The spell hit Hermione in the back and immediately she felt like she was going to vomit. She clutched her stomach with one hand and covered her mouth with the other. She turned to look at Draco who was now approaching her. She wanted to ask him what in Merlin's name he had done to her, but she was afraid of what may happen if she were to open her mouth. He walked into the classroom, towing Hermione along behind him, her hand still firmly clamped over her mouth.

"What is going on?" A confused Professor Flitwick asked.

"Professor, I'm afraid that Hermione has become very ill. She does not look well at all, and unfortunately Madame Pomfrey has run out of pepper-up potion. While she makes more, she has suggested bed rest. It looks like Miss Granger will be unable to attend class this week. She is quite nauseated." Draco lied coolly. Hermione's eyes widened at his words. Flitwick looked at Hermione's green colored face and nodded.

"Yes, yes of course. I wish you a speedy recovery Miss Granger. I will alert your other professors and I will have a student deliver you assignments to your dorm. Please child, off with you! You look like your going to be sick!" Hermione nodded and hurried out of the classroom with Draco right behind her. As soon as the door closed behind him he lifted the spell and Hermione was able to speak with worrying about regurgitating her breakfast.

"What did you do to me!" She exclaimed.

"I just got you four more days of holiday." He said smugly.

"I meant what in the world was that spell you put on me? I felt like I was going to be sick all over Professor Flitwick's desk!" He shrugged it off.

"Oh that. It was just a little spell I picked up somewhere. Don't worry though, you don't actually throw up when you're under it, it just makes you look convincing sick."

"But I really did feel terrible!"

"Exactly. The best way to play sick is to be sick. Now what do you say about a little trip to the beach?" Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"If we get caught, this is all your fault." She said seriously. He smirked.

"Sounds good to me." He grabbed her hand and they walked together up to their common room. Hermione started upstairs to pack when Draco pulled her back.

"What are you doing? I need to get my stuff." She asked.

"No, there's everything we need at the house. Let's just go." He said eagerly. They entered the fireplace and dropped a handful of floo powder into the green flames. In a whirl of ash and wind they appeared at the quaint house. Hermione threw open the large windows and stuck her head out, breathing in the sweet fresh air. Draco snuck up behind her and grabbed her by her waist, hoisting her over his shoulder. She shrieked with surprised and laughed. He walked out through the backyard and down the short path that led to the clean sandy beach. As Hermione realized what he was going to do, she began yelling for him to put her down. Ignoring her pleas, he proceeded to the warm, clear water and waded in up to his knees. He changed his hold on her so he was now holding her bridal style and stared into her smiling face. He grinned at her.

"Don't you dare." She said looking him in the eye. He smirked evilly and pretended to drop her into the water. She screamed, clinging to him. He brought her back up again. "Don't do it Draco." As soon as she said this he smiled one last time before dropping her, sending her splashing into the crystal blue water. She came back up, drenched and sputtering. "Oh you little prat!" She wiped the hair from her face and saw Draco doubled over in a fit of laughter. She looked behind her at the waves and smirked. She slowly backed out of the water until she was almost out completely. Draco looked at her smiling, with his back to the water. He looked at her standing there with a smirk playing on her lips, and he couldn't figure out what she was so content about.

"Hermione what are you…" Crash A large wave knocked an unexpecting Draco off of his feet and sweeping him under the water. He came up sputtering, much like she had, and glared daggers at her as she laughed at him.

"Oh gee, thanks for the warning 'Mi." He said sarcastically. She giggled.

"Anytime Love, Anytime." They spent the afternoon together just like that. Splashing around pretending they didn't have a care in the world, dunking each other under the relatively calm sea water, and soaking up the last of the season's sun rays before it turned cold. They had been lucky; in this town it was warmer that Hogwarts was this time of the year, although Draco assured her it would be chilly come Christmas (Which was only two short weeks away). Hermione walked back up to the dry beach and flopped down in the warm sand. Draco watched, amused, as she rolled around in the sand until she resembled a sugar coated doughnut. Finally, once she was covered head to toe in sand, he asked her what she was doing.

"I used to do this when I was a kid and would go on holiday with my parents." She explained, laughing at the memory. "My mum used to get so angry at me for tracking in sand." He reached over and brushed a little sand from her chin with his thumb. She pushed herself up until she could reach his lips with her own. He kissed her back lovingly, both savoring the moment of being there together, and also the adrenaline of possibly getting caught sneaking out of school early.

"Now you have to admit, this is better than charms class." He said when they had pulled away.

"Much better, but I can't believe that you actually hexed me to get me here." She said.

"But it was a hex of love." He said innocently, giving her the best 'puppy eyes' face he could muster up.

"You're such a dork." She said, pushing him playfully on the shoulder. "I'm going to wash up." He nodded, and watched her head for the outside shower to rinse off all the sand she had collected. Wrapping herself in a colorful beach towel, she padded into the house, out of sight from Draco. He looked back out over the water to the setting sun. He couldn't help but think about how perfect everything about the day had been. This was home, he could feel it. But he had a hunch that it wouldn't feel nearly as homey and complete without Hermione in it as well. He picked himself up and rinsed off as Hermione had done before going inside to take a proper shower.

Now clean and sand free, Draco wandered into the kitchen to try and find something for dinner. Lack of food was not the problem, cooking it, however, was. One of the disadvantages of growing up with house elves to do all the cooking was that he couldn't tell a spatula from a whisk. After careful consideration, he decided that attempting to cook dinner was just a little too risky, even for him. He found a few bunches of grapes and some cheese and crackers. He piled everything into a bowl and set it down on the table. He noticed that something was missing…Hermione. He hadn't heard from her since she left to go clean up almost forty-five minutes ago, but he had an idea of where she might be. He grabbed the bowl and trudged down the hallway to the library. Sure enough, Hermione was wrapped in a fluffy blue bathrobe sitting sideways on the couch, her legs outstretched comfortably in front of her, and her nose stuck in a thick, heavy book. He set the bowl down on the coffee table in front of her but she didn't look up. He lifted her legs and sat down, then placed them in his lap. She had yet to acknowledge his presence, and seemed to be highly engrossed in what she was reading.

"Is it good?" He asked her.

"Hmm?" Her eyes still glued to the pages.

"The book, is it good?" He repeated. She finished the sentence she was reading and closed the book with a satisfying snap. She looked up and smiled.

"Yes, very good. Where did you get all of these books? I think I could live in here forever." She said in awe. Draco knew that she had been referring to living in the library, for Hermione Granger could never turn down a good book, but hearing her say that she could stay there, with him, forever, made his heart leap.

"They were just books my parents had lying around the mansion. I got rid of all the dark ones and this is what was left." He said. She removed her legs from his lap and turned herself around so she was now sitting in his lap. She pulled him close to her, hugging him tightly, and him returning the gesture willingly.

"Can you believe we will be here in this big house all by ourselves for nearly a month? We are actually living together outside of school. It's crazy."

"How is it crazy?" He asked, surprised by her choice of words.

"Well, I just mean I never in my wildest dreams imagined being here with you."

"So I'm not in your wildest dreams?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey now, I didn't say that." She grinned slyly at him. He looked taken aback by her forwardness, but quickly recovered. He reached into the bowl beside him and pulled out a grape. He held it up to her lips.

"Grape?" She opened her mouth slightly and he pushed it in. She giggled as she chewed and swallowed.

"What do you call that?" She asked curiously, pointing to the bowl of assorted crackers and cheeses with a bunch of grapes on top.

"Dinner?" She laughed and shook her head.

"That is i not /i dinner. I'll make us some real dinner, you start writing that letter to my parents inviting them to Christmas dinner." She said getting off of his lap and going into the kitchen. Draco jumped up and followed her like a puppy follows his master.

"Me? Why do I need to owl them? They are your parents after all." He argued trying to get himself out of it.

"You have to do it because I said so, and because my parents would be very impressed if you took the initiative to owl them yourself, inviting them to a nice, quiet Christmas dinner with there lovely daughter and her charming boyfriend."

"But…"

"Draco your debating skills worry me. You're not going to get out of doing it, so just shut it. Chicken or fish?"

"Chicken." He said dejectedly.

"Exactly what I thought." She laughed at her own joke, Draco was obviously not catching on. "Oh Draco you silly goose, it's not that bad. Honestly, it's only a letter to my parents. Here, I'll help you start. i Dear Mr. and Mrs. Granger, your daughter Hermione and I would like to invite you to join us for dinner to celebrate the Christmas holiday. /i See? Just something like that." He sighed as he pondered over ways to sound impressive yet respectful in an 'I swear I'm not having impure thoughts about your only daughter' kind of way. While he wrote out the invitation, Hermione was busy preparing chicken parmesan. The smell wafted through the air and to Draco's nostrils, making his stomach growl with hunger. She walked in holding two full plates of delicious looking food and set one of them down in front of Draco. He picked up his fork and immediately dung in.

"Hey! Slow down Draco, the food isn't going anywhere."

"This is really great 'Mi. I didn't know you could cook."

"Yeah well, it's not that big of a deal. So what if I can make dinner?" She shrugged it off carelessly.

"So what? Didn't anyone ever tell you that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" He said with his mouthful of pasta and chicken. She smiled.

"Well of course I know that, I'm friends with Ron aren't I?"

"You never cease to amaze me 'Mi. This dinner is brilliant, thank you."

"You're welcome." She said. For a moment they just sat there looking at each other, as is trying to read the other ones mind. Hermione was the first to look away. She stared at her plate for a while before she resumed eating. "I could get used to making him dinner every night." She thought.