Chapter 12: Obstacles in the way

A/N: Yay! I past the 400 mark review-wise! Thank you all SO much!! I really appreciate all of your reviews! Did you all have a good holiday? Well, thanks to:

Dracohermioneluver, PolishPrincess, xangel_luvx, Mistake, crazy_azn_angel, Moonstone-Charon, natyslacks, gaiamoore12, FrozenFlames, prettywoman, Rimmi, Darcicy, burgundyred, nobody knows., aka-whatever1213, Sylvan Tears, Meg, k-kat13, RivanKnight, firefoxgirl, Sweet Sere, ~*~chicka~*~, Red and Gold, Romm, karena, neat-lil-lucky-angel666, LimeJuiceTub, Jen, Gina, CrazieAnimeGrl, ebony river too lazy to log in, HikariChang, rwheezy-mm, Sallymander, phoebe666, kippinator and Tears-That-Fall!

Thank you to all the people who answered my rotflmao question! I was surprised that so many people answered! That's because I usually scroll past the author notes though ^-^;;;

Anyway, here are my replies to some:

Natyslacks: Oh! I'm really sorry! I completely forgot about e-mailing! O.o;;; I know this is a lame excuse, but I was in a hurry.actually, I just forgot, cos I was busy eating ^-^;;; Sorry bout that! Yup! I'm definitely excited about PoA coming out! I can't wait! Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!

Rimmi: Thanks for all the reviews! And all the constructiveness in each! Constructiveness isn't a word, is it? ^-^;;; You aren't gross, I've imagined a few things bout Draco too, gives me fanfic ideas! Yup, I agree with Dumbledore and Snape being OOC on that one!

Burgundyred: Good point! There's now way I can turn this into an angsty Draco-Mudblood-Evil-Daddy sorta thing. That just wouldn't fit! It'd be like mixing oil and water! And thanks! I forgot about their injuries, that would've been weird. Injured sprinters. Oxymoron! Good point on the kissing thing! I see what you mean. those get a bit odd, don't they? I'll tone down the kissing. Once again, I'm glad you love the OOC Snape.he and Filch are my favorite characters to write in this fic.. ^-^

Nobody knows.: Sorry! I'll try to stop the kissy-nasty thing.

Well, that's all, I'm out for now! Enjoy! NOOOOO!!! School's starting again!!!!!!!

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Draco realized as he began trying to chase after Pansy that his injuries (and the spell Snape had cast over Hermione and himself) prevented him from doing anything aside from limping and wincing as he frequently fell down.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hagrid easily caught up to the struggling couple.

***

Meanwhile, back in the Hospital Wing, Snape who had witnessed the entire thing was doing his best not to let out another sinister laugh. Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy would be together sooner than he thought. He rubbed his hands together in replacement to laughing. Then he uncharacteristically skipped out of the hospital wing in a somewhat gay manner, following the limping couple and quartet.

***

Draco realized as he began trying to chase after Pansy that his injuries (and the spell Snape had cast over Hermione and himself) prevented him from doing anything aside from limping and wincing as he frequently fell down.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hagrid easily caught up to the struggling couple.

"What are you trying to do Malfoy?" Ron demanded coldly, referring to the snogging event that had just gone on.

Draco paused for a moment, then replied, "Good point Weasley." He paused, "Where's my wand?"

"What are you trying to do, first of all?" Harry asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going somewhere private to snog Granger. Ah, no! I'm trying to stop phsycho-bitch over there from notifying everyone of a relationship that doesn't exist!" Draco replied sarcastically.

"Oh." Harry replied as if he completely understood Draco's explanation, "you're a retard! Let go of Hermione!"

"No way!" Draco and Hermione exclaimed in unison.

"Why can't yer let go of each other?" Hagrid asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion.

"My legs are killing me." Draco stated quietly to Hermione.

"My right side is hurting a bit for me." Hermione replied, "lower me. We can either shuffle back to back, face to face, or both facing one way."

"Face to face. That way, we can both see each other's legs." Draco and Hermione replied at the same time as if reading each other's minds.

Draco lowered Hermione until they both were standing face to face. Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's back. Draco barely hid his smirk when he saw the stunned faces of Hermione's friends.

Deciding to play with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hagrid's tiny minds, he leaned his head on Hermione's and kept his mouth shut about the spell that was cast over Hermione and himself.

"Wh-what the hell's going on?" Ron spluttered.

"They look like a couple to me." Said Snape from behind the quartet, startling all four.

"Well, we aren't! This is all part of some sort of scheme YOU made up! I'm positive!" Hermione accused coldly, lunging for Snape to attempt to kill him.

Unfortunately for Hermione, and luckily for Snape, his spell was still in effect, so both Draco and Hermione suddenly yelped in pain. Tears sprang to Hermione's eyes and Draco was cursing.

Snape smirked but quickly replaced it with a lip curl. "You think I would plot something against you?" Snape asked in an innocent voice, knowing this would further piss Hermione off.

She took the bait and managed to wrap her hands around Snape's neck after a quick, painful dash at him, "Go to hell you bastard!". But immediately, a blinding agony shot through her touching and squeezing what felt like every nerve. Draco and Hermione screamed bloody murder, but Hermione (amazingly), managed to keep a firm grip on Snape's neck while screaming.

"Granger, where are you?" Draco yelled in choked yells.

"Here!" She choked through her screams.

Draco immediately made a desperate leap towards the sound. He was still feeling an intense tension in his nerves, but he could see again.

Hermione also regained her sight and began choking her professor. Draco tried to make it all the way to Hermione, but found he was being blocked by something rather smelly, someone rather.

He opened his eyes to find himself being supported by none other than his new worst nightmare. Filch. He screamed bloody murder.

"Aww, it's okay, Draco dear. Your old love-machine Argus will take care of you! Did that wretched girl, what's her name- Grungy hurt you? I'll take her place Drakey." Filch cooed.

"NOOOOO!!!!" Draco shouted, regaining his composure, though experience a huge amount of pain.

"Yes, I know you're traumatized by that monster, Grungy." Filch responded.

***

Meanwhile, Hermione had also kneed Snape as hard as she could in the spot where it mattered, threw his wand aside and was still choking him. "What did you do?" She demanded, still choking with pain.

Snape grabbed her arms and managed to get free, throwing Hermione off of him. Hermione screamed in agony as she collided with the floor. "I did nothing." He spat, "a hundred points from Griffindor and a weeks worth of detention. Also, I'm waiting for an apology."

Hermione seemed to go back into normal mode. "Sorry professor! I made a wrong accusation and jumped to conclusions!" She said meekly, barely audible, "I'm really sorry!"

"Hmph!" Snape huffed, grabbed his wand and turned, walking away, billowing black robes and all.

Hermione panted and refocused her blurry vision on Draco who was with Filch, again.

"Yes, I know you're traumatized by that monster, Grungy." Filch commented soothingly, though not soothing to Draco.

"Her name is GRANGER! Please help me someone! And no, she's not a monster, YOU ARE! Let me go!" Draco roared, pulling away from Filch as if he was fire.

But nobody out of the quartet liked Draco remotely and were just enjoyingg the scene, wishing they had popcorn.

Draco leapt for Hermione, this time reaching her successfully. The tension in their nerves eased and left them sweating in each other's embrace. Hermione who had been crying was still doing so silently into Draco's shirt. "That killed." She stated, whimpering, "don't let go of me or let me go again."

She continued crying into Draco's shirt. Draco, not knowing what to do, patted her head awkwardly, though a little too hard and said soothingly in her ear, "Shhh-er, shut up Granger, it's okay. we're not in raw agony at the moment. Besides, you develop these awful puffy eyes while crying and you're going to make my front cold and damp. Shhh, it's okay. hmmm, we need showers, we're both sweaty and this isn't some R-rated fairy-tale where sweat always smells and tastes sweet."

Obviously, Draco's sentence didn't fit well with his low soothing tone of voice. "Oww! Malfoy, you're hurting my head and cusing me to lose braincells! Plus, only the 'shh, it's okay' fits with the tone you were using. But I agree on the shower comment." Hermione whined, her tone changing completely, "but still, stick to the 'shhh it's okay's."

"I can't be sappy, so sue me!" Draco replied sarcastically.

Hermione smiled thankfully, "Sorry, I'll stop criticizing now. That was sweet of you, thanks."

Filch had been watching the entire time which Draco just noticed. He also noticed the triumphant look in Filch's eyes. 'Damn.' Draco thought, 'he heard us call each other by our surnames.'

Draco smiled at Hermione. "No prob, anything for you Hermione." He replied, emphasizing the Hermione part.

Noticing Hermione's surprised look, he leaned down into what looked like a romantic gesture and whispered in her ear, "It's Filch again.help."

Hermione barely suppressed a giggle and replied, "Come Draco, let's go find Parkinson."

"Alright, love." He replied affectionately.

The romantic moment was somehow ruined by Draco and Hermione shuffling off as if on defense in basketball, but with less bent legs. They had just turned the corner, when they heard Filch growl and stalk off. Then they heard the quartet who'd been following them draw nearer. That's when both let out the breaths they weren't aware they'd been holding.

Ron rounded the corner and demanded, "So, what the hell's going on?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, then stated with sugary sweetness, "Isn't it obvious? Draco and I are in love with each other!" then she snorted and her tone became sarcastic, "Not! As if!"

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Well, we have no clue except that you and Malfoy can't seem to get enough of each other. Enlighten us, what's going on?"

Draco smirked at the confused and agitated quartet. "Let me explain." He replied, "You see, the night that Granger and I woke up, we experienced this great pain and discovered that it depended on our closeness. We can't be physically apart or we start experiencing an agonizing pain. And us wanting to minimize the pain as much as possible, well, let's say I hit a home run."

Hermione who had been nodding along to Draco's explanation coughed and spluttered, "WHAT?!"

Draco raised an eyebrow at Hermione, "What? Oh, sorry, my mistake, just third base."

"We-we didn't. fornicate!" Hermione protested.

"You don't remember? Pomfrey seemed to have given us lust potions rather that healing potions and we went at it! Well, come to think of it, you DID have a much higher dosage that me, so you must have forgotten, but man. I never knew you were that good. Well, for a mudblood of course." Draco replied thoughtfully, as if remembering the event that had never occurred.

Harry, Ron, Hagrid and Ginny seemed to have blanched. This was too easy. Even Hermione stiffened. But not for the reason Draco thought she had. "YOU IDIOT!" Hermione screamed in anger, "NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

Draco looked down at the fuming Griffindor, puzzled. "What'd I do?" He asked.

"You've just let the biggest Hogwarts gossip spreaders get a completely, utterly untrue story!" Hermione shrieked, pointing down the hall.

Draco said one word, agreeing with Hermione, "Shit." As Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown turned a corridor.

Hermione tried to storm off, but Draco held her tightly to him. "Let me go!" She whined.

"No way! I'm not going through that blinding pain again." Draco retorted.

"Great, just great." Hermione fumed, "I'm SO getting you back!"

"Whatever, let's just get to Parkinson now!" Draco replied, changing the subject, "besides, that list of annoying dares is already payback enough."

"Fine." Hermione spat, "Anyone have a wand on them?"

"I do." Harry replied, taking it out of his pocket.

"Summon Parkinson here." Hermione instructed, "I'm sure you know the charm.

Harry smiled and nodded, "Accio Pansy Parkinson!"

He focused on the pug-faced troll and soon he heard her zooming straight for the group. Unfortunately for Pansy, she had been in a room with the door closed, so she had received pretty bad injuries, having crashed through her dormitory door and her common room door (made of brick). She was bleeding and unconscious.

"Ooops! Er, Hagrid, maybe take her to the Hospital Wing." Hermione advised sheepishly, "now that she's out of the way, we just have to wait and see if she's caused any damage yet."

Everyone agreed that they'd seen nothing and that Hagrid had found her apparently jinxing a bludger.

With that, Draco and Hermione returned to the Hospital Wing.

"I've GOT to shower! I haven't since I got into the Hospital Wing!" Draco stated firmly.

"Me too, but there's just that slight problem of us having to go through intense pain when physically apart!" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.

"Let's try it together." Draco suggested.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Hermione wailed.

And so the showering nightmare began.

A/N: Ooookaaayy. somewhat short chapter, no? The next chapter will be in a tub, but nothing nasty. and I'm NOT making Hermione have a perfect body that Draco gawks at then falls in love with. or vice versa. LOL, see ya! R&R! Any type welcome!