Draco stood up abruptly and looked at each of the Three Musketeers, who had once been the bane of his existence, who were now offering to share their home with him, their life with him. He was practically speechless with awe at these three people who were going to let him in, but especially Hermione, who he had not yet proven to how much he had changed.
"Are you guys serious?" Draco asked in almost a whisper, afraid he had heard incorrectly, "you really want me to live with you next year?"
Looking at each of their nodding heads, Draco's heart soared. Her knew he had finally found his place, where he was meant to be.
"Thank you," was all that he could say, and that's all he needed because the three could see how much this meant to him.
Hermione gave him a quick hug and told him, "Welcome to the group. There's no escaping us now!"
He returned the hug and answered, "Why would I want to?" looking her seriously in the eye.
"But wait, what is the surprise for us Hermione," Harry interrupted.
"Oh, I had forgotten," Hermione said playfully, "my parents and Dumbledore found the four stones of Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. Each of us will wear one so we will always be connected to each other."
She proceeded to tell the boys everything her parents had told her about the stones. The boys interrupted frequently with questions that Hermione answered as best she could.
"So you mean we'll be able to check up on each other?" Ron asked, "see how everyone is, how they are feeling?"
"Yes, answered Hermione, "they'll be bound to us until 100 years after the last one of us has died in case we come back to life. I'm going to do some more research on them when we get to school."
They all laughed at this point because that knew she would do the research on the stones because she was Hermione and she probably knew the library at Hogwarts even better than Madame Prince did.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Hermione said suddenly, "my parents gave me a ton of stuff for getting Head Girl!"
Hermione proceeded to tell the boys all about each of her new things. The treadmill was greeted with questions of if they could use it, the vault was given murmurs of approval and lots of speculation on what to buy first. The Revealer was taken out and examined, each taking a turn looking in the mirror and then handing it to Hermione. Each boy showed up in his robes, wand in hand, smiling at Hermione. Hermione apologized to Draco for using it unknowingly on him, but he just grinned and told her he understood.
Of course, when she told the boys about the motorcycle she was bombarded with questions of what it's make and model numbers were, "K 1200 GT," when they could see it, "when I do," and if they could ever drive it, "only if I'm in a very good mood."
The cooking supplies, however, were greeted with dumbfounded silence. First, they didn't know that Hermione could cook, let alone cook well, and second, they were trying to figure out the Granger's cryptic remark about her wanting them. They all sat deep in thought for a moment when heavy knocking came sounding through the door. Harry jumped up and opened the door to see Seamus Finegan and Dean Thomas grinning happily at the four.
"We've been looking for you Harry, and you too, Ron and Draco. Hello Hermione, how was your holiday? Some of the guys are playing Exploding Snap a few compartment down, you in?" Dean asked in one breath.
"I'm in," Harry responded instantly.
"Me too," Ron announced, jumping to his feet as well.
Draco, on the other hand, declined, "I think I'll stay here. Maybe I'll join you guys later."
"Suit yourself," said Ron and Seamus together.
And with that, the boys, excluding Draco, filed out of the compartment and down the hall.
"So why'd you stay?" Hermione asked, very interested to know his motive, "you could have gone you know. I've got plenty to keep my occupied."
"Actually," Draco instantly replied, "I've been with Harry and Ron all summer. I kind of wanted to spend some time getting to know you again. How was your summer? What did you do?"
Hermione was overwhelmed by his answer, but she willingly complied, telling Draco about her newfound love for running, her trips to Monaco and the States, and her modeling offer from Versace.
In return, Draco told Hermione about his summer at the Burrow, doing the outside chores, playing Quidditch when they could, running to the nearby town to see who could get there the fastest, and for the first time in his life, having real friends.
The stories and laughter went on for the better part of an hour when they decided to play a game to get to know each other better. Each person got to ask a question, any question about anything they wanted, back and forth, and the first person not able to answer the question had to do the dare specified by the other person.
"OK, I'll start," Hermione said, "who was your first kiss?"
"Pansy Parkinson, yuck, thanks for reminding me," said a disgusted Draco, "my turn?"
"Yes," Hermione retorted.
"Who was your first kiss?" asked Draco.
"Harry, and just for the record, you can't always just repeat my questions, that's not fair," Hermione told Draco.
"Life's not fair sweetheart. Your turn," he said using his best 40's gangster accent.
"Ummm," Hermione began, already starting to blush, "how "big" are you?"
"Aroused or not?" Draco asked with a straight face.
"Aroused," Hermione returned after thinking about it.
"I'm about 10 and 1/2 inches when the conditions are right," Draco stated simply.
"Your turn," Hermione said her blush still evident on her face.
"Why did you ask me that?" was Draco's question.
"Because I wanted to know, for future reference," Hermione teased, her confidence back in full force, "plus I wanted to compare it."
"Compare it to what, to who?" Draco asked, interested in where this was going.
"Oh no, it's not your turn, it's mine," said a relieved Hermione, "how long is or was your longest crush."
"Including this year, seven years," Draco answered without even blinking an eye, "and don't try to ask who it was because I won't tell you."
Hermione held up her hands in surrender and it was Draco's turn to ask a question.
"What is the farthest you have ever gone with a guy?" Draco asked carefully.
"Well I gave a guy a hand job once, and he returned the favor, but that was about it," Hermione casually replied, "but I've never been with a guy that I wanted to go farther with."
Draco nodded in understanding, secretly overjoyed that no other guy had been with her first.
"Draco, same question back to you," Hermione said, secretly interested.
"Well, I've gotten a b.j. and I've given a hand job, but I've had the same problem, I haven't gotten together with the perfect girl yet," Draco admitted.
All of a sudden the lights flickered and then went out, throwing the compartment into complete darkness, as the sun had set earlier.
"Hermione," Draco inquired, reaching for her on the seat next to him, "are you OK?"
When he reached her, she was stiff as a board, hands cold, not moving. He asked what was wrong and when she didn't answer, he understood. She was afraid of the dark. He easily picked her up and gathered the terrified Hermione in his arms, depositing her in his lap, surprised at how light she was and how perfectly she fit in his arms.
Hermione was very aware of what was being done to her and when she was settled on his lap, she half-turned and threw her arms around Draco's shoulder's and placed her head at his neck. His arms instantly surrounded her and he started to murmur assurances softly in her ear, his lips lightly brushing the tip on each word.
Hermione shuddered, not from fear, as Draco suspected, but from the surprised pleasure she was deriving from Draco's lips moving lightly on her delicate ear and from his hard body pressed up against hers.
Draco was in a similar predicament from Hermione's warm breath and lips tickling his throat and her firm body pressed up against his in all the right places. He shifted uncomfortably as to try and hide his growing desire for her, but as he felt her breath quicken at his throat, he knew she had felt what he was trying to hide.
Hermione pinked a little from the distinct shape of his arousal underneath her butt, but she squirmed a little to see what might happen. His sharp intake of breath and obvious swelling confirmed her suspicions. She could feel his quickening pulse in his throat and timidly, she reached over and kissed it daintily, now oblivious to the pressing darkness around her.
Draco's heart leaped at the unexpected kiss and his arms tightened protectively around Hermione. He reached down, and swept a path around her ear with his tongue, before delving briefly inside and then retreating. He could feel her eyes close in pleasure as her eyelashes swept his neck and he smiled into her hair as she exhaled hotly onto his neck.
Her response was to move her mouth again to his neck and begin to suck slowly on the sensitive skin she found there. One of Draco's hands reached down and started to caress Hermione's butt as she continued to move slowly up his neck with small, biting kisses. His arousal was now full blown and she could feel that he hadn't been lying about his 10 and 1/2 inches earlier that day. Hermione worked her way up his neck and towards his ear.
She whispered airily, "Maybe we should talk about this…"
He responded in a husky tone, "I think you're right about that."
So Hermione unwrapped her arms from around Draco's neck and turned herself so her back was against Draco's chest and her head was resting on his shoulder. His arousal was still extremely evident through his trousers, but Hermione was kind of pleased with herself that she could incite such a response out of this boy.
"What just happened?" Draco asked, wanting a straightforward answer.
"I think we just made it apparent that we like each other," Hermione said carefully, "or at least I know that I have feelings for you."
"I feel something for you too Hermione," Draco recovered, shocked by Hermione's candid remarks about her feelings, "and I definitely felt something about that."
Hermione smiled in the dark, agreeing with a little noise that turned Draco on she realized the evidence indubitable. She fidgeted again, pleased with her effects on his person. Draco moaned softly.
"Hermione," Draco got out through clenched teeth, "unless you want to take this another step, stop moving."
Hermione was shocked at how serious he sounded and stilled for a second, thinking about what he had just said. She thought quickly and made up her mind. She moved deliberately and ground herself a little into his lap.
Draco was stunned at Hermione's move. He decided instantly on a course of action.
"OK darling," He said huskily, "you asked for it."
With that said, he picked her up and flipped her around so that she was straddling his torso. She reached up and smoothed her hands through his hair as his hands traveled up her sides, darting to her front to tease over he nipples and then up to her face which he cupped carefully.
"Last chance," Draco warned, "this is for real, this is for keeps."