A/N - Yay! New chappie! Okay, I know that was pretty crappy way to end the last chapter, but at least it keeps the suspense up. This one also has a pretty crappy ending, for the same reason. I know I'm not uploading so fast now, but I am going to be a little busy, so please bear with me if the new chappies don't come so fast. You should console yourself with the though that I can't afford to take too long or people will lose interest in my story! Anyway, I'll stop saying irrelevant things, so you can get on with the chappie. (Please excuse the lame title; all my creativity went into the chapter itself and there was none left to come up with a good title.)

P.S. - R & R!!!!

Chapter 10 – Surprises

Hermione stood at the front door for a while before she realised how cold it was getting and had to go inside. She walked somewhat like a zombie to her room, answering her parents' greetings and questions in monosyllables.

How could this have happened? How could he have fallen in love with her? They barely knew each other! Okay, she was beginning to get to know him pretty well, but he didn't know anything about her past except that she had gone to some vague boarding school somewhere and her best friends were two guys called Harry and Ron. Was it possible to fall in love when you know so little about the other person? Was it even real love or was it just infatuation? So many questions!

Still, whatever his reasons for falling in love with her were, she couldn't string him on like this. She had to tell him everything and maybe then he would realise the folly of falling in love with her; her life was too complicated.

She was pretty upset. She feared she might lose Kevin now and though she had not been completely loyal to him in her thoughts, she did like him and she knew that he was quite an exceptional person. She had a good time with him; he always tried to make sure she did, even if it meant watching movies like 'The Wedding Planner', which she suspected was really not the kind of movie he liked (she wished she had told him she didn't like it all that much either). And he was in love with her, so it would not be nice for him to be so disillusioned. She didn't want to hurt him, but it might be inevitable.

She kept on and on thinking until she couldn't keep awake any longer and fell into a deep sleep.

Hermione woke up groggy and tired, even though she had slept well. In her dreams, the questions that she had pondered so hard and not found any answers to had kept coming back at her and all the worst-case scenarios had been shown to her. She woke up early, at around eight o'clock and tossed and turned for a while before getting out of bed. She wanted to call Kevin and tell him everything, but she was afraid it was too early. She felt a little impatient about the whole thing, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible. She had no idea how he would react but she thought there might just be the tiniest chance that he would still accept her, since he was into new and different things. But she didn't know what the limit of his interest was; being told that you're in love with a witch who has helped destroy the greatest and most terrible wizard of all times could be a big shock. She just hoped he would get over it.

She lazed around, writing a little about S.P.A.W. and reading a little of her book. When the clock struck nine, she couldn't wait any longer and called Kevin. As the phone rang and no one picked up, she feared he was asleep, but finally a sleepy voice asked, "Hello?"

"Hi, Kevin? Were you sleeping?"

"Hey, Hermione...no, no, don't worry. I'm up," he replied.

"Good, because I was wondering if I could meet you. Now."

"Now? It's kind of early...why don't we meet for lunch? I can take you to that fair after that."

Hermione felt exasperated. "No, not the fair! I mean, please, I really need to talk to you."

He seemed a little suspicious. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I just really need to talk to you. Please, Kevin?"

He sighed. "All right. No problem. If you want to talk we could go to Orlando Park."

"Thanks. In half an hour?"

"Half an...? Oh, all right. I'll be there."

"See you!"

"Bye."

She put the phone down and quickly got ready. She wasn't as concerned about her appearance as she would normally have been on a date with Kevin, so she was all set in twenty minutes. The park was a ten-minute drive from her house and she rushed downstairs, answering her parents' questioning and surprised glances with very short statements. She took a taxi and reached the park in time.

Orlando Park was a private park in a rich part of London. While it was not very big, it was remarkably pretty, with lovely flowers and beautiful old trees. It was very quiet and sedate and therefore a very convenient place to discuss important, private matters. Hermione found a small bench under an oak tree and sat down to wait for Kevin. He arrived about three minutes after her and hurried towards her.

"I'm so sorry. Have you been waiting long?" he asked.

"No, it's all right. I just got here a few minutes back," she replied.

He had a very sleepy expression on his face, which made him all the cuter.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about so urgently?" he asked, settling down beside her on the bench.

She bit her lip. How could she begin? "Well, it's got to do with what you told me last night."

He looked a little afraid and very boyish. "Do you think I'm rushing things?"

"No...well, yes, I suppose it is a little soon, but that's not what I want to talk to you about."

"Then what is it?" he asked, looking relieved and a little suspicious.

"Well, it's to do with me. I'm not exactly who you think I am," she said the words slowly, making up the sentence as she was speaking.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking surprised.

"I mean, I'm not a mug...I'm a witch," she replied, deciding it was best to get straight to the point.

His eyes widened. "A witch? But you didn't seem like the sort who..."

"I'm not, I'm not," she hastily reassured him, realising he thought she meant one of those muggles who, in their quest to perform magic, resorted to all kinds of strange rituals and very dark spells. "I'm not a witch of the kind you would have heard of. I practice real magic, like you might have read in some books, though it's not quite that either. We don't do black magic, like the supposed witches of today; there's a whole wizarding world out there."

He was looking somewhat disbelieving, but very curious. She realised she would have to explain everything to him right from the beginning and took a deep breath and told him, in short, all that had happened from the day she had received her acceptance letter from Hogwarts till the present day. She didn't tell him all the details, but he got the general idea.

When she had finished he whistled and said, "Wow. This is pretty amazing. A real wizarding world exists out there! That's really something!"

She was very much on tenterhooks and blurted out, "But do you still like me after all this?"

He snapped out of his musings about the wizarding world and said, "Hermione! Of course I do! How could you ever doubt it? When I said I loved you, I meant that I loved you for who you are."

"But I'm not who you thought I was!"

"But you are! Can't you see? It doesn't matter if you're a witch or a human or a demon, for all I care! To me, you're just this amazing person whom I love more and more every time I see. Your past, your present, your future...nothing matters. And who wants to be ordinary, anyway? I fell in love with you because you were so unique and this just makes me love you more."

Hermione felt so relieved, happy and surprised that she actually put her arms around him and kissed him, in broad daylight, in front of two old ladies who had been walking on the path in front of them.

Hermione had lunch with Kevin and after that he took her to the fair he had mentioned the previous night. She was very touched by how much he loved her and his total acceptance of her. No girl could have resisted him after that and she felt herself actually falling for him. Draco was not forgotten, but he was put aside with much more ease than normal. Kevin was quite amazing and Hermione felt she was stupid to have ever doubted him or thought of anyone else. He had proved to her that day that he was quite perfect and it would be hard to find a better guy than him. She also felt she owed it to him to be his girlfriend after everything that had happened. She strolled around the fair with him very happily, her arm in his and her head resting on his shoulder. He asked her a lot of questions about the wizarding world and she was very glad to answer them. She was pleased that he was taking an interest in it and thought of introducing him to Harry, Ron and quidditch. In fact, she wanted to take him for the game on Saturday and decided she would resolve her quarrel with Harry and ask him.

While she was lying in bed that evening, thinking about all the events of the day, the same brown owl that had pecked at her window two days previously appeared in the same spot. It pecked hard at the glass, wanting to be let in. Hermione was a little surprised. What does Draco want now? she wondered. She let in the owl, who once again did not wait for any Treats and flew off immediately after she untied the letter. The envelope was made of very fine, very soft, very expensive-looking parchment and it had her name on it in curled, formal lettering. She didn't like the look of it, but she opened it anyway. There were a few sheets of parchment in it, made of material similar to that used for the envelope, except that it was even finer and softer. On the first sheet, the same fancy lettering was used to spell out in bold the words:

'Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy proudly invite you to the engagement of their son

Draco

With

Marissa

(Daughter of Alphonse & Monique Beaumont)'