Okay so I think you guys deserve an explanation for me not updating this story (or any) since last month. Well, as you all know I'm in my second year of college and it's really hard. For those of you who are in their colleges and universities, I'm sure you can understand the pressure. I had my college exams and my SAT and let me tell you, it was one hell of a ride. I needed to focus on them so I had to sacrifice writing for a little while. I've been so busy with studies that I even found a co-owner to run my Instagram account. Not saying that the burden is fully gone but hey, it's gone down a significant bit, especially after the SAT. I mean, at least it's over. For those you who do not know (mostly everyone outside of America) many universities require SAT, a test, for you to get an admission there so it's extremely vital that you get it great. Again, I'm so sorry for not updating but yes, I have my ideas ready with this fic to get you all screaming. I don't think anyone of you guys knows what's going to happen next. All I can say is that put on your seat belts and tighten your knickers, I don't want you all dead or wet anytime soon. ;)

HAPPY READING! Please leave a review. This is my redemption chapter, don't hold back the criticism.

Draco wished, more than anything else in the world right now, that all this would end as quick as the blink of the eye. All he wanted, was to wake up in his bed one rainy day, free of all nightmares the Dark Lord and his conquests had caused him with his arms tangled around the Gryffindor witch he had grown to love. Was that really too much to ask? Perhaps it was, considering that his perpetually happy fantasy seemed nowhere near to be fulfilled anytime soon. Rather, someone was trying to bring back the Dark Lord and as far as he knew, the world was falling apart.

And he didn't have a single insight on the matter apart from a rotten journal from his crazy aunt which, safe to say, was not coming into shape any time soon. While Hermione had been able to solve the main mystery behind the journal's existence, they were still as clueless as before. Though they had the journal, figuring out the words in it was proving to be the most difficult thing they had ever encountered till now. Of course, they had told McGonagall the moment they had translated Dolohov's words. The headmistress had looked like she had seen a ghost, Draco thought back. Her hands actually froze whilst pouring the tea into the small floral cup when they had barged into her office and told her.

Maybe she had hoped all along, just like Draco that this was all just a bad dream. And hearing that it wasn't just took a toll on her.

"Are you absolutely certain that this-- this is—" She couldn't even voice the sentence.

Draco looked at Hermione, hoping that she'd be able to explain it for he was still too dumbstruck to utter a single word. When he looked at Hermione, her eyes were wide and mouth agape. Closing his eyes, Draco massaged the bridge of his nose. "Yes." a huge part of him had hoped that he wouldn't have to explain the horrid reality to her, and that she'd understand on her own given the evidence they had been able to gather. McGonagall flipped through the pages, her eyes finally settling on the paragraph Hermione had deciphered to be Dolohov's entry.

Draco didn't know when Hermione's fingers came to tangle with his, but he didn't complain. Instead of complaining about their sweaty palms mingling, he tightened his hold on her, knowing that right now, what they needed the most was each other.

After a solid six minutes of staring at the journal, McGonagall softly closed the book. Her eyes darted to the both of them. "We need Potter to help us."

Draco couldn't keep the disgust from his demeanor any longer, immediately scoffing at his name. But this didn't affect Hermione who was already speaking to McGonagall about it.

He noticed she had let go of his hand.

"Yes, of course." Hermione smiled at the thought of the best friend she hadn't talked to in months. It was very stupid— a childish feud that had temporarily parted them, but she could see now that things won't be the same as before. This was more important than some stupid kiss cam and her kissing a boy.

Harry would understand, she told herself, he always does, that's why we're best friends.

"Hermione, I want you to see him first thing tomorrow along with Mr Weasley in my office, talk this through, tell them the details and I'm sure we might be able to get something. I'll be here to supervise you all, of course." she spoke with an air of finality, "And you too, Mr Malfoy, I want you down here with your fellow head. I'm sure you won't bring up the childish feud you have with Mr Potter and Mr Weasley and be on your best behavior."

Draco didn't say anything but nodded instead, not trusting the words that would follow would deemed proper or not.

Three hours later, as they sat in their dorm while Hermione continued to tackle the writings in the sodding journal, Draco couldn't help but think how much time they were wasting. Yes, the journal was important and the words it housed, but what was the point in continuing to decipher the individual codes and words from death eaters while they had gotten the main idea from the journal? All they needed to know what that their suspicion of Voldemort being resurrected wasn't a suspicion anymore, it was the harsh reality. Draco looked over his shoulder to see his girlfriend with her nose pressed deep into the book. A quill, splattered drops of ink and several pieces of parchment littering around the whole dorm. It was as condemning as it was visually appealing.

He tried to ignore the disgust he felt just thinning of Potter and meeting him tomorrow along with that ginger Weasely. If we could get any more unlucky, he'd wager that she-Weasel would also accompany them.

"Why Potter?" he paced the living room, nearly smashing into the small coffee table, "It doesn't make sense!" he screetched, moving his hands all over the place, "Bloody Potter, here to save the day all over again, ain't he? So bloody perfect, everyone loves him." Hermione tried her best not to pay him any mind, if she did, she was fully aware of the drama that would commence. Right now, an argument with her boyfriend regarding her best friend was the last thing she wanted. However, she did hope that he'd shut up so she could work in peace on the sodding journal before her.

She saw Draco in her peripheral vision, biting his nails in anger, a habit he had just picked up. The first time she had seen him do it was when she had scolded him for being too sloppy about his homework, she could see how badly he wanted to scream at her (and maybe she did go a little too out of line, she supposed but things regarding their studies really bothered her to the maximum) but instead of that, he had assorted to nail bitting.

When Draco realised Hermione wasn't going to answer to any of his pleas of anger, he decided to direct his anger to the stupid journal, a real problem that was actually taking a lot of time.

"Okay. That's it." Draco announced. The journal's presence was giving him a migraine. He walked over to the where Hermione was crouched, all her attention on the book. In one swift motion, he snatched the book from her hands.

"Hey!" Hermione screeched. She stood up on her tiptoes, hands up above to reach the wriggling book Draco held up on the air. "Draco! Give that back to me!" her fingers coiled around his shirt collar while the other reached out to grasp the book. The scene brought sheer amusement to Draco's face. He couldn't help but contain a small grin that formed on his face.

"What was that? Forgive me if I can hear you. I can't even see you up hear." he made an animated motion to look around.

"Very funny. Mocking me for being too short. I'm not short, you're just too bloody tall!" she screeched, desperately pulling at his sleeves to to make a grab for the journal.

"GIVE THAT BACK!"

"No." he smirked.

Hermione was mere seconds away from losing it completely. She had been attentively working on one of the passages in the journal when he had snatched the item from her mid-process. Did he have any idea how hard it was to not only translate the passages by first hitting them with various spells but also, identifying the language? No, he didn't. So he better not continue this torture.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy." she said throughout gritted teeth, her fingers tangling in her busy hair. "You're wasting my time! We don't have much time up our sleeves either! Why won't you let me—" it was then that Draco tossed the journal on the table from a height Hermione couldn't even fathom without worrying, (mind you, it was already in such a fragile condition) and took her shoulders in his hands, his grip firm.

"That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you!" he screamed at her, "We are wasting time! There are so many more things we could be doing instead of rummaging around a sodding journal! Hermione Mal-" he stopped then and there with his scolding.

Draco couldn't believe it. What was he thinking? About to call her with his surname? She had just looked so beautiful, he had lost it- messing up not only his heart all over again but also, her last name. It was impossible to fathom the idea of something like-

Marriage.

Draco shivered, though he did a good impression of not showing it on his face. The way his heart clenched at the mere thought of marriage was a reminder of epiphany as well as great sorrow- how could he even think of something like that when the world was in danger all over again? It had hardly been a fucking year and some asshole was already trying to bring back the darkest wizard of all time.

It was just a slip of the tongue, Draco chastised, his pulse becoming erratic. Though it had been wholly unintentional, the idea had already started to bloom in his mind, it gave him that little nudge to consider oblivion, whether he wanted to or not, didn't matter. The mere slip had caused am entire scene to flash before his eyes right at that moment- his ears rung of laughter, laughter that he realized belonged to Hermione, the girl he loved and adored more than anything else in the world. In an instant, she had turned around in his reverie, smiling at him with all her shiny pearls in an ethereal white dress, her messy hair had actually been tamed in his flashes, she looked magnificent. He saw her right then, ushering him to move forward, right next to her. Still rooted to the ground firmly, he waited till it ended, waited for Hermione to smack him across the face and for someone to wake him up for even for a split moment, it looked too perfect of a life for someone like him, and he didn't want to believe it. He didn't deserve it, so why trick yourself into thinking you did?

And then, the girl in his mind was speaking though he could hear little to nothing over the uneven beating of his heart but when it finally did make sense, he was met with cold water on his face.

"You literally blacked out as we were arguing." Draco registered the events of the last half a minute: he had nearly called Hermione by his last name, drifted into some sort of parallel universe where Hermione had stood at the altar in a beautiful white dress and he hadn't taken a step forward when she had called him.

Followed by, of course, the much needed water splashing against his face. His silver orbs went to Hermione, golden eyelashes drilling water droplets like honey, thick and beady. She was holding a goblet between her fingers, looking at him like he had been obliviated. The words were hard to choke, "Wha-what?"

"I said," she sighed, hung her head before lifting it up again. He observed her taking a step closer to him, her breasts lightly brushing against his chest, he gulped. Hermione clutched the end of her sweater's sleeve in her fingers as she dabbed his face with it. One of her hand went to tangle around his collar while the other worked effortlessly to wipe off any residue from the water. Draco could only watch her. After what he had witnessed in his little placid dream, this was a very cruel reality. That things were extremely shitty right now, that all of them were under an alarming threat of war yet again and that everything else, including marriage, love, friends, family, everything had to wait. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat, his eyes scanning everything except her. Maybe she had not heard him—

"And did you just call me Malfoy?" her face was devoid of any expression.

Okay, maybe she had heard me.

"Don't be stupid Granger," he strode off towards the end of the dorm, desperate to put at least some kind of distance between them for he did not know how much more could he of the idea of perpetual happiness with a woman as pure and good as Hermione Granger. The idea seemed too perfect to cling onto, the single thread of hope that had hung from thin air was too good for anyone to grasp. Draco nearly stopped breathing when he saw her taking small graceful strides in his direction. She closed the space between them in mere seconds before she was once again, chest to chest, eye to eye and heart to heart with him. Her eyes glint with a new kind of amusement, her warm brown irises dancing around her cornea, taunting him of what he had said earlier but at the same time, not, for she was yet to speak anything. "Why did you stop?" It was the last thing he had expected to tumble out of her pretty mouth. "Midway." Her voice was silky like rich melted chocolate of the finest caliber, so seductive and at the same time, so honest.

How do I answer that?

"Hermione—" but she had already claimed his mouth in a heated kiss. Pushing herself onto her tiptoes, she tangled her fingers in his hair and the rest knotted in a rather inelegant knot against his collar. It was not a brutal kiss, the kind of kisses they had shared alone in the confinement of their bedroomswhen they had been isolated from the entire world. This was tender, sweet and reeked of love and sheer delight one felt when they saw they favourite person, when their heart skipped a beat at the mere sight of the person they had surrendered their heart over to, the kind of feeling one felt when, in spite of having everything in the bizzare universe, nothing made sense if it weren't for the person they loved wasn't with them.

The kind of feeling Hermione felt for Draco and vice versa.

"Oh, and honey," she looked at him in the eye, "Stop bad mouthing my best friend, it's so seven years ago, that."

Draco stood shook.

"You're doing to be the death of me Granger," and then, her hands were roaming all over his torso, over the black button up he wore which was all wrinkled, (thanks to her) his taut muscles on the back, his hair— nowhere in particular yet everywhere. He smelt of her, he realised; the scent of cinnamon and honey had mingled not only with his breath but had left its aura on his hands, too, which he realised was due to the excessive touching. You could lock him up in a room full of people and all sorts of fragrant flowers and have him blindfolded, but he'd still be able to identify that particular scent that his lover possessed.

Suddenly, she was pulling back from his mouth, her lips a beautiful rosie hue. His hand was still on her waist, treading up slowly towards her breasts. Draco didn't know why she had pulled back but when she spoke, he knew that he'd rather have her say this than do anything else on the world, even if it meant giving up kisses, it was just that simple.

"I love you."

With a tilt of his head, Draco brought up his cold fingers to reach for the chain around her neck. When he touched her skin, she never shivered, his cold skin was not a problem to her anymore. Skillfully, he caressed the key pendant in the middle, slightly pulled it forward, causing Hermione to lean closer than she had already been. With a look of determination and utter love, he kissed the pendant in between his finger whilst keeping his eyes locked with the girl before him. When he heard her gasp, Draco let the pendant drop back to its original position on her chest, taking the liberty to then, lean forward himself and presses his cold lips to her skin right above the pendant, his tongue licking her off in the aftermath like honey.

No words were spoken, only the affectionate voices in their hearts were exchanged under the blissful canopy of the four poster bed, hand in hand, limb tangled to limb, waiting for a world which never parted them from each other for the aftermath would only mean one thing for either,

Death.

————————

"—And remember to behave," Hermione reasoned with the blond sitting in the love seat, his arms crossed and a childish pout on his face. Hermiome left her seat from next Tom. Him and crouched down next to his knees, after all, he did refuse to look at her in the eyes. "Please," she added silently, catching Draco's slate eyes

McGonagall's office was still vacant with no sign of either Harry or Ron. McGonagall, however, had excused herself to be somewhere. When they had both looked at her skeptically, she bad sighed and told them that she was going to get help. Neither of the two knew what it meant so they assorted to keeping their mouths closed. If Minerva McGonagall wanted to do something, nothing in the world would stop her, simple as a wingardium leviosa to Hermione in first year.

"Granger, stop worrying! You're ticking me off! I'm a rational adult, I know how to keep my cold mask of fury intact under my charming face, so be a darling and scoot over. I don't want them to see you after months only to find you in a plausible blowjob position." Draco rolled his eyes and Hermione blushed. True to his words, it did look something like that. They were seated right in front of the door and when someone came in, their first guess would have to be the vile scenario Draco so unabashedly implied. Hermione stood up, ready to be sated as far as possible from him just so Ron and Harry won't try to cause an argument, they were still unfamiliar to the love Draco and her shared. Before she turned, Draco grabbed her wrist, her eyes fell to his fingers wrapped around her thin wrist. With a sigh, she saw him get up and hold her hands.

Warmth spread through her heart.

"I'm sorry." he closed his eyes, "It's just really difficult, all this... having to do it all over again. Like I'm some bloody enemy, even now, even after everything over the course of the last few months. You get it, Hermione. I don't think they will so I'm not counting on it either." he let out a dry chuckle. "And of course I'll behave, I can't let my first real girlfriend down now, can I?"

Hermione smiled just when he kissed her temple.

"Girlfriend?"

"Hermione?"

"I'm sorry?"

Said three voices in unison.

Hermione whipped her head to her side to see Harry, Ron and Ginny with shocked faces. The first time she had properly seen them all in months, and not just passing by or in classes. With horror written all over her face, she spared one glance at Draco and she knew it then, the smirk on his face confirmed that he was aware of their existence.

That sodding git actually took advantage of her back being to the door!

Ginny looked happier out of them all, she actually had a smile on her face which made Hermione smile too. It was nice to see someone was rooting for her relationship. She suspected that some part of Ginny already knew this was happening given how the last time they had properly talked, Ginny Weasley had managed to make Hermione uncomfortable with questions about the blond in bed, all for the right reasons, of course.

Harry looked uncomfortable. His eyes danced from Hermione to Draco to everything else in the office, though he spoke nothing of the matter. Ron, on the other hand, looked absolutely mad. Hermione could swear that she saw the tips of his ears turning a flaming red.

Oh gods, Hermione closed her eyes in frustration, this is going to be harder than I thought.

If I had included the entire conversation they had in this chapter, this would've jumped to 6k words, so I saved it for the next chapter. Tell me how this was, it's been so long and I miss you guys. Leave a review, love you all.