Author's Note: I'm sorry that this took so long. I wanted to take my time and make it sound exactly like I pictured it in my head.I hope you guys find it at least satisfactory. Thanks again to Nicole for editing.

Chapter Five:

Harry Potter reluctantly awoke to the sound of a bird screeching near his window. He lazily rubbed his eyes and felt around his bedside table for his glasses. He turned his head and studied a sleeping Ginny Weasley. Her fiery red hair was sprawled out over the pillow that both of their heads were resting on. She was snuggled up to his right side and her arm was comfortably draped over his stomach. He could feel her warm breath on his skin, and could see the steady up and down movement of her chest under the maroon comforter. The sun that came through the window lit up her skin and made her look flawless. If he had not already fallen in love with her, he would have right then. Harry slowly shifted an arm so he could stroke her hair.

He was happy. Happier than he thought he could ever be. When he miserably started his sixth year at Hogwarts, he thought he was in for yet another restless year of trials and disappointments. But then Ginny had come along. She came to him that night and poured herself into him, through a kiss. A kiss that took him away from everything, a kiss that made him realize that she was what he had needed this whole time. But he knew trouble was coming. He could feel it. Sometimes he thought it wrong to use Ginny as a means of forgetting that the trouble, the darkness, was there, but he was happy and now in love, and also thought it wrong to let those two emotions pass him by.

Ron was still uncomfortable with his best friend dating his little sister, but that too did not stop Harry. Hermione on the other hand was coping well, Harry had mused. But he assumed that she was so busy with her own problems, that there simply was not enough time to deal with his too. Harry noticed that Hermione was not concentrating on her school work as she used to, as well. When she was in the common room at night doing her assignments, she was forever fidgeting.

He knew it had to do with Draco Malfoy. He could tell that Hermione was annoyed with Dumbledore's choice in pairing the two of them together, but he never thought it would affect her this much. Yet Harry was also not stupid. He knew the agitation went deeper. He could see that Malfoy had developed some sort of affection for Hermione, but could not understand why. Malfoy had always deeply loathed Harry and his friends, especially Hermione. Harry thought that maybe the reason Hermione was not dealing with it well was because she too had developed feelings for that certain Slytherin that she had always hated before. Harry did not approve, not at all. But then, he had no room for ill judgment upon others. He was the one that went behind his best friends' backs and shagged Ron's little sister.

Nevertheless, the embrace between Hermione and Malfoy that Harry had unfortunately witnessed in the library three days back made him want to gag. I wonder if Ron has-

Harry's thoughts were cut off as he felt Ginny stir next to him. He watched her as she languidly stretched.

"Did I wake you?" He asked her softly.

She shook her head and rolled on top of him while his arms instinctively wound around her supple form. For a moment, he got lost in her eyes. Her mesmerizing deep blue eyes. She bent down and kissed him softly on the lips, lingering for just an instant. She put her head next to his and buried her face in the pillow. Harry slid his hand under the oversized t-shirt she was wearing, and started to rub her back. He heard her sigh in approval. Her skin was warm and soft under his hand and he wondered what she used to make it feel so delicate.

"How long have you been up?" Ginny asked. Her voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Not long. There was this obnoxious bird screeching by the window."

Without warning, Ginny jumped up and reached for the window, her feet barely missing Harry's head when she came back down. She tried again and missed.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing?" He asked her as she continued to jump for the latch on the window.

"I'm expecting a letter from Charlie. He and a team of people have discovered a new dragon. He wants me to tell Hagrid all about it," she squealed as she continued jumping. Harry swiftly stood up and unlatched the window above the bed. A big grey owl flew through the window and down onto the bed. Ginny plopped down next to it. Harry sat down across from her and watched her eyes light up as she read.

"It's dangerous," she began excitedly. "Even worse than the Hungarian horntail. It's got- ouch!" Ginny ended with a shriek. The grey owl that had delivered the letter had bit hard into her wrist. Harry picked up the owl, and sent it back out of the window. He sat back down and took Ginny's forearm in his hand. He kept his eyes on hers as he brought his lips to the wound on her wrist. The pulse there picked up its pace when his lips made contact. He soothed the pain with the tip of his tongue, and continued kisses up her arm as he gently pushed her back down on the bed. His lips made their way to her neck as his hands roamed her body, turning her bones to liquid.

"Harry, we can't," Ginny protested, meekly.

'We can," He began as he started to bring her shirt over her head. "We have, we will."

"Not now."

"Right now."

"We have class," she pleaded.

"We can skip class," he said softly as he ran his lips about her face. Her mind was going hazy and she had to struggle to keep her thoughts in order.

"We skipped class yesterday, and the day before," Ginny began and took his face in her hands to look at him. "Today we have to go to class."

He lowered his head to press his lips to hers, and felt the wave of desire flow from her and into him. He pulled away and touched a hand to her cheek.

"Okay, we'll go to class. But tonight-"

She nodded. "Tonight."

Hermione arrived to Transfiguration and saw that the room was still empty. Looking over to the clock she read and realized that she was twenty minutes early. Hermione walked to the back of the classroom and took a seat. She sighed and put her chin in her hand.

Malfoy's reaction to his parents being murdered irked Hermione. When he told her, his eyes were glazed with indifference. His voice drenched with apathy when he said, "When you're working with the Dark Lord and don't live up to his expectations, death is the punishment. My parents were foolish for taking orders from him, anyway. Nobody orders me to do anything."

She knew that there had to be some sort of grief residing in him somewhere. It scared her to think that he really did not care. How could she be with someone that did not seem to have a heart? Wait, she was getting far too ahead of herself. She would never be with Draco Malfoy. At least that is what she was determined to keep telling herself.

An oblivious Hermione was startled when the door to Professor McGonagall's classroom slammed shut. A group of students shuffled into the room, followed by Professor McGonagall herself. Everyone unwillingly took seats next to their partners. Hermione shuffled through her bag and pulled out her books and set them down on the table before she could realize that Draco had arrived. She was surprised that she did not hear him come in, or hear him take his seat next to her. Face blank and eyes cold, she made eye contact with him and then started on her work.

"Good morning to you too, Granger," Draco said in a dull tone.

"I didn't say anything about a good morning Malfoy, as you seemed to have not noticed," Hermione murmured, keeping her head down in her work.

"I know, I was being-"

"A smart ass, yeah, I caught on," she said.

"I was going to say sarcastic, your way works," he snarled, eyes narrowing.

At this, Professor McGonagall made a noise as if to clear her throat. "Mr. Malfoy and Miss. Granger, would you like to take this outside?"

Hermione looked up from her work and saw that the whole class had their eyes pinned on her and Malfoy. "I don't think that's-"

"Yes, we would Professor," Draco cut in smoothly. He grabbed Hermione's arm and yanked her up from her seat.

"Get your hands off of me!" She exclaimed as he started to drag her to the door.

"We will deal with it outside, Granger."

"I don't think that will be necessary," she said, trying to break from his hold.

"Now now, Hermione, don't make a scene," Draco came back with dryly- and him using her name shut her up, once again.

They were at the door when it swung open and Harry walked in.

"How nice of you to join us, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall noted, curtly.

"Where have you been?" Hermione hissed in Harry's ear as she passed him at the door.

"I overslept," Harry replied to the retreating back of his friend. Hermione rolled her eyes because she knew it was more than oversleeping but did not get a chance to say anything because Malfoy had pulled her completely out of the classroom.

"What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" She asked as she finally broke from his grip.

"I need to show you something," he replied as he watched the anger dance in her eyes.

"Well it can wait," she said heatedly and reached for the door, but was unsuccessful as Draco's hand closed over hers. She froze and stared at him, brown eyes digging into his own and her next words were a barely contained growl. "How many times am I going to have to tell you not to put your hands on me?"

"That all depends. Now, are you going to come willingly, or am I going to be forced to drag you?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Malfoy. We have class to attend," Hermione said, frustration rising in her throat.

"I guess that answers my question," Draco said and once again, grabbed her arm and started to drag her down the hall.

"Look Draco," she spat out the syllables of his name, "I don't know what kind of macho I'm-strong-enough-to-drag-people-around game you're playing at here, but it's really not the time." She said the words, but had given up on trying to get out of Draco's grip, letting him pull her along. "If you hadn't noticed, we're coming up on a due date for a project that we've barely even finished and we can't really afford to skip Transfiguration."

"After I show you this, we will be able to skip the rest of the day," he replied as he pulled her around the corner and into a storage room.

"I highly doubt that," she said while searching the room for something worth looking at. "Malfoy, why did you take me to look at all the potions for the project?"

"I didn't. I took you to look at our potion for the project," he said, and gestured over to a cauldron that was glowing purple. Draco let go of her arm.

Hermione made her way to the cauldron and dropped to her knees in front of it. She picked up what looked like a wooden spoon and started stirring the potion. The glowing purple color turned into a smoky maroon. Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"It's finished," she whispered, still looking at the potion.

Satisfaction surged through Draco Malfoy when he saw the look on her face. It was a nightmare trying to finish the potion in three days, but Draco found something in his father's dungeon when he went back home that worked like a charm.

"So it seems," he said.

Hermione rose to her feet and crossed the room to Draco. Her hands were in her pockets; she was looking down at the floor and rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Draco I-," she paused. "I want to-," another pause. "How did-," she stopped and looked up at him. Amusement danced in his eyes. "Thank you," she said with a shy grin growing on her lips.

"How did you do it?" She then asked.

"That would be for me to know and you to find out," he began as he wound one of her loose curls around his finger. "But I could be persuaded."

"Oh really," she said, snorting. "I've never been good at persuasions."

Draco hooked his fingers through her belt loops and pulled her to him. Her breath caught in her throat as their bodies met. "Come to Hogsmead with me tomorrow," he whispered in her ear. His lips made their way to her neck, her collar bone. When her mind started to fog she brought his face back to hers with her hands.

"Why should I?" Hermione asked, her voice rough in her throat.

"You owe me," he said as he brought the hands that were at her hips to her waist, and pulled her closer. A low groan escaped her lips as Draco devoured her mouth. She met his desire equally and raked her fingers through his silky blonde hair.

He had not expected her to lips to be so uncontained and willing, or the explosion inside of him as their mouths moved together. He was used to being slow and gentle with her, but something inside had taken over and if he did not stop soon, he would take her right there on the floor of the storage room. He took her face in his hands and pulled it away. He watched her eyes open and ran his hands down to her neck, her shoulders, her arms, and stopped at her hips.

The moment was broken as she brought her arms across her chest and he felt a twinge of annoyance.

"I don't owe you anything," She said, though her voice not so steady.

"No, but I'll buy you lunch," He bargained, grey-blue eyes becoming soft once more.

Such a look made her almost melt before his gaze. "Hmm." She struggled for worse, "Well, I was never one to turn down free food..."

"Good, then meet me by the fountain by ten." Draco pressed his lips hard on her own once more, then turned around and stalked out, leaving Hermione standing next to their potion, breathless and confused.