Disclaimer: I'm sure by now you are all well aware that I am not J.K. Rowling, and therefore, do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: A big round of applause to all my reviewers, that you all so much for your wonderful support. Every chapter I'm nervous about what you all will think, but everyone has been so supportive and given me so much confidence in my writing that I really must thank you all! A special thanks goes out to all who reviewed last chapter:
Zuvalupa, Michele, Kara Black, trish (Wow! Thank you so much!), Chamei, and Mistress-Of-the-dragon (I would tell you whether or not anything bad happen to them, but that would ruin the story! As for Lucius, you'll just have to read on to see what happens . . . .)

And now, on with chapter 15! Enjoy!!

Chapter 15: Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw

True to their word, Harry and Ron had not given Hermione any more grief about dating Draco, and though their relationship startled people at first, since neither Draco nor Hermione's friends made a big deal about it, it was soon old news. Though Ron still detested the idea of Malfoy kissing Hermione, he had in the end listened to reason. However, he only appreciated the idea after Harry pointed out that if Ron was nice to Hermione, he had much more of a chance of stealing her back than if they weren't speaking.

The Friday night before the quidditch match, Draco and Hermione added the final ingredients to their potion. "Great," breathed Hermione, "Now it needs to simmer until the next full moon which will be for about a month. Then after that it should turn green, and then we can add the phoenix tears. After that, it will be ready for use, though I would hate to have to actually use it on anyone." Hermione closed the book she was reading, "so we're almost finished."

"Mmm," murmured Draco. Hermione looked over and saw that he was staring into the fire, as though deep in thought.

Hermione walked seductively over to him, and curled up next to him, laying her head on his chest, but he made no response. "Draco, what's wrong with you today? You seem to be really distracted, is everything alright?" naturally Hermione was concerned if everything was okay, yet what was bothering her was that Draco had been acting strangely ever since the day that he had admitted that he was dating Hermione in front of everyone.

Draco listened to Hermione speak, it cost him a great effort to pull himself out of his reverie and continue to pretend as if everything was normal. The last thing he wanted to do was get closer to Hermione before he hurt her, but he had to, "I guess I'm just really stressed about the match, Ravenclaw's been practicing hard lately, and it's essential that we win, so I'm getting anxious about it that's all."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, 'of course he was stressed about the match, quidditch was just as important to him as it was to Harry and Ron, and they always got the same way when a match was coming up' she thought, "You should really try and relax you know," she slid her arm around his waist.

Draco knew he would regret it later, but he allowed himself to forget his worries, and focus entirely on Hermione. "And how do you suggest I do that?" he whispered gently back at her.

"Oh I can think of a few ideas," Hermione purred softly and tenderly in his ear. She kissed his neck and slid her hands under his shirt. He held her close and kissed her back. All the tension inside him melted away at her touch. She slid his shirt off, and he moved his hands underneath her shirt and worked them up her body, carefully and with great dexterity. They paused, breathing heavily looking each other in the eyes. For a moment, Draco thought she was going to tell him to stop, but then she leaned in and kissed his lips long and hard. They held each other close kissing and feeling each others skin. After a long while, Draco made his next move. Gradually his hands worked their way up Hermione's soft, smooth sides, his hands skillfully slid her shirt over her head and tossed it aside, but Hermione leapt up covering herself and looking at him fearfully.

Draco, realizing that he had went too far quickly turned away, Hermione stood in the middle of the room, not speaking and embarrassed, she was too afraid to move. Draco got up, unsure of where to look, he couldn't find where her shirt landed, so he grabbed his cloak from the floor walked behind her, and wrapped it around her, "I'm sorry," he whispered gently in her ear.

She looked to him with amazement, "No, I should be sorry, I shouldn't have come onto you like that if I wasn't ready."

Draco moved in front of Hermione, took her hands in his and kissed them, "you have nothing to be sorry for alright, nothing." Hermione smiled, greatly relieved that he wasn't mad at her. Draco, grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, "I'll leave you here to get dressed, I should get to sleep for the match tomorrow anyway," Draco moved to the door and exited leaving Hermione alone in the room.

It was only after she changed that she realized she still had Draco's cloak, she wrapped it around her, it was too big for her, but it was soft and warm, just like Draco, it even smelled like him. Hermione wore it as she walked through the halls, but put it in her bag before she entered the common room to avoid awkward questions from her friends about what she had been doing and why she had Draco's cloak.

The common room was full of excitement, Gryffindor wasn't playing in the quidditch match, but they had already beaten Ravenclaw, so if Ravenclaw beat Slytherin, then Gryffindor would most likely win the quidditch cup! For once, Hermione was just about as excited as everyone else about the match, she could begin to understand what went on inside Harry and Ron whenever they thought of quidditch, however, unlike everyone else in her house, Hermione wanted a Slytherin victory.

Saturday morning, the entire school rose early and the air was charged with anticipation for the match. The quidditch teams had eaten and left the Great Hall before the rest of the school got there, so Hermione did not get a chance to see Draco, though she thought that Ron may have snapped if he had seen her wishing Draco good luck when he so badly wanted Slytherin to lose. She had been very impressed that Harry and Ron had managed to lay off her and she was very thankful to them for that.

When match time approached, the school gradually made their way to the stands. Hermione sat with Harry, Ron and Ginny in the front row of the Gryffindor box. A roar erupted in the stands when the teams entered the field, though most of the voices were for Ravenclaw. Hermione's heart began to race when the players mounted their brooms and rose into the air. When Madam Hooch threw the quaffle and the players all raced into the air, she was on the edge of her seat, and her eyes were fixed on Draco.

As Draco rose into the air, he seemed to leave all his stress and worries on the ground, all he thought about was catching the snitch. He flew higher than the rest of the players, Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker did the same, and both seekers were searching for a tiny glint of gold. Their teammates were all playing spectacularly, and the level of play was intense. Soon the score was 50 to 20 Ravenclaw, the Slytherin chasers just could not seem to get past the Ravenclaw keeper. Draco's search for the snitch became more urgent, Slytherin had to win, by a decent amount if possible, so the sooner he caught the snitch, the better. A bludger came pelting toward him, so he was forced to temporarily abandon the search to escape getting hit.

Hermione held the dragon pendant that Draco had given her throughout the entire match, almost as if she felt it would bring him luck. At times when things got particularly exciting, her knuckles would become white from gripping it so hard. She held her breath when she saw a bludger zooming towards Draco, breathing again only after he was safely searching for the snitch once more. She bit her lip as the tension mounted, the score was now 60 to 40 Ravenclaw, and it looked like it was all up to the seekers who would win this game. "Come on Draco," she whispered under her breath.

Back in the air, Draco was momentarily distracted when Cho sped up; he was ready to chase her when he realized she was merely avoiding a bludger. She avoided it and positioned herself next to Draco to catch her breath. Then it happened, both seekers spotted a tiny glint of gold hovering near the left goal post on the opposite side of the field. They were off; Draco saw nothing but the snitch as he wove his way in and out of the other players, Cho right next to him.

The entire stands were on their feet holding their breath when they saw the seekers move. Hermione could barely sit still, "Come on Draco, come on Draco," she kept whispering under her breath.

The snitch moved and sped down toward the ground, the seekers dove. Draco moved his body as close to his broom as possible, trying to make himself smaller. His Nimbus 2001 may be better than Chang's Comet 260, but Cho was much smaller and lighter than him. They were neck and neck, they both stretched out their arms, Draco, with the advantage of having longer arms, felt his hand touch a small round object, his fingers closed tightly around it, and he skid his broom to a stop, crashing into Cho and onto the ground as he did so.

No one in the stands saw who managed to catch the snitch; they only saw the seekers flying with their arms outstretched then crashing into the ground. Everyone's eyes were on Draco and Cho, their teammates had stopped playing and were merely hovering in the air waiting to see what had happened. Draco got up first; he massaged his head with his free hand, and remembered that in his other hand he was holding the tiny winged golden snitch. He regarded his teammates and the stands and with a triumphant smile and held it out into the air. A roar of approval greeted him from his fellow Slytherin's, and his teammates zoomed to him nearly knocking him back onto the ground as they congratulated him.

Up in the stands, Hermione had been standing on the edge of the box with both her hands over her mouth holding her breath along with the rest of the crowd. However when all her fellow Gryffindor's groaned, she cheered. Harry and Ron both threw her dirty looks, yet refrained from comment. Hermione smiled as she watched Draco's teammates hoist him onto their shoulders and carry him off the field. It was now between Gryffindor and Slytherin, whoever won the next game would win the quidditch cup.

Draco was the last to leave the changing room; he did not want to walk back into the real world. He desperately wanted to stay in the worry free world of quidditch. He breathed a long sigh, as he exited the room carrying his team robes over one shoulder and his Nimbus 2001 over the other. Hermione was outside waiting for him when their eyes met a sudden pain of sadness and guilt washed over him, but he did not let it show. For a split second as she ran to him he considered telling her everything, but he immediately dismissed the idea, he had been through that scenario with himself. He had written it all down in his journal telling himself why telling her just wouldn't work.

Hermione leapt onto Draco causing him to drop his robes and broom, she hugged him laughing, and he held her back forcing a smile onto his face. Hermione pressed her lips to his in a sudden kiss, "Congratulations! That dive was spectacular!" she congratulated after she broke the kiss.

Draco wanted to reply, but it was taking all his concentration not to push her away and start yelling at her for loving him, so instead he just forced a smile and nodded. He then turned to pick up his robes and broom, as he did he took a deep breath preparing himself for what he knew was going to be the hardest few weeks of his life. He needed the time in order to make the plan work; he had planned out everything flawlessly, so he couldn't let a little thing like his stupid emotions get in the way of it.

"Draco, would you like to go get some dinner?" suggested Hermione.

"Yeah, that'd be great" answered Draco as he turned back toward her, "let me just drop this stuff off in my dormitory."

"Ok, I'll walk with you," she smiled at him almost shyly.

He smiled back, and they walked together back to the school. Draco led the way down to the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was, as they walked Hermione began to shiver, "It's so cold down here, how do you stand it?"

"Well, the common room and dormitories have huge fireplaces, and they keep everything surprisingly warm, so it's really not a problem."

"Oh," Hermione said as they reached the Slytherin portrait, "well I'll just wait out here for you then."

Draco walked over, quietly gave the password to the picture, and then disappeared through the portrait hole. Hermione stood awkwardly looking around as she waited. After a moment the portrait hole opened, and Hermione smiled thinking it would be Draco, but instead it was Pansy Parkinson. Pansy smiled evilly when she saw Hermione. "Well, look at what we have here, if it isn't the mudblood herself, where's your boyfriend Granger? Certainly he wouldn't let you stay down here all alone."

Hermione's face stiffened, she was not going to let Pansy get to her, 'she's just jealous' she thought.

"Not talkative are we?" mocked Pansy, "well then," Pansy walked straight up to Hermione and positioned herself inches away from her face and spoke in a threatening whisper, "let me warn you now Granger, you will be sorry you ever tangled with Draco, I will personally make sure of that."

"I'm not scared of you Pansy, and if you have a problem with us dating, why don't you take it up with Draco? And let me assure you, you will never make me sorry of anything because if Draco wanted to go out with you, he easily could have for the past five years. So don't take your jealousy out on me."

Pansy's face contorted into an ugly stare, and the two girls were starring daggers at each other when Draco returned. "Is there a problem here?" he asked smoothly.

"Of course not Draco, I was just offering Granger some helpful advice, but she's so stuck up and naive that she's too stupid to take it," answered Pansy looking angrily at Hermione.

"That's enough Pansy!" reprimanded Draco. He took Hermione's hand and led her swiftly away from the dungeons and Pansy.

"Fine," she conceded to Draco, but then turned toward Hermione, "you just remember what I said Granger." Her voice was threatening and full of hatred and her words caused an uneasy stir in the pit of Hermione's stomach. She tried to dismiss the feeling, but coupled with Draco's behavior recently, it did cause her to worry slightly. Yet, she tried not to let it show.

Draco turned back to scowl a warning at Pansy, who smiled slyly and winked at him, then returned to the common room.

I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter. More exciting stuff is coming soon I promise, so just remember I update faster if I know people are reading it. So please review!!