A/N: Ok guys, now I noticed that I've received little to no reviews for the last chapter and I can tell you, it has really hurt my feelings:( So now I write this story rarely and I write it for me and the few people who DO review. To those people, I say:

This chapter is for you, as is the rest of this story. You are the people who inspire me to write and who review me when none others dare to. For this I am ever grateful and I hope that my story continues to entertain you for as long as possible.

Anyway, here's Chapter 17. Enjoy, and even though 99 of you won't, please review it after you read it!

The cottage had only two bedrooms, the master bedroom had an ensuite bathroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and toilet and a lounge room.
It was nestled deep in a lush forest where the trunks of the trees where covered in green moss, which was in turn covered in more moss. There was a small hunting track that wound it's way through the forest and another that lead to a small bubbling brook.
The cottage also had its own vegetable patch with various vegetables growing in straight lines. As well as the veggie patch, the cottage was surrounded by thousands of wildflowers, each giving of its own aroma that combined with the others to create a new smell, intoxicatingly better than any perfume.
The inside of the cottage was quite plain. It had obviously been a house for muggles because in the lounge room there was a cable TV, something not usually seen in a wizard household. But the cottage was cosy, had a working fireplace and would be a safe haven for now.

Hermione and Draco were in the master bedroom, putting their clothes into the draws and cupboards in the room. They had arrived at the cottage only a few hours earlier and spent some time talking to Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall about the situation before the teachers apparated back to Hogsmeade, leaving Hermione and Draco by themselves.
After putting away her last t-shirt into a draw, she walked across the room to where Draco was still putting away some pants. She picked up a pair of jeans and hung them in the closet.
"Hey Draco, I thought I'd go make us some breakfast. Do pancakes sound good?" She asked. Draco finished hanging up his last pair of pants and turned to her, smiling. He pulled her into his chest and hugged her closely.
"Pancakes sound fantastic," he whispered into her ear. He then let her go after kissing her on the head. She walked out of the room and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Draco sat down on the edge of the large bed, the mauve bedspread crinkling under his weight. He reached into the pocket of the coat he was wearing and pulled out a small navy blue velvet box, he flicked it open with his thumb to reveal a small gold ring with three jewels set into the band, two tear shaped diamonds on either side of an oval shaped ruby. The ring had been a family heirloom for almost a century, Lucius had given it to him a year ago and told him to give it to the girl he loved. Draco had been planning to give it to Hermione during their special dinner until they had been interrupted.
Draco closed the small velvet box carefully and put it back into his pocket for safe keeping, and then he stood up and went to help Hermione with the cooking.

"Hey Hermione, these pancakes are great!" exclaimed Draco after taking the last bite from his fourth pancake, maple syrup dripping off his chin. Hermione stood up and collected his plate, stacking it on hers before taking them over to the dishwasher and stacking them on the dish rack, she came back over to Draco and sat on his lap.

"I'm glad you liked them" she began, "but you have some maple syrup right there," she continued while she wiped his chin with her finger. Draco grabbed her hand and stuck her finger in his mouth, licking off all the maple syrup before making an upset face.

"I was saving that for later Hermione!" He said, pouting his lips. She laughed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," said Hermione, smiling.

"It's ok, I love you so it doesn't matter," replied Draco before kissing her.

It was nearly midnight when Draco and Hermione retired to the bedroom, absolutely exhausted. They had found a stack of board games in a cabinet in the lounge room and had spent a large portion of the day playing Monopoly and Cluedo, but then in the afternoon they had sat out on a nice patch of thick grass and watched the clouds until it got dark.

Hermione walked out of the bathroom that joined their bedroom after just getting changed. She threw her used clothes onto the floor, too tired to deal with them tonight.

She then jumped into bed with Draco, snuggling up to his side. Draco was sleeping without a shirt and Hermione began tracing her fingers lightly across his toned muscles, carefully following all the curves and ridges.

"That feels really nice," murmured Draco, smiling as his skin prickled due to Hermione's tender touch. Hermione took her hand away from his chest and used it to turn herself onto her stomach to look at Draco.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" She asked him. Draco smiled secretively before replying.

"Don't worry about it," he said, "I've got it all planned out." And he did. Draco had been thinking all day about a romantic thing to do for the two of them, and he had decided on a picnic near the stream.

Hermione looked at him curiously but decided not to press the matter further, she liked her surprises to stay surprises and she knew that Draco probably wouldn't tell her anything anyway.

Draco awoke early the next day, intent on preparing for the picnic that lay ahead of them. He carefully pried Hermione away from his body, making sure not to wake her, before getting up to go find a basket.

He found that perfect basket sitting on the kitchen bench. It was a traditional looking wicker basket with a large handle going through the middle, it was sitting on a red and white chequered blanket. Draco stood still for a moment, confused as to how a basket just appeared in his temporary kitchen.

'Who put that basket there?' He thought to himself as he cautiously walked over to the kitchen counter. He raised one hand and flipped open one of the two lids, quickly withdrawing his hand as if some little creature would jump out and attack him. Nothing happened. Draco then reached out with both hands and pulled the basket towards him, he wasn't as scared anymore and as he looked inside the basket, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was filled with an assortment of different foods.

He reached into the basket and pulled out a round plastic container that was full of green olives stuffed with capsicum, then reaching in again he pulled out another large rectangular container of what looked like pip-less cherries with a small chocolate drop in the centre of each. Draco continued to reach into the wicker basket, pulling out more food each time. Once the basket had been emptied of all its contents he stood there looking at the collection of tasty food in front of him; at least 5 different types of cheese, 3 of which were quite soft, a jar of pickled apricots, 2 large punnets of strawberries and bowl sealed of with glad wrap that had a generous amount of fresh cream in it, a loaf of bread, a packet of biscuits and 4 jelly cups. After smiling at the amount of food that had been provided for him, Draco put it all back into the basket, closing the lid afterwards.

Then he walked over to the fridge to get a glass of orange juice. As he was just reaching his hand out to open the fridge door, he noticed a message written on a small notebook that was attached to the fridge. Leaning in he began reading the elegant script.

"Hello there,

Do not be alarmed about the basket and blanket I have provided for you. I heard you thinking about taking your lady friend out on a picnic so I saved you the trouble of packing a picnic by doing it myself. I hope the two of you have lots of fun.

I also took the liberty of cleaning the used clothes in your room and I restocked the fridge as well as doing some general house cleaning while you were asleep. I just love having guests and I felt it was my duty as a house to keep you as comfortable as possible.

Anyway I will leave it at that.

Yours sincerely,

House

P.S. If you need to talk to me, just talk out loud. I don't really like prying into peoples thoughts usually but I was just making an analysis of both you and your lady friend's personality.

Cheerio!"

Draco was stunned; he tore the piece of paper of the notebook and put it in his pocket so Hermione wouldn't find out about the house preparing their picnic. Then somewhat warily he spoke out loud.

"Um, house? Can you hear me?" He asked, looking around nervously. He felt utterly insane, trying to talk to the house. As he was looking around he glanced at the notebook on the fridge, there was writing appearing out of nowhere, as if an invisible person were standing in front of him writing. Draco moved closer to the fridge and began reading.

"Good morning there, Do you like the basket of food I prepared for you? I'm truly sorry if this is a big shock."

Draco looked wide-eyed at the paper before speaking again.

"Uh…Yes, I love the b-basket…It's fantastic." He said before staring intently at the notebook, waiting for a reply. It came short after, the same elegant handwriting, fluttering across the page.

"Very good then, is there anything else you need? How bout you get that orange juice you wanted and then we'll have a bit more of a chat? Sounds good, no?"

Draco read the writing; afterwards he opened the fridge and took out the orange juice, walking over to one of the over-head cupboards to fetch a glass. He put the glass down on the counter and poured himself a drink, talking to the house as he did.

"Actually there is something that you might be able to help with" he began, and then as he took the orange juice container back to the fridge, he continued to tell the house his plan.

Draco walked into his bedroom to find Hermione yawning while stretching her arms out in front of her, she must have just woken.

"Good morning," he chirped happily as he came over to sit next to Hermione on the bed. She smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth.

"Hey you, so are you going to tell me what you've got planned for today?" She asked him. Draco smiled before replying.

"We're going on a picnic."

Hermione laughed.

"That's a great idea," she said. "I'll get dressed and then we'll go, ok?" And with that she jumped out of bed to get dressed and soon after, Draco and Hermione were walking along the path that led to the brook, hand in hand. Draco carrying the basket that House had given him, and as the couple were turning a corner that would block the house from his vision, Draco turned to look at it and mouthed the words 'thank you' before turning the corner and blocking the house from sight completely.

A/N: Ok, well I hope you enjoyed that little chapter, I tried to make it not little so it would last longer. Anway, PLEASE review me. I swear I'm going into review withdrawl from the lack of reviews I'm getting so do your part as the readers.

Anyway, you're all sick and tired of my whining right now so come back next time and I'll whine some more:D