Characters © J.K. Rowling.

Plot © Sami-Lee 2004.

Hermione was woken suddenly as the huge library doors were opened. Draco followed suit as the curtains swung themselves open and he got a face full of bright light. The two yawned before realising that they were laying, mostly naked, in each other's arms in a large pile of robes and clothes. Draco sat up first and pulled his shirt roughly over his head, followed by his pants, then he turned around so that Hermione could dress herself.

Hermione thanked Draco silently for turning around, she wasn't used to waking up in this kind of situation, she usually had the brains and wits about her to get up and leave before her partner woke up. But this time, they'd woken together, and now she didn't know what she would say to him. She knew he'd ask her whether it was a one-night stand or she was going to dump Ron and stay with him. She didn't want him to ask the question because she didn't have an answer. She really did want to be with Draco, but as simple as it seemed when the two of them were alone together, she knew it would be anything but simple the second she walked out the library doors and saw the rest of the Gryffindors.

Draco finished doing up his Slytherin robes before turning back to face Hermione. She hadn't put her robes back on; after all, it was early. But she still looked beautiful. Draco didn't want to bombard her with questions either, even though he was dying to ask them. "I'm going down to the dungeons to get changed, I guess I'll see you around..." He didn't want to sound cold, and he smiled at her warmly before picking up his own books and quill.

Hermione faltered for a second before she realised that it was for the best and they could talk about it another time, it was more important now for them to return to their respective houses and then make a decent appearance at breakfast so that no one realised what had happened. Though surely their housemates had realised that they were missing, Hermione hoped desperately that they wouldn't guess what was going on. And seeing as the Slytherin and Gryffindors didn't really get along that famously, if at all, she hoped that maybe none of them would even notice that both she and Draco had both been missing all night.

It was that moment that Madam Pince decided to finally make an appearance. She strode into the library, had a quick glance around and, missing Hermione and Draco as they ducked in behind a bookcase. She then noticed the book that Hermione had left on her desk during the night, and Hermione cursed silently under her breath. But Madam Pince simply picked the book up, looked at it strangely for a few minutes and then walked over to place it back on it's shelf. Draco nudged her and nodded at the door.

She smiled at Draco and nodded. "I wont say anything yet. I need to sort Ron out first, and I'm not sure how Harry would take it..." she stopped talking, realising Draco already knew how hard it was going to be for her. It was going to be just as hard for him. He smiled at her again before sneaking out of the library. Hermione sighed and then, gathering her own things, snuck behind Madam Pince and headed up towards Gryffindor tower. She walked solemnly, almost like one condemned, until she reached the portrait hole and snuck inside. Luckily there was no one about, so she went as quietly as she could up to her dorm and crawled into bed, where she promptly fell asleep.

Draco unfortunately wasn't so lucky, as he entered the Slytherin common room; he found Pansy up and wide-awake, sitting on the couch reading. She turned to look at him as he came in. "And just where have you been all night?" she smirked at him, in true Slytherin style.

"Out. What's it to you?" He snapped. He didn't want to talk to Pansy. He didn't want to talk to Crabbe or Goyle, He didn't even want to talk to Blaise, and that was saying something. He wanted to talk to Hermione, he'd probably even settle with talking to Harry. He started wondering about what it would be like to be friends with the 'Three musketeers', then he thought better of it. He didn't want to be a Gryffindor, he was happy enough being in Slytherin, even thought there was no way he'd ever want to follow in his father's footsteps. Maybe I should see if I can change houses, Draco thought to himself. Then laughed out loud. Pansy looked at him like he was going crazy. He headed up to his dorm and didn't talk to anyone up there.

Hermione crawled out of bed again at 9:30 and got dressed, her head hurt, and her eyes would barely open. She washed her face and then headed down to the common room. The boys weren't there. She decided to go upstairs and see of they had left without her. She pushed their dormitory door open to reveal 5 still very asleep boys, all of whom looked like they were in very uncomfortable positions. She cleared her throat loudly. Nothing happened. She coughed even louder. Ron rolled over and mumbled in his sleep. Finally, fed up, she marched over to Harry's bed, picked up the jug of water next to it and poured it over his head. Harry sat up with a jolt.

"Oh, Hermione, it's you." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes before picking up his glasses and putting them on. "What was that for? Are you really that hungry?" Hermione nodded and then headed to the door.

"Can you wake Ron and get him ready, I'd like to get there before breakfast is over." She yelled as she stormed back down to the common room and plonked onto one of the couches. She didn't know why she was in such a bad mood, but it must have had something to do with her lack of sleep, because when she thought about what happened with Draco the night before, she couldn't help but smile to herself.

Draco on the other hand, didn't get any extra sleep. The boys in his dorm simply wouldn't let him be, so he changed his clothes, washed his face and headed straight down to the Great Hall. What would he do when he saw Hermione at breakfast, he wondered to himself as he walked through the halls, he'd have to sit around and try and act like everything was normal and he hated her. Could he do that? He wasn't so sure. He thought about what had happened the night before and smiled, then he shoved his hands in his pockets, took a deep breath and entered the Great Hall. Without wanting them to, his eyes went straight to the Gryffindor table, the three weren't there, in fact, none of the 6th year Gryffindors were there. He shrugged and continued past it to the Slytherin table. He sat down and look at the selection of food in front of him before grabbing a bowl and filling it with cereal of some form or another. He then proceeded to smother the cereal in milk and start shovelling it in his mouth.

Hermione entered the hall with Harry and Ron close on her heels. She didn't need to scan the Slytherin table to know that Draco was already there. She noticed his hair before anything else. She looked away before he caught her eye and headed over to the Gryffindor table. She slumped down and put her head in her arms.

"Hermione are you alright?" Ron asked her when she didn't take anything to eat. She nodded as best she could with her head in her arms. Ron shrugged and looked at Harry who also shrugged, then turned his attention to his own breakfast. Harry looked at Hermione once moving before going back to his own breakfast.

Draco watched Hermione from across the hall and couldn't believe that they were accepting her excuse, which she'd obviously given them, of being tired. She looked absolutely miserable. She looked like she was having a war with herself, and he knew it was partly his fault. He knew she'd either choose Ron or neither of them; it would just be too difficult for them to be together. He let his head rest on his palm, his elbow perched on the table. He wondered if it would really cause that much trouble if he just came out and told everyone that he liked Hermione and wanted to be with her, would that many people really question him? He really wasn't so sure anymore. Maybe he really was loosing his touch, just like she'd said...

Hermione looked over their timetable for the day, Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins, Ancient Runes, a class that Draco also took, Double potions with the Slytherins. Oh, this is torture, Hermione said to herself. How am I supposed to choose... well, really, I've already chosen, but waiting for the right time is going to be hard seeing him all day. Not to mention Harry will be in a bad mood after seeing Draco all day. She huffed to herself.

"Something you want to talk about, Hermione?" Harry asked as he got up. He looked as her quizzically, he knew there was something up, and he also knew she didn't want tot tell him what it was, but he wanted her to know that he was there if she needed someone. She smiled and took Harry's hand momentarily.

"Yes, but not yet." Harry smiled back and nodded, knowing that when she said she would tell him, she would, and that he shouldn't worry about it. Hermione, on the other hand, thought that Harry should be worried, because if she went through with what she was planning then it would be affecting everyone, not just herself, Draco and Ron. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling at some random knots. "Ouch." Harry laughed at her and she play swapped him on the arm. "Don't you laugh at me, wonder-boy." They both laughed and made their way down to Care of Magical Creatures.

Upon arrival the three greeted Hagrid and then stood back to wait for the other students to arrive, it didn't look like Hagrid had anything too scary for them, as there were no large crates or broken fences about. Hermione sighed with relief when Hagrid said that they would just be writing an essay today, as he wasn't feeling well and hadn't been able to come up with anything practical for them to do in the time he'd been feeling well enough. The students didn't argue, got out their quills and started writing from their books. Hermione took a moment to sneak a peak over at Draco; he was sitting on the grass, bent gracefully over his parchment, his book balanced on his knee. She smiled, wishing she could go over and sit with him, but knowing that she couldn't she let her smile fade.

She finished up her essay with plenty of time to spare and Hagrid let her go for a walk through the grounds for the remainder of the lesson. She thanked him and wandered off toward the quidditch pitch.

Draco watched Hermione get up and walk toward the quidditch pitch, still not looking completely content. He sighed and turned back to his parchment to find Blaise was watching him. He looked and Blaise, pleading with him silently not to say anything. He tore a small piece of parchment off the corner of his page and scribbled a quick note. Blaise, please please don't say anything in front of the others; I'll explain it all in potions, I promise. He passed the note across to Blaise who took it, skimmed over it, smiled and nodded to Draco. Draco felt his body relax, and mouthed the words Thank You to Blaise; the other boy simply shook his head and returned to his essay.

Hermione wandered past the quidditch pitch and then wondered why she'd felt the need to get away from Ron. That's the reason she'd accepted Hagrid's offer and gone for a walk, wasn't it? Yes, she told herself. Oh this is stupid, I can't even stand to be near Ron, and I don't want to be near anyone but Draco. She sighed aloud, and jumped slightly when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned to find Harry standing behind her, puffing slightly. "Is everything ok, did you wanna have that talk now?" She smiled and nodded, sitting on the grass, Harry sat beside her.

She told Harry all about being locked in the library with Draco, about what had happened in no great detail and that she had almost slept with him. "Well, I don't blame you 'Mione." Harry smiled when she looked at him questioningly. Harry continued. "Well, he is the best looking guy in school." Hermione's mouth fell open. Harry reached up and gently closed it. Hermione smiled then and threw her arms around Harry. Once he got over the initial shock, Harry put his arms around Hermione and hugged her back. She couldn't find words at that moment, so she just held him. But Harry could find words. "You're not the only one who's in love with a Slytherin either. I have an idea, I'll help you find a way to break it off with Ron and be with Draco, if, by spending time with our second-favourite Slytherin," He winked. "You can find out some things about Blaise for me." Hermione looked at Harry for moment, smiled and then hugged him again.

"Anything Harry, oh, I'm so glad you don't hate me!" She smiled broadly and Harry stood up, offering her his hand. She accepted and they stood up and started to head back over to the class. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Harry. Thank you." Harry shrugged and put his arm around her shoulder. Hermione decided then that she would talk to Ron that night.

Draco couldn't help but watch Hermione and Harry together. They looked good together, and really, he didn't know why Harry hadn't jumped at the opportunity of dating Hermione. But then he obviously had his reasons, and Draco wouldn't hold it against him if it meant it gave himself more of a chance with Hermione. As they came back to the class, Hermione managed a small smile in his direction. Draco smiled back. It was as though when he was with Hermione, he was a different person, he suddenly realised. He'd certainly felt more alive than he ever had before in his life the night before in the library with her.

He decided he needed to talk to her. He wrote a quick scribbled note on a spare bit of parchment and tucked it into this pocket. He'd find a way to slip it to her before dinner. In fact perfect opportunity came as they were leaving Care of Magical Creatures and Harry left his book on the grass by Hagrid's hut. He rushed over and picked the book up, tucked the note securely in the front cover, and, praying that Hermione had mentioned him to Harry during their little chat earlier, he ran up behind them and called to Harry. "Hey, Potter, left your book behind, better make sure your head is screwed on or you'll leave it behind." And with that he threw the book at Harry's head. Harry dodged the book and let it land on the grass next to him, as he bent down to pick it up, Draco could have sworn he saw Harry wink.

Hermione, noticing that Harry had stopped, turned to see what was going on, Harry nodded at her, and she turned back to look at Draco, he nodded back and Hermione looked back to where she was going very confused. She didn't look back at Draco again as they entered the castle, and she and Harry headed straight for Gryffindor Tower. When they entered the common room, Harry dragged Hermione over to an empty corner and pulled the note out of his book. "I knew it." He muttered, handing the note to Hermione.

She unfolded it and read:

Mione,

Meet me after dinner, there's a classroom that's never used three doors down from the Potions room, it wont be locked. 9 O'clock.

Mal.

Hermione looked and the letter and couldn't help but smile. A secret meeting, it was so romantic. She stopped swooning when she remembered Harry standing next to her. Harry only smiled at her. "You can take the cloak." Hermione truly didn't know what to say, she threw her arms around him again and held onto him for a few minutes.

"Thank you so much, I love you Harry."

Harry smiled. "I know." He hugged her back and then they separated, Harry waiting for Ron so they could go to Divination together and Hermione heading off to Ancient Runes. Upon arriving at her Ancient Runes class, Hermione took a seat up the back, she had planned to sit by herself, and it looked like she'd be lucky enough to stick to that plan. The other students milled in and sat in their respective seats, in pairs or threes, but Hermione was quite happy sitting by herself today.

As Draco headed into ancient runes, he noticed that Hermione had chosen to sit by herself, she still didn't look entirely happy, but at least Harry had managed to make her feel better than she obviously had that morning. He watched her as he headed up the back, but to the other side of the room and sat at the desk next to the one where Hermione was seated. Even if he couldn't talk to her, it made him feel better knowing she was only a table away. Blaise soon joined him and the class started shortly afterward.

The rest of the day, including double potions, went by extremely quickly for Hermione. For Draco on the other hand, it seemed to do nothing but drag. He sat in potions, idly staring out the window, not paying any attention what-so-ever as to what was happening in the class. He let Blaise take notes and then did as he was told when it came to making the potion in the second lesson. By the time that was over, Draco felt like it was Friday as opposed to Monday. He sighed loudly and Blaise looked at him questioningly. Draco shook his head to motion that there was nothing wrong and turned again to look out the window.

He went straight to his dorm after potions and didn't speak to anyone, leaving only when it was time for dinner. He took his usual seat at dinner next to Blaise, but only picked at his food. Blaise looked at the blonde. "Are you sure everything's ok with you? Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? That there's nothing I can do to help?"

"I'm sure, thanks Blaise." Draco mumbled, before looking up to try and find Hermione at the Gryffindor table. She was halfway along and deep in conversation with Harry.

"Are you sure It's ok, Harry? What are you going to tell Ron? Maybe I should tell him..." Harry shook his head and told her that everything would be fine. She still didn't think it would be ok, but she nodded all the same. Harry finished what he was eating and told Ron they'd meet him upstairs, Ron shrugged and went back to his food and listening to the conversation Fred, George and Lee where having.

Harry and Hermione headed straight up to Harry's dorm. Harry rummaged around in his trunk for a moment, before pulling out the familiar flowing material that was his invisibility cloak. She accepted it from his and hugged him once more. "Just have fun," He said, smiling at her, "and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Hermione smirked before turning and leaving his dorm, shouting back that not doing anything Harry wouldn't do didn't really leave much to the imagination. Harry shook his head as she headed out of the portrait hole, and watched her slip the cloak over her head. A few minutes later Ron came into the common room to find Harry sitting in one of the chairs surrounded by parchment and books. "What are you doing, Harry?"

"Homework." Harry replied, not looking up from his books.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron was looking around the common room, as if Hermione may be hiding behind the couch. Harry looked at him strangely.

"I dun'know." He replied.

Meanwhile, Hermione snuck through the halls, heading down to the dungeons as quietly as possible. Draco simply left his common room and walked up to the empty classroom. He entered to find it still empty. Don't worry, she'll be here, he told himself. Taking a seat on one of the desks and moving himself so that he could look out the window.

Hermione opened the door to the empty classroom to find Draco sitting on one of the desks, staring out the window. She had half expected him not to show. Without removing the cloak, she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. He jumped slightly, and turned around, Hermione pulled the cloak off and, dropping it on the floor, pressed her lips to Draco's.

Upon realising what was happening, Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and pulled her closer to him. After breaking the kissed he hopped of the desk and looked into her eyes; she smiled and then laid her head against his chest. "So..." Draco started, running his fingers through her hair.

"So, what?" she asked, looking up once more into his eyes. They reminded her of open pools reflecting a mass of rain clouds rolling overhead. He rested his chin on her head and wrapped his arms tighter around her; she lay back on his chest.

"What's going to happen now?" He let her go so that she could turn around and face him, she did so.

"I'm going to break it off with Ron. I think we need to act though as if we're just friends for a while. That we, we can gradually ease everyone into the fact that we're... well, us." She looked up at him hopefully, praying that he wouldn't ask that they just tell everyone they were together. He smiled down at her.

"Whatever it takes, 'Moine." She smiled and he pulled her into another embrace. "I noticed you had a nice long talk with Potter. You told him, right? How did he take it?"

"Surprisingly, he was actually extremely happy about it." Hermione started then scrunched up her brow, thinking about how she could word her next question. She thought about it for a few moments before she spoke again. "He kind of likes someone in Slytherin, he asked if maybe you could help him in finding out whether this person likes him too." She looked up at him.

Her smiled. "Sure." He was the happiest he could ever recall, not only did he have Hermione, the most beautiful, smart, fun girl in Hogwarts, but he even had a chance at being friends with Harry Potter. Draco had held a grudge against potter ever since he'd rejected his friendship in their first year. But he completely forgot about it now he had the chance to reconcile all their differences and become friends. He hugged her tightly to himself again, kissing her nose, she giggled. "So, who is it Harry likes, anyway?" He looked down at her and she smiled mischievously.

"Blaise Zabini."

Thanks for reading, what did you all think? R & R, pretty please?

Cheers,

Sami.