Chapter 5: Secret Love

Hermione's relationship with her friends had progressed slowly. They no longer looked at her as though they were apologetic. They were starting to get over it and Hermione was slowly recovering from everything that had happened.

While her relationship with her friends was progressing, her relationship with Malfoy was dwindling slowly. She had managed to avoid Malfoy for some time now. Whenever he had corned her in the halls, she always said that she didn't want to talk. This change in Hermione shocked Malfoy. One day she was kissing him, the next she was blowing him off in the halls.

Finally, he got fed up with her stubbornness and decided to force her to talk to him about what was bothering her. After their Potions lesson, he decided to force her into a classroom then lock the door and make her to talk to him.

"Malfoy, what's the meaning of this?"

" 'Malfoy' again is it? Hermione, something is going on with you. You never want to talk to me. You never answered my question. Do you want to be with me or not?"

"Draco, you know I do, but I keep thinking I'm going to betray Harry and Ron. You know how much they despise you."

She suddenly walked up to Malfoy and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"So your back together with them, huh?" he asked after recovering from the small kiss.

"Yeah, we're friends again, but I'm not going out with Harry anymore. I didn't think it would have worked out if we got back together."

"That's good. I'm not sure what I would do without you. Ever since my mom died I feel like you're the only person I left in this world. The only person that'll keep me sane and happy."

Hermione looked at him and smiled. He always made her feel special. She blushed at such a wonderful compliment.

"Hermione, I know we can do this, even if it is a secret I know we can pull it off."

"You're so persistent. Fine, we can try, but we can't tell Harry or Ron, not even Ginny."

Draco gave Hermione a kiss before he left, leaving Hermione to think about what just happened. I cant believe I'm going out with Malfoy, no, Draco. I never thought this would have happened. Although her relationship with Malfoy scared her, it also thrilled her and filled her with fantastic emotions that she's never felt before. Draco was like a highly addictive drug to her. He made her feel good. He made her feel like a beautiful goddess in control of her own destiny. She needed him to survive.

They continued meeting in empty classrooms just to snog for a minute or two between classes. These sessions would have lasted longer if Hermione weren't so intent on getting to class on time. Because their relationship was a secret, they couldn't meet in public so it was excruciating being in the same room, but unable to show any form of being together. Harry and Ron soon noticed a change in Hermione's behavior. She was happy whenever she was around them, but there were many times she would disappear and Ron and Harry would have no idea where she would vanish to so often. They began getting suspicious of what Hermione was doing. Then one day at breakfast they began to understand what was going on.

Hermione came skipping in the Great Hall. It was a dreary day and the ceiling of the Hall indicated the look of outside. It looked as if it would rain any second, but the weather didn't dampen Hermione's spirit. She was finally happy after such a long time.

It had been three months since Harry and Ginny's encounter together and Hermione had been going out with Malfoy for the last two months. She felt happier than she did when she was with Harry and now that she had such a great relationship, she wondered why she thought her relationship with Harry was so good, when it was only mediocre. I guess the thought of actually having a guy to call your own was what made it feel so good, but she was so much happier with Malfoy.

As she entered the Great Hall in such a great mood, she sat down between to her two friends.

"What's up?" she asked the two guys on either side of her.

"Oh, not much." Harry replied. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

"Oh, no reason, I'm just so happy. I never felt this happy before." Harry suddenly looked down. He thought she was happy when they were together, apparently he was wrong. "Harry, I was happy with you, but I just feel good alone." She said realizing why Harry suddenly looked depressed.

Little did neither Harry nor Ron know, but Hermione wasn't alone at all.

As Hermione ate, her eyes lingered over to the Slytherin table where she would lock glances with the blond Malfoy. She would always look away first, blushing slightly.

Noticing Hermione's constant glances over to the other table, Ron and Harry quickly found what she was looking at.

"Hermione, why are you looking at Malfoy?" Ron asked completely confused.

"I don't know, Ron, he keeps staring at me."

Ron suddenly gave Malfoy the finger and Hermione gasped at Ron's action.

"Ron! What was that for?"

"That was for looking at you funny, like a piece of meat."

"He wasn't looking at me like a… 'a piece of meat.'" Hermione replied puzzled at Ron's choice of words.

"Then how was he looking at you, Hermione?" Harry asked her, very confused with how Hermione and Draco were acting. He had never seen Malfoy look at Hermione like that. It looks almost as if he… he fancies Hermione. But that's not possible. Malfoy isn't capable of human feelings except hatred. Or is he? Harry was getting very suspicious as the moments passed. He kept looking at Ron, then at Hermione, then back at Ron, and then at Malfoy, giving him one of his deadly glares that they use so often.

A/N: Hey everyone.. I hope this chapter satisfied your thirst for fan fiction. Personally its not my favorite chapter in the story, but it'll have to do… I also hope that it wasn't too confusing, especially Hermione's actions in this particular chapter. I promise it gets better. Bye for now…