Draco hadn't slept well the night before. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was her and how beautiful she looked to him when she came back into their secret potions room earlier that day. Whenever he had fallen asleep, the moment he kissed her replayed in his dreams, over and over again, completely relentless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to dream of anything else, so he chose to simply not dream at all. He stayed awake most of the night, tossing and turning, trying his best to clear Hermione from his mind.

Breakfast hadn't been much better for him, either. By now he was used to the way his housemates ignored him, but when he saw her sitting on the other side of the Great Hall, anger seeming to consume her, he became deeply concerned. Seeing her stabbing at her food with such force, Draco had stood up without knowing what he was doing. All he wanted to do was go over to her and console her, to ask her what was making her so angry. Catching himself, he sat back down quickly, hoping no one had noticed. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear his mind once more, to no avail.

Draco had been staring at Hermione, watching her movements, the way she carried her anger and allowed it to control her every move. He felt nothing but sympathy and concern for her, emotions that he had never felt for anyone but his mother until now. They had completely caught him off guard, making him question his sanity. What is going on? He thought, first I kiss her, now I'm concerned for her? Has someone poisoned me? Draco laughed silently at the last question to pass through his mind. He knew without a doubt that he had, indeed, been poisoned, but not by any sort of traditional means. Most people would call it infatuation, love, or any number of things, but to Draco, it was nothing of the sort. To him, it was being poisoned.

As he sat there staring at Hermione, lost in his own thoughts about love and poisoning, Hermione had lifted her head and their eyes had met. Instantly her anger had melted away, the redness drained from her face, her eyes softened. Draco was slightly shocked at this sudden change in her, one he could not only see in her, but feel from her, too. He didn't understand how he could feel that her mood had changed when their eyes met, but then again, he didn't understand much of anything when it came to her and him.

He dropped his eyes quickly, looking back to his plate and the food he had been only picking at. He hadn't been that hungry to begin with when he came down, but now his appetite had completely vanished. Standing from the table, Draco decided to return to his common room and arrive to class early, hoping the distraction of studying in the quiet, empty classroom would help clear his mind. He walked out of the Great Hall, made it to the Slytherin Common Room and to his bed, grabbed his things, and was on his way up the first flight of stairs to the classrooms when someone had called his name.

"MALFOY!" The red headed Weasley yelled.

Instantly, Draco froze. Turning slowly, he looked down at Ginny, the youngest and only female of the Weasley children.

"What do you want, Weasley?" Draco spat, the usual venom in his voice.

"Are you going to elaborate on that exchange back there?" Ginny returned, meeting Draco's scowl, her arms crossed across her chest, her weight shifted to one foot.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Draco turned his back to her and resumed walking up the stairs. In an instant he heard footsteps behind him. Ginny appeared at his side, determined to continue their conversation. Bloody pest, Draco thought, his scowl growing.

"We both know you know exactly what I'm talking about, Malfoy. I saw your little exchange with Hermione back there, you know."

For a split second, Draco stopped in his tracks. He quickly continued walking, hoping Ginny hadn't noticed his hesitation. He stayed silent, knowing no excuse would be met with any belief. She had seen the whole thing. Saw how Hermione had calmed upon meeting his eyes. Ginny had also probably noticed the concern radiating from Draco's face, since he knew he hadn't attempted to hide how he was worried about Hermione during that short time.

"So, you're not even going to pretend that didn't happen?"

At this, Draco stopped and faced Ginny, catching her off guard. She took a step back, hesitant to know what he would say, or even do.

"What do you want me to say, Weasley? What's the point of you badgering me like this?" Draco took a step closer to her, while she took a step back again. He met each of her steps until Ginny felt the wall of the corridor against her back. He was close to her now, uncomfortably so, and she knew she couldn't back away now.

"Do you want me to say I care about that frizzy haired know-it-all? That I was concerned about her?" He spat, his voice quiet enough for her to have to strain to hear what he was saying, even though he was so close to her. "What does it matter to you what I do or how I may…. Feel? Nothing I do has anything to do with you. Know your place, Weasley, and keep your freckled nose out of my business if you know what's good for you."

Draco turned and left, determined to put as much space between himself and the red head. Ginny, her back still against the corridor wall, only stood and watched him walk away, completely shocked at what he had said.

Draco's day hadn't improved in any way as the hours went by. His mind was lost on Hermione and what had happened the previous day, on Ginny and their intense conversation, and the fact that he had done nothing to convince her what she saw was nothing more than a fluke. He didn't even understand it himself, to be honest. Normally he would have completely shot Ginny down, deflating her to nothing with clever insults all the while building himself up. Instead, he essentially told her she was right, that what she saw was true.

Not only was his mind completely occupied on those two girls, but he was just generally having bad luck that day. First, he ripped an important piece of parchment when trying to pick it up on the ground during one of his classes. He also somehow managed to knock over an entire vial of ink, spilling it all over his books and cloak. He tripped down the stairs when he was going to the Great Hall for lunch, Peeves managed to get the best of him, splattering him with a water balloon full of some weird smelling green slime, and the hem of his favorite cloak had ripped from being caught under a chair when he stood up.

Even though Draco had one class left before the day's end, he decided to skip it, knowing his luck was going to continue to be awful if he went. He wasn't sure what it was about that day, but nothing was going according to plan and he hated it. He walked down the front steps and out of the castle, no particular destination in mind. He watched the ground as he walked, his mind still occupied on the day's events. When Draco looked up, he found himself trailing along the edge of the lake, headed towards the large tree he had spent time relaxing and studying at. Draco looked out towards the lake, watching the tentacles of the giant squid swish merrily through the waters.

As Draco rounded the corner of the small nook where "his" tree was located, he found his spot already taken. He recognized who it was immediately; her bushy brown hair always gave her away. Hermione's head was down, leaning over her books, studying intently. Draco had stopped walking when he first saw her, and he stood as still as possible, trying not to disturb her. He began to back away slowly, doing his best to make as little noise as he could. Unfortunately for him, he backed right on top of a small pile of branches, breaking them as soon as his weight hit their small frames.

Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of the breaking twigs. They stared at each other in complete silence, neither sure of what to say, or what could have been said. Slowly, Draco began his retreat backwards once more. To his surprise, Hermione called out, "Wait!"

He waited.

"Will you sit with me? I think we have something we need to talk about."

Draco stood in silence for a few moments, trying to decide whether he should stay or if he should just turn around and walk away. He was sure she was going to chastise him, tell him off for kissing her cheek. What he wasn't sure about was if he was ready for that kind of thing, especially with how his day had been already. Screw it, he thought, after the day I've had, this will be nothing.

Slowly, Draco walked towards Hermione and sat down next to her, his back and head against the tree's trunk. He kept his eyes closed and didn't say anything, just waited for her to start tearing into him for what he'd done the previous night. He didn't notice her closing her book and putting it back into her bag, or notice when she shifted back towards the tree as well, moving closer to him, almost touching him.

The two just sat in silence for a while, Draco dreading what was about to come. To his surprise, the barrage of heated words never came. Instead he felt Hermione's head slowly lower to his shoulder, her body shifting until her side was pressed against his. Draco froze completely. He wasn't sure of what to do, so he held as still as possible. He heard Hermione sigh in contentment.

It wasn't long before Hermione finally lifted her head from his shoulder. When she did so, Draco leaned his head forward and opened his eyes. He looked over towards Hermione, but she was looking forward, out towards the lake. He could feel warmth radiating from her body, and small electric jolts kept running through his own, merely from the contact between the two of them. He wanted to say something, to ask her what she was thinking and what the contact and her leaning her head onto his shoulder had meant. Instead, he waited.

"Draco…"

"Yeah?"

"About last night…"

Hermione sighed before continuing. "I didn't mean to upset you. I-I just didn't know what to do… I mean, I'm still in a relationship with Ron, you know that. But I can't help but feel like something is here, growing, between the two of us. It shouldn't happen, I know it shouldn't happen, but I can't deny how I-"

Draco cut Hermione off quickly. He had grabbed her chin, turned her to face him, and kissed her. The moment their lips met, he felt this amazing shock come from the contact, shooting down his entire body, filling him with this warm tingling sensation he had never experienced before. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck, and he had moved his hand from her chin and buried it into her hair, placing his other onto the small of her back, pulling her closer.

They stayed that way, locked together, for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly they untangled themselves from each other, Draco regretfully pulling his hands away from her small frame. They sat and stared at each other until Hermione had finally turned away and faced the lake once more.

"Well, that was unexpected," she said.

"You talk too much, Granger."

They both laughed at this, both knowing just how true his statement was. Hermione grabbed his hand and threaded her small fingers through his.

Author's note: Ooooh! They kissed! I hope you guys like the way I wrote in the actual kiss!

I am honestly so thankful for each and every one of you guys. When I finally updated with Chapter 15, I received over 1,000 views on that one day. That is absolutely incredible! You guys completely amaze me. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, and be sure to review this chapter, too! See you guys next update!