A/N: Haha! Next chapter up! Wheeeee. I feel sooo happy. Lots of reviews for my last chapter, thank you SO MUCH! I love you all, you rock my world! Starts handing out lollipops to all my reviewers. There'll be more where THAT came from! Wink, wink. Tee hee.


Disclaimer: I'm stuck being a lowly Muggle, and therefore could not attend Hogwarts to capture Draco's heart, and therefore do not own him. Bleh.


Feelings


:Flashback:


After Hermione came out of the bathroom and went into the common room, Draco went up to her and said, "Granger. You should know…I heard you singing that song and…You're not ugly. I think you're…beautiful."

Hermione stared, speechless.

:End of Flashback:


Hermione blurted out, "Malfoy, this is low. This lame underhanded trick, I really don't need it. I—"

Draco stared at her. "This isn't a trick, Hermione."

Hermione stared into this stranger's beautiful, yet sad and lonely steely grey eyes. They were crying out for something. They were sad enough to make you cry if you looked into them enough. Like a beautiful flower, which was once glowing and surrounded by others admiring its beauty, but now lay wilted and alone.

She couldn't look away. She just couldn't. She wanted to cry, drowning in his sad eyes. Still drowning in them, she said, "Mal—Draco, I—"

Draco snapped out of his reverie. He was drowning in her beautiful eyes. But he was sharply brought out into reality, where he could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment. Malfoys never feel embarrassed, much less, Merlin forbid, blush! He thought. What's going on? What's she doing to me?


"Hermione, I'm sorry," he said. He laid a gentle hand on her cheek. Both were looking into the other's eyes. "You should know how I feel, but you'd never accept me."

"Draco—" she began. She didn't know what to do. Normally she would have slapped him for playing such a dirty trick, but this one wasn't a trick. This was real. This was a sensitive side of Draco. And she didn't know how to deal with it.

He put a finger on her lips. "No, please," he said. "I wish I could tell you how I truly feel about you, but if I did, you'd never forgive me, and I couldn't bear that. There's nothing else for me to do but this, so please understand."

He took his hand away, took a few steps back, and whipped out his wand. He said, "Sorry, Hermione." He pointed the wand at her. She gasped. "Obliviate!" She fell into a faint. He went into his bedroom, and pointed his wand at himself. "Obliviate."

&&&&&&


"Mione, there you are!" said Ron as Hermione stumbled into the Gryffindor common room where Harry and Ron were sitting in front of the unlit fireplace doing homework. "We haven't seen you since lunch! Where've you been?"

Hermione slid down into an armchair beside them (her old armchair she always used to sit in when she, Harry and Ron stayed up late talking about things like the rise of Voldemort and such). She had a dazed expression on her face, staring blankly into the fireplace. "I went to take a bath, and then I guess I fell asleep in the Head common room."

"You…guess?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Hermione replied, shaking her head. She no longer wore the dazed expression. "I don't really remember how I fell asleep...on the floor. I must've been really tired." She shrugged, and grinned.

"Or maybe Ferret-Boy did something," growled Ron in an undertone.

"Who?" Hermione was confused.

Harry and Ron exchanged quizzical looks. "You know…the ferret-faced stuck-up snob, Mr. Draco-I'm-so-much-better-than-everyone-else-on this-green-earth-which-will-soon-be-mine-so-I-can-finally-get-rid-of-scum-like-you-Malfoy?" Harry said. Ron snorted.

Hermione laughed. "Sorry, I'm still a bit blur from my little nap." She looked over Ron's Astronomy chart that was lying at her feet. "Ron, you gave two of Saturn's moons to Uranus."

"What!" he pulled the chart towards him. "Ugh. Damn those moons." He proceeded to correct the chart, impatiently vigorous.

&&&&&&


Draco got up from his bedroom floor. He didn't remember how he "fell asleep" there, or why he had his wand in his hand. What happened?

He walked out into the Head common room. Empty. He sat in front of the fireplace (it was unlit as well, by the way) and thought about how he felt about Hermione. He decided he had to tell some one, if not Hermione. For he felt he would explode if he kept it all in. "Blaise," he said.

&&&&&&


He found Blaise in the Slytherin common room, dozing in a squishy armchair. Just like Blaise. Draco kicked a leg of the armchair. "Blaise, mate, wake up."

"Mm," Blaise mumbled.

"Blaise, you git, get your freaking ass out of that armchair!" Draco yelled.

Blaise opened his eyes blearily and saw Draco. "Hey, mate, can it wait? I was having a horny dream."

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, it cannot wait, my screwed up friend. It's important."

"Fine, fine," said Blaise, slowly getting up. He stretched. "Ah," he said. "Much better. Now, before you say anything, I need to eat. It's a rule. You remember, don't you? After you sleep, eat." He grinned.

Draco rolled his eyes again. "Fine. We can nick something from the kitchens. Can we just hurry, it's really—"

"Important?" finished Blaise, raising an eyebrow. They started walking to the kitchens. "So is my empty belly, mate."

&&&&&&


After Blaise had nicked four turkey sandwiches, a plate of jam tarts and a cheesecake from the kitchens, he and Draco went outside and sat down under a tree in front of the giant lake.

As he grabbed a jam tart and popped it into his mouth, Blaise said, "Ah, this is rather romantic, isn't it?" He grinned at Draco, who glared at him, and looked up at the sky, chomping loudly on his tart. "Okay, only kidding. What did you want to tell me?"

Draco exhaled and said, "I think I'm in love with some one, Blaise."

Blaise gasped, clutched his heart and said, "Oh, Draco, I'm so sorry. I'm not gay, but don't worry, you'll find your true love one day!" He burst into hysterics.

Draco's eyes narrowed into slits. "Not funny," he said, serious as ever.

"Just a bit of humour, mate, stop being such a party-pooper!" replied Blaise. "Okay, serious now. Who's this special girl of yours?"

"Okay, before I tell you…You have to know how much I'm in love with her."

Blaise stared, wide-eyed. He nodded.

"When I sleep every night, I have dreams about her," said Draco, staring up at the sky. "I can't stop thinking about her, and when I do, I get goosebumps and sometimes can't breathe or stop smiling. I can't talk about her without feeling nothing but absolutely bliss like I'm feeling right now. When I see her it feels like time has stopped and that nothing else matters except her, and me just being able to admire her and just, simply, love her." He looked at Blaise with a gentle smile on his face.

Blaise was in…complete awe. If he were a cartoon, his jaw would have stretched to an extreme length and would have dropped to the floor. "Wow, mate," he said, running a hand through his hair. "First of all, I have never seen you smile like that. So…content. Secondly, I'm afraid you've got it bad for this girl. So who is she?"

Draco sighed. "Don't wig out…But she's…Hermione."

Pause. "Who?"

Unbelievable! Draco thought. He doesn't even know her first name! He is such a dimwit, a numbskull. He sighed. "Granger, Mr. Zabini. Granger."

Blaise's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Mate…You can't be…serious? She's a…she's a Mud—"

"Don't you dare say that word, Blaise," said Draco, glaring daggers at his friend. "I don't care about all that anymore, mate. I love her, okay? She's just so…perfect."

Running a hand through his hair again, Blaise stared at the lake rather fondly. "Well, then, Draco. If you really do love her, and judging by all that you've just said, I'm pretty sure you do, go after her. Tell her. Confess everything."

"But…what if she..." A lump had formed in Draco's throat.

"That's life, mate."

&&&&&&


"Mione!" cried Ginny, running after Hermione, who was headed to the library. Hermione stopped and waited for her friend to reach her. Ginny was out of breath, and used Hermione for support. Once she had gotten her breath back, she said, "You'll never guess what Matthew told me."

"Err…He likes bogey-flavoured Bertie Bott's Beans?" tried Hermione with a grin.

Ginny wrinkled her nose and laughed. "That's gross. No. He told me how he felt about you!"

"Oh," said Hermione as they continued walking. "That's nice."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want to know what he said?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I still don't think I really have feelings for him as more than a friend. It's hard for me to find a guy I like, you know that."

"But, Mione," whined Ginny. "He really, really likes you. He's smitten! You've got him hooked. And I think he's gonna ask you out to Hogsmeade, since we're going there this weekend. What're you gonna say?" Ginny waggled her eyebrows at her friend suggestively.

Hermione laughed. "I dunno. Yes, I guess. He seems charming enough." She smiled.

A/N: Wheee! Done! You can bet Matthew and Hermione are going to Hogsmeade together, but what's going to happen? Will Matthew make a move? Will Hermione suddenly fall for him? What will happen to Draco if he HAPPENS to see them together? Am I leaving you in suspense? Do you want to stab me over and over again? Haha. Anyway, what did you think of the chapter, or the story so far? Please review, thanks. windsinger257 xxx