Chapter 1...

"Hermione, come on, I've told you how I feel, you've told me how you feel, so what's wrong?" Sneered Draco. His lip curled in frustration as he looked at the back of Hermione's robes. He moved in closer and raised his hand to her curly hair and inhaled the scent.

Hermione looked down off of the Astronomy tower, her hands in fists down at her sides. She felt the uncomfortable warmth and weight of his body on her back. The cold February wind blew lightly on her tear-streaked face. She felt Draco's hand on her left shoulder and she cringed. I want to stop this right now, she thought to herself. "Draco, I don't know what else to say to you." She whirled around forcing his hands off of her shoulder. "I don't want to be doing this anymore. It's not you, it is me." Yeah, right, it's me. I can't even stand to be in the same room alone with you, she said to herself, not anymore.
"Well, why are you just telling me this now? Why now? What exactly did I do to deserve this attitude from you all of a sudden?" Draco's pale face was now turning a bright red with anger.
"I'm not giving you any attitude, Draco. Would you rather me stay with you and be miserable, or not be with you and let us both be happy?" Hermione said hesitantly. She knew his temper. She knew what he would do would she make him angry enough.
"I would rather not be made a fool of! And who says I would be happy without you?! I went out on a limb for you! My father nearly disowned me for even associating with you, you dirty mudblood!" Hermione winced at the name that had been almost unknown to her for quite some time. "I loved you! You are the first person I've ever really loved! Now you just expect me to let you just walk away from all of this and send me crawling back to him saying, 'Oh, father, you were right! She was nothing but a mudblood slut who is good for nothing and I'm glad you saw it before I did!' I don't think so, Granger! I'm not letting you make me look like some asshole just because you want to go off and be someone else's slut!"

Hermione looked down at her shoes and thought back to the ride home on the Hogwarts Express after their 6th year. She sat in the Head boy/Head girl car alone with Malfoy and did nothing but occasionally throw a dirty look at him for nearly two hours before he began to press her about her relationship with Ron.
"Its none of your business Malfoy!" She snapped at him.
"Well, I just figured I'd ask, because if you want...I'll help you forget him." Draco gave her one of his flirty smiles that he was famous for. Hermione's heart skipped a beat and she looked at him like he'd gone insane. "You are very beautiful, Granger, I don't understand why you would waste your time on someone like Weasley. Or maybe, it's Potter you fancy, and you are only using Weasley to get to him." Draco smirked, knowing that he had come onto a touchy subject when Hermione audibly sucked in a large amount of air.
"That is so untrue! Don't even accuse me of that Malfoy!" Hermione screamed, her face turning red from both anger and embarrassment. Had he really called her beautiful just now? Was the elusive Draco Malfoy hitting on her?

Hermione was snapped back into reality when she felt his hand on the back of hers. Draco laced their fingers together and met her teary eyes with his own. She gazed briefly, but quickly averted them to the ground below.
"Oh 'Mione, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. You know I don't mean it when I say things like that. Please forgive me, I'm so sorry." He pulled her into his embrace and gently forced her head onto his shoulder. Still, somehow, she felt safe in his arms. Even after what had happened; after what he'd done to her. She knew that things could never be the same between them. She didn't want them to be. She didn't want to be with him anymore. The same fear that surged through her 20 minutes earlier had made its second appearance of the evening. What could she say next?
He inhaled the smell of her hair once more before she pulled away and walked to the ledge of the tower. Placing her hands on the cool, stone handrail, she looked down into the near-darkness and saw Ron and Harry by the lake, talking. Over the past five and a half months, that is how it had been: Harry and Ron. Not Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Draco had consumed her life; had become her everything. Her eyes zeroed in on Ron. This had been the first summer since their first year at Hogwarts she hadn't spent at least a portion of it with Ron. Just sitting up at night at the Burrow, talking about anything and everything. Over the summer, Ron had really turned into one of those wizards you have to do a double take with. Of course, he had always been cute, but this summer, due to Quidditch training no doubt, his shoulders had broadened, his chest was more muscular, along with his arms. Hermione let her eyes stretch across the length of his body for the first time in five and a half months. While dating Draco, she would have never even thought of looking at another guy with interest. She squinted her eyes a bit and saw Ron mouth something and walk slowly away from Harry.
Her mind wandered once again to the Hogwarts Express train ride.
"Come on Hermione, I know you've always checked me out. I know you've always wondered what it would be like to be with Draco Malfoy, the best looking wizard at Hogwarts." Draco puffed out his chest and tried to sound like he was poking fun at the title, but Hermione could sense it in his voice that he was being sincere. It was true, she had thought of him as the best looking wizard at Hogwarts, as did every other girl, but she couldn't admit that to him, not after what a jerk he'd always been to her.
"Come off it Malfoy, I don't want to hear this from you." Her cheeks were now feverishly red with embarrassment.
"Can't you call me Draco?" He said quietly as he inched closer to Hermione's face, his gray eyes looking more and more intense with every movement.
"What? Why? I've never called you...Draco..." His name dripped quietly from her mouth as though it had not been there at all. She felt his hand graze her cheek and she shuddered. He moved slowly inward, "Well, I think it's about time you did." Hermione felt his breath on her lips and inhaled sharply.

Quickly, Hermione turned away, but Draco grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes, almost searching for permission, before kissing her gently on the mouth. At first, she protested. She put her hand against his shoulder and pushed him away gently. Draco raised his hand to hers and laced their fingers together, causing Hermione to relax. He moved over next to her without breaking the kiss and delicately nudged her backward so that she was lying on the seat. He moved on top of her with his hands on either side of her head, stroking her hair. He lightly dropped himself on top of her and intensified the kiss. Their tongues intertwined as her hands roamed his chest and back. Hermione's stomach began to do flip-flops as she hungrily bit at his lower lip. It felt as if the cart was spinning and there was nothing in the world but Draco and his lips, only him.

Hermione regained her senses and broke the kiss. She looked up at his eyes, breathlessly. "What's wrong?" He looked irritated.

"Mal...Draco, we are Head Boy and Girl! We can't snog on the Hogwarts Train!" Hermione said feverishly. She sat up, forcing him off of her, and fixed her mussed hair. Draco looked forward, staring blankly, and slowly switched his glace toward Hermione and smirked.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to pretend we are somewhere else, won't we?" He said coyly and raised an eyebrow. He pounced back on top of her and planted another kiss on her mouth. She let herself go in his kiss and caressed his soft hair. He let his tongue caress her top lip. She shivered lightly and Draco snickered. He moved his hand from her face down to her waist. He slowly made to untuck her shirt without her noticing. He groaned and switched positions, with her now on top, making it easier for him to untuck her blouse. Hermione's head was whirling with the sensation of Draco's lips on hers; she couldn't get close enough to him. She felt his cold hand on her bare stomach and broke the kiss abruptly. She looked at him surprised and sat up while still straddling him.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Hermione said with a smirk good enough to rival Malfoy's own. This made him laugh.

"Oh dear, sweet, innocent Hermione Granger." He sat up so his face was only centimeters away from hers. "I'm just showing you the attention you deserve," he said with a look of pure innocence.

"Oh, innocent huh? I'll show you innocent!" Hermione growled and pinned Malfoy down on the seat with his arms above his head. "Don't move them." She said seriously. Draco did as he was told, but kept his smirk on his face.

Hermione lowered herself to just above Draco's face and moved her lips as though she was going to kiss him. She hovered there and breathed lightly onto his lips, never touching them. She stuck out her tongue and nearly licked Draco's bottom lip, though never making contact. His own tongue snaked out to try and touch hers in vain. Malfoy moaned inwardly. "So...you're a tease are you?" he groaned.

"That's right. A tease." Hermione giggled and grabbed a hold of his shirt collar. She drew him up and captured his lips in a kiss so intense, it would make ice melt. Their tongues tasted and explored each other's mouths. She lifted her head to look at him. Her hand caressed his side as her eyes studied him. He lifted one of his hands from above his head and put it behind her neck. She quickly grabbed it and threw it back down onto the seat. "I said not to move." She said with a smile. She kissed his chin and worked her way down to the crook of his neck. She licked a sucked and heard his breath quicken. No doubt, his smirk was gone now. She moved her mouth to the first button on his shirt and undid it with her teeth and "accidentally" allowed her tongue to slip off of the button to his skin. And the second, and the third...all the way down to the last. Draco's breath caught in his mouth as he felt Hermione's tongue dip in and out of his naval. She kissed up his torso, admiring his beautiful porcelain skin, because for all she knew, this could very well be the last time she would be seeing this much if it. She went to his nipple and enclosed her mouth around it as she licked and nipped.

Draco couldn't stand it anymore. He let out a growl and pulled Hermione back up to his lips and kissed her even more hungrily than before. He wanted her. He wanted her now. Hermione tensed at this and he could tell she was a little scared at this new roughness. He slowed to gentle, soft, fluttering kisses. Hermione's eyes partly opened, heavy with lust. His face, his beautiful face, was all that was in view. Her heart hammered in her throat as his eyes fluttered open. His gorgeous gray eyes, full of desire...desire for her. Gently, he broke the kiss, stood them both up, and led her to the floor. She lay down, with him lying at her side.

"Draco, I..." She began. "Shh...don't say anything." He spoke with such gentility that he surprised himself. His hand reached to cup her neck behind her hair. "Hermione, you are beautiful." His tone made it sound like he had just realized this. Their lips touched again, the kiss soft and undemanding, warm and comforting to both of them. Lips teased until the dizziness began to creep up to her and she parted her lips to draw breath. Her caught her lower lip in his, is tongue sweeping across it, so as to imitate her earlier action. He felt her smile into the kiss and he squeezed the back of her neck gently. She melted into Draco like butter and his strong arms enclosed around her as she rolled back on top of him, lips never parting.

Just then, Hermione heard footsteps near their car. She was too absorbed in Draco to care and simply ignored it. She heard the door slide open, thinking it would just be a prefect coming and doing rounds for the first through fourth years, and heard the person's voice say, "Hey, Herm, when we get back, do you..." Hermione recognized the voice and one and sat up in a hurry to look straight into the face of Ron.

"What...um, sorry guys. I...um...sorry." And he slammed the door and scampered back down the corridor noisily. Hermione looked at Draco with a look of regret and pleading. He returned her look with a smirk.

"Ahem...well, Granger, I guess we should get dressed. We'll be there soon. You go first, I'll watch."