Tuesday 5:30 pm

Draco watched Hermione sitting next to Harry and Ron, wearing that strong face of hers, her chin held high. He knew though that inside she was still raw from the experience. How she managed to appear, to be, so strong was beyond him. She was amazing, strong, brilliant, beautiful. There wasn't enough words to describe her. He wished he could walk down there and sit next to her and take her up in his arms, kiss her, tell her he loved her. Then there was Harry and Ron, and the rest of the school. Was this how Romeo and Juliet had felt? From enemy houses, the only ones who saw through the stupidity of the feud.

Finally she stood up and started heading towards to the doors to the great hall where he stood. He stepped back then the moment she turned he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind, taking her hands in his own and kissing her neck softly.

"Draco?" she asked turning her head to look at him a, laughing smile on her face, "You shouldn't do that here, anyone could coming walking down the hallways and see us."

"Who cares?" Draco said grinning.

Hermione shook her head, "You have no self-restraint. I thought we didn't want anyone to know about us, until we were ready to tell them."

"I love you too much," Draco said seriously, but with a grin on his face, "I can't bear the thought of ever letting you go."

Hermione laughed then turned around in his arms wrapping her own arms around him.

"You'll have to let go of me at some point or I won't be able to go my classes," she told him answering his statement literally.

"Oh shit," Draco said and pushed her behind the thick doors as Harry and Ron's voices drifted out of the great hall. Hermione found herself pressed rather tightly up against Draco behind the door as Harry and Ron seemingly very slowly walked out of the great hall and turned down a hallway. When all noises of them had gone they both burst out laughing. A moment later Draco found himself silenced when Hermione kissed him.

The light rather giddy kiss quickly changed into a deeply passionate kiss making them both keenly aware of how close they were to each other. Their breath came quickly as they embraced each other, kissing as though they might never see each other again, as if it were their last kiss.

Finally they both broke apart, stepping out from behind the door, a little embarrassed by the heat of the kiss. Hermione grinned and touched his face softly staring into his eyes in that way that made Draco feel as though she was staring straight into his soul. And it was a good feeling because there was no uneasiness between them. They could both be exactly themselves and knew that the other loved them just as much, no matter what.

6:17 pm

"Apparently everyone is having secret affairs," Ron said when Sen walked into Firenze's classroom carrying a bag of odd objects which she dumped out onto some grass.

"Everyone?" Sen asked curiously.

Ron smiled, "Hermione thinks there may be something between Harry and Ginny, and Harry thinks there might be something between Draco and Hermione."

Sen smiled and shrugged.

"I'm not sure about Harry and Ginny, and I can't imagine Draco and Hermione, together, like that," Ron said then asked, "Do you know anything?"

"I'd rather not say," Sen said knowing that if Draco hadn't told anyone about himself and Hermione, he wouldn't want her to either.

"What does that mean?" Ron asked, "You do know something?"

"I told you, I'm not saying anything. My lips are sealed," she said with a slight smile and then sat down next to him to start digging through the pile of orbs and carvings.

"So how come you weren't at Hogwarts before?" Ron asked peering at her pile curiously.

"I transferred from a public wizard school," Sen told him, "Didn't I tell you that?"

Ron shrugged, "If you did, I can't remember. And, what's all that?"

"Things that could be useful in helping with the spell," Sen said, "Trap his soul in an orb or something, I don't know. Random ideas."

"Ah," Ron said then stretched his arms, "I've been taking notes for about an hour now, want to go for a walk?"

"Sure, I don't know what I'd do with this stuff anyway," she said then added, "We can probably leave it here for now. I asked Firenze the other day and he seemed perfectly eager to help all he could. Have you taken any of his classes? Much more, um, I don't know, better than Professor Trewlawny's. She may be seer, but I don't think her classes are really that realistic."

"I don't know," Ron said, "I've been taking Divination, only had him when Trewlawny was fired."

Ron stood up and gave Sen a hand, pulling her to her feet as well before they headed out the door, down the hallways and outside.

The sun was still well up, the days getting longer as April turned into May and the air grew hotter. They headed around the castle walls towards the extensive gardens in the courtyards, where the air was cooler, shadowed from the sun and held in by the rocks. Other students wandered around, a few couples, some doing homework, some friends playing chess.

Sen suddenly stopped as she came around a bend, then shoved Ron back who tripped slightly in surprise.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't look now," Sen said turning to face him, "But I think some of your suspicions were right."

"Draco and Hermione?!" Ron asked incredulous.

"No! Harry and Ginny," Sen said with a grin then added, "And be quiet, you don't want them to know we're hear do you?"

"Yes, I do," Ron said stepping forward, "That's my little sister!"

"Ron!" Sen said grabbing his arm and pulling him back, "She's older than you might think. Let her make her own choices in life, you don't have to protect her from your best friend."

"I can't believe Harry," Ron said darkly, but had relaxed. He peered around the hedge then looked back at Sen with a half frown half thoughtful look. He sighed obviously unsure of his feelings, he trusted Harry well enough, but didn't like the idea of him going off and kissing his little sister without telling him.

"Come on Ron," Sen said pulling him off in the other direction, "You can talk to Harry about that later."

A/N: Took a little bit longer than normal in getting this chapter up, but here it is! I'm dedicating this chapter to:

Princess Rinoa

CrazyPoet

SkittlesStar25

dracohermioneluver

LiLbLueangeL1223

Dreammergurl2007

Marissa03

Snowbear