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Chapter 9

"Hermione," Draco called as he entered her dorm.

Hermione walked over to him. "What is it?"

Draco and Hermione had been going out for a month now. And word spread immediately about them. As much as they could, they held hands, and even kissed, in public.

He smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the lips. Then he held up a letter.

"My father wrote to me again," Draco said. "He knows about us." He smiled. "It's working."

Hermione smiled slightly. "That's good. What did he say this time?"

"That he'd been hearing some things about me dating you and stuff. Same things," Draco said, grinning. "It won't take long now before he--."

"Wait a minute. What are you doing here?" Hermione asked. "Don't you have Quidditch practice?"

"Cancelled," Draco said, putting an arm around her waist and bringing her to the couch with him.

"I'm trying to study, Draco," Hermione said warningly as they sat down.

"I know," Draco said, burying his face in her hair. "I was thinking maybe you should take a break."

"I can't. I have loads of stuff to finish. Essays, charts, re--." She stopped when Draco began kissing her neck and giggled. Then she remembered her homework and pushed him away. "Please, Draco. I really need to--."

But Draco caught her mouth with his. Hermione sighed and gave up trying to stop him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer.

Their relationship had definitely changed ever since they talked about making everything real. At first, they purposefully kissed in front of everyone just to make them believe that they're really together. They didn't use to see each other when there were no people around. Then they just began seeing each other all the time. They held hands all the time and kissed whenever they saw each other. People now thought they were a cute couple. It just suddenly felt natural to both of them. It just happened.

Draco had begun to unbutton her blouse, when Hermione pushed Draco away.

"Draco," Hermione breathed. "I..."

"I'm sorry," Draco said. "I got carried away."

"It's alright," Hermione replied, straightening her blouse. "But I think you should go. You might get caught and I still have to study."

Draco leaned forward and kissed her once more. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Hermione smiled, pulled him back and kissed him. "Can't wait."

Draco grinned at her and left the dorm. Hermione rested her back on the couch and closed her eyes. Can't wait? Since when couldn't she wait to see Draco? She opened her eyes and went back to her books. Now is not the time to think of that.

**

Hermione walked in the Great Hall and scanned the crowd. She wanted to talk to Parvati about something. Suddenly, someone whispered at her ear.

"Good to see you," Draco said.

Hermione turned around and smiled at him. "Hey!"

"How did your studying go?" he asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good," Hermione said. "All I have to do is remember everything on the exam."

"You'll be fine," Draco said. "Will you be eating with me today?"

"Hmm," Hermione said, scanning the crowd again. Then she turned to him. "Why don't you eat with me?"

Draco hesistated. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Hermione asked. "It's just breakfast."

"I'll just see you after breakfast," Draco said. "I wanna walk you to class."

Hermione giggled. "But we have the same class."

"I'm excused. Snape wants us to have more practices for Quidditch," Draco explained.

"You're going to miss class?" Hermione said, looking sad.

Draco smirked. "What do you think?"

"Fine, fine," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "I'll see you after breakfast."

They parted ways. Hermione went to the Gryffindor table and sat beside Ron, in front of Harry.

"Hey guys," she said cheerfully.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said, smiling. He noticed that ever since she and Draco got together, she had always been happy. She looked as if she was glowing with happiness.

"'Mione," Ron said, spewing food all over the table.

Hermione looked around. "Where's Parvati?"

"I think she had to go back to get something," Harry answered. "Hey, did you study for the exam?"

"I did," Hermione said brightly.

"You had time to study?" Ron asked, surprised.

"Yes. Why?" Hermione asked.

"Well... we saw Draco stop by your dorm," Harry explained sheepishly.

"Oh," Hermione said. "Well, he didn't stay very long."

"Uh-huh," Ron commented.

Hermione turned red. "Ron! Where you guys spying?"

"No!" Harry said immediately. "We were supposed to go to your dorm, but we saw Malfoy go in and we thought..." He shrugged.

"Well, you should've just come," Hermione said.

"No way!" Ron said. "I don't want to see you two making out."

Hermione turned red. "We didn't make out."

Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows at her. Hermione looked down and bit her lip.

"Okay. Fine. We did," Hermione said defeatedly. "I can't believe you guys are being so light about this."

"We're trying," Ron said.

"Yeah. And it's not like we can do anything about you and him being together," Harry said. "We figured that you must really love him."

Hermione looked away and forced herself to smile. "Uh, yeah." Love.

**

Hermione and Draco walked down the hall, hand in hand.

"How was practice?" Hermione asked.

"Like hell," Draco said. "I was almost hit by a damn bludger."

"What?" Hermione asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Hermione. No need to worry," Draco said.

"What do you mean no need to worry? Of course I would worry! What if you got hit and then you got hurt, what will--?" Hermione rambled.

Draco put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

She smiled at him. Draco tucked a strand of hair behind her ear then leaned forward to kiss her.

"Is this your way of making me not worry?" Hermione whispered through his lips. "Bribery?"

"Is it working?" Draco asked, smiling as he gently pushed her to a wall. He kissed her gently.

"For now," Hermione managed to say as they kissed again.

Draco grinned. "Go to Hogsmeade with me."

"I'm surprised you even had to ask," Hermione said.

"Well, I just thought that maybe you wouldn't want people outside the school to know that you're with me," Draco explained.

"Draco, what's the point of doing this if we don't want the world to know?" Hermione said.

"Just making sure," Draco said, straightening up and holding Hermione's hand. They began to walk again.

"When?" Hermione asked.

"On Saturday," Draco said.

"Okay. Well, I'd better go. I told Parvati I'd meet her in the Gryffindor common room," Hermione said.

"Sure," Draco replied, kissing her hand. He walked away.

**

"What took you so long?" Parvati asked teasingly.

"Sorry, Parvati. I was with Draco and we--," Hermione explained.

"I don't want to hear it," Parvati said.

"What? We were just walking," Hermione said.

"Fine. Fine," Parvati said. They both sat down on the couch.

"Why did you want to meet me?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing," Parvati answered, shrugging. "I just haven't talked to you in a long time."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. I mean, I can tell that you and Malfoy are in love," Parvati said.

Hermione bit her lip. "How can you tell?"

"Well, you guys are always together for one. And you take care of each other. Malfoy always sees to it that you're okay. He always watches you even if you're not together," Parvati said.

"He does?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah. You don't know?"

"Well... no."

"He does. You really love him, don't you?" Parvati asked a bit dreamily.

Hermione looked away. She was in a relationship with Draco and they have been together for a month and a half now. Their relationship has been so real that Hermione almost felt that she did love him. The question is: it is real?

**

"Well, let's go, baby," Draco said, offering his hand to her.

Hermione approached him and took his hand. "Let's go."

"Are you sure you don't want to go with Harry or Ron?" Draco asked.

"I'm sure. I want to spend time with you," Hermione said.

"We've been spending time for almost two months now," Draco said, smirking.

"I know," Hermione said. "It's been long, hasn't it? I didn't even notice."

"Me, too," Draco said. "I'm having too much fun."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Hermione asked.

Draco pretended to think. "I think it's good. What about you?"

"I'm definitely enjoying every minute with you. It's almost as if I lo--." Hermione stopped and cleared her throat, a blush creeping to her cheeks.

Draco didn't push her. He knew what she was about to say. Love. They definitely have been going all out on this relationship. They both knew that this started as something they did for the heck of it. But now, it's as if it was all meant to be. Draco found himself thinking about Hermione often and wondering of her well-being. He always wanted her to be safe. Thinking about all these things, he began to wonder if he loved her. Draco looked at Hermione. Maybe he did.

They were walking towards the castle entrance, when suddenly the two oak doors opened with a bang.

Lucius Malfoy walked in.

**

"Draco," Lucius acknowledged, seeing his hand clasped with Hermione.

By instinct, Hermione had tried to grab her hand from Draco, but Draco squeezed her hand tight and didn't let go.

"Father," Draco said civilly.

Lucius' gaze turned to Hermione. "Hermione." He nodded.

"Mr. Malfoy," Hermione managed to say.

Lucius cleared his throat and turned to Draco. "You haven't been answering my letters."

"I didn't see the need to," Draco said.

"No need to be so uptight, Draco," Lucius said, forcing a smile as he approached them. He took Hermione's other hand and kissed it. "I've heard most wonderful things about you."

Hermione uncomfortably tried to smile and winced a little. Draco was gripping her hand so tight that she felt no more blood there. Lucius smiled again as neither Hermione nor Draco said anything.

"Well, your mother misses you very much, Draco. She wants you and your, er, girlfriend to come and visit next weekend," Lucius said.

Draco looked at his father, feeling confused. Shouldn't he be angry? Shouldn't he be yelling at him right now? What's going on?