Chapter 3

Hermione and Draco showed up at the Burrow while all the people there were quietly working together in the family room, simply enjoying each other's companies. As soon as they heard an Apparating "pop", they looked up to find Draco and Hermione back with expressions on their faces that one wouldn't expect from people who had just been on their first date. Draco looked extremely angry and mystified at the same time, while Hermione looked scared and sad. This brought on a ton of questions from the Weasleys and Harry.

"Don't tell me that you two already had a row!" Ron exclaimed.

"Did you both break up so soon?" Ginny inquired.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked politely.

Hermione and Draco continued to wear complicated expressions, and both were silent for a while before Draco answered, "No, we didn't fight, yes, we're still together, and I don't think Hermione wants to talk about what happened any more than I do…I'll just tell you that it was unexpected and very unpleasant. One of us will tell you when we're ready."

"I'm feeling a little tired, I think I'll go to bed now," Hermione said meekly. The onlookers just nodded, and she walked up the stairs. Draco was quick to follow her.

"Hermione, I am so sorry for what happened. I wanted tonight to be perfect, and then that idiot Blaise came along and had to ruin it all! Please don't let his cruel words affect you; he's a bastard that shouldn't be taken seriously. Hermione, if he does anything to hurt you, I swear I will physically stop him."

"No," he said as Hermione began to open her mouth to object. "I will put myself in danger before he can touch you. I care for you too much to allow anything to happen to you," Draco said as he brushed away a tear falling down her cheek.

"Thanks Draco, I really appreciate it. And thanks for the great dinner." She gave him a quick kiss and went into her room. Draco stood there for a few more minutes, contemplating the kiss she gave him, before he walked into his own shared bedroom to read.

Meanwhile, the people they had so nicely abandoned sat staring after them and thinking. "What do you think happened?" Ron said.

"I don't know; I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Harry replied.

The next day was an extremely busy one, since Mrs. Weasley thought that no Saturday should ever be wasted. After breakfast, she immediately assigned chores to everyone, making sure that each person got a fair amount of work so that no one would complain (something that happened often enough at her house).

"Ron, Fred, and George, I would like you to clean your rooms as well as the family room. Harry and Ginny, you can de-gnome the garden. Hermione and Draco, clean the tool shed and the broom cupboard. Arthur and I will be cleaning our room and the kitchen. Go along! The sooner you start, the sooner you finish!" Mrs. Weasley looked around at the groaning children. "Shoo! And no using magic!"

Another round of groans circulated through the kids, and even Mr. Weasley looked a little unhappy, but eventually they all started working on their various tasks. Draco and Hermione headed towards the tool shed and the adjoining broom cupboard.

"Where do we start? How about the tool shed," Draco thought aloud. He led Hermione to the shed and opened the door, motioning for her to step inside. He followed her inside and gasped at the way it was decorated.

Despite the fact that the Weasleys weren't the richest folks, they had lots of muggle knickknacks of which many were worth a good amount of muggle money (they didn't know this though). Hermione had spotted her favorite handheld game device, the PSP, and Draco could already hear the sounds of gun shots and people yelling coming from the game she was entranced in. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder before he started to speak. "Hermione, I know that may be a really fun thing to do at the moment, but we really should get started on cleaning this place. It has dust all over!"

"Aw Draco, can't we just use magic? Mrs. Weasley won't be able to tell!"

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when goody-goody Hermione would want to break the rules!" When Hermione started to protest, Draco quickly said, "I promise that when we're done, you can have all the fun you want. Maybe we can even have some fun ourselves." He started sliding the hand that was on her shoulder down Hermione's body as he said the last sentence. When he got to her bottom, he gave it a quick squeeze and then walked away, grabbed a duster, and pretended to be really intent on getting a cobweb off of the wall. He was actually trying to hide the blush on his cheeks. 'Damn! Hermione's butt is NICE!' he thought.

Meanwhile Hermione turned off her game system and started cleaning and arranging the items stored in the shed. She was astonished at the numerous things that Mr. Weasley had collected. He had everything from simple items that muggles used on a daily basis, such as a binder, to complex machinery, like a sewing machine. He even had a laptop among his collection. She was busy examining each of the items when Draco suddenly broke the silence.

"Since we are working together, why don't we spend this time to reveal some stuff to one another? We can ask each other questions, but we have to answer honestly."

"Ummm…sure, as long as I get to go first."

"Sure 'Mione."

"Since when have you liked me and why?"

"Oh come on, everyone asks that question!"

"Just answer it Draco."

"Fine. I've liked you since our second year. I realized that you weren't so bad when I called you a mudblood on the Quidditch field – Hermione, I felt so guilty about calling you that I almost killed myself. I thought I was turning into my father."

At this remark Hermione turned around to face Draco. "Draco, just the fact that you felt guilty proved that you are nothing like your dad. And look at what you are doing now; you're spying on You-Know-Who. That is something your father would have never dreamed of doing. Anyways, you haven't answered the second half of my question…why did you like me?"

"Oh, uh, you looked really cute that day, and over the years that 'cuteness' has turned into 'hotness.' I mean look at that butt for example; it is one sexy thing! Oh you're also really sweet." Draco turned around and blushed a deep scarlet. 'Why the hell did I say the part about her butt?' he thought.

"Um, well thanks for being honest…" Hermione said cautiously.

"Ok, so now it's my turn. How many guys have you been with and how far did you go with each one?"

"That's a pretty personal question Draco. Why do you want to know?"

Draco smirked and said, "Oh, just curious that's all."

'Oh why did I have to agree to this arrangement?' she thought. Aloud she said, "Well, if you have to know, I've had seven crushes since I started liking guys, but I've only been with four people so far. My first crush was a muggle named Stephen Carson, and we went out for a while. Our relationship was composed of no more than kissing, and we broke it off pretty soon because we didn't want to ruin our relationship. He was my neighbor and first friend in England. In fourth year, I started liking you but I found it was pointless to pursue my feelings so I started dating Krum as a way to forget about you. We also broke it off before doing anything serious. Then, in 6th year, I got together with Ron, and we made love once or twice before we realized that there would never be more than friendship between us; we fought far too many times. All this while I was trying to forget the feelings I had for you, but when you came over to the good side, I realized I wouldn't have to hide them anymore. Umm…yea… oh! I forgot! I am currently in a relationship with a certain Draco Malfoy, and we haven't really done anything except gone out once."

By this time, they had finished cleaning the tool shed, so Draco took her by the hand and said, "I think I can change that last part." He led her to the smaller broom cupboard, where he closed the door and put a complex charm around the room so that people would think they were cleaning. He turned around to look at her and pulled up her chin so that she was looking into his eyes.

Slowly, he leaned down and gently placed his lips on hers. Hermione had kissed many boys (as she had mentioned before) but none of those kisses felt anything like this. It was the sweetest thing she had ever experienced, and she could actually feel the fireworks that everyone always talked about. It was at this moment that she knew that she was in love. She felt Draco nibble her bottom lip, and when she didn't open her mouth immediately, he licked her lips, demanding entrance. Hermione opened her mouth and felt his tongue rush inside, groping around for her tongue.

Hermione broke away at this point and said, "Draco, we need to set our standards before we do anything."

"Um, sure. I'll get a pen and paper." He did a spell and soon a floating piece of parchment and a pen came into view. "Hello, testing, hello," Draco said. The quill wrote down his words on the scroll in a way similar to Rita Skeeter's pen (except without all the twisted details).

"Ok well, no extremely vulgar affection in public. Agreed?" asked Hermione.

"Sure. That's pretty gross anyways."

"And when/if we have sex, it can only be once a month."

"What! Why?"

"That way, we won't get tired of it. Also, our longing for each other will be so great that we will naturally be able to show each other how much we have missed being together."

"Ok, that makes sense. But the date has to be planned in advance, so that we can get ready for the special occasion," Draco said, winking at Hermione.

"Sure. Anything else you can think of?" Both of them were silent for a moment, thinking of anything else they should put on paper.

"Oh!" Draco said suddenly, "I have an idea! Since we have sex only once a month, we need to make up for that, so each time we do it, one of us can think of something out-of-the-ordinary to do during that time. We'll switch off each month. How about it?"

"That sounds fun! I'm up to it. Let's sign the document so that we can't break it's rules." Hermione stepped towards the contract and grabbed it along with the quill. She signed the bottom part of it and handed over to Draco, who signed it in his eloquent scrawl.

"Wow! Look at the time! I think we should head back inside now before someone starts looking for us," Hermione said, performing a quick cleansing spell and taking of the charms off the room before stepping outside.

Draco rolled up the parchment and followed her. Before they stepped into the Burrow, he asked Hermione: "Can tonight be one of those specially planned, once-a-month nights? I'll think of something special to do, if you agree."

"Sounds fun. Come into my room at midnight," Hermione said before walking inside.

------------------------------

Please R/R! Chapter 4 will be up soon, so get ready for a little fun!

Thanks to the people who already reviewed!

pig luva13