Charming
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Sixteen : My Friend's Love

Hermione awoke the next morning, with a slight headache. An aftereffect of all those tears, I suppose, she thought. She smiled as she remembered whose bed she was in. They hadn't done much afterwards, except kiss and make up and promise that they'd always be together, but she knew she'd never forget last evening. She knew that he wouldn't either.

It was funny how natural it was to wake up next to him. She pondered briefly if it would still be as comfortable to do so if they had done more than cuddle and talk late into the night. Though she couldn't prevent the momentary rush of blood to her face, it wasn't from embarrassment. Perhaps that was how she was able to know that he was it – she was comfortable enough to be herself around him and yet he could still make her heart race with a single smile. She smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek, before sitting up to get up out of bed.

Or rather, tried to get out of bed. Before she could leave, Harry's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him. "I thought I asked you to stay," he mumbled sleepily.

"You did. And I wasn't leaving," she said.

"It sure looked like you were leaving the bed."

"I thought I'd make you breakfast in bed."

He lifted himself up and gave her a quick, sloppy kiss. "There are three problems with that, love," he stated. "One, it is your birthday. I am the one who should bring you breakfast."

"Honestly, I thought you were asleep."

"I usually get up before you, Hermione. I was enjoying being next to the woman I love"—it was amazing how her heart leapt at those words—"before she tried to leave. And I've not mentioned the second problem yet."

"Which undoubtedly will be the fact that you think I can't cook."

"That's not it at all." He paused, a grin forming on his face. "I know you can't cook, Hermione. You've proved it again and again."

"Practice makes perfect," she insisted.

"But you had to admit you need a lot more practice." A look of chagrin crossed Harry's face as he realized what he had stepped into.

"Exactly! That's why I ought to cook breakfast. As practice," Hermione said, pouncing on the opening he had left her.

"Fine, fine. I'll go too."

"No, you can stay here. I'll bring it to you once it's done."

"Someone has to be there to make sure the kitchen doesn't burn down," he told her. "And you've always been a little firestarter," he added, reminding her of the blue flames she used to keep in jars.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I know more dousing spells than you do. And I can prove it to you right now!" Hermione reached for her wand, intending to wave it threateningly at Harry, but she couldn't find it. Damn! I must have left it in the kitchen last night, she thought. Harry only crossed his arms and looked smugly at her.

"It would help if you had your wand, wouldn't it?" he said. "Come on. I'll go with you." He suddenly leaned close to her, his nose right up against her, and her heart started beating so fast that it was almost frightening. "Besides, I've not mention the most important thing yet."

"And that is?"

"The fact that I want to be with you." He punctuated the declaration with a kiss, and there was little Hermione could do to refuse him after that. Not that she would want to.

She rather wanted to be with him as well.

Harry started looking around, as if searching for something, and Hermione realized that he was looking for his glasses. She had thought he had been wearing them when she had finally fallen asleep last night, but she guessed he had taken the off afterwards. A quick glance across the room revealed to her that they were on the nightstand on his side of the bed. She felt the corners of her lips turn up. It was absolutely precious the way he was trying to find them. She was kind of disappointed when he located them and stuffed them on his face. The look on her face tipped him off to her amusement.

"You knew where they were all along, didn't you?" he asked accusingly. She nodded her head yes. "And you couldn't be bothered to let me know where they were?" She shook her head no. He sighed with exasperation. "Was it fun, watching me—"

"Not fun, Harry, not exactly that." She squeezed his hand. "You were adorable, the way you were looking around for them like a lost puppy."

"I'm not sure if I like being called adorable."

"You ought to be."

"Why?"

"Because it makes me want to do this." She kissed him, and it went on for several minutes. When it was over, he sat back a bit dazed from the intensity of it.

"Wow," he said. "I must remember to lose my glasses more often."

The two of them proceeded to make their way to the kitchen, with a rather long pause in the living room as Harry realized he had yet to wish her a happy birthday and deciding to remedy that by treating her to a birthday snog. "The first of many," he promised, and Hermione found herself grinning back at him, looking forward to them all. It was amazing, how she could have gone from being so miserable a mere day ago and trying to make others unhappy along with her to being so happy that she felt that she could fly.

Once they had reach their destination, Harry delegated her the task of making toast, while he set about doing something with eggs. Ten minutes later, the kitchen was full of smoke as the toast somehow spontaneously caught on fire. Before she could put them out, Harry had already done so. He waved her to the table, saying that he could finish on his own, thank you, and coffee was up. Hermione knew better than to protest as she was going to have a hard time living this one down. And when Harry told Ron about it, Ron would be sure to counter with that story of her burning a pot of water. Which really hadn't been her fault at all as she'd been reading a particularly interesting study on layering shield spells. Yet, despite the ignominy of almost burning down the kitchen on her birthday, a smile remained on her face. She expected her face to be in pain by the end of the day, but she couldn't help herself, now that she knew that he loved her as much as she loved him. And it was probably more incredible that she was inspired to think of such a cliched phrase.

"So what do you want to do today?" Harry asked her as he plopped an omelet on her plate.

"I don't know." She frowned at the plate. "I think this is too big for me, Harry," she said.

"It's for both of us." He pulled up a chair next to her. "Or maybe you don't want to share?"

"I suppose telling you to get your own plate would be a lost cause?"

"Smart girl. Always knew you were bright." He stabbed the omelet with his fork and offered it to her. She accepted the bite and chewed slowly. "Like?" he asked, when she had finished.

"Mmm . . . very much," she said. "Have I ever told you how glad I am that one of us is able to cook?"

"Yes, you have. Several times in fact. But don't let that stop you from telling me again," he replied. "But back to the topic of what to do. I have no plans, so if there's anything that you want to do—"

"Damn." Hermione grimaced. "Can I borrow Hedwig? I need to scribble a note to Malfoy, telling him that I won't be able to make it tonight."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. "I thought you'd already canceled with him."

"No, I didn't want to do so face to face," she said. "Because that would have taken time and I would have had to stay even later to finish my work and I wanted to see you right away."

"You could just leave him hanging," Harry suggested hopefully. "He'll get the hint after awhile."

"Harry!"

"What?"

"That's an awful thing to say."

"You can't expect me to be nice to him. Not after the way he tried to steal you away from me."

"Harry! He wasn't trying to do that. He never showed the slightest bit of interest in me," Hermione said.

"That's what you think. I beg to differ." He huffed and seemed a bit disgruntled. "Trust me, Hermione, most wizards do not go out of their way to invite their female co-workers to dinner just about every other night, if they don't have other plans in mind."

"If he did have other plans," she said, "he might as well have never bothered as he never had a chance anyway. Not when he was going up against you." That put a smile back firmly on his face, and he relented enough to let her use Hedwig to send a brief note. No reply was sent back with the owl, and Hermione dreaded what Malfoy would say to her on Monday. She shook herself to get rid of such thoughts. That might be awful indeed, but as for now, she wanted to enjoy spending the weekend with Harry.

When breakfast was finished, they both got dressed for the day and headed towards Diagon Alley, as Harry insisted on seeing Ron to let him know everything was all right between them once more. Hermione had pouted and said that she thought everything was more than all right, promptly causing Harry to initiate another birthday snog. After she had caught her breath from that, she had told him that she hoped that he wouldn't stop kissing her after her birthday could no longer be used as an excuse. The look in his eyes told her the answer to that one.

Ron was busy in the back room, when they arrived at the twins' shop, and George waved them both in, warning them not to touch anything. Hermione rolled her eyes, as they knew better than that. It was a joke shop after all, and even worse, it was one created by the twins. Anyone who didn't know that was in serious need of some help. They found Ron at a table, counting what looked like an innocent batch of chocolate.

"Hello," he greeted them, noting their linked hands. "So I guess Hermione here has finally come to her senses."

"Yes, I have," she said.

"Thanks to me," he noted with a smirk. Turning to Harry, he said, "She's lucky that us blokes aren't like witches. We don't tend to hold grudges."

"I don't hold grudges either!" she protested. The two wizards simply exchanged a look, as if agreeing on a course of action.

"How about Skeeter?" asked Ron.

"I don't hold a grudge against her. I simply despise her complete lack of morals."

"And Trelawney?" Harry prompted.

"I only wish she'd get a clue so she'd stop searching tea leaves for one."

"And Cho?" Ron continued.

Hermione tossed her head. "She obviously didn't know how to properly appreciate what a good . . . hey! No fair asking that!"

"I rest my case," Ron finished smugly.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but she was stopped by Harry's mouth covering hers. She eagerly dived in to the kiss, loving how close they were and the thrill of pleasure she got as their teeth clashed and their tongues dueled. Ron patiently sat their, looking at his watch. Finally, he interrupted them, saying, "That's enough now, you crazy kids. You're getting a bit too close for comfort. My comfort, to be precise."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked.

"That there are some things I'd rather not see."

"Trust Ron to interrupt a birthday snog," Harry noted ruefully.

"As if you need an excuse," Ron scoffed. "But that's right. Happy birthday, Hermione." He pushed his tray of chocolates in her direction. "Would you like a Complimentary Chocolate?" he asked.

Something about the way he said it made it clear he was using capital letters and that aroused her suspicion. "Complimentary Chocolate? What does it do?"

"I'm glad you asked." He picked one up. "Eat one of these and you'll not have enough good things to say about the first person you see afterwards." He winked at them. "Too bad we didn't have these when we were at Hogwarts. Imagine all the points we'd be able to get off of Snape."

"He'd probably take them all back once the spell wore off," Harry noted.

"More than that, if you think about it. This is Snape we're talking about," Hermione added.

"True, true. But to see the look of shock on his face as he awards a Gryffindor with hundreds of points . . ." Ron sighed happily. "It would've been worth it." He put the bespelled sweet down. "You are welcome to have one – or more – if you like. The twins won't mind. And you can feed them to Harry whenever you think he's not being sweet enough for you."

"I hope she'll never need them for that, mate."

"Yeah, and she probably never will. But a back up plan would be good, yes?"

Hermione shook her head no, privately thinking to herself that real compliments were better than those that were the product of a spell. "I'd rather hear what Harry wants to say instead," she said simply. Both Harry and Ron beamed at her when she said that.

"Right on," said Ron. "You couldn't have given a better answer than that. Oh, and I do have a gift for you, but unfortunately, I left it at the Burrow." His gaze slipped away from hers, and Hermione wondered if he was telling the complete truth. "So I'll give it to you when I see you next. Whenever that may be."

"If you don't have one, that's fine. I'm not one to insist upon presents," she said.

"I do, I do have one for you. I told you that I forgot it, didn't I?" He wore an expression of injured pride.

"Fine, I believe you. I didn't want you to think that I'd get mad if you had nothing."

"I know, Hermione. Now you two go and have fun. I'll bring it by tomorrow." He sighed heavily. "In the mean time, I see a lot of counting in my immediate future. Even Trelawney could get that one right."

The two of them waved good bye to their friend and headed out, grateful that nothing had happened to them while they were in there. Harry suggested that they go to Flourish and Blotts. Hermione, who was never one to refuse a chance to buy more books, readily agreed. Harry surprised her by saying he'd buy her all the books she wanted once they were inside the shop as a present. Hermione flushed and floundered and thanked him for it. She picked out a couple select volumes that she had been wanting to own for some time and handed them over for him to pay for them. While she knew he could have easily afforded more, she wasn't very comfortable with taking advantage of his generosity. She kissed him lightly afterwards, and she could have sworn she saw the flash of a camera go off. Harry had spotted it as well, and he swore under his breath. It wasn't hard to guess what would hit the fan tomorrow.

"Is it that bad?" she asked after he had finished his rant.

"What?"

"Having people know that you're with me?"

"No, Hermione. Not at all. That part actually is good so they know you're spoken for," he said. He draped his arm rather possessively around her. "It's the complete lack of privacy that I'm afforded that really upsets me."

"I could disguise you next time," she suggested.

"Then they'd say how you're cheating on me and you'll get a fresh new round of hate mail. Sometimes, I wish I could get away from it all." There wasn't any real way to respond to that in words, so Hermione rested her head against him as they continued to walk down the pavement and that seemed to help him calm down. Eventually, he asked if she would mind dropping by Hogwarts to see Professor Lupin, who was teaching DADA once again. She assented, thinking it would be better if Lupin heard about them directly rather than through some rag of a newspaper.

The impromptu trip turned out to do everyone good as Lupin's eyes positively lit up when he saw them together. Their old professor had seemed depressed after Harry had finally defeated You-Know-Who, probably because all of his friends from his years at Hogwarts were dead or worse.

It was funny, in a sad sort of way. When she was younger, she thought that when Harry finally got rid of You-Know-Who, everything would be right in the world. But things hadn't changed that much. People were still frightened of werewolves, though Lupin was attempting to change that for the next generation of wizards and witches. House Elfs still were not free, and S.P.E.W. was regarded by many as a bad joke that wouldn't go away. There were even some sectors of Wizarding society that still looked poorly upon Muggle-borns. That wasn't as bad or as pronounced as before, especially given there were no longer homicidal maniacs set on killing all Muggle-borns on the loose, but the prejudice remained visible. Hermione believed that the world had become a bit brighter with Harry's victory, but there was much room for improvement.

She didn't think that task would ever be complete.

Lupin insisted on the two of them staying for lunch and led them to eat at the staff table in the Great Hall. It was a bit unnerving, how closely they were watched by the students there. Hermione didn't remember receiving this much attention while she was at Hogwarts, but it was probably different for Harry. The first years were the worse as they hadn't ever met the two of them before, while the seventh years took their presence in stride. Ginny trotted up to say hello, with Colin trailing behind, and Hermione was eternally grateful that the youngest Weasley had done something to his camera as it was not hanging around his neck.

The rest of the professors began to drift in for lunch. Professor Flitwick congratulated them on their relationship and went on to wish Hermione a happy birthday. Trelawney made an appearance as well, but fortunately something had happened to her voice. Hermione didn't know what, but given the wink Ginny directed at her, she was willing to bet that the youngest Weasley had a hand in it, maybe with a small bit of assistance from her older brothers. Hermione made a mental note to do something nice for her friend soon. Snape came in and promptly ignored the two of them, though by the sour look on his face, Hermione didn't think he was pleased. Hagrid clapped Harry on the back and said something about Harry's parents, which led to a spat of reminiscing between Hagrid and Lupin about those earlier times.

The mood darkened when McGonagall joined them. This was through no fault of the older witch, but the fact that she was now headmistress of the school only reminded everyone of what had bee lost. Hermione felt bad for her former professor. She didn't look like she had been getting enough sleep, and Hermione imagined that it must be a difficult act to follow Dumbledore. It must be even more difficult to soothe the relations between the Houses as things had been very bad last year. Hermione wished there was something she could do. She promised herself to ask, albeit in a more private setting as she didn't think the professor would appreciate that being the subject of conversation in front of everyone, including students.

After lunch, they stayed to watch the first Quidditch match of the season, which pitted Gryffindor against Hufflepuff. Gryffindor won, but barely, with Ginny grabbing the Snitch before the other Seeker. They stayed on a bit for the inevitable party afterwards, and Ginny had laughed nervously, saying that she hoped they found another Seeker soon. Harry agreed, saying that they'd need to find one for next year anyway, and Hermione's attention soon wandered away as the two of them went on and on about that subject. She didn't want to interrupt the two of them, but she did want to see her parents.

Finally, she decided that she had to barge in, otherwise she'd never get a chance to go home. "I don't mean to stop the two of you from plotting strategy," she said, "but would you mine if I go? I'd like to see my parents."

"Of course not, Hermione. I understand," Ginny said. "Sorry for keeping you here so long. Though I'm amazed that you're still here, given that you must be bored to tears with the two of us." She glanced at Harry and grinned. "Are you going with her?" she asked.

"Um . . . I don't . . . do you want me to go, Hermione?" he asked.

"Yes, of course I do." She frowned. For some reason, he was looking a bit frightened at the prospect of seeing her parents. Suddenly, she recalled how her dad had reacted to him last time. He wasn't likely to be any friendlier today, as the last she talked to him, he had it out for Harry. "Would you rather stay here? So you don't have to see my dad?" she asked.

"Um . . . I want to be with you, but your dad is—"

"A fire-breathing dragon who happened to take the form of a Muggle, if you believe what my brother says about him," Ginny filled in for him. "I doubt that. He's never been anything but polite to me."

"Thanks for the support," said Hermione.

"But then, you should have seen the transformation my dad went through when I brought Colin home this summer. Between him and all my brothers, it's a miracle that Colin didn't bolt." Ginny shook her head sadly. "And that's not the worst of it."

"What is?" Hermione asked.

"The fact that I know that Colin will be even worse when his own daughter brings home her first wizard. Not that I'm planning on marriage or having his children or anything like that," she added hastily. "I would think that he would have some pity on those poor suitors given what my family put him through, but by then, he'll most likely be using them as examples."

"I know I plan to ask for ideas from your brothers," Harry piped up. Hermione shot him a look that said now-you've-done-it.

"If that's how you feel, let's visit my parents and you can take notes." Harry groaned and Ginny laughed at his despair. He shouldn't have said that in front of Hermione. They took their leave of the Gryffindors and all too soon for Harry's peace of mind, they were at the Grangers' doorstep.

Hermione's visit with her parents didn't last as long as she would have liked. While her mum welcomed Harry warmly into their home, it was almost possible to see the steam billowing off her dad's head each time he looked at Harry. Happily, Harry had enough sense to keep his mouth shut for the most part, but it couldn't have been comfortable for him. Hermione decided that she'd have a little talk with her dad later. At that thought, she repressed a sigh. Here it was, her birthday, and her mental list of things to do was getting larger by the minute.

By the time they said their good-byes to her parents, the two of them were starving. Harry announced that he was too hungry too cook, which she noted was just like a boy. He ignored that comment and suggested that they go to Four Seasons, a Wizarding restaurant. Its particular selling point was the fact that one ate in a private room and got to choose which season the room would be in, hence its name. Hermione agreed for she had wanted to eat there for some time. When they got there, Harry quickly chose winter as their season, causing Hermione to raise an eyebrow. The room wasn't as cold as winter could be, but it was cold enough. Hermione used the chill as an excuse to cuddle with Harry all throughout dinner and she didn't think that he minded. Scratch that. From what she felt, she knew he didn't mind the slightest bit. Following dinner, they went to a movie and when that was over, they found themselves wandering the streets, not having any destination in mind but not ready to go home yet. Somehow, they found themselves in a Muggle bar, which had several billiards tables.

They ordered drinks and Hermione noticed that Harry's gaze kept returning to the billiards table. "Would you like to play?" she asked as their drinks arrived. He nodded eagerly. She picked up her glass and walked over to one, selecting a cue stick from the wall. "Have you ever played before?"

The way he hurriedly shook his head no should have been a big tip off for her. Unfortunately for her, she had gone in to lecture mode and was already telling Harry all the finer points of the game, not thinking that he'd ever had the chance to play given his relatives. When she had finished explaining everything, she asked, "So can you remember all that?"

He nodded yes again. "I think I'll pick it up as we go along."

"Okay. I'll break this first time." Hermione bent over, sighted the cue ball down the middle, pulled back her stick, and then shot.

The damn thing bounced off the rest of the balls and headed into the corner pocket. She cursed fluently as Harry laughed.

"Bad luck, I suppose. Should I give it a try?" he offered, tears falling out of his eyes from laughing too hard.

"Go ahead." She waved him on. "Though you might want to stop laughing like a hyena. That might improve your aim." He grinned cockily and stepped up to the table. A moment later, the cue ball was flying away and he managed to knock in not one or two, but three balls.

It was almost insulting.

"I should've known. Beginner's luck," she huffed. He didn't contradict her, but continued to play, knocking in ball after ball. When she finally got another chance, she didn't hit a thing, giving him two turns in a row. He won the first game after that, which made her challenge him to the best two out of three. She reasoned that his luck had to run out some time.

Now, as she went for the best four out of seven, she had to wonder whether it was luck at all. He was playing too well for that. It didn't help that she was a horrendous player. The only ball she had managed to get in the pocket was the five ball (aside from the cue ball and the eight ball), and that was two games ago.

It didn't look good for her. And she was getting desperate.

Normally, Hermione wasn't one to use feminine wiles to get her way. She had looked down upon witches who got their own way by virtue of their looks. But things were looking very badly for her and she was sorely tempted to do something along those lines. Hermione wasn't delusional enough to think that she was a looker, but there are some assets that wizards were always willing to stare at.

It would be a dirty, rotten thing to do. It'd be kind of like cheating, except not. It would definitely give her an advantage, but it might not be enough. Despite all that, she wasn't the type to go down without a fight.

Figuratively speaking of course.

Hermione decided to go for it. She needed whatever extra edge the move would give her. In one swift motion, she took off her shirt.

Harry's jaw dropped.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry had been a very good boy the whole day. Oh yes he had. He had not teased Hermione incessantly when she had burned the toast or told Ron about that incident. He had gone willingly to visit her parents and hadn't whinged the slightest after that painful interlude. And now, he was being a very good boy by not immediately reaching out to caress Hermione's breast through the very thin camisole she was wearing.

Nope, he was merely enjoying the view. If she didn't want him to enjoy it, then it was too bad. She should have bloody well kept her shirt on in that case. You couldn't expose a pair of full, soft breasts like that and not expect a bloke to stare. Especially when it was Hermione doing so, as she wasn't one to flaunt her cleavage, which was a pity. And so of course, he was taking in the view and it was even better that it was his girlfriend – or at least he thought she was given everything that had happened recently – and so he could look with impunity.

Suddenly, his survival instincts kicked in and he realized that Hermione was talking to him.

"—getting kind of boring with you taking all the shots. So you won't mind if I go again? Even though I missed and it's you who should be going twice?" she asked brightly. Harry waved her on. Him mind? Not bloody likely. Not when she bent over like that. It was as well that she was wearing jeans instead of a pair of shorts, because if he could see her arse as well, who knew how long he could keep his control. Harry kept letting Hermione take shot after shot, knowing that she was doing this to win and not really caring. If anything, he wished she'd be a bit faster with all of this. She could stop asking for his permission after each shot for one, as it was obvious that he wasn't interested in the game any more. On top of that, it was taking her forever to land balls in the pocket. He was so much better at it than her.

That was when it hit him. Nice, long cue stick. Balls. Pockets. Harry groaned. He wanted to bury himself into her pocket and he wanted to do it now.

Striding up to her, he embraced her from behind, grinding his erection against that fine arse of hers. She moaned and pushed back against him, and he almost lost it then and there. He let go of her to turn her around face him and then bent down for a kiss. She eagerly responded, her arms going around his neck. She squealed as he broke the kiss and frantically fumbled in his pocket, searching for a few quid to leave the bartender and then tossing it on to the table. He wanted to leave now.

He half-carried Hermione into the men's room. He took a quick glance around, and after seeing that there were no Muggles to notice them, he Apparated both of them to just outside their flat. Once there, Hermione seemed intent on distracting him from the very important task of opening the door by snogging him senseless. It was only by luck that he got it open and the two of them almost fell through it. He kicked the door close and crawled over back to Hermione, eager to feel her silky breasts once again, to taste her sweet mouth once again – and more. As she responded to him more readily than he had ever imagined, with her hands working to free him from his trousers, he knew they weren't going to make it to the bed in time.

Author's note: The next chapter will be up next Friday. I hope you liked this one and I'd be grateful if you could let me know what you thought of it by leaving a review. A big thanks goes out to Shawn Pickett, Rebeca, LeslieGladly (thanks ^_^ ), thefionna (I hope it lives up to expectations), Harpee-Lady, ksmcan, Erika, Elizabeth M. Potter, mikeus, ears91, Disco Duck, Star19, Fire-bound heart, Blood57 (I'd ask you meant by 'screw Malfoy,' except I might not want to know), Korine (was chapter fourteen that bad?), Sheilalein, Fatima, Devinj2000, Natalie314159, Wytil (they're too young to marry!), EuphoniumGurl0, sinta1, Izabel, Megan, athipsou, Ramy (am glad you liked the timing), Hpfreak123, Carolyn, stephen, SilverFoot (no, but I like the fact that posting is quick and easy), lucy, spacey-me90, TheSilverLady, BlueEpiks13, Muse (yes, she had been which is why Ron called her on it), rochele-88, Bulma Queen of Saiya-jin, danielerin, Melissa, ravenclaw's heir, MEGAN, Leah6 (a chapter has to end somewhere ^_~ ), sweetheart87, Jo, happy2, CeHsGoodGirl, bamaslamma29, tOmLoVeR17, Robaatsu, Aurora Rehona, mutsumi, Sam8 (yes, it does. It's better to have anticipation), malu, Finally, avadakedavra, lee74, Lil-frankie14, Mistress Desdemona (actually, I was thinking of auctioning Draco off to the highest bidder, but he wouldn't agree), Amynoelle, zidane3, telmie, samuri, Tiffie101, blondi gurl, myman-harry526, kyc639 (no angst as they're still in their honeymoon period, so to speak), Sakura Mori (glad to see there's no zuka between that), candygoddess (this fic isn't over quite yet), Laren, ExcalibursZone, darkfairy905, Painted Toenail (thank you and the Draco thing will take awhile), Pinku-koneko, ILUVRONWEASLEY (enjoy your holidays), mione1, TheWraith1 (did you think I was going to drag it out for another fifteen chapters?), Nimue, Maren L_P, and hpfanmelissa for reviewing the last chapter. ^_^ I'm happy to see that you liked it.

As for some general comments, I was thinking that I could finish this fic in a few more chapters, but it doesn't seem likely now. I've a couple more things to cover, and I don't just want to breeze over them. Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed. It was lovely to read your comments.