Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns it all.

Ron shifted impatiently from foot to foot, wondering why he had even come. He was going to have to catch up with Ginny an Harry later in Hogsmeade, which was a nuisance. But the note had pulled at him and piqued his curiosity. Please meet me at ten o'clock, he had read. I want to talk to you. It had been unsigned, and even now he wondered who it was. Probably someone wanting to know something about Harry, Ron thought in resignation. It was always about Harry. Never about insignificant Ron Weasley. He ruthlessly shoved down the familiar taste of bitterness. After six years, he thought fiercely, you'd think I'd learn. But the jealousy was still there, hidden beneath layers of friendship and honest affection. He had finally realized that Harry didn't want all the publicity that he generated, but that didn't make the pill any easier to swallow.

He scuffed his shoe absently at the grass and glanced at his watch for the third time. Whoever they were, they were late, he thought irritably. He saw Draco Malfoy striding purposefully down the walkway and automatically curled his lip. Wonder what Ferret Boy's doing out here, he thought acidly.

His eyebrows snapped down into a scowl when Malfoy headed for him. When Draco got within hearing distance, Ron demanded, "What are you doing out here, Malfoy?"

Draco raised his head and looked at Ron, and unaccountably Ron felt a chill run down his spine. Malfoy's eyes weren't filled with typical, sneering Slytherin hate. They burned with icy, barely controlled rage.

"Well what crawled up your ass?" Ron sneered rudely. Draco grabbed Ron's shoulder with fingers that dug in like iron. "Come with me," he gritted out, hauling Ron behind the corner of a building.

Scowling furiously, Ron jerked away. "Sorry I can't have a tea-party chat with you, Ferret, but I'm waiting on someone."

"No, you're not," Draco said shortly.

Ron's eyes narrowed. "You sent me the letter!"

"Your brilliance astounds me on a daily basis, Weasel," Draco snarled, and slammed his fist into Ron's midsection. Ron doubled over with an agonized oomph and groaned piteously. Draco dragged him up, and Ron stared at him in shock. Draco's eyes were wild, the leash on his rage snapped.

"If you ever touch my woman again, I'll kill you, Weasel," he snarled. His hand came up in a hard right cross and hit Ron's cheek. Shocked, Ron took the hit and sprawled.

Draco's teeth were gritted as he methodically beat Ron. How dare this stupid, fat Weasel put his hands on Hermione and bruise her as he had? His eyes flashed furiously. Ron got off one good swing at Draco and caught him across the eye, making Draco's head ring. Knowing that he'd have a black eye, Draco snarled and caught Ron's eye in a mirror image of the punch that Ron had just swung at him a moment before.

"Don't--ever--touch her," Draco growled, and Ron's eyes flashed out of his bruised face.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," he flared, and tackled Draco, sending them both to the ground in a scrabbling pile of flying fists and curses.

********

Humming to herself, Hermione hefted her satchel higher on her shoulder as it slid once again. She had decided that it was such a gorgeous day that she wanted to go out and sit by the willow and do her homework while she waited for Draco. She saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to look, startled. She saw the flash of black robes and briefly saw the Slytherin mark flash. She blinked, not quite sure that she had seen it. Frowning as there were grunts of pain, she hurried toward them.

She swept around the corner of the building and saw Draco had Ron pressed against the wall, his teeth bared in a feral snarl. She gasped and her satchel dropped to the ground unheeded. She jumped forward. "Draco!"

Draco's head snapped around, shock replacing fury in his eyes. "Hermione?" he said blankly. In Draco's moment of distraction, Ron snapped his arms up and broke Draco's hold, then slugged him. Draco grunted and stumbled back. When Ron would have lunged over him, Hermione jumped forward.

"Ron! What the hell are you doing?" she gasped.

He heaved, his face bloody and bruised. "What the hell am I doing?" he gasped, his breathing broken. "This asshole is the one that attacked me!"

Hermione looked at Draco, who was heaving just as strongly as Ron. "Draco?" she said softly. "Draco, please tell me you didn't."

He gave her an ill-tempered glare. "He bruised you," he muttered.

Hermione gritted her teeth. "I thought we went over this, Draco!"

"Yeah well, you thought wrong. He wasn't going to get away with it."

Hermione felt like pulling out her hair. The damned man was so frustrating! She glared at him and couldn't suppress the urge to go to him and kiss away all the bruises and cuts on his face. Instead she turned to Ron and saw that he was staring at her with his mouth gaping open, his hurts forgotten. "You're his woman?" he squeaked.

Hermione shot Draco a dirty look. "Nice going, sport," she muttered sarcastically, and he gave an unrepentant shrug.

She took a deep breath and turned around to look at Ron. "Yes," she admitted baldly, and watched Ron's mouth move but without any sound, as if he were a fish.

"But--but--he's Malfoy, Hermione! What the hell are you thinking?"

"Don't talk to her that way," Draco snapped, coming up beside Hermione and glaring balefully at Ron.

Hermione blinked up at Draco. "But you talk like that to me, you oaf," she said in exasperation.

Immediately Ron stared glaring at Draco. Shocked, Hermione's gaze flitted between them and she threw up her hands furiously.

"I can't believe you're getting into a pissing match over this," she said furiously. "This is ridiculous! Draco, Ron didn't hurt me. He was trying to protect me, just like you were. Would you hesitate to put bruises on me if it kept me out of danger?"

Draco opened his mouth to respond and then hesitated. Hermione stabbed her finger at his chest, and he winced when she prodded a rising bruise. "Exactly," she proclaimed. "You're a big fat hypocrite, Draco Alfred."

Ron raised one eyebrow. "Alfred?" he echoed.

Draco winced even more. "Baby, we talked about that name," he muttered, and Hermione just glared furiously at him.

She spun on Ron and found him smirking at Draco. "And as for you, Ronald Weasley! There is nothing wrong with Draco except that he's stubborn and occasionally a pain in the ass. And if you can't be happy that I'm happy, then I'm ashamed of you! I know that your mother taught you better than that."

Ron hung his head and scuffed his foot in the dirt. He blinked, abruptly realizing that although Hermione sounded eerily like his mother, she wasn't his mother, so he didn't have to fear her bopping him on the head. His head shot back up and he glared at her. "You couldn't pick anyone else?" he snapped. "It just had to be him?"

"Do you think one day I just decided that I wanted to have Draco Malfoy as my boyfriend?" Hermione asked in exasperation. "I wasn't planning on it, Ronald."

"Could you not call me that?" Ron muttered. He clamped his mouth shut when she shot him a glare that made him wonder if she really would bop him on the head.

Hermione glared at both of them, her arms crossed militantly across her chest. "And give me one good reason why I shouldn't give you both detention?"

Both boys gaped at her. "You'd give us detention?" Ron sputtered as Draco said simultaneously, "Because we were fighting over you."

Hermione glared furiously at Draco. Damn him for knowing her so well. She wouldn't want to make such a big fuss over herself. Which meant that the two gits were safe--for now. She glared at them both. "Fine," she snapped. "I'm not going to give you detention. But I am pissed off at both of you."

Draco slipped one arm around her shoulders. "Aw, c'mon, honey. I'm just thinking about you."

Hermione resisted the urge to just lean against him, and instead narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. Ron grimaced. "Great Merlin, could you not do that, Malfoy? It's disgusting."

Hermione actually growled and took a threatening step forward. Ron stepped backwards, his eyes widening. Hermione looked like she wanted to throttle him. "And what does that mean?" she asked ominously.

"Nothing," Ron said so fast that the word almost slurred together.

Hermione sniffed and looked at both of them. She shoved down her compassionate feelings and said shortly, "C'mon. We can't send you to Madam Pomfrey. You'll get in trouble for fighting. I'll work on you as best as I can." She picked up her satchel and stalked toward the willow tree, leaving the two boys to follow her.

Once inside the relative safety of the willow, she withdrew her wand and surveyed the two men. She pointed at Draco. "You--sit there. Ron, sit right here." She made a gesture and Ron obediently sprawled out on the grass, while Draco propped himself against the trunk of the tree, watching with narrowed eyes as Hermione knelt beside Ron.

She glanced sharply at Draco. "Where did you hit him, Draco?"

Draco shrugged lazily. "Don't know. Lost count."

She gritted her teeth and looked down at Ron. "Where?" she said shortly.

He hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted her pointing her wand at him when she was aggravated as she was right now. But when she just glared balefully at him, he answered her reluctantly. "Stomach. Face."

"Yes, I can see your face," she muttered. "Lose the shirt, Weasley."

Draco sat up quickly. "I don't think so, Granger," he said curtly.

She shot him a fulminating look. "You're not in my good graces at the moment, Malfoy. I wouldn't try my patience."

"You're not my teacher, Granger," Draco snapped. "One, I don't want to see Weasley's chest, and two, neither should you."

She glared at him. "I'm not going to ogle him, Malfoy. I'm going to heal what you've busted up."

Draco glowered at her. "It's still not right," he said stubbornly, and her hand was halfway to her hair to pull on it in frustration before she stopped herself.

She took a deep breath. Merlin, the man could drive her to insanity. "Draco, Ron is going to take off his shirt so I can see his bruises. If I take him to Madam Pomfrey, you'll both get in trouble. Therefore, I am the only one who can tend to him."

Draco glared at Ron. "Let him rot, for all I care," he said rudely, and Hermione smacked his shoulder. He transferred his glare to her as he rubbed at his shoulder. "What the hell was that for?"

"Because you're being an ass," she said shortly, and then narrowed her eyes at Ron. "Shirt. Lose it."

Warily, Ron pulled his shirt off over his head. Hermione sucked in her breath when she saw his upper body. Bruises were already rising on his pale skin, and she could tell it hurt whenever he inhaled. She bit her lip, her anger momentarily forgotten. She took a deep breath, trying to remember the scant amount of healing lore that she had read about. "Nocetis abeire," she muttered, biting her lip and hoping that it worked.

She saw one of the bruises on Ron's ribs start to fade, and she let out a heavy breath. Ron looked up at her with wide eyes. "Were you not sure that it would work?" he asked suspiciously, and Hermione just glared down at him.

She cast the spell several more times before she started to feel the drain. Using healing magic was different than using regular magic--healing magic was taken out of the healer's body. So she was draining her own reserves dry to heal Ron's bruises. She glanced over at Draco and saw him watching her closely. She sat back on her heels, feeling weariness drag at her every muscle. "You can put your shirt back on," she said quietly, and then turned around to Draco.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a low voice, and despite her irritation with him, Hermione felt a rush of love.

She pressed her palm to his cheek for a moment and smiled at him, then said softly, "Lose the shirt, Malfoy."

He grinned up at her and pulled off his shirt, wincing slightly. "Anything for you," he murmured, his eyes twinkling, and she smiled down at him. Unable to resist touching him, she laid her hand on his flat stomach and felt his muscles tighten beneath her hand. She bit her lip. Damn Ron's presence! But the bruises on his body made tears sting her eyes. Despite that he had been the instigator, it was hard to remember that when he was bruised and bloody.

She picked up her wand and said firmly, "Nocetis abeire." She saw a bruise heal over on his face and felt her hand tremble slightly before she steadied it. She cleared his face of bruises, including the black eye that spread all the way down over his right cheekbone. By the time she was done, she was trembling violently.

Her fingers clenched reflexively on her wand, and Draco sat up quickly. Her cheeks were white, and her eyes glittered too much for his liking. "Hermione?" he asked urgently. "Are you all right?"

She nodded jerkily. "Yeah, I'm okay. It just--takes it out of you," she said lamely, feeling like she was about to fall down, even though she was already on her knees.

Draco stared at her for a moment, then swiftly took her wand from her and set it aside, then laid Hermione down. He brushed her hair away from her neck and took her pulse in her throat. "Damned stubborn woman," he muttered under his breath, and saw her smile faintly up at him.

"But darling, you like me that way," she murmured, echoing his own words back to him. She saw him faintly grin down at her, then he frowned.

"Your pulse is too fast, Hermione," he murmured. "What the hell happened? One minute you were fine and now you're trembling like a leaf."

She wrapped her arms around herself and continued to shiver. Draco's eyebrows drew down into a frown and he reached out one hand and snagged his cloak and efficiently bundled her up in it. "It's just--when you do healing like that, the power comes straight out of you," she said through chattering teeth. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Well, then you shouldn't do shit like that," Draco muttered and sat against the tree again and picked her up to sit her in his lap, wrapping his arms around her. He pressed his lips to the crown of her head for a moment, and felt her body relax against his.

"Great Merlin," Ron said blankly. Startled, Hermione and Draco both looked at him. They had almost forgotten he was there. He had pulled on his shirt again, and was staring at them as if they were ghosts. Hermione looked at Ron in concern and started to get up, but Draco held her firmly where she was. She just glared up at him, then relaxed again. Since he obviously was going to make her stay right where she was, then she should just relax into the feeling. It felt good to be held by him.

Draco glowered at Ron. If Ron had kept his hands to himself, none of this would be happening right now. Added to that, he just didn't like the git. "What's your problem, Weasel?" Draco snapped.

Ron didn't even respond to the insult. "You're really in love," he blurted out, his tone shocked.

Hermione and Draco both stilled, freezing for a moment. Hermione tipped up her chin to look at him, and he saw the vulnerability in her eyes. He pressed a little kiss to her cheekbone right under her eye.

"Yes," he said very quietly, so that Ron barely heard him. Hermione's eyes filled with quick tears and she buried her face against his chest. Her arms went around him and held him with a strength that was belied by her delicate frame.

"I love you too," she whispered, her voice muffled by his chest. Draco closed his eyes and laid his head on top of hers and his arms tightened around her. They held each other for a long moment, then abruptly realized that Ron was still gaping at him.

Hermione turned her face toward Ron but kept her cheek against Draco. "Close your mouth, Ronald," she gently reprimanded, and Ron snapped his mouth shut.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, baffled.

Hermione grimaced. "So you could react like you've done? No thank you, Ron."

"But, you could have at least told Ginny!" When Hermione just looked at him, Ron's shoulders slumped. "She knows already," he said in resignation.

Hermione's lips twitched. "Almost from the first," she admitted, and Ron let out a gusty sigh.

He studied Hermione and Draco again. There was an easiness between them, and an obvious affection that astounded him. He had never thought of Hermione as a woman or a sexual creature, but she seemed perfectly content to sit on Draco's lap, as if she were entirely used to it. But Draco was even more shocking. He seemed relaxed in a way that Ron had never seen. And his eyes were hot and tender whenever he looked at Hermione. He touched her with fingers that were almost reverent, as if he wasn't quite sure that she was real. Ron had never dreamed that Malfoy could feel anything like that for a woman, let alone one that was Muggle born.

Baffled, he shook his head. They were two of the most unlikely people that he had ever thought of as a couple. But they had the same spark, or the same aura around them that Harry and Ginny did. Since he had pretty much accepted in his mind that Ginny and Harry were going to get married and live happily together forever, did that mean the same was going to happen for Hermione and Draco?

He shook his head, dispelling that thought. It was too much to take in all at once. He shoved himself to his feet, grunting softly. Hermione had healed some bruises, but he knew he would be sore for most of the next week. Hermione looked up at Ron anxiously. "You can't tell anyone, Ron," she said, biting her lip and giving Ron huge puppy dog eyes.

He stared down at her and sighed. "All right, all right. I won't tell anyone. But you should tell Harry, Hermione. I don't want to keep it from him."

"I'll tell him when the time is right," Hermione insisted. "I promise you, Ron."

Ron nodded. "Ok, Mione." He gave Draco a baleful look. "Malfoy."

Draco inclined his head slightly. "Weasley," he said coldly. Ron drew his cloak around him and stalked out of the willow's branches, heading for his room and hopefully to find a bottle of liniment to ease some of the aches that were already assaulting him.

Once he was gone, Hermione looked up at Draco, his thoughts immediately snapping back to what they had been talking about before. "Did you mean it?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

Draco glared down at her. "Why wouldn't I mean it? I said it, didn't I? Did you mean it?"

"Of course!" Hermione said, shocked.

Draco sniffed. "Well I did too."

"Well good," Hermione shot back. "I wouldn't want to be going solo on this."

"Well you're not," Draco grumped. Finally he sighed and pulled her closer against him. "I meant it," he said more softly. "Very much so."

Hermione smiled up at him with a radiance that made him catch his breath. "I did too." She laid her head against the swell of his chest and closed her eyes. He smelled warm and comforting. She felt relaxed, slightly sleepy and perfectly content. Draco had his head against the trunk of the tree and his eyes closed, half asleep. The warmth of her in his arms made him content. He knew that they should talk, but he didn't want to break the enchantment that had fallen over them. When his leg startled tingling, and involuntarily jumped, Hermione looked up at him with sleepy eyes. He felt a wash of tenderness, and knew that he wasn't going to talk about last night, or about the Auror meeting they had seen. For once he was just going to lie here in the warm sunlight and let himself just be with her.

"My turn," he murmured, and saw her quick, sleepy grin. She clambered out of his lap and took his place against the trunk of the tree. He stretched out, feeling sore muscles protest. He laid his head in her lap. After a moment of silence, she began to play with his hair. He closed his eyes, reveling in the feel of her hands in his hair. Her fingertips stroked softly over his cheekbone. "My poor baby," she murmured. He opened his eyes to smile up at her. Then she flicked his earlobe very gently. "Serves you right for starting fights," she teased softly, and he rolled his eyes expressively.

She smiled slightly and leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Draco did the same. In no time, they were both asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Reviewers:

DreamyDracoEyes~ Also, I think Dumbledore's a bit out of character...He doesn't seem to have the all-knowing traits that J.K. portrays, like if he were uncertain about something, you wouldn't be able to tell. Yeah, he was supposed to seem a little uncertain. Cause if Dumbledore is acting like that, then you know its really serious. ^_^ And besides, that always annoyed me a little that he's always so sure about anything. Pfft. hehe

MegC~ Thank you so much! You really helped me out a great deal by pointing all that out to me. Some of it was on purpose, and some of it was accidental. I knew that in the books Draco wouldn't have been able to go up to the girls' dorm because of the stairway, but I deliberately 'forgot' that because it suited my purposes. ^_^

2- Calling the Bloody Baron the Red Baron was a total accident...I didn't proofread as carefully as I should have, so it slipped past me.

3-I forgot that the Slytherin dorms were--you're quite right. That was my mistake.

4- I honestly don't remember Blaise in the books. So basically I read fics that he showed up in, decided I wanted him in mine, and wrote him accordingly. So in my story he's a guy...I've even read one story where he was a hermaphrodite! It's by Superscar--Hermione Malfoy--an excellent fic if you haven't read it. ^_^ Anyhoo, so--yeah.

5-Ginny in the same classes was partly a mistake, partly on purpose. Ok, mostly a mistake. I knew she was a year younger, but I was just using her again. Sorry 'bout that. ^_^

Virus-Ambience~ What was the muggle device I used? The coffee machine? I was trying not to use Muggle devices, so I convinced myself that the coffee machine was magical, but I couldn't think of a way to describe it. So that was just me being a lazy writer. Sorry about that. :(

General A/N: Sometimes I twist parts of the books around for my own use, so if some things seem weird, that's why. Sorry if that's confusing. Mostly its because I've been a bum and haven't read the series since the summer, so I'm working off memory here except on very detailed things that I can look up quickly--like what portrait the Room of Requirement is by. ^_^ So I apologize profusely for things that are totally not plausible in the HP universe or something to that effect. And you're more than welcome to call me on it. In fact, I'm going to go fix the Bloody Baron's name right now. ^_^ Thank you all SO MUCH for reviewing! *HUGE HUGS*

A/N #2: I've included this song because I listened to it recently and thought that it was so perfectly applicable to the latter part of this chapter. So I've reposted this chapter to include it. ^_^

Watch the Wind Blow By~Tim McGraw

The creek goes ripplin' by

I been barefootin' all day with my baby

Brown leaves have started fallin'

Leadin' the way

I like it best just like this

Doin' nothin' all the way

So let's lay down in the tall grass

Dreamin' away.

And all I wanna do is let it be

and be with you and watch the wind blow by

And all I wanna see is you and me

go on forever like the clear blue sky

Slowly, there's only you and I

And all I wanna do is watch the wind blow by

Girl, you know you told me not so long ago

To let it come, then let it pass

And all your troubles and your sorrows

They won't last

So let me kiss you now little darlin'

Beneath this autumn moon

Cold winds, another season

Will be here soon.