The time between them and their duel between Lord Voldemort drew nearer and both Hermione and Draco could feel it. They spent all their free time practicing spells and hexes, many of which they thought would be useful although some where obviously placed in the book at random. For example, the no tasting spell, and the night vision one. But just to be safe, as Hermione told Draco 'better safe than sorry', they practiced each and every on of the hexes and spells until they were up to Hermione's standards.

Hermione's favorite hex was the mime hex, mimicry. She had to spend an hour explaining to Draco what exactly a "mime" was but even then he didn't seem to enjoy its irony as much as she. The mime hex would drop an invisible box around the person it was casted on continually until they could get out of it 3 times, 3 different ways. The box also blocked every spell shot from the person within it or until the counter curse was said.

Draco's favorite was Poena lux lucis, or painful light. It only worked on someone evil, which made practicing it very difficult on Hogwarts grounds. They ended up collecting spiders and such and cursing them to be evil before attempting this hex. The hex burns a light from the inside of an evil creature's heart filling them with the pain that all of their past victims have felt. His favorite part, of course, was watching the spiders suffering from the pain of the poison they had shot into their countless victims. Hermione found this very gruesome, but Draco found it fascinating, and couldn't wait to put it on Voldemort.

The visits Iris and Aidan gave them became more frequent and more demanding. Instead of advice they became tests. Eventually Hermione and Draco's senses became so fine tuned they could tell when Iris or Aidan were going to appear and hex them as soon as they became visible.

Draco began falling even harder for Hermione and her for him. It seemed the more time they spent together the harder it was to be apart. Sure, to Hermione Draco could still be a self-absorbed prick. And to Draco Hermione could still be a little-miss-know-it-all but the more time together the harder it was for them to care about those traits.

In fact, Draco secretly started to smile whenever Granger would raise her hand, knowing the answer to the question that hadn't been finished. And Hermione started to smile back at him when he would brag to her about something he thought he had done that deserved praise.

It was one of those nights of late night hexes, and they were in the Room of Requirement. The room looked pretty much the same as it always did: perfect place for practicing, dueling, and researching, with of course, the bed, as always, a reminder of their subconscious thoughts.

They dueled using different hexes, laughing at how stupid the other person looked trying to get out of the invisible box, or trying to stand on jelly legs. Finally, exhausted and finished they collapsed next to each other on the stone floor in fits of laughter.

"Oh Draco, you should have seen the way you looked in the box!" She had a fresh peel of laughter erupt from her belly.

"Oh, yah? Well, you didn't see yourself acting all confused and not knowing where you were," He smiled, "Or for that matter, who I was."

"Oh really? What exactly did I do?" She asked wiping her eyes from the tears that had formed during her laughter.

"Well, at first you were scared of me… must have been intimidated by my good looks," he started. She snorted but he went on. "Well, then after a few seconds you started trying to seduce me. You were saying something like how incredibly handsome I was… and how I was the most stunning young man you've seen before." She started laughing again. "No really. Hermione you seemed very overcome with me looks. But of course, me being the gentleman I am," she rolled her eyes at this, "I immediately reversed the spell. I wouldn't want you to go any farther."

"Oh really?" She asked.

"Really, really."

She looked down in mock sadness. "Oh… so I guess… never mind…"

"Wait what?" He said confused at her reaction. He was expecting her to hex him or something, but this wasn't anticipated.

"Bullocks," She sat up. "I was just going to ask you to… well seeing as you stopped me before… I guess… well, lets just forget I said anything." She pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her wicked smile behind her knees.

"Wait, ask me to do what?" He asked but she just shook her head, trying to look mournful. "Ask me to do…" He looked at her cautiously as if for permission but then just went on looking at her slyly. "…this?" He took her hand and lightly pressed his lips against it. She suppressed a giggle, and shook her head no. "Hmm… what about this?" He kissed her on her forehead, barley brushing his lips against her skin. She shook her head again. "This?" He kissed her cheek but again she shook her head. "This?" He brought his lips to her nose. Finally she couldn't take it, she laughed, bringing her head up from her knees.

"Nuh-uh." She grinned.

"Oh, Hermione, you naughty, naughty girl." He smiled. "Could you have possibly meant…" He slowly brought his hand to the side of her cheek, his eyes looking deep into hers. She could feel his breath on her lips, and her eyes where threatening to close. "This?" he whispered before softly placing his lips upon hers. He paused enjoying the feeling of her supple lips against his own before he removed them. He opened his eyes to see hers were still shut. She seemed to shimmer with perfection. He wanted to kiss every bit of her, to her in his arms forever.

He was lost in her beauty but was slowly pulled back when he heard her mumble, "mhm." He smiled and kissed her again, taking pleasure in the feeling of electricity he felt running through his lips into his veins all over his body. He slightly opened his mouth and asked with his tongue to open hers. Her mouth readily opened and their tongues met. If he thought he might loose control before he was really worried now. He slid his tongue along hers, his hand sliding into her hair. He kissed her deeply wanting more, his desire for her only slightly satisfied he pulled away. He kissed her again just on her lips lightly.

"Keep your eyes closed." She nodded in response and he stood up and wrapped one arm under the bend of her knees and the other around her back. He lifted her off the ground and carried her over to the bed. He placed her gently on the bed but as soon as her skin touched the sheets, her eyes shot open.

"Draco..."

"It's ok. I just want you more comfortable. "He kissed her forehead before lying beside her. "I promise I won't do anything you don't want me to ok?" Her eyes still held a bit of fear, but mainly softened as she nodded. "I missed feeling you against me. I don't know why, but I feel really lonely every night when I go to bed, Hermione. Can we just lie by each other some?"

"Ok." She kissed him again on his lips. "I missed you too." She said as she moved down lightly resting her head on his chest, soaking in his scent. She closed her eyes, and matched his breathing. They lay like that next to each other for a long time, both wanting to know what the other was thinking, and feeling. But not knowing how the other would react.

They both fell asleep there, all thoughts of the duel coming up and their almost certaindeaths forgotten.

A/N: There you have it! 8 review took way to long don't you think? Besides i've decided that alot of people are just prudes and dont like to review, and fine. I'm ok with that. So i'm shortening it from 8 to 6. We'll see how hard that one is. Because believe it or not, i do need SOME help. Ok... well there.