Disclaimer: I own everything... believe me and you'll be sent to a hospital for the mentally incurable, in other words, the mentally incurable.

They were meeting in their common room the next day at eleven pm to sneak into the library for a peek...

"Hello, Partner!"

Chapter 11: I Love You
(sorry, I know this is a typical title)

Back in his room, Draco nearly killed himself while trying to slap himself to WAKE UP. Though it was sad thing to say, he had to admit... He was stupid. Sigh. Luckily no one else was there to witness a Pureblood trying to kiss a Mudblood. If someone did see it, and the news ever reached Lucius's ears... Let's not talk about it (shudders).

Whatever it is, he still did not kiss her. Draco suddenly felt like there was a lump in his throat. It's not that saddening, was it? So now, what he needed to worry most about is the partnership between he and Hermione. He was a bit rash to agree to her proposal. Also, she did not say that she's giving him any benefits...

All these only proved ONE thing, he was very stupid.

The day had been a quiet one for it was the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Draco and Hermione decided to stay in their common room to study more on the book.

"... he had said that this sort of characters were used to make powerful curses or prophecies..." Draco informed.

"Really?" Asked the doubtful Hermione. 'hmm...'

"Yup! Judging the looks of this books, it must be from the Royalties of the ancient times..."

The discussion continued until dinner time. They headed for the hall together and only parted way at the entrance. Some students turned wide-eyed when they saw them together, but many others did not think much of it for they could be discussing about things the Heads would. Unfortunately, Harry and Ron were not intelligent enough to be in the latter group.

"Hermione! Of all the people here, why him?!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron! I was discussing some things with him." Hermione defended. "You're not going to speak for him, will you?" She pleaded with her boyfriend.

"I dunno." Replied the green-eyed monster.

"Come on..." She tugged her sleeves playfully...

"You know, I'd bet you two are dating!" Ron suddenly voiced his opinions.

The blushing teenagers turned back to their food.

At about ten plus in the night, Hermione and Draco were already there, full-dressed for the event.

"You're early." She said, quirking a light brow up in the direction of Draco.

"You too." He smirked the infamous Malfoy smirk, "Why? Can't wait to see me? Gosh... Even my mirror's cracking whenever it reflected me. It says that I'm too charming for it."

"More like you're too mirror-cracking-ly ugly. Correction, did I say ugly? I meant hideous." Hermione replied, causing smoke to rise up from Draco (ok, I know it's very parodic).

Hermione pushed past him as she made her way to her couch where the 'Book of Wierd Golden Characters That Shine When Touched' was lying comfortably. "Excuse me."

The feel of her on his arm... that tingling sensation that would not leave... made him realise her texture, her fragrance, her heavenly form. Draco indulged himself in her. He often wondered, 'How would it be like to get a feel of her...?' He's a man. A man has desires. And she was one of his desires.

Not realising the fact that his legs were carrying him to that sick desire of his, Draco filled his mind with her pictures... It's good to be able to imagine, you know? However light his footsteps were, it could never get past Hermione's sharp and alert ears.

"What?" She cut in, simply. Her face acting as a gun, she loaded bullets of annoyance and shot them forcefully into Draco. "Get to work, we haven't got all day, you know?"

"Hermione..." He let slip of the name but took no notice of it. It came so naturally... So naturally that he thought her name was meant to be there for him to use. Draco ignored the complexions cast on her face, "I'd been bottling it all up for Hell knows how long and I'd decided to vent them out, for sanity's sake." He paused to find appropriate words for verbalization. Because the confession was not rehearsed beforehand, he could only manage...

"I love you."

Hermione's Inner Thoughts:

'My, I know I'm attractive, but... Ok, let's not get too high now.

He loved me. All these years of Mudblood here and Mudblood there... He loved me!

Hey, what's that dry lump in the throat for? Could I be feeling the same for him... (Harry's image popped up) No, wait. There's Harry. I'm his. Sorry, it should be, his mine. Argh. It sounds wierd! So I'l settle with 'I'm his' for the time being.

Ok, the question. 'What would you do/say when Draco Malfoy confessed his love for the infamous Mudblood?'

Answer: Yes, I think I can just tell him about Harry and me first... If he were to ask me to choose between him and Harry... I'll... I'll... Oh, I'll say I need to be excused for the lavatory! Clever witch!

End of Hermione Thoughts

The intense gaze of the steel-gray eyes was too pressurizing for her, so she quickly thought up of what to say before she goes nuts. "What do you want me to say? Or rather, what do you expect me to say?"

"That you loved me too? And that you would gladly dump that Boy Who Sucked to be with me?" Draco suggested hopefully.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Fine. If you like that as the answer."

This infuriated Draco, she made him sound like a shameless guy begging for love. "Hey. I'm asking for your answer, not mine."

"I can't bear to break your heart!" She cried out.

That was heart-shattering enough... Potty-head sucked. "Try elaborating more on your point, wouldn't you?" Draco asked in a forced, calm voice.

"I have Harry now, what else can I say? I'm his. His mine. It's simple, isn't it? He even dumped Cho for me! He waited for me, he watched over me, he cared for me." Hermione felt that she nearly screamed at the last word. Her emotions were running high!

"Don't make it sound like I don't care for you!" It wasn't fair!

"What? You consider taunting as caring? How about naming people with horrible things? You call them caring? Go and revise with your dictionary, Malfoy." Hermione retorted.

He gave up on that point, he knew he did not do much to care for her, not as much as Harry did. "Listen to your heart, Granger. Don't go out with Potter just for the sake of thanking or repaying him! For Merlin's sake, it's not about charity work!"

"It wasn't a charity to begin with! I did have feelings for him..."

"What if you got confused with your feelings? What if you mixed 'love' and 'like' together? What if he's not your guy and I am?!"

"I refuse to answer all of your 'what if'! It's not even true to life!" Hermione fell gently into one of the chairs around the working table.

"Come on... Why can't we talk things nicely over a cup of tea?" Then, he accioed a tray full of tea and cookies into the room. Luckily nothing spilt on the way (he knew it from the sparkles of the tray), or Filch will be after his pure blood. "Here." He offered a steaming cup of tea to Hermione.

She looked up and peered over his shoulders to find out the time from the antique grandfather clock before accepting his offer. Sipping the warm tea, she asked, "What made you love a Mudblood?"

He did not expect this.

A/N: I'll leave the long, boring, crapping A/N blank-er than usual, ok? But do review if you have the time and energy to...

Oh, sorry for the lack of words in this chapter, again. It's the quality that matters... (though I doubt the quality very much too)!

Love,
fionger

P.S: Stay Tuned!