Told you I'd update soon ;)

Chapter 10

[Previously]

Draco walked out of the locker room an hour later, the last to leave. He had taken his time in the sauna, trying to relax his tense shoulder muscles. He wore his regular black slacks and belt, with a white muscle tee gracing his upper half. The rest of his clothes hung on his arm. His wet hair clung to his forehead as he stepped out past the front gates.

"Hello, Draco," a voice said from behind him. Draco turned.

"You..." he said softly.

[End]

"I haven't seen you around lately," Pansy said, stepping out of the shadows, sticking a bright red lollipop into her mouth and licking it seductively.

"I've been busy," Draco said defensively.

"Busy shagging, Granger?" Pansy said.

"No. True, I have been around her more often, but that's because of Head business, and you know what, she's really not that bad of a person!"

"I thought I'd never see the day; Draco Malfoy, Pureblood, befriending mudblood Hermione Granger. I can't wait to tell your father," Pansy said, sneering. The lollipop glistened wetly in the sunlight.

"Well the joke's on you Parkinson, Father is in Azkaban, and he's about to be executed," Draco said coldly.

This bit of information caught Pansy off guard.

"What?" Pansy sputtered.

"Oh yes, he was finally caught after they found solid evidence of him working for the Dark Lord," Draco said, his tone getting more bitter with each word he spoke.

"Well then, I'll just have to tell Narcissa. Poor dear, it'll break her heart," Pansy said, feigning sadness.

"Yeah right. Do you think my mother really cares? She's just been relieved of the burden of my father. She's probably off at one of our family chateus in France, living it up and celebrating. Even if she did know I liked a muggle, she'd at least accept my choice," Draco spat, as he stormed off. Pansy grabbed his arm as he walked away.

"Why don't you love me any more? You used to make love to me nearly every night. What happened? What happened to you, Draco. What happened to us?" Pansy said in a pleading voice.

"People change," Draco said simply before entering the castle, leaving a very heart broken and angry Pansy Parkinson outside.

Dinner came, and a few night owls brought in the Evening post, and a few straggling birds that had managed to miss the morning mail drop. Hedwig dropped a copy of the Evening Post in Harry's lap, while a red barn owl dropped a brown square package in Hermione's lap. Hermione recognized the owl as her parents' owl. They had adopted it in order to keep in touch with their daughter.

"Whatcha got there, Hermione?" Ron asked, leaning across the table to get a better view at the twine and brown paper covered box.

"Not sure, let me open it," Hermione said, slowly removing the twine, and reading the card.

"Can I open it while you read the card?" Ginny asked impatiently from Hermione's left.

"Sure, go ahead," Hermione said. What was hers was her friends. They all shared everything, so it didn't really bother her much to share everything she received.

Hermione

Hello dearest. Hope this letter finds you well. Your muggle cousin Shelby, Uncle Timothy and Aunt Olivia came to visit recently, and Shelby made you a CD mix. We knew you didn't have your CD player with you, so we took the liberty of sending both to you. We're sure Dumbledore can help you equip it so as not to interfere with the magic going on at the school. Hope to hear from you soon, and don't forge to write a thank you note to Shelby! We hope you remember to floss!

Love,

Mum and Dad

PS: We told Shelby you were staying at a school in America, so you might want to tell her about your 'American school and foster family.' ::Wink wink, nudge nudge::

Hermione laughed and looked up from the letter. Ginny had already put the headphones on, and put the CD in the player. She pressed the play button several times, before lowering the gigantic headphones.

"It doesn't work!" Ginny said disdainfully.

"I thought it wouldn't. I think I'll go ask Dumbledore how to make it work. You remember Ginny, that no muggle electronic devices work here, right?"

"Of course!" Ginny lied, but smiled none the less.

"I'll be back in a little while. Well...If I don't come back in twenty minutes, you want to snag me a roll guys?" Hermione asked as she gathered her things and stood up. Harry picked up a roll and raised it.

"Got it," Harry confirmed.

"See you later!" Ron said. Hermione waved warmly and exited to room, headed for Dumbledore's office.

"Licorice wands!" Hermione said to the gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office. The stone creature nodded and leapt out of the way. The statue of a phoenix swirled upwards, revealing a stone staircase which Hermione stalked up.

Once in the room, Hermione knocked on the door frame.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione said, grabbing his attention.

"Miss Granger! How nice to see you! What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, I got this CD player from my family back home, and I know muggle devices don't work here so I don't know what to do," Hermione said. Dumbledore nodded and took the CD player out of Hermione's hands.

"Here, take this," Dumbledore said, handing Hermione a boombox. Dumbledore shrugged and smiled.

"It will have to do until I find the time to put a few special charms for your CD player to work,"

"I'm sorry to put you through so much trouble," Hermione said, blushing slightly.

"It's quite alright. Nothing is too good for our Head girl," Dumbledore said with a wink.

"Oh, a few more things before you go. I'm assuming you and Mister Malfoy are planning an event for the entire school to indulge in...And speaking of Mister Malfoy. Keep an eye on him; he's just suffered a rather great loss," Dumbledore said. Hermione shot him a quizzical look, but decided to find out for herself. She hauled the boombox under her arm and went back to her dormitory.

The common room was empty, as was Draco's room. Hermione frowned.

'Must not be back from dinner yet,' she thought.

"Might as well see what Shelby burned for me," Hermione said aloud as she popped in the CD, entitled 'Hermione's Mix,' and pressed play.

Her ears were filled with the sounds of electric guitars and drums pounding. She rocked her head a bit, and looked at the card from Shelby, which she had yet to open.

Hey cous-

A friend of mine claims this is a CD from the future. Even if she's lying, the songs are pretty darn good. Here's the track list, and be sure to write back telling me how America is!

"Automatic Girl" by Lola Ray

"Total Eclipse of the Heart Remix" by Nikki French

"Somebody Told Me," by The Killers...

Hermione didn't finish reading the extensive list, as she saw Draco crawl in through the portrait hole. She turned off the boombox and went over to talk to him.

"Hey there," Hermione said softly as Draco made his way over to the couch.

"Hey," Draco said in exasperation, flopping himself down on the Slytherin couch.

"Brilliant performance today. You made an awesome catch," Hermione said, sitting on the edge of the coffee table while Draco snuggled up against a pillow.

"Thanks. But might I inquire as to why you were in the Slytherin section?" Draco said.

"Oh. Well, I had just gotten out of the hospital, and I didn't want to miss any action, so I just climbed the nearest stair case-,"

"And proceeded to blind me with your time turner?"

"Oh, sorry about that,"

"It's fine,"

"I saw you holding your shoulder at the end of the game. You alright?"

"Oh yeah. I dislocated it temporarily. But no worries, I popped it back in myself,"

"Ew! You popped it back in yourself? How does it feel now?" Hermione asked.

"Tense,"

'Just like the rest of you,' Hermione commented to herself in her mind.

"Hmm...Flip over," Hermione said suddenly.

"What? Why?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Just do it!" Hermione commanded. Draco was too tired to get into a yelling match with the Gryffindor now, so he did as he was told. He closed his eyes, but then they snapped open when he felt a hard pressure on his butt. He turned around and saw Hermione sitting on his butt, cracking her knuckles.

"What're you doing?!" Draco demanded

"Calm down, I'm just going to give you a massage," Hermione said impatiently as she worked out the kinks in her hands.

"You don't have to,"

"But I want to," Hermione whispered. Draco barely caught it, and smiled to himself. He closed his eyes in rapture as Hermione started pressing and massaging his muscles. He felt the muscles being stretched out and relaxing a bit, the tenseness in his shoulders and back going away ten-fold.

"Hey Draco?"

"Yes?" Draco practically purred. Hermione had been massaging him for about twenty minutes already.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but sure, go ahead,"

"What was in the letter you got today?" Hermione asked as she ran her hands over the muscles in his neck. They flexed extremely hard at the question.

"Um..."

"Forgive me if I'm being nosey," Hermione said apologetically.

"No, you'd find out sooner or later. Might as well find out from me," Draco sighed. "My father has been sent to Azkaban Fortress, and will be executed within the week,"

"I'm so sorry," Hermione whispered, bending down to hug his back. Draco smiled weakly at the touch.

"Don't be. It's probably the best thing to ever happen to me,"

"I don't know how I know this, but your father beat you as a child, didn't he?"

"How'd you know?"

"I really...don't know either," Hermione said. Draco turned underneath her, so that Hermione was now straddling his waist. He looked up into her eyes. Silver blue eyes met hazel ones.

Hermione looked hard into Draco's eyes. Eyes were the windows to the soul, she was told, and right now, Hermione was getting a very good look. She looked down at his pale, supple lips...

Draco stared into Hermione's eyes. They were soft and vibrant, full of emotions. He looked up at her halfway parted lips...

Simultaneously, never breaking eye contact, the two leaned forward, their lips meeting each other in a very soft and very light kiss.

They separated and looked at each other for a minute. Hermione couldn't even muster up a blush. She finally decided to get off of him, and stood next to him. Draco too stood up, so that now he looked down on her.

"What...was that?" Draco asked, breathily.

"I don't know," Hermione said.

They looked away from each other, and stood there awkwardly for a minute.

"I'm gunna head to bed now," Draco said, breaking the silence.

"Good idea," Hermione mumbled.

"Night,"

"Night,"

Hermione closed her door and leaned up against it.

'Since when do I start kissing Draco on a somewhat daily basis? We haven't even admitted if we like each other or not,'

"But...do I like Draco?" Hermione said Crookshanks. The cat looked up at her and closed its eyes slowly, purring at the sound of her voice.

Hermione and Draco both readied themselves for bed, and crawled under the sheets. Both fell asleep at a similar time, and both shared the same dream...

[Dream Sequence]

Draco and Hermione waited outside Dumbledore's office, in the back of a long line of people.

'They're going to erase our memories,'

'I know...'

'But we won't remember that we love each other!'

'If it was meant to be, we'll find a way to love each other again. Somehow,'

'Miss Granger! You can come in now!'

Hermione and Draco shared a deep, passionate kiss before Hermione got dragged into the office, a small tear running down her cheek as she waved goodbye to her true love...

[End Dream Sequence]

Hermione lurched forward, waking up by the sound of her own ragged breathing.

She stumbled out of bed and ran into Draco's room. He too was awake, and stared at her with wide eyes as she was silhouetted against the door.

"I had another dream,"

Hehe, hope you likkkkkkkkke. More updates later. But for now...SLEEP!! Review if you like it! lots of love

English-Foxlette