Chapter Six

"Names." Professor Flitwick said once Harry and Draco had reached the school.

"Professor you've known both of us for six years now." Harry reminded him.

"No excuses Potter! It's protocol." Flitwick told him but Draco just simply rolled his eyes.

"I don't have time for this nonsense." He said as he went inside the castle and started heading towards the Great Hall where Hermione was already waiting for him. "How did you get up here so fast? You were behind me before." He told her and then quickly glanced back over his shoulder and then back at her.

"I took a different way obviously." She replied. "Anyways, I have a feeling that something's wrong and they're not telling us about it." She told him as he just nodded at her.

"You're right." He told her.

"What is it Draco? Please tell me." She pleaded as he walked closer towards her and put his suitcase down and then cupped her cheek with his hand and gazed into her eyes.

"They're checking to see that neither Voldemort or his followers get onto the grounds now that he's back." He told her.

"I had a sinking suspicion that's what it was." She told him. "I just hoped that I was wrong, but I faced him before last year, so I'm not afraid to do it again." She added.

"Well, I am. You're either extremely brave Granger or extremely foolish. Either way that's not going to change how I feel about you and I'm more afraid for you than you are for yourself." He told her as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"And I feel exactly the same way about you." She told him before he quickly wiped it away with his thumb and then kissed her lips.

"Don't worry about me, I'm a survivor alright?" He questioned before she broke down into tears. "Shh,.. Shh,.." He whispered while stroking her cheek gently with his thumb.

"It just isn't fair! It seems like everything in the universe is trying to pull us apart!" She sobbed.

"Yeah, well my love for you is like a magnet, the stronger the universe tries to pull me from you the harder I'm going to fight back." He reassured her. "You're just going to have to promise me that no matter what happens you're going to be strong for me and hold your head high. Do you promise Hermione Jean Granger?" He questioned her before she slowly nodded back at him.

"I promise." She replied as he then took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"And never let go of that promise either." He told her making her stifle a laugh and then playfully slapped him a crossed the shoulder.

"You idiot you stole that from Titanic!" She snapped as he playfully stuck his tongue out at her.

"So!? What if I did? You're my Rose." He told her with a grin as she smiled back at him through her tears.

"And you're my Jack Dawson." She replied and he smiled back at her before they both closed their eyes and started to exchange deep and passionate kisses and at one-point Draco even slipped his tongue into her mouth and then slowly pulled away from her.

"I love you Hermione Granger." He whispered.

"I love you too Draco Malfoy." She whispered back before they continued making out in the hallway until Severus Snape cleared his throat rather loudly alerting them that he had been behind them.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." He told her softly before taking her by the hand and then moved his lips close to his ear and started to whisper inside of it. "Meet me in the dungeon later on." He told her and then kissed her cheek before he went off with Snape making Hermione grin widely and start to blush.

…

Hermione waited until after the feast and then waited in the dungeon for Draco and he took her to the Slytherin common room and started kissing her again until they were pushed up against the wall. "You know we could wind up getting in a lot of trouble for this. I'm not supposed to be in your common room remember?" She questioned him between kisses.

"Yeah, and I don't really give a shit. You're just lucky that I'm holding myself back and you're not going to get pregnant at sixteen." He told her as he took her over to the sofa and laid down with her with her whole entire body lying on top of him with her head resting on top of his chest directly over his pounding heart. He kissed her forehead and gently started stroking her hair.

"So, what did Snape want?" She wondered.

"Nothing much, basically he just wanted to talk to me." He replied as she closed her eyes and started drifting off to sleep, too tired to think of anything else to say. Draco gently kissed the top of her head as he wanted it to be soft so that it would not wake her and then heaved a sigh while he used the arm that was not wrapped around her to pull up his sleeve and stared at the mark beneath it.

He knew that he would have to tell her eventually, but for right now he just wanted this moment to last forever, and with that he pulled down his sleeve again and giving her head one final soft kiss goodnight, he closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep as well. However, that's when he had a horrible nightmare.

He dreamed that he failed to do the task that Voldemort had set for him and instead of killing him like the original plan was, he killed Hermione instead. Draco woke up in a cold sweat looking as pale as Nearly Headless Nick as his heart pounded and he breathed heavily suddenly feeling as if he were about to get sick to his stomach. Then he breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that Hermione was still fast asleep inside his arms.

"Oh, thank goodness." He whispered to himself. "Love you." He whispered softly before kissing her head gently and slowly drifted back to sleep.