Disclaimer: Me and my sisters do not own Harry Potter and its characters. We kind of hope we did, but not all dreams come true, right? But we DO own the plotline of this story. No body can steal it, aiight. Good. Wun Hun.

~3~                                         

  Hermione couldn't sleep for the past three nights. All she could think about was the kiss and Draco and if he was going through the same thing.

   She dreaded going to classes, seeing as she has three quarters of her subjects with Draco. She was just waiting for him to say something in front of everyone about what happened. But to her surprise he hadn't said anything in three days. Actually, he hadn't said anything at all. He would barely talk to his fellow Slytherins, let alone talk to Hermione. He still found time to insult Harry and Ron, though, just to make sure no one realized something was wrong or he wasn't acting like himself.

  Draco tried avoiding the Great Hall during meal times not wanting anyone seeing him eying Hermione. He wanted to talk to her so much but was afraid of what might happen. He had skipped Transfiguration for the past three days pretending to not be feeling well. He just couldn't face Hermione. He wasn't ready…..yet.

*************************

  Draco went for a walk out on the grounds, seeing how it was Friday night, he could use the rest of the weekend to catch up on his Transfiguration homework.

  He was headed toward the lake, when an all too familiar voice called out to him.

 "Hey, Draco," Hermione said, walking up beside him.

 Draco pulled her into the shadows of the trees. "Hi," Draco said, looking around to make sure no one saw them.

"I've b-"Hermione started but Draco cut her off.

"We need to talk," he said in a gentle voice, "come on," he found her hand and started walking into the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione didn't stop him, but followed him. A breeze rustled the trees and Hermione squeezed Draco's hand, feeling scared to be in the forest at dusk.

Just as Hermione was thinking about turning back, Draco stopped and stepped closer to her. He kindled a fire with his wand and sat down. Hermione was relieved that now there was a fire and that it gave off some light.

"Your right, we need to talk," Hermione practically whispered afraid something might hear them and feel disturbed.

"I really like you, Hermione. But we both know our friends will never accept us. I'm not saying that I'm going to let that stop me, but I don't know if im ready to give up my whole life yet." Draco finished and looked into the fire.

"I really like you, too," Hermione breathed not taking her eyes off Draco, "but Harry and Ron would hate me, not to mention all of Gryffindor, too." She said still staring intently at Draco.

"So where do we go from here?" Draco looked up and met her eyes.

"I'm not sure, but I don't want to just ignore my feelings." Hermione answered, and looked around. She had a feeling they were being watched.

"We could keep it a secret, from our friends for now, but I imagine that they are going to find out about us sooner or later." Draco said with a warm smile.

"That's sound like a pretty good idea." Hermione said and broke into a huge smile.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, a strong gust of wind blew and smothered the fire. A werewolf howled in the distance and Hermione screamed in terror.

She heard Draco's voice right next to her. "It's alright."

Another howl from a werewolf, and Hermione grabbed Draco's arm. She squeezed it tightly, never wanting to let go.

She felt his other arm wrap around her back and she let go of his other arm. She rested her head against his chest, feeling safe in his embrace.

Draco pulled out his wand and murmured, "Lumos." His wand ignited and he could see a thin beam of light extract in front of him.

"We should start heading back," Draco said to Hermione as he started to move along the path, Hermione still holding onto him.

As the trees started to thin, Hermione let go of everything but Draco's hand.

They walked hand in hand up to their dormitory. They then walked through the portrait hole. Hermione kissed Draco on the cheek and said goodnight.

Hermione walked to her room smiling.

Draco went to his room but had no intentions of going to sleep.

****************

The next morning, Hermione got up and took a shower before the sun had even rose.

She got dressed and headed for the portrait hole for breakfast, when she was stopped.

"Hey, wait." She turned around and saw Draco walking across the common room toward her. She smiled and felt her heart jump.

"Hey," Hermione said.

"Where are you headed?" he asked.

"Breakfast, care to join?" she asked still smiling.

"What about our friends?" he asked, his brows rose.

"I think I know a way of getting around that," she said thoughtfully.

"Let's go then," Draco said and smiled.

They walked down all the deserted corridors. When they reached the floor below the Great Hall, Hermione stopped in front of a large tapestry of a bowl of fruit. She reached up and tickled the pear. The tapestry opened into a long, wide chamber.

She led Draco into a chamber that was lined with fireplace. Pots and pans hung everywhere on the walls. There were four long tables that were positioned under the four house tables in the Great Hall.

"Good morning, miss," it was Dobby with a white jacket and wide grin on his face.

"Oh, Dobby, it's so great to see you," Hermione said and gave the house elf a hug.

"How may I he-," Dobby started, but stopped and looked at Draco with a disgusted face, "Mr. Malfoy, how are you?" he forced a weak smile.

"Um….Dobby could we just get some toast, please?" Hermione said hurriedly, so as to between Draco and the house elf.

"Uh, sure miss," and Dobby bowed and walked away.

"Sorry about that," she said to Draco.

"That's okay," he said after a second of thinking.

A few seconds later, Dobby came back with a large platter of toast. They took what they wanted and left.

They walked out of the castle to a foggy October morning. It was chilly and Hermione drew her cloak close around her as they walked towards the lake.

"So what are you going to do about Pansy?" Hermione asked as she threw the remainder of her toast into the lake for the giant squid.

"What do you mean?" he asked her and turned to face her.

"I mean, aren't you two going out?" she asked and looked down at her feet.

"What? No, she's booty!!!" He said in surprise, "she wants to go out with me, but I always say no because I've liked you for the past six years.

"Oh," she said as he finished his explanation.

"Anyway, she doesn't compare to you. You're beautiful," he said to her with their hands intertwined.

Hermione smiled at him, and turned to go back up to the castle.

***************

When they reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione heard Ron call to her. She let go of Draco's hand stepped away from him.

"Go," she whispered out of the corner of her mouth to him.

Hermione walked towards Ron.

"Hey," Hermione said with a smile, "What's up?"

"Uh…..can I…..err…..talk to you in private? Please," he said looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Uh, ok," she said as she walked behind Ron to the Gryffindor Common Room.

The warmth of the fire brought memories flooding back. Everything in this seemed so far from her.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione asked and took a seat in an armchair next to the fireplace.

"Err…..well…..we've been friends for so long, and I was just wondering…..would you go out with me?" He finished rather fast and looked up at Hermione searching her face for an expression.

"Oh, um," she froze. What was she going to do? She couldn't tell him about Draco. But she would have to say yes, if she didn't want anyone to find out about her secret, "Err…..okay."

He smiled at her, "Really?"

"Yeah. Really," she said and forced a smile.

********************

She headed for the library, not wanting to run into Draco right now.

She sat at a table next to the invisibility section. She took out her Transfiguration book, a quill, and some parchment.

She was Relieved that Draco didn't come to the library looking for her. She had to tell him, though, sooner or later.

********************

Draco left the Entrance Hall after Hermione and Ron had left. He figured he would get started on his Transfiguration homework, so he headed toward his dorm.

*********************

Hermione finished her essay and put all of her supplies back in her bag. She left the library, deciding it might be safe to go back to the dorm.

She walked through the portrait hole and saw Draco at the table doing homework. She looked over his shoulder and he turned around

"Hey," Draco said.

"Hi," Hermione said looking anywhere but him, "uh, Ron ….. uh ….. asked me out ….. and ….. I said ….. yes," she finished and looked into his icy blue eyes.

"What?" Draco asked thinking he didn't hear her right.

"If I said no, he would have asked questions, and then I would have to tell him about us." She said really fast.

"Well, I'm glad you considered my feelings before you gave him an answer!" Draco practically screamed, standing up.

Hermione could feel her eyes fill with tears.

"You were the one who cared so much about what our friends would think! You wanted to keep 'us' a secret! What did you expect to happen!" Hermione said and ran to her room.

Draco stood staring after her what. What had he done? He thought. He was the one who had said they should keep their relationship a secret. Why had he been so stupid?

Draco started to walk over toward Hermione's closed door, but something held him back.

*********************

Author's Notes: Hey thanks again for the reviews from these people:

Firediamond


~Tenna~

Kinky Girl

Bridget

Claferia

Ok, for you people who don't know the meaning of 'booty' it means ugly. It's a ghetto thing. LOL. Just kidding.

Me and my sisters are done with the next chapter but we will need some time to decide if it is good enough. Please continue reviewing.

O and for Kinky Girl, the good stuff *grin* will come in chapter 5.