Draco dragged his exhausted body up the dark stair case that led to his room. He was once again grateful that his family name and wealth had ensured him a room of his own. He pushed at his room door and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his bed. Without another thought Draco began to strip off his clothes, letting them drop carelessly on the carpeted floor. Once he was undressed he slid into his warm four-poster bed.

Although his body was fatigued, his mind seemed to race with thoughts. Errant and troublesome thoughts about what had happened in the forbidden forest plagued him. He didn't know what hell had possessed him when he had kissed Hermione Granger. Dammit. He had seen the glittering tears in her eyes and felt as though his heart had been torn out of his chest. He couldn't stand to think of her in pain. That stupid punk, Justin. Fucking hell. God! What the hell was wrong with him?

He didn't have a clue why he had magicked that quote into her diary either. He had heard a girl in one of his classes saying it once, and had thought it would be appropriate. Maybe it would make her feel a bit better about the whole thing. Now, he wished to hell that he hadn't. Shit! What if she got the wrong idea?

As desperate as he was to avoid it, his mind made backtracked to the kiss in the forest. He let out a frustrated grunt and hit himself on the head repeatedly. Shaking his head furiously he turned to blow out the candle on his bedside table. Darkness filled the room. Draco lay down and rested his weary head onto his pillow. In the pitch blackness of the night he finally allowed himself to smile. "She kissed like an angel" he thought to himself as he drifted into slumber.

~*~

Hermione was having immense difficulty concentrating on her transfiguration lesson. Looking down at her thick textbook, the words all seemed to be a big jumble to her. With a quick shake of her head, she increased her efforts to concentrate, but her determined efforts were disrupted by a sharp elbow in her side.

Puzzled, Hermione turned to look at Grace, who was seated beside her. She sat confused as Grace continued to jab her in the side and jerk her head towards the door. "What's wrong with you, Grace?" she whispered.

Grace opened her mouth to reply, when Professor McGonagall's stern voice sounded across the room.

"So, Mr Malfoy. You've finally decided to join us have you? You could not begin to understand how gleeful we are, that you have decided to grace us with your presence." McGonagall's tone was dripping with sarcasm as she looked at Malfoy standing at the doorway.

With an insolent look in his eyes, Malfoy shrugged indifferently. "I guess I lost track of time."

McGonagall pinned him with a glare and pursed her lips. "Ten points from Slytherin! Well, don't waste any more time. Take your seat. We are reading chapter nine of our textbooks and I will speak to you after class.''

With a disgruntled hmmph, McGonagall returned to her work and Draco took his seat next to Crabbe and opened his book. Hermione let her gaze linger on him for just a while longer before, returning to her own studies. Again, a sharp elbow jabbed into her side. Hermione turned to look at a manically grinning Grace. "What?" she whispered with a raised eyebrow. "Who is the spunk who just sauntered in?" Grace whispered, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively. Hermione tried to fix an incredulous look on her face. "Draco Malfoy? A spunk? I think not. Malfoy is nothing but an annoying cretin who likes to disrupt the class with his "I'm a Malfoy so I can do what ever I want" antics."

Unfortunately she had said this a little louder than she had intended, and Draco who was sitting on the desk just next to theirs, turned and looked at her heatedly.

She felt a surge of guilt at her rash words and immediately mouthed an apology, but Draco had already turned away.

She turned back to Grace, who was still grinning at her knowingly. "You're not interested in him one bit?"

"Jeez, no. Not at all."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I.?" Grace whispered mischievously.

"What?" Hermione persisted even though she knew what was coming.

"You wouldn't mind if I asked him out, then?" she said excitedly.

Hermione thought about the passionate kiss, that Draco and herself had shared and wanted to tell Grace about it, but stopped. Instead, she pasted a smile on her face and mumbled, "Sure, knock yourself out."

At that moment Professor McGonagall announced the end of class. There was a mad rush of students scrambling to get out, because it was the last lesson of the day. Hermione and Grace steadily gathered up their books and turned to leave the room. Hermione's gaze lingered on Draco's white-blonde hair as they walked out.

Outside the classroom door, Grace pulled Hermione to a stop.

"What are you doing?" "Where are you going?" They both said at the same time.

"Well, you've got to introduce me to him. So we'll just wait for him to come out of class." Grace said enthusiastically.

Hermione groaned but agreed to wait. Then Grace poked a finger sharply into her belly. Hermione was startled and dropped her books. She looked up at Grace in confusion and saw that she was grinning manically again.

"You are such a psycho, Grace!" Hermione giggled and charged at her, with her finger out-stretched. " Belly!" After a series of sharp pokes at each other's bellies, the girl's became consumed in a fit of giggles. Hermione held her stomach as she wept in laughter and staggered backwards. Grace had abruptly stopped laughing, was standing up straight, staring behind Hermione.

Hermione belatedly realized that Draco was behind her, and her knees, which were weak from laughter, decided to buckle. She felt horrified at the prospect of landing in a heap at Draco's feet, but was saved from that fate when he stuck out his arms and caught her.

In a matter of seconds, Hermione righted herself and turned to thank Malfoy. But as she looked into his grey eyes, she froze. They stood facing each other just staring. It felt as though eternity could pass and still she would feel content staring at him.

"Hermione, are you alright?" A voice sounded behind her.

Shaking herself out of the daze, she licked her lips and cleared her throat. "Thanks for catching me.Umm.I'm sorry Malfoy. About what you heard before."

"Sorry I heard it or sorry you said it?" he enquired softly.

"I'm sorry I said it because I'm beginning to think it's not right at all. You could be okay. I guess. umm" she muttered, mortified.

Taking a step towards Grace, Hermione tried to avoid Draco's gaze. "Um. This is my friend, Grace Leigh. Grace, this is Draco Malfoy."

With a huge grin on her face, Grace stuck out her hand. With a questioning look at Hermione, Draco did the same.

"Nice to meet you Draco. As you probably realized, I'm relatively new to Hogwarts and I'd really appreciate it if there was someone that could, you know help me out, show me around and stuff. Maybe go out for a movie or something." Grace said prettily, making Hermione almost gag.

"Uh. I don't think so. I'm kinda busy." Malfoy muttered, glared at Hermione then turned away.

"You've been here for like two months and you're still "relatively new"?" Hermione laughed.

"OOooh Shut up. Have you no feeling? I've just been shot down. Cast off. Rejected." This was said with a smile on her face and laughter in her voice. "I guess we just weren't destined to be together.."

Hermione looked down at her watch and realized that it was almost time for dinner. The two girls raced up to their common-room and dumped their books in their room before racing back down to the Great Hall.

It seemed as though the whole of Hogwarts had chosen that moment to make their way into the Great Hall. They searched through the crowds of students filing into the hall for their friends, Harry and Ron. But instead of Harry and Ron, Hermione's gaze found Justin.

A sharp shot of pain surged through her, as she saw Justin and Lavender entwined in an embrace. She was just about to turn away when Grace noticed what Hermione had been staring at.

"Is that Justin?" She demanded, her expression furious.

Hermione gave a small nod and turned away.

"That slimy worm! I'm gonna teach him a thing or two." She stormed, then stomped towards the couple.

Hermione hurriedly turned back, when she realized Grace's intentions. She desperately tried to stop her tirade but was overpowered. Hermione then decided to hide. Maybe they would just think Grace was some psycho and didn't know what she was talking about. But it was too late; Justin had turned around to investigate the commotion and had spotted Hermione. One of his dazzling grins appeared as he said, "Oh Hermione. Thanks so much for everything you've done. Lavender said she would go out with me. Isn't that wonderful?"

Hermione nodded numbly, as Lavender blushed before sliding her hand into Justin's.

"Oi you!" Grace shouted forcefully

Hermione groaned, then braced herself for the out-burst.

"Justin is it? Well I just wanted to tell you that you are a dirty piece of scum, that doesn't even deserve to be trodden on by the likes of Hermione Granger. If you ever, ever hurt my friend in any way ever again I will hunt you down like the pig you are and kill you slowly and painfully."

At that moment Ron and Harry found Hermione.

"What's going on? Why is she going off at him like that?" Ron, ever oblivious, asked.

Hermione remained silent as Grace continued her loud tirade. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was attracting a very large crowd.

Finally, with a fist close to Justin's face, Grace stopped her rant, turned towards Hermione and smiled. She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder and sauntered into the Great Hall.

Both Ron and Harry stared at each other, stunned. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the almost fearful expressions on their faces. Rolling her eyes at the boys, she started to make her way towards the Great Hall.

When Grace had disappeared into the Hall a large majority of her peers had followed in her wake, awed by her fury. Hermione tailed the line of students filing into the Hall, then noticed Lavender Brown flinch as she approached. Justin promptly gathered Lavender into his arms, in a protective manner and shot Hermione with a wary glance. A bolt of pain hit her, as she thought of all the times she had wished to be in Justin's arms, just as Lavender was.

At that very moment, Draco walked into the crowd entering the Hall. With a quick glance, he saw Lavender Brown entwined in Justin Finch-Fletchley's arms and with a slight twist of his head, saw the hurt look on Hermione's face. He felt as if his insides began to burn, as he thought of the pain Justin had caused Hermione. He didn't think about what he did next. Without a second glance, he stormed up and shoved Harry and Ron aside to get to Hermione.

Ron's outraged cries ensured that the few students that remained outside the Great Hall turned to get a glimpse of what was happening. Lavender and Justin were among them, staring at Hermione in alarm.

Draco reached Hermione's side, grasped her shoulder and spun her around. He placed his hand softly on Hermione's cheek and, in full sight of the gaping audience, leant down and kissed her.

"Don't forget about Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. I can't stop thinking about you." Draco uttered. Then, with a vicious glare in Justin's direction he strode confidently into the Great Hall.

Shocked whispers filled the air and the excited students ran into the hall to spread the astonishing gossip. Harry and Ron were staring at Hermione in disgust, but she didn't notice. Hermione stood absolutely stock still. Her lips tingled from the brief yet passionate kiss. Her heart was racing and her normally clear and intelligent mind was being bombarded by confusing emotions. But through the swirling thoughts compounded in her mind, one thing stood out clearly.

Draco Malfoy kissed like a God.

~*~

I don't know if you guys noticed but I changed my rating to R. I feel that my stories are getting darker and involve more swearing and other stuff which may not be suitable for younger children. I hope that you all still enjoy my stories. Thanks again to all who have read and reviewed my story.

Special hi to Gracie-Leigh. Belly!!! You inspired this chapter.