AN Okay, totally ignore this OK? Just skip on to the actual chappie, because I'm just encouraging myself. Ok, I'm gonna start writing this chapter REALLY soon. I just need some ramen noodles, and then I'm gonna start. I'll be back in ten minutes with the ramen noodles and then I'll write it. Because even writeaholics need to eat sometimes. So, off to make supper. *Ten minutes later* I'm back! And I've got a bowl of Mr. Noodles in Oriental flavor, a bag of baked Tostitos, 2 litres of Tropicana orange juice (low acid with vitamin C, if you were wondering) AND for dessert, 2 fudgsicles! What did you expect me to eat? I'm a teenager and my parents are away for the weekend! Ok, must start writing now, really… but these noodles are divine, and the orange juice is so nourishing…no Stephanie…WRITE!

Ok, the actual beginning of the chapter…

Last Time:

Hermione was so happy that he still trusted her. She moved closer to him, and realized something.

"Draco, this makes me feel good." She said, before she kissed him deeply.

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Draco was very confused. Very Confused with a capital C. He had thought that… **oh this was divine. Did Hermione know what a good kisser she was? No wait. Should we really be doing this before talking through our problems? Or… oh my gods can this girl kiss. ** Draco simply let himself get lost in the kiss. Hermione was pressed up against him on the couch, her arms were around his neck and her hands were running through his hair. After what seemed an eternity, Hermione pulled away and they both managed to get some oxygen back into their lungs. Hermione was now sitting next to him. Draco turned to look at her. She was staring straight ahead and her face was VERY red. If he hadn't thought that it would hurt her feelings, he would've laughed. She was embarrassment embodied.

"Um… well then, I'm uh…sorry, D-Draco" She said, turning redder (if that was possible). Draco crossed his arms across his chest and stared at her condescendingly.

"You had no right to do that." He said snootily. Even if they were friends NOW, who could resist such a chance to one-up his ex-enemy? Hermione's jaw dropped open and she looked like she could spontaneously combust at any given moment. She jumped up and started to run to her room when Draco caught her hand. "I mean, pulling away for oxygen? No right, I tell you! I've never NEVER been so outraged!" He said, smiling and looking into her eyes. It took her about five minutes, but Hermione did eventually begin to comprehend what he had just said. With a sigh of relief, she plopped down on the couch, wiping a hand over her brow.

"I thought you meant…" She said shakily. Draco laughed.

"Oh yeah, like I would have some sort of protest to kissing the goddess known as Hermione Granger." He said, putting an arm around her casually. She looked up at him and he bent to kiss her again but she pulled away.

"We still have to talk about this Draco." She said.

"Ok, I'm gonna kiss you. We've talked." He said, bending down again. Hermione laughed and put a hand on his chest.

"Don't you mean, you've talked?" She said.

"Your point?"

"Seriously Draco."

"Ok, talk then. I'll be getting a cold shower." He stood up. Hermione laughed and pulled him down again.

"Be serious, PLEASE?" She said sweetly yet menacingly in a strange way. Draco nodded. "Ok, listen… we should talk about… um… why that happened. Seriously. Talk about it seriously." She said as she saw the glint in Draco's eyes as he thought up reasons why that could've happened.

"I don't know." He said, shrugging and looking away guiltily. There was a really long, really awkward, silence. One of them had to go first. One of them had to say something. Hermione worked up her courage, took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say the sacred three words, but Draco cut her off.

"I… um, loveyou." He mumbled, actually blushing. Hermione giggled. She'd never really seen him blush. She thought she might use his own trick and pretend not to love him, but then decided that if she did that she wouldn't get to inhabit his lap fast enough, so she said, blushing as well,

"Iloveyoutoo." They both looked up at the same moment and their eyes met, and they both laughed with relief. *Thank God that's over with, now we can…*

"Thank God that's over with, now we can…" Draco said, mirroring Hermione's thought in an uncanny way.

"Kiss." They both said together and laughed again, blushing like…well, two teenagers in love. And then, Hermione got to inhabit Draco's lap for a very long time.

AN okay… I'm gonna let you interpret that however you want, you can think they just made out for a while and then went to their respective beds, or you can think they slept together, doesn't matter to me. Sorry again to Horny Girl, but I don't do *blushes* graphic *blushes more*stuttering* sex. *Runs away hiding face*

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Draco put on his robes, smiling goofily. He couldn't wait to see Hermione. He'd spent all night thinking about her. He practically skipped into the common room, looking around. Hermione wasn't there. He walked over to her room and opened the door slowly. Hermione was sleeping. He walked over to the bed, bent down and whispered,

"Hermione…we're going to be late for BREAKFAST!" He shouted the word 'breakfast' loudly. Hermione screamed and sat up. She held a hand over her chest, panting, with her eyes closed. She regained her composure and looked accusingly at Draco, who was (guess?) smirking triumphantly (you got it!).

"That was cruel Draco Malfoy." She said before lying back down and pulling the blankets over her head. Draco sighed a long-suffering sigh and got under the covers with her. Through the comforter, everything was bathed in a burgundy light. Hermione resolutely ignored him, laying on her back with her eyes closed. Draco lay on his side staring at her beautiful face.

"Your robes are getting wrinkled." Hermione said without opening her eyes. Draco smiled.

"I don't care." He said. Hermione gave in. She rolled over onto her side facing him, opened her eyes and said,

"WHAT are you staring at?" Draco shrugged nonchalantly.

"You." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Draco, honestly, I didn't get much sleep, I spent the whole thinking about…" She trailed off, realizing what she was saying. Draco wasn't sure, but he thought she blushed. It was hard to tell, what with the burgundy light and all. He smiled cockily. "You." She finished, sighing. She really didn't want to inflate his ego any, but it was the truth.

"I spent the whole night thinking about you too." He said simply, totally unembarrassed. *How does he do it? * "But I think you should get up and we should go get breakfast, because it's Graduation day and we're Head Boy and Head Girl and nobody's seen us for days and they probably think that Voldemort got reincarnated and ate us or Avada Kedavra-ed us or something."

"What?" Asked Hermione, since she was tired and didn't want to process what he had just said.

"Get your butt out of bed. Or die at the hands of Draco Malfoy." Hermione snored softly. Draco sighed, he really hadn't wanted to bring out the big guns, but… he hopped out of the bed and jogged to the bathroom.

Hermione was glad when Draco left. Yeah, she loved him and all, but she was really really tired, and he was annoying when it was only 8:00 in the morning. *Wasn't very annoying last night* said her evil voice. *Annoying he was NOT* said her other voices, giggling. Hermione smiled and drifted back to sleep.

Draco was standing next to the lake, his hair shining in the sun, holding out his hand to her. She took it and they were skipping through fields of daffodils, and corny music was playing, and they were laughing at nothing, or maybe they were laughing at how stupid this dream was. But it was nice, all the same… what the frikin'…? Hermione sat bolt upright, and looked straight into the grinning face of Draco Malfoy. She was soaked.

"WHAT on EARTH did you DO that for?" She yelled.

"Had to get you up."

"With cold water?"

"I assumed from the grin on your face you were having a dream about me, so I figured you'd NEED a cold shower."

"ARGH!"

"Pardon me?"

"GET OUT!"

"Alright then." And then he got out, wearing a cheeky smile. Hermione glared after him, but smiled when he shut the door with his usual flourish. He really could be quite fun. In an annoyingly quirky sort of way.

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Hermione and Draco stood in front of the Great Hall, holding hands. They had decided to tell everyone. To be brave and truthful (Draco had agreed only on the terms that no one used those words in the same sentence as his name). But they were still nervous. Some chattering 4th year Ravenclaws walked past them, not even noticing the couple, so engrossed in their gossip were they. Hermione nodded at Draco, maybe they wouldn't be noticed if they went behind the girls. How sadly mistaken were they.

The minute they walked through the door confetti fell from the ceiling, trumpets blared and a large banner rolled down from the ceiling. It read:

'Welcome Back Draco and Hermione Malfoy!'

In large letters. There was a stunned silence. All eyes were on Draco and Hermione, except for Pansy's, because she was picking confetti out of her hair. Draco and Hermione had both gone a strange shade of red. Snape choked on his toast, McGonagall patted his back. Seamus and Dean snickered, Harry and Ron high-fived and Ginny giggled mischievously. Other than that, there was complete silence and utter stillness for at least 5 minutes. Dumbledore stood to his feet. He cleared his throat. That was enough.

The whole hall erupted into hysterical laughter. People were rolling on the floors, people were banging their fists on tables, people were choking on their cereal, people were blowing orange juice out of their nose. Nobody had ever pulled a prank this big. 'And the idea, I mean… Draco and Hermione Malfoy? Draco and Hermione married? In someone's sick twisted dreams!' Thought Hogwart's students as they laughed themselves silly and/or sick. And Draco and Hermione seemed frozen in a statue of mortification smack dab in the middle. Ginny made her way over to them and looked pointedly down at their hands.

"Guess whoever pulled this one was clairvoyant, eh?" She asked, winking.

"er…um…er no…" stammered Hermione. Draco pinched her. "I mean… YES!" She squeaked apologetically.

"So you two are married?" Asked Ron innocently, coming up behind them.

"No we're just…well, ah, ahem, we… you see…well. We um," Hermione choked out.

"I'minlovewithher." Draco said, seeming very interested with the Hogwarts ceiling (well it was lovely out that day! He would claim in later years). Everyone looked expectantly at Hermione. The hall had fallen silent once again, and someone (I wonder who…) had placed a Sonorus charm over them. Hermione went redder.

"I…ah… you do?" She asked Draco, feigning surprise (badly). Draco elbowed her in the ribs.

"I thought Gryffindors were known for their bravery, Hon!" He "whispered" in her ear, of course whispering doesn't work very well if you're under the Sonorus charm, so everybody heard. A few (or more) giggles were heard.

"Um… OK then…sweetie." Hermione said. She took a deep breath. "I ah…" Everybody leaned forward in their seats. "I… I LOVE DRACO MALFOY!" She yelled loudly, nearly deafening everyone in the hall (Muggles who heard her and were curious as to who loved Draco Malfoy nearly found Hogwarts that year, despite all the charms). Draco smiled in a very pleased manner, and after a few seconds so did Hermione. Someone (Who COULD it be?) took off the Sonorus charm and she laughed. Most people would've expected Hermione to be running out the door by now, but instead she snickered. Everyone looked at her curiously. "It's sort of funny, you know…" She said and giggled again. "I mean… Hermione Granger loves Draco Malfoy!" She said, giggling. Draco smiled.

"It is really quite funny. Draco Malfoy loves Hermione Granger!" He said and laughed. Very soon they collapsed on each other in gales of giddy laughter. It must've been the relief of getting it off their chests, people speculated later on.

"We love each other!" Gasped Hermione, clutching as Draco's robes.

"I love you more!" Draco laughed.

"No, I love you more!" Hermione said, nearly yanking the robes off of Draco (wouldn't we all love that?) as her knees gave out. Harry stuck a finger down his throat and Ron made gagging noises. Every male in hearing distance groaned in disgust, and every female, except for a few feminists in Ravenclaw, sighed in envy. Ginny clapped her hands and Snape clapped his hand, over his mouth that is, as he ran towards the nearest bathroom. Graduation day looked like it was going to be fun…

TBC

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AN: OMIGOD! I can't believe I wrote that marshmallow-fest! Fluff-o-rama! But enjoy it while you can, cause there's much angst ahead. Ok, if you wanna get notices when Pain is Bitter is updated, join the group my sister Ava started, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/painisbitter I made some polls too… I'm so proud of myself! Lol

Thanks to Reviewers:

G*Ness- know what you mean. Example conversation between me and best friend:

Me: *looks at Manda's older brother*

Manda: You dig my bro?

Me: I what your what?

Manda: *exaggerated sigh* Do you have, like, a crush on my brother?

Me: EEEW! Hell no!

Manda: *suspicious grunt*

allee kat- thank-you sweetie!

Christina- I know what you mean… I was getting kinda antsy waiting for them to kiss, and I write the thing! So I thought, why the hell not?

kat- The answer to that question is… Dun Dun Dun… Spring Break! In between parties I've got nothing to do… so here it is! Plus, I type fast.

hermioneG89- You thought that was sweet? What'd you think of this then? Over-ripe melon? *giggle*

Junsui Chikyuu- YAY! *jumps up and down* Heheh… I feel stupid…what are all these terms? Kawaii? Gomen Nasai? Ja ne? What the…? Are those anime things? I have an anime friend who says stuff like that… oh well. You'd do that for me? For little ole me? (Maybe not after this chapter…heheh) Well, if you really want to… just send me an e-mail and I'll send you the details, because I DID have an idea for a story… *blushes* You're the best!

Icy Stormz- yes, advertising…well what can I say? Ehm, nothing! You're story is great, so I want to make sure many people read it. Many many people. *nods head* Everyone go read Forced Love!

MacbethHamlet- Oh great. More terms I don't know. Sessay? What in the who in the huh? I'll assume it's good… I wonder if I'll find it in the dictionary… lol