Here it is! The much anticipated fifteenth chapter! Hope you guys don't hate me too much. This would've been up last night, but I had a major toothache and couldn't focus anymore. I seriously went to bed crying over my stupid tooth. I hate dentists! Anywho…here it is. And I promise it's not such a cliffy this time! Thank God midterms are over! Yay! Now I have more time to update! :-)

P.S. What's a beta reader? I think I might need one…


Chapter 15: The Quidditch Match

Draco ran from his room and to the bathroom. He burst through the door, immediately shutting his eyes.

"Hermione?" he called, stretching his arms out and walking around blindly. "Hermione are you all right?" He stopped walking around at the sound of the water shutting off. He shut his eyes tighter and even put his hand over his eyes. He heard the sound of the shower door opening and shutting.

"Draco! What the hell are you doing in here?" she shrieked. Draco turned his back towards the direction her voice was coming from and started to blush from embarrassment.

"I…uh…heard you scream, so I ran in to…" he trailed off.

"To what?" she prodded. At this point she had managed to wrap a bathrobe around her person. "And Draco, you can turn around now." He did so, but very slowly and he kept his eyes down. She smiled amusedly and walked over to him. She tilted his chin up so he could meet her eyes. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"I guess to save you?" he answered finally. She gave a little laugh.

"No who has the hero complex?" she said wrapping her arms around his neck. He scowled.

"Don't ever try to compare me to Famous Potter. It makes me nauseous." She smacked him playfully on the arm.

"I thought you were going to be nice to Harry." Draco pulled Hermione close again and kissed her forehead.

"I know, but Potter isn't here." She rolled her eyes and he grinned.

"So…what was the screaming all about?" he asked.

"What screaming?" she asked, trying to avoid the subject.

"I heard you scream and I rushed over here as quickly as I could." She smirked.

"That would explain why you came in here shirtless and with your fly undone." He grinned devilishly.

"How nice of you to notice. But I believe you are trying to change the subject." She blushed slightly and smiled sheepishly. She mumbled something inaudible to Draco. "What was that? I didn't hear you." Hermione sighed.

"I saw a spider scurry past me in the shower." Draco stared for a while before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"That's it?" he remarked breathlessly. Hermione joined in after awhile. When they both calmed down, she reminded him that they needed to hurry up before he missed the match. With that, Draco gave her a quick kiss and went to finish dressing. He emerged from his room wearing a plain white T-shirt and jeans and practically flew out the door without going through the tedious task of fixing his hair. He wanted to make sure that he made it to breakfast before the rest of the team ate all of the food. Hermione took her time getting ready since she didn't have to be at the pitch until much later. By the time she got down to breakfast, both the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams had cleared out and headed down to the changing rooms. She took a seat between Neville and Parvati and tried not to look too bored once she and Lavender began their usual mindless girl chatter…until they mentioned Draco.

"So, how is it living with the sexiest boy in our year, Hermione?" Lavender asked. Parvati shook her head.

"What do you mean in our year? He's the hottest boy in the whole of Hogwarts! That Draco Malfoy may be a selfish, arrogant git, but he is a selfish arrogant git who just happens to have gorgeous silver-gray eyes." Hermione, who was soon lost in thought as she pictured those "gorgeous silver-gray eyes," sighed deeply.

"Yeah…I could get lost forever in those eyes," she sighed dreamily. Parvati and Lavender looked at her curiously.

"What?" Lavender gasped. Hermione shook herself out of her daydreaming-state and realized her slip.

"Sorry…I wasn't listening. What?" Parvati tossed her a suspicious look. Hermione tried hard not to look guilty.

"We were just asking how is it living with Malfoy," Lavender repeated slowly, still looking at Hermione oddly. Hermione averted her eyes back to her plate, unable to stand their stares.

"It's ok. He's been quite civil to me, actually. I think it's safe to say that we've become quite good friends." She moved her food around with her fork. Well, it's sort of the truth, she thought.

"But there aren't any other feelings beyond friendship, right?" Lavender asked, starting to relax.

"No!" Hermione squeaked. Parvati raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Hermione tried to tell herself to calm down and willed her heart to stop beating so fast.

"Positive," she replied, trying to sound confident. Lavender smirked.

"So that means he's free, right?" Lavender asked, her suspicious demeanor dropping. Uh oh, thought Hermione. I know that look.

"I guess," Hermione replied with a shrug. Lavender smiled deviously.

"Good. So I guess that means that he's mine for the taking." Hermione held back the urge to smack Lavender's smug look off of her face. OVER MY DEAD BODY! she wanted to scream.

"How are you going to do that?" she replied in a calm tone instead. "I thought Gryffindors weren't supposed to even associate with Slytherins."

"They why are you two friends?" Parvati pointed out. Hermione thought fast.

"We're friends only because we have to. You guys don't." Lavender stood.

"I don't give a flying rat's ass about all this house rivalries shit. Draco is hot and pretty soon, I'll make him mine." With that, Lavender and Parvati headed towards to pitch to watch the game. Hermione followed behind slowly.

"Not if I can help it," she muttered bitterly under her breath

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"So, Harry…nervous?" Ron asked Harry in the changing room. Harry, however, was so deep in thought that he didn't hear him. Ron punched him lightly on the arm.

"Oi, Harry. Are all right, mate?" Harry finally shook himself free from his thoughts and turned towards Ron.

"Hermione wasn't at breakfast today." Ron frowned.

"Yes, I noticed. I also noticed that Malfoy was at breakfast, looking extremely smug."

"Ron, Malfoy always looks smug," Ginny butt in. "Why are you talking about that git anyway?"

"Hermione wasn't at breakfast," Harry started.

"But Malfoy was?" Ginny finished. Both boys nodded. "Hmm…not to worry you guys or anything, but Luna Lovegood told me about how Hermione locked Malfoy out of their dorms this morning." Ron shrugged.

"So? What's that got to do with anything?"

"He was in nothing but a bath towel," Ginny answered dully. Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"You don't think he did anything to her, do you?" Ron asked Harry slowly. Harry shook his head.

"No, I don't." Ron and Ginny stared at him in disbelief.

"How can you not?!" Ron yelled, while Ginny shushed him. Harry shook his head.

"I can't tell you. I still need to talk to her about it. We'll talk later. The match is about to start." With that, Harry swung his prized Firebolt broomstick over his shoulder and led the team out to the pitch. But before they could go anywhere, Hermione herself stopped them.

"Hermione! You're all right!" Ron said, enveloping her in a hug. She chuckled and patted Ron on the back.

"Of course, Ron. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked giving Ron and odd look.

"Well, because Harry—" Ron was cut off by Harry.

"—Said we'll talk about it later, ok?" Hermione was suspicious, but she smiled anyway. She leaned up and gave each boy a kiss on the cheek, then gave Ginny a hug.

"Good luck today guys!" Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Aren't you going to wish Malfoy luck too?" he said so only she could hear. But each word he spat out like acid, especially "Malfoy." Hermione's jaw dropped and Harry simply mounted his broom and flew off the meet Madam Hooch on the pitch. Hermione walked back, shaking, to the stands and sat next to Neville. But she couldn't concentrate on the match. What did he mean by that? she asked herself over and over again. She didn't eve flinch when a bludger just narrowly missed Ginny, who was playing as a Chaser. In fact, if she had been paying any attention as all, she would have noticed that it was one of the most intense games Hogwarts had ever seen. There was so much tension on the pitch that day. It was only when Parvati nudged her and said, "Hey, look at Malfoy and Harry!" did Hermione's head perk up and she heard this and looked towards where Parvati was pointing. From where Hermione was watching, it looked as though Harry and Draco were verbally sparring. She wasn't completely right, but she wasn't wrong either.

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"Hey Malfoy," Harry called to Draco. Draco stopped looking for the Snitch for a moment and faced Harry.

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco asked, still trying to be as civil as he could.

"I want to know what's going on between you and Hermione," Harry said firmly and determinedly. Draco rolled his eyes.

"We've already been through this, Potter. Hermione and I are just friends—"

"Bullshit! Hermione, Ron and I are friends. Hermione and you are not. Friends don't go snogging one another in empty hallways when they think no one is looking. Friends don't look at each other the way I've seen you and Hermione do."

"Oh, so I see we've resorted to spying, eh, Potter? My, my…Hermione won't be pleased." Draco mockingly shook his head with disappointment.

"I wasn't spying. I just saw you kiss once."

"Any have you talked to your 'friend' about this?" He said "friend" as if he was mocking Harry.

"No," Harry mumbled.

"No? Bloody hell, Potter. She's been wondering why you've been so distant from her. Have you told Weasley?" Harry shook his head.

"Right, well, I suppose it's better you don't tell him whatever it is you saw between Hermione and me. I would very much like to live to see my graduation at least."

"You still haven't answered my question," Harry pressed.

"Why don't you ask Hermione yourself? It's as simple as that." Draco said in a matter-of-factly tone so eerily like Hermione's.

"You know, just because Hermione's starting to spend more time with you doesn't give you the right to act like such a smart ass."

"Well I…" Draco stopped mid-sentence and took a second to realize that there was something glinting in the sunlight down by the ground. Draco shot off towards with Harry hot on his tail. As the Seekers got nearer, he realized that it was, indeed, the Golden Snitch. Draco put more of his weight downward on the broom and stretched out his arm. Harry was soon right next to Draco, trying to bump him off.

"Lay off, Potter!" Draco yelled, looking away for a second.

"No, you! And you can lay off of Hermione too!" Harry yelled back.

"What?!" Draco yelled, shocked. Suddenly, Harry gasped and pulled up quickly. Draco was puzzled for a moment before he realized he was still diving. Then with a sickening crunch, everything went black.

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"Is he dead?" Draco heard a female voice say, somewhere off to his right.

"Of course not, you idiot. Can't you see that he's breathing?" yet another female voice said, irritably.

"Excuse me, Miss Parkinson? Miss Bulstrode?" Draco dared not make a move as he recognized Hermione's voice, especially when she was using that stern tone he liked so much. He liked it when a woman exhibited a sort of dominating quality. It showed that she was strong.

"What is it, Mudblood?" Pansy said, spitting out the last word.

"As Head Girl, I must ask you both to leave the Head Boy be and to go back to your common room," Hermione replied with that same stern and professional tone.

"Well, I don't think we want to leave, do we Millicent?" Draco imagined that Pansy nudged Millicent, who was almost as thick as Crabbe and Goyle and could not answer for herself.

"Don't force me to make you leave, Parkinson," Hermione said, dropping her professional tone. Draco was glad he kept his eyes shut. He didn't think he'd want to see the look on Hermione's face right now. If Pansy doesn't leave now, then she's thicker than I thought! he thought. Finally, Pansy spoke.

"Well, fine. We'll just wait for him in our common room. What are you doing here anyway, Mudblood?" Pansy's tone suddenly turned suspicious. But Hermione was unfazed and didn't skip a beat.

"Not that it's any or you business, but Dumbledore assigned me the horrid task of watching him." Hermione said "him" with so much disdain, Draco almost found her alibi believable. "Now, I believe I asked you to leave. Don't make me take house points." Pansy gave an agitated grunt and hers and Millicent's heavy footsteps grew fainter. When Draco heard the infirmary door slam, he thought it was safe to open his eyes. He saw Hermione sitting in a chair by his bed, rubbing her eyes with one hand. She looked pale and her hair had lost some of its shine. There were dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, but she still looked beautiful to him nonetheless. He smiled before speaking.

"Why'd you go throwing out those two for? I was looking forward to the attention," he said, his voice hoarse from lack of use. Hermione's head shot up and looked at Draco for two seconds before she rushed to his side and began crying into his bed sheets.

"Oh, Draco!" she said in between sobs. "I was so worried about you! I was afraid…I was afraid that…" She couldn't continue as a fresh new wave of tears cascaded down her face.

"Shh…it's okay, Hermione. I'm fine now," he said softly. He opened up his arms and she crawled into the bed, crying into his chest instead.

"I was so scared, Draco. When I saw you fall…I couldn't help but think the worst. I haven't had a good night's sleep for four days. I've missed you so much."

"Hermione, I'm okay now. I have you with me. You haven't lost me yet."

"Draco, you don't understand! I couldn't even run to your side because your father was there, watching! He was watching me! He looked so…so…menacing. And he didn't even go to help you, Draco! It killed me inside to have to see that!"

"Hermione, you have to understand this. My father is a cold-blooded murderer. He's supposed to be in Azkaban and escaped. He's not supposed to be seen, but he risked getting caught again just to make sure I wasn't cavorting with you. He doesn't care about me playing Quidditch."

"But didn't he buy the whole team new broomsticks just so they'd take you?" At this, Draco scowled.

"I'll have you know that I tried out for the team just like everyone else. The brooms were simply a tool to help boost my chances a little." Hermione smiled a little bit. "Anyway, that's not the point. He wanted me to be on the team, but not because he wanted to see me play. He wanted me on the team so that he'd have something to brag about to his other Death Eater, scumbag friends."

"Draco, that's terrible," Hermione said, taking his hand into hers. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, then smiled.

"Yes, but you make everything better for me." She sighed and smiled.

"How do you do it?" she asked. He gave her confused look.

"Do what, exactly?" Her smile grew.

"How do you always turn everything I say around to turn into a flattering comment?" He flashed her a charming smile.

"It's a gift, I guess," he said in a would-be-modest tone. She laughed a little and snuggled deeper into the bed. There were beats of silence, then he spoke again.

"So, did I even manage to catch the Snitch?" She snorted.

"Draco, darling, you almost got yourself killed and all you can think about is whether or not you won the Quidditch match?" she asked. He nodded as if to say "Duh!" She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"If you really must know…no, you didn't catch it. Harry did." Draco groaned and fell back into his pillow.

"After all that, I still didn't get that Cup," he complained. She sat up on her elbows and looked into his beautiful gray eyes.

"You still have me," she said pointedly. He smiled.

"Thanks for trying, love. But you just aren't the same as a trophy." Hermione looked at him thoughtfully.

"Really? And to think that all this time, I thought women and trophies were the same to you." At first, Draco looked a tad bit hurt that his girlfriend would think so low of him. But then he realized that he did think that…before her, that is.

"They may have been before," he began, "but you are far greater than any trophy." She smiled again and kissed him.

"Good answer."

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Harry paced back and forth around the Gryffindor common room. He told Hermione that he needed to talk to her. Draco's words had been ringing in his head since the Quidditch match and he finally just couldn't take it anymore. He needed to tell her that he knew about them. Finally, Hermione came in. Harry looked up at the sound of the portrait hole closing.

"Finally! You're here!" he said, motioning for her to sit across from him. It was a beautiful and warm sunny day and everyone was outside, enjoying the weather. Harry almost felt like the conversation they were about to have would just ruin it all…almost.

"Yes, what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Harry?" she asked in a calm tone. He noticed that she looked extremely calm and content…a dramatic change from the mess she had been the entire week while moping about Draco's condition. I guess this means that Malfoy's awake, he thought. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"What's going on between you and Malfoy?" he asked slowly and as calmly as he could. Hermione blinked. Whatever she expected Harry to ask, it wasn't that.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"You know exactly what I mean, Hermione!" Harry cried. "I mean are you and Malfoy…you know…together?"

"N-no…" she stammered.

"Stop it, Hermione!" Harry was yelling now. "Just stop! You're a terrible liar and you know it!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her slightly.

"Don't try to lie because I saw you two together, Hermione!" She went white.

"You…you did?" she said, faintly. Harry let go of her.

"Yes, I saw you two snogging in the Great Hall," he said with a sneer, as if the very memory brought feelings of disgust. She raised an eyebrow.

"When was this, exactly?" He began to scratch the back of his neck and avoided her eyes.

"Um…when everyone got back from the holiday." Her jaw dropped.

"Why didn't you come talk to me right away?" she asked. He scoffed.

"How was I supposed to do that? You were always with…Draco," he replied with a scowl, stretching out Draco's name. She blushed.

"Sorry about that. Well, I guess that answers your question. Yes, we are together." Harry collapsed into a chair, at a loss for words. "Please don't tell Ron! I don't even want to deal with him and his temper." Harry looked at Hermione and shook his head.

"No, Hermione. I'm not going to tell Ron. You are." Hermione jumped out of her seat.

"Harry, I can't!" He put up a hand to shush her.

"Hermione, you know you have to. Ron has a right to know." She threw herself onto the sofa, rubbing her eyes with one hand.

"I know, Harry. I know." He got up and walked over to where she lay on the sofa and allowed her to rest her legs across his lap.

"Well, to relieve you of some stress, you don't have to tell him now. You can wait a while and talk to Malfoy—"

"Draco," she automatically corrected. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Right, Draco. Well, you can talk about how you're going to approach this issue with Ron." Hermione sat up and hugged Harry.

"Thank you, Harry," she said. Harry embraced her back.

"For what?"

"Just for being one of the greatest friends to me. And for letting my personal business stay personal." Harry chuckled.

"Well…you know how this school is…it's a big secret, so naturally, everyone will eventually find out."

"Yes, true. But you didn't tell anyone…especially not Ron. So for now, it's still personal." She sighed.

"Do I have to tell him personally? Can't I simply owl him while Draco and I are far away…very, very far away?" He shook his head.

"Nope. You have to tell him in person and straight out. No beating around the bush. Just blunt and straight to the point."

"Because that's the only way he'll understand, right?" He laughed.

"Exactly." She laughed right along with him. It was at that moment that Hermione realized how much she missed her raven-haired best friend. She had always been closer to him than with Ron since they had both been raised as Muggles and she understood him better than she understood Ron. Ron was rash, ill tempered and stubborn. Harry, on the other hand, was calm and thought about things, usually, before acting. True, he was loyal to his stubborn Gryffindor nature, but other than that, he and Ron could be complete opposites. Ever since third year, when she and Harry had rescued Sirius and Buckbeak together, she felt that she was getting closer to him.

"You know, Pots," she said after a while, referring to a nickname she gave him the year before during a week of detention with Snape.

"What is it, Hermy?" he replied, using the nickname given to her by Grawp, Hagrid's 16-foot-tall half-brother. She smiled.

"I've really missed you." He gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"I've missed you too. And I'm pretty sure Ron has missed you too."

"Promise me we'll be best friend forever…even if Ron hates me after I tell him everything." He smiled.

"Ron won't hate you. And yes, I promise that we'll remain best friend until the end of time." She gave a contented sigh and closed her eyes. Before she drifted off to sleep, she uttered one last phrase.

"Love you, Pots." Harry, who was drifting off to sleep as well, gave his groggy reply.

"Love you too, Hermy." With that, they both fell asleep on the sofa, one exhausted from the joy of Draco Malfoy waking from his unconsciousness and the other finally able to fall asleep after endless nights of thinking about what said former unconscious boy said almost a week before.

Well…that's that. Hope you like. I'm almost done typing up chapter sixteen. Only seven more chapters to go! Whoo! It's almost done guys! :-( thanks to everyone who reviewed and to Aelfswythe, thanks for the constructive criticism…yes, I know everyone was out of character in that chapter. As I have told everyone, the first few chapters suck eggs because I had no idea where I was going with this. But keep reading and I assure you, it gets better…I think. I don't know. I guess it just depends on you, doesn't it? Keep reviewing and I might just end up writing another fic, just to your liking. Okay…that's all I have to say for tonight. School tomorrow…bleh! Later days!