Disclaimer- I own nothing but the Mulligans and the plot. Everything else belongs to the genius JK!
AN: Hey everyone. Thanks so much for all the reviews! I dont really have time to thanks each and every one of you, but you all know that i love you! I am sorry that it has been like 2 months since I have updated. However, school was just so crazy and I was having a lot of personal problems. Basically, my life has been crap for these 2 months that I've been off. I just finished all my regents and I passed them all with flying colors! Yay! Okay, enough rambling about my boring life. I hope I didn't loose all my faithful and unfaithful readers! Please read and review! Let me know what you loved, liked and hated. And for all who are wondering what happened to Harry, I have a plan for later chapters that explains what's wrong. Please R&R! Love you all. Oh and P.S- This chapter is about 10 pages on my word processor. This is the longest chapter I have ever written!
Hermione and Draco went back to their dorms to pass the time. Patrols started at nine and it was only seven. Sitting in the prefects' common room, Harry Potter sat there, looking at both Hermione and Draco as if he were shooting daggers at them.
"So Granger, or should I say Mulligan? I see your appearance isn't the only thing that's changing. Prey tell, Mulligan, why the change of looks? When did it happen? Man, if you looked like that when we were together, I wouldn't have gone to Ginny. Doesn't that suck for you, love?"
Draco's fists were clenches so tightly that you could see the white of his knuckles. He so badly wanted to go and smack some sense into Potter. But for reasons, Draco wouldn't. He knew that Potter could give him detention, or go to Dumbledore and get him suspended or even worse, expelled. He did not want to take that chance. No thanks. Draco just stood there, now staring daggers at him. Hermione, on the other hand, was shaking with fury, again.
"Well," she started. "Isn't that a shame? Too bad you made the mistake of going to little Weaslette. And P.S. You were the one who asked me out. I used to like you, but now, the mere site of you makes me sick! Now get out of our way. We have things to do!"
What Hermione didn't realize is that throughout her whole rant, Potter was slowing backing up so now her was right in front of their dorm room door. She tried pushing him to the side, but instead of him moving, he just pushed her back, causing her to fall on the floor with a loud thump. Draco helped her up, asking her if she was all right.
"There was absolutely no reason for that. Apologize, now!" Draco commanded.
"Why," Potter started, "would I apologize to her?"
Draco looked at him venomously. "Just stay out of our way if you know what's best, Potter." And with that, Draco and Hermione pushed him to the side and went into their dorm.
Once inside, Hermione sat down on her bed, looking at the picture on her bedside table. There sat a picture of Harry, Ron and herself at Hogsmeade. Picking the picture frame up, she took the picture out and began to tear it up. To think, she called him her best friend and boyfriend once. Once every piece of the picture was torn to little pieces, she pulled out her wand and cleaned it up. A minute later, an owl flew to the window and began tapping on it. Draco, who was standing right near the window, opened it up and the owl flew straight to Hermione. It didn't look familiar to either Draco or Hermione. She untied the piece of parchment from the owl's leg and as soon as it was detached, the owl flew back out the window. Sitting down on her bed again, she opened the letter.
Hey Mione!
Surprised to hear from me like this, right? Well, I've missed you a lot since you left. How is everything? How's the make over working? I bet you're beating the guys off with a stick! Now, I have to tell you something important. I'm coming to Hogwarts next month! My school is sending four students to Hogwarts for the rest of the year, and I was chosen to be one of them! Isn't that sweet? I can't wait Mione! I'll get to spend more time with you now! We went from never seeing each other to spending almost half a year together! We are going to have so much fun! Well, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I need to get going. Classes start in a few, and I can't be late! Love you and see you soon!
Love always,
Ashley
Hermione was so ecstatic! She squealed and jumped up and down on her bed. After a minute of that, she jumped off her bed and ran and gave Draco and huge hug. Hugging her back, with a confused look on his face, he wondered what happened.
"Something wrong Mione?" he asked.
"AHHHHHH! My cousin is coming to Hogwarts next month!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Your cousin? She's a witch?" Draco asked confused.
"Yes! Ashley. The girl I visited over vacation! Merlin, I can't believe she is actually coming here! It's going to be great!"
Draco laughed at her. She was so excited. She looked like a little kid in a toy store, being told that she could get anything she wanted! Looking at the grandfather clock that stood near the door, Draco realized that they need to get started on patrolling.
"Hey, Mione. Sorry to interrupt you happy moment, but we need to get going. Don't want to get in trouble now!" Draco replied.
"Oh yeah. Lets go!" Hermione put the letter down and her and Draco walked out of the common room, into the corridor. It was pretty quiet around them, so they didn't think that much was going to happen. Walking down the silent corridors, the only thing that could be heard was the clicking of their shoes on the floor and their breathing. They headed towards the Gryffindor common room and heard movement by a statue. Looking at each other, they made their ways towards it. Hermione took a step closer and noticed two people having, what seemed to be, a heated snog fest. Looking a bit closer, she spotted long, flaming red hair. That could only be one person in the whole school. Weasley. Hermione cleared her throat, loudly, and the two bodies broke apart and looked at her. Draco looked shocked, just as Hermione did. There in front of the stood Ginny Weasley and Malcolm Baddock, a 6th year Slytherin student. Both Hermione and Draco were utterly shocked to see the two of them together.
"What do you two think you are doing?" Hermione exclaimed.
"What does it looked like? Snogging." Ginny retorted venomously at Hermione.
"Baddock. What do you think you are doing with that piece of scum?" Draco asked the nervous looking Slytherin. Baddock wasn't an ugly bloke, but he was quiet daft and never really had a clue about anything other then quidditch. Now normally, Hermione would have scolded Draco for calling Ginny scum, but he was quiet right and she really didn't care anymore.
Even though he being with Hermione angered most of the Slytherins, they still feared him just as much, maybe even more.
"S..sorry Malfoy. I don't know what got into me. She's evil, honestly." Draco looked at him. The boy just looked back, shaking with fright.
"Get back to your own dorm. It's past curfew and you shouldn't be out. Now go!
Draco demanded.
"What ever Malfoy." Ginny spat at him. Both Ginny and Malcolm went to the own common rooms without looking back. Draco and Hermione continued their rounds, not finding anyone else out or up to no good. They walked back to the Prefect common room and went to their room. Draco said the password and they sat down on the couch.
"Well, I never thought I would see the day when Weaslette and Baddock got together after curfew for a snog session." Draco said, with a bit of distaste in his voice.
"Yeah. She usually goes for older Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Never has she gone after a Slytherin. Maybe we gave the others courage to go for other house members?" Hermione thought for a minute about this. Maybe they would bring house unity to Hogwarts, just by dating. There was a glint of happiness in her eyes that Draco seemed to catch,
"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought of something that I had to do." She said, not wanting to tell him about this thought quite yet.
They walked to their dorms and went in. Both of them walked into the prefects' bathroom with their personal things. Draco went in the shower, while Hermione took a nice, relaxing bath. She didn't want Draco to see anything so she got out right before he shut the shower off. Hermione dried off and pulled on her shorts and tank top. Draco put on his boxers and magically dried his hair. Hermione took a glance his way and saw that he didn't have a shirt on and was just standing in his silky green boxers. Her heart rate got faster and she could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. She didn't know why this was happening to her. It's not like she has never seen him like this before. Quickly looking away, she grabbed her things and headed for their dorm. Draco walked in a few minutes later to see Hermione putting her things away and slides into bed. He put his things away as well and walked over to Hermione's bed.
"Good night." He said softly, leaning down and kissing her gently.
"Night Draco." Hermione replied and not too long after, fell into a soft slumber, dreaming of a tall, bright blonde haired boy.
A few weeks passed by and things were still the same. One day, while cuddling on the couch, Draco and Hermione noticed a rather strange owl flying towards the window and begin to viciously tap at the window. Much to Draco's disappointment, he got off the couch and walked to the window to let the owl in. Hermione didn't know this owl from anywhere so she figured it was for Draco, but by the look on his face, it didn't seem to be familiar to him either. Draco untied the piece of parchment from the owl and almost immediately, after the note was free, the owl flew off out the window into the afternoon sky. Draco unfolded the parchment and began to read the letter. The handwriting was unfamiliar and it surely wasn't Blaise or Pansy. His eyes shot down to the bottom of the letter, but it was not signed or anything. There was no indication on the paper of whom it might be from.
Meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at 11:00 sharp tonight. Bring yourself and no one else.
After reading this over a few times, he folded it back up and stuffed it into the pocket of his robes.
"Who was that from?" Hermione asked, eyeing his pocket.
"Oh, it was from Blaise. He wanted needed to ask me something." Draco lied to Hermione. This was the first time he has ever done such a thing, and man, did it feel extremely wrong. But in all honestly, he had not a clue as to who sent him this note and he wasn't even sure if he was going to go. Draco didn't want to make eye contact with her, for she can read him like a book sometimes, he glanced towards the grandfather clock, as did Hermione.
"Draco, we should be heading down to the Great Hall. It's dinner and I'm starving!" She said rubbing her flat stomach like Santa Clause might do while he was laughing. Draco stared at her and began to laugh. He walked over to her, planted a kiss on her forehead, and entwined his fingers with hers. They walked into the Great Hall, kissed each other goodbye, and parted. Hermione took her new "normal" seat in-between Ron and Seamus, who were pretty much her new best friends. And as always, Harry and sometimes Ginny would give her death glares. She always wondered why Harry became so cold and bitter towards her. Could it be jealousy? She thought this, but Ron fancied her and was beyond jealous of Draco, but didn't act in such a manner as Harry does. The thought was pushed into the back of her mind when Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. Before he eve spoke a word, Hermione knew what it was about and quickly became excited.
"May I have everyone's attention for a moment please." Dumbledore said, speaking loudly so his voice could be heard over all the chatting in the hall. Once everyone heard this, they seized all talking and focused on Dumbledore who began to speak again.
"It is to my great pleasure to announce that we will be receiving 4 new "exchange" students at Hogwarts. They will be staying for the rest of this semester, which ends at the end of the year. Now, you are all wondering where these new students are coming from, am I right? Well, they will be arriving here from Durmstrung. I hope you will all be kind to each and every one of them and help them if they need any assistance. These students shall be arriving at Hogwarts at the end of this week. I know you are all longing to get back to the wonderful food, I know I am, so tuck in!" Dumbledore took his seat again and looked around at the excited students. One student seemed to be more excited then the others and stood out more to him. Hermione Mulligan sat at Gryffindor table, eating her dinner with the biggest of grins on her face. His focused then wondered around the room and on Draco Malfoy. Was he even a Malfoy anymore? Dumbledore thought. His actions definitely weren't Malfoy-ish and he had changed greatly ever since he and Hermione were paired together. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he smiled to himself, and continued eating his meal.
Over at the Gryffindor table, a pair of hazel eyes stared intently at Draco. Now, these eyes didn't belong to just any Gryffindor. They belonged to……
"Hey Mione, Do you want to go for a walk round the lake?" Ron asked Hermione. " I feel like I haven't hung out with you in such a long time!"
Hermione took a moment to think about it.
"Sure! I'd love to. Just let me tell Draco where I'm going so he doesn't get worried."
"He can come if he wants to, and if you want him to. It doesn't matter to me." Ron said, with a smile on his face. Hermione was a little shocked that Ron was okay with Draco hanging out with them. Hermione gave him a hug and got up. Draco noticed that she got up and walked towards the Gryffindor table and stood next to her.
"Hey. What's up?" He asked.
"Oh, I was just going to get you. Ron wants to go for a walk around the lake and he said it was alright if you wanted to come with us." Hermione told him. Draco was just as shocked as Hermione was, maybe even more.
"Well, if you are okay with it, Ron." Draco asked him, and Ron just nodded his head.
"You can come, really. I don't mind."
Draco gave Ron one of his smiles that are only reserved for his Hermione. Now that was something Hermione would have never imagined, ever.
"I would really like to come." Draco said, wrapping his strong arm around Hermione's slim waist. She smiled to him and looked to Ron who had a look of almost jealousy on his face. Hermione frowned and felt bad but Ron just gave her a reassuring smile to tell her it was okay.
"Well, let's get going then." Ron said. The three of them walked out of the Great Hall and out the large wooden doors onto the school grounds. Draco, Hermione and Ron made their way to the quidditch pitch, which was both Ron and Draco's favorite place to be, besides being anywhere with Hermione. They talked about school, the essays that they had to write, and many other things, such as quidditch. Ron had a sudden feeling of acceptance with Draco. He did not know why and how he got this feeling, but it felt great.
"We should head back to the school now, it's getting late." Hermione said, looking down at her watch.
"I haven't even started my potions essay yet!" She exclaimed.
"Hermione, that essay isn't due until Friday, and today is Tuesday!" Ron said matter-of-factly. He then realized who he was talking to about homework and let out a sigh.
"I really enjoyed this guys. We should all hang out soon!" Hermione said looking excited.
"Yeah. What about the next Hogsmeade trip?" Draco asked. He was a bit unsure if this was a good suggestion, but from the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces, they seemed to like it.
"That sounds good, right Hermione?"
"I think it sounds brilliant!" She said excitedly. The walk back to the school was quiet. They reached Gryffindor tower, said their goodbyes to Ron, and went to their own common room.
"I had a really good time and I'm really glad that you came, Draco." Hermione said, giving him a hug. Draco looked into her big, chocolate brown eyes and kissed her forehead.
"I'm glad I came too." he said, giving her a kiss. They stood there for a few minutes, just holding each other in their arms. Hermione slowly pulled away and took a seat at her desk to start her homework, which Draco did as well. They sat at their desks doing their homework for a few hours when Draco noticed the time. It was already 10:30.
"Hey Mione, it's already 10:30. I think it's time to stop. My brain can take no more!" He said, dramatically, while clutching his head. Hermione looked at him and laughed at his childish behavior.
"I think I'm just going to finish this up, but you can go to bed if you want to."
"Actually, I need to go and meet up with Blaise. He needed to talk to me." Draco lied to her again. He was really going to the Astronomy Tower, even though his mind was yelling to him not to go because it will only cause trouble. He hated the feeling he got when he lied to her. He knew it was wrong of him and felt bad for doing so, but he wanted to know who this was.
"This late? Do you want me to wait up for you?" Hermione asked, looking up from her almost finished essay.
"No, you don't have to. I don't know when I'll be back and I don't want you up late when we have classes tomorrow morning. I'll be just fine."
"All right. Don't be out too late mister!" Hermione said, as a mother would.
"Yes mum!" Draco said before going into the bathroom. After he came out, he took off his school robes and put them on his bed.
"Don't stay up too late with that essay, okay?" He asked her.
"Okay, I'm almost done anyway."
"Good, I'll be back soon." Draco said, giving Hermione a soft kiss. "Good night my angle." He said and gave her another kiss before leaving to "meet up with Blaise".
Hermione was in a dreamy state after he left. It took her a few minutes to recuperate before getting back to her essay. She felt her eyes began to get heavy and her hand ached. She was much too tired to finish this essay so she put it away into her bag to finish tomorrow. Walking to the bathroom to get ready for bed, she saw a piece of parchment protruding from Draco's robes. However, this wasn't just any piece of parchment, it was the note from this evening. She sat on his bed, reached into the pocket, and took it out. This is not something Hermione would normally do, go through some ones personal mail, but curiosity got the best of her and Draco didn't seem to want to tell her who it was from. For all she knew, it could have been from a girl telling him to meet her somewhere. Hermione opened the parchment and was in shock.
"Meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at 11:00 sharp tonight. Bring yourself and no one else." She read aloud. The note fell from her hands and her mouth hung open. Who was this from! She picked up the note, but alas, there was no name on it, anywhere. Hermione's eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall, but she held back. Stuffing the note back into Draco's pocket, she got her wand and left the room in search of Draco. Her heart told her to stay, but her mind screamed go! Did she really want to see who he was with?
She was so infuriated. Today had been such an amazing day. She began to get these feelings when she would kiss Draco of hug him. It all felt so new to her. She surely didn't have these feelings when she was with Harry. When they were together, she would get this feeling in the pit of her stomach, as if all the butterflies in the world were in there, flapping their wings and flying around. Sometimes the feeling was amazing, and other times, she just wanted to scream. What was this? In all the romance novels she has read, these feelings only led up to one thing, love. Was this was she was feeling for Draco? Did she really love him?
'Merlin, I love him..'
Draco took him time walking to the Astronomy Tower. After a few more minutes, he reached the stairs that led to the top of the tower.
'I could turn around and just pretend that I never got that note.' Draco thought to himself.
'No! I'll just go and see. I never back down from anything, I'm a Malfoy!'
He made his way up the stairs and reached the top of the tower. It was rather dark up there so Draco couldn't see much of anything, but one thing he did see was flaming, long, red hair. That could only belong to one person in all of Hogwarts.
"Weasley, what do you want?" He asked.
"You of course. That's why I asked you to come up here..duh." She said, walking towards him seductively. She brought her hand up to his flawless, creamy skin and caressed his cheek.
"And obviously you want me if you came up here. Now lets have some fun." Ginny said moving her hand down to his chest, looking for the buttons on his shirt.
"No Weasley." Draco said, in a demanding voice.
"Oh come on Malfoy, it's not like you really like Mulligan anyways."
"There, you are wrong Weaslette."
"Does wittle Dwaco wove her?"
"I.. I do love Hermione!" Draco said, not even realizing he said it aloud. His hand immediately shot up to his mouth. He loved Hermione? Why he just saying this so the little Weasel would back off, or did he really mean it? Now that he thought about it, every time he was around her, when they kissed, or even hugged, it was as if she washed him over with some sort of spell. A love spell to be exact. He did love everything about her. The way she would spend her free time reading a book in front of the fire, how her eyes sparkled when she smiled at him, the smell of her hair and the smell of her, the things she did when she is nervous, like biting her lip. It was all so clear now, he really did love her.
"You've got to be kidding me." Ginny said, disgusted.
"No! I love her. Now take your hands off me you filthy piece of scum!" he said, grabbing her hands. He went to push them off, when in came Hermione. She looked to the site in front of her and ran off.
"Hermione!" Draco called out to her.
"Look what you did! You will pay for this!" He screamed at her and ran after Hermione.
"She deserved it." Ginny said watching Draco run after her.
Hermione ran as fast as her legs would let her. She just kept running and running until finally, she couldn't run anymore. Her legs had brought her to Gryffindor Tower. She muttered the password between gasps of breath. She prayed to Merlin that Ron was still awake, and sitting in the common room. She stumbled into the room, in search of Ron. She looked to the tables, but he wasn't there. She then walked slowly towards the fireplace, where Ron sat in a fluffy red and gold chair, watching the flames of the fire dance about. He looked up and his cheery bright blue eyes met lost, brown eyes. The smile on his face disappeared and it now held a look of concern.
"Mione.. What's wrong?" He asked her.
"Draco.. Astronomy Tower.." was all she could get out before falling to the ground in a fit of tears. Ron got to the floor and wrapped his arms around her shaking form. He tried his best to calm her down a bit more so he can see what Draco did. From the looks of it, it's not something good, at all.
"Shhh.. It will be okay. I'm right here." He said softly. She looked so helpless and so vulnerable on the floor. A few minutes passed, Ron calming her down, telling her he was here for her, and her crying uncontrollably. Ron noticed that her tears had stopped falling and all that was left were little moans. She had fallen asleep in his arms. As gently as he possibly could, he scooped her up in his arms and placed her on the couch. She would be sleeping here tonight, and he was going to stay down there with her, on the chair beside the couch that she was on. Quietly, he went up to his dorm, grabbed one of his blankets and carefully placed it on Hermione. He then took a seat on one of the fluffy chairs and closed his eyes.
'What had happened between her and Draco in the Astronomy Tower that made her like this?' He thought to himself.
The portrait hole opened up, breaking Ron's train of thought. In walked Ginny with a look of satisfaction on her face.
"Ginny Weasley," Ron began, in a loud whisper. "what are you doing out this late?"
"Oh, I thought I'd be seeing her in here." She said with a bit of happiness in her voice.
"Ginny, just answer my bloody question!" Ron demanded, his face turning a crimson red. Ginny just smirked at him.
"I was just taking care of some business in the Astronomy Tower. Why does it matter to you anyways? Shouldn't you be taking care of your little girlfriend? Well, Malfoy's little girlfriend." She spat at him.
Ron's face was now the brightest red you could imagine. His ears were close to it as well.
"Did you make her like this!" Ron asked his younger sister.
"Maybe, maybe not." Was all she said before disappearing up the stairs to the girls dormitory. Ron walked over to Hermione and noticed that she was still shaking. Ever so gently, he wrapped the blanket around her tighter and took his seat again. Not long after, he drifted off into an unpleasant sleep.
Morning came a lot quicker then Draco had hoped for. Hermione never came back to their dorm last night and he was sure that she would never want to talk to him again. God, he was such an idiot for going to the Astronomy Tower last night. He should have just stayed with Hermione and did his homework. Then things wouldn't be like this. But no, he had to go and lie to her and then get caught. He looked to his clock and it read 5:00 AM. It was much too early to go down the to Great Hall for breakfast, so he decided to go to the prefects' bathroom and take a bath. After he was nice and clean, he got dressed in his school clothes and sat at his desk, finishing up his homework, though his mind wasn't really focused on it.
'Maybe she will come and get her things, then I can talk to her and tell her that nothing happened.'
Hermione woke up to see the warm colors of the Gryffindor Common Room. Her thoughts went back to last night, how Draco was with Ginny and how Ron held her all night until she fell asleep. She looked at the clock, it read 5:00. She thought that Draco would still be asleep, so it would be okay if she went to her room to retrieve her things. Getting a piece of parchment off the table and a quill, Hermione wrote Ron a note.
Ron, thank you so much for all you did for me last night. I'm so blessed to have a best friend like you. I'm sorry I left so early, but I need to get my things from my room. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend Ron.
Love always,
Hermione
She placed the note on his chair, took the blanket she was using last night and put it on Ron. He moved a little, but was still sleeping. Hermione quietly slipped out of the common room and made her way to the Prefects common room. Everyone was still sleeping so she had to be extra quiet. She whispered the password to her room and quietly opened the door. After shutting it and turning around, she found Draco sitting at his desk, doing homework.
'Shit!' She yelled in her mind.
"Hermione.." Draco said as she went to open the door to leave. "Please wait."
She didn't listen and struggled opening the door. Draco took her hand and looked at her. Her eyes filled with tears, but she wouldn't let them fall.
"Hermione, please." He said softly.
"Draco, just let me go. I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Hermione… I love you."
Yay for cliff hangers! Lol. Once again, I am so sorry it took me sooo long to update! But Be glad, because this is the longest chapterI have ever written and so much has happened! I hope you enjoyed! Please R&R!