So sorry for the delay! I made this chapter a little longer to make up for it. I hope you enjoy.


Several weeks had passed since the incident in the Potions Classroom. Hermione was starting to think that Draco was avoiding her. If she saw him in the hallway, he would avoid eye contact and suddenly change directions. In their shared classes, he would sit on the opposite side of the room from her. Since the incident in Potions, they had been working on their potion brewing individually. She hadn't been able to talk to him since the day she had woken up in the Hospital Wing…but that would soon change.

Hermione was in her Transfiguration Class packing up. They had spent the class learning how to alter their appearance. Ron and Harry had left for Quidditch practice. Professor McGonagall walked over to Hermione, "Ms. Granger, I would like a word with you and Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione looked up to see Draco standing next to Professor McGonagall. Even this close, he refused to look at her.

"We are getting close to Halloween. As you know, every year we do a large feast for the students. Usually, the Head Boy and Head Girl participate in the planning and coordination of the feast." Professor McGonagall said

She pulled a rather large roll of parchment out of her robe and handed it to Hermione. "I would like you two to begin working on this list as we are getting rather close to Halloween. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know." She nodded and walked out of the classroom.

Hermione unrolled the parchment and began looking at it. Draco came closer to look at the parchment with her. He stood over her shoulder and read behind her. His arm rubbed against her back as he scooted closer to get a better look. Hermione held her breath so as not to inhale his sweet scent.

"We should really get together to discuss this." His voice came out as a rough whisper because he was standing so close to her. Hermione gasped at the feel of his breath on the back of her neck.

"Um…yeah, we should." She stammered. "When is a good time for you?"

"Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend. Do you want to get together tomorrow and we can go to Hogsmeade and discuss?" Draco said softly

Hermione turned around and looked at him, "Yes, that sounds lovely. Do you want to meet at the Hog's Head?"

"Yeah. I can be there at noon." Draco said

"Okay, then it's a date." Hermione blurted.

She froze. That's not what she meant to say. It wasn't a date. It most definitely wasn't a date. Why did she say that? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The corners of Draco's mouth twitched as he held back his smile. "Sure, Granger" He said, "It's a date." He walked out of the classroom without another word.

The rest of the night creeped by. Hermione found herself checking her watch throughout dinner. She was anxious to get through it so she could get back to her dormitory and figure out what she was going to wear. Why was she so nervous? It's just a meeting to talk about the Halloween feast. There's nothing special going on.

She felt a little tug at her heart. Is that what was bothering her? The fact that there was nothing going on? What did that mean?

Hermione climbed through the portrait hole and watched as Harry and Ron sat in the squishy arm chairs by the fire.

"I think I'm going to take my broom out tomorrow and get a last minute practice in before our first match." Ron said to Harry "Do you want to come with?"

Harry nodded and looked over at Hermione. "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

Hermione froze. "I'm um…going to Hogsmeade."

Ron clapped his hand to his forehead. "I completely forgot it's a Hogsmeade weekend! Maybe I can practice sometime next week-"

"No!" Hermione screamed. It came out louder than she intended it to. The common room wasn't full of people, but those who were there definitely noticed her outburst.

"I just mean…you've been talking about this Quidditch match for weeks. It has been some time since you've been on a broom. Wouldn't it be better to spend the time practicing?"

Ron looked at her for a moment and then shrugged, "Yeah…I guess."

Hermione sighed and said "I'm going to go to bed. Good night." She headed upstairs without saying another word.

When she got to the girls' dormitory she closed the door behind her and let out a big sigh of relief. Luckily the dormitory was empty, she could spend all of the time she needed to figure out how she was going to get through tomorrow.

The next morning Hermione woke up feeling anxious. She spent the night tossing and turning worrying she would oversleep. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous, but she was. She looked over at her watch. It was 9AM. She didn't really have an appetite for breakfast. She rolled over on her side and climbed out of the bed.

She had decided she would get dressed and head to Hogsmeade. She couldn't continue to lay around and allow her thoughts to consume her. An hour later, Hermione was walking down the dormitory stairs into the common room.

She had fussed over her hair as always. She decided to straighten it, but then immediately regretted this decision. This wasn't personal. It was a meeting to help coordinate the school's Halloween feast. She didn't want Draco to know that she had overthought this, so she decided to put her hair into a high bun. After staring at her clothes for 15 minutes, she decided to throw on some jeans with a white blouse that hung off of her shoulders.

"Where are you going?" Hermione jumped. She looked up to see Harry sitting on the edge of a couch staring at her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione whispered

"Why are you so dressed up?" Harry said raising an eyebrow

Hermione looked down, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not dressed up." Inside she was groaning. If Harry noticed that she looked dressed up, Draco definitely would.

"I thought you and Ron were going to Quidditch Practice." Hermione said trying to change the subject

"We are. Ron is already down there. I came back to get my broom tweezers. Where are you going?" Harry said staring at her. He wasn't going to let this slide.

"Hogsmeade." Hermione said simply

Harry turned his head to the side, "With Malfoy?"

Hermione froze. She couldn't see her face, but she was sure it was the color of the arm chair Harry was sitting on.

"I…well, Professor McGonagall is having us assist with the Halloween feast, so we need to meet to discuss the responsibilities and what not."

Harry stared at her for a moment and then said, "Okay" and stood up

"Okay?" Hermione asked confused

"Okay" Harry said

"You're not…you don't feel.." Hermione couldn't find the words

"Hermione, you're the brightest witch of our age. You can make your own decisions. You have lived most of my life with me. You've seen almost as much as I have. If this is what you would like to do, then I'll support you."

Hermione's eyes watered. She blinked back the tears. "Thank you, Harry."

She started walking towards the Portrait hole and then stopped abruptly, "are you going to tell Ron?"

Harry laughed, "absolutely not. That's between the two of you…or should I say the three of you?" He winked and walked out of the portrait hole.

Hermione entered the Hog's Head Inn and looked around. Aberforth was coming down the stairs and walking over to the bar. He looked up at her and grunted. Hermione walked up to the bar and sat down. She was early. Draco still had another 30 minutes before there meeting at noon.

"Can I get a fire whiskey please?" Hermione asked Aberforth

He stared at her for a minute and then got busy fixing her drink. "Why don't we make that two?"

Hermione turned around and saw Draco standing next to her. He was wearing jeans and a fitted green collard shirt. The sleeves of the shirt hugged his arms so nicely and the green made his silver eyes sparkle. He sat down next to her and stared.

"Um…hi" she said getting nervous

"Hi." He said continuing to stare. His eyes lingered on her exposed collar bone. Just then Aberforth placed the two glasses in front of them breaking their eye contact. Draco reached into his pocket and handed Aberforth a coin.

"Oh no, you don't have to-" Hermione started

"It's fine." Draco said.

Hermione grabbed her mug and took a sip. The warm liquid slipped down her throat heating up her body from the inside. Some of the hot liquid slipped out of the side of her mouth and ran down her chin.

"Oh, excuse me." She said putting down her mug

Without hesitation, Draco reached his hand toward her and wiped the liquid from her chin. Hermione's breath stopped. She looked at him puzzled. His cool grey eyes were calm. He looked back at her with a kind expression on her face.

"What is going on with you?" Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself

Draco looked visibly confused. "What do you mean?"

"You've been avoiding me for weeks. I wake up in a hospital bed to see you sitting at my bedside, and then you spend the next couple of weeks avoiding eye contact or any interaction with me at all! Then you show up here today and you're…doing this!"

She took another sip of her hot drink to calm her nerves. Draco sighed, "I didn't know what to say to you. I never know what to say to you."

Now it was her turn to ask, "What do you mean?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around the pub. It was still empty. Even Aberforth had disappeared. "Granger, I-. I made it my mission to make your life a living hell while you were at Hogwarts. I called you…well, you know what I've said and you know what I've done. I don't know why McGonagall made me Head Boy, but I can see that it's doing nothing but causing you problems. That's not what I wanted. I came back to this school to face my fears and deal with whatever came my way. It was never my intention to cause you more trouble."

He took a long gulp from his mug.

"You haven't caused me any trouble." She whispered

He cocked his head to the side, "how can you honestly say that? I see the way Weasley reacts every time he sees us together. If you were my girlfriend, I would probably do the same thing, I really can't blame the little git."

Hermione's heart flipped. "Ron isn't my boyfriend."

Draco looked up surprised. "Oh, I just figured…you know with everything that happened."

"We're not dating." Hermione said

They both took another sip from their mugs.

"So, should we get started?" Hermione asked quietly

They began working their way through the roll of parchment Professor McGonagall gave them. They made plans, made to-do lists for themselves, and tried their best to address every item on the list. Hermione didn't want to leave until she was sure they had a solid game plan.

The sun was starting to go down. The window in the front of the pub was filling with the orange light from the sun setting. Hermione rolled up the parchment and stuck it in her bag. "I think that might be enough for today."

Draco nodded. As they worked through the list, he seemed to open up a lot more. It could have been the fire whiskey- they were on their third mug- but he seemed almost…comfortable?

"We should probably head back to the castle." He said placing some more coins on the bar. They walked outside into the cool fall air. The breeze whisked by them bringing the dancing golden leaves with it. They spun in the air and then fell as the wind stopped blowing.

Hermione sighed. She loved the fall. It was her favorite time of the year. The cool air, the colors, it was like new beginnings.

"I love fall." Draco said looking at the leaves blow in the wind

Hermione stopped walking. It took Draco a couple steps before he realized she was no longer beside him. He turned around and looked at her, "what's wrong?"

Hermione walked up to him. She was emboldened by the fire whiskey and was not going to lose her chance to say this.

"You've been a real turd, Draco."

Draco stepped back, flabbergasted. He had no idea why Hermione stopped walking, but this is not what he expected to come out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked

"You're right. You did try to make Hogwarts hell for me, but regardless of how hard you tried it was never that. Hogwarts always felt like home to me. I don't know why you did the things you did. Maybe that's a conversation for another day, or not. What I do know is we are here now. We have a job to do this year and we have to make sure that it gets done. I don't care to relive the past. That will not assist us in getting this job done. So, if you are ready to move forward, I am ready."

She wobbled a little. It seems the fire whiskey was sneaking up on her. Draco smiled and stepped towards her. He extended his arm for her to hold on to.

"I don't need your assistance. I can walk just fine, thank you." Hermione stated walking forward.

She was doing so well, until she tripped on a branch and fell forward…right into Draco's arms. Her head was on his chest. She could smell his cologne again. The warm earthy scents traveled inside of her heating her up in a way the fire whisky couldn't. His hand was on the small of her back. His right arm was on her hip with his hand placed right across her ass.

She looked up slowly at him. He was staring at her with a look of concern on his face. He grabbed her by her arms and helped her stand up. She felt suddenly empty with his arms no longer around her.

She was standing up now, but they were still close. Her breasts were pressed up against his chest. His hands were still where he placed them on the side of her arms to help her up.

Her breathing picked up. She could feel him. They had never been this close before and all she wanted was to be closer to him. She looked deep into his eyes. She was searching. Searching for an answer, a hint, something to guide her next actions. She needed to know what he wanted.

"Draco" She whispered

"You know, today is probably the first time you've ever called me Draco." He said softly. He was staring into her eyes. His thumbs were caressing the side of her arms. She closed her eyes at his touch. She wanted to feel it all. She didn't want to miss a moment.

"I like it. I like it when you call me Draco."

Her eyes popped open. He was looking at her and waiting. What was he waiting for?

"Well," She said trying to gain her composure, "If I'm going to call you Draco. It's only right that you call me Hermione." She said

His mouth twitched. "Hermione"

It was like there was an explosion inside of her. The sound of her name coming off of his lips was maddening. She needed to hear more. She wanted to hear more. She just wanted him to speak.

"Draco?" Hermione looked up pleading

"Yes, Hermione?" Draco whispered

They stared at each other for a moment. Neither of them wanting to move. Moving would make it real. Moving would mean that the moment was over. With that ending, they would have to decide what this was. Neither of them was ready for that. They wanted to stay in the moment.

And then it happened. Their lips met. Hermione wasn't sure who moved first. She wasn't sure who initiated it, but she didn't care. This was what she wanted. She didn't know that she wanted it, but now that it was here, it consumed her.

Draco moved one of his hands up and caressed the side of her face. He was so gentle with her. The kiss was sweet and full of passion she didn't know was there. Their lips moved in unison as if they were made to be placed together.

Hermione reached up and grabbed his hair, deepening the kiss. She wanted more. She craved more. She wasn't ready for this…whatever this was…to end. For now, she just wanted more.

Draco opened his mouth meeting his tongue with hers. He welcomed her ferocity. He desired it. His other hand slid down her back sending shivers down her spine. He grabbed her ass and dug his nails into her jeans as he caressed it. He pulled her closer. He wanted to feel her. All of her.

A moan escaped her lips. She wanted this. She wanted his hands all over her body. She loved the feeling of him embracing her.

Crack.

They pulled a part and looked around. There was movement in the trees next to them. They looked at each other. Hermione had a look of pure terror on her face. Draco stared at her for a moment and looked down.

"Right then…I guess we should get going." He turned and walked toward the castle with Hermione following behind.