Lucius Malfoy stood and walked over to his son, who remained in the doorway. He walked around Draco, studying him for a minute or so.

"What if…what if I told you, that you could become a Death Eater right now?"

Draco's face blanched.

"That the Dark Lord has agreed to make a special exception because he sees great potential in you?"

Draco stared as his father smirked at him.

"What would you say?"

"I'd say…no."

Lucius's face contorted into fury and Draco quickly amended what he had said.

"I'm not ready yet, I need to finish school before I can take on such an important responsibility. I would need to invest all my abilities and strength into it and I couldn't possibly do that if I had to focus on school as well."

Lucius's face relaxed, appeased. "Well, at least you have a good head on your shoulders. You will, however, be read by your 18th birthday."

It wasn't a question. Or even a suggestion. There was no choice. Draco merely nodded his head at his father. His father turned to leave, then looked back at his son.

"And I trust you will have nothing to do with that filthy mudblood living here."

Draco's fist clenched, but he relaxed as much as possible as he bid his father good-bye. As soon as the door had closed, however, he punched the wall as hard as he could. His fist made a good sized dent, but he definitely came off the worse for it. Draco backed up, holding his hand. Life just wasn't fair.

Hermione was in the middle of eating her dinner when she happened to glance through the main door of the Great Hall. Lucius Malfoy was striding past, a sickly satisfied look on his face. Pushing her plate away from her, she stood, ignoring the looks Harry and Ron gave her as she hurried out.

She ran up the stairs to the House, nearly smacking into the door before really giving herself a chance to open it, she was in such a rush. It was absolutely silent, nothing had changed, except for a dent in the wall that had definitely not been there before.

"Draco?" She called out as she walked through the common room. No answer. She quietly moved towards the stairs leading to his room, and listened. She thought she heard something and started up. As she reached the top the sound had turned into someone crying softly. The door was ajar and she gently pushed it. Draco was seated on the edge of his bed his head hanging down. His fist was swollen and bruised.

"Draco?" She said softly. He looked up at her, frustration evident on his face. She walked over to him, and gently lifted up his hand. "How badly does it hurt?"

He shrugged. "It's not too bad."

Hermione nodded, then sat next to him. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing you don't already know. I just had a chance now and turned it down." Draco sighed. "And he told me not to have anything to do with you?"

"Are you going to listen to him?"

Draco didn't do or say anything for a minute, then turned and kissed Hermione so deeply that when he let go of her, she couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

"Does that answer your question?"

Hermione smiled. "I think it does."

They sat, Hermione leaning against Draco, still holding his bruised hand for a few more minutes. Abruptly, Hermione broke the silence.

"Draco, what's going on here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what are we? Friends? Boyfriend and Girlfriend?"

Draco shrugged. "Whatever you want us to be I suppose."

"It's just a bit weird. We hated each other for 6 years, and here we are, barely a week into our seventh year and we've already kissed twice and made-out once."

"I don't mind it? Do you mind it?"

Hermione smiled. "Not a bit."

At that moment, Draco's stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

Draco nodded. "But it's late for dinner by now, I think I have some food stashed around here somewhere."

He leaned over and began digging around under his bed, finally pulling out a decent-sized box. He opened it to reveal that it was filled with little cookies and cakes. He held it out to Hermione, who selected a cookie and took a bite of it, then watched as he polished off a few of each on his own.

"So, what do you want us to be?" Draco asked after another minute or two.

Hermione shrugged. "Let's just take the path we have been, and see where it takes us."

"Sounds like a plan."

"It would be nice if we could do a little bit more of that kissing stuff right now, though." Hermione laughed a bit as she said it.

" 'That kissing stuff?'" Draco raised his eyebrows, then smiled and leaned over and kissed Hermione gently on the lips. She deepened the kiss and leaned backwards, pulling him with her.

Harry and Ron were on their way back to Gryffindor when they heard Snape talking to someone around a corner.

"I don't see why they chose him to work here…" he was saying as they neared.

"Neither do I, but it can hardly be helped now." They couldn't identify the other person.

"I don't trust him. He claims to have changed, but I can sense the old feeling is still there in him. He'll keep this cover until it's no longer convenient."

"That's true, but as for now there is nothing to be done, except to keep a close eye on him."

"And I suppose that job will be left up to me?" Snape didn't sound surprised.

"Who else, Severus?"

"I just hope I can catch him before he betrays us all again."

Snape and whoever he was speaking to began to walk away at this point. Harry and Ron ran forward to try to see who it was, but they were gone. The two boys stared at each other in bewilderment. Had they been talking about the new teacher?

Once again, I love your reviews HUGS