Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other character. Neither do I own the places. All I own is the plot. The rest belongs to J.K Rowling.

Chapter sixteen: Prying eyes

She opened her eyes. The sun was shining bright. The clock showed her she had slept past noon. The other bed in the room was empty so she asumed Ginny was already up.

She dressed, putting on some clothes she had borrowed from Ginny and walked down into the kitchen.

Ginny, Ron, Harry and Geoge were there. They greeted her merrily and offered her a seat at the table. She hesitated. It was the seat next to Harry.

After taking a deep breath she sat down, but she ignored Harry's stares. Instead she started to talk with Ron, the nearest person.

"So...what happened while I was gone. Did I endanger anyone...is everyone still okay?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah...we're fine. But...will you tell us what happened? One minute you were being abducted, the next we hear you're safe, then you're on the run and then you're dead! And then you suddenly show up at our doorstep alive and kicking with Draco Malfoy...You've got to admit that that's...well it's not normal."

"You thought I was dead? Oh my, that's terrible! I will tell you what really happened, but I think it's better to wait until Dumbledore is here as well...and it would be better, for me at least, if Draco was here too."

"Draco? I'm still getting used to that first name thing."

"Yeah well, if a guy saves your life you kinda end up calling him by his proper name...and he's not as bad as you all think. Anyway, Draco knows some things I don't. He was able to get some information out of his dad. He told me something about two Death Eaters, both knocked out in one night. One was the one by my cell, the other was guarding the backway exit. But that was pretty much all. But...I'd apreciate it if I could finish my breakfast now. I haven't had a proper meal in days!"

She attacked her plate with her knife and fork, eating as much as she could. Eating meant not being able to talk and that was her main goal right now.

Molly walked in through the door.

"Goodmorning loves! Hermione, nice to see you're up! I found the trunk with your own clothing back, it was in the shed. And Draco's been out shopping for himself. Dumbledore has arranged a meeting in two hours. He wants you to tell your story."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you mrs. Weasley. I'll go see how Draco is doing."

She got up from the table and left the room without looking at Harry a single time.
She knew where Draco would be. They had probably stashed him in an old study. She knocked on the door.

"Draco are you there?"

No answer.

She opened the door and glanced inside. Immediately she started to blush and averted her eyes. She had seen Draco changing clothing. And even if she had only seen his bare chest, it still felt really embarressing.

Draco looked up and smiled.

"Goodmorning beautiful. Like the new look?" he said, showing off his new trousers.

"Ah come on." He said teasingly. "You don't have to blush at me. Would you have done that if you had seen me in swimming trunks? Well, this is completely the same."

She silently admitted that she would have blushed at seeing him in swimming trunks.

"Listen Draco, they expect us to tell them every little detail at the meeting today. So be prepared for some heavy questioning..."

"What, heavier than what my dad did? I think I can handle this meeting."

After putting his shirt on he followed her outside, into the hallway. He took her hand.

"So...what's the deal with Potter. Does he have a clue yet? Is he really still on about you and him? Have you told him?"

"No...he seems...oblivious. He doesn't seem to understand that I don't want him after what he did. Or rather didn't do. He acts as if nothing's changed, as if he doesn't know he abandonned me. It's strange..."

Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and looked into her eyes.

"You're not having second thoughts about us are you? Do you want to get back with him?"

"No! How can you say that? I love you, you must know that by now."

He smiled at her angry face.

"You know...you're pretty when you're all angry like that. But you're even prettier when you smile."

She laughed. He leaned in and kissed her. His hands were roaming up and down her back slowly while her hands curled through his hair.

Somewhere down the hall a loud bang made them jump.

"What was that?" she asked alarmed.

"Probably a painting falling down or something." He answered her. "Come, let's go into the garden or something. It's stuffy in here."

He took her hand and lead her down the stairs.

When the hallway was quiet again, a boy came around the corner, shaking. He had almost blown it by hitting his head against that painting. But it wasn't his fault he'd seen Hermione snogging Malfoy. He had just been walking through the house. He hadn't expected anything like that.

Did Harry know? Probably not, not from what they had said. Harry...man did he feel sorry for Harry. And Hermione...how could she? This was all just too weird.

And what had Hermione meant with 'abandonned her'? Harry had done no such thing.

He thought about it deeply. Harry should be told. Now.

Ah...and yet another chapter done. I'm sooooooooo tired...I've been to see Shrek 2 yesterday, in the pre-release. IT'S FANTASTIC. It's extremely funny and I loved every second of it. Aw, the CUTENESS of that Puss in Boots! It is so adorable and cool...really, you should all go and see it. I loved it. and the best thing was that, when we left the theater, we all got one of those green hairbands with little green shrek ears, so that you look like an ogre yourself. Kawaii!!!!!!!!

KeWlGaL9tH: Thank you so much! And I'm glad it worked a bit...pretending that they were dead for a while...

Dark Angels: Indeed, your evil lans never fail :D Me? I'm a blue belter now hehe...4th kyu...doesn't that soudn lovely. Congratulations with that friend of yours! I'm in for a heavy week of partying...Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. And maybe even Friday. You see, a lot of my friends got their diploma this year, they all graduated. So they're all throwing parties to celebrate. I still have one year left in this school. I'll miss those guys....sniff...but I've got a lot of othr friends too, so that's okay...

Regina-terrae: Wow...you got black in only four years? You must be really good! That friend of mine who's testing for black this year must be training for...I don't know....he joined when he was seven and he's 16 now...so about 9 years...

Kitimat-born: She'll find out eventually...I think. But that's not going to change her feelings for Draco. She loves him and somehow, 'hating' Harry for a longer while makes it impossible for her to love Harry again. Besides...I've got other plans for Harry.

Iron Morgan: I'll take that as a compliment :D

Jessica: It's one of your favourites? I'm happy! YAY.

Hd4ever: WOW your grandparent are friends of Sean Astin's? I'M JEALOUS! Wow. At school (we were in a funny mood) we decided to give everyone in our group of friends a name from LOTR. I ended up being Éowyn, which I am very happy about by the way. But one of my friends ended op as Sam and he wasn't happy about that. And I said 'Why not? Sam is a cool guy!' he's one of my favourite characters from the book (and, of course, the movie). He's a really good actor, Sean Astin

Merenwen Losshelin: Thank yoiu. I certainly intend to finish it all the way to the end.

Mojo the Rock Chick Munchkin: Why nobody tells her...hmm...good question. Because there hasn't been the right moment yet...but even if someone DID tell her, she still wouldn't leave Draco for Harry. She's in love.

CozzaGirl16: Make him walk in on them kissing? Good idea, but not quite what I had in mind for those three. I've got another plan, that might even be a little more evil }:)

FunkyMunky120691: don't die! I'm glad you like my story this much, I really do! And about those chapters...they're as long as they're gonna get, simply because I already wrote the whole fic on paper and making chapters longer would be a lot of work, simply because I wrote them te be like this. But there are a lot of chapters still to come and I update real quick, so that makes up for the shortness of the chapters, doens't it?

So...I'll be off now, enjoying thos Shrek ear things (did I ever mention the fact that I know pretty much ALL the lines form Shrek 1? I saw that movie too many times...) Hope to catch you all at the next chapter. Love you all!
- Raven55