Draco felt faint, though he would never have admitted it, when Hermione casually mentioned that she had told a certain oversize oaf about their relationship. "Hagrid?" He barely managed not to scream. "He can't keep a secret! And he hates me!" Hermione only smiled in response, ignoring his distress completely, as though maternally waiting for him to recover himself and apologize. Well that wasn't likely, thought the young Slytherin.

In actual fact, Hermione was amused, rather than dismissive. Even with Draco's new growth and the rather stunning muscles she had recently become aware of, she was sure Hagrid would stand at least a foot above Draco. Somehow that felt like a little bit of the payback she was still confident he owed her, but she had been disinclined to collect as of yet.

As they got closer, Draco's hand tightened around Hermione's. Feeling a little nervous herself she attempted to reassure him. "You just be nice, Draco. He says that he just wants to meet you and then he'll leave."

Draco screeched to a halt. "Meet… Hermione, you did tell him that it was me."

"What?" Hermione brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

"You told him my name."

Oh…, Hermione bit her lip. "No… I told him that you're a Slytherin and that I love you. He's promised to be good too."

Draco was less than reassured. "Hermione, he hates me."

"Hagrid doesn't hate anyone." Hermione dismissed him as she did Harry or Ron when they were being silly and attempted to pull him along. He didn't move. After a few moments she turned and took his face in her hands instead. "Do you trust me?" He nodded. Hermione leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. "Good." She bounced a little as she pulled away, walking backwards, holding both his hands in hers. "Then come and meet Hagrid."

Draco followed slightly less enthusiastically and they stood on the doorstep, hand in hand, as Hermione knocked.

Hagrid came out smiling broadly. "Hallo Hermione, an' thi' must be… Malfoy?" Hagrid's face contorted and his hands balled into fists.

"Hagrid!" Hermione stepped forward and gently pried his hands flat, leaving Draco free to back up a few steps. "This is my… boyfriend, I guess that's the word, isn't it?" She seemed more preoccupied by the correct terminology than by the seemingly imminent fight, and Draco decided to step back a few more paces.

Hagrid pulled Hermione in closer to him, holding her arm firmly and leaning down to hiss in her ear, "Hermione! Y' gotta be kiddin'. 'E's a Malfoy! 'E tried t' get me kicked ou' I swear!"

"I'm sorry." Hermione and Hagrid turned to Draco, identical looks of shock on their faces. "I'm sorry, Hagrid. I know you won't trust me, but I do love Hermione." And please don't hit me, Draco added silently. A black eye would raise some questions.

Hagrid seemed slightly off kilter after the apology but he continued to object. "'E called ye a Mudblood!" Hagrid pointed childishly. "Y' can't trust 'im."

"People change, Hagrid. And he's apologized." Draco couldn't help but laugh at Hermione's odd sense of justice. "Now come on. Let's have a cup of tea, hmm?" Hagrid continued to glare but Hermione bossily took one of each's hands and led them inside, chastising the pair, "Both of you, grow up!"

Reluctantly, the two shook the hands that Hermione outstretched for them. Hagrid was still glaring and Draco's smile was rather shaky, but Hermione supposed it would have to do. At least she had remembered to bring more cakes from the kitchen: Draco looked so humble and scared that he might have taken one of Hagrid's rock cakes and tried to eat it!

As suspected Hagrid and Draco took a while to get used to each other. But in a few weeks, which was far less than any of them had expected (especially with both Draco and Hagrid banking on never) Hagrid grudgingly admitted that Draco had changed. Hermione felt somewhat justified, that it was not just her who had seen the new Draco, that she wasn't being taken in. And the evenings in Hagrid's house had become far more fun.

Draco, she noticed, had developed an interest in dragons. This development was so interestingly timed that Hermione found herself wondering if Draco hadn't decided that it might be a good idea to create some common ground with the half-giant by cultivating this interest. Even so, after a few days, dragons became a near-daily topic in the cabin.

Using his unlimited wealth, Draco bought all kinds of fascinating books filled with diagrams, pictures, essays and advice. Hermione would sit on his lap and the two would read them together, finding interesting passages to read aloud to Hagrid. Draco doubted that she would have been better pleased with the gems and jewelry that he would have bought for any other girl. He even found himself less annoyed than anticipated that Hagrid's admission that the Slytherin had changed was not enough to pursuade the erstwhile oaf to leave them alone together.

Hermione herself felt that this was better, especially as Draco never let her go into Gryffindor Tower without thoroughly investigating a little niche with her. But despite the indescribable pleasure of his body on hers, kissing in the hallways, and his smoldering looks before his mouth descended once more; listening to his voice rumble in his chest as he reads quotes about a Norwegian Ridgeback hatched in captivity in England is better. She listened idly, using half her attention to reread her Potions textbook, as the two men speculated if this particular dragon could be Norbert. Hermione smiled, remembering the silence that had become all too tense when Norbert's name had first come up. After all, Draco had told McGonagall about the dragon.

Draco intuitively felt the smile and, although he didn't know the reason and certainly would have found the memory more awkward and nervous than amusing, he pulled her closer and kissed her hair, wrapping a long arm around her. Happily, he heard her soft sigh.

Then someone knocked on the door and he had to check her fall as she spilled out of his lap, both leaping up at the same time. Hagrid looked just as frantic. "In wit' Fang, under the quilt!" he hissed as Ron's voice called through the door.

"Oi, Hagrid! Open up!"

Hermione and Draco dashed to the bed and jumped in. Hagrid looked back at them once before opening the door.

"Hallo Ron! And 'Arry!" Hagrid's voice boomed. Hermione found all this quite funny, but more funny-odd than funny-amusing. Despite all her warm kisses and daydreams about Draco, being in bed with him, Hagrid's bed to make it worse, even under the circumstances, is still highly awkward. Draco seemed to feel much the same, coupled with the genuine panic he felt whenever he thought they might be discovered. Hermione smiled, thinking it rather sweet in a highly unnecessarily overprotective way.

"Hi, Hagrid." Harry said. Ron was suspiciously quiet and Hermione could almost feel his eyes glaring through Fang and the quilt. Now who's being paranoid, she scolded herself. "How are you?"

"Aye, I'm fine. Just fine." Hagrid's nervousness was apparent and Hermione flinched, knowing that Harry would pick up on this. Just please, she prayed, don't let them mention…

"Have you seen Hermione?" Ron asks and she knew she was done for.

"Her- Hermione?" His voice was too high, anyone could tell. "No, no, not at all." The pair could hear the boards creak as Hagrid shifted his weight.

"I think she's off with some guy." Ron said and Hermione grimaced. Draco dared to extend a hand to her and she took it, grasping it.

"Now, why d'ye think that? Bloody silly idea. Our Hermione off with some fella!" Hagrid was panicking and Ron clearly wasn't buying any of it.

"She goes out every night and stays out for ages. She'd come back muddy as hell a few weeks ago, but now she's just coming back singing."

"Well 'oo d'ye think she's out wit'. Not one of th' Gryffindor lads?" Hermione allowed herself a small sigh of relief, perhaps that would throw them off. "Maybe she was havin' a relationship but if ye say she ain't comin' back muddy no more, then I wager it's done wit'' With the word relationship, Hermione's hopes died. Harry would know for certain (and probably Ron too) that Hagrid knew something.

Ron however blundered on. "I know it sounds stupid, Hagrid. But the way Hermione's been acting. She's not herself at all! I… I want to kill whoever made her like this!" Hermione squeezed Draco's hand, Ron sounded absolutely furious. Little did she know that Draco was quite the opposite of afraid… he was furious at Ron for being selfish! He couldn't even be happy for the girl he said he liked! No, any altruistic daydreams of doing right by Hermione and giving her up to that prat had dissipated.

The two lay there, under the covers, listening to Ron's death threats become increasingly incoherent, until Harry reminded him about a Divination paper and Ron reluctantly left, still muttering. Harry turned around, shutting the door behind his friend. "Hagrid, where's Hermione hiding?"

"I… er, I…"

"Better still, Hermione, come out?"

She sighed and looked towards Draco. She couldn't see his expression be he squeezed and released her hand. Nodding, though rather pointlessly she realized a few seconds late, Hermione slipped out from under the blanket, a little flushed but not only from the stuffiness under the quilt.

"Hi, Hermione." Harry reached over to help her past Hagrid's pile of clutter. Taking his hands, rather thankfully, Hermione leaned on him to get out to the table where Hagrid had pulled out a chair for her. Harry waited expectantly, still looking back at the bed.

"'Arry?"

Harry didn't turn around. "Is your friend joining us or is he going to pretend he's not there?"

Wow… greatest feeling in the world to open my inbox and see the whole first page filled with review alerts! Thank you every one so much! Keep the R+R up and I'll keep updating and writing longer and longer chappies! (bribery, I know) Harry's reaction up next… hope it meets with everyone's (aka Smile88's) expectations!