I think I say this too much, but thank you all again soooooo much for all of the reviews.

Disclaimer: Do I own anything having to do with Harry Potter? No. Do I wish I did? Hell yes.


They sat in complete silence for what felt like an eternity. They'd probably only been in that abandoned classroom for mere minutes, but somehow the awkward silence made it feel like a lot longer.

Not able to take it any longer, Draco finally broke the ice by saying, "So…"

Hermione stared down at the floor. "So…"

Draco looked at the ceiling. "We're missing Potions class," he mumbled.

"I know," Hermione said.

The complete and utter lack of concern in Hermione's voice surprised Draco. Hermione Granger was knowingly missing a class, and she couldn't care less. He had to admit that he was a bit impressed.

He took one step closer to her. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Granger?"

Draco was so sure that his sudden proximity would unnerve her, but he was wrong. She stared up into his eyes with a look filled with intrepidity. "I think you know what I want to talk to you about, Draco."

He flinched at the sound of his name. So, they were back on a first-name basis, then? "Well, Hermione, maybe I don't know. Perhaps you ought to tell me."

"And perhaps you ought to drop the clueless act," Hermione said icily. "I know you know why we're here."

"And I know you know that I know, but you know what else, Granger? I also know that I suddenly don't feel like talking anymore."

"Well too bad!" Hermione cried. "We need to talk about this!"

"About what, exactly? I honestly don't know!"

"I was scared!" Hermione shouted. Feeling embarrassed, she lowered her voice quite a bit and said, "I can't just ignore the way I felt when I thought for sure you had ingested that toxic love potion. I was frightened, Draco. Frightened that I would never see you alive again. That has got to mean something. And I know you won't admit it, but when you came rushing into the hospital wing -"

"I was scared, too," Draco blurted out. Oh, he really hadn't meant to say that.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. She hadn't been expecting him to admit that. But the fact that he had made her breath catch in her throat.

Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, Draco took a step away from her. "Look, Granger, all we can conclude so far from this conversation is that we don't necessarily want each other to die. That just makes us decent human beings. It means nothing more than that."

"Why did you approach me on Valentine's Day?" Hermione asked. She was a bit surprised with herself – she had no idea she had even wanted to ask that question in the first place.

"What?" Draco said, pretending like he hadn't heard her.

"I said, why did you approach me on Valentine's Day?" Hermione repeated. Suddenly, she realized she had really wanted to know the answer to this question for quite some time now. "Why did you come over to my table and sit down? You never exactly made a habit of talking to me, unless I was hanging around Harry. So why, on Valentine's Day, did you decide to pay attention to me?"

It was something Draco had never stopped to wonder himself. Why had he been so intent on paying attention to her at Valentine's Day? "I don't know, Granger." Draco sighed. "I guess I just saw it as a perfect opportunity to harass you. You were all alone on the most romantic day of the year, and I wanted to rub it in."

"But why?" Hermione pressed. "I mean, we both know that you love to torture me, but you've always done it when Harry was right next to me, almost as if you did it to get a rise out of him. But I wasn't with Harry that night, so why did you even bother to acknowledge me?"

"What do you expect me to say, Granger?" Draco snapped. "That I approached you because deep down, I am madly in love with you? And wanted to spend the most romantic day of the year with you? Is that what you want to hear?"

"What I want to hear is the truth!"

"I already told you the truth!" he yelled. "What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to -" She paused. "Ugh! I just want you to, once and for all, admit that you…that you…"

Draco looked at her intently, silently coaxing her to go on. "That I what?"

Hermione let her gaze fall to the floor. "That you…like me."

She said it so softly that Draco wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. Did she just say she wants him to admit he likes her?

"Granger…" His voice trailed off. He considered making some scathing remark, like he wouldn't like her if she were the last witch on earth…but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. She stood in front of him looking so incredibly vulnerable…and so incredibly cute. "I like you," he said; his voice barely above a whisper. He couldn't believe he had just said that out loud. But more importantly, he couldn't believe that he didn't care.

She looked up at him. Tears – happy tears, he hoped – formed in her eyes. When she blinked, one lonely tear traveled down her cheek. Reaching out, Draco gently brushed it away.

"I like you, Granger," he went on. "I don't want to like you. I don't know why I like you. But I do. I think I've liked you for a long time, and that love potion…it just brought those feelings to the surface. I suddenly felt like I was free to like you…like there was nothing standing in our way of being together. That potion made me feel like it didn't matter who knew, or what they thought…all that mattered was that we were together. And then after we were given that anti-potion…all that security I had felt came crumbling down, and reality hit me - that you and I…this is wrong. Our friends don't want us together. And my father…Granger, if my father found out, I shudder to think of what he would do. But…" It was his turn to glance down at the floor, afraid to look at her. Afraid that if he did, he would kiss her and maybe never stop. "I've been fighting these feelings for you, Granger, and I'm tired. I don't want to do this anymore. The whole thing with Sadie was just a distraction. I couldn't stand to think about you anymore - about you and Blaise. Every time I saw you two together, it tore me up inside."

"Draco," Hermione whispered. Her tears were now flowing freely. "Blaise and I were never together. That whole thing with Pansy, when I thought you had given her that ring…that tore me up inside. I guess I wanted to make you jealous, and I figured Blaise would be the perfect person to help me, especially since he seemed so willing. I know it was a stupid, immature thing to do, but I was hurt and, well, I guess I wasn't thinking straight."

Draco gaped at her. "You're kidding me. You mean, all this time…but I saw you kiss him. Twice!"

"Twice?" Hermione was confused. She could only think of one time when he would have seen her and Blaise kissing, which was out on the Quidditch field. She had only kissed Blaise twice, after all, which would mean…"Oh." He must have seen them that time in the library. Suddenly, she felt ashamed. "The library?"

He nodded. "Yeah, the library. I came to find you that night after…well, after our little encounter in the hospital wing. And I saw you two together. You certainly weren't kissing to make me jealous then, because you didn't even know I was there."

"That was just…I don't know. Blaise can be a really nice guy, and I was thinking at the time that you and I would never happen -"

"Granger," Draco interrupted, shaking his head. "You don't owe me an explanation. You had Blaise, I had Sadie. They were both distractions and we both admit they were just ways to try and make each other jealous. We're both guilty here."

"You mean…you used Sadie to make me jealous?"

Draco nodded. "Did it work?"

Hermione sighed. "It really, really did."

Another moment of silence passed between them, but it was less uncomfortable this time.

"I'm glad we're doing this," Draco said suddenly.

"Me too." Hermione smiled at him.

"I can't fight this anymore, Granger," he continued. "I feel like if I do, I'm going to go absolutely mad. I thought if I just ignored everything, it would all go away, but it hasn't. I still see you every single day in the hallways, and my heart practically stops beating." He moved in closer to her. "It's getting to the point where I don't care if the whole world knows how I feel about you, just so long as I can…" His voice trailed off.

Shaking slightly as she gazed up into his eyes, Hermione whispered, "Just so long as you can what?"

Instead of answering, Draco slowly leaned forward and captured her mouth with his. The second their lips touched, Hermione could have sworn she'd felt a spark of electricity ignite between them. Without even hesitating, Hermione parted her lips slightly, as if to let him know it was okay to deepen the kiss – something he wasted no time in doing.

Hermione sighed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck; at the same time he encircled his around her waist. Right away, Hermione could tell there was a huge difference between this kiss and all the others they had shared. Because this time there were no potions…there were no feelings of denial. This was, in many ways, their first true kiss.

Hours passed…okay, well, minutes passed, and it seemed like they would never part. Unfortunately, though, all good things must come to an end. And it was Draco who ended it.

"Wait," he murmured, gently pushing her away.

"What?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

Draco held her out at arm's length and stared deeply into her eyes. He didn't want to have to say this, but he knew he had no choice. "There's something you need to understand, Granger. The Draco Malfoy you've hated for all these years…that person is me. He is who I am. I can't be expected to change because you…because we…"

"Malfoy," Hermione interjected softly, placing a finger to his lips. "Who said I expected you to change? I know who you are. I know that the Draco Malfoy I've known and hated for all these years has not just been an act."

"And you can accept that I will always be an insufferable git?" He arched an eyebrow.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I guess I will have to. Can you accept the fact that I will always be a know-it-all bookworm mudblood?"

Draco grimaced at the term "mudblood". Hell, he was becoming soft already. And he suddenly didn't care. He gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Hermione smiled and leaned in for another kiss. Unfortunately, this time they were interrupted by the bell ringing. Potions class was over.

"Oh no," Hermione said in a panicky voice. "We missed the entire class."

Draco chuckled. "It's better to have missed it altogether than to have shown up late. Could you imagine the look on Snape's face if you and I traipsed into class late together? What would people think?"

Hermione giggled. "They would think we are crazy."

"They would have every reason to think that, Granger. Because we are crazy."

Hermione took his hand. "At least we're crazy together, right? Now let's make sure we're not late for our next class."

"Right," Draco said; his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That would be a travesty."

"It would!" Hermione exclaimed.

Draco grinned. "Okay, okay. Hey, what do you say we get together later? Maybe meet at our spot?"

"'Our spot'?" Hermione said.

"Yeah. You know, the Astronomy Tower…"

"I know where our spot is, Malfoy. I was just surprised to hear you refer to it as that."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well whatever. Is it a date, or not?"

"Oh, it's a date alright," said Hermione in a flirty voice. She turned towards the door. "Okay, so I'll leave first. We wouldn't want anyone to see the two of us exiting an empty classroom together now, do we?"

"I suppose not," Draco replied. "Although it would be very interesting to see the expressions on their faces. Especially Pansy's."

Hermione had to admit she wouldn't mind seeing Pansy's expression, either. Still, she wasn't about to risk it. "I'll see you later," she called over her shoulder to Draco, then exited the room.

The minute she stepped foot into the hallway, she heard somebody call out her name.

Looking up, she saw that Harry and Ron were rushing over to her as fast as they could. "Mione!" Harry cried. "Thank goodness you're all right! Why weren't you in Potions class? We heard that you got hurt and we were worried about you! What happen-"

Harry froze mid-sentence and stared wide-eyed over Hermione's shoulder.

Uh-oh, she thought. Turning around, she saw what had made Harry look like a deer caught in headlights: Draco had emerged from the empty classroom. The one she had just emerged from.

"Uh…Mione…" Ron said, glaring at Draco. "Care to explain what you and Malfoy were just doing in that empty classroom?" He paused, blushed, then mumbled, "No, wait, forget I said that. I don't want to know."

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. She'd been hoping to put this moment off for a while - like maybe until the end of their seventh year or so – but it looked as though she had no choice but to just get everything out into the open right now.

She reached out her hand behind her, searching for Draco's. He took it immediately, and suddenly she felt confident in what she was about to do.

They wouldn't like it, she knew. They would probably scream and yell and protest and shoot glares. Ron would probably stop breathing. But this was something she was going to have to do eventually, and there was no time like the present. Besides, the sooner they found out, the sooner they'd get over it.

Standing next to Draco, who stood as tall and arrogant as ever, Hermione looked at her two best friends and said quietly, "Harry…Ron…Draco and I have something to tell you."

Author's Note: Okay, folks, only one more chapter left to go. And guess what? It's already half-written! w00t!