(A/N: Been in America on holiday, but finished this off tonight. Enjoy! ♥)

Monday morning hit Hermione like a slap in the face. One minute she had been arguing with Draco Malfoy, then she had been kissing Draco Malfoy and before she knew it all of the time had just disappeared. When she had finally managed to drag herself away from him, he had held her hand as they quietly walked the few hundred yards to the Gryffindor common room.

'Goodnight,' she had whispered.

'Or good morning,' he had added, 'Depending on how you look at it.'

After leaning up to kiss him softly on the lips one last time, she had turned and headed up to bed. Her sweet dreams had, of course, been filled with Malfoy, but were never quite as good as the real thing.

'Out late last night, weren't you?' Ron asked as they headed down to breakfast.

'Um…' Hermione said as she felt her mind go blank. She saw Harry nodding vigorously behind Ron's head.

'Yeah,' she said quickly, 'I was…'

She watched Harry put his hands together and then flatten them out, palms upwards repeatedly.

'Oh!' Hermione said triumphantly as she suddenly understood, 'I was at the library!'

'Err… good for you…' Ron said, looking at her strangely.

Harry waited until Ron was slightly ahead of them, caught up in Seamus Finnigan's conversation in front, before he spoke.

'You should tell him,' he advised Hermione quietly, 'That was a bit of a close one Hermione. I mean, I know you don't think much of Ron's general intelligence, but he's going to notice sooner or later.'

'I never doubted his intelligence!' Hermione snapped indignantly. In her head, however, she too knew it had been a close call. She hated lying to Ron and she hated the idea of Harry lying to cover for her.

'Life is complicated sometimes,' she sighed out loud.

'And then you die,' said Harry with a grin.

Halfway through breakfast Hermione remembered what she had forgotten.

'I'm just going to run upstairs and get my History of Magic essay before class, okay?' She said to Ron, who sat beside her.

'Sure,' he said around a mouthful of bacon, 'No problem.'

As she took the stairs two at a time, Hermione realised that it was in History of Magic itself that life had taken an interesting turn the week before. She wasn't quite sure if she was thankful or not.

'Want to do something really bad, but good at the same time?' Said an intriguing voice somewhere over to her left.

'Something we haven't done already?' She challenged, putting her head on one side as she turned to face him.

'Well we can do that too,' he said in that low, deliciously dangerous voice as he stepped closer to her.

'I don't think we should do this anymore,' she told him, abruptly taking a step back.

It came so unexpectedly for both of them, that Hermione wasn't certain if she had really said it or not.

Draco faltered.

'Wh-what do you mean?' He wanted to know.

'I can't lie to my friends,' she explained, 'I've already had to lie about where I was last night, and it makes me feel terrible.'

He caught her gaze with his intense, blue eyes and held it as he spoke.

'Even if what we have is something special?'

'If it's something special then what's the harm in people knowing?' she shot back.

There was silence between them.

'It really makes you think: is it worth it?' She continued, 'And I'm sorry Draco, but I'm really not sure if only being "your girl" when it suits you is worth it at all.'

'I'm sorry you feel that way,' he said with an unreadable expression on his face.

She regarded him for a moment, 'I'm not,' she replied before carrying on her way to Gryffindor tower.

'Have you told him yet?' Harry murmured as he sat down next to Hermione at dinner.

'No,' she said quietly, 'I told someone else something else instead.'

Harry let out a sympathetic sigh and looked at her.

'What happened?' He asked.

'Nothing,' she replied, staring down at her hands, feeling numb, 'I just told him that I couldn't sneak around anymore, and then I left. And…'

'And what?' Harry said gently.

'And it was the truth,' she finished, her voice so soft that Harry could barely hear her.

'Sometimes the truth hurts,' he said quietly, patting her comfortingly on the back, 'But it's usually for the best.'

'Is it Harry?' She wanted to know, looking up with hurt in her eyes, 'Is it for the best? Or am I just being too fussy? Maybe I should just take what I can get.'

'No Hermione,' he said firmly, 'You're worth more than a part-time relationship. You're special.'

She suddenly knew that she was going to cry and that she had to get out of there. She put her arms around Harry.

'You're the best friend in the world,' she choked through her tears, and then she hurried from the room, disappearing into the throng of students still only just arriving in the Great Hall.

When she reached her dorm, Hermione fell to her knees and cried until she thought her heart would break, and when she finally fell asleep she saw him in her dreams, and then it really did.