Disclaimer- As far as I know, I'm not J.K. Rowling, and never will be (unless I make a polyjuice potion). That joke was kind of lame, I know.

A/n- Surprise! Two days early, I know, but I finished quicker than I thought. I'm still trying to get an update for Friday though, so I need reviews! You must know by now that reviews make me update faster…

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Love, Hate, and Mistakes

"Hermione!" Harry yelled through the crowd. Draco dropped Hermione's hand immediately and stepped away from her. Harry and Ron came running to her side, pushing Draco out of the way.

"Where you been, 'Mione? We've been looking for you everywhere!" Ron said.

"I was…in the common room…doing Snape's essay," she said nervously. Draco looked at her in disbelief. Hermione Granger was telling a downright lie to her friends? The truth was that Draco and Hermione had been taking a walk around the lake, talking like old friends.

Which is still how she considered him; a friend. Even after that night patrolling the hallways hand-in-hand, and after the kiss in the common room. Even after the walk around the lake, she still considered them no more than friends. Maybe it was Draco's fault; he had not yet even asked her to be his girlfriend. But he often had the impression that she didn't want to date him.

But then, of course, there was Potter and the Weasel. By no means would they permit him to date her, there was no way. And it wasn't like Hermione to do something secret or even lie to anyone. But she had lied to them today, was there actually hope? Draco wondered about this as he walked behind the trio to Potions.

"Draco! Draco Malfoy!" came Hermione's voice from very far away.

"Huh? What?" he said, snapping out of the trance-like state he was in.

"Time for class you dolt," Ron said before leaning over to whisper in Hermione's ear, believing no one could hear him. But Draco could clearly hear that he said, "Since when do you call him by his first name?" Hermione blushed and shrugged her shoulders and whispered something he couldn't here. Ron shrugged and walked into class, followed closely by Potter, Hermione, and Draco, bring up the rear.

Potions was, by far, Draco's favorite and easiest class, but most of the other students did not think so. Today, Snape had them working on yet another difficult potion, to be handed in at the end of class. Draco and Hermione paired up as usual and began working, talking in low voices. Hermione was quick to tell Draco what her friends had been talking about. The potion was very difficult and quickly demanded the remainder of their attention, and Hermione promised they would talk in the common room that night.

At the end of Potions, Draco shuffled out of the dungeons and up to lunch. He ate very slowly owing to the fact that he was keen to overhear Blaise Zabini's conversation with Crabbe and Goyle. He pretended to be reading his Transfiguration book while he eagerly listened in.

"My father says that I'm getting my oath taken right after Hogwarts. You guys too?" he whispered excitedly. Crabbed and Goyle responded by giving him grunts.

"Yeah, we aren't the only ones; there are tons of Slytherins doing it. But guess what I heard?" he continued more enthusiastically. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him expectantly. "Malfoy over here gets here during Christmas break. Isn't that right Draco?"

Draco looked up and smirked. "Yeah, that's right," he said confidently. "Hey guys, I'm full. I'll um…I'll see you dinner." Draco strode over to the Great Hall doors and walked out. He sighed and put hands in his pockets as he walked up to the Transfiguration classroom. He heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"Hey!" Hermione said as she popped up beside him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'll…I'll tell you later," he said, shrugging it off. He never had anyone to talk to about these things, Hermione was the only one. Would she understand, or would she hate him because of who he was and what he had to do? He pushed those thoughts out of his head as he stepped into the class.

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Draco sat on his armchair by the fire, scrunched up over a piece of parchment. He was busy writing an essay for Charms, though he would much rather be doing something else, like talking to Hermione. But Hermione had never returned from dinner, and Draco was forced to work so he would finish by tomorrow's class.

Draco was disrupted by the faint tap tap of an owl beak on glass. He got up, crossed the room, and opened the window. A large eagle owl soared through the window and landed on the couch. Draco walked over, untied the scroll attached to its leg, and began reading. The owl soared out the open window and into the night. The letter, on the other hand, was from his father, and did not contain school greetings.

Draco-

I am in hiding. Your mother is home, I had to flee. Do not send return owl. I will contact you as soon as I know more about the ceremony. It looks as though we may have to postpone our meeting. The Dark Lord has plans and unfortunately can't see you during the Christmas break. Be prepared by the Easter holidays.

Do not disappoint me,

L. Malfoy.

He put the letter down and sighed. At least he had longer to wait until he became a servant. Yeah, great. The sound of the portrait opening brought him back to his senses.

"Hey, what have you got there Draco?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing," he said as he hastily tried to shove the letter into his pocket. Hermione was quicker; she summoned the letter to her and read it over.

"What ceremony is he talking about? Draco…no…" she muttered as tears formed into her eyes.

"Hermione, no, you don't understand! Just listen to me please!" he begged. She began to sob as she screamed, "I trusted you!"

"Hermione," he said calmly, "Will you at least hear me out? Please? I know I don't deserve it but please, just listen."

"Why should I?" she snarled. She walked over to the couch anyways and placed the letter on the table.

"You want to hear what I have to say, Hermione."

"Try me."

"I'm not a Death Eater Hermione," he said. She looked away from him.

"Yeah, I know. Not yet, anyways. What were you going to do, Draco? Toy with my feelings and throw me away? And I was starting to like you too," she spat angrily.

"I'm never going to be a Death Eater. I mean, I have to become one, but I don't want to," he said softly.

She snorted with laughter and said," What do you mean, you have to become one but don't want to?"

"My father is forcing me too, and I swear I wish I could have it some other way, but I can't. And I really like you Hermione, why can't you see that? I would never do anything to hurt you, and this is the thing that would hurt you the most."

"Then what are we doing Draco? You know you can't date me. Our friends, your family, your house mates…no it's impossible."

"I don't care about my friends, and we'll figure out yours. I could care less about my housemates, if they ever did something to hurt you they would be in detention for the rest of the year. My family…alright we have problems but they won't find out. Give it a chance Hermione."

"We have a better chance trying to convince Peeves to date Professor McGonagall than convincing my friends to accept us dating. This isn't going to work."

"I haven't really asked you out yet Hermione. So we aren't dating."

"I'm not being your slut either."

"Parkinson can handle that."

"I don't want her hands on you!"

"Jealous are we?"

"No!"

"Whatever…Anyways, I think we should try it out. The dating thing. Secretly, obviously."

"Secretly? But I tell my friends everything!"

"Well, always a time to stop old habits. What do you say?"

"Alright, but after awhile we tell them. Deal?"

"Yeah alright. Now come over here, so we can talk."

"Draco, there's no space; you and your books are in the way."

"Sit on my lap. You could do taking a leaf out of Parkinson's book, you know that?" She slapped him playfully on the arm, but sat on his lap anyways.

"Listen, why were you so angry earlier?" she asked him. She squirmed and bounced in his lap like a little child.

"Ouch, watch it! Oh, it's not important. Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle were talking…forget it."

"What were they talking about?" she persisted.

"Listen, Hermione, don't butt into my life. You just can't ok? It's complicated. If something is wrong, I will tell you about it, ok?"

"Alright, alright, I just thought you could tell your girlfriend anything."

"No, not everything. But girlfriends do get to know this," he said as he pushed his lips into hers. She deepened the kiss, which was very unlike Hermione. He had no idea how far to go with her. Should he French kiss her or not? In the end he decided he would try; he licked her bottom lip until she opened her mouth. He stuck his tongue inside her mouth and let their tongues grind together. After a few minutes, she pulled away.

"Wow…" she said while taking a gulp of fresh air. Her hair was a little more frizzy than usual, as Draco had been running his hands through it. She didn't seem to care.

"Not bad Granger," he said while smirking. Yeah, not bad at all, he thought to himself.

"Do you rate girls on how good they kiss?"

"No, I rate them on how good they are in bed." He was joking of course, but she missed the sarcasm.

"Ok, then I guess you have to wait to rate," she said seriously. Draco frowned.

"I was joking. I wasn't planning on-"but his words were cut short by Hermione's lips on his. Taken aback, he opened his mouth to say something as she pulled away, but instead she took this time to put her tongue in his mouth. Damn it, this one is good, he thought desperately to himself. He finally pulled away from her, out of breath.

"Why'd you stop?" she complained. "I was actually having fun!"

"You naughty girl," he scolded.

"I'm serious, why did you stop?"

"Because I don't want it to turn into something else. Unless you want to quicken the pace?" he said hopefully.

"No, I'm good where we are," she said as she desperately tried to flatten down her hair.

"You're fighting a losing battle Hermione."

"Ha-Ha…" she said sarcastically.

"So how are we supposed to act around our friends?" Draco asked. "I mean to say, your friends. My friends wouldn't notice anything anyways. But what about yours?"

"The same as always. I mean, Ron is starting to notice something, but I can get him assured. You might want to call me a mudblood sometimes too."

"No…I can't do that…its wrong," he whimpered. She gave him a look.

"You have to Draco. Just, try it now. Like you normally do. Please, for me?" she said and gave him the puppy dog face.

"Alright, mudblood," he drawled lazily.

"That was good, but you better not mean it."

"Of course not," he said, and he kissed her forehead.

She lay down next to him on the couch, his arm snaked around her waist holding her tight. He began to nod off when Hermione whispered, "Draco, why do you like me so much?"

"What's not to like?" he said. He knew that she was insecure and probably was questioning everything.

"You've always seemed to find something wrong about me. My parentage, my looks, my good grades…" she trailed off as she ticked them off on her fingers. He ran his fingers through her hair.

"I was an idiot when I was younger, just forget about it Hermione," he said soothingly. She sat straight up. There were tears in her eyes.

"I can't forget about it," she said as she stood up. She ran to her door, sobbing, and slammed it shut. He heard her lock the door and storm upstairs, still bawling her eyes out. No, this was not going to be easy, he thought. "Why is this so hard!" he screamed as he chucked his Potions book across the room.

"Nobody said love was easy, Mr. Malfoy," said a calming voice. Draco whipped his head around to see…

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Muahahaha! I'm evil, I know. Update on Friday, expect it. Also, there are a lot of House sorters out there, so to speak. Take one of them (I don't recommend the Warner Brothers site one, because it has nothing to do with your personality), and tell me what house you are in. I'll be asking question and things, and I will reward House Points for correct answers. Also, you may be in for a treat if you review…If you're wondering, I'm a Slytherin and I accept no other house. (Yeah, for all you girls, I'm obsessed with Tom Felton.) That's just an extra; you don't have to do it!

Reviews! For me? Yay!

Chesterstacos-I'm glad you like my story, I'll update as fast as I can. See it on Friday, it should be updates(should be, but then you have to wait a week because I'm going on vacation. I'll make it up to you though!

Greenday409-Thanks for your review! Things don't always say sweet forever…