Disclaimer: Same old stuff, I'm not J.K. Rowling so I do not own Harry Potter. I am simply another obsessed HP fan who happens to enjoy writing about situations that will never happen in the actual books.

A/N: For some reason I've been in a writing mood lately, so at the expense of my sleep I have spent a lot of time working on this chapter, as well as on my newest upcoming fic. So, now to thank all my wonderful reviewers from last chapter, you guys continue to rock!

Brielle Lupin– Thank you, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the sequel so far. And yay! I love being rewarded with reviews:o)
Llama – lol glad you like it, and I hope the update came quick enough!
jesska-14 – aww thank you so much for the support! I'm happy you like it and I hope you had a fun half day of school!
Roundrockrules – wow, you really think so? Coolness, I hope you think this chapters' just as good!
Phoebe Telumetar – I agree, people who flame are horrible. They're not worth paying attention to. I'm sorry that you ended up deleting the story, but I hope you didn't let them discourage you from writing altogether, because I'm sure that the more you do it the better you'll get, and what they said probably wasn't at all true anyway. Anyway, glad to hear you didn't mind the break from the story development, because I agree that the relationship needed a little time as well, and it's fun to switch things up a bit sometimes.
Elekra30 – woo:o) I know that you prefer the drama to the snogging stuff, and I know what you mean about it being a little disappointing when waiting so long for a chapter and not getting much plot development in it. But I'm glad you understand why I did it. But if you like tension, anger and rage, I think you might find this chapter a little more to your liking. ;o)
Karma Chameleon – lol no worries, about forgetting to review, I've forgotten to send in reviews myself. But anyway, I'm glad to see you back, and I hope that no one whacked you with a shovel, cause that would hurt. But if they did, then I'll send over some ice for ya. Hehehe thanks for the review!
FalconWing – I'm happy to hear that you think they're staying in character. Now to answer your question, Draco is still having nightmares, but Draco's not going to tell Hermione about them, he's going to keep them a secret for as long as possible. She will of course notice something different, but she won't know what it is.
A Luminous Lily – yay! I love it when people think I've been keeping everyone in character! Thanks so much for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Sunflower18 – Thanks for the review!
Zuvalupa – yay! My favorite phrase again lol. Sorry about the typos, I hope I managed to fix them all in this chapter!
Anonymous-139 – Thank you so much for the support, it made me feel good. :o) That was a good idea to send the person an e-mail, I would have done it, but it wasn't a signed review, so I don't know what their address is. Oh well, I'm not thinking about it anymore.
Lhearttomfelton – hehe thank you so much, you're probably right. I'm glad to hear you like it, and I hope you like this chapter too!
Alcapacien – yes, I admit it was a fluffy chapter, which I usually try to avoid, but I just couldn't resist. I'm glad to hear that you liked it, and I hope you like this chapter as well!
Sirius-harry-n-remus – I'm glad you liked the little break from the story to focus on the relationship; I agree that they needed the focus to be more on them. I hope you like this chapter!

So now, on with Chapter 11!

Chapter 11: Hermione's Ultimatum

"Headmaster."

"Yes Severus?"

"Headmaster I think my loyalties are in question. I have heard rumor that the Dark Lord is plotting something that will directly affect Hogwarts, yet he has told me nothing of it. I do no know what sort of thing he is planning, but from what I have heard, he is very excited about it."

Professor Dumbledore took in this information with a serious expression. "I did not know how long it would take for them to become suspicious of you, however I cannot say that I am surprised that they are wary. Yet I do not feel like they completely distrust you, otherwise you would surely know by now."

"I agree professor, am merely keeping you updated so you know that I may not be able to bring you as much information as usual," replied professor Snape.

"I appreciate your work Severus, any information you bring the Order is helpful, but continue keeping yourself inconspicuous for your own safety," ordered Dumbledore sternly.

"I will professor," bowed Snape before sweeping out of Dumbledore's office.

Professor Dumbledore sighed once Snape left. While he was unsurprised that Lord Voldemort was being cautious around Severus, he could not deny that without Snape delivering information, the Order was going to have much more trouble anticipating Voldemorts next move. And that meant that people were in danger.

Still, the information that Voldemort was planning something within Hogwarts was valuable information in itself. It told Dumbledore where the Order should be focusing their efforts and their attention. Naturally, he would make sure that the protection around Harry was stronger than ever since any plot of Voldemort's would most likely be against Harry. In his concern about being unable to fully anticipate what Voldemort was planning, Dumbledore managed to overlook the fact that Harry was no longer the only student in Hogwarts who Voldemort had a personal grudge against. . . .

Hermione awoke much earlier than she would have liked, the day after the Hogsmeade trip. She groaned at the thought of how much work she had to do today to make up for what she hadn't done the day before, not that she regretted how she had spent her time there, quite the contrary in fact.

Draco was in a deep sleep next to her, his arms were wrapped loosely around her body, and his fingers grazing the flesh between her pants and shirt. For a while she just lay there, not at all eager to remove herself from his grasp. The heat of his body was comforting, and kept her much warmer than the heavy blankets on her bed did. But after a while of laying there, the thought of all the work she had to do began to overwhelm her. Carefully she slid out of Draco's arms, and tiptoed over to the bathroom.

Draco was still sleeping soundly when Hermione was finished with her shower, and since he no longer had her to hold, he had turned around in his sleep, 'probably to avoid the sunlight' she thought with a smile. Hermione closed the curtains of her window so return the room to semidarkness, and then she retrieved her school supplies from her desk and moved to the common room. She laid out all her parchments, and her books, and her quill and ink on the desk, dipped her quill into the ink and began to work.

By the time she heard Draco resuling about in her room, she had already finished her potions essay and nearly completed the essay assigned by professor McGonagall as well. She barely glanced up when she heard her door open.

"Morning," said Draco with a yawn.

"Morning sleepy head," answered Hermione, doing her best to stay focused.

Draco stepped behind Hermione and glanced over her shoulder to see what she was up to. He placed a hand on her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, "working already?"

"Honestly! Me work? Draco don't you know me at all by now?" joked Hermione.

Draco smiled, "I'll be back in a bit, and then we can go to breakfast."

"Ok," agreed Hermione.

Hermione didn't fail to notice the disapproving looks from Harry and Ron when she entered the Great Hall with Draco, though thankfully both of them managed to keep their mouths shut. Draco had a quidditch practice after breakfast, so Hermione was left alone in the common room. While she was perfectly fine with that, she knew that she would hear grief from Ron and Harry if they failed to see her for two days in a row. She decided that the best was to keep them happy would be to move into the Gryffindor common room while she worked. Because she honestly believed that as long as she was there and they could see her, they wouldn't give a damn what she was doing.

It turned out she was right, both of the guys faces instantly brightened when she entered the common room. But once she sat down to work, she might as well have been invisible, 'just like it always was' she thought fondly.

By mid afternoon, she had finished all her schoolwork, so now it was time to begin on the yearbook. While it was the prefects' job to actually put the pictures and articles of the various sections together, it was her job to come up with a general layout and overall theme for them to follow. She unrolled a huge piece of parchment, and began fiddling around with different ideas. She had difficulty choosing between two ideas, so she called Ginny over to help her decide. Soon she was surrounded by a whole gang of girls, and a few guys who were curious as to what all the commotion was about. Everyone seemed to have different opinions, which frustrated Hermione a bit. Finally, when she wouldn't take all the voices and finger pointing, she stood up and yelled "QUIET!"

Everyone hushed, although Parvati and Lavender looked as though Hermione had just cursed at them. Hermione lifted the parchment and held it out in front of her. "Alright, everyone who prefers this design," she pointed to the first option, "raise your hand." Several hands went up, and Hermione quickly tallied them. "Now, everyone who prefers this option, raise your hand," she pointed to the second option and again tallied the hands. "Well it looks like the first design wins. Thanks for your help guys!"

Hermione smiled at the group as they walked away to return to their business. As she was rolling up the parchment, Lavender and Parvati zoomed to her side both smiling. "Did you get out photographs Hermione?" asked Parvati excitedly.

Hermione did her best not to sort with laughter. The two girls had sent in more photographs of themselves and occasionally them with other students than anyone else had. Indeed they sent in more photos than Hermione thought she had taken of herself though out her entire life. She smiled at them, "yes, I got them." She neglected to tell them that she wasn't planning on using the majority of them, she didn't think they'd want to hear that.

Both girls smiled and giggled with glee, "Thanks Hermione," they said before disappearing somewhere, probably to gossip about something or another.

Weeks had passed since the Hogsmeade trip, and the enjoyment of it had long worn off. Things were back to the way they had been before. Professors were piling on the homework, all insisting that the work was necessary for the seventh years to prepare for their N.E.W.T.s. Quidditch season had definitely begun, and Slytherin had won their first match against Hufflepuff, while Gryffindor defeated Ravenclaw. Both teams were training harder than ever, knowing that they were going to have to play against each other for the cup in the last match of the season.

In the prefects meeting after the Hogsmeade trip, Hermione had presented the design to everyone and told the prefects that they could start piecing together rough copies of their sections. Hermione would then edit all the writing and they could start putting the final draft together. While everyone was excited about the yearbook, none of them liked the idea of extra work, so getting them to actually do their jobs was a bit of a challenge for Hermione. Sometimes, she even resorted to having Draco talk to them, which while it usually left the prefects cowering in fear, it did persuade them to get the job done.

Hermione barely even had time to miss the time that she no longer had to spend with Draco, or even with her friends. But that didn't stop her from noticing the strain Draco was under. He seemed to always be exhausted, and she rarely got to see him smile anymore. Usually she would have chalked his stress to too much quidditch practice, but Harry and Ron were training just as hard, and neither of them seemed to be nearly as tired as Draco always was. Sometimes, when he wasn't looking, she would examine him with a curious eye, it looked to her as if he wasn't sleeping properly, but whenever she asked, he always denied it. He would flash her a smile and give her a kiss, although it always looked like it took a great deal of energy for him to do so, and the kisses were growing less passionate as time wore on, and that was cause for alarm in Hermione's opinion.

Hermione was right about what was wrong with Draco, he wasn't sleeping properly. His sleep was almost always riddled with the nightmarish flashed of green and white light, and the horrible cackling. Sometimes the light was so bright and the laughter so loud that Draco could have sworn that it had been real. Yet when he would jerk awake, his room would always be as pitch black as it always was in the middle of the night.

The lack of sleep was definitely taking its toll on him; he had to use most his energy just to focus on staying awake throughout the day, let alone actually paying attention. Somehow the strain didn't affect his quidditch practices nearly as much as he thought it would. It seemed as if flying temporarily cured all his problems, and allowed him to feel normal again.

He was having a particularly difficult time one today. He was barely able to listen to McGonagall ranting on about whatever it was they were supposed to be transfiguring that day. When professor McGonagall finished talking and barked that them to start working, he had to shake his head vigorously to keep alert. Along with the rest of the class, Draco stood (they were supposed to be transfiguring their chairs into dogs). Draco had always found transfiguration unnecessarily complicated and completely pointless. Unless you were going to use it to become and animagus, what was the point? What was he going to gain from being able to turn a chair into a dog? NOTHING! Still, he aimed his wand at the chair, waved the wand, said the spell and nothing happened. With a frown, he consulted his textbook and found that rather than swish the wand to the left, he should have swished it upwards. He reviewed the instructions and tried again. The chair quivered and sprouted a tail and ears, but nothing more.

Before he could try again, the barking of a puppy interrupted his thoughts. He (along with the rest of the class) looked up and saw Hermione holding a perfect looking golden retriever puppy. It was licking her face, and she was laughing merrily, her eyes sparkling with success. Instinctively, her eyes immediately shot over towards the other side of the room where they locked with Draco's He sent her a congratulatory smile, which caused her smile to widen and her eyes to shine with even more pride. But all too soon (in Draco's opinion at least) her attention was stolen by none other than that red-headed weasel. Weasley appeared to be begging Hermione to help, which Hermione willingly obliged. Apparently he was having difficulty with the wand movement because Hermione placed her hand on his, which was holding his wand, and began to guide his arm through the proper motions.

A rush of jealousy and range consumed Draco, a feeling which was increased by his recent lack of sleep and increase wof daily stress. He wanted nothing more than to blast the good for nothing weasel as far away from Hermione as possible. He could tell that Hermione was clearly only trying to instruct her friend, but Weasley was obviously not paying her lesson the slightest bit of attention. Instead he was gazing at her with a misty eye expression which completely repulsed Draco. He sneered furiously when Weasley began asking for remedial help.

"Ron!" said Hermione with a touch of frustration, "focus, it's not that difficult."

"I am focusing," insisted Ron.

Draco bared his teeth, looking as if he was ready to attack, "I'll give him something to focus on," he muttered to himself. So with renewed determination, he aimed his wand at his partially transfigured chair for the third time.

Across the room, Ron had insisted that if he watched Hermione do it, he would be able to figure it out. She conceded with a roll of her eyes, and with Ron standing behind her, showed him the proper wand movements for what felt like the millionth time. As she was teaching him, he moved closer to her, so that their bodies were almost touching. It was only then that Hermione realized how close he was to her, there was something about his behavior that caused her alarm. She finally realized that he had not really been seeing her assistance with the transfiguration assignment; he had just been trying to flirt with her. She visibly flinched when Ron put his hand on her shoulder. She whipped around and took a step back, her expression unreadable.

But before Hermione could even open her mouth to tell Ron off, a ferocious barking from across the room stopped her. The entire class immediately stopped what they were doing, and quite a few people screamed. Across the room Hermione saw a furious looking Draco. He was glaring at Ron with utmost hatred, and standing right next to him, where Draco's chair had been was a fully grown ferocious looking rottweiler. The people around Draco scampered as far away from the terrifying dog as they could. Its teeth were bared, it was issuing a deep menacing growl, and it was staring intently at Ron. Almost as if the dog was reading Draco's mind, it began to stalk towards the stunned looking red head.

Hermione didn't need to ask to know that Draco had obviously seen Ron's flirty behavior, and it was clear that he was not happy about it. She desperately tried to catch his eye, but he, like the dog, was glaring at Ron with an expression of pure rage. The dog meanwhile, was inching ever closer, and Ron was too afraid to move, for fear that the slightest movement would cause it to attack.

"What is going on here?" demanded professor McGonagall, who had been in her office when the scene began. With one quick glance around the room, and a wide-eyed shock at seeing such a ferocious looking beast in her classroom, she whipped out her wand, and with a pop the growling animal was transfigured into an adorable puppy.

Once the dog was gone, and everyone was able to breathe again they class went back to their work, although several people kept shooting anxious glances at Draco as if they were afraid he would send an attack dog on them. Draco scowled when McGonagall transfigured his magnificent rottweiler into a fuzzball of a puppy, but he was even more enraged that the dog hadn't even gotten a chance to bite Weasley's head off. Professor McGonagall picked up the puppy, and carried it over to Draco, "Mr. Malfoy, kindly do not transfigure any more killer canines whilst in my class, thank you very much."

Draco took the puppy from her, and didn't bother to hide his angry sneer. As she marched away he thought 'alright, I'll wait until your class is done then.' He was about to set his puppy down and transfigure it back into a chair when a playful bark sounded from somewhere around his feet. Hermione's golden retriever had found him and apparently was searching for a playmate. The puppy he was holding began wagging its tail with excitement, so Draco let the dog down. The puppies immediately began roughhousing around the classroom, growling and barking playfully as they tackled each other, and nipped at their ears and tails.

Draco watched the puppies for a while, until he felt someone watching him. He looked up and was unsurprised to meet Hermione's eyes. She smiled when he looked at her. But from behind her, Draco noticed the jealous glances coming from Weasel, which caused him to narrow his steely eyes, and sneer yet again.

With a questioning glance, Hermione turned to see what Draco was so unhappy about, and she sighed with disappointment when she saw Ron. 'Why can't she just get over it?' she thought before going over to play with the puppies.

Hermione didn't get the chance to see Draco for the rest of the day after transfiguration. But she knew he was still pissed about Ron's behavior, she just hoped he wasn't pissed at her too. Although judging by the fact that he had smiled at her during class, she didn't think he was. That evening, she was trying to occupy her mind by editing some of the preliminary articles from the yearbook, but she kept thinking about how pissed Draco had looked earlier, and she wanted to make him feel better. She glanced at the time, noting that he was likely to be back soon from quidditch practice. She knew that flying tended to relieve his stress, but she had a feeling that the walk back to the common room would be more than enough to bring the anger back to him, she didn't want to deal with that, so she decided to meet him down at the pitch, and hopefully catch him in a relatively good mood.

Draco was the last one out of the changing room after the Slytherin teams' quidditch practice. Hermione had waited for him in the shadows so that the rest of the team didn't see her. As always, the exhilaration he got from flying had temporarily erased all other thoughts and worries from his mind. However, now that he was back on the ground, everything that had happened throughout the day, and everything he had been thinking about over the past few weeks was gradually returning to the forefront of his conscience. With a heavy sigh, he lifted his Nimbus 2001 up over his shoulder and shuffled out to the school grounds.

Hermione, who had been growing impatient from the long wait, lit up when she saw him,stepping out from her hideaway, she addressed him, "Do you always take so long in there, or are you only slow when I'm waiting for you?"

Draco's head shot up in surprise when he heard Hermione's voice. He saw her and smiled a small smile, "I only take my time to test your patience," he joked. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Draco smiled smoothly, "so, to what do I owe this surprise visit to the quidditch pitch?"

"Well, you're always so happy and relaxed after you've been flying, and after what happened in transfiguration class, I just wanted to see you smiling again," answered Hermione stepping closer to Draco as she spoke.

Draco wrapped his free arm around Hermione's waist, while he didn't like being reminded of Weasley's behavior in class, the fact that she was here now quickly erased all feelings of jealousy and rage from his mind, at least for the time being. Weasley may still be flirting with Hermione, but clearly all of her romantic attention was reserved for Draco. "Flying is a great stress relief, you should try it, you've been stressed out quite a bit lately yourself," Draco said, as Hermione smiled at him. After a moment of standing together in silence, Draco acted on an impulse, and with a devious smile he grabbed Hermione's hand and led her to the pitch.

"Draco!" laughed Hermione as she allowed him to lead her across the grass, "what are you doing?"

But Draco did not answer; he just turned and grinned at her as he hurried to the middle of the pitch.

Once he stopped, and she realized what he expected her to do, she tensed. "No! No Draco seriously, this won't relieve my stress, it will add to it!"

Draco acknowledged the fear in her voice, but he was confident that if she just tried it, she would love it. She looked at him, her eyes filled with fear, she had not ridden a broomstick since first year, and she was not at all eager to try it again. Draco moved behind her and placed his free hand around her waist, he could feel her quiver slightly at his touch. He then moved his head next to hers and whispered into her ear, "I'll be up there with you the entire time, and I promise nothing bad will happen to you while you're flying with me okay?"

Hermione bit her lip, she was still very anxious, and her stomach was turning with fear. Yet she still turned her head sideways so that her mouth was next to Draco's "okay" she whispered in response.

Draco smiled, and put on an air of an instructor giving a student their first flying lesson, "now, first we mount the broom."

Hermione mounted it, and held onto the handle so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Draco mounted it as well holding the broom in front of Hermione with one hand and looping the other around her waist so that she would feel completely safe.

He could feel the nerves coursing through her, it meant a lot to him knowing that she trusted him enough to try something she was obviously terrified to do. He was sure she would not regret it. "Now, I'm going to kick off the ground, I'll start out flying slowly and staying low, if I ever go too high or too fast just let me know alright?"

Hermione was practically shaking with fear, but she nodded anyway. She let out a scream, and immediately went rigid when Draco kicked off from the ground, and when the broom started to rise she slammed her eyes closed. True to his word, Draco flew slowly and remained so close to the ground that their shoes were nearly skimming the grass. He held her firmly, he was eager to know what she was thinking. She hadn't said anything, so he sped up a bit, he felt her tense, but she still remained silent, taking this as a cue that she was alright, he moved higher, but she didn't react at all. "Doesn't everything look peaceful from up here?" he asked.

"I don't know!" she answered, not wanting to open her eyes.

Draco let out a small laugh, and slowed the broom to a stop so they were just hovering in the air, "Hermione, open your eyes." He cajoled softly.

She shook her head vigorously, "isn't it enough that I got on the broom?" she pleaded with desperation laced in her tone.

"Trust me, you want to see this," he answered patiently.

She could feel his hot soothing breath against her neck when he spoke. Her brain wildly protested Draco's request, but as she found herself often doing in matters involving Draco, Hermione ignored her brain and opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her was breathtaking. From this height, the castle, grounds, lake and forest all looked so beautiful and tranquil in the colorful sunset. She stared at the place that had been her home away from home for over six years, seeing it in a brand new light. She turned her head slowly, taking in the beauty of it all, "Draco it's beautiful!"

Draco smiled and rested his chin on her shoulder, "I knew you'd like it." After resting for another moment, allowing her to take in everything, he urged the broom forward slowly. He felt a sharp intake of breath at first, but as the wind brushed past them he felt her relax again. She took a steadying breath and smiled, flying really was a good stress reliever. It was if all her problems and stresses were left abandoned on the ground. She felt as though nothing mattered as long a she was gliding effortlessly though the air.

Once Draco felt that she was totally relaxed he decided to take a chance, he sped up a bit and flew higher at the same time. He heard her let out a quick scream of surprise, but she did not object, instead she let out an exhilarated laugh and cried "Draco this is amazing!"

"What do you say we forget the homework and go practice a little quidditch?" suggested Harry as he and Ron sat in the common room making absolutely no progress on their homework.

"Sounds good to me!" agreed Ron as he threw his charms book closed and tossed it into his bag. Harry packed up his stuff as well, then they made their way up to their dormitory to grab their brooms. The boys marched down to the quidditch pitch discussing the Chudley Cannons and other quidditch related topics. They were just about all the way to the pitch when they heard a distant scream from a girl's voice. With a sharp glance at each other they both bolted out to the pitch to see what had happened.

They were out to the middle of the pitch when the voice shouted again, though the speaker didn't sound frightened at all, "Draco this is amazing!" The two boys directed their eyes upward and to their complete astonishment saw Hermione flying high in the air on a broom with Malfoy. And what shocked them the most was that she appeared to be completely enjoying herself.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing!" shouted Ron from the ground; he was glaring at the pair on the broom with utmost fury.

Draco and Hermione both turned towards the voice when they heard Ron's shout. "Oh shit," breathed Hermione.

Draco stopped the broom, but left it floating in the air, "you'd think he'd get it through his head that people who are dating do things together." Draco muttered with obvious annoyance in his voice. His rage from earlier was quickly seeping back into him.

"No that's not it," Hermione didn't bother to continue explaining because Ron and Harry had kicked off and were flying towards them.

"Well I'm glad to see that the army of skrewts didn't hurt you Hermione," spat Ron furiously.

"Ron . . ." began Hermione.

"What the fuck are you talking about Weasley?" interrupted Draco.

Ron ignored him, "hmm, you mean there was no army of blast-ended skrewts" he said, his voice dripping with cruel sarcasm.

Hermione turned her head toward Draco, who was glaring furiously at Ron, "I'd like to go back inside now." Her voice was small and pained. Draco nodded, knowing that as soon as she was away from Weasley and Potter she was going to start crying. He turned the broom and guided it gently down to the ground.

"Yeah sure!" shouted Ron angrily after them "leave! That's what you always do as soon as we come around, you run off somewhere with him!"

Draco had been walking next to Hermione leading her back to the castle when Ron shouted at them. Hermione kept walking, speeding up to get away faster, Draco however stopped. He turned, sneering at Ron, "Weasley!" he shouted, "tell me, do you have no brains at all, or do you enjoy pushing Hermione to tears every time you see her?" Draco didn't wait for a response, he turned and swept across the grounds, he took long strides to catch up with Hermione, but she was still already at the castle steps by the time he reached her.

"Hermione?" said Draco soothingly, "you alright?" In his mind he was cursing at Weasley and pulverizing him to a pulp. But on the outside he was calming and supportive of Hermione. He still didn't know exactly what had happened out there. Obviously Weasley was mad for seeing Hermione flying with him, but what they hell had all that 'army of blast-ended skrewt' shit been about.

Hermione nodded, but Draco knew better. He watched as she lifted a hand to her face, presumably to wipe a tear from her eye. Her hair was blocking her face, so he couldn't see the tears, but he knew they were there.

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?" asked Draco gently. Even more than wanting to comfort Hermione, at the moment he wanted to know the whole story so he would know exactly why he was going to crack Weasley's skull in half then next time he saw him.

By now the two had reached their common room, and Hermione was starting to sob audibly. Draco held the door open for her, and climbed in after, her. "Come on Hermione, tell me."

"It's so stupid! She cried stamping her foot on the ground. She told Draco about what had happened at the Burrow over the summer. "I just can't stand him sometimes!" she shouted. "Every time I think we're straightened things out, he goes and messes everything up again!"

"Yeah well, he's always been an idiot, so why change now," muttered Draco.

It was proof of how furious she was with Ron that she didn't chastise Draco for his comment, instead she just humphed. Her eyes were red and bloodshot; she looked rather scary in fact. Draco kissed her forehead, "why don't you go take a shower or something, it will help you feel better."

"Yeah," Hermione mumbled, "I'll do that." She shuffled to her door, but before he closed it behind her, she turned back to Draco, "hey, I really did enjoy flying with you today, and I wish it could have lasted longer."

Draco smiled lovingly, "we'll have to do it again sometime then."

"I'd like that," Hermione whispered before retiring to her room.

Draco admired the fact that Hemrione was trying to hold her head high as if she wasn't bothered by what had happened. But Draco knew better, she was heartbroken. Heartbroken because that good-for-nothing pathetic excuse for a human being that she called a friend was an absolute moron. Draco scowled as he paced the room, he had half a mind to go find Weasley and tear him to shreds right then and there. The only thing that stopped him was that Weasley was probably still with Potter, and if he attacked one of them, the other would join in and double up on him. Draco wanted to make absolutely sure that when he attacked Ron he was alone so that no one could come to his rescue.

After a while without seeing Hermione, Draco poked his head inside to be sure she was alright. He had not been expecting what he found. From the looks of it, she had never gotten into the shower. She was still wearing her school clothes, and her hair was perfectly dry. She was curled up in a fetal position on her bed. Draco could see the tear stains trailing along her cheeks, he felt a pang of guilt knowing that he had been plotting revenge while she had been crying herself to sleep. It hurt that she hadn't wanted him to comfort her, perhaps she just didn't want him to see her cry, but he wanted to be there for her. He was still adjusting to the protective and possessive emotions she aroused in him, but he couldn't be there for her if she wouldn't let him.

Suddenly, plotting Weasley's horrific death just didn't have the appeal that it had before. Naturally Draco still wanted the idiotic weasel to die, but now was not the time to think about ways to kill him. In an attempt to distract himself, Draco pulled out his books to study.

Harry and Ron hadn't remained on the quidditch pitch for long after Hermione had stormed off with Malfoy on her heels. Ron was in an exceedingly bad mood. He stomped across the grounds all the way to the common room. He fell into an armchair by there fire, and just sat there sulking. At first Harry had just left him alone, figuring that he would talk faster if he was given some space.

However, Harry had been sitting silently next to Ron for quite some time and Ron seemed to be in as bad a mood as ever. After many fruitless attempts at getting Ron to talk and calm down, Harry suggested they take a walk to help clear their heads. Maybe, go down to the Heads common room and try to work things out with Hermione. Ron reluctantly agreed, so the two slowly walked down the corridor to the portrait of the founders. All the while Harry was reminding Ron to stay calm, and to apologize to Hermione before he said anything else.

Once they arrived at the founders' portrait, they stopped and Harry looked at Ron. Ron took a deep breath and nodded to Harry. Harry knocked on the portrait, which happened to be empty, and then they waited for Hermione to come to the door.

Draco was rereading the same paragraph in his herbology book for the 12th time when he heard the knock at the portrait. 'Oh what now,' he thought miserably. He got up walked to the portrait and opened it, and cursed silently to himself when he saw who it was. "What do you idiots want?" he spat with an angry scowl on his face.

"We need to talk to Hermione," answered Harry, silencing Ron from retorting.

"Well no thanks to this useless slug over here," Draco answered motioning to Ron, "she cried herself to sleep, and I'm not about to wake her up so that you two can upset her again."

"It's her own bloody fault!" shouted Ron, shoving Harry out of the way to lunge towards Draco.

Draco's eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a sneer. He stepped outside the common room and closed the portrait door so Hermione wouldn't be awakened by the shouting. Little did he know that Ron's shout had already managed to pull her from her uneasy slumber. She heard the portrait door close, and she slipped out of bed to ask Draco who it was, but found the room empty. Assuming that Draco was talking to the visitor outside, she began to walk back to bed when she heard Draco's voice yell. She couldn't make out what he said, so she tiptoed next to the portrait to listen to the conversation.

All the rage and frustration that had been building up inside Draco all day was unleashed as soon as the portrait was closed. "The only one who's to blame for this stinking mess is you Weasley!" spat Draco taking a step to close the distance between him and Ron.

"It's not my fault she's being so stupid. How could she do this us, we're supposed to be her best friends! And you're just Malfoy! She's supposed to hate you like the rest of us do because we're her real friends, we're the ones who really care about her!" retorted Ron.

"Oh really, Weasel? Have you ever stopped thinking about yourself and attempted to think of Hermione's feelings even for a second? Have you ever put your emotions and pitiful desires aside and let her be happy with that she wants? Because that is what a best friend would do. It seems that Potter and little Weasley are able to do that. You on the other hand, you think of no one other than yourself, and that makes this your fault," countered Draco without taking a breath.

Harry and Ron were speechless after Draco's words. Harry was stunned that Draco felt that deeply about it and understood Hermione so well, and Ron was just at a loss for a suitable comeback. He stood with his mouth gaping for a moment before turning to Harry, "Can you believe what that pitiful ferret just said about us Harry? He said we weren't good friends to Hermione! Not that I'm surprised, he wouldn't want us hanging around her anyway!" Ron raised his voice at the end and spoke right into Draco's stone cold face.

On the other side of the portrait, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She opened the door, shoved past Draco and stared daggers directly into Ron's eyes, "Ronald Weasley that is enough!"

The three boys just stared at her blankly. "I thought you said she was asleep!" shouted Ron, his eyes narrowed at Draco.

"I was asleep until your useless shouting woke me up!" yelled Hermione. "And if this is what you came to talk to me about, then the discussion is over. I am not going to sit here and listen to you telling me to leave Draco, because it's not happening! So you can either live with it, or leave me alone because I refuse to deal with your shit every day! Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Draco has never, and would never tell me not to be friends with you or Harry because he knows how much you two mean to me. But if you are going to be an arse and treat me like dirt because of who I'm dating, then we cannot be friends anymore. So it's up to you Ron, if you let it go, then we can try to work things out, but if you're going to keep up like you are, then you've just lost a friend."

Ron opened his mouth, but no sounds came out. He couldn't understand why the girl he loved was treating him like this. He watched pitifully as Hermione turned to step inside the common room once more. Impulsively he charged forward and cried, "But Hermione I love you!"

Harry stared at Ron wide-eyed, and Draco looked ready to kill, but Hermione was the one who spoke. She slid her arm around Draco's waist and spoke quietly, yet firmly, never breaking her harsh eye contact with Ron, "But I love Draco, I'm sorry if you can't accept that." Without another word, she turned and entered the common room. Draco threw an evil glare at Ron daring him to speak, and then he followed Hermione into the room and slammed the portrait behind him.

Harry and Ron stood motionless in front of the portrait. Ron was looking absolutely heartbroken and furious, and Harry was eyeing his friend cautiously. He didn't know what it must feel like to be so openly rejected like that by someone you care so deeply for, but he also didn't understand what Ron thought she would say. Harry couldn't blame Hermione for loving Draco, no matter how much he hated him, Draco had saved her life, and put his desires aside to keep her from harm. Harry just couldn't picture Ron and Hermione having that sort of bond. "Come on mate, lets go to bed you look like you need sleep," muttered Harry as he led his speechless friend back to the Gryffindor common room.

In the Heads common room, Draco was cautiously approaching Hermione, who was sitting on the couch fuming. He took a deep breath to temporarily put his anger aside in order to deal with her sadness. He sat next to her on the couch, and she practically dove into him sobbing. "Draco, I'm tired of this! I'm supposed to be happy; I'm head girl, it's our final year at Hogwarts, I have the best boyfriend in the world, I don't want to cry anymore!"

"I know," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her onto his lap.

Hermione stopped sobbing, but silent tears continued running down her cheeks. "I can't believe Ron told me he loved me, what would he know about love anyway?"

"Nothing like what we know that's for sure," he answered smiling, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.

"Hermione shifted so she could look at Draco's face, she leaned in and kissed him suddenly and deeply. When she broke the kiss she whispered, "Yeah, that's for sure."

At that moment, with that kiss Draco knew that no matter what happened to him, he would be fine as long as Hermione was with him, by his side. He was determined to never let anything happen to them.

When Harry and Ron entered the Gryffindor Common Room, Ginny was sitting in an armchair in front of the fire waiting. When they entered she looked up to see Ron looking white as a ghost and Harry was looking sympathetic. "What happened?" she asked.

Ron closed his eyes as if the question brought him immense pain, so Harry answered for him. He told Ginny everything that had happened from when Draco answered the portrait to when Hermione gave Ron his ultimatum and left. The story left Ginny open-mouthed, gaping at Ron.

"You told her you loved her!" she asked disbelieving.

"I told her the truth!" retorted Ron, finally snapping out of his shocked state.

"But you know she loves Malfoy! Honestly Ron what were you thinking!" Ginny spat back.

"I'm thinking that I'm not about to lose the woman I love to some low down Slytherin git!"

Ginny grabbed Ron's shoulders and stared at him. Their faces were so close that their noses were almost touching. "Ron," she said, keeping her voice firm, yet attempting to sound calm at the same time, "I am telling you this because you're my brother and I don't want to see you or Hermione hurt." Ginny paused to make sure Ron was listening, "you cannot lose someone that you never had! Hermione never knew how you felt until long after she started dating Draco, by that time her heart already belonged to him, and as much as you hate him, you have to admit that he obviously feels the same way. Do yourself and everyone else a favor, put your feelings aside and think about Hermione. If you really value her as a friend, you'll apologize and be happy for her because she's happy."

Ron looked pained as he listened to Ginny, "But it's Malfoy" he whined painfully.

"Ron if you can't get over that, then you are never going to have Hermione as a friend again," stated Ginny bluntly.

"I don't know if I can though. How am I supposed to just stand by while the one I love is with someone else?" he pleaded.

"If you truly care for her, then you'll be happy for her because she's happy," answered Ginny.

Well, I hope everyone liked the latest chapter. As always, I love hearing what you all think in your reviews, they make me smile :o)

I don't know if you all are as eager to get to the real action and drama as I am to write about it, but if you are, thenI promise that Voldemort's plot is just about ready to begin, so you'll definitely be hearing more about it in the upcoming chapters.