scrutinising the area.

They seemed to be in some park in the outskirts of London. The sky was overcast, and the sun had to fight its way through the thick clouds. Not many people were outside. A woman walking a dog. A kid with Rollerblades. A man reading a newspaper on a bench.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, copying his friend's behaviour and scanning the surroundings. "Why are you so paranoid?"

Blaise took a deep breath and focused back on Draco. "Sorry, mate. I just didn't want anybody to eavesdrop. Tracey and I did some digging."

Draco's insides went cold. "Did you find something?"

"Not much. But we found out that Skeeter's trying to dig up some dirt as well, probably much more successfully than we are, I'm afraid. She seems to be preparing some big news story about Hermione and you, about how Hermione abandoned her friends for you, and something about Viktor, too. Tracey overheard her speaking with the editor, but she didn't reveal too many details. So, unfortunately, we weren't able to figure out what she had in black and white. Maybe, it was just talk, but I felt the need to warn you. Skeeter needs to be stopped," Blaise said insistently.

"Shite." Draco ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll talk to Hermione about it. She managed to stop her once; maybe, she can do it again. Thank you, Blaise," he said sincerely. "So, it's 'you and Tracey' now?"

"Shut up, Draco. At least, she's talking to me again."

A smile flickered across Draco's face, but then he turned serious again. "What were you able to find out anyway?"

Blaise winced. "Nothing about him cheating on her."

"I thought so," Draco nodded. "But, what is it then?"

The dark-skinned wizard shrugged. "There wasn't much in the British press. All we got was about Quidditch. He played for Puddlemere United, but apparently the two seasons he played with them didn't go all too well. In the end, he quit. At least, that's what the papers say. However, there're a lot of rumours that he was kicked out of the team because he showed up drunk for a game. Hermione and Krum led a very concealed private life, not much leaked out. We found some more articles, though, about him being a drunk, so there might be some truth in it. Maybe that's why she left him."

Draco let out a long breath. Blaise had found out nothing too unexpected. "That's all?"

Blaise bit his lip. "We found an article from a Bulgarian newspaper, which was quoted in Witch Weekly, where … well, he'd been overheard allegedly saying some pretty nasty things about Hermione."

"What things?" the blond wizard growled. Instinctively, he felt the need to protect her.

Blaise pulled a face. "He blamed her for not having children yet and other stuff. All rubbish, of course."

Bastard, Draco thought but said nothing. Hermione had implied such things before. Did that mean that Viktor had been an alcoholic? Was that the reason she was so careful? Was she afraid he'd freak out and scream at her or something? Or maybe she feared he'd start drinking as well?

"Thank you, Blaise," he murmured eventually and clapped the other wizard on the shoulder.

"You're welcome, mate. We'll see if we can find out more, about Skeeter as well," his friend promised.

"Be careful."

Blaise only chuckled and disapparated without another word.

Draco pondered about what he had just heard, but, finally, apparated home. Hermione opened the door at once. "Sorry, Draco. I hope I haven't kept you waiting. I was caught up at work. Why didn't you use the floo?" she asked, still in her robes.

"I'll tell you later. Go, have a shower, and I make us some dinner," he offered.

"You don't need to. Just put some Pizza in the oven," she smiled and disappeared into the bathroom. Absent-mindedly, Draco raided the fridge and started to make a salad while the oven was pre-heating. Twenty minutes later, Hermione appeared, her hair still slightly wet.

"That smells great," she praised and set the table with a wink of her wand. "Did you have a bad day at work?"

"What? – Er, no," he stuttered and looked up.

"What is it then?" she asked and helped herself to some salad.

"Blaise caught me and told me that …" Draco stopped to put the pizza on their plates. Should he tell her?

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Yeah?"

He bit his lip. He wouldn't lie to her. She needed to know. "Well, Tracey overheard the editor and Skeeter talking about a new story that she had in mind." He watched her carefully. "A story about you. Apparently, she brought some stuff to light about you, and Viktor, and about our relationship."

Hermione nearly choked on her pizza. "I'm going to kill her," she threatened. For a second, she looked so angry that it scared him.

"Where does she get her information from?" he asked calmly and stabbed his fork into a tomato.

"Oh, you should know best." She raised one eyebrow. "Didn't you and your little friends give her 'exclusive interviews' during the Tri-Wizard-Tournament?"

Draco's face went blank. He had actually forgotten about that. "She's an animagus!"

"Correct," she said, sounding awfully like Professor McGonagall. "But she's registered now; after the war, there was no way around it."

"That's how you prevented her from writing rubbish about you …" Draco murmured slowly. "But we can't use it now. So, what do we do?"
She gritted her teeth. "I don't know. I need to talk to Harry." She fiddled with her fork and finally put a piece of pizza in her mouth. "Do you know what exactly she supposedly found out?" Hermione asked a tad too uninterestedly.

"No. But Tracey'll keep on her tail. Is there something to find out?" Draco enquired in the same uninterested voice.

"Not much, but you know her stories. She'll blow the truth up until it's unrecognisable," Hermione murmured nonchalantly.

"Mhm," Draco muttered and took a huge bite of his pizza. He was pretty sure she wasn't telling him the whole truth. "What else can we do?"

"She won't respond to threats … so maybe, we have to offer her something."

Draco cocked one eyebrow. "Oh, I can be quite threatening, if need be."

"I don't doubt it, but … we need to keep her occupied until we can steal her intel. I need to warn Harry and Daph – " she interrupted herself, but it was too late.

"Daphne? As in Daphne Greengrass? Why?" Draco asked sharply. So she did know her.

Hermione shrugged. "N-nothing."

"You know I can tell by now if you're lying. Why can't you just tell me?" Irritation seeped into his voice. He had stopped eating, and now she put her cutlery down as well and looked at him defensively.

"There is nothing to tell," Hermione said and stood up abruptly. "I'll go see Harry."

"No," he contradicted and stood up, too. "I'll go." He knew she was lying, and it hurt, it hurt so much. She still didn't trust him with her secrets after all they've been through, after she knew how he felt about her. The more she tried to deny the truth, the more it scared him. What could possibly be so bad she couldn't tell him? Maybe Potter could shed some light on the matter.

"Draco …,"she pleaded, half reaching for him. Of course, she didn't want him to go, didn't want him to know. He had told her that he loved, and she still treated him like an outsider.

He glared at her. "That means you still don't trust me?"

She swallowed. "I do." She sat down again, suddenly looking heartbroken. "Fine. Visit Harry. He won't tell you a thing."

"Fine," Draco hissed and disappeared through the floo without another look back.

A lover's spat or a more serious row - what do you think? Tell me! :P

PS: I just wanted to spotlight my short story about the 10-years anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, written from the PoV from Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco. Feel free to check it out! I'm sorry, I couldn't come up with a catchy title, but it's really worth a read. Includes some Dramione, too :D